Love Beyond the Curve (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

Love Beyond the Curve

Charlotte Hamilton has just moved to Memphis to begin a new job at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. She is attracted to her gorgeous landlord, Reed Jackson, but thinks her plus-size body puts her out of the running as anything more than a friend. Her bubbly personality and fun-loving spirit appeal to Reed, who is used to high-maintenance women. The two quickly become good friends, and Charlotte is happy being “one of the guys.”

When Reed is injured on the job, Charlotte stays by his side during the initial days of recovery. As the two spend hours together during his convalescence, a spark ignites an underlying passion they are helpless to ignore. Reed wants to pursue a relationship with the vivacious beauty, but she shies away because of past hurts related to her less-than-perfect figure. Can Reed find a way to convince her that he sees
Love Beyond the Curve?

Genre:
Contemporary, Rubenesque

Length:
53,331 words
 

LOVE BEYOND THE CURVE

Kate Patrick

ROMANCE

www.BookStrand.com

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A SIREN-BOOKSTRAND TITLE

IMPRINT: Romance

LOVE BEYOND THE CURVE

Copyright © 2013 by Kate Patrick

E-book ISBN:
978-1-62242-064-3

First E-book Publication: January 2013

Cover design by Christine Kirchoff

All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER

www.BookStrand.com

DEDICATION

To my husband, William, who saw true
Love Beyond the Curve
when he met me. He’ll always be the love of my life for loving me so completely just for being me.

Always,

Kate

LOVE BEYOND THE CURVE

KATE PATRICK

Copyright © 2013

Chapter One

“That’s the last box. It took me until five in the morning, but I have officially unpacked every box from the move. Who knew one person could have so much junk to move from one tiny apartment to another?” Charlotte Hamilton had finally completed the horrid task of unpacking from her recent move to Memphis from Nashville where she had worked in the pediatric unit of a local hospital. She had gotten a position at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and loved it. She worked the three-to-eleven shift, so the majority of her housework was done during the middle of the night when most of the city was asleep. She slept in the mornings until around noon, when she woke to run any necessary errands before going in to the hospital. Hers was a rigid schedule, but she hoped to have it smoothed out with more flexibility built in to allow for some type of life besides working and sleeping.

Her cell phone began ringing as she sat down with a cup of coffee. When she checked, it was a call from her father. She smiled broadly and answered quickly. “Good morning, Dad. How are you?”

“I’m doing fine. That’s why I’m calling you. How’s the unpacking going?” Mr. Jackson was curious as to how his only daughter was adjusting to living in the carriage house of an 1880s home. Jack Radford, one of the partners in his law firm, had found the place for her. They had come to see the apartment one weekend, and she had fallen in love with it. Jack had shown them the place because the owner had been out of town at the time. He secured the apartment for her, and Charlotte moved in a week later.

“I just now finished unpacking the last box. I’m feeling great, and I’m really excited. This place is fabulous. Tell Jack he really nailed it for me.” Charlotte took a sip of her coffee, still smiling as she surveyed her little kingdom.

“I’m glad you’re so pleased, but don’t forget your way home, Charlotte. Your mother and I miss you already.”

“I won’t, Dad. I’ll be working a lot of holidays as the rookie on the unit. I have to pay my dues. You know how it works. But I’m where I’ve always dreamed of working, so I’ll do whatever it takes to work my way up. I’ll make time for you two, even if it’s daily e-mails.”

“That’s enough. We’re proud of you. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Dad. Give Mom a hug for me. I’ll call you soon and let you know how things are going.”

“We’ll look forward to your call. Take care.”

“I will, Dad. You do the same.” Charlotte hung up and headed for the shower and some much-needed sleep.

* * * *

She had been there for two weeks and had yet to meet her landlord. He was still out of town, and with her crazy schedule, she had no idea when their paths would cross anyway. As long as she paid the rent on time, she guessed it didn’t matter. The apartment was in mint condition, having been recently renovated, so there was little for her to do in the way of any DIY projects. She just needed to put out some personal items and put her own spin on the decorating, and it would go from fabulous to awesome. But again, her schedule would probably make that task more drawn out than she would like for it to be. She would just have to make a list and begin checking things off as she went along. Making a list usually helped her to expedite the completion of a project, because she couldn’t wait to draw a line through each step as she went along. She lived to see her list, which was located on the refrigerator, completely covered in red lines, signifying a victory of sorts in her eyes.

It was one such list that brought her to this very moment in time. She had drawn the last red line through her current list and was celebrating with her television remote control and a pint of Turtle Tracks ice cream, when a knock on the door left her frozen with her spoon in her mouth and her eyes riveted to the doorknob, wondering who on earth could be there at this time of the morning.

Chapter Two

“Who is it?” Charlotte asked without opening the door.

“Reed Jackson, your landlord. I hate to bother you so early, but I am in a bit of a jam and was hoping you could help me out,” he said through the door.

Charlotte ran her hands over her hair to try to smooth it down. It was in a ponytail and rather messy at that. She was wearing black leggings with a pink tank top and no bra. Her habit of completely “unlatching” when she got home was biting her in the ass right now. She was barefoot with hot-pink toenails. Not a bit of makeup was on her face, since she had showered earlier. In other words, she looked like a train wreck, but what did it matter? She wished she looked more presentable for her initial meeting of the landlord, but with him being an old man, why should she care?

With that final thought, she opened the door and instantly thought to herself,
Oh shit! I should have cared!
There in front of her stood a prime example of tall, dark, and handsome, with a pair of piercing ice-blue eyes to go with it. He was wearing faded, worn jeans and a light-blue T-shirt straining against a wide, muscular chest and bulging biceps. Somebody should have warned her. She closed her eyes for an instant, gathering her thoughts, and opened the door wider, saying, “Please come on in. How can I help you?”

He walked past her and turned around, saying, “My truck won’t start, and I don’t need to be late for work this morning. Would you mind if I used your car to jump it off?”

“Of course not! Let me get my keys, and we’ll take care of it,” she said, turning to walk to the kitchen to retrieve her keys from a drawer. She slammed her feet into a pair of pink flip-flops and rejoined him in the living area, where he seemed to be assessing her handiwork with the place.

“You’ve done a lot with the place in just two weeks. It’s looking good,” he said, giving the room a once-over as he stood there with his hands tucked into his back pockets. His voice was deep and smooth and enough to make a woman groan with thoughts of an intimate nature.

“It is a fabulous place. I really love it. Here, let’s get that truck moving!” She grinned, showing perfectly straight, pearly white teeth set in a sweetheart-of-America face. She opened the door and headed out in front of him, on down the stairs to her black SUV. She opened the driver’s door and asked, “Where do you want me?”