Misguided Heart
Authors: Amanda Bennett
Misguided Heart
By
Amanda Bennett
Copyright
©
2012 By Amanda Bennett
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover art by
Robin Harper/ Wicked by Design
Check out other books by Amanda Bennett
Time t
o Let Go
Beautifully Broken (The Broken Series Book #1)
Breaking Beautiful (The Broken Series Book #2)
Coming Soon:
(dates are a round about time & could change)
This Love of Mine (Raine Series #1) MAY 2013
Unbreakable Hearts (The Broken Series #3
) JULY 2013
This Trust of Mine (Raine
Series #2) AUGUST 2013
Faithless *SEPTEMBER 2013
This Heart of Mine (Raine Series #3) NOV/DEC 2013
You can find Author Amanda Bennett at the following:
http://www.authoramandabennett.com
http://www.facebook.com/authoramandabennett
http://www.twitter.com/spoiledbrat81
www.goodreads.com/author/show/6550967.Amanda_Bennett
A huge
thanks to everyone who constantly supports me and reads my books. You all are amazing beyond belief.
A special thanks to:
Jenn Foor (Author)
Thank you for spreading the word about my books
and helping me find awesome beta readers.
Robin Harper (Cover Artist)
You are an amazing person and cover artist and I have decided I am keeping you..LOL
Thank you to
all of my new friends on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads y'all are amazing, wonderful people.
Thank you to all the book bloggers that have helped spread the word and that have taken the time to read and review my work
. I seriously couldn't have asked for better people in my life:
Denise & Nic w/ Flirty and Dirty Book Blog,
Books Books Books, Into The Night Reviews, I Heart Books, The Book Hookers, Three Chicks & Their Books, Totally Booked, Book Crush, Sugar and Spice Reviews, First Class Books, Cynthia Shepp Book Reviews, and The Little Black Book Blog, just to name a few
T
o my #1 fan and amazing new blogger Tamsyn Bester (The Secret Book Brat) You are an amazing person and I am proud to call you my friend.
A HUGE thanks to my beta r
eaders and amazing new friends.
I could not have finished this book without y'all:
Cami Holt-Krystyniak,
Jennifer LaFon, Ena Burnette, Mechelle Loveless-Jackson, Tosha Powers & Megan Smith
Table of Contents
"Aston, are you even listening to me?"
His voice broke through my thoughts and I was startled to see him still standing next to me.
"Sorry, what?"
"Aston, I asked you to marry me?" My mouth went as dry as the Sahara. I was flabbergasted. This man, who deserved so much more than I could give, just asked me to marry him? After everything we had put each other through, he still wanted me?
"Do you even know what you're saying?" My eyes searched his expression for any doubt, but
I came up empty. He was serious, dead serious.
"Of course I know what I'm saying. Do you really think that is a question I just go around randomly asking?" He was getting frustrated and I couldn't blame him. I was stalling.
A few days ago this man was all but pushing me out of the door.
"I...I...
" Shit! I didn't know how to respond. I was literally at a loss for words and that seldom happened. I had to answer, like now.
Aston
I walked into my new corner office with a renewed sense of pride. I ran my freshly manicured fingers across the soft mahogany desk as I walked over to the window. My office was right in the middle of downtown Phoenix, and I had the most amazing view of the Phoenix skyline. The sky was strewn in the most perfectly blended shades of grey and white
today. The thunderclouds were rolling in quickly, and took over the once vastly beautiful blue sky. I took a few steps back and slouched down in my high back, Italian leather chair as I stared quite intently at the gold letters that spelt my name across the letterhead placed on my desk. ASTON BOYD. I was now officially the senior editor for P.J. Holden and Son Publishing.
I propped up my Louboutin covered feet onto my desk and reveled in my
newfound glory. I had finally made it to the top, in a predominately male world. As I glanced around my office in all of its hugeness, a sudden rush of forlornness rushed over me. I was twenty-eight years old and I had nobody to share my life with. Sure I had a great job, a beautiful office, a wonderful assistant, but other than that and my bulldog Bugsy; I had nothing and no one. I had spent the last eight years of my life working my way to the top and now that I was there, I had no one to share the experience with.
I desperately longed for a romantic windfall of some sorts, or a partner here and there. All I seemed to end up with were a couple of
one-night stands, and a few boyfriends that I ignored one too many times for them to even care about me anymore. I wanted humorous friends that I could go get a drink with after work, maybe a rowdy rambunctious family that was full of chaos, or even a broken engagement to fill up my half empty stories at the company parties. I had none of that, not even one small ounce of that and I was ashamed to not have it. I had replaced a boyfriend with my job, my family for a 2300 square foot house in Scottsdale, and a child with my three-year-old English bulldog. I was jump started out of my own reverie when my work phone began to ring quite annoyingly. I flung my legs over the side of my desk and pulled myself into it as I answered my phone.
“Aston Boyd how may I help you?” I could hear the bitterness in my tone as I spoke.
“Hi, Ms. Boyd, it’s Annie. I just wanted to make sure the phone was working properly. Sorry to have bugged you.” With that the phone went dead.
A
nnie had been my assistant for five years now and she was amazing. I never waited for coffee in the mornings, or at night for that matter. She was a beautiful young girl starting out just as I had when I was twenty-two. She had been a prime pupil and I was excited to see how far she could go in this company. Who knows, maybe one day she would take my job. Annie and I shared a four-year age difference, but she was one of the only people that I had celebrated with, when I found out about my promotion. Of course, she ended up going home with a beautiful British man that night and left me all alone, but I was thankful to have her around either way.
A moment later
, the five foot four, petite little red head came plundering into my office with my mail. I waved her off as I turned in my chair to face the window. There it stood mocking me, a simple black matte envelope with both of their names above the return address. I slid the envelope onto my desk and sat back in amazement. How was it possible that everyone that I had known, at least since high school, had grown up, gotten married, and had at least one kid? I honestly couldn’t keep track of how many weddings, baby showers, and bridal showers I had been to, or bought presents for in the last decade.
My credit card statements over the years reflected nothing but purchases to Babies
'R' Us, Toys 'R' Us, Children’s Place, Bed Bath and Beyond, Ikea, and once in a blue moon, a purchase at Macys, for myself of course. I was the one constant provider of gifts to all of my old friends and their children. I ran my fingers through my lengthy, blonde hair before reaching for my letter opener in my top drawer. I slid it along the edges and took a deep breath in as I pulled out the gold and black embossed wedding invitation.
Mr. and Mrs. David Thomas request the honor of your presence