Authors: Ashley Blake
My Heart Says Yes
Time
for a change…
Emma
Blakely has a privileged life back home, but she is ready to shake the dust of
her small Wisconsin town off of her feet, and start a new life in Chicago.
Self-labeled the 'ugly duckling' in the family, Emma wants to get out from
under her beautiful sisters' shadows and reinvent herself. She's about to
graduate from college, wants to dump her college boyfriend of almost two years,
and move on to the next chapter in her life. Always the older, reliable,
chubby sister, Emma wants to start over. She transforms the summer before she
moves to Chicago, and arrives as a brand new Emma.
He
wasn't part of her plan…
Pursuing
a career in advertising, she enrolls in portfolio school and decides this will
be the year of Emma. Grateful for all that she has, she decides that she wants
to give back somehow when she moves to Chicago. She decides to volunteer twice
a month and she meets some very special people who touch her heart. Her plan
that year is to not even think about guys and just have fun with friends, focus
on school and volunteer her time. That's it.
Enter
Caleb Morgan; tall, gorgeous, chiseled looks, sexy and rich. Emma never
imagined that a man that beautiful would ever look at her once, let alone
twice. Always used to getting his way and always with a gorgeous girl around
him, Caleb decides that he wants Emma. He turns her world on its head and Emma
questions what he is really after, because she is far from the model type he
normally goes for. Emma's head is fighting her feelings, but does her heart
know better? One thing is for sure, Caleb Morgan was not a part of her plan.
My Heart Says Yes
(Blakely Sisters Series- Book 1, Emma
& Caleb)
by
Ashley Blake
***
www.ashleyblakefiction.com
Other Books by Ashley
Blake:
The Billionaire’s Desire
The Billionaire’s Desire
2: Dubai Confidential
The Billionaire’s Desire
3: Ultimate Bliss
The Billionaire’s Desire
Bonus Book 4
The Billioinaire’s
Desire Bonus Book 5
My Forever is You Book
1: Reunited
My Forever is You Book
2: Resolution
Table of Contents
Published by Lovely
Day. Copyright, 2013 by Ashley Blake.
ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and
incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used
fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or
events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or
reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the
author.
I stared out of my dorm room window,
down at the quad, and a deep sigh escaped my lips as I watched people walk by.
It was two weeks before my college graduation and I was going out to dinner
with my boyfriend Jordan that night. I was a little bit nervous because I was
going to break things off with him and I don’t think he was expecting it. It's
not that Jordan was a bad guy, he really wasn't. He was nice, reliable,
supportive, and he really cared about me, but I can’t say he was my best
friend. For me, we just didn’t get there emotionally. I had always done what
other people expected of me, and I had finally decided that it was time for me
to live the life I wanted, so the first major change in my life would be
cutting Jordan loose.
Jordan Miller and I met
each other the first semester of our junior year of college and we had pretty
much been inseparable ever since. Our friends and families thought we were
perfect together because we seemed to have so much in common, and I started
getting subtle hints from my mother that she wanted me to settle down with him.
My family owned ten car
dealerships across the state of Wisconsin so we were pretty comfortable
financially, and Jordan’s family had old money and they were deeply involved in
local politics. My mom thought we were a match made in heaven and I think my
mother was afraid that I would never meet anyone else, so she was super
supportive of my relationship with Jordan. My mother didn't have the same
reservations about my younger sisters Katie, Brielle and Christine. Katie was
two years younger than me and basically, I always felt like I was living in her
shadow. She was absolutely gorgeous, tall, thin, had a bubbly personality, she
was in a sorority and was extremely popular. I, on the other hand, was much
more curvy, and fairly attractive, but did not receive anywhere near the amount
of attention that Katie received when she would just walk down the street past
a group of men. Men seemed to worship her and when I was being honest with
myself, I knew that was something that I wanted. I was overweight, which I had
been my whole life, I wore glasses, I was a brainiac, and I was that person that
disappeared into the crowd rather than stood out in it.
I was the oldest of four
girls and, although I loved my sisters very much, it was difficult to not feel
like the ugly duckling in the family sometimes. I used to joke with my mother
that the milkman was my real dad because I looked nothing like my sisters.
They were all gorgeous, tall and thin. I was the only one who was average
height and slightly overweight. Katie was stunningly pretty and a sophomore at
my university, and the twins, Christine and Brielle, were just finishing up
their junior year of high school. They were fraternal twins and each of them
were also really pretty girls. I know that people in town talked about us
because I would always catch them looking at me with a bit of pity in their
eyes. I could just imagine what they were saying about me.
Poor Emma, she
sure didn’t get the looks in the family, but at least she’s a smart cookie!
I tried not to let the stares and whispers bother me, but sometimes they did.
I knew that I needed to exercise, but I found comfort in my studies and Jordan
never complained about my size so I kind of resigned myself to being the smart,
chubby, older sister. To make myself feel better, I kept telling myself that
one day I would lose the weight.
My weight didn’t seem to
affect my dating all that much, or at least that’s what I told myself. It
wasn't like I never had boyfriends in the past, I did, but some of them seemed
to be more interested in me because we had money or they wanted to get to know Katie.
When I met Jordan I was a little bit worried that he also might try to use me
to get to Katie, but he seemed to like me for me, at least in the beginning it
seemed that way.
We both went to a university
in Appleton, Wisconsin and we were both from small towns in Wisconsin. Jordan
was from Sheboygan Falls, and I was from New Holstein. Most of my friends back
home were either in community college or were engaged to be married, and were
on the marriage and family track. My friends’ lives were so planned out and we
just never seemed to be on the same page. I wanted so much more out of life
than to just return to my small town, get married and settle down. I wanted to
get out from under my sister's shadow, reinvent myself, work at a big
advertising agency in Chicago, I wanted to live in a cool loft in the city and
do something meaningful with my life. My dreams were big and my ambition was
even bigger.
The only other person
who shared my same drive was my best friend Kelly. We grew up together and our
families lived two blocks from each other. She wanted to be a fashion designer
and she was graduating from the Art Institute in Chicago and she was going to
be starting grad school there in the fall. She lived in the dorms but we were
planning to get an apartment together when I moved there. I was so excited to
start a new life and I couldn’t wait to move in with her. I was ready to put
college and Jordan behind me.
Don’t get me wrong, I used
to enjoy spending time with Jordan, the sex was okay, nothing spectacular, and
I would probably have a very comfortable life with him if we got married. The
problem was I wanted more. Jordan wanted the picture perfect politician’s
life, and I wanted heat and fire, I wanted to ache for a man, I wanted him to
ache for me and I wanted him to consume me, and I just didn’t have that with
Jordan. Maybe I’d read too many romance novels that had filled my head with
fairytales, but I wanted to burn for someone and for him to burn for me, and I
wasn’t willing to settle for less. Besides, I was way too young not to
experience real heat and passion in a relationship.
I had wanted to move to Chicago
since my freshman year of high school. My aunt and uncle used to live right
downtown, and I remember the first time we went to visit them during Christmas
break my freshman year, it was love at first sight for me and the city of
Chicago. I loved the hustle and bustle, the people rushing around to get
everywhere and anywhere, the tall buildings, and just the energy that pulsed
throughout the city. It was addictive and I wanted to be right in the middle of
it one day. I felt stifled in New Holstein and was bursting at the seams to
spread my wings. I didn't go to college in Chicago because I caved under my
mother’s pressure to stay close to home in Wisconsin. She was afraid that
something horrible would happen to me in a big city. Luckily for me, I got
into a good school that provided me with all of the tools I would need to
pursue my career in advertising. I always did want my family wanted, but now
it was my time to live my life.
I was a journalism major and I remember
when I told my parents what I wanted to do with my life, my dad suggested that
I work for his dealership and do all of their advertising. He didn’t
understand that I didn’t want to stay in New Holstein anymore. My dreams were
big and my parents didn’t seem to understand that.
I decided that I wanted to
attend portfolio school instead of relying on just trying to get an internship
at an advertising firm to get my foot in the door. I was accepted at the
Chicago Portfolio School, which has a one-year program instead of two like most
portfolio schools, so it was perfect for me because I was anxious to get
started with my career. Jordan had no idea that I was moving to Chicago and I
knew he would probably not take the news very well. We really wanted different
things. Jordan wanted to move back home to Sheboygan Falls and pursue a career
in local politics. I just couldn't see myself as the wife of a small-town
politician, not that there's anything wrong with that, but it just was not for
me.
Jordan picked me up at my dorm room at
6:30.
“You look beautiful Emma.” His eyes
were beaming as he looked at me, which made me feel horrible because I knew
that he was not going to look so happy by the end of the night.
"Thanks Jordan. You look great
too. Are you ready to go?" I wanted to get out of there as I was
beginning to feel really uncomfortable being alone with him.