The Scale (Martha's Way)

THE SCALE

Martha’s Way Book 1

Mika Jolie

Sensual Romance

Secret Cravings Publishing

www.secretcravingspublishing.com

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A Secret
Cravings Publishing Book

Erotic Romance

The Scale

Copyright ©
2014
 
Mika
Jolie

E-book ISBN: 978-1-63105-249-1

First E-book Publication:
 
July 2014
  

Cover design by Dawné Dominique

Edited by Theresa Stillwagon

Proofread by Laurie White

All cover art and logo copyright ©
2014 by Secret Cravings Publishing

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book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is
strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER

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www.secretcravingspublishing.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my parents:

Ermithe & Fritz Vaval.

Thank you for introducing me to books at such a young
age.

A note of thanks to fellow writers I’ve befriended
along the way and all who have helped to make this dream of mine possible.

Marie Lavender

Michael Mizeski

Bonnie Messinger

Ann Creel

Sylvia Cherilien

Gracia R. Montilus

The wonderful staff of Secret
Cravings Publishing.
 

A special thank you to my husband
and our happy chaos.

Anyone
else ,
I may have
missed. Fear not, there are more books to come.

Love you all!!!

The Cravings Ebook Club

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Trouble
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*
Trouble With a Cowboy
, a western, erotic romance:

18 wheels
had her heart until one hard-up cowboy found her kickin' up her heels and
propositions her to take his bull to Vegas.

Jacie
Hawkins drives big wheelers for a livin'. Something not a lot of women do.
Littleton Oklahoma is just a dry stopover for a few hours of rest and
relaxation at the nearest bar. Jacie needs to find a hot cowboy to release some
of her pent up frustrations on for the night, but wannabe's aren't her style.

Tucker
Marshall needs a big-rig driver to haul his prize bull to National Finals Rodeo
and he needs one fast. Who would have thought he'd find one shootin' pool at
the local bar dressed to kill and takin' numbers?

Can some
slashed tires and an ornery bull bring two hard-headed people together for some
fun in the sun and a little more?

**
Blood Kisses (Nightwalkers 1)
,
paranormal erotic romance:

Ashleigh Brown, the author of
the popular Nightwalkers series, lives a quiet life free of the limelight.
 
She keeps her real identity secret by
writing under the pen name, Victoria Allure.
 
She soon finds herself in a bind when
she's kidnapped by a group of handsome vampires seeking Victoria.
 
She then agrees to meet their Master,
who's a huge fan of her books.
 
But
instead of meeting him, she accidentally crosses paths with her rock star
crush.
 
He is the sexy muse behind
Nightwalkers and the man she based the hero in the series upon. She would do
anything to meet him but little does she know her crush has a secret...

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Best wishes,

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THE SCALE

Martha’s Way Book 1

Mika Jolie

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

“Anything you build
on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.”

Francis Ford Coppola

Minka
blinked, forcing her eyes to adjust to the bright rays of sun piercing into her
bedroom. The sheer white curtains danced in the room to the soft morning breeze
penetrating the open windows. It was a perfect June day on the island of
Martha’s Vineyard. The coolness of spring still lingered in the air while the
warm, hazy days of summer lurked in the atmosphere. How she wished the sky was
dark and gloomy; at least it would reflect her mood. Instead, the sun gleamed
through the window onto her face, taunting and laughing at her.

Absently,
she reached over to the nightstand and focused on the personalized wedding
invitation beautifully printed on delicate, cream-colored Kraft paper. The words
in blue-green colors of the ocean stared back at her.

Keely
and Blake

Joyfully
request the pleasure of your company

As
we gather our closest friends and family to witness our vows and celebrate our
love with a relaxed weekend of feasting and sunbathing on the island of
Martha’s Vineyard.

The
problem was Minka was on the island for two weeks. A long weekend she could
have handled—for the most part. Either way, she was screwed. But fourteen days
living and breathing her twin sister marrying Blake Alexander was going to be a
slow death sentence.

And
today was one of those days she wished she was a little girl and could climb
into her mother’s lap and cry until the hurt disappeared. She let out an
exasperated sigh because at the moment she couldn’t remember the last time
she’d shared one of those mother-daughter moments with her mom. No, even those
intimate moments were left for Keely.

Groaning,
she placed the card back on the nightstand. Last night she’d cried a lot
because of the wedding. There was a time she used to laugh with Blake, and now
she was heartbroken because of him. The hardest thing she’d have to do in the
next two weeks was to let go of someone who’d never belonged to her in the
first place.

The
thought left Minka emotionally done, mentally
drained
,
but physically she needed to smile. She pulled the covers away and forced
herself out of the comfort of the bed. “Put on your big girl panties,” she
muttered, knowing she could no longer avoid the events ahead. Her head pulsated
with pain. Grimacing, she massaged her temples, trying to ease the throbbing
sensation as she stumbled into the bathroom to turn on the shower, regretting
the amount of wine she’d consumed the previous night. A
Do Over
button
would come in handy right about now because, as much as she would like to deny
this little fact, she was hung over and her waistline felt more enlarged than
usual.

Great!
Of all days to feel bloated,
today wasn’t the day. In a few hours, she had to endure her twin sister’s
engagement party.
The
prettier version of me.
Minka grimaced, accepting she hadn’t
achieved her lose-two-pounds-a-week goal. Leaning on the makeup counter, she
studied her reflection in the mirror; swollen, shadowy eyes stared back at her.
She sighed in defeat. On a good day she would not consider makeup to be a
friend, and today she would need to rely on concealer to hide those dark
circles under her eyes.

For
a while, Minka stared at her reflection until a small, thin,
rectangular-shaped, slick metal device on the floor caught her attention. A
knot twisted in her stomach as she turned to face the scale sitting loftily on
her bathroom’s navy and white-checkered tiles.