Incompatibly Yours: Charity Anthology Supporting Fertility Research
Summer's Bay © 2016 by A.C. Bextor
Blind Faith © 2016 Teresa Gabelman
Kiss, Interrupted © 2016 S.R. Grey
Her Kind of Crazy © 2016 Nina Levine
All rights reserved. No part of this e-Book may be used or reproduced in any written, electronic, recorded, or photocopied format without the express permission from the author or publisher as allowed under the terms and conditions with which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution, circulation or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
Incompatibly Yours
is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events and places found therein are either from the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to persons alive or dead, actual events, locations, or organizations is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.
For information contact the publisher, Hot Tree Publishing.
www.hottreepublishing.com
Editing & Formatting:
Hot Tree Editing
Cover Designer:
Claire
Smith
ISBN 13:
978-1-925448-15-3
(eCopy Edition)
Contents
Blind Faith by Teresa Gabelman
Kiss, Interrupted by S.R. Grey
Her Kind Of Crazy by Nina Levine
A Note from the Publisher
"About 10 percent of women (6.1 million) in the United States ages 15-44 have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/infertility.html
Hot Tree Publishing has got together with four amazing
New York Times,
USA Today
and Amazon International best-selling authors to bring to you four incredible romance stories.
The talented authors have produced new stories especially for our fertility research charity anthology,
Incompatibly Yours.
All of the wonderful stories have the central theme of OPPOSITES ATTRACT, intending to show that even when the odds are against you, and the possibility for a happy future seems too far away to achieve, anything is possible, including a happily ever after.
Many women and couples are still searching for their own HEA, and require the fantastic support available to help with fertility issues. 100% of the profits from the sales of
Incompatibly Yours
will be donated to fertility research and support charities and organizations.
We hope by raising awareness and funds that we are to provide some semblance of a mark to continue to develop the existing support out there.
To do that, we will need your help, too. So please be sure to spread the news of this great new release.
The following services are available for fertility support and information (also seek professional help from your GP):
UK:
http://www.infertilitynetworkuk.com/
CA:
http://www.iaac.ca/en/contact
Summer's Bay by A.C. Bextor
Prologue
RYLEIGH
Home
.
Summer's Bay, Iowa, the small town my fiancé and I have returned to after being away at college for four years, hasn't changed.
Mr. Valentine, the town's sweet and smiling mailman, still casually walks from house to house delivering the packages and mail. Just like when I was young, kids are playing football in the empty fields down the street from my childhood home until the streetlights come on, signaling the day is over and it's time to head inside. And the one stoplight downtown still changes from red to flashing yellow once the clock strikes 7:00 p.m.
My meddling, but always loving, parents still farm the fields until the last edge of the summer sun sets. My seventeen-year-old little sister, Maggie, still amuses everyone around her with her crazy character and even crazier antics. And my dog, Anna Lee, still chases everything that moves faster than she can.
Nope. Nothing in this town has changed since I've been gone.
Nothing that is, except for me.
Chapter One
RYLEIGH
"You're not leaving this table yet, Ryleigh Ann Davis. At least not until you tell me how Myles proposed," she demands before continuing, "Woman, it's been months since you've been back to visit, and now that you're here to stay, I hate that I hardly recognize you. You look…."
My hands sweat and my heart races, waiting to hear the words my childhood best friend will use to describe how I look to her. However, if anyone is able to see through my blissful façade, it's Kate.
Feigning contentment, I aim to reassure her. "I'm great."
"Great," she repeats with noted suspicion. Her eyes bore into mine, waiting for me to take her bait and lash out with an objection.
Straightening in my chair, I focus on her certain disappointment with confidence and reiterate, "Yes. I'm
great
."
As she casually plays with her napkin, running the edges through her fingertips, she probes quietly and without any enthusiasm, "When's the big day?"
"August twelfth," I reply. "It'll be hot as hell, but Myles doesn't want to wait until fall."
"August?" she gasps, before sinking back in her chair and taking another drink of her beer. "Good grief. That's just four weeks away. Clearly, your man
still
doesn't mess around."
No, he doesn't.
Myles Morgan is notorious for his unwavering determination to get what he wants. Both Kate and I have known this about him since we were kids in elementary school.
His undeniably wholesome good looks, coupled with his poignant and persistent charm, are hard for anyone to ignore. Standing just over six feet tall, he towers over my five-foot-four-inch frame. His dark eyes may appear faintly haunted, but are captivating just the same. He wears his hair cropped short and unless we're home alone doing nothing, he rarely dresses down. Suffice it to say, in comparison to other men in this farming town, Myles is considered well-manicured.
"It doesn't surprise me," she states. "I mean, that you'd be getting married so fast. Myles Morgan has always been pretty sure of himself."
"How's that?"
Rolling her eyes, she looks down and nods to my generous, if not a little too flashy, engagement ring. "Myles never did anything slow or small. For as long as we've known him he's always gotten exactly who or what he wanted. Now that he's decided he wants you committed to him for the rest of his life, his rushing to the altar makes sense."
I get what she's saying.
Back in high school, Myles was captain of the football team, president of our high school's debate team, and also student council president. Because of all his varied
accomplishments
, he was also the one boy every girl wanted to belong to. Even the teachers at our high school would study him with curiosity and admiration. And Myles
always
noticed.
"He's grown a lot over the past four years, Kate," I defend. "You don't know him. He's not exactly the same person."
"None of us are, but…" She focuses on her bottle of beer while choosing her words. "We both know growing up Myles was a bully. So I certainly hope he's grown some. I don't know him anymore, though."
As a kid, Myles rarely paid any attention to me. Our families were close, next-door neighbors in fact, so we were forced into spending time together. He'd seldom speak to me unless it was to offer me a stiff one-word greeting or to tell me what to do. I remember his dad lecturing him about being nicer to me. He wanted Myles to treat all women with the respect they deserved. And it wasn't that he wasn't
civil
, he was just never
cordial
.
"Do you love him?" Her voice, so sincere, also echoes her worry. "Myles? Do you love him?"
"Yes, Kate. I love him."
Straightening in her chair, she struggles to tell me in a low voice, "I say this because I love you, and also because I've known you forever. But, I've got to ask. Are you certain, without any doubt, Myles isn't a stand-in for who you still really want?"
"Stop," I insist tersely, and then continue to be sure she gets me. "I'm not marrying Myles because he's second to anyone, especially Chase."
Chase Morgan is Myles's older brother. And although related by blood, the two of them couldn't be any more different. Chase is eight years older than Myles and me. He's quiet, only speaking when spoken to. He wears a cast-iron guard around him which makes him seemingly unapproachable. Aside from a few years when I was very young, that's how I've always remembered him to be.
Unlike Myles, Chase is rough around the edges. His idea of dressing up is deciding to wear his cowboy boots versus his tie-up hikers. His clothes are usually covered in dust from riding the farm horses or working in the fields. And his charm stretches as far as answering in monosyllables. He doesn't excel at anything in particular and he's never been materialistic or ambitious.