Sugar Daddy Wanted: Now Accepting Applications

SUGAR DADDY WANTED:

Now Accepting Applications

Kellie Kamryn

Scanning, uploading and/or distribution of this book via the Internet, print, audio recordings or any other means, without the written permission of the Publisher is illegal and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law
.

Except for select brand names and businesses, this book is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and characters are fictitious. Any similarities to actual events or persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental.

SUGAR DADDY WANTED:

Now Accepting Applications

© 2013 Kellie Kamryn

ISBN 978-1-939010-25-4

Cover Design by S. Quid

All rights reserved. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

Published by

Romance Divine LLC

www.romancedivine.com

Thank you to Julie Prestsater for the fabulous title idea, and to Lisa Williams for suggesting the name Grayson. You are both awesome!

And thanks a bunch to Robert who sent my boys a zillion shark teeth to keep them occupied.

Oh, and I can’t forget Nicole Harbough Campbell who suggested I put my real life “date ditching” scene into the book.

Kellie Kamryn

“You’re a perfectly nice woman. It’s not you—it’s me.”

Kerry couldn’t stop the roll of her eyes even if she wanted to. “Damn straight it’s you and not me.” She turned away from her latest dating disaster, and fished her keys from her purse. Within five minutes of the first date, she’d known Steve would never be
the one
, but on the insistence of a friend she’d given him a second try.

I should’ve given him the boot after the first.
Tall, dark and handsome—not always a winning combination.

“So, that’s it?” Steve asked.

Kerry looked back over her shoulder. “What do you want?”

“Uh, well, nothing,” Steve stammered.

Kerry flipped her long, dark blonde locks over one shoulder, and concentrated on the task of unlocking her car door. “If you were hoping for female hysterics, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I don’t care enough to waste my breath.”

She wrenched open her door, plopped into the driver’s seat, and stuck the key into the ignition. At the sound of the engine roaring to life, she relaxed into the seat, and slammed the door.

Steve knocked on the driver’s side window, startling her. Releasing a sigh, she pushed the button to lower the window.

“You don’t have to be rude,” he said.

Kerry snorted. “Polite would have been telling me
before
our second date that you had met with your ex-wife to talk about reconciling.” Steve winced, and she smirked at his reaction to her statement.

He frowned. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“Hurt my feelings?” Kerry shook her head in disbelief.
How dense is this guy?
“How could I possibly be hurt when a man asks me to dinner, I take the time to get ready for said dinner, meet him at the restaurant and two minutes into the date, he tells me he’s thinking of getting back together with his wife?”

His eyebrows scrunched together. “I wanted your opinion.”

Kerry coughed, choking on the expletives threatening to erupt from her throat. She almost felt sorry for the poor bastard. He actually appeared confused. Clearing her throat to compose herself, she looked him straight in the eye. “My opinion is, you want your options open. If your wife wants to get back together, you’re good. If she doesn’t, you think you’ve got a chance with me. Newsflash pal—it wouldn’t have worked between us anyway. Give your wife my regards.”

With that, she pressed the button to roll up the window. Steve stepped back from the window as she put the car in reverse.

Gripping the steering wheel tight with both hands, Kerry backed out of the space and drove out of the lot without a backward glance.
Why is it so hard to find a decent guy?
Removing herself from a marriage where she didn’t feel able to be herself most of the time, she had standards. Perhaps they were high, but she refused to settle.
And yet you went on a second date with dipshit.
Kerry made a face at herself in the rearview mirror.

Driving on auto-pilot through the streets of Winnipeg to her modest home in the suburbs of St. Vital, she did what she always did after a disastrous encounter—ran through the list of men she’d met in the past three years she’d dared to date again.

The first had been Darnell, although in truth, he’d been a friend she’d hung out with on occasion after the separation with her ex-husband. When his thoughts had turned lusty, insisting they had ‘chemistry’, the friendship was over.

On the advice of a girlfriend, she’d joined a dating site. At first it had been fun, talking to men online. Most made her laugh, and she’d felt a connection to one in particular, Doug. He boosted her ego after being a “housewife” for so long and told her all the things she needed to hear. She’d thought they had a lot in common, but after two dates and sex, he stopped communicating with her altogether.

Then along came Andrew, a man who insisted he wanted to settle down and have a family. Only problem—he already had a family, complete with a wife and kids.

Kerry chuckled. She honed her intuition after that one, but figured her “soul mate” had to be out there…
somewhere
. She wouldn’t find him if she didn’t interact with people. Back to the dating site she went, and met Isaac. From the first moment, they connected. They shared a lot, could talk for hours on the phone, and little by little, she opened up to him. For the first time in her life, she could be her true self with a man. Eventually, her boys met him and accepted him as part of their lives.

After a year, Isaac felt they were too committed and began to back away, even though she’d never mentioned marriage or wanted to change the status quo. When her ex-husband wanted to take her to court over custody, their relationship moved to rocky ground. When Kerry had needed a shoulder the most, Isaac couldn’t handle being the rock in her storm, and asked for a break. Heartbroken, she’d bid him good-bye, refusing to let him see how much she hurt over it all. A strong woman and always there for others, men were always attracted to her strength, to her independence. Isaac had proven that some men weren’t strong enough to handle a woman in her vulnerable moments.

Smiling, she shook her head. Deciding to take a different approach, she’d focused on having fun instead, and not worrying about finding “the one”. Five-minute dates were her specialty. One night stands on occasion filled a need. Even so, the hopeless romantic in her crossed its fingers every time she went on a first date.
I must be certifiable.
I’ve been on more first dates than a chain-smoker smokes cigarettes in a month.
She thanked her experiences for honing her instincts. She could see through the bullshit and lies a mile away, and should’ve listened to herself about Steve.

Once at home, Kerry parked the car in her driveway, and sat for a few minutes, staring out the windshield of the car.
Being alone isn’t so bad. You’ve done it before, and you were happy then.

After her marriage ended, she’d spent a year alone, enjoying the quiet and the independence of doing whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, with the added bonus of raising her two sons. It had only been on the encouragement of friends that she’d begun dating. Everyone else in her life seemed more concerned than she was that she did not end up alone.
Being alone has its perks. No cover stealing, sleeping in the middle of the bed, no worrying whether or not I have to take care of someone else’s needs.

Nodding forward, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel, a weary sigh escaping.
What am I doing? Do I even want a relationship? If I do, what kind do I really want?

She opened the driver’s door, her forehead puckered in a frown as she swung her legs from the vehicle. She hadn’t really put much effort in getting to know a man lately. Her jaded attitude probably didn’t help. When she pondered her last few dates, she realized she hadn’t held out much hope at all for a relationship with any of them. Perhaps the negativity sabotaged her before she could really give anyone a chance.

But the question remained—did she really want to give anyone a chance? Or did she go through the motions because other people wanted her to?

Kerry locked her car, and shouldered her purse, the revelation swirling around her brain. What did she want out of life? Did she have to have a man in it?

No, I don’t.
A sense of relief washed through her. Giving up felt like the right thing to do.

* * * * *

“You’re home early, Mom,” Duncan said from where he sprawled on the couch next to his brother, Cohen.

Kerry closed the front door and set her purse down on the bench, eyeing her two dark-haired sons. They were near clones of their father with a bit of her DNA thrown in. “Yeah, well, Steve,” she said, using air quotes, “decided to give his wife another shot.” She shrugged out of her brown leather blazer and hung it in the closet.

“And he had to tell you at dinner?” Duncan asked, one eyebrow rising. “Jerk.”

“Actually eating dinner first would have been good. I’m still hungry,” Kerry said. “Or not. I couldn’t stomach his bull.”

Duncan shot a smug look at his brother. Cohen groaned, rolled his deep green eyes, and fished around in his jeans pocket. Next second, he slapped a bill into his brother’s palm.

Kerry eyed her boys with her hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”

Duncan cocked his head in Cohen’s direction. “Sonny boy here is a wee bit more optimistic than I. He thought you’d make it through dinner before you dumped his ass.”

Kerry pointed a finger at her fifteen year old son, fighting a smile at the mischievous look in his dark brown eyes. “Give your brother back his money. And watch your mouth.”

“Yeah, give me back my money,” Cohen griped, making a swipe for Duncan’s hand.

Duncan put his brother in a head lock, and rubbed his knuckles against the top of his skull, frizzing the ends of his curly hair. “Sore loser.”

Kicking off her heels, Kerry sighed and walked over to the squabbling siblings. She wriggled in between them, “Make room.”

The boys slid apart, creating a space for her to sit down. She put an arm around each boy and crossed one ankle over the other on the coffee table. “Whatcha watching?”

“River Monsters,” answered Duncan.

Cohen cuddled to her side and pressed a kiss to her cheek, brushing back a lock of her soft blonde hair. “You look pretty tonight, Mom.”

Kerry picked a piece of lint off the blue V-neck, above the knee, form-fitting dress she wore. Tousling her blonde locks, she wondered why she’d spent so much time curling her hair tonight.

“Yeah,” Duncan agreed. “That Steve is a loser.” He raised a fist for a knuckle bump with his mom.