TRACKING YOU
by
Kelly Moran
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pub
Date: 5/23/17
Love isn't always loud. Sometimes
it's silent.
Gabby Cosette has always been dubbed
the good girl of quaint Redwood Ridge, Oregon, and being permanently
put in the friend zone has left her dating life stagnant. With no
prospects in sight, she clings to her friends and resolves to not let
loneliness drag her under. So when the town Battleaxes set their
matchmaking sights on her, she figures it can't hurt. Yet the guy
they think is perfect for her just happens to be not only her boss at
the veterinarian clinic, but her best friend. Sure, Flynn O'Grady is
attractive and the nicest guy around, but going there with him would
topple both of their carefully constructed worlds and there would be
no going back. Even if he is starting to make her girly parts zing.
Having been born deaf, Flynn has
already felt like an outsider most of his life. Aside from his
brothers, Gabby is about the only person who's gone out of her way to
treat him as more than a handicap. Which is exactly why he's banked
his secret attraction for his sweet, beautiful vet tech. Except his
meddling family is trying to play Cupid and ruin the best thing to
ever happen to him. Without Gabby, his work as a veterinarian, never
mind his personal life, wouldn't flow. Determined to ignore the
antics, he's secure in the knowledge she's not interested in him
romantically. But then a kiss changes everything . . . and he's
wondering if taking the ultimate shot at love might be worth the
risk.
Gabby Cosette smoothed her hand down
the simple baby blue sundress she meticulously picked out for this evening and
tried not to look too eager. Or throw up. That wouldn’t do either.
From a back booth, she glanced around
the only Italian restaurant in Redwood Ridge, comforted by the fact it was
still early yet for the dinner rush. The place was a good
choice. Right? Not as casual as Shooters—the bar she and her friends
frequented—but not as formal as one of the seafood restaurants that dotted
their Oregon coastal town. A step above grabbing coffee or a beer, yet it
didn’t scream desperation.
Was a booth in the back too obvious?
Had she overdone it with her makeup? Maybe she should’ve put her hair up
instead of down?
No, no. She went for light and natural
on purpose. The patrons of Redwood Ridge had known her all her life. It wasn’t
far out of the realm of ordinary for her to wear a dress and light cosmetics.
She was being a basket case.
It’s just… Well, she hadn’t had a date
in a year. A year!
To calm her nerves, she drew in a deep
breath and focused on the red checkered tablecloth. A votive candle flickered
on the windowsill to her right, the flame reflecting off the tinted glass. The
parking lot stretched beyond, where her date’s car was not in one of the
available spots.
It was silly to get this worked up over
a first date, especially with Tom.
She’d gone to elementary and high
school with him. His parents still lived down the street from hers. Strange how
he’d never shown any interest in her romantically, yet out of the blue, he’d
asked her out this week.
Then again, most everyone in town
viewed her as the sweet Cosette girl, everyone’s friend. Thus the no date in a
year. It was hard to get a guy to think about kissing her, never mind imagining
her naked, when she had platonic all but tattooed on her forehead.
The waitress strolled over in her
apron, holding a notepad in her hand.
“Are you waiting on someone, sweetie
pie?”
“Yes.” She smiled and grabbed her cell
on the table. Tom was five minutes late. “He should be here any minute.”
“Ooh. Is it a date?” Mavis planted a
hand on her plump waist and grinned, the wrinkles around her eyes growing to
crevices. Gabby wasn’t sure how old Mavis was, no one really knew, but she
never seemed to age past the state from when Gabby was a child.
Gabby opened her mouth to answer, but
Tom strode toward her, weaving around tables and plopping in the seat across
the booth.
“Couldn’t find ya at the bar. I wasn’t
expecting a table.”
It was still early, and Le Italy didn’t
get that crowded even on a Friday night. How hard could it possibly have been
to locate her? “Give us a sec,”she told Mavis and waited for her to step away.
Tom had blond hair too short for her
preference and a thin mouth. His unremarkable brown eyes darted around the
restaurant and back to her. He made no attempt to apologize for being late, and
it appeared as if he’d just come from work. His jeans and T-shirt were
paint-splattered. The hazard of working for his dad’s commercial painting and
roofing company.
“Thanks for meeting me.” He took off
his ball cap and scratched his head.
Why did that sound un-date-like?
“Um…sure thing. How’s work going?”
Her gaze dipped to his hands, no better
off than his clothes. Maybe she should’ve picked Shooters after all.
Something felt very, very off as her
belly twisted. Not with nerves this time. Confused, Gabby’s mind scrolled
through their conversation from earlier in the week when he’d brought his dog
into the vet clinic where she worked. As he was checking out, he’d anxiously
spun around to face
her and asked if she could meet him.
“Good. Work’s good.” He put his hat
back on and glanced outside.
“Getting to be warmer out, so the jobs
are picking up.” Perhaps he was just nervous, too. Her tension drained a
degree.
Mavis returned and asked for a drink
order.
Tom lifted his hand to wave her off.
“Nothing for me, thanks. I can’t stay long. Got a poker game with the guys
tonight. I need to shower before they show up.”
The forced smile Gabby had plastered on
her face began to wilt like her mom’s petunias in August.
What did he mean he
couldn’t stay long? And why would he ask her out and schedule a
card game on the same night?
Plus, he could shower for his friends,
but not her?
Mavis divided her gaze between them, a
mix of bewilderment and irritation lifting her brows. She tapped her pen to her
pad as the silence hung. “Can I get you something?” She focused on Gabby, her tone indicating she should order
something.
“I’ll have a sweet tea. Thank you.”
When the waitress walked away, Gabby looked at Tom. He’d thrown his arm over
the back of the booth and had stretched his legs out. The aroma of Eau de Paint
Thinner wafted across the table. “So…?”
“Right, right.” Tom leaned forward and
crossed his arms. “I appreciate you letting me do this in person.”
She stilled. “Do what?” Because she was
definitely getting the this-is-not-a-date vibe now.
A warring shift in contradiction took
over her body. Everything inside grew rapidly chilly while her skin heated in
what she hoped wasn’t a blush. Her pale complexion always gave away her
emotions and she hated that more than she’d hated freshman algebra. Math was
evil.
He let out a tense laugh, which sounded
more like a guffaw, and drew several heads from other diners. “Not exactly a
conversation you want to have over the phone or somethin’, ya know?”
No. She didn’t know. “Maybe if you just
tell me?”
He played with the parmesan shaker, not
meeting her gaze. “Well, the whole town’s buzzing about Rachel and Jeff’s
split.”
She frowned, not connecting the dots on
his crazy pattern. Her older sister had only dated Jeff for a few weeks which,
per Rachel standards, might as well have been marriage. Rachel liked to keep
her options—and legs—open.
Guilt immediately consumed her for the
crass thought, but it didn’t make it any less true. She and Rachel couldn’t be
any more different. Rachel was aloof and sexy. Gabby was the girl next door.
Men desired Rachel. The only thing they desired from Gabby was a shoulder to
cry on after her sister shot them down.
She twirled a strand of hair around her
finger to keep from fidgeting. “I don’t understand what Rachel and Jeff have to
do with…” Unable to finish the sentence—because she had no idea anymore what
“this” was—she waved her hand between them.
“Well,” he said in an aw-shucks kind of
way that made her want to grind her teeth, “now that Rachel’s available, I
thought maybe you could put in a good word for me?”
Bestselling
author Kelly Moran says she gets her ideas from everyone and
everything around her and there’s always a book playing out in her
head. No one who knows her bats an eyelash when she talks to herself,
and no one is safe from becoming her next fictional character. She is
a Catherine Award-Winner, Readers Choice Finalist, Holt Medallion
Finalist, and earned one of the 10 Best Reads by USA Today's HEA. She
is also a Romance Writers of America member. Her interests include:
sappy movies, MLB, NFL, driving others insane, and sleeping when she
can. She is a closet caffeine junkie and chocoholic, but don’t tell
anyone. She resides in Wisconsin with her husband, three sons, and
two dogs. Most of her family lives in the Carolinas, so she spends a
lot of time there as well.
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1 comments:
Such a great excerpt thank you.
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