Blind Date

Blind Date

Monica Murphy

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Epilogue

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Acknowledgements

Also by Monica Murphy

About the Author

One

Amelia

Silver Bells…

I frown as I climb out of my car, automatically disapproving of the traditional Christmas music blasting from the unseen speakers.

Silver Bells…

Slamming the car door, I huff out a long, aggravated breath as my boots crunch across the gravel parking lot.

It’s Christmas time in the city…

God, I despise Christmas music. It doesn’t help that they start playing it in October. That they start showing holiday commercials earlier and earlier every year. But with the season brings brisk business, and since I work at my family’s fine jewelry store, that means we’re extra busy for the last three months of the year.

This also means I have to deal with listening to a lot of Christmas music during those three months.

My parents live for the holiday season. My father and my older brother, Palmer, make marketing plans years in advance. My mother enjoys decorating the store and creating special boutique shopping hours for our VIP customers. Palmer also loves nothing more than to come striding into the store every morning in one of his expensive, custom suits, acting like a big shot. As if he owns the place. Someday, he will. So will I. Our parents are splitting it between us, fifty-fifty, which not so secretly infuriates my brother.

Me? I just show up every day and do my job, all while keeping my recent complaining to an absolute minimum and pray my mother doesn’t try to set me up with some bachelor who wanders into the store, desperate to find a gift for his mother/nanna/aunt/whatever. My prayers never work.

Mother is always trying to set me up.

Grumpiness has become my every day mood ever since I finally broke it off for good with my ex-boyfriend. He whose name shall never be mentioned. I refuse to say it out loud, or even think it. He caused a lot of trauma in my life over the years. He was gorgeous. Sweet—when I first got together with him. Possessive. Obsessive. Angry. We had outrageous fights and outrageous makeup sex. Seriously, when I was furious at him, he could make me come like no other.

Weird, right? Twisted and fucked up, if I’m being honest.

I’m beyond that now. I’d rather be alone than feeling on edge all the time. It’s taken me a while to get over him. Get over the extra-bitter taste he left in my mouth. My mood has been so foul lately, my parents try to come up with any reason to get me out of the store, even if only for a few hours.