The Pure Romance Collection Part 2: 4 Sweet Romance Short Stories

By Elizabeth Reed

Pure Romance Collection Part Two
4 Sweet Romance Short Stories.

Please note that each of these stories can be bought as a standalone separate story.

Total word count 22,717.

The Surprise Date

After celebrating her best friend Helen’s wedding, Julia is making an effort to improve her love life. Having signed up for online dating months ago, she now thinks she has met someone special – a man called Dean, who might just be able to claim her heart. This is more than a relief to Julia, as she is trying to avoid all contact with Helen’s brother Mark. Julia has a complicated history with Mark, who has a profound, unnerving effect on her senses.
Putting the issue of Mark behind her, Julia waits at a coffee bar to meet Dean in the flesh at last. To her surprise and horror, Dean is very different from what she had imagined....

Getting the Boss’s Attention

From the moment Helen set eyes on her boss, Ben, she knew they were destined to end up together. The only problem was that getting Ben’s attention proved to be an extremely difficult task to accomplish. His entire focus seemed to be fixed on his work, with socialising not a priority in his life.
Then, an invitation arrives for a charity ball, and to Helen’s surprise, Ben announces that they should attend together. She wonders if this could be just the opportunity she has been waiting for, to bring them closer.
But Helen’s hopes seem to be in vain with the charity ball a disaster from beginning to end, and Helen eventually pushed into an outburst. This makes her start to question her feelings about Ben in the first place, and whether all her hard work in getting his attention and affection were ever worth her efforts!

The Secret Billionaire

Jessica meets an extremely handsome stranger while sitting and minding her own business on the train.
But the stranger seems determined to strike up a conversation and gain Jessica’s attention. On their journey together, he tells her that his name is Paul and that he finds her beautiful, all before asking her out on a date.
Now, some women would have been flattered by such a compliment, but not Jessica! She has sworn off any interest in men and is less than impressed by a pass being made at her, and rudely tells Paul her thoughts on the matter before they part ways.
The next day, the scene between Paul and herself plays in her mind and Jessica wonders if she had been too harsh with her words to him, but she puts her feelings of guilt aside taking comfort in the fact that she will never see the stranger again.
Unfortunately, she finds out the hard way that fate sometimes throws people together, and to her surprise and horror she meets Paul again at the hotel where she works. This time around, she becomes aware that the stranger is no other than Mr Paul Truman who is a billionaire. What’s even more surprising is that fact that Paul seems even more determined than ever to prove that he is just the man for her!

The Reluctant Damsel in Distress

Both Annabel and Gavin find their lives changing the moment they dramatically meet after Gavin nearly runs her over in the middle of the road!
Gavin insists on taking Annabel home after she is shaken by the event, and there, he is met by her matchmaking mother just before finding out on the same visit that Annabel is in need of much help as the bailiffs in his presence give her forty-eight hours to pay off her debts to them otherwise Annabel’s possessions will be confiscated.
Annabel feels uncomfortable that Gavin is aware of her problem, but worse is to come when he takes it upon himself to pay off her debts, and she finds that she now owes him instead of the bailiffs and so is at his mercy!
Now Annabel finds herself working hard to pay back Gavin’s money, but even more difficult for her is her fight to resist the obvious attraction they share between them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elizabeth Reed
• Release date: Feb 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310238352

Elizabeth Reed

As long as I can remember I have always loved everything and anything to do with the romance genre. Enjoying writing, reading and watching a wide range of love stories. I am a true romantic at heart! So after studying for a philosophy degree and then going on to work in a corporate job in advertising, I decided to reconnect with my passion again! I now write mainly romance short stories, with the aim to share all of my ideas with others who also have an interest in romantic fiction. I write in a range of romance subgenres including erotic romance, contemporary, sweet, paranormal/fantasy fiction and historical. I hope to continue writing as long as my ideas keep flowing out from my mind. In early 2014 I experienced my own personal love story, when I married my one true love. I now live together with my husband in London.

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Pure Romance Collection Part 2: 4 Sweet Romance Short Stories

By Elizabeth Reed

Published by Elizabeth Reed at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Elizabeth Reed

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

The Surprise Date

Getting The Boss’s Attention

The Secret Billionaire

The Reluctant Damsel In Distress

The Surprise Date

Chapter 1

‘Gosh, it feels like such a long time since we last spoke.’

‘Yes, you’re right. It’s been a really busy period, especially with your wedding. Now that you are back after your long honeymoon, we will have lots of time to catch up!’ Julia smiled at Helen, who was her closet friend since childhood. She noted the nice brown tan that Helen had acquired whilst away with her new husband on a beautiful tropical Caribbean island.

‘Helen, you are positively glowing! Married life suits you. How is Ben? How was your trip? Tell me everything!’

Helen laughed at Julia’s enthusiasm. She had flown away the day after her wedding, and they hadn’t had a chance to talk. Helen was more than willing to fill her in on the details of her blissful honeymoon getaway. Julia always provided her with a good audience.

‘Oh, Helen, you both look so happy in these beautiful pictures!’ Julia exclaimed, admiring the photo that showed Helen and Ben smiling with their toes buried in the white sand.

Helen took the picture back from her friend with a big smile on her face, though it gradually disappeared and was replaced with a more serious expression.

‘And what about you, Julia? How is your love life going?’

‘Oh, me....’ Julia became a little shy as the spotlight fell on her.

‘Yes, Julia, your love life, please tell me you are making more of an effort to meet new people, and hopefully that special someone.’

‘Helen, you know not everyone is as lucky as you to meet someone as great as Ben. It’s hard for the rest of us,’ Julia made her excuses, knowing that she was probably in for another long lecture from Helen on how she had to prioritise her love life! She knew that Helen only hounded her on the topic because she cared about her and wanted to see her happy, but it was still a sore topic for her to address.

‘Nonsense, it wasn’t so easy for me either. You remember all the crazy stuff I had to do to get Ben’s attention at work and then make him fall in love with me. I had to do regular long hours in the office just so I could create more opportunities for him to notice me on the rare occasions he actually turned his head away from his computer screen. And don’t forget the surprise events I had to instigate to get one-on-one time with him … and I went through an image change for him! And if that wasn’t enough, now I have to put up with my mother-in-law, who makes no pretence in letting me know that she does not appreciate my interior design styling in my home, or the funny organic food I am feeding her son.’ Despite Helen’s list of complaints, she delivered them in good humour, laughter clear in her voice.

‘Okay, I concede, it wasn’t all easy for you!’ Julia laughed, remembering all the drastic steps her friend had taken to bag Ben. At the time, she had thought Helen was crazy to go to such extreme measures, but the results spoke for themselves – and from what she had heard and seen of Ben, he did seem worth the effort. She wondered if she would one day meet a special someone who would be worth such hard work. Perhaps she had already, but she was scared to wish too hard in fear she would jinx it!

‘Well, anyway, the point I wanted to make is that you have to fight for what you want. You have to fight for love sometimes…. It’s not just going to find you sitting on a park bench, no matter what the Hollywood movies tell us. Sometimes you just got to give love and fate a helping hand!’ Helen spoke passionately to her, making sure that Julia understood her meaning clearly.

‘Yes, Helen, I couldn’t agree more!’

‘You do?!’ Helen looked at her with surprise. Julia usually put up more resistance on the topic of love and romance.

‘Yes, I do. That is why I went through with it and signed myself up to that online dating site … the one I told you about over three months ago!’

‘You did?’ Helen frowned. ‘Oh yes, I remember you said you were thinking of joining a dating site. I never thought you would actually go through with it. Where did you get the courage to sign up? Gosh, I never thought to ask you and follow up on your progress. The wedding took all my attention; I am sorry!’

‘Don’t be sorry…. It was probably better you didn’t ask, so I felt no pressure in signing up.’

‘So … don’t keep me in suspense. Have you met anyone special through it?’

‘Well, actually … I have.’ Julia spoke slowly, knowing it was torturing Helen not to know all her news. ‘His name is Dean.’

Julia proceeded to give Helen all the details on Dean, how they chatted virtually every day online, and how much they seemed to have in common. He had the power to make her laugh, and he had such a great personality. Julia gushed about her new love interest; she could not help but be excited at the great match Dean seemed to be for her.

‘Gosh, he does sound amazing!’

‘I think he is.’ Julia smiled.

‘Have you met him yet?’

‘No, not yet…. We have only corresponded on email, but we have agreed to meet tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow? How exciting!’ Helen squealed and then frowned, looking at Julia seriously. ‘But you will be careful, won’t you? You don’t know everything about him, after all.’

‘Yes, don’t worry. That’s why I am letting you know about my date today. I will call you tomorrow after it’s over to let you know I am safe and how the date went.’

‘Great! I am glad you shared your news with me. Aren’t you nervous about whether he will look like