Sample Sunday-You Can’t Plan Love

In six weeks my second book, Worth the Wait, releases from Crimson Romance. I’m very excited, and to celebrate I plan to post an excerpt from Worth the Wait every Sunday until release day. As I came up with this plan I realized I never posted a sample of my debut novel, You Can’t Plan Love. So to kick off my leap into Sample Sundays I’m rectifying that situation and starting with a You Can’t Plan Love excerpt. No better place to start than the beginning.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 1

Kenyatta Copeland felt bile rise in her throat. She looked down at the half-eaten quesadilla she’d ordered for lunch, but couldn’t blame her sickness on that. Her friend Angie chatted happily about some game her daughters had played the night before, oblivious to the lack of interest of her two lunch partners.

She tried swaying from side to side with the Latin music playing in the background of the Mexican restaurant, hoping it would hide her anxiety. But when she caught the eye of Carol, her other friend sitting across from her in the booth, she knew she was busted. It would take a miracle to get through lunch without making Carol suspicious. Carol could sniff out a lie from a mile away.

With a deep breath to calm her rolling stomach, she pulled her hand from her lap and slapped it on the table. “Brad asked me to marry him last night.” She looked into Carol’s eyes and smiled. “And I said yes.”

Angie froze in the middle of her sentence before squealing and leaning over to hug her. “Oh my God, that’s wonderful!” Kenyatta couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s exuberance. There was a definite blush beneath Angie’s tan skin as she grabbed her hand for a better look at the ring. “I can’t wait to go dress shopping with you! Picking out my wedding dress was the best part of my wedding!”

Kenyatta eased her hand out of her friend’s grip. “He just asked me last night, Angie. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

Carol raised a well-manicured brow. “Well, at the rate he’s moving, I’m surprised he hasn’t picked your dress.”

Kenyatta sighed and rolled her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Carol shrugged her shoulders as if she hadn’t loaded her comment with hidden meaning.

The air conditioning blasted to compensate for the August heat, but it was still warm inside. Yet there Carol sat wearing a long-sleeved zebra print jacket over a red camisole. On any other size big woman, the outfit would have looked ridiculous, but as usual, Carol made it work.

“Don’t get your damn panties in a bunch. I’m not saying anything you don’t already know. You’ve only been dating for six months and he’s already asked you to marry him.”

Kenyatta sat up straighter. “It’s been longer than that. I’ve known him for almost two years. We’ve only officially dated the past six months.”

Angie jumped to Brad’s defense. “When a man knows what he wants, he doesn’t wait around for it. Brad loves Kenyatta, and that’s why he’s ready for a commitment.”

“Maybe,” Carol answered as she ate another tortilla chip. She flung the hair from her shoulder-length jet-black wig over her zebra-clad shoulders and sat back against the booth, never taking her eyes off Kenyatta.

Angie ignored Carol’s dry reply and kept talking, “And we can both agree that he’s better than the other guys who’ve sniffed around Kenyatta.”

“Amen to that!” Carol agreed.

Kenyatta turned from one to the other and laughed. “Will you two stop talking as if I’m not here? You act as if I’ve been through a dozen failed relationships. Brad is only the second guy I’ve dated seriously since college.”

“We’re counting the fool you messed around with in college as well,” Carol said around the tortilla chip in her mouth.

Kenyatta stopped laughing and pointed at the two of them. “I’m not alone in that department.”

Carol looked away, and Angie gulped down her iced tea. She knew neither of them wanted to revisit the messed up situation they all were a part of in college.

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I hope you enjoyed the excerpt! Click on my books tab above for all the purchasing links. You Can’t Plan Love is available wherever e-books are sold and in paperback!