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| Cinderella Dreams available HERE |
By
Cate Masters
Most
of us joke, at some point, about having a do-over. The cosmic reset button for
our lives. But how many of us would actually press that button?
I
guess it all depends on how happy you are with your life choices. As the old
saying goes, "Marry in haste, regret at leisure." Some people just
can't get over "the one that got away."
If
you realized you made a huge mistake long ago, would you risk everything to try
to fix it? Once you press that reset button, there's no going back. My heroine,
Gen Fuller, knows this all too well. She's lived at least fifty years past that
fateful day when she let Mr. Right slip away. Now in her 70s, she can't face
another day of living in the past. She wants to return to her old life as a
wedding photographer, to the Eighties decade, to that very day. The day her
former love got married, but now she knows he wasn't Mr. Right after all.
Someone else at that wedding was, though.
Madame
Eve can get her there, but no guarantees. Gen may have another chance at love,
but if it doesn't work out, she faces another lifetime of sorrow and regret.
I'm
so excited Cinderella Dreams is now
an official 1Night Stand story! Here's a little taste of it, sweeter than
wedding cake:
A
deep voice behind Ray said, “Hey, Gen.”
Matt. The next wave
of emotion sent me reeling. I might have drowned in that wave, but the sight of
him riveted me. The best man, taller than the groom by two inches. Slimmer by a
few inches, too. His hazel eyes sparkled, and angels might have sung as he
aimed his dazzling smile at me. I had to remind myself to breathe.
“Hey,
you’re back.” Oh, witty greeting. Way to
state the obvious. Better than gushing how wonderful it was to see him, how
much I’d missed him and feared he’d never return. Now there he stood, hotter
than Bon Jovi, and me his rabid fan.
Something
nagged at me; I’d meant to tell him…what? All I could do was stand and stare
more pathetic than a teenage girl high on her first hormone rush. What the hell
had come over me today?
Matt
locked his gaze on me. “Good to see you.” A throw-away phrase people tossed out
to make conversation, but he said it with such feeling, the emotions
reverberated through me. My hand went to my stomach, now performing Olympian
gymnastics to rival Mary Lou Retton’s floor routine.
“You,
too. So good.” Wow, I couldn’t believe I said it out loud, but I meant it. Matt
had moved away a year earlier. When Ray broke up with me, it had been a double
tragedy. Matt and I were buds, though we indulged in occasional flirtations.
Harmless, mostly. Except for the night we split a six pack waiting for Ray to
show up, and we shared something better—a kiss. One incredible, mind-blowing
kiss, the kind that starts off slow and builds to the intensity of a hurricane.
It turned my world upside down, but I begged him not to say a word to Ray. Then
Matt was gone, and soon after, Ray dropped the breakup bomb on me.
Ray
grabbed his sleeve. “We need to get in place. It’s almost time.”
“Calm
down,” Matt told him, shooting me a glance as they stepped up on the altar. A
worried look that said he wanted to be sure I was okay.
It
sent a tingle through my nerves, but the blare of the organ playing the
“Wedding March” erased it. Time to get to work, but I couldn’t shake the
euphoria since Matt arrived.
Taking
a deep breath, I pointed my camera at the six guys lined up, waiting for their
pretty maids all in a row. Except Matt, who still watched me with a gaze so
focused, it seemed to reach right through the telephoto lens. Without thinking,
I clicked the shutter, a picture I’d keep for myself. Not that I’d need it.
Already, his image had seared into my memory.
About Cate:
Multipublished,
award-winning author Cate Masters has made beautiful central Pennsylvania her
home, but she’ll always be a Jersey girl at heart. When not spending time with
her dear hubby, she can be found in her lair, concocting a magical brew of
contemporary, historical, and fantasy/paranormal stories with her cat Chairman
Maiow and dog Lily as company. Look for her at http://catemasters.blogspot.com and in strange nooks and far-flung corners of
the web.
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