Sex Scenes: Yes.
Series: No.
Subject: Amazing second chances.
Synopsis:
Watch out world — I’m ready to date again.
The seven years I invested in my ex left me with nothing but scorch marks from the way he peeled out and left me at the altar. I’m not looking to put my heart into a relationship any time soon. But getting back out there? That sounds like a helluva good idea to get my groove back.
Then I bump into Chris….Clever and funny, with a sexy surfer’s bod and a brilliant nerd brain, he has just the right screwdriver to fix my hard drive. (Yes, the one for my computer.) I wouldn’t mind dating him. The trouble is he just proposed to me—to be the new dating guru on his TV show.
Now he’s my new business partner.
What happens when you meet the right person at the wrong time?
Note: Back in the day, I wrote a book called TROPHY HUSBAND, and though it’s no longer available for sale, the characters of Chris and McKenna seemed to demand another chance in the spotlight. THE DATING PROPOSAL is a complete reimagining of their romance, with 85 percent brand-new material, a fresh plot, and vastly expanded characterizations so you can come to know and love Chris and McKenna like I do. Enjoy!
I loved McKenna and Chris’s story!
From the beginning I was captivated by her and her enormous strength. Running into the person that broke your heart only to realize that you have already healed yourself must be one of the most amazing feelings in the world. To be ready to move on, to take the next step and taking control of your life.
The ultimate meet cute situation brings them together and Chris becomes her knight in shining armor. Chris was just perfect; he had some issues but nothing that would mess up his chances with McKenna.
They had instant chemistry and every interaction they shared made me giddy for more, completely impossible to put the book down. I was rooting for both of them to just stop pretending and fall into bed and in love together.
A story that shows that damaged people can grow and heal from their pain, no matter how hard it is. Just because someone broke your heart, doesn’t mean you have to close up and run away from anything emotional.
That's the easy way out, the coward move, strong people are not scared to open up their hearts again. Just because you run into the wrong person doesn’t mean that there isn’t an amazing one waiting out there for you.
The first rule of dating? Don’t fall for your business partner! Find out what happens when McKenna breaks that rule in THE DATING PROPOSAL, a witty, clever new standalone romantic comedy from #1 NYT Bestseller Lauren Blakely now available in KINDLE UNLIMITED! Grab it at the amazing price of 99 cents NOW because the price will be going up to $3.99 at the stroke of midnight tonight!
The Dating 101 lesson rule book...
✔ Get back out there!
✔ Have some fun!
✔ Don't fall for your new business partner!
Dive into this fun, fresh romance about the pitfalls and perils of the dating circuit! Especially when they involve falling for the one person you shouldn’t!
And the audiobook is now available too! It's narrated by Sebastian York and Andi Arndt with a special treat at the end - a bonus novella read duet style by Andi Arndt and Jason Clarke. Pick up your copy today!
✮✮✮ THE DATING PROPOSAL is here & free in KINDLE UNLIMITED! Grab your copy today! ✮✮✮
ORDER YOUR COPIES HERE!
✦ Kindle ➜ https://blkly.pub/DatingKindle (FREE in KU!)
✦ Paperback ➜ https://blkly.pub/DatingPB
✦ Audible ➜ https://blkly.pub/DatingAudible (Andi Arndt & Sebastian York)
✦ THE DATING PROPOSAL is narrated by Andi Arndt and Sebastian York! Lose yourself in this fantastic story, and then, treat yourself to the bonus novella, DELAYED SATISFACTION! Get your copy today! ✦ ✦ Audio ➜ https://blkly.pub/DatingAudible
"This is the kind of story that has romance readers squealing in delight, swooning in their seats and laughing out loud. I loved every single word, every single moment and innuendo." ~ Red Cheeks Reads
“Seriously outrageously entertaining with such witty flirty banter that made my cheeks hurt from laughing so much! This story was the book dreams are made of!” ~ Marina, MiBookshelf
“Chris and McKenna are pure gold.” ~ Becca, Wicked Quests of a Book Ninja
About Lauren Blakely: A #1 New York Times Bestselling, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling, and #1 Audible Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that's sweet, sexy and witty. Her heroines are strong and smart and her heroes have hearts of gold and fantastic funny bones. She lives in California with her family, including her smoking hot and hilarious husband and her two brilliant and kind children. She has plotted entire novels while walking her dogs -- she might have four dogs, or maybe five. If she's lucky, she'll soon have six dogs. With fourteen New York Times bestsellers, her titles have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Lists more than 100 times, and she's sold more than 3 million books. In May she'll release THE DATING PROPOSAL, in June SATISFACTION GUARANTEED and in September INSTANT GRATIFICATION. To receive an email when Lauren releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter! laurenblakely.com/newsletter
Website ** Facebook ** Twitter ** Newsletter ** Goodreads
EXCERPT
~Chris~
I’m not checking out her body.
I’m not staring at her face. I’m focused on the task at hand. Thank God I have one, because otherwise, I’d be staring at those eyes. They’re blue with gold flecks, making them look almost hazel at times. She has all sorts of colors working in her irises, and the net effect is totally captivating.
So is her lush mouth.
She’s running it while I carefully screw the case back together. It’s painstaking work since it’s tiny and the screwdrivers are the size of nails.
“I tried to fix my shower once,” McKenna says, wrapping her slender hands around a cup of coffee. Yes, even her hands are hot. Lord help me.
“Yeah?” I glance at her hands then back at the hard drive. “How’d it go?”
“Well, if you consider scars a good thing, it went well.”
I look up. “Scars can be cool. I trust it ween exceedingly well?”
She lifts her chin and shows me a thin white scar on the right side of her jaw. “Then I did a fabulous job of ‘fixing’ the shower.” She sketches air quotes.
“Looks like it to me. But how exactly did the shower hit you in the face?”
“When the door fell.” She says it so matter-of-factly.
I blink, trying to process the enormity of everything that could have gone wrong. “I don’t know if I should be impressed you tried to fix a shower door without any fix-it skills, or impressed with your good luck in surviving the incident. Because those things are heavy.”
“Hey! How do you know I don’t have any fix-it skills?”
I grin. “Lucky guess?”
“Fine. You’re right. But what else was I to do?” She shrugs, her tone light and breezy. “It wouldn’t close all the way. And that was getting me down because I like to take really hot showers. We’re talking sauna temperature. You know the type? Imagine you walk into the bathroom, and steam is everywhere, and you can barely even see the other person in the shower. Just the silhouette? Can you picture that?”
Can I picture it? Hell, I can feel that. In my pants. “Yep,” I answer, and it comes out a little dry, a little gravelly. Because painting crazy-hot images is playing below the belt, and I bet she doesn’t even realize it. Hot women shouldn’t use the word “shower” in casual conversation. It’s wholly unnecessary, along with “yoga pants” and “strawberries.”
“So you tried to fix it?” I ask, forcing myself to focus on the project in front of me, rather than on images of steam rising, which lead to other things rising.
“Yup. And then that shower door showed me who was boss.” She holds up her forearm vertically then lets it fall as she makes a kaboom sound.
I can’t help but laugh. “And whacked you on its way down?”
“Completely whacked. It’s kind of a miracle I’m alive, come to think of it.”
“I’m glad you survived the shower whacking. What happened with the door thought?”
“I called my friend Andy. He fixed it for me. It works like a steamy, dreamy charm now.” She takes a sip of her coffee, smiling happily.
I stop and take a drink of espresso.
“Andy? So he’s Handy Andy?” I kind of hate him already. Wait. That’s dumb. I don’t feel a thing for Handy Andy who was in McKenna’s shower, that lucky bastard.
“That’s a good one. Can you rhyme my name?”
“Henna McKenna?” I toss out.
“And you’ll be Chris who brings me bliss by fixing the hard drive,” she says, and I just smile at her.
“You’re a bundle of energy,” I say as I return to my project, moving to the right side of the case.
“And you’re a bundle of skills. What do you do when you’re not rescuing hard drives from evil cats?”
“Admittedly, that does occupy a large portion of my day. But in the few hours I can eke out, I host a show.”
“Like radio show or a podcast?”
I twist the screwdriver a notch. “It’s a TV show. On WebFlix. It’s called Geeking Out.”
She narrows her eyes and points at me, circling her finger. “You’re a geek?”
“You say that like it doesn’t compute, and yet here I am, fixing your tech in a coffee shop. I’d say that makes me a geek.”
“You definitely don’t look like a geek.”
I meet her eyes. They’re sparking with a glint of playfulness. “And what does a geek look like?”
“Not like a surfer. You look like you’re going to go hang ten.”
“I do that too. For fun.”
She pumps a fist. “Nailed it. You totally have that vibe about you. Not that I’m pigeonholing you based on your looks. But with the Nor Cal T-shirt, it wasn’t the hardest round of Jeopardy! to play.” She imitates Alex Trebek. “What is the most likely profession of a guy with floppy hair, a not-from-the-salon tan, and casual charm?”
I quirk up the corner of my lips. “You think I’m charming?”
She blushes, but it disappears quickly. “You charmed my hard drive out of my hands.”
I screw the final piece of the case back together, set down the tiny tool, drag a hand through my hair, and gesture to the repaired device. “Good as new.”
“Wow,” she says appreciatively, picking up the drive and gazing at it in admiration. “Thank you so much. You are Mr. Fix It.”
I puff out my chest playfully. “Why, thank you very much. I’m having T-shirts made with that saying. Want one?”
“I do. I want one to sleep in at night.”
And there she goes again.
EXCERPT
~Chris~
I’m not checking out her body.
I’m not staring at her face. I’m focused on the task at hand. Thank God I have one, because otherwise, I’d be staring at those eyes. They’re blue with gold flecks, making them look almost hazel at times. She has all sorts of colors working in her irises, and the net effect is totally captivating.
So is her lush mouth.
She’s running it while I carefully screw the case back together. It’s painstaking work since it’s tiny and the screwdrivers are the size of nails.
“I tried to fix my shower once,” McKenna says, wrapping her slender hands around a cup of coffee. Yes, even her hands are hot. Lord help me.
“Yeah?” I glance at her hands then back at the hard drive. “How’d it go?”
“Well, if you consider scars a good thing, it went well.”
I look up. “Scars can be cool. I trust it ween exceedingly well?”
She lifts her chin and shows me a thin white scar on the right side of her jaw. “Then I did a fabulous job of ‘fixing’ the shower.” She sketches air quotes.
“Looks like it to me. But how exactly did the shower hit you in the face?”
“When the door fell.” She says it so matter-of-factly.
I blink, trying to process the enormity of everything that could have gone wrong. “I don’t know if I should be impressed you tried to fix a shower door without any fix-it skills, or impressed with your good luck in surviving the incident. Because those things are heavy.”
“Hey! How do you know I don’t have any fix-it skills?”
I grin. “Lucky guess?”
“Fine. You’re right. But what else was I to do?” She shrugs, her tone light and breezy. “It wouldn’t close all the way. And that was getting me down because I like to take really hot showers. We’re talking sauna temperature. You know the type? Imagine you walk into the bathroom, and steam is everywhere, and you can barely even see the other person in the shower. Just the silhouette? Can you picture that?”
Can I picture it? Hell, I can feel that. In my pants. “Yep,” I answer, and it comes out a little dry, a little gravelly. Because painting crazy-hot images is playing below the belt, and I bet she doesn’t even realize it. Hot women shouldn’t use the word “shower” in casual conversation. It’s wholly unnecessary, along with “yoga pants” and “strawberries.”
“So you tried to fix it?” I ask, forcing myself to focus on the project in front of me, rather than on images of steam rising, which lead to other things rising.
“Yup. And then that shower door showed me who was boss.” She holds up her forearm vertically then lets it fall as she makes a kaboom sound.
I can’t help but laugh. “And whacked you on its way down?”
“Completely whacked. It’s kind of a miracle I’m alive, come to think of it.”
“I’m glad you survived the shower whacking. What happened with the door thought?”
“I called my friend Andy. He fixed it for me. It works like a steamy, dreamy charm now.” She takes a sip of her coffee, smiling happily.
I stop and take a drink of espresso.
“Andy? So he’s Handy Andy?” I kind of hate him already. Wait. That’s dumb. I don’t feel a thing for Handy Andy who was in McKenna’s shower, that lucky bastard.
“That’s a good one. Can you rhyme my name?”
“Henna McKenna?” I toss out.
“And you’ll be Chris who brings me bliss by fixing the hard drive,” she says, and I just smile at her.
“You’re a bundle of energy,” I say as I return to my project, moving to the right side of the case.
“And you’re a bundle of skills. What do you do when you’re not rescuing hard drives from evil cats?”
“Admittedly, that does occupy a large portion of my day. But in the few hours I can eke out, I host a show.”
“Like radio show or a podcast?”
I twist the screwdriver a notch. “It’s a TV show. On WebFlix. It’s called Geeking Out.”
She narrows her eyes and points at me, circling her finger. “You’re a geek?”
“You say that like it doesn’t compute, and yet here I am, fixing your tech in a coffee shop. I’d say that makes me a geek.”
“You definitely don’t look like a geek.”
I meet her eyes. They’re sparking with a glint of playfulness. “And what does a geek look like?”
“Not like a surfer. You look like you’re going to go hang ten.”
“I do that too. For fun.”
She pumps a fist. “Nailed it. You totally have that vibe about you. Not that I’m pigeonholing you based on your looks. But with the Nor Cal T-shirt, it wasn’t the hardest round of Jeopardy! to play.” She imitates Alex Trebek. “What is the most likely profession of a guy with floppy hair, a not-from-the-salon tan, and casual charm?”
I quirk up the corner of my lips. “You think I’m charming?”
She blushes, but it disappears quickly. “You charmed my hard drive out of my hands.”
I screw the final piece of the case back together, set down the tiny tool, drag a hand through my hair, and gesture to the repaired device. “Good as new.”
“Wow,” she says appreciatively, picking up the drive and gazing at it in admiration. “Thank you so much. You are Mr. Fix It.”
I puff out my chest playfully. “Why, thank you very much. I’m having T-shirts made with that saying. Want one?”
“I do. I want one to sleep in at night.”
And there she goes again.
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