James - The Boyfriend Contract

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright 2019 by Victoria James. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

2614 South Timberline Road

Suite 105, PMB 159

Fort Collins, CO 80525

rights@entangledpublishing.com

Amara is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Edited by Liz Pelletier

Cover design by Bree Archer

Cover photography by PeopleImages and AndrewSoundarajan/Getty Images

ISBN 978-1-64063-842-6

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition September 2019

Dear Reader,

Thank you for supporting a small publisher! Entangled prides itself on bringing you the highest quality romance youve come to expect, and we couldnt do it without your continued support. We love romance, and we hope this book leaves you with a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

xoxo

Liz Pelletier, Publisher

Chapter One

After six months of driving aimlessly across the country, Emily Birmingham had finally decided she was ready to claim her new lifein middle-of-nowhere Maple Hill. Shed written her three-point plan on the back of a Starbucks napkin at two oclock this morning. Shed even signed it to make it like a binding contract:

1) Break addiction to Diet Coke and Cheetos

2) Turn crappy old house into fabulous country inn

3) Get a life and make real friends

She peered through her filthy windshield as she eased her foot off the gas and slowed her SUV, trying to find a coffee shop on Main Street. Panic filled her at the thought of there not even being one in a place this small. There had to be. Towns without coffee shops couldnt exist. That would be impossible. Maybe.

Maple Hill was situated on the shores of Lake Erie and was where her father had grown up before he ditched it to start his hotel empire.

As soon as shed pulled off the main highway and onto the quiet country roads, wide open land and fresh air had greeted her. Horses, cows, and farmland were the view now instead of skyscrapers and taillights. Driving through the winding, tree-lined streets of Maple Hill, shed gathered that it was a picturesque little place. It was a far cry from the city shed grown up in. But maybe this was good. Maybe this tiny rural town, hours from Toronto, was exactly what she needed.

Twenty-six was far too old to be taking six months off to find herself. Shed never had that need; shed always known who she wasuntil her parents died and all her illusions about them and her role in their family business had been shattered.

First things first, she needed coffee, and lots of it. Relief flooded her as she spotted a sign The Sleepless Goat Coffee House and she pulled into one of the empty spots outside the storefront. She hadnt passed a Starbucks in the last three hours; she was pretty sure withdrawal symptoms were imminent. She absently dropped her keys into her purseor what shed thought was her purse, but the sound of crumpling plastic forced her to check. Emily groaned as she spotted her keys in the middle of her almost empty bag of Cheetos. She tugged them out of the bag, the orange crumbs hopelessly sprinkled across her hand and keys in a way that seemed to highlight the current state of her life.

Empty Diet Coke bottles and bags of Cheetos spilled out the door, onto the road, and she cringed, hoping no one was witnessing this. Not the way to make new, lifelong friends. She quickly scrambled out of her SUV to round up the garbage as it blew around in the wind. Her legs protested any kind of movement after being stuck in her SUV for the night. She dumped her pile of garbage into a nearby trash bin.

Squinting against the sun, she made her way onto the sidewalk of what seemed like a very charming Main Street. There was no parking meter in sight, which she took as a sign this was the right town for hershe was notorious for getting parking tickets. She threw her purse over her shoulder and headed toward the coffee shop, brushing errant crumbs from her shirt as she walked.

An A-frame chalkboard sign on the sidewalk promised all-natural pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin scones, and she picked up her pace. Pumpkin spice was exactly what she needed. It was another messageshe was in the right town. She loved the fall and everything that went with it. Her Diet Coke and Cheetos addiction would be so easy to kick if she had access to pumpkin spice.

The red-brick building had large windows with black awnings, and the massive front doors had glass panes with The Sleepless Goat stenciled on them in blocky, old-school, gold-foil lettering. Reaching for one of the oversize tarnished brass door handles, she paused as she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass. Who the heck was she? Her hair looked as though shed been finger-combing for the past weekwhich she had, but still. There was not a hint of makeup or any kind of grooming skill. She didnt even dare glance down at the rest of her because she already knew her T-shirt was rumpled, her jeans were stained orange from Cheetos dust, and her bare toes in flip-flops werent showing off a cute pedicure. Hopefully seven a.m. was too early for anyone else to be here.

She pulled open the heavy door, and the aroma, and the sound of coffee being ground, and the vibe of the place made it seem a refuge. The black-and-white hexagon-tiled floor spread across the space, and dark, weathered counters housed a variety of silver stands with glass dome covers. Vintage schoolhouse pendant lamps hung in a neat row and cast a warm glow over the freshly baked goods. Small, round, marble-topped bistro tables filled the shop, and a few people were seated at the tables by the floor-to-ceiling front windows. She avoided eye contact with anyone and tried surreptitiously smoothing her rats-nest hairstyle as she walked forward to place an order.

A young woman, maybe around her age, was behind the counter, laughing with a man in front of it who had his back to the door. Judging by the way they were leaning toward each other and their easy smiles, it was clear they knew each other well. Or maybe thats just how people in small towns were. His face was turned away from Emily, and neither of them had noticed she was even there. The woman was very pretty. Her dark brown hair was up in a messy topknot that actually looked like she hadnt spent loads of time perfecting it like the carefully arranged topknots she was used to seeing at Starbucks in Toronto. An oversize apron with the Sleepless Goat logoshowcasing a wide-eyed goat jumping over a cloudenveloped her small form.

It was all really cuteexcept for the fact that no one had noticed Emily and she was dying for a coffee. She checked her watch, worried that she was running late for her appointment with the contractor. Of course, there was no one asking if they could get a drink started for her while she waited. She shifted from one foot to the other and cleared her throat, hoping that would move things along.