Read Online Take a Chance on Me by Debbie Flint - Free Book Online Page A

and hung up. She checked her watch. Plenty of time.
    One hour and three minutes later, freshly scrubbed and glamorously made up, Sadie was almost ready. Twenty minutes until she was due to meet Hot Boat Guy. Actually, twenty-five – she should tarnish her perfect punctuality record, and aim to be five minutes late –
don’t want to look too keen,
or God forbid, arrive
before
her date. No, it was good form to arrive just after, wasn’t it? Weren’t they still
The Rules
? Damned if Sadie knew any more.
    She felt her butterflies kick in with a vengeance. Having set up a five year exclusion zone in her personal life – Tuscany notwithstanding – it felt strange to be dressing to impress once more. Time for one last check in the full-length mirror.
    Hmmm …
    Hair – blonde, bit tousled, fresh ‘up-do’ – good.
    Make-up – glam, sexy, not tarty – good.
    Shoes – ahhh,
very good.
    Dress – kind to curves and cut just above the knee, showing off the best bits of her legs before the thighs went lateral.
    Wide neckline – nice and stretchy – she pulled it down slightly – better off one shoulder.
    No
– off two shoulders.
    Oooo, no –
off one.
    She posed sideways and inhaled, then frowned at her tummy in the mirror. The dress was empire-line – cut-in just below the bust, enhancing her hourglass shape, and skimming over the part that let her down. Her tummy always let her down. But according to that infomercial she’d watched a while ago – ‘
just a phone call away, there’s an instant, no-surgery solution!’
And needing some retail therapy, and a way of fitting into her old suit, she’d made that phone call! And it was a twin pack, so another pair left to wear. Time for the pivotal, shape-changing decision of the night, then.
    Slimming Magic
knickers? Or no
Slimming Magic
knickers?
    Disappointment now? Or disappointment later?
    Dangling the offending garment in her fingers, she raised an eyebrow.
Come on, mirror, what do you think?
The mirror responded and she could swear she heard the wicked queen’s voice.
Not bad. But not great either.
    However, on the ‘plus’ side – as some of her clothes would be if she didn’t stop missing her power-walking class – she already knew Mac approved. He must like ’em cuddly –
there is a God
! And the way he’d held her meant he appreciated her curves. Unlike some men – unlike the slick tycoon she was meeting tomorrow, whom you could barely Google without seeing some skinny supermodel draped all over him. Slicked back hair, huge designer sunglasses, dark suit – sharp, prickly. YUK. Luckily she wouldn’t need to do much more than make her presentation, according to his advisor, the kindly older gent she’d been dealing with. When Sadie had told him about the deal, the advisor had been absolutely insistent that he had a client who was already interested in the product, and could meet the thirty day turnaround. He’d emphasised how unusual that was in business, but she would still read the small print carefully – no one was going to rip Sadie Samantha Turner off, not now she was a bona fide businesswoman. But she was impressed at how fast they’d responded and how quickly they’d arranged this meeting on the back of her Hawaii trip.
Time really was of the essence.
    So back to the pants, still hanging there.
    Nah, disappointment now. Shrugging, she launched the parachute pants onto the bed, opting for her black lace ones instead. Then she picked up her posh toiletries bag – smart enough to double as a clutch bag – and made her way to The Buddha Bar for her date. For her ‘just one night’ with the Hottest Boat Guy she’d ever known.

Chapter Three
    Sadie hovered outside the front entrance to the bar, unsure what to do. She bit her lip. Through the window she couldn’t see anyone in the