It seemed like a good id.., p.32
It Seemed Like a Good Idea (Darling Springs Book 1),
p.32
Sure, it’s a dog party, but I’ll network better without a pooch by my side.
I strip off my sweats and fuzzy socks and run into the bathroom, leaving a trail of clothes on the floor behind me, next to the estimate from the car repair shop to get my door working again. Like I can even afford to sort out all of Roxie’s problems even with the discount the sweet owner is offering me since she’s a friend of my mom’s.
Thirty-five minutes later, I’m fresh as fuck, and I’ve dropped Captain at my mom’s, so he can play with her Golden mix Penny Lane. I scoot across the passenger seat again, dressed for the festivities. Well, the dress code did say fabulous.
I’m wearing a white summery dress with light-blue Converse sneakers, my hair piled into a bun, and just the right amount of makeup. I head out of town, blasting girl power anthems the whole drive down to the city and praying the car speakers don’t die along the way.
Or the spark plugs either.
But parking costs a couple kidneys in this section of Hayes Valley. At a traffic light, I do a quick search for the closest discount parking, then locate it a half mile from the party. I snag a spot. The all-day price is less than the four-hour one, so I opt for the cheaper option, naturally. After I tuck my phone and lipstick into a tiny thrifted Coach clutch, I walk to Bagel’s third birthday party in the heart of the fancy-pants neighborhood.
I unlock the first of the double gates—they’re white wood and pristine—and my eyes widen. I knew the event was bougie, since it’s held at a just-opened dog park. But wow—is that a lake over there for the dogs to splash around in? Well, it sure seems to be since it’s filled with Labs and Collies paddling after tennis balls.
I open the second gate, then shut it behind me and gawk.
A long, high table by a gazebo holds a cake large enough for me to make out the words Best Boy written in a curly font above a dog bone illustration. A gate keeps the industrious pups out of the gazebo, where buffet tables are set up with appetizers and other treats for humans. Off in another corner of the lush, emerald-green lawn are baskets full of dog toys. And next to that is a stage. A band is setting up.
It’s so over the top, and this is exactly what I need. The chance to chat with one chichi, dog-loving client after another. I squint. I’m pretty sure I spot a rising-star actress over there by the lake. Is that Veronica Angel? Her role as a zodiac-obsessed, heart-on-her-sleeve hippie in a dark comedy has been all the rage, and with good reason—who doesn’t love a zodiac lover. Maybe there are agents here, too, repping dogs? Producers for, I don’t know, dog reality shows?
As I head deeper into the park, Florence spots me, waving grandly my way, bangles sliding down the bronze skin of her arms. She scurries over, a smile cresting across her face. She’s probably coming over to tell me how excited she is to introduce me to everyone.
“You made it, babe,” Florence says, then tosses her arms around me. She’s a hugger all right, and I’ve had to become a hugger thanks to all the octopuses in my life, so I step into her embrace.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. This party is amazing, and Bagel deserves to have all the fun,” I say once she lets go.
The best boy in question trots my way right now, in all his loaf-of-bread Corgi mix glory. When he arrives, he parks himself in a perfect sit at my feet, then offers me a paw for high-fiving.
“Dude, now you’re just showing off for your dog trainer,” Florence says to him, then scratches his chin. “But like I told you, Chloe’s not working tonight.” Florence turns back to me and squeezes my arm. “I told Bagel you’re not here to babysit him. So do not even think about training him, okay? I want this party to be fun for everyone. No work. Just good times.”
And…I spoke too soon. With those two words spoken—no work—it’d probably be gauche to network tonight.
“I can’t think of anything more fun than this,” I say as brightly as I can muster.
Except maybe a stiff drink. Might as well bring the pity party here.
“Pro tip: get the Fuzzy Navel Hound. You won’t regret it,” she says with a straight face as if she’s read my mind. She gestures to the bar, a few feet from the lake.
“Sounds delish,” I say.
When she pats her thigh and Bagel follows gamely along as she presumably heads off to chat with someone else, I draw a deep breath, then reset my plans. Maybe it’s not the right place to network. But at least it’s a warm night, the drinks are flowing, and the entertainment looks to be top-notch.
If nothing else, this party will be a good story to tell my besties about when I return to town.
As I beeline to the bar in search of a Fuzzy Navel Hound, whatever that is, my gaze lands on a tall, sturdy man resting an elbow against the end of the bar, checking out the scene. He has dark, wavy hair, soulful eyes, and a scowl on his handsome face.
Hello, sir.
Why am I always attracted to the grumpy ones? If I only knew, I could write a book about the charisma of the cantankerous male. My body hums as I take in the chiseled jaw lined with a trim beard, the strong nose, the broad chest. He’s dressed in khaki shorts and a white linen shirt that can’t hide the muscles in his arms. His eyes are crinkled at the corners as he seems to take in the whole event.
But I keep returning to that serious mouth. Especially since his scruff is making me wonder if I could use his beard as an exfoliator.
On my thighs.
That sounds better than salted caramel tiramisu ice cream for erasing the day.
But when he turns to a stunning brunette by his side, my shoulders slump.
Of course he’s taken. That’s just my luck.
Read on…
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you so much for reading this book. It’s a story I wanted to tell ever since I visited a lavender farm in Washington state. I was absolutely enchanted by the smells, the sights, and the blissful escape that the farm brought to me. I hope that this story has given you a temporary escape while you’ve spent time in Darling Springs at Lavender Bliss.
Thank you so much to all the wonderful humans who helped to bring this story together. I am so grateful to Michelle Wolfson for her stewardship and abiding faith, to Deb Werksman for her belief in the story and her insight into exactly what it needed to shine, to Jocelyn Travis for shepherding it over the finish line, to Anthony Colletti for his calm wisdom, and to KP Simmon for walking by my side every day. Big thank you to the entire team at Sourcebooks who brought this story onto shelves. And to my team who helped make it shine—Lauren, Rosemary, Kara, Sandra, Karen, Virginia, Steph, Claudia, Kim, Lo, Rae, and Jill. Endless love to my family—my kids and my husband and my four-legged little loves.
Most of all thank you to you for picking up this romance.
I’ve written more than 100 books! All of these titles below are FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
The Love and Hockey Series
The Boyfriend Goal
A roommates-to-lovers, teammate’s little sister hockey romance!
The Romance Line
An enemies-to-lovers, player and the publicist, forbidden romance!
The Proposal Play
A brother’s best friend/marriage of convenience romance!
The Girlfriend Zone
A coach's daughter romance!
The Overtime Kiss!
A single dad/nanny romance!
The Flirting Game!
A neighbors to lovers, fake dating romance!
Hockey Ever After
Just Breaking the Rules!
A brother's best friend/workplace/one who got away romance!
Just Playing for Keeps!
A grumpy sunshine, fake dating romance!
Holiday Romances
Merry Little Kissmas
Fake dating my brother's best friend at Christmas!
My Favorite Holidate
Fake dating the billionaire boss at Christmas!
Darling Springs
It Seemed Like a Good Idea!
An only one-bed-in-the-room, forbidden, small town bodyguard romance!
I’ve Got a Crush On You!
A grumpy sunshine, workplace romance where the boss has a secret identity!
The My Hockey Romance Series
Hockey, spice, shenanigans and cute dogs in this series of standalones! Because when you get screwed over, make it a double or even a triple!
Karma is two hockey boyfriends and sometimes three!
Double Pucked
A sexy, outrageous MFM hockey romantic comedy!
Puck Yes
A fake marriage, spicy MFM hockey rom com!
Thoroughly Pucked!
A brother’s best friends +runaway bride, spicy MFM hockey rom com!
Well and Truly Pucked
A friends-to-lovers forced proximity why-choose hockey rom com!
The Virgin Society Series
Meet the Virgin Society – great friends who’d do anything for each other. Indulge in these forbidden, emotionally-charged, and wildly sexy age-gap romances!
The RSVP
The Tryst
The Tease
The Dating Games Series
A fun, sexy romantic comedy series about friends in the city and their dating mishaps!
The Virgin Next Door
Two A Day
The Good Guy Challenge
How To Date Series (New and ongoing)
Friends who are like family. Chances to learn how to date again. Standalone romantic comedies full of love, sex and meet-cute shenanigans.
My So-Called Love Life
Plays Well With Others
The Almost Romantic
The Accidental Dating Experiment
A romantic comedy adventure standalone
A Real Good Bad Thing
Boyfriend Material
Four fabulous heroines. Four outrageous proposals. Four chances at love in this sexy rom-com series!
Asking For a Friend
Sex and Other Shiny Objects
One Night Stand-In
Overnight Service
Big Rock Series
My #1 New York Times Bestselling sexy as sin, irreverent, male-POV romantic comedy!
Big Rock
Mister O
Well Hung
Full Package
Joy Ride
Hard Wood
Happy Endings Series
Romance starts with a bang in this series of standalones following a group of friends seeking and avoiding love!
Come Again
Shut Up and Kiss Me
Kismet
My Single-Versary
Ballers And Babes
Sexy sports romance standalones guaranteed to make you hot!
Most Valuable Playboy
Most Likely to Score
A Wild Card Kiss
Rules of Love Series
Athlete, virgins and weddings!
The Virgin Rule Book
The Virgin Game Plan
The Virgin Replay
The Virgin Scorecard
The Extravagant Series
Bodyguards, billionaires and hoteliers in this sexy, high-stakes series of standalones!
One Night Only
One Exquisite Touch
My One-Week Husband
The Guys Who Got Away Series
Friends in New York City and California fall in love in this fun and hot rom-com series!
Birthday Suit
Dear Sexy Ex-Boyfriend
The What If Guy
Thanks for Last Night
The Dream Guy Next Door
Always Satisfied Series
A group of friends in New York City find love and laughter in this series of sexy standalones!
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Never Have I Ever
Instant Gratification
PS It’s Always Been You
The Gift Series
An after dark series of standalones! Explore your fantasies!
The Engagement Gift
The Virgin Gift
The Decadent Gift
The Heartbreakers Series
Three brothers. Three rockers. Three standalone sexy romantic comedies.
Once Upon a Real Good Time
Once Upon a Sure Thing
Once Upon a Wild Fling
Sinful Men
A high-stakes, high-octane, sexy-as-sin romantic suspense series!
My Sinful Nights
My Sinful Desire
My Sinful Longing
My Sinful Love
My Sinful Temptation
From Paris With Love
Swoony, sweeping romances set in Paris!
Wanderlust
Part-Time Lover
One Love Series
A group of friends in New York falls in love one by one in this sexy rom-com series!
The Sexy One
The Hot One
The Knocked Up Plan
Come As You Are
Lucky In Love Series
A small town romance full of heat and blue collar heroes and sexy heroines!
Best Laid Plans
The Feel Good Factor
Nobody Does It Better
Unzipped
No Regrets
An angsty, sexy, emotional, new adult trilogy about one young couple fighting to break free of their pasts!
The Start of Us
The Thrill of It
Every Second With You
The Caught Up in Love Series
A group of friends finds love!
The Pretending Plot
The Dating Proposal
The Second Chance Plan
The Private Rehearsal
Seductive Nights Series
A high heat series full of danger and spice!
Night After Night
After This Night
One More Night
A Wildly Seductive Night
Joy Delivered Duet
A high-heat, wickedly sexy series of standalones that will set your sheets on fire!
Nights With Him
Forbidden Nights
Unbreak My Heart
A standalone second chance emotional roller coaster of a romance
The Muse
A magical realism romance set in Paris
Good Love Series of sexy rom-coms co-written with Lili Valente!
I also write MM romance under the name L. Blakely!
Hopelessly Bromantic Duet (MM)
Roomies to lovers to enemies to fake boyfriends
Hopelessly Bromantic
Here Comes My Man
Men of Summer Series (MM)
Two baseball players on the same team fall in love in a forbidden romance spanning five epic years
Scoring With Him
Winning With Him
All In With Him
MM Standalone Novels
A Guy Walks Into My Bar
The Bromance Zone
One Time Only
The Best Men (Co-written with Sarina Bowen)
Winner Takes All Series (MM)
A series of emotionally-charged and irresistibly sexy standalone MM sports romances!
The Boyfriend Comeback
Turn Me On
A Very Filthy Game
Limited Edition Husband
Manhandled
If you want a personalized recommendation, email me at laurenblakelybooks@gmail.com!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and #1 Audible bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that’s cute but spicy. Lauren likes dogs, cake, and show tunes and is the vegetarian at your dinner party.
Website: LaurenBlakely.com
Facebook: LaurenBlakelyBooks
Instagram: @laurenblakelybooks
BE A LOVELY
Want to be the first to know of sales, new releases, special deals and giveaways? Sign up for my newsletter today!
Want to be part of a fun, feel-good place to talk about books and romance, and get sneak peeks of covers and advance copies of my books? Be a Lovely!
CONTACT
I love hearing from readers! You can sign up for my newsletter today! Find me on Instagram at LaurenBlakelyBooks, Facebook at LaurenBlakelyBooks, or online at LaurenBlakely.com. You can also email me at laurenblakelybooks@gmail.com
Lauren Blakely, It Seemed Like a Good Idea (Darling Springs Book 1)
