A Thing Called Love (Pride Oregon Book 8)

  A Thing Called Love

  Jill Sanders

  Contents

  Summary

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Also by Jill Sanders

  About the Author

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A THING CALLED LOVE

  DIGITAL ISBN: 978-1-945100-21-5

  PRINT ISBN: 9798672025759

  Text copyright © 2021 Grayton Press

  All rights reserved.

  Copyeditor: Erica Ellis – inkdeepediting.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Summary

  Kara has put everything on the line to make other people’s wedding dreams come true. Watching all the happy couples is truly the best job ever. Yet somehow her luck in men resulted in her only dating jerks. What does a woman have to do to find the man of her dreams? Drown?

  Coming from the insanely successful Jordan clan, Conner has always struggled with knowing what he wanted to do in life. But after rescuing the sexy newcomer, suddenly he knows exactly what he wants in his future.

  To Erica Ellis

  Thank you for being the best editor an

  author could ask for.

  Here’s to the next 70 books!

  Prologue

  Conner stood back and watched his cousin Suzie walk down the flower-lined aisle. Out of all of his family members who had gotten married, somehow seeing Suzie as a bride hit him the hardest.

  Even when Riley, his little sister, had gotten married two years back, it hadn’t affected him this much. Sure, he’d been proud. After all, he liked Carter Miller, the man who had married her. Who wouldn’t? The guy was great.

  But the fact that Suzie was marrying Aiden Brogan, one of Conner’s best friends since… well, birth, made him even prouder. Maybe that’s why this wedding hit him so hard? That his little cousin could find love with someone she’d known her entire life made him wonder if he’d missed out himself. Could he have overlooked the one? Was he missing out on his chance?

  After all, this was his fourth cousin to marry in the past four years. They were dropping like flies. Or so everyone at the wedding was saying.

  Of course, that left big targets on the remaining Jordan cousins. There were only three Jordan men left unmarried—Conner’s little brother Jacob, their cousin George, and himself. The three of them were the last of the available bachelors in the Jordan clan.

  Whatever the reason for his new feelings, he was slowly realizing that he was tired of not knowing the direction he was going. He’d struggled with it his entire life, really.

  Sure, he’d attended school and had actually been good at it without even really trying. He’d flown through two years of college, then had returned to Pride when he’d grown bored of classes. Since then, he’d been doing odd jobs. Sometimes he worked for his cousin Sara’s husband Parker, helping him at his construction company. Other times, he helped out at the family’s restaurant, the Golden Oar. Hell, one time he’d even modeled for one of his mother’s paintings. Not that anyone could tell, since she’d positioned him far off in the distance in one of her oil paintings of the beach.

  Still, he’d found plenty to keep him from getting bored. Then, over a year ago, he had started training as a reservist at the Coast Guard facility just outside of town. How he’d let Allen Masters talk him into it was a mystery. He’d run into the guy at the Golden Oar one evening. The man was eating dinner with his family and had started up a conversation.

  The following day, he’d showed up at Conner’s door bright and early. He’d officially signed up to join and had undergone the rigorous application process.

  He wasn’t even quite sure that’s what he wanted out of life. Still, he’d allowed Allen to drag him down to the facility each day and, well, that had been thirteen months ago. Passing the eight-week boot camp had been easy enough. Conner thrived on the challenging physical training. Maybe that’s why he’d stuck it out. If only he could get behind it as much as his family members got behind their careers.

  Being dedicated to something bigger was what Conner really wanted at this point.

  Watching Suzie and Aiden dance under the spotlight and look at one another with such… admiration, he realized for the first time in his life that he was lonely.

  Pride, Oregon, being the small town that it was, didn’t have a revolving door of women to date like he’d had at college. Since his return, he’d found plenty of friends to hang out with and even an ex or two to play with. But nothing that had given him the opportunity to move beyond a few nights of fun. If that’s really what he was looking for.

  Chapter One

  Kara Jenkins had pulled off another perfect wedding. Watching all of the guests stroll slowly out of the massive barn she and her older sister, Robin, had turned into their venue, Sunset Weddings, she took a deep breath of the fall Oregon air and smiled.

  “We did it again,” Robin said, coming up beside her.

  “Yes.” She tried not to squeal with excitement. “We did.” She always felt pumped after such an event. She knew she should be tired after spending more than twenty hours on her feet, but somehow, she was raring to go still.

  “I’m going to make sure the cleaning crew gets started,” Robin said and, after running her hand down Kara’s arm, she turned away.

  “I’ll…” She turned to go help, but Robin glanced back at her.

  “No, you’ve done enough for today. You started three hours earlier than I did. Go, relax.” She motioned to the big doors.

  Off in the distance, she could see the lights from their little cottage, which they had purchased together more than a year ago, when they had moved to Pride.

  “I mean it.” Robin gave her the look, the kind Kara knew all too well, which meant her older sister wouldn’t stop nagging her if she tried to help out.

  “Fine.” She sighed. “I’m going to go take a walk on the beach.” She nodded to the warm dark night outside the large barn doors.

  “Enjoy,” Robin threw over her shoulder as she moved off to oversee the cleaning up.

  Smiling, Kara stepped out into the warm night. There were still a handful of guests standing around in the gravel parking lot, talking. She made her way past the large covered patio, littered with tables and chairs. The entire area was lit up by bright Edison string lights, which hung from the beams and tree branches overhead. She toed off her sandaled heels and carried them with her after she stepped onto the soft sand.

  Strolling along the Oregon coast with a full moon lighting her way and the warm fall breeze heating her up, she could just imagine her fairytale dreams fo
r her future life coming true.

  This is why she’d talked Robin into going into business with her shortly after their grandfather had passed away, leaving them each a large chunk of inheritance.

  Robin had been away at college, studying business, while Kara had a freshly printed high school diploma in her hands and no idea what she wanted to do in life.

  Ever since she’d been a child, she’d scoured through wedding magazines. It was one of her favorite pastimes. When she’d been old enough to start dating and realized that men were nothing like the fairytales she’d grown up with, it somehow became an addiction.

  She’d lose herself in all things weddings. Which is where she’d gotten the idea to open Sunset Weddings. Convincing her sister to pool their inheritance together hadn’t taken as long as she’d thought it would.

  When she’d shown Robin the property she’d found on the coast of Oregon, in the small town they both knew was where their parents had fallen in love, Robin had surprised her by agreeing.

  She couldn’t count the times she’d passed by the large red barn as a child and dreamed of holding her own wedding in the massive building. She’d lucked out when she’d looked and found it up for sale.

  It had taken several months of renovations to turn the massive barn into the beautiful venue it was today. But, thanks to Parker Clark, the renovations had gone smoothly.

  The first year of their business had gone off without a hitch. They were making more money than they had expected, and the word was out that Sunset Weddings was the hottest wedding venue along the Oregon coast.

  They had it all. The redesigned interior was sleek and chic. They’d added an enormous stone fireplace along the back wall with a wide hearth, which made for a great backdrop for wedding pictures. The two-story barn had been turned into an elegant piece of art, with the enormous antique chandelier that Blake Jordan had found for them at an estate sale. Actually, it was all thanks to Blake that the interior was as classy as it was. The woman knew how to find items that enhanced the rustic and elegant atmosphere.

  It was all Kara could have dreamed and hoped for. She loved her work. Loved every aspect of it. Well, okay, if she was being honest, she didn’t understand any of the actual business side, but that’s where Robin came in. Robin had always been great with numbers and planning.

  Setting her shoes down in the sand, she sat and listened to the surf, pulling her knees to her chest. Growing up in the city, she’d dreamed about living near the ocean. Dreamed of being in a small town that welcomed her and her own dreams. Pride, so far, filled that position perfectly.

  Of course, she’d known it would. She’d grown up hearing her parents talk about the magical Christmas they’d been snowed in and had fallen in love here and had known it was the place she wanted to be.

  Even now, her parents continued to come back to Pride once a year for their anniversary.

  She remembered spending summers in Pride with her family. Each time they’d returned, she’d fallen more in love with the area.

  Her mind turned to a different kind of love. One that she’d struggled with her entire life.

  Why was it that she had a knack for dating jerks? It seemed the more she dated, the more they came out of the woodwork. It started with her very first boyfriend, Leo. Leo had been one of the most popular boys in middle school. When he’d asked Kara to dance, she’d melted inside.

  She’d been the envy of every girl in her class when they’d officially started dating the following week. It hadn’t taken long to realize that Leo was a jerk. When she’d caught him kissing Lori, a girl a grade above Kara, he’d tried to explain it away, saying that Lori had come on to him. Kara hadn’t bought it and had moved on to date Tom, another popular boy and one of Leo’s friends.

  Two weeks after they’d made it official, Tom had broken things off with her when he’d attended a party and hooked up with Lori. Lori again! That had caused the two friends to fall out. It was funny—they hadn’t fought over both of them dating Kara, but cheating on her with Lori had set the friends in a downward spiral.

  She wondered why she wasn’t a girl that boys fought over. What did Lori have that she didn’t? Okay, so her boobs had come in a lot earlier than Kara’s had, but still, they were both B cups.

  She’d avoided dating again until high school. Joe hadn’t been popular or in sports. He’d been a quiet, shy boy she’d had a crush on for almost a year before asking him to a dance.

  It had taken him another year to show his true colors. The first time he pushed her, she’d thought it was an accident or that she’d somehow caused his anger. But when he’d up and slapped her after a school dance, she’d walked away for good.

  The next week, Joe had started a rumor that she’d cheated on him and he’d broken things off.

  Since she no longer cared about what he thought, she hadn’t fought the rumor. Her friends knew her too well to fall for his lies. Besides, she’d had the bruised cheek to prove her point with her closest friends.

  It was a year later before she opened herself up to another man. Matt was her first real love. She’d run into him at a coffee house one weekend her junior year. He didn’t go to her school and, in fact, hadn’t even finished high school. He worked at an auto parts store and lived above someone’s garage.

  She’d fallen hard for him. He’d been kind, caring, and funny. He played the guitar, which she’d found totally sexy. She’d been shocked when, one day, he’d informed her that he had signed up for the army and was shipping out for bootcamp the following day.

  He’d admitted that he didn’t love her as much as she loved him, that he’d never felt as strongly about her as she had about him.

  That was almost two years ago, and she still struggled with opening her heart again. Maybe she wasn’t destined to find love. Maybe she was only destined to help others with their joyous days.

  No. She closed her eyes and shook her head. That couldn’t be what her life was all about.

  Standing up suddenly, she felt the heat of the night and felt a need to cool off. She pulled her dress over her head, tossed it in the sand, and headed for the surf in nothing but her matching bra and panties.

  The cool water on her feet felt wonderful. She told herself that she’d stop if she got too deep or she became too chilled. After all, she’d seen way too many movies and knew better than to go swimming in the ocean after dark.

  Walking to where the water was up to her knees, she let the cold Pacific saltwater wash over her completely.

  It felt as if she could cleanse herself from her past, from her bad decisions. If only she could break her string of bad luck when it came to men.

  She started floating in the surf, assured that she was only in knee-deep water, as she watched the moon above her and dodged the waves lapping and tossing her around.

  Should she join one of those dating apps her friends were talking about? After all, she knew the chances of meeting someone in a small town were slim. After living in Pride for a year, she practically knew everyone in town already.

  Sure, there were a few with potential. But none she’d felt any sort of… pow with.

  Of course, the Jordan clan had a plethora of fine men. She’d met all of them, including the three unmarried men around her own age. The most eligible bachelors along the Oregon coast, as everyone in town was calling them.

  She’d found them all extremely sexy. Lilly’s brother George was nice, but a total player. Every time she’d seen him, he’d had a different woman on his arm.

  Riley’s twin brother, Jacob, was sweet, almost too sweet. He was very helpful at every event their family went to, including the wedding tonight.

  Riley’s older brother Conner was, well, the sexiest man she’d seen by far. But he’d only said a few words to her in the entire time Kara had been in town.

  “Where’s the beer?” had been the first, followed by, “Where’s your sister?”

  That had given her the idea that Robin had somehow caught his eye, which
in the sister code book meant he was off the menu.

  A large wave almost knocked her under, causing her to realize that she’d drifted out farther than she’d wanted. When she tried to stand up, her feet found only water underneath.

  Sputtering slightly, she spit out the saltwater she’d sucked into her mouth and glanced towards land. Another larger wave pushed her head under again. This time she coughed as she spat out the water.

  When another wave hit her, she began to understand that she was in major trouble.

  Suddenly, strong arms circled her waist, pulling her up to the surface. She sucked in a large breath of air and held onto the muscles holding her.

  She let her body go lax when he started working hard to get them both to safety.

  When she felt the sand under her feet once again, she began laughing. She didn’t know why she did so, other than she was happy she was back to safety. Happy that she’d been saved.

  “Are you okay?” a deep voice said as they rolled onto the sand. Water pushed sand into her bra and under her panties, but she didn’t care. She was safe.

  Her fingers dug into the coldness of the sand, and she enjoyed the coarseness of the grains under her fingertips.

  Instead of answering, she continued to laugh.

  “Hey.” Strong arms grabbed her shoulders. “Are you okay?” he repeated.

  The moonlight hit his dark wet hair, and for a moment his slate blue eyes almost glowed in the darkness. She knew instantly that it was Conner. But for a moment, it was as if she was seeing the man for the first time.