It's a Fugly Life
Fugly, #2
Fugly, #2
by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
Releasing October 11th 2016
Self-Published
Self-Published
HE’S PERFECT FOR HER
IN EVERY WAY, EXCEPT FOR ONE SMALL ISSUE. HE’S TOO LATE.
BlurbMy name is Lily Snow. And I was once the kind of ugly that turned heads and made people stare. The worst part was how I let it ruin my life and destroy my relationship with the love of my life—Maxwell Cole, one of the sexiest, wealthiest, enigmatic men on the planet. All because I felt ugly and certainly not good enough for a man’s love.
But not
anymore.
One car
wreck, three reconstructive surgeries, and some unexpected money have changed
my life.
I’ve
started my own company, I’ve finally learned to like myself—not love, but like
(hey, it’s a journey)—and I’ve met a wonderful new man who’s helped me put Max
in the past where he belongs.
There’s
only one problem: After six long months, Maxwell Cole is back, asking for the
one thing I can’t give him. And he’s not taking no for an answer.
NOTE: This is a continuation of the story
FUGLY, but is a standalone.
Buy
Links:
Six Weeks Earlier
Today was huge. Huger than huge. Okay, it wasn’t really, but I
needed to remind myself that the little milestones in life were as important as
the champagne-worthy events. For example, just three months ago, I’d opened my
very own boutique in downtown Santa Barbara. Think eclectic, handmade clothing
and accessories, sort of like that one aisle at Whole Foods with the mishmash
of tie-dyed scarves and hemp bracelets. Not my lifelong dream, but my products
were made by women, for women, and I loved the idea of making money while
helping people. After three months, I’d gotten the helping part down, but not
the making-money part. Sales were the pits, and I’d already received notice of
a rent increase at the end of the year.
You’ll figure it out, Lily. You always do. I drew a happy face
on the puppies and kittens calendar stuck to the wall behind the register. It
was important to stay positive and focused.
My smile faded as it dawned on me that today also marked another
event. Six months. Six months since I’d seen Maxwell Cole—cocky, SOB
billionaire and quite possibly the most hypnotically sexy and complex man in
the world—and asked him to forgive me for some pretty awful things I had done.
He hadn’t.
And it had been the roughest time of my life. Rougher than
working for the man. Rougher than falling in love with him—my boss—a man so far
out of my league that I hadn’t been able to believe he wanted me back. And
certainly rougher than the day I effectively tanked his multibillion-dollar
company. An edgy, cosmetics juggernaut he’d built with his own two hands.
And I fucked it up.
Yep.
With my own two lips, aka my big fat mouth. All because I
believed—erroneously—that he didn’t have feelings for me.
Crap, Lily. I blew out a breath and ran a hand over the top of
my hair, smoothing back the loose strands of my ponytail. “Stop it. Just stop
it.” I’d already decided months ago to be done with the self-flagellation. I
couldn’t go back. I couldn’t undo the past. And either way, I’d moved on.
“Every journey starts with one step,” I muttered to myself and
put another smiley face on my calendar. And as of today, I’d made it six
months. I’d put my life back together and was even dati—
The cluster of silver bells above the front door to my tiny shop
jingled to welcome the first customer of the day.
“Welcome to Lily’s Pad. Let me know if I can help y…” I glanced
up from behind the register and lost my grip on the pen in my hand. “Max?”
“Hello, Lily.” His deep, exquisitely masculine voice washed over
me like a tsunami of emotional shock.
“Max, what are you doing here?” My eyes stuck on his face,
drinking in every virile detail. Maxwell Cole wasn’t what people would call a
handsome man. Handsome implied someone who might be nice looking or pleasing to
look at. This infamous, thirty-four-year-old billionaire was so much more.
Women saw him and couldn’t look away from his six-three frame, underwear model
physique, hazel eyes and chiseled jawline that gave him a godlike appearance.
It was the same stunning good looks he’d used to build his multibillion-dollar
cosmetics company. He used to model in his ads. Semi-nude. Yes, total eye candy
for women of every age.
“I heard you’re hiring a part-time assistant.” He pointed to the
sign in the window with one of those muscular arms I used to enjoy wrapped
around my midriff when he took me from behind with his substantial co—
Don’t torture yourself. He dumped you hard. Obviously, the man
was here for a reason, although I couldn’t fathom what that reason might be.
He continued, “I also heard you might be looking for a husband.
But I don’t have any experience. Think you might consider me anyway?” He shoved
a hand in his jeans pocket and looked at me with a wickedly sexy grin.
Huh? My mind couldn’t quite absorb his words or their meaning. I
was far too busy realizing how much I’d missed him and how fucking delicious he
looked. He wore these expensive sexy jeans that hung just right on his hips and
a dark gray button-down shirt that said, “Yeah, I’ve got money. Yeah, my body
is a temple of male perfection. No, you can’t have me—I’m for looking only,
ladies.” In other words, everything about the man screamed unattainable. His
dark messy hair, his overgrown stubble—not quite a beard—his full kissable lips
and jaw and chin and everything about him was…perfect.
I swear, that man could wear a neon yellow jockstrap and orange
traffic cone on his head and still look like he’d strolled off a runway.
Wait. He just asked me to marry him?
Nope. Nope. I’m dreaming. I have fallen and hit my head, and any
moment I’m going to wake up with a splitting headache.
I suddenly realized that Max’s mouth kept moving, but I hadn’t
heard a word.
“Sorry? Could you repeat that?” I blinked some more.
He stepped forward, putting himself on the other side of the
counter, opposite me. “I know I should’ve called. I wanted to a million times.
But I needed time to sort out a few things.” His smile faded, and the look in
his hazel eyes hardened.
Did he mean he needed time to forgive me? I didn’t know, but
clearly he had, and I felt a huge weight lift from my soul. I hadn’t even
realized I’d been carrying it around.
I nodded my head. “I understand. I did ruin your company.”
“Fuck the company. I was going to let it all go anyway. You and
I both know my mother needed to be gone from my life.” His mother, the cruelest
piece of sadistic human-shit on the planet, had owned fifty-one percent of his
company, making it difficult for him to keep a distance. Still, I had to
believe that if not for me, things would’ve gone down differently. Maybe he
could’ve found an investor to buy her out or something. But because of me, he’d
been forced to sell Cole Cosmetics to a Canadian competitor for half its
original value. I hated thinking about all that. It made my stomach knot with
guilt.
“You’re only saying that to make me feel less crappy,” I said
softly. “That company was everything to you.”
“No. You were everything to me and you still are. I realized it
when I watched them pry your bloody body from your car with a crowbar. Do you
have any idea what that did to me?”
Oh. That. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten, but I rarely thought of
that day anymore. Mostly because losing Max overshadowed all of the surrounding
drama. But seven months ago, right as everything blew up with his company, a
news van chased me on the highway near Chicago, hoping to get a story about my
relationship with my infamous boss. I plowed my convertible Mini into the
center divider and made mincemeat out of my face.
Now, before you start thinking that it must’ve left me with a horrible
disfigurement, I’ll have you know two things. One, I was born with an extremely
ugly face. I mean nose from hell, an unusually large chin, and—well, let’s just
say that small children often cried when they looked at me. “Mommy! It’s a
monster.” Think Chaka from Land of the Lost but with a very petite body, nice
teeth, and long wavy blonde hair. That was me.
Now are you seeing why I couldn’t quite believe my international
sex symbol of a boss loved me?
Moving on to point number two: The accident did leave me
scarred—forehead, chin, and one side of my nose—the place where the side mirror
of my car broke off and impacted. But by then I had already made up my mind to
fix my ugly face against Max’s wishes. Long story short, when the accident
happened, Max—despite being furious with me for what I did to his company—still
made sure I was put back together by the best. Now people stared but they
didn’t retch, and with a little makeup, I could cover most of the scars.
“I’m so sorry, Max. I can’t say it enough times.” Yes, I had
apologized to him already—after my accident, after he’d made sure I was put
back together, after he had to sell his company, and after I’d made a mess of
our relationship. But my plea for forgiveness fell on cold ears. He could hardly
look me in the eyes that day.
“I’m the one who is sorry.” Max planted his arms on the counter
and leaned in, his eyes filled with a sternness that meant he wasn’t messing
around. “None of those events would’ve happened if I’d simply told you how much
I love you and asked you to marry me. I should’ve been stronger, but I wasn’t.”
He was taking the blame? Him? “But…but…I…you…you were so angry
and…” I shook my head. I was the one who messed it all up.
He grabbed my hand from across the counter and squeezed it. “I
was hurt because you didn’t trust me, Lily. You didn’t believe in us—fuck.” He
drew a breath. “I didn’t come here to rehash this crap.”
“Remind me again; why are you here?”
“Marry me, Lily. Because I love you. And I never want to let you
go.”
Buy
Links:
Author Info
MIMI JEAN
PAMFILOFF is a USA Today and New York
Times bestselling romance author. Although she obtained her MBA and
worked for more than fifteen years in the corporate world, she believes that
it’s never too late to come out of the romance closet and follow your dream.
Mimi lives with her Latin Lover hubby, two
pirates-in-training (their boys), and the rat terrier duo, Snowflake and Mini
Me, in Arizona. She hopes to make you laugh when you need it most and continues
to pray daily that leather pants will make a big comeback for men.
Author Links:
Hosted by
Presented by
No comments:
Post a Comment