Tumbling Head Over Heels: A Fake Relationship Romcom Novella Read online

  TUMBLING HEAD OVER HEELS

  KACIE WEST

  Tumbling Head Over Heels

  Copyright @ 2023 Kacie West

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electric or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without prior written permission from the publisher.

  The book is a work of fiction. The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Developmental Edit by Katie Bockino

  Line, Copy, Proofreading by Beth Lawton at VB Edits

  Interior formatting by H.C. PA & Formatting Services

  ISBN: 979-8-9859485-6-1 (ebook)

  ISBN: 979-8-9859485-7-8 (paperback)

  Created with Vellum

  To every Kelly out there stumbling

  through life trying to find herself.

  CONTENTS

  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

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  A Note From The Authors

  Also by Kacie West

  Also by AJ Ranney

  Jackson

  Acknowledgments

  About the Authors

  1

  “Don’t screw this up.” His boss’s threat echoed in Jack’s ear as the automatic glass doors opened in front of him. The cool, damp air smacked against his cheeks as he hurried through the throngs of people outside the Asheville airport.

  Getting out of the congested terminal was worth weathering a little rain. He hated flying commercial. Small seats, cramped legs, loud children, and endless lines all made his skin crawl. But a last-minute change of plans meant the company jet was in New York with his father and unavailable to get Jack from LA to Ashville.

  “We need this account, and the Hills aren’t happy that lovable Larry isn’t coming to woo them.”

  He gripped the phone tighter. If his colleague’s wife hadn’t gone into labor early, he never would have been given another opportunity to prove himself. Even if the Nickles Group was Jack’s father’s company, Larry was the favorite.

  Ahead of him, another line had formed at the curb. He’d have to fight through the crowd to find his waiting Uber. “I’ve got this. Trust me.”

  Dan snorted into the phone. After how wrong the last situation had gone, he couldn’t blame his boss for his doubts. But that issue had been personal. This was business.

  He wasn’t a family man like Larry, but he had a golden tongue. Need a man to sell stripes to a tiger? He was the guy. The guy who’d never heard the word no. Even off the cuff, he could toss around an endless number of ideas. The hours he’d had to plan ways to market the vitamin water as a healthy alternative to sugary sports drinks made locking in a long-term deal with the Hills a cake walk.

  He might’ve gotten an immediate position with his dad’s firm because of his last name, but he would prove that he deserved more than the low-level account manager position he was stuck in.

  “Watch it,” Jack snapped as a punk-ass kid barreled toward him, narrowly missing a head-on collision. Interactions like this were exactly why he hated airports. The teenager flipped him off, and with a frown, Jack worked his way along the busy sidewalk, trying to ignore the drizzle.

  His boss was still yammering in his ear, but Jack pulled the phone away and scanned the screen to verify the Uber information as he stepped to the curb. He jumped back as a car rolled by, sending water crashing over the sidewalk. Damn, he didn’t have time for this.

  If he hadn’t used every minute of the last twelve hours to work on pitch ideas, he would’ve had a car service booked.

  He’d found Uber to be as unreliable as the weather. Jack much preferred to have Stan, his driver, on standby, waiting to load his bag and with a preplanned traffic-free route in his GPS. Stan always used an Escalade so Jack’s legs didn’t cramp on the drive home. But he was more than two thousand miles from home, so he’d have to make do with the dipshit Uber driver assigned to him. Spotting the small silver sedan listed on the app, he headed that way. The driver had the visor down and was applying lipstick, ignoring him and the airport chaos. Fucking great. He couldn’t be late for this meeting, so Miss Hot Lips needed to snap to attention. This was his last chance to prove he was more than just the CEO’s son.

  Not to mention, he could use the opportunity to prove to his dad that he wasn’t a complete fuck-up. His stomach turned at the memory of his father’s face. Lately, all he’d seen when his dad looked at him was disappointment. It was time to change that.

  When he yanked open the door, the woman fumbled her lipstick, dropping it in her lap in the process. Her blue eyes widened in shock before she shook her head and sent him a tight smile. He pointed to the phone at his ear, thankful she’d gotten the message and remained silent as he took his overcoat off and tossed it on the seat.

  “I won’t relax until you can assure me you won’t be sleeping with the client’s wife or daughter or niece or, fucking hell, granddaughter,” Dan all but growled.

  Jack winced as he unbuttoned his suit jacket and slid into the back seat. With one look at the dingy floorboard, he set his garment bag beside him. Glancing at the fabric seat, he couldn’t help but turn his nose up in disgust. His leather bag was probably worth more than the car. If his suit got stained, he’d be pissed. Another reason he should have ordered a car service.

  “Do you hear me? I expect you to be the most well-mannered, upstanding citizen they’ve ever met,” Dan groused, his elevated voice pulling Jack back to the moment. “I’m talking choir boy, here.”

  “Yeah, got it.” Jack ground his teeth. He was sick of defending the same action over and over. It was a one-time thing, and the woman never mentioned being married when she came on to him. How was he supposed to know she was his newest client’s wife?

  “I mean it. Even your old man won’t save your ass this time.”

  “Got it. I’m in the Uber now.” He peered over the front seat at the driver. The young brunette was focused on the road in front of her. “I’m heading straight to the meeting at the resort, and then I’ll check into my room after that.”

  “You better.” His boss ended the call without another word.

  Jack pulled out his laptop, determined to prove he wasn’t the fuck-up his father believed him to be. This trip would go so smoothly that his father, his boss—everyone—would be forced to eat their words about him. He was not an utter screw-up.

  2

  Good thing she hadn’t stopped for gas. There was no doubt Kelly would have been late to pick up her fare if she had. And the suit in the back seat didn’t seem like the type who put up with bullshit. She stole another glance at the man in the review mirror. Tension rolled off him in waves. The cuff of his navy suit slipped up his wrist, showing off an expensive watch, as he raked his long fingers through his dirty-blond hair. His hand hit the ceiling above him, and he tipped his head up and glared, his vibrant green eyes blazing. As tall as the suit dude was, he should be a pro at squishing into cars, but he frowned at the gray upholstery like it was out to get him.

  Blowing out a breath, she turned her attention back to the road, immediately hitting the brakes and skidding a bit on the wet asphalt. The rain was starting to come down hard now.

  Suit dude muttered an expletive as they both jerked forward at the sudden slow down, and something jammed into the back of her seat, knocking her again.

  “Sorry.” She cringed. “Is your laptop okay?”

  “Just watch the road.” He clenched his smooth jaw and glared at her through the mirror.

  Great. Suit dude had either never learned manners, or he was just an asshole. She twisted the knob that controlled the wiper speed, adjusting the pace from swift to the flapping of a hummingbird’s wings. The thwat of the rubber echoed in the silent car as she squinted into the rain.

  Airport runs were the worst. Nine times out of ten, her fares were cranky after long days of travel. She much preferred picking up people who were on their way to a night out or coming home after. They were usually chatty and fun. Possibly the only good thing about this Uber gig was chatting with the random people she picked up in her free time, but the second job was necessary if she wanted to get herself out of the hole she’d created.

  “I’m Kelly,” she prompted hopefully, but he didn’t respond. The traffic crept along, but once they got past the downtown area, the road would open up. “Is the traffic going to make you late?”

  “It better not.” He scoffed.

  The man didn’t have an obvious accent, but the suit, the stress, and the bad attitude had her betting he w
as from New York. Too bad the crappy personality came in such a good-looking package. He had a chiseled jaw, a straight nose, and gorgeous eyes, but his general jerkiness dimmed any attraction. She waited for him to add to the conversation, but he kept his eyes on his laptop and ignored her.

  Awesome. It would be a long hour’s drive at this rate. Focusing on the road again, she tried to come up with something to entertain herself. She started the alphabet game, finding words that started with each letter on the signs she passed. When she was searching for K, she was startled by the deep timbre of his voice. She opened her mouth, super ready to chat with the guy, but quickly realized he was on the phone again. He rattled off numbers before diving into a monologue using words like lucrative, abdicate, and pivotal.

  Who the heck talked like that? Ugh. Big SAT words were for pompous douches who were trying to convince people they were smarter than they actually were. No one used those words in everyday life. Ashley, her boss at the catering company—Kelly’s day job—would look at her like she lost her damn mind if she used abdicate in a sentence.

  She tapped the brake as she exited the freeway, cursing the damn heels. Flats were better for driving, but she hadn’t planned to pick up fares today. Her boss had sent her to Ashville for an appointment with the local bakery, but when the fare popped up, she couldn’t resist earning a little extra money to recoup what she’d spent on gas.

  Half Moon Lake, the small-town where Kelly lived, was almost an hour from the city, and her wallet didn’t have the extra cash needed for the expense of today’s trip to the bakery. She’d cringed at the idea of admitting that to Ashley, so she’d sucked it up and accepted that she’d have to charge the price of gas to her almost maxed-out credit card.

  Christmas had messed up her budget, and she’d been trying to get back on track since. Her shoulders slumped at the reminder. She had to figure her shit out. Quitting nursing school and, in turn, getting cut off by her parents, had turned her life into a dumpster fire. Career wasn’t currently her word. But catering and driving for Uber weren’t going to work out permanently—that much had become clear.

  Lights in the distance flashed, causing Kelly to squint. It was the first car she’d seen since they’d gotten off the highway, and her eyes just didn’t adjust. She kept her focus on the road in front of her, shielding herself with her hand so the bright headlights of the oncoming car didn’t blind her.

  The fuel estimator on her dash had dropped from twenty or so miles to low fuel at some point in the last twenty minutes—she wasn’t exactly sure when. But the GPS said that they only had sixteen miles to go. She’d gone farther on low fuel before.

  The glowing white and red sign ahead caught her attention, but it was obvious that suit dude wasn’t the type who’d appreciate a pit stop.

  “Could you turn on the heat, or is it broken?” Boy, did he have a tone.

  Typically, Kelly would, especially since she hadn’t brought a sweater with her. But she couldn’t remember whether it was the heat or the air that used gas. Hesitantly she clicked the heat back on, letting the warm air hit her face. She couldn’t afford another bad Uber review.

  “Heading to an important meeting?” she asked now that he was once again off the phone.

  “I prefer a silent ride.” He didn’t even look her way, just kept his eyes on the screen in front of him.

  “It’s probably better that way. I don’t have a big enough vocabulary to talk to you,” she huffed.

  “What?” he asked.

  She met his gaze in the mirror. Even if he was a total tool bag, his green eyes were gorgeous. That was undeniable.

  “I’m not sure I even know what epochal means.”

  He huffed a breath and went back to focusing on his laptop.

  Five miles into the climb to the resort tucked into the North Carolina mountains, her car sputtered, and it almost seemed like the engine coughed, making the weirdest noise she ever heard.

  What the heck?

  After one more almost snort, the engine died. The car rolled slowly as Kelly steered to the shoulder. When she’d pulled the car off the road as far as she could, she hit the brake so they wouldn’t roll down the steep incline of the hill. Why on earth would the car stop? Her eyes widened.

  Was this what it sounded like when it ran out of gas?

  3

  “Why did you stop?” Jack snapped, wincing at his biting tone. This chick might be annoying, but he wasn’t purposely trying to be rude as fuck. Between being crammed into the tin can of an airplane seat for six hours, getting whacked in the knee by the beverage cart twice, the dressing down he’d gotten from his boss, and the bumper-to-bumper highway traffic, Jack was holding on to his patience by a thread.

  His meeting with the owners of Hill Water started in less than an hour, and this chick had randomly pulled over on a deserted winding road.

  “Uh...” Kelly’s brows pulled together, and she tilted her head to the side. “I think”—she swallowed—“maybe, um, we ran out of gas.”

  How the fuck was that a question? Cars, even shitty-ass ones like this, had gauges and idiot lights so drivers could avoid this exact scenario. Running out was never a surprise.

  “Was that a possibility?” What kind of Uber driver ran out of gas?

  “Well.” She studied the road ahead of them, no longer meeting his eyes in the mirror. “I mean, at the airport, it was like forty-three miles to empty, and the resort was only thirty-seven miles away, so it’s kinda weird.”

  “But we sat in traffic for a half hour.” How the hell did she not realize that would use more gas?

  Kelly chuckled. “Plus we used the heat.”

  “You’ve got to be shitting me.” His head was going to explode, and she was fucking laughing. He ran his hand through his hair, whacking the headliner again. He glared up, fisting his hand, trying his best to not punch through the fabric and metal.

  His heart sped up as unease shifted down his spine. He might miss the most important meeting of his life because he was stuck on the side of the road in backwoods country. He blew a hard breath into his fist. Panicking wouldn’t help. Pulling out his phone, he silently willed a second bar to appear on the cellular service readout as the Uber app loaded.

  “Over an hour for another car.” He held back a shout of frustration. He shouldn’t be surprised. They were in the middle of fucking nowhere. Do not panic. He would have to Zoom into the meeting and explain the situation to the Hill family. Surely, they knew that getting around in Bumblefuck mountain country wasn’t easy.

  “I have roadside assistance,” the chick piped up, turning in her seat. “I’ll get them out here as soon as possible. So sorry about this. I, uh, don’t know what happened.”

  “Let me help you understand,” he snapped. “The car makes this ding, and a light flashes, telling you ‘hey, idiot, you’re almost out of gas. Stop and get some.’ Most people do exactly that, and since you didn’t, we ran out.”

  Instead of looking remorseful, Kelly raised a brow at him and smirked. “No big words for me this time?”

  This chick was amazingly frustrating. “We passed a motel half a mile back. I’ll walk there and get a room. Best of luck, Kelly.”

  He threw open his door and winced. A gust of wind sent the cascading rain into the car, soaking his pant leg. It was dark as sin up here on the mountain, pouring, and cold. He glanced at the pretty woman in the seat in front of him. Her teeth were pressed nervously into her lip as she scanned the empty road.

  She’d be fine. Right? He took in the dark woods surrounding them. They weren’t even on a shoulder. She’d just pulled halfway off the winding road. One car coming a bit too fast around the curve, and this car would get hit. His conscience, that he wanted so badly to ignore, screamed at him. He checked his phone and groaned. He couldn’t leave this chick alone in Bumblefuck to get hit. Clearly life skills weren’t Miss I don’t know how I ran out of gas’s strong suit.