Bottled Up: April Fools For Love Read Free

someday.
    Betty shook her head. No girl ever forgot her first time, but most got a chance to date the guy who made their head spin. Her chance was swept away with a viral marketing campaign.
    Would anyone ever measure up to the man who romanced her before he even laid a hand on her? She should take the pictures down, but something made her keep them. Maybe she should get the box from her parents’ basement. She had no idea where in the world he was anymore, but what could a trip down memory lane hurt?

CHAPTER TWO
     
    The music on the radio felt like taps playing at the end of his old boy scout camp. It was the same story every year as a kid when he got ready to head home. Nate had never wanted to face anyone knowing he’d failed so miserably at knot tying. He’d always aced first-aid, but that never had impressed his father.
    As he pulled his car into a parking spot, Nate grimaced. He wasn’t failing at knots these days. He was screwing up in newer and more creative ways.
    Nathan Dallas was a great looking guy. He knew that. He’d been attractive in high school, an athlete in college when he’d had the time, and he’d thought the modeling he’d booked through those years would be his career. Turns out, once you start to encroach on thirty, people start asking what else you do.
    Nate couldn’t act. Aside from one play in high school where he’d threatened to pummel anyone who auditioned against him, he had no experience. And he couldn’t exactly threaten to beat up every actor who went out for the parts he wanted. He was more of a behind the scenes guy, so there were no commercials to audition for. He wasn’t good managing other people, so he couldn’t work at the modeling agency. And he couldn’t remember a damn thing from college, other than the way to the cheerleaders’ practice field, which was why he’d moved to a bigger town and headed back to school to get a degree in something else.
    His friends in the industry had laughed their asses off when he’d told them he wanted to become a nurse. But he liked taking care of people. Aside from “the sophisticated man” in a print modeling job here and there, Nate couldn’t land enough work to pay for his gym membership. He was almost through with school, but the funds were running seriously short this semester. He could pay for the tuition, but the food and rent situation was in dire straits. Library books tended to take up his Friday nights now. Thank goodness the city had enough demand for a dozen branches. He could request darn near anything. Except a new job. They’d turned him down too.
    His current place of employment had been a way to pay the bills. He’d thought it would be easy work. Going into people’s home for an hour or less and heading out with a hefty paycheck seemed like a cakewalk. Sure he had to get his hands dirty on occasion, but it shouldn’t have been anything he couldn’t handle. Compared to anything else he’d tried, the money was fantastic, even before the tips, and it was the only place that had given him a call back. He’d needed to take advantage and move forward.
    Even after the incident at the nursing home, he had to believe he could do this. What did Edna know anyway? Sure she’d patted him on the ass and told him not to quit his day job. When an octogenarian isn’t impressed, it wasn’t a good sign.
    But after a week off for training, Nate was determined to impress the hell out of…he looked at his order printout. Elizabeth Townsend was the recipient. He stared at the name longer. There was no way it was her. His Elizabeth, his Betty, had gone to a private school out of state. She had been long gone by the time he’d returned to the Midwest with his tail between his legs and his bank account drained. She would have made it. She was probably running a Broadway theater like she’d always wanted.
    Nate shook it off. It didn’t matter what Betty was doing. He’d missed his chance, and this was where he was now. He