Glamour Girl (West Coast Girlz: Book Two) by Sandra Edwards Read Free Book Online

CHAPTER 1
    Blind date #27 (so far this year)
    ROSANNA CARMICHAEL STOLE A PEEK at her watch. 7:35. She sucked in a deep sigh and tried to stifle it by locking her lips. Funny how time drags when you’re bored. She’d arrived at the restaurant all of twenty minutes ago.
    The waitress had just set the salad dishes in front of Rosanna and her date, and Rosanna coached herself to be nice and suffer through dinner just to keep from being mean. Pete—the guy Valerie Johnston had fixed her up with—seemed like a nice enough guy. His main failing, so far, was that he wasn’t Rosanna’s type. No crime there, just a fact.
    Rosanna grabbed her fork and stabbed at the lettuce, spearing a piece. Just as she was about to pop it into her mouth, Pete said, “That’s a lovely dress.”
    Geez, did he have to be so nice? Why wasn’t she ever attracted to the good guys? “Thank you.”
    “Designer?”
    She nodded.
    “Sounds expensive.”
    Rosanna shrugged. “I guess you can call it my guilty pleasure.”
    “It’s frivolous,” he said in a much sterner voice.
    “Excuse me?” Surely she’d heard him wrong.
    “It’s a waste of money.”
    “What?”
    “If we’re to be together, you’ll have to change your spending habits.”
    Okay, so she hadn’t heard him wrong. And more than anything else, it pissed her off. “What?” she asked again, but in a heightened tone of anger.
    “I can’t tolerate such a waste of money.”
    “You seem to be forgetting one thing.” She tossed her fork onto her plate.
    “What’s that?”
    “The money I’m wasting is mine,” she said. “Not yours.”
    He laughed. Not a jovial laugh, but more of a cackling one, dismissing her. “That’s why girls like you need a man like me…to keep you on the right track.”
    To hell with being nice. “Let’s get one thing clear.” Rosanna grabbed her clutch from her lap and pushed her chair back as she stood. “Aside from the fact that I feel absolutely nothing when I look at you…” Rosanna’s anger was about to pound her heart out of her chest. “I have my own level of tolerance. You’ve crossed it. And in light of that, I’m sure you’ll understand my early departure. Thanks for the drink. The date’s over.”
    “I’ll call you,” he said, as she headed for the door.
    Rosanna tossed a wave over her shoulder but kept moving forward. Leaving the restaurant, she was careful not to let her frustrations escape with each step she took, otherwise she’d be stomping.
    “Come on, Rosanna. Go out with Pete. You won’t regret it.” She mocked Valerie, the person responsible for this debacle. “I promise you. He’s a great guy. Successful. Handsome.” Rosanna shook her head and hit the button on her key fob, unlocking the driver’s door on her Lexus. “Yeah—” She took on her own voice as she yanked open the door. “—Too bad you forgot to mention that he’s also a nut case!” Normally, Rosanna liked a man with an edge, but not one who’d chastise her for spending her own money.
    She climbed inside the car, shut the door and started the engine. Rosanna maneuvered the Lexus into the light evening traffic. Recent attempts from her friends, acquaintances and coworkers to hook her up scrolled through her mind. There was Stan the neat-freak—now Rosanna had nothing against cleanliness, but ironing one’s socks was a bit much. And who could forget Jimmy, the guy who thought he was God’s gift to women and it was his duty to spread himself around. Course that was nothing compared to Mike, who thought everyone was out to get him.
    “That’s it!” she said, turning left at the signal. No more blind dates .

CHAPTER 2
    THE NEXT MORNING , Rosanna was up early. She’d thrown a few outfits and other essentials into her suitcase, grabbed her Canon 5D Mark II, the 50D and a variety of lenses, and headed out.
    Her latest assignment, a photo shoot with the reclusive Gavin Elliot, couldn’t have come at a better time. He lived, isolated,