Promise to Marry
(Promises, #1)
Jessica Wood
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Jessica Wood
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
ERH Press
ISBN-13 978-1-940285-13-9
First Edition: January 2015
Thank you for purchasing this book.
If you would like to stay informed of new releases, teasers, and news on Jessica Wood’s upcoming books, please sign up for Jessica Wood’s mailing list.
If you would like stay in touch with me, you can follow me on my Facebook Page.
ABOUT Promise to Marry
We were best friends since as early as I could remember. We grew up together. We were next door neighbors. We shared each other's deepest secrets.
When I was thirteen, we made a pact: If we were still single by the time we were 30, we’d marry each other.
Today was my thirtieth birthday.
I was single. I knew he was single too.
But we were no longer best friends, and a part of me knew that he hated me.
Table of Contents
Also by Jessica Wood
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Author’s Note
Other Books
Synopsis & Excerpt from Oblivion
About the Author
ALSO BY JES SICA WOOD
Emma’s Story Series
A Night to Forget – Book One
The Day to Remember – Book Two
Emma’s Story Box Set – Contains Book One & Book Two
The Heartbreaker Series
This is an Emma’s Story spin-off series featuring Damian Castillo, a supporting character in The Day to Remember . This is a standalone series and does not need to be read with Emma’s Story series.
Damian– Book One
The Heartbreaker – Prequel Novella to DAMIAN – can be read before or after Damian.
Taming Damian– Book Two
The Chase Series
This is a standalone series with cameo appearances from Damian Castillo ( The Heartbreaker series ).
The Chase, Vol. 1
The Chase, Vol. 2
The Chase, Vol. 3
The Chase, Vol. 4
The Chase: The Complete Series Box Set – Contains All Four Volumes
Oblivion
This is a standalone full-length book unrelated to other series by Jessica Wood.
Oblivion
***
Pre-Orders Currently Available
Promise to Keep – February 9, 2015
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all.”
Emily Dickinson
PROLOGUE
When we first met twenty-three years ago, I had hated him.
“You look like Pippi Longstocking!” That was the very first thing he’d said to me. He’d flashed me a boyish grin as he pointed to the pigtails my mom had braided for me that morning before I had said goodbye to her.
I’d stuck my tongue out at him in protest as I followed Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom into their house—my new home. I had known instantly that I wouldn’t like this boy. He was mean, he was a bully, and he sure wasn’t going to be any friend of mine.
Well, at least that was what I had thought that day when I moved in with Aunt Betty and her husband. But, like so many other things I’d thought throughout my life, I had been wrong.
Somehow, despite my resistance, he’d chipped away at my stone-cold seven-year-old exterior and won me over within a matter of just a week. I’d discovered that he wasn’t mean after all. He wasn’t a bully, either. In fact, somehow, without even knowing how it’d happened, he had quickly become my friend—and not just any old friend—he had become my best friend. My confidant. My constant. My anchor.
We’d been inseparable as we grew up together, spending hours in his treehouse, talking and laughing until Aunt Betty would call me into the house for bed every night.
And even in one of my darkest hour when I was thirteen—when I felt the most lost and alone, when I purposely drove everyone, including him, away—he had been there, by my side, to comfort me. He had been my rock and had refused to be ignored or pushed away.
That was the day we had made our pact: If we were still single by the time we were thirty, we’d marry each other.
I had known even then just how lucky I had been to have him in my life. I had loved him the way best friends loved each other. But it wasn’t until I had lost him that I had realized just how much I’d love him—how much my love for him went far beyond friendship. It wasn’t until we were no longer friends that I had realized that he had been my one and only love all along.
But by then, it was too late. I had screwed up. I had ruined everything. I had done something that was unforgivable. And a part of me wondered if I had enjoyed it. So how could I possibly ask him to forgive me when I couldn’t forgive myself?
Now, twenty-three years after we’d first met, we were both thirty and single, but I knew that it was he who now hated me.
CHAPT ER ONE
Present Day
“Promise?” I looked into his rich, emerald eyes—those eyes that always had a way of making me feel at home.
“Promise.” He beamed at me and squeezed my hands as we secured the love-lock onto the bridge railing and locked it in place.
He pulled me into his arms and whispered in my ear, “You’re my best friend, Clo. You won’t ever have to worry about being alone. I promise that I’ll always be here for you when you need me.”
A splendid mixture of bliss and comfort spread through me like a warm blanket on a cold day as I sank into his inviting embrace. Despite everything that’d happened in my life, I felt hopeful. Because I knew that no matter what the future held for me, Jackson would always be there. And for me, that was enough.
“Here’s to your thirtieth birthday,” he said playfully as he finally pulled away.
“And yours too,” I added.
“Well, not exactly.” He paused and grinned—that same boyish grin from the first day we met, the same boyish grin I’d come to know so well in the past eleven years, the same boyish grin that made my heart soar with happiness.
“What do you mean?” I feigned a frown, knowing too well he was being a smart-ass.