Mister Romance
Amelia Simone
Mister Romance Copyright © 2019 by A.N.S. writing as Amelia Simone.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover design by Qamber Media Designs
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Amelia Simone
Visit my website at https://ameliasimoneauthor.com/
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: 2019
Revised: 2021
ISBN 9798707591242
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 - Tamra
Chapter 2 - Tamra
Chapter 3 - Chase
Chapter 4 - Tamra
Chapter 5 - Chase
Chapter 6 - Tamra
Chapter 7 - Chase
Chapter 8 - Tamra
Chapter 9 - Chase
Chapter 10 - Tamra
Chapter 11 - Chase
Chapter 12 - Tamra
Chapter 13 - Chase
Chapter 14 - Tamra
Chapter 15 - Chase
Chapter 16 - Tamra
Chapter 17 - Chase
Chapter 18 - Tamra
Chapter 19 - Tamra
Chapter 20 - Tamra
Chapter 21 - Tamra
Chapter 22 - Chase
Chapter 23 - Tamra
Chapter 24 - Tamra
Chapter 25 - Chase
Chapter 26 - Tamra
Chapter 27 - Chase
Chapter 28 - Tamra
Chapter 29 - Chase
Chapter 30 - Tamra
Chapter 31 – Chase
Author’s Note
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Read More Amelia!
To my fantastic beta readers - thank you! DeAnna, Linda, Dave, Stina, and Melena, I appreciate you accompanying me on this journey and sharing your feedback. Any mistakes related to the portrayal of nursing or writing are my own. A.
Chapter 1 - Tamra
My thirtieth birthday was ushered in with wailing and tears. Not the despondent tears of loneliness and regret, though I had shed those before. They weren’t ecstatic tears of joy either. These were the tears of newborn Miguel Delgado as I placed him in the loving arms of his mother, Haley, after delivery. She and her husband, Javier, were over the moon with their new arrival, but he seemed less enthused. They oohed and ahhed over the dark fuzzy down on his head and inhaled his sweet baby scent. Watching first-time parents meet and fall in love with their babies never got old.
Dr. Truong and I wrapped up, trying to give the family quiet time with their new arrival. The older woman smiled indulgently as she took in the wilting curls in my ponytail and wrinkled blue scrubs. “Tamra, why don’t you take a quick break? I think Gina has something for you in the lunchroom.”
Gina would be hurt if I escaped before her “surprise.” It was close to midnight and the official start of my thirtieth birthday. Yay, me. All I wanted was to go home and crash after a shift spent at the hospital, bringing new babies into the world. It was my job and I loved it, but I’d hoped to be doing something different on my thirtieth birthday. I should be married by now, or at least in a serious relationship. Instead, I was single. Always alone. Not a whiff of a boyfriend for years.
I blamed my job. It was hard to meet eligible men as a labor and delivery nurse. Every male I met at work was either coupled up and having a baby or minutes old. My pickings were slim.
Gina, my fellow registered nurse on shift, waited in the break room.
“Ta-da!” She stepped to the side, using jazz hands to highlight a white cupcake sitting on the table with a single lonely candle.
Single. Like me. I forced a smile for Gina’s sake. It wasn’t her fault I had nothing to celebrate.
Gina and I had worked together for years, and I appreciated her cool head and calm demeanor in the delivery room. She was forty-something with short and spiky red hair. Curvy in all the right places. She managed to make the shapeless scrubs we all wore look feminine, which was truly a talent.
“Thanks, Gina. I can’t believe you remembered.”
Gina smiled and shoved the cupcake in my direction. “A woman only turns thirty once. It’s sad enough you’re spending it here at work; there had to be cake.”
Sad. Accurate. I blew out the candle before smiling into her watchful eyes. “Thanks, Gina.”
“So, do you have anything wild and wonderful planned to celebrate this year?” I could hear the hope in her voice, and I hated to disappoint her.
“Um, no. I’ve got a new book by my favorite author queued on my Kindle at home, but that’s about it for this weekend.”
“Tamra Renee Shaw. Please tell me there’s more than that.” She sounded exasperated, but I couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t her birthday that was going to be boring.
“Nope, sorry.”
She looked me in the eye, her blue eyes kind, but slightly narrowed, emphasizing the gentle lines of her face. Gina didn’t believe in bullshit.
“Tell me truly, are you happy, Tamra? Fulfilled? Is your life what you envisioned when you got your nursing degree?”
Not at all. “Not exactly,” I acknowledged reluctantly.
“Is this the year that changes?”
“I’ve been thinking about a few things.” I was hedging, and she knew it. I quickly took a bite of my cupcake. Coconut. My favorite.
“Now we’re getting somewhere. Like what?” she asked.
I chewed slowly, stalling to give myself time to think. “Well, I was thinking that this year I would try to break out of my comfort zone.” My expression darkened as I thought about my sister’s most recent email. “Prove that I can follow through. Push myself. For example, the book that I’m reading this weekend? I stalk, ahem, follow the author on Twitter, but I never comment. Maybe I could make it a goal to comment more, try to make friends online.”
I could tell Gina wasn’t as enthused as I was over my first suggestion, but she still gave me an encouraging look. “I don’t think follow-through is your problem, but forcing yourself into uncomfortable situations does keep life interesting. That sounds like a good start. What else did you have in mind? Is there something else you’ve always wanted to do?”
I bit my
