I was asked about one of my favorite books a while back and the first one to come to mind was *The Two Week Gamble: A Second Chance At Love. If you're still on the fence about investing in a copy whether in electronic or paperback format, right now you can read the first chapter absolutely free!
Morgan Ross has finally began to reap the benefits of all her years of hard work.She's been hired at Grambling University as their new Art professor. Nothing could make her happier. She has the task of convincing her mother that taking this job is the right thing to do. While things seem to be falling into place, she has a chance encounter with Nick Brown, a man she had unintentionally hurt years ago. Seeing him again literally boils her blood. Nick Brown is a man who has been hurt by women one too many times. Seeing Morgan again opens wounds that he thought had healed. Something else awakens in Nick. Can he let go of the past in order to have a future? Will he take advantage of a second chance at love?
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Available on Kindle, Nook, Itunes/IBooks and many other formats! Happy Reading!!!
Available on Kindle, Nook, Itunes/IBooks and many other formats! Happy Reading!!!
The Two Week Gamble:
A Second Chance At Love
Chapter One
Morgan Ross was more than ecstatic when she opened her Welcome Letter. It had been sent to let her know that she’d got the position that she’d applied for. After Morgan had graduated from graduate school, she’d taken a small position at the local school. It had been nice but Morgan wanted to do more with her life. She’d decided to apply for an open position at Grambling State University over three months ago. The letter had welcomed her to campus and stated that she would be an asset to the faculty and the overall student body. Morgan’s dreams were finally coming true. She had worked hard and felt that she deserved the title of Professor of Art History at the well known university. She would finally be out of Mississippi. Out of this god-forsaken small town called Tchula. During her attendance at Mississippi Valley State University, she’d been ashamed to even utter the name of her home town. When she did become brave enough, people ultimately looked at her like she was some sort of country-illiterate. Yes, she’d paid her dues in full. She’d put everything she’d had into school. She was living proof that hard work and perseverance really paid off. She was finally moving up in the world.
Jordan could hardly believe what her sister was saying. She had the job. Morgan was going to be working at Grambling. All she could think of was their amazing football team. During the last season, she’d gone to all of their games. Their star player was a nice piece of eye candy. She decided to keep that little tidbit to herself. “I leave in two weeks. I can barely wait. They’ve already sent me a list of the courses I’ll be teaching this semester. Can you believe it?” Morgan raved. “Sis, I’m proud of you. You said you’d do it. And you did. Have you told Mom yet?” Jordan asked. With that question alone, Morgan’s excitement tampered down a bit. Both of them exchanged familiar glances. Morgan’s chess nut into Jordan’s warm honey eyes. They knew that their mother would have an absolute fit. Still she’d be happy for Morgan and a bit furious as well.
“Mom, I’m not trying to hurt you. I applied for the job a while back. Honestly, I’d almost given up. I got this letter today and now I’m suddenly hired. I really want this.” Morgan explained. She’d wanted Jordan to come along to their mother’s house with her, but Jordan had claimed that she couldn’t close the animal clinic early. Sure… yeah right. She’d thought, when Jordan started making excuses, she really poured them on thick. Morgan needed her big sister’s support. Jordan apparently thought that she could handle Lauren Ross-Weathers on her own. “Why did you apply for a job that was going to take you so far away from home?” Lauren asked. “Mom, you know I have worked so hard. I even skipped partying with my friends to get the grades that I got. I’m ashamed to say that the whole time I was in college, I didn’t even take the time to seriously date. When I was working on my masters… dating was definitely out of the question. Mom, don’t act like this. Just please be happy for me.” Morgan pleaded. “I am happy. I just wish you’d applied for a job at Valley. You loved the campus, didn’t you? I mean I never heard you complain about it.” Lauren conceded. “Yes, I loved it. I loved the freedom I had there.” Before Morgan had finished the sentence, she already regretted the way that it had come out. “What do you mean by that? You had your freedom here. Are you saying that I smothered you girls? I did the best I could. I was a single mother, working and taking care of two kids on my own. You father decided late in the game that he didn’t want a family. He divorced me and moved on.” Lauren exploded. This was not what she called handling the situation. Why hadn’t Jordan come along? She looked across that table at her mother. She sat there with her eyes averted. She still looked young and very beautiful. The sunlight pierced in through the kitchen blinds and played a beautiful lightshow over her cold black hair and fair skin. Her eyes, however averted, were a beautiful brown with a hint of hazel. Yes, their mother was a force to be reckoned with.
Before Morgan could think of something to sway her mother, her step-father, Sam Weathers, walked in from the garage. “How are my girls?” Lauren faced her husband and said sadly, “Morgan headed to Louisiana. She has taken a job at Grambling. Talk to her Sam.” “Dad… it’s not like that. Mom seems to think that I’m doing this to hurt her.” Morgan explained. Sam took a long look at Morgan. She started to feel like he was going to tell her that she was crazy for wanting to work and live so far away. Sam was a hard man but he was also reasonable. “Congratulations Morgan. I couldn’t be more proud if you were my own flesh and blood.” Sam smiled. Lauren gave him a look that could slice a brick wall in two.
“Don’t mind your mother. She’s a bit upset with your sister Bree. She’s at it again.” Sam explained. Lauren’s eyes lost their heated gleam and softened. “What do you mean? What’s up with Bree?” Morgan asked. Sam’s tall figure slumped over the kitchen counter. Lauren took the reign. “She’s hanging out with that same old crowd. She stays out all times of night. We can’t seem to get through to her.” Morgan had to admit, no one could tell Bree what to do and not to do. She was her on cheering section. She marched to a different drum. She had a beat of her own. She was a huge contrast to Morgan and their big sister Jordan. Bree was over six feet tall where the other two were five six and five eight. She’d taken her father, Sam’s height. Her skin was dark ebony like Sam’s. Morgan and Jordan were a rich caramel in color, a mix of both their mother and father, Fred Ross' skin color.
Everyone knew that Bree thought that she was a bad girl. Beneath that whole bad-girl persona was a girl who really wanted to be accepted and had dreams of being a model some day. She was acting out again. No doubt, in Morgan’s mind, that it was yet another ploy for attention. That was usually the case when it came to Bree. “What does she want this time?” Morgan asked dully. She was so tired of her baby sister’s games. Lauren said nothing, while Sam smiled a bit. “She wants a car.” Morgan had to struggle to keep from laughing. Bree was only fifteen. Morgan and Jordan had only received their first cars when they’d each turned eighteen. For Morgan, that had been some eight years ago. That was an exciting time. Back to the present. “Listen Mom, Dad. I have to go. I’ll stop by later this week. Ask Bree to give me a call.” Morgan explained as she rose from the table and walked towards the front door. She closed the door barely hearing her parents telling her that they loved her.
Morgan pulled away from her parent's home. A place that she, her mother and Jordan had moved to after Lauren had married Sam. Bree came into the picture later. Boy was she a surprise. Even at this age, she was still causing uproar. Morgan drove out of the middle class neighborhood. She glanced at the houses as she passed. She would miss all this… seeing her parents… dealing with Bree and her small circle of friends. Just because she was leaving, that didn’t mean she would never see them again. As she crossed the bridge that would eventually lead to her apartment across town, there he stood. Could it really be him? Was Nick Brown really standing there? Morgan almost missed her turn looking at him. She had to be sure. She decided to circle back around the old city hall.
Her breathing came fast. If it was him, what would she do? What could she do? She was the one who’d walked away from him over eight years ago. During their courtship, she’d never allowed him to kiss or even hug her. She had been going through a stage. At least that’s what she’d called it. Sure they’d been intimate, but it had been like two strangers instead of two people who had supposedly cared for each other. She’d left without even saying goodbye. It was just as well. She hadn’t had a good role model when it came to men. She figured he would leave when he got what he’d wanted. Instead she left before he could break her heart. She and Jordan had been young when their father had left but they never forgot how their mother cried for months over the man.
Nick stood there wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. If they weren’t, he could have sworn the woman who’d passed him in that purple Pontiac, was Morgan Ross. Was it really her? He’d heard all about her success. She was good at everything this side of the Mississippi. Everyone bragged about her but only he knew the woman she really was inside. She’d left him without a goodbye. She was one cold…. No, he couldn’t let himself get that type of attitude. After all, that was the type of brutal honesty that led Tonya to leave him. Now he was home to make a fresh start. There was no way he was going to dredge up old memories. Old memories and too much heart ache; that’s what came to mind when he thought of Morgan. Still in the back of his mind, the question rang… was that her?
Morgan rounded the curve. She set her sights on where she’d seen him. Yes it was him. He stood there deep in conversation with his aunt, Helen. His bright smile and huge dimples still dominated his face. She tried to look away but it was no use, he’d seen her. She watched his face as a cycle of emotions played out. Hurt, anger and that last one, she couldn’t decipher. She felt something stir in the pit of her belly. What was it? Did she still want him? Sure, he was still as sexy as an underwear model, standing six feet and three inches. He had looks, a great body and brains. But the last she’d heard was he’d moved to the Midwest and married a nice girl. She remembered how old feelings had stirred upon her mother giving her the news of Nick’s marriage. She’d been in college completing her junior year. No one knew that she’d demolished a whole bucket of chunky monkey to take the edge off of leaving him in Tchula. She’d missed him every day since she’d left.
Nick could barely hear what his aunt had said. His heart had stopped when he’d seen her drive by slowly. She was still as beautiful as she’d been before. He’d let that same beauty make a fool of him. He’d waited two years to see if she’d come back. Two of the longest years of his life spent waiting. She never came… never sent word by her mother… never cared. She’d hurt him. She’d walked away with his heart and yet seeing her again seemed to stir something inside him. Even Tonya hadn’t touched this part of him. The day Tonya said she was leaving, he thought it was just as well. Women were all the same. They all left with a piece of your heart. His heart was just fine the way that it was. He wasn’t interested in picking up the pieces anymore. He wasn’t going to think about Morgan or Tonya. Each of them had burned him in different ways. He’d given up. He just didn’t know women. He couldn’t tell the good from the bad. No for Nick, they were definitely all the same.
Morgan had never felt so glad to see Telfair before. She’d barely made it home in one piece. After seeing Nick, it was like her nerves and senses where playing a tune she wasn’t quite sure she’d heard before. She had to get back on track. She looked around at the apartment buildings that lined each side of the area. Children played everywhere. It was an okay place to live. The rent was nice and the air-conditioning never acted up. Still she was glad that she’d be leaving soon. She made a mental note to talk to the apartment manager. He wouldn’t like what she was going to tell him but he’d just have to deal with it. It had been a nice run but Morgan was tired of this town. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been out of the town or even the state before. She just wanted a change of scenery. Sometimes small town life was just too much. Everyone knew everyone and their business. On the Valley campus she could keep more secrets than she could in this town.
Nick dropped his aunt at her home. She’d been upset after his obvious separation from reality. He found himself wondering about what could have been. Back then, it was clear that Morgan had issues but he’d felt drawn to her. He saw through her icy exterior. He’d thought that maybe she would let him inside someday. Too bad that day had never come. She’d run off to school… never to be seen again. That was until today. She’d been beautiful. He knew that he hadn’t imagined what he’d seen in her eyes. Was she feeling what he was feeling? Was she longing to try again? He thought for a moment longer and decided that it would be foolish to let her under his skin again. He’d loved her back then and she’d high-tailed it out of town and out of his life and hadn’t dared to look back. Damn.
Morgan awoke in a cold sweat. She’d been running but couldn’t remember from what. She looked at her bedside clock. It read 3:00 am. What was going on with her? Ever since she’d seen Nick, it was like things started spinning out of control. She started wishing for things that she knew she could never have. The reasonable part of her knew that she could never have Nick again. Simply stated, she’d hurt him too badly. The optimistic side of her was saying that it’s not too late. She fell back on her pillow and thought that it was way too early in the morning to try to make a decision like that. She tried to go back to sleep but there was no use.
She went into her office, the smallest bedroom in her two bedroom apartment. She looked around as if just seeing it for what it was. All her awards and certificates were bunched up on a wall that was barely big enough to hold a window. Her desk was too large for the room. She realized that she’d settled instead of fought for the things that really mattered in life. Of course she’d studied, dotted every ‘I’ and crossed every ‘T’ but was she really happy? She knew that she couldn’t be alone forever. She sat at her desk and crossed her arms over chest. Damn that Nick Brown. He was the reason for her restless night. She had to do something. But what? It was obvious that she had some unresolved issues when it came to him. A light clicked on in her head.
Morgan knew that it was crazy but she had to do it. She was leaving Mississippi in two weeks. She made up her mind; she was going to sleep with Nick one last time to get him out of her system. This time around, she’d show him that she wasn’t an ice princess. She’d let him hold her, let him kiss her and enjoy what she had to offer. After all, it was only fair. She’d hurt him. It was obvious that she harbored some guilt over what she’d done. She would cleanse her soul by giving him a real romantic, heart stopping night with her. This time, she would say goodbye before she left. She’d make sure that everything was all squared away before she left for her perfect job in Louisiana. Yes… it was the least she could. She held back a yarn… a sign, she thought…. It’s the right thing to do. With that, Morgan headed back to bed and slept until morning.
Jordan could hardly believe what her sister was saying. She had the job. Morgan was going to be working at Grambling. All she could think of was their amazing football team. During the last season, she’d gone to all of their games. Their star player was a nice piece of eye candy. She decided to keep that little tidbit to herself. “I leave in two weeks. I can barely wait. They’ve already sent me a list of the courses I’ll be teaching this semester. Can you believe it?” Morgan raved. “Sis, I’m proud of you. You said you’d do it. And you did. Have you told Mom yet?” Jordan asked. With that question alone, Morgan’s excitement tampered down a bit. Both of them exchanged familiar glances. Morgan’s chess nut into Jordan’s warm honey eyes. They knew that their mother would have an absolute fit. Still she’d be happy for Morgan and a bit furious as well.
“Mom, I’m not trying to hurt you. I applied for the job a while back. Honestly, I’d almost given up. I got this letter today and now I’m suddenly hired. I really want this.” Morgan explained. She’d wanted Jordan to come along to their mother’s house with her, but Jordan had claimed that she couldn’t close the animal clinic early. Sure… yeah right. She’d thought, when Jordan started making excuses, she really poured them on thick. Morgan needed her big sister’s support. Jordan apparently thought that she could handle Lauren Ross-Weathers on her own. “Why did you apply for a job that was going to take you so far away from home?” Lauren asked. “Mom, you know I have worked so hard. I even skipped partying with my friends to get the grades that I got. I’m ashamed to say that the whole time I was in college, I didn’t even take the time to seriously date. When I was working on my masters… dating was definitely out of the question. Mom, don’t act like this. Just please be happy for me.” Morgan pleaded. “I am happy. I just wish you’d applied for a job at Valley. You loved the campus, didn’t you? I mean I never heard you complain about it.” Lauren conceded. “Yes, I loved it. I loved the freedom I had there.” Before Morgan had finished the sentence, she already regretted the way that it had come out. “What do you mean by that? You had your freedom here. Are you saying that I smothered you girls? I did the best I could. I was a single mother, working and taking care of two kids on my own. You father decided late in the game that he didn’t want a family. He divorced me and moved on.” Lauren exploded. This was not what she called handling the situation. Why hadn’t Jordan come along? She looked across that table at her mother. She sat there with her eyes averted. She still looked young and very beautiful. The sunlight pierced in through the kitchen blinds and played a beautiful lightshow over her cold black hair and fair skin. Her eyes, however averted, were a beautiful brown with a hint of hazel. Yes, their mother was a force to be reckoned with.
Before Morgan could think of something to sway her mother, her step-father, Sam Weathers, walked in from the garage. “How are my girls?” Lauren faced her husband and said sadly, “Morgan headed to Louisiana. She has taken a job at Grambling. Talk to her Sam.” “Dad… it’s not like that. Mom seems to think that I’m doing this to hurt her.” Morgan explained. Sam took a long look at Morgan. She started to feel like he was going to tell her that she was crazy for wanting to work and live so far away. Sam was a hard man but he was also reasonable. “Congratulations Morgan. I couldn’t be more proud if you were my own flesh and blood.” Sam smiled. Lauren gave him a look that could slice a brick wall in two.
“Don’t mind your mother. She’s a bit upset with your sister Bree. She’s at it again.” Sam explained. Lauren’s eyes lost their heated gleam and softened. “What do you mean? What’s up with Bree?” Morgan asked. Sam’s tall figure slumped over the kitchen counter. Lauren took the reign. “She’s hanging out with that same old crowd. She stays out all times of night. We can’t seem to get through to her.” Morgan had to admit, no one could tell Bree what to do and not to do. She was her on cheering section. She marched to a different drum. She had a beat of her own. She was a huge contrast to Morgan and their big sister Jordan. Bree was over six feet tall where the other two were five six and five eight. She’d taken her father, Sam’s height. Her skin was dark ebony like Sam’s. Morgan and Jordan were a rich caramel in color, a mix of both their mother and father, Fred Ross' skin color.
Everyone knew that Bree thought that she was a bad girl. Beneath that whole bad-girl persona was a girl who really wanted to be accepted and had dreams of being a model some day. She was acting out again. No doubt, in Morgan’s mind, that it was yet another ploy for attention. That was usually the case when it came to Bree. “What does she want this time?” Morgan asked dully. She was so tired of her baby sister’s games. Lauren said nothing, while Sam smiled a bit. “She wants a car.” Morgan had to struggle to keep from laughing. Bree was only fifteen. Morgan and Jordan had only received their first cars when they’d each turned eighteen. For Morgan, that had been some eight years ago. That was an exciting time. Back to the present. “Listen Mom, Dad. I have to go. I’ll stop by later this week. Ask Bree to give me a call.” Morgan explained as she rose from the table and walked towards the front door. She closed the door barely hearing her parents telling her that they loved her.
Morgan pulled away from her parent's home. A place that she, her mother and Jordan had moved to after Lauren had married Sam. Bree came into the picture later. Boy was she a surprise. Even at this age, she was still causing uproar. Morgan drove out of the middle class neighborhood. She glanced at the houses as she passed. She would miss all this… seeing her parents… dealing with Bree and her small circle of friends. Just because she was leaving, that didn’t mean she would never see them again. As she crossed the bridge that would eventually lead to her apartment across town, there he stood. Could it really be him? Was Nick Brown really standing there? Morgan almost missed her turn looking at him. She had to be sure. She decided to circle back around the old city hall.
Her breathing came fast. If it was him, what would she do? What could she do? She was the one who’d walked away from him over eight years ago. During their courtship, she’d never allowed him to kiss or even hug her. She had been going through a stage. At least that’s what she’d called it. Sure they’d been intimate, but it had been like two strangers instead of two people who had supposedly cared for each other. She’d left without even saying goodbye. It was just as well. She hadn’t had a good role model when it came to men. She figured he would leave when he got what he’d wanted. Instead she left before he could break her heart. She and Jordan had been young when their father had left but they never forgot how their mother cried for months over the man.
Nick stood there wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. If they weren’t, he could have sworn the woman who’d passed him in that purple Pontiac, was Morgan Ross. Was it really her? He’d heard all about her success. She was good at everything this side of the Mississippi. Everyone bragged about her but only he knew the woman she really was inside. She’d left him without a goodbye. She was one cold…. No, he couldn’t let himself get that type of attitude. After all, that was the type of brutal honesty that led Tonya to leave him. Now he was home to make a fresh start. There was no way he was going to dredge up old memories. Old memories and too much heart ache; that’s what came to mind when he thought of Morgan. Still in the back of his mind, the question rang… was that her?
Morgan rounded the curve. She set her sights on where she’d seen him. Yes it was him. He stood there deep in conversation with his aunt, Helen. His bright smile and huge dimples still dominated his face. She tried to look away but it was no use, he’d seen her. She watched his face as a cycle of emotions played out. Hurt, anger and that last one, she couldn’t decipher. She felt something stir in the pit of her belly. What was it? Did she still want him? Sure, he was still as sexy as an underwear model, standing six feet and three inches. He had looks, a great body and brains. But the last she’d heard was he’d moved to the Midwest and married a nice girl. She remembered how old feelings had stirred upon her mother giving her the news of Nick’s marriage. She’d been in college completing her junior year. No one knew that she’d demolished a whole bucket of chunky monkey to take the edge off of leaving him in Tchula. She’d missed him every day since she’d left.
Nick could barely hear what his aunt had said. His heart had stopped when he’d seen her drive by slowly. She was still as beautiful as she’d been before. He’d let that same beauty make a fool of him. He’d waited two years to see if she’d come back. Two of the longest years of his life spent waiting. She never came… never sent word by her mother… never cared. She’d hurt him. She’d walked away with his heart and yet seeing her again seemed to stir something inside him. Even Tonya hadn’t touched this part of him. The day Tonya said she was leaving, he thought it was just as well. Women were all the same. They all left with a piece of your heart. His heart was just fine the way that it was. He wasn’t interested in picking up the pieces anymore. He wasn’t going to think about Morgan or Tonya. Each of them had burned him in different ways. He’d given up. He just didn’t know women. He couldn’t tell the good from the bad. No for Nick, they were definitely all the same.
Morgan had never felt so glad to see Telfair before. She’d barely made it home in one piece. After seeing Nick, it was like her nerves and senses where playing a tune she wasn’t quite sure she’d heard before. She had to get back on track. She looked around at the apartment buildings that lined each side of the area. Children played everywhere. It was an okay place to live. The rent was nice and the air-conditioning never acted up. Still she was glad that she’d be leaving soon. She made a mental note to talk to the apartment manager. He wouldn’t like what she was going to tell him but he’d just have to deal with it. It had been a nice run but Morgan was tired of this town. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been out of the town or even the state before. She just wanted a change of scenery. Sometimes small town life was just too much. Everyone knew everyone and their business. On the Valley campus she could keep more secrets than she could in this town.
Nick dropped his aunt at her home. She’d been upset after his obvious separation from reality. He found himself wondering about what could have been. Back then, it was clear that Morgan had issues but he’d felt drawn to her. He saw through her icy exterior. He’d thought that maybe she would let him inside someday. Too bad that day had never come. She’d run off to school… never to be seen again. That was until today. She’d been beautiful. He knew that he hadn’t imagined what he’d seen in her eyes. Was she feeling what he was feeling? Was she longing to try again? He thought for a moment longer and decided that it would be foolish to let her under his skin again. He’d loved her back then and she’d high-tailed it out of town and out of his life and hadn’t dared to look back. Damn.
Morgan awoke in a cold sweat. She’d been running but couldn’t remember from what. She looked at her bedside clock. It read 3:00 am. What was going on with her? Ever since she’d seen Nick, it was like things started spinning out of control. She started wishing for things that she knew she could never have. The reasonable part of her knew that she could never have Nick again. Simply stated, she’d hurt him too badly. The optimistic side of her was saying that it’s not too late. She fell back on her pillow and thought that it was way too early in the morning to try to make a decision like that. She tried to go back to sleep but there was no use.
She went into her office, the smallest bedroom in her two bedroom apartment. She looked around as if just seeing it for what it was. All her awards and certificates were bunched up on a wall that was barely big enough to hold a window. Her desk was too large for the room. She realized that she’d settled instead of fought for the things that really mattered in life. Of course she’d studied, dotted every ‘I’ and crossed every ‘T’ but was she really happy? She knew that she couldn’t be alone forever. She sat at her desk and crossed her arms over chest. Damn that Nick Brown. He was the reason for her restless night. She had to do something. But what? It was obvious that she had some unresolved issues when it came to him. A light clicked on in her head.
Morgan knew that it was crazy but she had to do it. She was leaving Mississippi in two weeks. She made up her mind; she was going to sleep with Nick one last time to get him out of her system. This time around, she’d show him that she wasn’t an ice princess. She’d let him hold her, let him kiss her and enjoy what she had to offer. After all, it was only fair. She’d hurt him. It was obvious that she harbored some guilt over what she’d done. She would cleanse her soul by giving him a real romantic, heart stopping night with her. This time, she would say goodbye before she left. She’d make sure that everything was all squared away before she left for her perfect job in Louisiana. Yes… it was the least she could. She held back a yarn… a sign, she thought…. It’s the right thing to do. With that, Morgan headed back to bed and slept until morning.
*Cover image may differ at various sites but interior story is the same.
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