Melinda Curtis

This kisses only romance is available as a digital read as part of a duet in print (Amazon) or as a digital duet (Shop Melinda Curtis).

The Mermaid Cafe’s Guide to Dating a Bad Boy

She’s going places…

Ivy Adler may be working as a coffee barista at the Mermaid Cafe, but she’s about to earn a graduate degree in business. And then, she’s going to leave Mermaid Bay. But between now and then, she’s got to attend her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. She needs a revenge dress and a date. A hot one.

He’s making a life here…

To say Hank Ferguson had a rocky childhood would be an understatement. He was trouble. Some would say he still is. That’s why Hank doesn’t talk to Ivy when he gets his morning coffee. Bad boys and good girls… Well, it just doesn’t happen.

But there are forces at work at the Mermaid Cafe…

Or rather, meddlers who believe in love. Will their guide to dating a bad boy by fake dating him first lead to love? Or will Ivy end up at her ex-boyfriend’s wedding with a revenge dress and an empty seat next to her?

Excerpt:

Ivy

“I’m sorry I’m late, Keira,” I blurt as I run behind the counter of the Mermaid Café on Monday morning. I smile apologetically at my boss as I tie my brown canvas apron’s knot behind me. “Lately, all I do is run to catch up.” Never getting ahead.

“We handled it, Ivy.” Keira is my idol. Not only is she now the owner of the Mermaid Café, but she’s young to have purchased it at all. Well, not as young as my twenty-two years. But Keira’s in her thirties and she’s got it going on. Her red hair is always flawless. Her make-up never runs—not even after making steamy lattes all morning. But most of all, she’s as chill as they come. “Hot date last night? You look tired.”

“I wish I had a hot date. I haven’t had a date in what feels like forever.” I’ve got no time. I’m working two jobs to help pay for grad school, which I’m attending remotely this term. Besides working at the Mermaid Café on the weekdays, I bartend the late shift at the Broken Oar and I use the weekends to catch up on classwork. Last night, I stayed up late studying my business law course materials in preparation for a paper that’s due. I’m taking virtual classes this term and came back to Mermaid Bay to a lower cost of living. In a few weeks, I’ll have my master’s degree in business and I’ll be moving on to bigger things.

Not that I know what bigger things yet. But it will be big. Of that, I’m certain.

I take my place at the cash register, sparing a touch to the small, carved wooden mermaid next to it, the one perched on the tip jar. I’ve known since childhood that mermaids are my spirit creature. Around here, being kind to mermaids in thought and deed is supposed to bring you good luck. Today, I could use some cash tips. And for that, I need my smile and luck.

“Ivy’s going to run the world someday,” says Pauline, my best friend since kindergarten. She’s handing drinks to someone at the walk-up window. “Hot dates will just slow her down.”

“That’s my mother talking,” I reply tartly in between entering an order for Pete, who runs the plant nursery in town. “My mom always says romance stalls careers.”

“What good is a paycheck without romance?” Keira wonders aloud, wiping down the milk steamer.

“Says the woman who’s married to the Mermaid Café,” Pauline points out.

“Guilty, as charged. For now, anyway,” Keira says in that good-natured tone of hers. “Ivy and I have excuses for being single. What’s your excuse, Pauline?”

“I’m waiting for a merman.” Pauline grins. “Maybe one of our local fishermen will catch one for me.”

A group of gray-haired fishermen chuckle as they gather their coats and place their ceramic coffee mugs in the dirty dishes tray. They file out the door, an indication that the next wave of customers is due to come in.

Pauline comes over to give me a side hug and peek at Pete’s order. “What do I need a man for? I have a cat.”

“Ouch.” Pete takes the change I give him and drops it into the tip jar. “I can assure you that men are much better companions than cats.”

“Not in my experience.” Pauline moves to fill his order—a large, iced coffee. “Until my merman comes along, I’m happy here at the Mermaid Café.”

“Me, too.” I glance around the small coffee shop, feeling at home.

This place was built on the Mermaid Bay pier over one hundred years ago and has the weather-beaten looks to prove it—whitewashed wooden planks, a chalkboard menu, mermaid and sailor sayings hanging on plaques. There are only four tables inside, occupied by a smattering of early morning regulars, and two tables outside, which are usually empty until the fog recedes. Since its revitalization a decade earlier, it’s become a part of many a resident’s routine. When I move on to big things after graduation, I’m going to miss it.

Who am I kidding? I’m going to miss my hometown, too.

“Are you okay?” Keira steps beside me and lays her hand on my forearm.

As always, her touch is cool, understandable since the Mermaid Café is located on the pier in Mermaid Bay, a small town on the northern Oregon coast. Mermaid Bay isn’t the warmest of climates. Half the time, my fingers and toes are cold, too.

“We can handle it if you need to go home and get some rest,” Keira continues leaning against the counter next to me. “You’ve got finals coming up, right?”

“I’m good.” Just the fact that Keira cares about me more than my parents seem to makes me determined not to let her down. It’s the same determination that’s going to make me a big deal in business, if only to prove to my parents they can be just as proud of me as they are of my sports star younger brothers.

“I appreciate you, Ivy.” Keira moves toward the food case where a large, High Tide Bakery box is waiting for its contents to be put on display.

I bid farewell to Pete and a few others that are heading off to work. Only Marina, Keira’s grandmother, remains in the café. My mind wanders to the paper I have to write for my business law class. I want it to be perfect.

The bell rings over the front door, announcing someone’s entry.

Glancing up, I spot Hank Ferguson, my high school crush and one of the town’s bad boys. In his youth, he took cars he didn’t own for joy rides. He got caught tagging a school bus with graffiti. He dated girls much older than he was. Hank always comes in for coffee and a bagel before his shift at the lumber mill on the edge of town. And despite seeing Hank five mornings a week, my knees still feel weak every time he walks in.

Hank is lumberjack handsome. Eyes the color of midnight, shoulder-length black hair, and broad shoulders covered today in a black T-shirt beneath a red-checked flannel shirt. He keeps to himself, which gives him an air of mystery. And his smiles… Well, they’re rare and transformative. The last time I saw one was in high school a few minutes before Hank decked my jealous, cheating boyfriend.

That’s right. Not a smile sent my way by Hank in five years.

Something about Hank’s years’ long snub gets under my skin. I’ve made it my mission to elicit a smile from him again. I hand a customer their change and then start my smile campaign.

“Pauline, trouble just walked in.” I gesture toward Hank. “What should we do? Toss him over the side of the pier like stale fish bait?” The way Angus, owner of the bait shop, does every evening.

“Give him decaf,” Pauline calls without looking up from pouring black coffee into a to-go cup for a customer at the walk-up window.

Keira has been restocking the bakery case next to me with chocolate croissants. She swivels green eyes my way. “Hank doesn’t want anything as tame as decaf. He likes trouble.”

Something I’m not.

Hank regards me in that contemplative, detached way of his.

Without Hank asking, Keira bags his usual order, an asiago bagel, and hands it to him. Then she pats my shoulder. “Every workaholic can use a little trouble. And Ivy, if you’re so sleep deprived that you haven’t caught on… By workaholic, I mean you.”

I can use trouble like Hank?

“Oh.” I sneak a glance at Hank, needing to know if he’s heard my boss.

He has. He’s got a wickedly sexy smile coming at me, one I’ve never seen aimed my way before. I wanted smiles but…

Be careful what you wish for, Ivy.

“Oh,” I say again, breathlessly this time. Normally, I try very hard not to let on that I’m attracted to Hank. But today, something is different. I stare over the cash register, capture Hank’s black as night gaze, and smile back at him as if he is my favorite flavor of ice cream. And the last scoop in the carton of Cherry Chocolate Chunk, to boot. Something to be cherished. “What kind of trouble are you in the mood for today, Hank?”

“You,” he replies without hesitation.

My heart skips a beat.

The Story Behind the Story

This kisses only romantic comedy sets up the second half of the series. My plan is to write one mid-life meet cute followed by one Mermaid Cafe Guide to Dating (coffee barista romance). The duets will share characters and each “Guide” romance has a twist at the end.