Kissing Mr. Right by Michelle Major

lose you. Blubbering about me being some sort of teenage crush for him and he’d never acted like this before.” She gave a bitter snort. “He must have been laughing his cheating butt off all the way home. Chloe and I bought his sob story hook, line, and sinker.”
    “He just seemed like a good guy,” Chloe added. “You know how men react to Sam. We thought he was telling the truth.”
    “You still should have told me,” Kendall said quietly.
    “I’m sorry,” Sam said.
    “Me, too,” Chloe echoed.
    “So that’s the reason for the Mae West routine tonight?” asked Kendall.
    Sam looked sheepish. “Not my brightest idea. But the sparks flying between the two of you could have set fire to wet logs. I wanted to get a read on the guy before things got serious.”
    “Trust me, nothing is going to get serious between Ty and me,” Kendall said, with more determination than she felt. She couldn’t help asking, “What did you think of him?”
    “Not too much to go on since he rushed out after my little spectacle,” Sam answered, taking a sip of wine. “He’s certainly easy on the eyes. You said he was a landscaper?”
    “He has a doctorate and, according to Google, extensive experience in soil conservation, biology, and resource inventory and assessment.” When Sam gave her a blank look she added, “To answer your question, yes. He owns a landscaping company. That’s what he does for a living.”
    “I don’t know much about the science stuff,” Sam said with a salacious grin, “but I’d pay good money to watch that man dig a hole in the ground with no shirt on.”
    “Mmmm hmmm,” Chloe echoed.
    Kendall made a face. “That’s part of the reason I couldn’t be serious about him.”
    “Why?” Sam asked. “You only go for the scrawny geeks like Greg?”
    “Greg was a cute geek,” Kendall protested. “And despite some of the problems we had . . .”
    “Like the fact that he was a rat-bastard cheater,” Sam interrupted.
    “I prefer ratfink. Despite that,” Kendall continued, “he’s what I’m looking for in a guy: successful, polished, professional. We fit.”
    “But you didn’t fit,” Chloe argued. “You only thought you did. A man who could hurt you the way Greg did is not someone you want in your life, no matter how much he looks the part.”
    Kendall said nothing. Chloe’s quiet insight cut directly to the heart of the matter.
    Kendall didn’t want to think about Greg’s cheating or Ty Bishop. Especially Ty and the way his body fit perfectly over hers. The way her heart had softened when he’d held her then pounded as passion consumed them both. She grabbed the bag of chips from the counter.
    “Let’s go check out my other prospects,” she said lightly.
    Chloe touched her arm. “I mean it, Ken. You deserve someone who will respect and cherish you for who you are.”
    Too bad Kendall wasn’t sure who she was.
    She saw the pain in Chloe’s pale gray eyes and knew her friend also spoke from firsthand experience with a bad man. She put her arms around Chloe’s small shoulders and squeezed. “We all deserve that,” she murmured against Chloe’s dark curls.
    Kendall felt Sam’s arms tighten around her back and the three friends stood in the kitchen in an awkward hug. Sam’s voice was as gentle as Chloe’s had been when she said, “I still think you should give the hottie a chance.”
    Laughing, Kendall rolled her eyes. “Fine. Anyone for dating profiles?”
    “I can’t wait.” Sam grinned and walked into Kendall’s living room.
    The application was straightforward. It asked for the man’s name, address, age, height, weight, occupation, and why he should be chosen to date Kendall. It also requested that a photograph of the applicant be included, along with a short video introduction. Kendall had expected maybe a dozen men to apply, but by the time Chloe finished pulling the one-page forms out of the envelope, there was a stack of more than sixty applications sitting