My Lucky Night – First Chapter Preview!

It’s almost time to release my enemies-to-lovers romcom My Lucky Night into the world!

This novel follows the story of Cassie. After a string of unlucky incidents during the festive season—including getting dumped—this year she decides to spend the day at home. Alone. No men. No complications.

But then her nightmare boss demands she track down this year’s most coveted Christmas gift—and the only person who can help is an annoyingly sexy Frenchman she’s just met.

Nicolas might look hot, but Cassie can tell he’s also arrogant, irritating and in love with himself. Exactly the kind of guy she hates. Plus, he’ll only help her find the gift if she helps him with something in return...

Could Cassie’s festive fortunes finally be about to change? Can she learn to love Christmas again? And will Cassie get lucky in more ways than one?

Set against a gorgeous London backdrop with sparkling lights, Christmas markets and mistletoe, My Lucky Night is a fun, sexy enemies-to-lovers romcom novella that will give you all the feels!

You can read it as a standalone novella or as book two in the My Ten-Year Crush series.

If you fancy getting a sneak peek of Cassie’s story, read the first chapter below. Then pre-order on Amazon so you can find out what happens next as soon as the book is released on Thursday 11th November.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Queues.

If there was one thing I hated more than queuing, it was queuing at Christmas.

The lines were always so long. At the supermarket tills as everyone stocked up with enough food to feed ten armies and in the shops where people rushed out to buy things at the last minute.

I glanced at my watch. So far we’d been queuing for an hour. If I was by myself, I’d have left ages ago. But today was different.

I was waiting outside a grotto in Green Park with my five-year-old godson, Paul. Even though I wasn’t a fan of Christmas, I’d promised I’d take him to see Santa this year and I couldn’t let him down.

Ordinarily, keeping Paul entertained for sixty minutes in the cold would be a challenge. But thankfully his mum, my cousin Bella, had joined us. That meant we’d had a good chat whilst Paul sat on the bench nearby and amused himself playing on her phone.

A little girl came out of the grotto smiling and the boy in front of us was summoned inside. Hallelujah! That must mean we’re next.

‘Come on, Paul,’ I called out. ‘It’s almost time to see Father Christmas.’

‘Yippee!’ He jumped off the bench so quickly you’d think it was on fire.

‘Someone’s excited!’

‘I am, Aunty Cassie. I’ve been dreaming about this my whole life.’

So dramatic, bless him.

‘I’m just popping to the shops across the road. I’ll be back soon to pick you up. Okay, sweetheart?’ Bella bent down and kissed Paul gently on the head.

‘Okay, Mummy.’ He nodded.

‘Have fun!’ Bella waved.

It wasn’t much longer before one of the elves, a woman dressed in a red-and-white striped jumper and green trousers, ushered us into a walkway with warm yellow lighting.

The grotto looked pretty cool. There were sparkly lights, a fireplace with red-and-green stockings hanging from the shelf and a huge Christmas tree, complete with baubles, tinsel and dozens of colourful presents underneath. And of course, sat right beside it was the big man himself.

‘Ho, ho, ho!’ said Father Christmas. ‘So who do we have here, then?’

He looked quite authentic. Over the years I’d seen many versions of Santa Claus, rocking ridiculous fake beards and poorly made red suits, but this guy took the whole Father Christmas gig seriously. I could tell it was his beard and even his stomach looked real. Not like he’d just stuffed a couple of cushions under his jacket.

‘This is Paul.’ I couldn’t resist ruffling his cute dark curly hair.

‘Ho, ho, ho! Hello, Paul!’ Santa gushed. ‘So have you been a good boy this year?’

‘Yes, Santa!’ Paul jumped up and down before sitting on one of the chairs beside him. He really was such a happy child.

‘That’s good. So what would you like for Christmas?’

‘I would really love a dinosaur Lego kit, please,’ Paul replied politely.

‘Very good choice, young Paul.’

‘And a dancing milkshake. Like the one at Aunty’s house.’

‘Okay, young man!’ Santa raised his eyebrow. ‘Something tells me you’ll be very happy on Christmas Day.’

‘Thank you so much, Santa!’ Paul grinned.

At least I knew he’d definitely get one thing on his list. I reached in my pocket and felt the old dancing milkshake toy, which I’d found when I was clearing out some old boxes.

Note to self to remember to give it to Bella later and double-check she had the dinosaur set. With Santa practically guaranteeing Paul was getting everything he’d asked for, I didn’t want him to be disappointed.

‘And you?’ Father Christmas turned to me.

‘Oh no!’ I shook my head. ‘I’m just here for Paul.’

‘Don’t you believe in Christmas?’

‘Of course!’ I said quickly. I absolutely did not. I thought it was all a load of commercialised nonsense, but I couldn’t say that, could I?

‘Well, then!’ He grinned. Come and sit down.’

Paul’s eyes widened, willing me to join in on the fun.

Oh, what the hell.

I loosened my green scarf, smoothed down the back of my red coat, then sat on the chair reluctantly.

‘Have you been good this year?’

‘I have!’ That at least was true. I’d been working so hard I hadn’t had time to get up to anything bad. I’d had more than my fair share of Quality Street and Celebrations, in fact every chocolate I could find within a hundred-metre radius at the office yesterday, but hopefully that didn’t count.

‘Excellent! So what would you like for Christmas, Cassie?’

I didn’t remember telling him my name. They’d written it down when I’d paid for our tickets earlier, though, so maybe he’d looked at the list.

‘Oh, I’m okay, thanks.’ I smiled. ‘Think I’ve grown out of toys.’

Except the adult kind, of course…

I covered my mouth with my hand to stifle a giggle. I’d treated myself to something at the adult shop last weekend, which I planned to put to good use over the holidays. I’d been single for so long that if I wanted any action, I had to rely on electronic devices.

‘It doesn’t have to be a toy, Cassie, dear. It can be anything!’

‘I don’t know.’ I shrugged my shoulders.

‘Yes, you do!’ shouted Paul excitedly.

‘Do I?’ I scanned my brain for ideas. A new handbag would be nice. Mine had got a bit tatty around the edges, but the one I had my eye on was super expensive. I’d wait for the January sales to see if it got reduced.

I’d love the Icon hair straighteners everyone raved about too. I reckoned they’d be brilliant at smoothing out my thick curly chestnut hair, but they cost a fortune, so I didn’t have the funds for one of those right now. Apart from that, there wasn’t anything else I could think of.

‘Yes!’ Paul seemed convinced. ‘Santa, Auntie Cassie wants a boyfriend.’

‘Paul!’ I shouted, my cheeks burning. ‘I do not!’

‘Yes, you do! You said so when you were talking to my mummy. You said you’d like a nice man to play with!’

Oh God.

Ground, please swallow me up now.

This was exactly why you shouldn’t have a conversation in front of children. When you think they’re engrossed in playing games or watching PAW Patrol on your cousin’s phone, they’re really listening to your conversation. How embarrassing.

‘Well… I…’ I stuttered, trying to think of what to say. This was nuts. As a PA I spoke to managers, CEOs and directors at my firm and managed to act confident most of the time. And yet a five-year-old had somehow got me stumbling over my words.

‘Were you telling lies, Aunty Cassie?’ Paul folded his arms. ‘Mummy says it’s very naughty to tell lies. And you just said to Santa that you’ve been nice!’ he huffed.

God, this kid was smart.

‘Well I did say that I would like to try and find a decent man one day, but not—’

‘So a boyfriend is what you wish for Christmas, young Cassie?’

Couldn’t remember the last time anyone had called me young, but hey, at thirty-five I had to take the compliments where I could find them.

A boyfriend for Christmas? Pff. Of all the things I could wish for, it wouldn’t be that. The reason Bella and I had got onto that subject was because she was gushing about the night of passion she’d had with her husband, Mike, when Paul was staying at a friend’s house. Bella had asked me if I wanted to get back in the game and all I’d said was that yes, I’d like to play again at some point, but I hadn’t meant now. I’d only just recovered from my last relationship. I didn’t need any more drama or heartache in my life.

Although I didn’t mind making Christmas enjoyable for Paul, my plan for the festive break was simple: to stay at home, alone. No men, no complications.

There would be no Mum and Dad quizzing me on why I was still single and asking when I was going to settle down. No tree, no turkey or mince pies. It would just be a chill day where I could lose myself in my adult colouring books, watch films or do whatever I wanted. If I felt like it, I might even eat pizza.

Yep. Once I’d wished everyone a merry Christmas and all that jazz, I planned to spend the rest of the day pretending that the whole thing didn’t exist. It would be perfect.

I could feel Santa glaring at me. I snapped out of my thoughts. Paul’s eyes shone with excitement. Even though a man was a hundred percent not what I wanted, it would be easier all around if I just played along.

‘Yes!’ I feigned enthusiasm. ‘I would love a boyfriend for Christmas!’

I turned away quickly and rolled my eyes. This was silly. It wasn’t like it was going to happen at three o’clock on the day before Christmas Eve, but I’d keep up the act for Paul’s sake. The world was hard enough, as he would find out when he was older. It was important to give him something nice to believe in whilst he was young.

Paul had so many disappointments in life to come. Discovering Father Christmas wasn’t real, for starters, and learning that the tooth fairy was fake too. I was still scarred by the night I’d woken up and heard my parents arguing about whose turn it was to put the money under my pillow after I lost my tooth. Such a cruel world.

‘Well, today is your lucky day! Leave it with me, Cassie. I’m sure I can arrange a very special gentleman for you.’ Santa winked.

‘Okay, Santa.’ I snorted. I didn’t mean to, but it was so ridiculous. If there was one word that summed up my life, it definitely wasn’t lucky. Especially at this time of year.

We posed for the professional photo, Santa gave Paul a little gift and then the elf woman signalled that our time was up.

‘Time to go, Paul.’ I jumped off the chair. ‘Say thank you.’

‘Thank you, Santa! I can’t wait to play with my dinosaurs on Christmas Day, and Aunty Cassie can’t wait to play with her boyfriend!’

I snorted again.

Said so innocently, but little did Paul know there was more chance of it snowing in London on Christmas Day or me finding Santa sitting on my sofa munching gingerbread cookies than there was of that happening. Just as well, really, after what had happened last Christmas. A shooting pain raced straight to my heart.

No. Hopefully next year I’d be ready to dip my toe back in the dating waters again, but not just yet.

Like the sound of it? Pre-order now so you can be one of the first to read the novella in full!