More Than Friends

Kate Foster is a down-to-earth woman with good friends, a good job, and no time for a man whose idea of a long-term relationship is one that lasts longer than a week. So when Cole Russell, a successful and sexy, but short-term-only kind-of-guy, decides that he'd like to get to know her, she turns him down flat. Still, he somehow manages to convince her to join him for coffee, and a surprising friendship is born.

While everyone around them, including a matchmaking girlfriend and a grumpy but charming old man, grows exasperated with them, Kate and Cole insist that they are happily content being "just friends". Until Cole kisses Kate. Can Cole convince her that he's in this for the long haul, and that they are clearly meant to be more than friends?


Excerpt from More Than Friends:
On Wednesday night, after a good workout at her local gym, Kate heard her phone start to ring as she opened the door of her townhouse. Dumping her duffel bag on the floor, she picked up the receiver and said hello as she moved to her kitchen for a bottle of cold water.
“Hello, may I please speak to Kate Foster?”
“Speaking,” she said as she twisted the top off the water bottle.
“Kate, this is Cole Russell calling. We met last weekend at the country club.”
Swallowing hard, Kate set the bottle on the countertop and collapsed into a convenient chair. She truly hadn’t expected to hear from this man again, and wondered why he was calling, and how he’d gotten her number. Recovering somewhat, she managed to say, “Oh. Yes. Hello.” Not exactly the most welcoming response, she thought, but it was all she was capable of at the moment.
She heard a pause before he said, “I know this is late notice, but I'd like to have dinner with you tomorrow evening. At my place. Shall I send a car for you?”
Kate pulled the receiver from her ear and just stared at it. He was asking her to dinner? Tomorrow? At HIS place? That had 'I-just-want-to-sleep-with-you' written all over it. Sighing, she lifted her hand to her forehead, put the phone back to her ear, and answered coolly, “I’m sorry, but I have other plans.”
“Kate, I’d really like to see you. Could you break the other plans?”
Well, she had to hand it to him – he certainly went after what he wanted. But the assumption that she would break her plans to be with him was insulting.
“Of course not,” she said, her voice chilling a notch.
Defensively, it seemed, Cole pointed out, “Most women would do it without a second thought.”
He was probably right. A chance to be alone with a tall, handsome, and undoubtedly wealthy man would probably cause a lot of women to act appallingly. He was just expecting her to behave in a way that his other women did. And that wasn’t Kate’s style, which she pointed out to him. “I guess I’m not most women, then. I appreciate the invitation." She paused, then added, "I think."
“How about this weekend?” he asked then, apparently determined not to take no for an answer.
Kate decided to be straightforward. “Cole, you seem like a nice guy. But I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“I think you have the wrong idea about me,” she answered quietly.
“What wrong idea do I have?” His voice was calm, but there was a hint of impatience in his tone.
“Look, Cole. I’m not part of your society world,” she responded, hooking her worn sneakers on the legs of the chair she was sitting on, and leaning her elbows on the table.
“Good. I’m sick of my society world.” He actually sounded pleased at her response.
“You don’t give up, do you?” she asked after a moment’s hesitation.
“No. That’s what makes me successful in business, Kate. Tenacity.” She heard the teasing tone come back into his voice. "Come on, Kate. Have pity on me. I like you. I'd like to get to know you."