Ascend: A Single Mom, Marriage of Convenience, Friends to Lovers Romance

ASCEND SWATI M.H. Kismet Publishing Copyright © 2023 by Swati M.H. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, incidents, and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Cover: Cover Me Darling Editing: Silvia’s Reading Corner ALSO BY SWATI M.H. Elements of Rapture Series Adrift (Forbidden, single-dad, nanny, grumpy/sunshine, forced-proximity romance) Ascend Feel the Beat Series My Perfect Remix (Single-dad, friends-to lovers romance) My Beautiful Chaos (Fake-relationship, second chance romance) My Darling Neighbor (Enemies to lovers, surprise pregnancy romance) Fated Love Series Kismet in the Sky (Slightly forbidden, second chance romance) Surrender to the Stars (Enemies to lovers, hospital romance) To my naniji (grandma). Not a day goes by that I don’t miss you. What I would give for just one more call, one more hug, one more cuddle when you hold me snug. I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun. MR. DARCY, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE CONTENTS 1. Garrett 2. Garrett 3. Bella 4. Bella 5. Garrett 6. Bella 7. Bella 8. Garrett 9. Bella 10. Bella 11. Garrett 12. Garrett 13. Bella 14. Bella 15. Bella 16. Bella 17. Bella 18. Garrett 19. Bella 20. Bella 21. Garrett 22. Garrett 23. Bella 24. Garrett 25. Bella 26. Bella 27. Garrett 28. Bella 29. Bella 30. Bella 31. Bella 32. Garrett 33. Bella 34. Garrett 35. Garrett 36. Garrett 37. Garrett 38. Bella Epilogue About the Author Acknowledgments Never miss a thing! Chapter One GARRETT “She’s cute. Who is that?” Troy eyes my phone with both brows raised before taking his seat to my right in the cockpit. I glance at the picture again, a smile playing on my lips as I turn the screen off, slipping the phone back into my pocket. “A friend’s daughter.” Troy hands me the dispatch release, and I review it before we both start our preflight procedures and panel scans in relative silence while the flight crew begins the boarding process. I look over my shoulder a few minutes later, only to catch Ally’s suggestive smirk with my frowned reply. Just my fucking luck. Even changing jobs–flying for a private airline to now a commercial one–can’t get me far enough away from my past. Once we’ve finished initial climb procedures and are cruising, I make my welcome announcement to the passengers on-board. “Good morning, passengers. This is your captain speaking. I’d like to welcome you onboard Blue Breeze flight eighty-two from Oakland to Las Vegas. We’re cruising at an altitude of thirty-three thousand feet, flying at a speed of four hundred knots. The skies are clear and sunny on this Thursday in January, so I’m expecting an on-time arrival into Las Vegas in the next hour and ten minutes. The cabin crew will be coming around to take your drink orders shortly. Until then, sit back, relax, and make good decisions now while you’re still sober.” With that, I disconnect the intercom and switch back to listening to ATC while Troy updates the flight management system. “So, any updates on that woman you were trying to talk to the last time we spoke?” Troy leans back on his chair, wiggling the knot of his tie looser. “Your sister-in-law’s sister or cousin or whatever?” While pilots generally tend to run into the same crew after years of working for the same airline, I’ve only been at Blue Breeze for the past year. The staff is still relatively new to me, save for Troy and Unfortunately Ally. She’s Unfortunately Ally, because well, I unfortunately ran into her a few years ago, and by the way she licked her lips earlier, while pointedly staring at mine, I get the feeling she wants us to run into each other again. And by running into each other, what I mean is with her bent over the sink in the tiny airplane lavatory with my dick inside her. I ran into a few women back in the day–a reputation I’m still trying to escape–but fortunately, Unfortunately Ally was the start of my self-imposed sex ban and reformation. Her, and the fact that I’d met a purple-haired pixie . . . It’s been a few weeks since Troy and I flew from San Francisco to New York on a six-hour flight, but his memory is as sharp as a tack. Though, I get the feeling he remembers more about my love life–or lack thereof–because of his own being so stable. Troy is a family man–a father of three girls and married to the same woman for over twenty years. I suppose it’s fun to live vicariously and experience the instability of someone else’s love life when your own is rather unchanging. It’s the same reason the romance book and film industry is thriving. Most of those readers and viewers aren’t riding a romance roller coaster with their stomachs in their throats, not knowing where the next three-hundred-foot blind drop will be–because they’ve already survived the drops, loops, and uphill climb to the heavens and are in steady relationships. Now, they just enjoy watching new passengers empty the contents of their stomachs mid-ride as they find their own happily-ever-afters. Unfortunately, it’s looking like I’ll be stuck on this infinite loop for the long haul. One where I’ll be loveless and sexless until . . . Until she decides my fate. I shrug, thinking about the woman Troy is referring to. Little does he know, the update is always the same when it comes to her–unavailable. “My sister-in-law’s cousin. Good memory.” I nod before shaking my head. “Nah, no updates, really.” I take