A Very Disastrous Dare

Sometimes a person speaks before thinking...She's just bought the flower shop and he's taken over the hardware store for his dad. Sounds peachy, right? Sure, until they both want an assistance grant from the city...and now Emma and Aaron are rivals and neighbors.Emma:I've always believed that flowers can brighten any occasion and make anyone's day, but nothing seems to cheer up my handsome-but-grumpy neighbor, Aaron Stansfield.Owning a flower shop next to his hardware store means our paths cross all the time, and it's usually just a conversation about how hard it is to run a small business in a small Southern town.Which it is. I'm barely keeping my head above water and he has a family legacy to uphold. But it would be nice to talk about something besides work, especially after our flirt-fest at Halloween last year.People do that, right?Apparently not us, because the city of Cider Cove is holding a community project where participating small businesses have the opportunity to win a significant grant.And I need that money.Aaron wants it too, and when I see him at the information meeting, I can't control myself. I sit next to him and tell him I'm going to take the prize. After all, park rebuild + flowers = winning combo.So when he issues a dare-that we submit one application and work together to ensure the win-my stupid crush kicks in and takes him up on it.So now we're working together on the community project, and I start seeing a different side of Aaron-the side that's kind, thoughtful, hardworking and frustratingly...sweet.He may be grumpy, but he's also the one who's always there when I need him.As our rivalry turns into something more, I can't help wondering: Could this very disastrous dare be the start of something wildly wonderful? Elana Johnson is a young adult author. Her work includes the young adult dystopian romance series Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available digitally, as well as a young adult dystoipan short story in the Possession world, Resist. She is also the author of ELEVATED and SOMETHING ABOUT LOVE, both standalone young adult contemporary romance novels-in-verse. Her novella, ELEMENTAL RUSH began a new futuristic fantasy series. ELEMENTAL HUNGER, a full-length novel, is the second part of the story. The series concludes with ELEMENTAL RELEASE, the final novella. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog (www.elanajohnson.com) or Twitter (@ElanaJ). She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog and WriteOnCon, and contributes to the League of Extraordinary Writers, a blog written by young adult science fiction and fantasy authors.