Meant To Be Mine. Marie Ferrarella

      

      The boy next door is back...and after her heart!

      He’s a “gift”—a referral from the Matchmaking Mamas—sent by Tiffany Lee’s mother to do her bathroom remodel. But the real surprise is that Tiffany already knows Eddie Montoya. When they were little, he was her playground protector. When they were in college, Eddie was her campus competition. And now she’s a teacher and he’s her handyman?

      Well, just on weekends. On Monday morning, Eddie shows up at Tiffany’s school—as the new third-grade teacher. When a fund-raising contest between classes is announced, the old rivalry heats up. And it’s game on! Except as the playful competition intensifies, so do their feelings for each other. And Eddie begins to wonder if they might work better...as a team.

      “I was thinking of making tiramisu, but ran out of time. Next time,” he promised.

      That caught her completely off guard.

      “Next time?” she repeated, feeling as if the words were suddenly falling from her lips in cartoonlike slow motion.

      “Yes. Unless you want to be the one to make the dessert,” he told her.

      Except for scrambled eggs and toast, she was a total disaster in the kitchen when it came to doing anything but cleaning it.

      “I’d rather not have to call the paramedics,” she told him.

      His smile was nothing if not encouraging. “It can’t be that bad.”

      “It’s not that good, either,” she told him.

      It was supposed to be a flat, flippant denial but she just couldn’t seem to get her head in gear because her mind was currently focused elsewhere.

      It was focused on the way Eddie’s lips moved when he spoke.

      Tiffany rose to her feet, thinking that she would make a getaway, or at least make some sort of an excuse and slip into the bathroom, away from him. But he rose with her and suddenly she wasn’t going anywhere.

      At least not without her lips, and they were currently occupied. More specifically, they were pressing against his.

      * * *

      Matchmaking Mamas: Playing Cupid. Arranging dates. What are mothers for?

      Meant to be Mine

      Marie Ferrarella

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author MARIE FERRARELLA has written more than two hundred and fifty books for Mills & Boon, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, www.marieferrarella.com.

      To Tiffany Khauo-Melgar & Edy Melgar

      Wishing You Happiness Forever & Always

      And

      To the Memory of Anne J. Nocton

      My Fifth Grade Teacher

      Who First Made Me Believe I Had Talent

      Contents

       Cover

       Back Cover Text

       Introduction

       Title Page

       About the Author

       Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Epilogue

       Extract

       Copyright

Prologue

      Tiffany Lee’s eyes lit up the moment that she saw him.

      She might only be four years old, but she was a woman who knew her own heart and her heart belonged to Monty. That was what he told her his name was when she got up the nerve to ask him.

      Monty.

      His family lived in the house down the block and had only been there a couple of months, but it was long enough for her to make up her mind that when she grew up, she was going to marry him.

      “Let’s go, Tiffany, you are making your sisters late for school,” her mother scolded.

      She was deliberately dawdling, hanging back until Monty could catch