Accidentally in Love, page 1
PRAISE FOR THE ACCIDENTAL PINUP
“Reading Danielle Jackson’s debut is like finding the perfect bra and falling in love at the same time—rare, delightful, and unforgettable. The Accidental Pinup is the fun, charming rom-com you’ve been waiting for to sweep you off your feet. Cassie is a heroine to root for, and you’ll want to take an unapologetically sexy selfie while reading. Chemistry, humor, and joy are wrapped in sheer fabric and lace in this luscious debut.”
—Denise Williams, author of The Fastest Way to Fall
“The Accidental Pinup is packed with body positivity and irresistible banter. This sexy, empowering, entertaining read deserves a place on your bookshelf.”
—Farrah Rochon, USA Today bestselling author of The Dating Playbook
“The Accidental Pinup features a compelling female protagonist, a charming group of secondary characters, and a romance that will keep you invested until the end. In a word, delightful!”
—Mia Sosa, USA Today bestselling author of The Worst Best Man
“Jackson’s debut drops readers into a loving found family on the verge of extraordinary success in the world of inclusive lingerie. . . . A glamorous cast of bold, driven women—and the men who learn to love them—makes this romance a treat.”
—Publishers Weekly
“In The Accidental Pinup, author Danielle Jackson drops us into a charming tale set in Chicago, where fierce competitors reluctantly find their way to love.”
—Essence
“Jackson offers up a vibrant world of fierce, sex-positive women who are not only incredibly self-possessed, but eager to help others unlock that within themselves. . . . Jackson’s debut is the perfect boudoir offering: sexy, playful, enticing, and difficult to divert one’s attention from.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Packed to the brim with body positivity, female friendships, and witty banter, The Accidental Pinup is an empowering rivals-to-lovers romance that will hopefully make readers fall in love with their own reflection in the mirror.”
—The Nerd Daily
“Readers won’t be able to put this sexy rom-com down.”
—PopSugar
“[T]his book is serving some serious curves and heat.”
—Book Riot
“There’s pretty lingerie, love scenes, and tons of body positivity—what else do you need to know?”
—HuffPost
“This picture-perfect romance is a new favorite and launches a new romance star!”
—BuzzFeed
“[T]he romance that blossoms is irresistible.”
—Teen Vogue
“[T]his body-positive rivals-to-lovers rom-com is going to make you feel allll the feelings.”
—Betches
“Danielle Jackson brings humor and heat to The Accidental Pinup, her debut romance and a body-positive love letter to Chicago, photography, and found family. . . . [R]eaders will savor the moments Jackson dedicates to the way Cassie captures light, joy, and quiet beauty in her photographs. With a cheeky, subversive lens, The Accidental Pinup claims space for Cassie’s dreams, gives readers a satisfying happily-ever-after and neatly sets up possible sequels.”
—Shelf Awareness
TITLES BY DANIELLE JACKSON
The Accidental Pinup
Accidentally in Love
BERKLEY ROMANCE
Published by Berkley
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
penguinrandomhouse.com
Copyright © 2023 by Danielle Dresser
Readers Guide copyright © 2023 by Danielle Dresser
Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.
BERKLEY and the BERKLEY and B colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jackson, Danielle, 1985– author.
Title: Accidentally in love / Danielle Jackson.
Description: First edition. | New York: Berkley Romance, 2023.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022054533 (print) | LCCN 2022054534 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593437353 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593437360 (ebook)
Subjects: LCGFT: Romance fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PS3610.A3475 A67 2023 (print) | LCC PS3610.A3475 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20221109
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022054533
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022054534
First Edition: August 2023
Cover illustration by Leni Kauffman
Cover design by Colleen Reinhart
Book design by Daniel Brount, adapted for ebook by Molly Jeszke
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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CONTENTS
Cover
Praise for The Accidental Pinup
Titles by Danielle Jackson
Title Page
Copyright
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
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Readers Guide
Discussion Questions
About the Author
_144556705_
To Zach, the sunshine to my grump.
Thank you for always making me smile.
PROLOGUE
Samantha Sawyer stood outside in the crisp night air and knocked on the side entrance of Bugles Bar with the toe of her black combat boots. She was cutting it close on time and wondered if the usual bouncer wasn’t in his spot, getting ready for a packed crowd. The harsh Chicago wind flashed across her face out of nowhere, causing Sam to shiver and hunch her shoulders.
“Seriously? Open the door!” she called out. It wasn’t snowing, but February weather was not to be trifled with in this city. She was about to kick the door again when she remembered.
The password.
Using her hand this time, she made a fist and tapped out the agreed-upon staccato beat that had been sent out the night before. And the door opened.
Having once been a part of Chicago’s burlesque scene, Sam was familiar with how bars transformed into something akin to speakeasies of yore and found ways to include a password for customers to get inside without a cover. Bugles took it a step further and used an alley door, usually intended for bands and deliveries for their burlesque performances. Instead of making people say a Jazz Age slang word or admit something embarrassing to gain entry, they required a specific knock.
It was a bit over-the-top, but Sam liked it. These extra touches created the perfect ambiance for the show before it began, and Bugles, one of the River North neighborhood’s most popular bars, always went above and beyond on burlesque night. Sam knew most of that had to do with Riki Sakai, the bar and restaurant manager who ran Bugles with panache, and who was also the wife of one of Sam’s close friends and coworkers, Dana Hayes.
Sam’s eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lighting, though she knew Bugles by memory since she had come through the place so often. If she had been performing that night, Sam would have gone down the short hallway to her left that led to the back room, where a frenzy of satin, feathers, and glitter would flit between the laughter and chitchat among the night’s dancers. That night, however, she turned to her right, toward the bar, to find her friends.
“Sammy! Sam! Over here!” Sam heard the loud voice of Dana, waving and calling out to her like she thought Sam would miss her. No one could miss Dana—she had fire-engine red hair, a boisterous laugh, and she knew how to attract attention, and not just because she was a well-known plus-size beauty influencer with not one but two of her own lingerie lines. Dana was one of those people who loved to be at the
“We saved you a seat, girly,” said Cassie Harris, her good friend and, at times, her boss; Sam was the office manager for Cassie’s photography studio, Buxom Boudoir, during work hours. Cassie pointed to the end of the booth, her signature red lips in a wide, knowing smile, gleaming against her flawless brown skin. Sam approached the table cautiously; she knew that mischievous look. Cassie was a determined, vivacious Black woman who had recently starred in a lingerie ad campaign in addition to running her successful small business, and she was engaged to the love of her life, Reid Montgomery. He sat next to Cassie with a far too innocent grin on his face, looking to the open seat at their booth.
On Reid’s other side was his brother, Russ. Of course, the open seat was right next to him.
Sam knew what her friends were doing. They all stared at her, including Russ, which was just the bee’s frickin’ knees, wasn’t it?
“That’s a tight squeeze,” Sam said, looking from the open spot at the booth and then to nearby seats, trying to find any other option, to no avail. “I’ll probably grab a drink and then maybe hang out by the bar.”
Thankfully, there was one seat left at the bar, back in the corner. It was beside the drink station where servers picked up orders from the bartenders, but Sam didn’t mind being right next to the bustle. Over the years since she started working at Buxom Boudoir and became a regular patron at Bugles, she had gotten to know the staff and enjoyed watching Riki and her team at work.
Sam sat down at the bar and draped her coat on the back of the short leather seatback. She was about to take off her scarf, but she decided to keep it on. A relatively new purchase, Sam’s accessory was a gauzy, filmy little thing that didn’t do much by way of warmth but had a killer spiderweb pattern stitched into it and served as a security blanket for the night’s festivities. And while she did like that it complemented her sartorial preference of wearing all black, all the time, no matter the season, this scarf also covered up her scar.
And that scar was the reason Sam wasn’t up onstage dancing.
Well, not entirely, but it was part of it. At her annual gynecologist appointment last year, her doctor mentioned that her thyroid felt enlarged. Tests upon tests came next, then more checkups and office visits, until eventually Sam was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder that, in the most basic of terms, meant her immune system was attacking the hormones her thyroid produced. Who knew that the thyroid, that weird little butterfly-shaped gland right by the throat, regulated a shit-ton of things in the human body? And the treatment for Graves’ disease and the overactive thyroid it caused?
Thyroid removal. Which meant Sam was now the owner of a pretty sweet scar. Strategically placed in a natural neck crease, the scar wasn’t that noticeable, though Sam did feel like a Tim Burton heroine come to life when she noticed it in the mirror. It had been a few months since she “went on vacation” and took some time off to recover after her surgery, and things were healing nicely. But Sam still noticed it whenever she looked in the mirror; she could feel it when she had a random itch on her neck. The scar had become a constant reminder that her body was different now.
Her metabolism was essentially nonexistent because she didn’t have a thyroid, and she would rely on synthetic hormones for the rest of her life. Which also meant she’d gained some weight, and she’d likely gain more in the coming months.
So could she be blamed for not wanting to take off her scarf, or any of her other clothes for that matter?
Still, Sam was glad she was there. She hadn’t been out in a while, trying to keep things easy as she settled into her new normal. And she was there to support her BFF, roommate, and Buxom Boudoir’s cosmetology wunderkind, Kit Featherton. She and Kit bonded over taking a burlesque dance class together and then working on a double act that they called the Topsy Tipple. Kit’s burlesque name was Champagne Blonde and Sam’s was Whiskey Sour. Their stage alter egos were heightened versions of themselves—Kit, dainty and cheeky; Sam, sultry and surly. They became besties through their shared love for dancing burlesque and had taken the Topsy Tipple on the Chicago burlesque circuit. So when Sam’s body started to change, and she didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin, burlesque was the easiest thing for her to let go of. The exhilaration and satisfaction she used to get from dancing wasn’t there anymore, at least not when she was revealing more and more of her body through a routine. The art of the reveal was the entire point of a burlesque number—to entice and titillate—and Sam just wasn’t feeling it anymore.
The loud, tinkling crash of ice filling the well behind the bar brought Sam out of her one-woman pity party. And she was in luck—her best friends and coworkers were all incredibly talented and influential voices in the body-positivity movement. Co-owners of Buxom Boudoir, recently named the city’s premier boudoir and pinup photography studio by Chicago magazine, Cassie and Dana were proud plus-size women, taking over the fashion world one size-inclusive lingerie line and national ad campaign at a time. If anything, Sam had inspirational and aspirational examples of loving her body as it was in spades.
Aside from managing her changing body, baseline of health, and well-being, Sam was also busy at work. Okay, more than busy. Sam would never say she was overwhelmed, but someone from the outside might think so. Nonetheless, she adored working for a Black woman–owned small business and felt gratified that she used her marketing degree and photography minor regularly. But as the office manager of an in-demand niche photography studio, Sam was running on fumes on a good day. Cassie’s profile as a photographer of lauded ad campaigns and editorial photo shoots continued to grow, BB was as busy as ever, and there was always something extra that needed to be done. So beyond managing social media, overseeing scheduling, completing supply orders, and dealing with vendors and clients, Sam also assisted on set, acted as photographer when Cassie went out on freelance assignments, and lent a hand wherever else she was needed, as styling support to Dana or a test model for Kit’s latest makeup and hair experiments.
Sam realized she was, in fact, not going to be able to power through this whole thyroid thing like she assumed, and she knew it was going to take time and a heavy dose of grace to really deal with it all.
So here she was, sitting in a dimly lit bar, wearing a new scarf, avoiding her nosy friends, and definitely avoiding the cute guy who had been trying to catch her attention for the last year.
“A manhattan for the lady.”
Sam had been thinking about ordering a Revolution Fist City and was surprised by the fancy cocktail handed to her by an expert mixologist who created the most amazing drinks. Riki’s jet-black pixie cut had an extra-long swoop in the front and bleached streaks that looked impossibly cool, and she wore dark denim jeans and suspenders over a starched white button-down with the sleeves rolled up. If anyone should work at a kitschy spot like Bugles, it was Riki.
“I didn’t order a drink yet, Riki,” Sam said, though she was grateful for it. She assumed Riki had made an extra drink for her “on accident,” as Riki was wont to say when any of the Buxom Boudoir employees were in her libation domain. “But thanks.” Sam lifted her glass in recognition and took a small sip. Riki really did make the best manhattans in Chicago.
“Oh, it wasn’t me,” Riki said, a smug smile settling on her round face. Then she tipped her chin up. “He did.”
Sam looked over her shoulder to see who Riki was gesturing toward.
None other than one Russell Montgomery.
Russ showed up out of nowhere about a year ago, and he ingrained himself in their friend group almost immediately. Sam found him relentlessly charming, annoyingly upbeat, and outrageously hot—dark brown hair, deep but warm brown eyes, and a smile that utilized his entire face whenever it made an appearance. He couldn’t not grin when something amused him.
And whenever they were in the same place at the same time, he made a beeline for her.
Maybe it was because they were close in age—though Sam knew she had a couple of years on him. Or maybe it was because the first time they met was in the middle of a lingerie and swimwear ad campaign and Sam was modeling—along with Cassie and Kit—in a silver lamé bikini.
