The Wait is Over!
If you missed Jake and Abbie's story in the Hunks to the Rescue anthology,
You'll be able to grab the stand-alone version on November 1st!
Many thanks to Abigail Owen at Authors on a Dime her help with formatting - and they did a totally gorgeous job, adding little touches and flourishes. TOTALLY Recommend.
Here's a sneak peak, just to get you started. And (fair warning) I woke up today in the middle of plotting Abbie's best friend Caroline's story, the next in this trilogy. I'm hoping when all three are finished, I'll put them out as a paperback as well. But first things first.
Excerpt from BREAKING THE RULES:
Recognition jolted through Abbie
like an electrical surge. Whatever she was about to say to the captain
evaporated from her mind while she stared into the most gorgeous blue eyes
she’d ever seen.
What was the hot blond god from the
bar doing in her boss’s office?
Her first thought was that he’d
tracked her down, but she quickly dismissed the idea. They hadn’t even spoken
last night, something she’d regretted all the way home. She cleared her throat
and was about to introduce herself when Captain Nickerson interrupted.
“Abbie, I didn’t realize you’d
already met my, uh, nephew. He’s on Cape looking for a job. We were discussing
the possibilities with John.”
She furrowed her brow and dragged
her eyes away from the depths of the blue pools. “I didn’t know you had any
nephews besides my brother, Uncle Charlie.”
Nickerson chuckled and twisted his
silver watch band. “Jake’s dad is an old family friend, just like your dad and
me, Abigail. When the boy needed to get out of Boston for the summer, his dad
requested my help.”
Her eyes slid back over to Jake,
appraising him. He looked like he was about her age, give or take a few years.
Strong jawline, sculpted lips, wide shoulders, capable looking hands… she drank
him in from top to bottom, every nerve ending in her body kicking into
overdrive. Well-dressed and clean shaven, he certainly didn’t look like some
punk kid whose father needed to call in favors to find him a job. And those
eyes… she dared another glance at his face and found him looking straight at
her, amusement twinkling within that sea of blue. She could happily drown in
eyes like those. She wondered whether he was seeing anyone. Not that she’d had
much time to date recently but for the right guy she could make time. Maybe.
Her gaze slid along angular cheekbones to the scruff on his jawline… yeah, she
should definitely carve out some time to get to know this guy.
She wondered what those sculpted
lips would taste like, how they would feel on the sensitive skin along her
neck… her cheeks blazed anew at the sudden and intimate direction of her
thoughts. Nerves jangling, heart suddenly beating faster, she almost missed the
rest of what Uncle Charlie was saying.
“…and at least now he’s learned his
lesson about making time with the owner’s daughter.
Unfortunately, come to find
out the man has unsavory connections so we all felt it would be safer for Jake
to make himself scarce for a few months. Thanks for offering him a position in
the kitchen, John.”
Her eyes widened as she processed
the meaning behind the words. “Wait a sec, Uncle Charlie. Let me get this
straight. You want to hide a playboy who can’t keep it in his pants at work…
hide him from the mob… and put him on
my kitchen staff?”
Captain Nickerson chuckled.
“Abigail, you’re being overly dramatic. No one calls them ‘the mob’ anymore,
like something out of a Godfather movie.
Besides, the boy is experienced in the restaurant business. Right, Jake?”
The “boy” in question cleared his
throat, looking suddenly sheepish despite his rugged good looks. “I don’t think
we need to share quite so many details, Uncle
Charlie. And yeah, I know my way around a kitchen.” He kept his gaze
trained on her, as if willing her to see it was all some sort of
misunderstanding.
A strangled noise of frustration
escaped from Abbie, realizing the blond was a player. Of course he was. He
probably had lots of practice smiling at women in bars and seducing them with
the kind of soul-searing kisses she’d just been daydreaming about. Yeah,
totally not the kind of distraction she needed this summer on top of everything
else.
