Hello, First name / my friend!

 

I am racing my way toward a deadline this week so I'l keep this quick. The Worst Guy is two years old! I walked around with that story in my head for almost five years before I sat down to write it and when it was done, I was both relieved and sad. These are truly some of my all-time favorite characters. 

 

So, in honor of that five year residence in my head and two years in the outside world, I'm sharing one of my favorite snappy little bits from Sara and Sebastian. One of my favorite elements of their story is that they go from casually disliking each other but being able to adequately avoid each other in all the spots where their worlds overlap (at work, in their apartment building, within their friend group) to absolute, all-out loathing when forced to sit down and interact for an hour each week to nearly violent spicy times to not being able to function without each other. 

 

It's a journey. Enjoy!

It was warm inside the restaurant and I spotted her immediately. She was frowning at her phone while typing, pausing, deleting, and typing again.

"Excuse me, sir? Are you meeting someone?"

I glanced around to find the hostess with a stack of menus cradled in her arm. "Uh. Yeah, but—"

"Would you happen to be the most insufferable, arrogant surgeon in the entire city? If so, I can show you to your party."

I shifted to face the hostess fully. "How much did she pay you for that?" I reached for my wallet. "Whatever it was, I'll double it if you—"

She held up a hand and shook her head with a grin. "No, I'm pretty sure I'm on her side."

I shoved my wallet back in my pocket. "How righteous of you." I jerked my chin in Sara's direction. "My insufferable arrogance will lead the way. Thanks."

I reached the table in a few long strides, yanked back the empty chair, forcing a rough squeal of wood scraping over the stone floor. Sara startled, her phone dropping to the table and a little gasp slipping past her lips.

"Arrogant, huh?" I asked, dropping into the chair. "Insufferable too? How long did it take you to come up with that scheme? Did it take all week? Or did lightning strike while you were waiting?"

She leaned back, folded her arms across her torso. That move had the unfortunate effect of reminding me that she was a pointlessly beautiful woman who could wear the shit out of a turtleneck sweater. But I didn't care. Really, I did not. She could wear all the sweaters she wanted and have all that long, blonde hair and be annoyingly, disturbingly beautiful and I didn't have to care. Not my problem.

"You're late," she snapped.

"You were late on Thursday." I reached for the menu waiting at my place setting and gave it a quick glance. "Seemed only appropriate to return the favor."

With a glare that could dilate blood vessels, Sara collected her phone and tapped the screen. She set it in the center of the table with a pointed nod.

After holding her glare through several blinks, I glanced at the screen. "What's that supposed to be?"

"It would help if you could make an attempt at critical thinking," she replied. "It's a timer. There's no reason this should exceed thirty minutes."

 

You can find The Worst Guy in ebook, audio with narrators Connor Crais and Natalie Duke, and paperback.

I will be signing at the Sweetgrass Author Event in Charleston, SC on March 23! If you're looking to preorder books for that event, you can order them here until mid-February. 

 

I'll also be attending the RomCon Festival in Ashland, MA on May 18 with Loretta Chase, Kosoko Jackson, Cecelia Tran, Caroline Linden, and more. Registration is now open for this event! 

A Sara and Sebastian holiday visit 

 

A new look for Shucked! There's a map of Friendship, RI in the front of the redesigned paperback and original orange paperback is still available here. The audio will arrive summer of 2024 from narrators Jason Clarke and Christine Lakin.

 

Earbuds for small ears! Okay, so, we all have tiny ears? I don't know, but I receive more messages about earbuds than I've ever received about books. So here I am, sharing them one more time since we're all struggling with gigantic earbuds that hurt and fall out all the time. I prefer this set though I also have this slightly larger set.