SUGARPLUM WAY by Debbie Mason
Part of the Harmony
Harbor series
will be published on October 31, 2017 by Forever.
Goodreads | Mass Market: $7.99 | eBook: $5.99 | ISBN: 9781538744154
____________________________________________________________________________________
"Heartfelt and delightful!"
-RaeAnne Thayne, New York Times bestselling author
Romance writer Julia Landon knows how to
write a happily-ever-after. Creating one for herself is a whole different
story. But after a surprising--and surprisingly passionate--kiss under the
mistletoe at Harmony Harbor's holiday party last year, Julia thought she might
have finally found her very own chance at true love. Until she learns her Mr.
Tall, Dark, and Broodingly Handsome has sworn off relationships. Well, if she
can't have him in real life, Julia knows just how to get the next best
thing....
Aidan's only priority is to be the best
single dad ever. And this year, he plans to make the holidays magical for his
little girl, Ella Rose. But visions of stolen kisses under the mistletoe keep
dancing in his head, and when he finds out Julia has written him into her
latest novel, he can't help imagining the possibilities of a future together. Little
does he know, though, Julia has been keeping a secret that threatens all their
dreams. Luckily, 'tis the season for a little Christmas magic.
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Excerpt
Aidan
smiled that slow, sexy smile of his just before he lifted his gun and fired.
The glass shattered, and the. . .
A shrill beeping sound pulled Julia
out of the story. Startled, she jumped. Her initial thought was that she’d put
on the teapot and had forgotten to turn off the burner. She blinked and opened
her eyes. She’d been trying to get deeper into her character’s point of view by
typing with her eyes closed. It hadn’t worked as well as she’d hoped. But it
had ensured that she didn’t see the smoke . . . Smoke! There was smoke filling her living room. Again.
Duckety,
duck, duck, duck.
The annoying voice on the smoke
detector bleated fire, fire.
“Julia, open the damn door!”
Frantically
searching under the papers littering her desk for her cell phone, she ignored
the voice. Though she was impressed. It was amazing how real Adrian sounded.
Like he was right outside . . . Wait a
minute. He was calling her name,
not Gillian’s. Crap, it was Aidan. Double crap, she knew why he was here. She’d
thought she’d have until morning to face him.
“Hang
on! I—” She heard a loud bang at the same time she found her phone. “I’m coming!”
she called, running to the outside entry door as she punched in the assigned
number for the alarm company.
At the same time she realized there
was no dial tone, Aidan kicked in her door. It bounced off the wall and the
hulking shadow of a man filled the open doorway. If she hadn’t recognized his
voice, she’d be terrified. Given the intimidating expression on his face, she
wondered if maybe she should still be afraid.
Fire, the smoke detector bleated again. Right,
fire, smoke. “Hurry, I need your phone!”
She made grabby motions with her fingers.
He
looked at her like she’d lost it and strode into the room. “Your alarm is
connected to the station. They’ll be on their way. Where’s the fire? Do you
have an extinguisher?”
“No,
no, I don’t need the fire department. I need your phone.” She rushed forward.
He didn’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation, and she began
patting him down.
He
reached in his pocket, punching in a code before handing her his phone. Of
course his would be password protected.
“Thanks,”
she said to his back as he prowled around her apartment, no doubt looking for
the source of the smoke. “Um, I think my nachos are on fire.”
She made a face at his muttered, “You
have got to be shitting me.” And then went to look up the alarm company’s
number on her phone, only to realize she couldn’t access it because her cell
was dead. “Duck.”
She raced to her desk searching for
the alarm company’s business card while muttering to herself, “I need the
number. Where would I put the number for the alarm company? Laptop. Of course.”
Laptop, no! It was on and open for
him to see. She slammed the lid shut at the same time the oven door bang
closed.
Aidan strode from the kitchen wearing
her burned oven mitt and carrying a charbroiled tray of smoking ash. “It’s
usually on the unit,” he said dryly before heading out the door.
Which went to prove that the man
didn’t miss a thing, even her half-whispered conversation with herself.
At the return of his heavy footsteps,
she turned her back to her desk, attempting to use her body as a shield.
Widening her stance and her arms, she wrapped her fingers around the edge of
the desk and leaned back in hopes of concealing any evidence of her book from
his all-seeing cop’s eyes.
He
glanced at her and then did a double take. She thought she heard a muttered,
“Jesus,” before he retrieved his phone from her hand and continued across the
living room, dodging a basket of laundry, a box of decorations she’d yet to put
up on the tree, and a half-eaten bowl of cereal.
Wondering what was with the double
take, she looked around. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Sure her
place was a little messy, but he was a guy. He probably wouldn’t even notice.
She thought of something he might notice and looked down.
Yep, that was probably the reason for
the look. It was obvious she was cold, and her body-hugging black T-shirt read
“Santa’s Favorite Ho” with the jolly old elf ho, ho, hoing, paired with
black-and-white plaid flannel sleep pants.
When Aidan reached the other side of
the living room, he placed the cell phone between his shoulder and ear and
raised the window. “Yeah, it’s Aidan Gallagher. The call from 232 Main Street
is a false alarm. That’s her. Five times, is that so? I’ll tell her, thanks.”
“It wasn’t
five false alarms. It was four.” She faced her desk to quickly bury a paperback
copy of Warrior’s Kiss and her
contract for Warrior’s Touch under
some paper and turn her notepad upside down while doing a visual search for any
other incriminating evidence.
“Doesn’t matter. You still broke the
record for false alarms in a six-week timeframe. Dispatch says Mrs. Rosenbloom
had three.”
“Are they charging me?”
“No” He answered his ringing phone
and then bowed his head. “Hello, Dad. Yes, she’s fine. Is that right? Nachos.
No, smoke’s not too bad. Okay, I’ll do that. Don’t remind me,” he grumbled and
then disconnected.
Whatever his dad said to Aidan didn’t
improve his already not-so-happy mood. She really didn’t feel like talking
about the suggestion she’d made to Harper and why. Fending off his probing
questions would be difficult, and she wasn’t exactly equipped to handle him
tonight. She was tired, and her throat had passed sore an hour before.
“I really appreciate you dropping by, but it’s
late, and I have an early day.” She forced a smile and moved to see him . . .
out her broken door. She barely managed to stifle an anguished moan. She
couldn’t face the thought of dealing with repairing the door tonight.
He lifted his chin to the left of the
kitchen. “Is that your bedroom?”
She ignored her inner hussy who
yelled who needs a bed and suggested
Julia throw herself on the floor at his feet. Her inner hussy was way more
optimistic about their chances of getting lucky tonight.
“Yes, but I don’t see . . . What do
you think you’re doing?” she said as he walked over and opened her bedroom
door. Umm, more like shoved it open. The clothes that had been hanging over her
door this morning had fallen off when she closed it, and she’d been running
late.
“I’m not going anywhere until you
tell me what you said to Harper and why. You’re tired? Fine, you can talk to me
from your bed while I fix your door.” He looked around her bedroom. “If we can
find your bed.”
She grabbed a pink lacy bra off the
doorknob and held it behind her back. “I’ve been busy. I haven’t had time to
tidy up.”
“What, like in a year?”
“Very funny. I’m sure your room isn’t
any better.”
“Sugarplum, my bedroom didn’t look
this bad when I was a kid.”
She kind of liked that he called her
sugarplum but could do without the sarcasm. She scooted past him to scoop up
her bras and panties and any other embarrassing items that were lying on the
floor . . . and on the bed . . . and on her dresser. And half sticking out of
her nightstand drawer! As breezily as she could, she moved to the front of the
nightstand in hopes of blocking his view. “It’s a little smoky in here. Maybe
you should open that window too?”
She smiled. He sighed.
As soon as his back was turned, she
thigh-checked the nightstand drawer closed. Only it didn’t close. Instead it
acted like a rocket launcher, and her fluorescent pink vibrator sailed through
the air to land with a splash in the goldfish bowl sitting on the bench at the
end of her bed. Her mouth fell open, and then she covered it, releasing a
muffled, “I’ve killed Eric and Ariel!”
Aidan looked from the fish bowl to
her and started to laugh, a deep rumbly sound that she would have enjoyed if it
wasn’t at her expense and if . . . “It’s not funny! My fish are drowning. Save
them!”
That made him laugh harder, and his
shoulders started to shake. “Death by vibrator. Not a bad way to go.”
“That’s a horrible thing to say, Aidan Gallagher.” She cautiously removed the vibrator from the water, her shoulders sagging in relief when Erik and Ariel swam to the surface. “And FYI, this is not a vibrator. It’s a personal massager.” She rubbed it against the back of her neck. “See, you should try it.”
“That’s a horrible thing to say, Aidan Gallagher.” She cautiously removed the vibrator from the water, her shoulders sagging in relief when Erik and Ariel swam to the surface. “And FYI, this is not a vibrator. It’s a personal massager.” She rubbed it against the back of her neck. “See, you should try it.”
This is the first novel I have read by this author and it won’t be the last. Christmas is my favourite time of the year so after looking at the cover and reading the blurb I was always going to jump in head first and although I haven’t read the other books in the Harmony Harbor series I still really enjoyed Sugarplum Way.
This book has so much going for it, fun loveable characters, a lot of emotion mixed with just the right amount of laugh out loud moments, a town that we would all love to live in with residents that all have a story to tell. I will be going back and reading the previous books n this series as I really want to know more about Harmony Harbor and it’s residents.
About
the author: Debbie Mason is the USA
Today bestselling author of the Christmas, Colorado and Harmony Harbor
series. Her books have been praised for their "likable characters, clever
dialogue and juicy plots" (RT Book Reviews). When she isn't writing or
reading, Debbie enjoys spending time with her very own real-life hero, three
wonderful children, two adorable grandbabies, and a yappy Yorkie named Bella in
Ontario, Canada.
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