The authors at #MFRWHooks found here http://mfrwbookhooks.blogspot.com Are posting some great excerpts. Mine is the sixth in the Seduction Series She was the only girl who said no
Blurb:
She was the only girl to turn him down. What will happen when business and a wedding bring them together again.
Jules Grayson was a player as a teen and that hasn’t changed. Business and a friend’s wedding join to bring him to the place where his life had imploded and where his trust issues began. A Ponzi scheme and a suicide forced him into a group home he hated. For ten years he has avoided returning.
Grace Sutton is faced with a dilemma added to by the appearance of Jules in her Sweet and Spicy Cupcake bakery. Years ago she turned Jules down but she had a crush. His appearance erodes the vow she made years ago. Men had used her mother and led the woman into drugs and alcohol. Grace vowed to forego relationships with men until she could support herself. Though the bakery is making money, she doesn’t feel secure. When Jules arrives with a contract for a magazine feature, she is conflicted and attracted.
Excerpt:
A frown creased
Grace’s forehead. Did she know this man? Something resonated in her memories
but no name bobbed to the surface. He resembled the faceless man of her
fantasies. The hair, short and styles instead of long and shaggy. Was he
someone she’d seen on TV, except she watched cooking shows, not sports, prime
time or movies?
“How did you get
in here?”
“By the door.”
His crooked
grin brought a name closer to the surface. Did he look like someone she should
know? “Why did Bonnie let you come into the kitchen?”
“The arrival of
a flock of customers derailed her.”
Grace sucked in
a breath. Who was he? He was too young and too well-dressed to be one of the
men her mother had dragged home years ago. “Do you really think the cupcake is
good?”
“I do.” He
finished the last bite and crumpled the paper. With a flick of his wrist he
tossed the small wad into the trash bin across the room. “You’ve achieved a
miracle. Edible fruitcake.”
His smooth
words spread over her skin like a swatch of velvet. Whoever he was he talked
about the treat like a man who knew food. Was he a rival? Had he come to steal
her recipes? He certainly hadn’t appeared to ask for a job. Not when he wore
what looked like custom-made clothes.
“What will you
call this one?”
Grace stepped
back. The cold marble of the worktable edge pressed against her back.
“Fruitcake.”
“Not like any
I’ve ever tasted.” He grinned. “I hate holiday parties where the hostess pushed
dark dense stuff she’d ordered by mail or baked.”
Grace laughed.
“I’ve eaten some of that kind. This was my sixteenth try to make an edible
one.”
He stepped
closer. “Persistence pays. You’ve created a light cake with the traditional
flavors and the right amount of fruit. The touch of rum in the frosting is
perfect.” He raked his fingers messing his perfectly stylish dark hair. “Is it
legal?”
“Just a flavor
essence.” Definitely the competition.
Warmth shone in his deep brown eyes. When he stepped in her direction she
grasped the pastry bag. “Who are you?”
“Don’t you
remember me? I’ve never forgotten you.”
The dimple in
his left cheek made her want to touch. Seduction filled his voice. A whiff of
evergreen beneath the aroma of the bakers reached her. He oozed the kind of
danger she had to time to allow in her life. The suggestive gleam in his eyes
raised a need to run. Only, she was trapped.
He placed his
hand on her arm. Though the touch was light she felt as though his fingers
branded her. “Think back, Grace.”
“I’ve never
seen you before.”
“Sure you
have.”
“Really?”
“I sure
remember you. Years a go I made a play and you turned me down. When I said you
would be sorry, you said I would be the one to regret.”
With warp speed
her thoughts flew to the fence between the group homes. Was he really? He looked so different from the boy she’d known. The
features of the face in her thoughts matured and became the man crowding her
space.
“Jules Grayson,
what are you doing here?”
My Places
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5 comments:
I've always thought the trick to fruitcake is to drown it in so much booze that's all people taste. Very cute excerpt.
I love this excerpt, Janet!
Sounds like he may have been the one to have regrets.
LOL - is the cake legal. Love the humour.
I think she must have deliberately tried to erase him from her memory.
Great scene, with humor and emotion.
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