Yes
it’s only the beginning of September, but the holidays are right around the
corner. So is the latest holiday box set from your Sweet Romance Authors. Sweet
Christmas Kisses 3 officially launches September 27th (but you can
pre-order now on Amazon, iTunes, Kobo & Google Play). This year’s bundle
features 17 sweet tales from NYT, USA Today and National Bestselling authors for only 99 cents.
There settings range from small town America and London to the beaches of
Florida and even Africa.
My
contribution is FALLING FOR YOU AT
CHRISTMAS, part of my Shellwater Key Tales series. Cassie Stephens is about
to become a single mother. She’s alone at Christmas so she decides to take a
little vacation before her baby is born. She chooses the tiny Florida town of
Shellwater Key and a charming inn on the beach owned by the most gorgeous
innkeeper you can imagine, single father Jared Latham.
Here’s
an excerpt
Chapter
One
Cassie Stevens knew
she’d chosen the right place to stay the minute she spotted the trio of plastic
flamingos decked out in Santa hats on the front lawn. Daddy, mommy, and baby
sported a jaunty, red
cap with a white pom-pom dangling over one eye. It almost
looked as if they were winking at her.
“Come in for a visit.” they announced. “We’ll give you all the Christmas cheer you can stand.”
Since Cassie needed a
lot of Christmas cheer this year, she welcomed the invitation. She pulled into
an empty spot in the parking lot of the “Original Inn on the Strip”. The
“Original” part of the sign was slightly above and at an angle from the “Inn on
the Strip” portion, looking as if it had been tacked on at a later date for
some reason.
Cassie got out of the
car and took a deep breath, enjoying the slight tang of salt air filling her
lungs. She swore she could hear the waves crashing on the beach. Of course, the
water was past the two-lane road in front of the inn, a boardwalk, and then a
wide expanse of sand, so the sound might have been more her imagination than
reality, but she didn’t care.
To either side, the wide
boulevard was lined with shops, restaurants, and businesses as far as she could
see. In honor of Christmas, the old-fashioned street lamps were decorated with
festive wreaths and big red bows. The inn’s website had said The Strip
stretched for two miles along the Gulf of Mexico. The boardwalk across the way
was a popular gathering spot to watch the sunset at night, a ritual Cassie
fully intended to take part in.
Yes, she had definitely
chosen the right place.
She shut her car door
and started up the walkway toward the inn, and with each step her excitement
grew. There were beautiful poinsettias planted in the garden, and a thick, red
ribbon weaved along the top of the railing, which framed the front porch. Two
gigantic wreaths hung on the double doors and to the right was a three-foot
Santa-slash-Butler with a tray where someone could presumably place a calling
card.
If one had a calling
card to leave, obviously.
Cassie would have taken
more time to drink in the sights except for the fact that she had to pee. Of
course, the urge to seek a restroom was always with her these days. She needed
to find the facilities ASAP.
She quickened her steps
and swept inside, nearly barreling into an older lady, with silver hair and a
kind smile.
Cassie yelped and just
managed to avoid crushing the lady’s foot. “Excuse me.”
“Not to worry,” the
sweet-looking woman said. “I’m fine.”
“I’m
sorry. I was running for the bathroom and—”
The lady chuckled and
held up a hand. “Say no more. I remember my sister telling me she once resorted
to carrying around an empty milk bottle in case she couldn’t make it.”
Reflex had Cassie
putting a hand over her extended stomach. “Thankfully, I haven’t had to resort
to that.”
The woman’s gaze drifted
down. “Pardon my rudeness, but you look like you’re about to pop. When are you
due?”
“Four weeks.”
Four weeks until
Cassie’s life changed forever. Well, it had actually changed when the little
stick turned blue. So many changes. So many disappointments and losses. Changes
that had brought her to the doorstep of the Original Inn on the Strip in the
sleepy town of Shellwater Key, Florida four days before Christmas.
The silver-haired lady
tilted her head, making her look like a curious dog. “Oh honey, I’m not sure
you’ll make it that long.”
Cassie’s hands tightened
across her stomach, as if to keep her child safe. “Are you psychic?”
“No,” the lady said on a
tickling laugh. “I’m a retired labor and delivery nurse.”
“Oh…well…” Cassie
swallowed down the bolt of panic. “I’m sure I’ll make it. I’m not due till
after the holidays, and I’ll be home by then. My doctor is there. I’ve done the
tour of the maternity ward. Plus, the paperwork and insurance forms are already
filled out.”
Cassie had dotted every
‘I’ and crossed all the ‘T’s’. She’d already messed up the most important part
of her child’s future, and she was determined to do everything right from now
on.
The woman chuckled
again. “I’m sure you did, but you’ll find kids do everything on their own
schedule. My sister is a control freak, and it used to drive her nuts.”
“Well, I’m trying to go
more with the flow,” Cassie said, trying to edge past the woman. “Right now, I
need to go to the bathroom before I flow all over the front entry.”
“Oh, of course. Sorry to
hold you up.” The woman patted her shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll run into each
other again. I’m staying here, too.”
“That’s great…” She gave
an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name.”
“Amelia Lamb.”
“Cassie Stevens, and now
I really have to go,” she said,
before running full tilt through the lobby. “Bathroom?” she called out to the
wide-eyed man standing behind the check-in desk.
His mouth dropped open
as he pointed to the left. “That way.”
“Thanks! I’ll be right
back,” she said, without slowing down.
“Hey!” he called up, but
Cassie couldn’t stop now.
Once in the bathroom,
she did her business with a sigh of relief. As she was finishing up, she heard
a door open outside the stall.
“Hello? Ma’am?” a young
voice called.
“Yes?” Cassie answered.
A moment of awkward
silence and the voice spoke again. “Um…my dad sent me in to make sure you’re
okay?”
Cassie unlocked the
stall door and walked out. A girl around ten with long, straight, brown hair
and dark eyes stood next to the sink, her toes twisting into the tile as she
waited for confirmation on Cassie’s state of health.
The moment Cassie
emerged from the stall, the girl grinned. “You really are having a baby!”
“Pretty soon, yes.”
“Wow…that’s cool.” She
drifted closer, gaze glued to Cassie’s stomach. “My friend Gina’s mom is having
a baby. It’s her fourth. Gina wants a sister this time. She says her two
brothers are a big pain.”
“I guess they can be.”
Truthfully, right about now Cassie would have killed for any kind of sibling.
Someone who would be thrilled that he or she was about to have a niece. Heck,
she’d settle for mild interest from a second cousin once removed.
The girl finally dragged
her gaze up. “So, you’re okay then? My dad was worried you might be having a
baby in here or something.”
Oh, now wouldn’t that be
lovely? She might wind up on the news for such a feat. Cassie sighed. “Not yet,
but thank you for coming to check on me. What’s your name, sweetie?”
“Tara.”
“Nice to meet you,
Tara.”
“You too.” Tara nodded.
“Well, I’ll go tell Dad you’re fine.”
“Sure. I’ll be right out
after…” Cassie pointed to the sink.
Tara giggled. “Sure
thing. See you in a sec.”
When Cassie walked out
of the bathroom a minute later, she spotted the man who’d been behind the desk,
pacing a few feet away. She hadn’t paid much attention to him earlier, but now
she did and…wow!
Tara’s dad – it couldn’t
be anyone else since he was wearing a groove in the wood floor with his frantic
pacing – was drop-dead gorgeous. Men’s magazine cover-worthy hotness. He was
tall, with tousled dark-blond hair falling over his forehead. Cassie’s gaze
swept down, taking in the light-blue work shirt and molded jeans encasing a
butt that was as close to perfection as she’d ever seen.
Her baby girl jumped in
apparent excitement at the sight of the most beautiful male specimen she’d
encountered in some time. So did Cassie’s heartbeat.
She rubbed her stomach.
“Down girl,” Cassie murmured. “He doesn’t belong to us.”
No doubt Tara’s dad had
an equally gorgeous wife somewhere. Probably waiting around the corner to make
sure no predatory females tried to poach her delectable man.
Mr. Gorgeous stopped
pacing and swung toward her. She was confronted with eyes the color of the
summer sky on a clear day. Cassie almost shielded her own eyes lest the
brilliance of those blue orbs damage her retinas or make her fantasize about
things she had no right thinking. Not with a baby coming in a few weeks…and not
when there had to be a Mrs. Gorgeous
lurking in the shadows.
Right now, his beautiful
eyes were staring at her with a mixture of panic and horror, which worked to
break the haze of attraction. Right. Tara’s dad thought she’d been about to
give birth in the bathroom stall.
“There you are.” He ran
a hand through his hair. “I’ve been out of my mind.”
“I’m fine.” Cassie
fought the urge to smooth his hair back into place. Or tousle it some more. Any
excuse that would allow her to touch him. “No babies on the way yet.”
“Babies?”
His gaze slid down to her belly. “You’re not having…”
Gah! Did she look like she was carrying multiples? Cassie felt as big as a horse these days, but
she hoped that was mostly in her own mind.
“No, there’s only one,”
Cassie said. “Unless Baby Girl Stevens is hiding a twin somehow.”
“Cool!” Tara appeared at
her dad’s elbow. “You’re having a girl?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have a name
picked out yet?”
Cassie wrinkled her
nose. “No.”
The name problem
continued to plaque her. She’d been wracking her brain, reading baby name
books, looking online, going through the Bible and every book of classic
literature she could find, but so far she was stuck. Cassie had decided she’d
probably have to wait until her daughter arrived and hope a name would come to
her then.
Tara’s dad took a few
steps closer. “Well, if you’re sure everything is fine, why don’t I get you
checked in? I’m sure you want to go to your room and rest for a bit.”
Seriously? First, she
was the size of a barn door, and now pale and sickly? The one quick glance in
the mirror a moment ago had assured that her long dark hair still mostly remained in the bun she’d created
this morning. Yes, she had purple smudges under her brown eyes, but nothing too
alarming.
“Do I look like I’m
about to keel over?” she asked, with a growing irritation. Here she was
practically drooling over Mr. Gorgeous, and he thought she was a fat,
tired-looking old hag.
“No, you look
beautiful.”
The words seemed ripped
from his mouth, and they hung in the air for a moment like a downed power line
sizzling in the street. Mr. Gorgeous’ blue eyes went even wider, and he
swallowed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Cassie
said. “I’ve been feeling like a beached whale for the last couple months. It’s
nice to know I’m not totally hideous.”
His lips stretched into
a grin that seemed connected to his eyes. “Definitely
not hideous.”
Oh, he needed to stop
doing that. A grinning Mr. Gorgeous threatened to fry all her brain cells,
making it almost impossible to resist jumping him, something Mrs. Gorgeous
might object to.
****
There
you go…I hope you get a jump on your holiday reading by ordering Sweet
Christmas Kisses 3. You can pre-order on: Amazon iTunes Kobo Google Plus
Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance,
and women’s fiction filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. Kristin
will have a second release this month, Book 2 in the Shellwater Key Tales,
STRAIGHT ON TOWARD PARADISE, For more info visit her website at Kristin Wallace Author
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