Showing posts with label excerpt reveal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label excerpt reveal. Show all posts

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Excerpt reveal: Well Played by Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland

    


Excited about Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward’s upcoming release, Well Played?

Check out this SNEAK PEEK!




Here is a little bit about Well Played
Release Date: October 25th, 2021
Add it on [goodreads]

From New York Times Bestselling authors Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward comes a new, sexy standalone novel.

It all started with a bet.

When my young son inherited half of his great grandfather’s historic inn, I decided to move us both to the place where I grew up.

Notice I said half of the Inn. The other half now belonged to Levi Miller, the famous quarterback who had other ideas about what we should do with the property.

We won’t mention that I accidentally injured him during our first meeting, causing him to get eight stitches.

You could say we got off on the wrong foot.

We bickered a lot as we both moved into the property while we figured things out.

He wanted to unload the rundown place which, admittedly, needed a lot of work.

I wanted to restore The Palm Inn to its original beauty and re-open it as a bed and breakfast.

We couldn’t agree on anything. So Levi made me a proposal. One he thought I would surely lose. If I could sell out the place by the time he had to leave for training at the end of summer, he would back off and let me run it.

But in the weeks that followed, we got more than we bargained for while we were living under the same roof.

Levi and I got closer, and before I knew it, my nightly fantasies about the brawny Adonis became a reality. Not to mention, he was so great with my son.

We were in over our heads in more ways than one.

Because not only was he the last man on Earth I should be falling for because of our deal, but Levi was also my ex’s older brother.

And now the inn was the least of my problems.


Pre-order NOW!!! 


PAPERBACK PRE-ORDER LINK  https://amzn.to/2WLN1tq

AMAZON LIVE RELEASE ALERT  http://eepurl.com/brAPo9 

**Please note: There will not be an Amazon ebook pre-order, but it will be available on Amazon in Kindle Unlimited on release day.






Presley

Harper picked up the notebook that contained my to-do list from the table and opened to a fresh page. Clicking the pen open, she scribbled across the top.

To do with Levi

I chuckled. “Are we making a dirty to-do list?”

She wiggled her eyebrows and put the pen to the paper. “We certainly are.” “Tell me one thing you fantasize about doing with him.”

Yep, I was definitely drunk, because sober me wouldn’t have participated in this. Though, even in this state, I felt my cheeks blush. “Well, every day he goes out back and does pull-ups in that big oak tree. Sometimes I imagine he’s naked while doing them, and then I walk out naked, too. I wrap myself around him like a koala and he’s a tree, and he keeps doing the pull-ups. Hoisting us both up and down.” 

Harper smirked. “Nice start.” She then jotted down koala pull-ups. “What else you got?”

“Well, I also have this running fantasy that I’m watching him do the pull-ups from my bedroom window with binoculars, and then I lie down on the bed and…you know…go to town on myself. And when I’m just about to orgasm, I look up at the window and see Levi with the binoculars. He’s watching me masturbate from outside.”

“Oooh… I like that one.” Harper wrote down voyeur masturbation.

For the next half hour, we polished off our spiked lemonades, laughed a lot, and added more than a dozen sexual to-do tasks to my list. It was the most fun I’d had in ages. But Harper had to fly home in the morning, and I didn’t want her to have a raging hangover. So rather than make another pitcher of spiked lemonade, I grabbed her a water bottle and some Motrin and told her to drink up before going to bed. 

But as I walked around and shut off the lights, another fantasy hit me. “That peach cobbler we had for dessert at the restaurant was orgasmic, wasn’t it?” 

“It sure was.”

I pointed to the notepad. “Sit on Levi’s face while eating that pie.”

Harper had been drinking water and spit it out all over the place. “Oh my God. That is most definitely going on the list!” She picked up the pen and spoke while jotting something down. “Double orgasmic peach cobbler.”

We started to crack up, but a knock interrupted our laughter. At least it interrupted mine. I looked up to find Levi standing in the doorway to the living room. 

My eyes widened. “Levi… What are you doing here?”

His brows lifted. “I own half the place.”

“No, I meant I didn’t know you were back.”

He looked between Harper and me and seemed to smirk. “Oh, I’m back.”

My palms started to sweat. “I didn’t hear you come in. How long have you been…standing there?”

Levi tilted his head, and his smirk elevated to a cocky smile. “Not too long.”

Oh my God. I wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. What if he heard? I suddenly felt pretty damn sober. “Umm…well, this is my friend Harper. She’s leaving early tomorrow, so we were just going to bed.”

He nodded. “Nice to meet you, Harper.”

Harper stood and hiccupped. She covered her grinning mouth. “Nice to meet you, too. Your family’s inn is beautiful.” 

“Thank you.”

Her eyes shifted to me. “Although there’s a lot to do around here. Presley and I made a list. You might want to take a look at it and get going on some of the new to-do tasks we added.”

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head, and I lunged for the notebook on the table. 

Levi squinted at me. “Everything okay, Presley? You seem stressed.”

“I’m fine!”

He nodded slowly. “Right.”

“Alright….” I grabbed Harper’s arm and tugged. “We’re going to bed. Welcome home.”

Levi never moved from the living room doorway as he watched me drag my friend out of the room. 

Harper waved over her shoulder. “’Night, Levi. Enjoy your to-do list!”

Somehow I managed to get Harper to her room without her yelling anything too obscene. But for the next half hour, I lay in my bed with my heart pounding. What if he’d heard us? What if he’d been standing there listening the entire time? Oh my God. I covered my face with my hands. The things I said I wanted to do to him. My head began to ache, and tomorrow’s hangover hadn’t even started yet. 

After another twenty minutes of lying there freaking out in the dark, my mouth was so parched that I needed a bottle of water. But there was no way I wanted to run into Levi again. So I cracked open my bedroom door and listened for any sounds of someone moving out in the common area. Finding it quiet, I snuck down the hall and peered around the corner to see if any lights were still on. They weren’t, so I breathed a sigh of relief and went to the kitchen for a drink. 

I guzzled half a bottle of water before turning to slink back to my bedroom. But I froze at the sight of Levi standing in the kitchen doorway. My hand flew up to cover my racing heart. “Oh my God. You scared me.”

“Sorry. I was just going to head out to grab a bite to eat.”

“Oh…there are leftovers from lunch in the fridge, if you want. I made chicken pot pies this morning.”

Levi held my eyes for a moment. “Thanks, but I think I’m going to go out.” He walked over and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “I have a real hankering for peach cobbler.”

Oh.
My.
God.

My jaw dropped to the ground. I had no idea what to do or say. 

Levi winked as he walked to the door. “Get some sleep. I wouldn’t want you to be too tired to work on that to-do list.”


★★★

Excited?  We are too!







About Penelope Ward

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism. 

With over two million books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over twenty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.



About Vi Keeland

Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-six languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies.

She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.  


Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Excerpt Reveal: The Spark by Vi Keeland

    


We are thrilled to bring you the excerpt reveal for THE SPARK, a new standalone contemporary romance written by New York Times bestselling author Vi Keeland, releasing on July 12, 2021!




Here is a little bit about The Spark
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Release Date: July 12, 2021
Add it on [goodreads]

FBefore I even met Donovan Decker, I knew his shoe size.

You see, I’d gone away for a few days, and in my haste to get out of the airport, I’d grabbed the wrong suitcase.

After checking out the expensive footwear and tailored clothes, I dialed the number on the luggage tag hoping maybe Mister Big Spender might have my bag.

A deep, velvety voice answered, and as luck would have it, he had my suitcase, too.

Donovan and I met at a coffee shop to do the exchange.   

Turned out, it wasn’t just his voice that was sexy.  The man holding my luggage was absolutely gorgeous, and we had an immediate spark. 

He got me to admit that I’d snooped in his bag and then convinced me to make it up to him by letting him buy me coffee. 

Coffee led to dinner, dinner led to dessert, and dessert led to spending an entire weekend together. Donovan wasn’t just handsome with a panty-dropping voice.  He was also funny, smart, and surprisingly down to earth for a man who wore seven-hundred-dollar shoes.  

Did I mention he also did my laundry while I slept?

Definitely too good to be true.

So what did I do to repay him for his kindness?

I waited until he was in the shower, then ghosted him.

My life was too complicated for such a great guy.

In the months that passed, I thought about Donovan often. But New York City had eight-million people, so what were the chances I’d run into him? 

Then again, what were the chances I’d run into him a year later…when I’d just started dating his boss?


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text BOOKS to 77948 (US only)




Chapter One


Autumn

I’m definitely getting too old for this.

I tossed a pile of mail on the couch and plopped down beside it. It was barely six o’clock, and I wouldn’t have minded climbing into bed and calling it a day. I needed a vacation from my four-day mini vacation. Thank goodness I’d scheduled myself a weekend to recover. My girls’ trip/early bachelorette party in Vegas for my friend Anna—the one where we were all going to relax by the pool and get spa treatments—had turned into all-night clubbing and almost missing my flight home earlier today because I’d overslept. It had definitely been a while since I drank more than two glasses of wine in the span of a week, and I was feeling my ripe old age of twenty-eight before the sun had even set this Friday night. Thank God I didn’t have to work tomorrow. 

I briefly considered going the hair-of-the-dog route and sucking back a vodka cran while zoning out on Netflix, but then my phone rang, crashing me back to reality. 

Ugh… 

Dad flashed on the screen. I should’ve just gotten it over with and spoken to him, but I didn’t have the energy. Nonetheless, allowing myself to avoid the stress speaking to my father would inevitably cause reminded me of the other thing I needed to do that I’d been avoiding all afternoon. Laundry. One of my least-favorite tasks—mostly because it required me to sit downstairs in my building’s dingy basement laundry room. Up until a few months ago, I would start my laundry and come back forty-five minutes later to make the switch to the dryer. But that practice had come to a halt after one of my loads went missing—an entire load of wet bras and underwear. Who the hell stole wet clothes? At least nab dry ones. Nevertheless, it was an expensive lesson, and now I didn’t leave the basement until my clothes were washed and dried. 

Sighing, I begrudgingly went to the bedroom, where my suitcase still sat on the bed, and unzipped it. I’d packed a linen skirt on top that I hadn’t wound up wearing, and I figured I’d hang it in the bathroom and hope the wrinkles worked themselves out over the course of a couple of steamy showers. I hated ironing almost as much as I hated doing laundry downstairs. 

But when I flipped open the top of the suitcase, my linen skirt wasn’t on top. At first I thought my bag must’ve been selected for search, and things hadn’t been put back in order… Though the wingtip shoe I lifted was most definitely not mine. 

Shit.

I rummaged through the suitcase in a panic. 

Slacks, running clothes, a men’s dress shirt… A sickening feeling washed over me, and I scrambled to look at the luggage tag. I’d never filled out the identification card inside, but the leather had my initials embossed on the outside. 

And this one…had no initials. 

Crap. Crap. Crap. 

I’d grabbed the wrong bag off the luggage carousel. I started to sweat. All of my makeup was in that bag! Not to mention a week’s worth of my best outfits and shoes. I needed to get it back.


★★★

This was just a sneak peek of the excerpt because it's a long one so be sure to check out this link to get the full excerpt :)





About Vi Keeland

Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times#1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles have appeared in over a hundred Bestseller lists and are currently translated in twenty-five languages.

She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.  


Thursday, April 8, 2021

Excerpt Reveal: Not Pretending Anymore by Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland

   


We are thrilled to bring you the excerpt reveal for NOT PRETENDING ANYMORE, a new standalone contemporary romance written by New York Times bestselling authors Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland, releasing on April 12, 2021!




Here is a little bit about Not Pretending Anymore
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Sommer Stein, Perfect Pear Creative
Release Date: April 12, 2021
Add it on [goodreads]

Finding a good roommate through a classified ad isn’t as easy as it sounds.

I was starting to lose hope.

Until a knock at my door came and God answered my prayers.

Except…uh…wrong prayer, God. 

I’d definitely requested the big guy find me a drop-dead gorgeous man on more than one occasion...just not as my roommate.  

Declan Tate talked me into interviewing him anyway.

While he was amusing and charismatic, I wouldn’t have been comfortable living with a man, so I regretfully declined.  

Then cupcakes showed up at my door—freshly baked by Declan and just as sinfully delicious as he was.

You could say he was persistent. 

I eventually folded.  It wasn’t like I had another viable candidate anyway.

Plus, I was interested in someone else. And Declan was into another woman. So it wasn’t like anything would happen romantically.

After he moved in, the two of us became the best of friends.  We even started to give each other advice on getting our crushes to notice us.  

Eventually, Declan concocted an idea: we should pretend to be a couple to make our love interests jealous. 

I was hesitant, but went along with it anyway. To my utter shock, his crazy plan worked.  

Now I was dating the supposed man of my dreams, and my best friend had the woman of his.  

But there was one problem. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about Declan.

Those feelings we were trying to fake?

Yeah…I wasn’t pretending anymore.


Pre-order NOW!!! 


PAPERBACK PRE-ORDER LINK  https://amzn.to/3cI8mJJ 


AMAZON LIVE RELEASE ALERT  http://eepurl.com/brAPo9 

**No Amazon e-book preorder. Will go live on/around release day and will be available in Kindle Unlimited. (Ward and Keeland’s *co-written books only* are available in KU. Their solo books are wide and not in KU.)




Chapter One


Molly

“So, what do you do for a living?” 

The woman drummed her fingers on her thigh. “I’m a musician.”

I glanced down at the renter’s application in my hand. Lyric Chords was the name listed at the top. 

I bit my tongue and tried to keep an open mind. This was the twelfth woman I’d interviewed as a prospective roommate. Just because she had a few safety pins in her eyebrow and what looked like a dog collar around her neck didn’t mean I should rule her out.

“Oh. That’s nice. Are you a singer?”

Lyric shook her head. “Drummer. Do you know the dimensions of the bedroom I’ll be sleeping in? I have two sets of drums I need to fit.”

“Umm... I think it’s fourteen by fourteen. But you don’t practice at home, right? I wrote in my ad that I’m looking for a quiet roommate because I work nights.”

“I do. But no worries. I’ll practice in my room.”

My bedroom and my potential roommate’s bedroom shared a wall, so that was the end of interview number twelve. I sighed and forced a smile. “Thank you for coming. I have a few other people left to meet with before I decide. I’ll let you know.”

“Great.” The woman stood. “Also, I know your ad said two months’ rent up front, but I’m running a little short right now. Would one be okay?”

I smiled. “Sure, no problem.” Since you’re not going to be living here.

After Drummergirl, I interviewed two more candidates. One wanted her boyfriend to move into the room with her, even though my ad had specified I was only looking for a single. And the other arrived twenty minutes late, reeked of alcohol, and slurred her words…at three thirty in the afternoon. 

Why in the hell was it so difficult to find a roommate in a city of almost three-million people? I needed my last interview of the day to be a miracle, or I was going to have to shell out money for another ad and start the entire process all over. And I definitely didn’t have the time or the funds for that. Rent was due in two weeks. If I got stuck paying the full amount on this place myself again, I’d be eating cat food for a month. 

When my last appointment knocked right on time, I took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling, and asked the big guy in the sky for a little assistance. 

Opening the door, I blinked a few times. 

Uhhh. I think you answered the wrong prayer, God.

A man stood in my hallway—and not just any man, an absolutely gorgeous one with a perfect, straight nose, cheekbones to die for, a masculine, square jaw, full lips, tanned skin, and the sexiest chocolate brown, almond-shaped eyes I’d ever seen in my life. 

“Uh. Can I help you?”

He flashed a killer smile, one that I immediately suspected had made countless women remove their panties. 

“Hi. I have a four-thirty appointment with Molly Corrigan.”

“You do?” I had the last application in my hand and looked down at the name on the top. “I don’t think so. My appointment is with a D. Tate?”

He extended a hand. “That’s me. Declan Tate.”

“But…you’re…not a woman.”

He smiled again. “You’re correct. Very observant. I am most definitely not a woman. But my last roommate told me I should’ve been because I use moisturizer at night and cried at the end of Marley and Me. And if I’m being honest, I also got a little watery at the end of Toy Story, so maybe I’m a bit of a wuss. Either way, I think you should consider those my positive feminine qualities.”

I was thoroughly confused. “Umm… I’m sorry. You must’ve missed that my ad said female only.”

“Actually, I didn’t. But if you’ll give me just five minutes, I think I can convince you I would be a better roommate than a woman.”

I chuckled. “Let me get this straight… You hid your first name—what did you say it was again?”

“Declan.”

“Right. Declan. Anyway, you applied to an ad for a female roommate, intentionally deceiving the person who is going to decide if you get the room by leaving your first name off. And your strategy is to convince me I don’t really know what I want in less than five minutes? Do I have that right?”

He flashed that boyish charm again. “You sure do.”

I debated how to handle the situation. On one hand, he was going to waste my time, and I had done enough of that today. But on the other, my curiosity was definitely piqued. Something about his grin told me this could be amusing. Screw it. I had nothing better to do anyway.

I opened the door wider and stepped aside, holding my hand out for him to enter. “I’m setting the timer on my phone, and I’m getting a glass of wine before you start. I like a drink while I’m being entertained.”

Declan smirked and strolled into my apartment. 

I motioned to the couch. “Have a seat. I’ll just be a minute.”

When I got to the kitchen, he called after me, “Hey, Mollz?”

I turned back. “Yes?”

“How about you make that two glasses of wine?”

I chuckled. “Sure. Why not, Decs.”

I poured a couple of glasses of pinot grigio and returned to the living room. 

“Here you go. Hope you like white.”

“You see? We’re perfect together already. I prefer white over red.”

I brought my wine to my lips. “Yes, perfect. A match made in heaven. I think we might even be soul mates.”

Declan showed me his pearly whites once again. He really did have a great smile, nice teeth, too. Too bad he also had a penis. I knocked back half the contents of my glass and placed it on the coffee table. Picking up my cell, I swiped to the timer app and set it for five minutes. 

I showed him the screen. “You ready?”

“I’m always ready.”

I pressed start, placed the phone face up on the coffee table between us, and folded my hands. “Go.”

“Okay. Well…what’s your favorite color?”

“My favorite color?”

Declan pointed to the timer. “Time’s a ticking, Molly. I’m going to need you to not repeat questions.”

I laughed. “Fine. My favorite color is pink.”

Declan reached into one of his pant pockets and pulled out a set of keys. The keychain had a bunch of pink beads with white letters between each one. The letters spelled out his name. “Mine too.”

I arched a brow. “Did you make that yourself?”

“No. My niece, Arianna, made it for me.”

“So how do I know that isn’t just Arianna’s favorite color?”

“Good point. Let’s move on. Your ad said you work nights.”

“That’s right. I’m a nurse. I work the night shift on the maternity ward.”

“So you sleep during the day, then?”

“I get off at seven, and I try to get to sleep as soon as I get home.”

He held his hand to his chest. “I work days. I leave for the gym by six and usually don’t get home until after seven at night. So the apartment will be quiet when you need it to be.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll give you that that would make you a good roommate. But most people work days, so it’s not really something that makes you too special.”

“Do you cook?” he said.

“Does macaroni and cheese count?”

“I grew up in a multigenerational Italian home. My nonna taught me how to make sauce from scratch.”

“So you’re going to cook for me?”

“If that’s what it takes to get this apartment, yes.”

“As tempting as that might be, there’s an Italian restaurant around the corner that makes great food. Funny enough, it’s called Nonna’s Place, and an actual nonna makes most of my meals. Not a knockoff.”

Declan took an exaggerated breath and blew it out. He glanced at the cell on the table. “Three minutes and thirty-eight seconds. I can see you’re not going to make this easy. How about you tell me why you can’t have a male roommate so I can address that head-on. Is it because of the toilet-seat thing? Because I have four older sisters, so I’m appropriately trained. When I was eight, I made the mistake of leaving it up once, and my sister sat down where I’d accidentally left a little pee. She dunked my head in the toilet bowl before she flushed. That was the last time I left the seat up.” He held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor. It won’t be an issue.”

I smiled. “It’s not because of the toilet thing.”

“Alright. So why don’t you want a male roommate, then?”

I’d actually never given much thought to why my roommate had to be female. It just seemed natural to have another woman sharing the apartment. “Well…I don’t really have a specific reason. I would just be more comfortable living with another woman. For example, I sleep in a T-shirt and underwear. When I get up to start the coffee, I don’t get dressed. It would be weird to do that in front of a man.”

“Why?”

“Why would it be weird to walk around with my ass cheeks on display in front of a man and not a woman?”

“Yes.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It just would. I guess because the women I’ve lived with aren’t attracted to other women, so it doesn’t feel sexual in any way.”

“Ah. Now we’re getting to the crux of your issue. So you’re afraid of some sexual tension going on between you and me? Is it because I’m so handsome?”

“What? No! And aren’t you full of yourself, assuming I think you’re handsome, and I’m worried I won’t be able to control myself.”

“Just keeping it real, Mollz. You’re only giving me five minutes, so I’m trying to get to the heart of the reason.”

“I guess I just don’t want to feel like I have to cover up to come out of my bedroom. When I dry my hair, I wear a towel or a bra and underwear—that type of thing.”

“Would you feel you had to cover up if I told you I was gay?”

That question gave me pause. Would I? I wasn’t sure. “Are you?”

“Fuck, no. I was just trying to pinpoint your issue. Is it the fact that I’m a man, or the fact that I might admire your ass if it were on display? Sounds like it’s the latter. So let me put your mind at ease: I won’t.”

I felt oddly offended. “What’s wrong with my ass?”

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t looked. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m in love with someone else.”

As insane as it was, I felt a pang of jealousy. “Oh. Well, why aren’t you moving in with her?”

“Because she doesn’t return the feelings…yet. So basically, if your concern about having a guy for a roommate is that he’s going to be checking you out, you have nothing to worry about with me. I’m a one-woman man. If you want, I can give you the numbers of some of my exes for references. I’m no cheater.”

Hmmm… “I don’t know…”

Declan looked down at the clock. Thirty-one seconds were left. “We’re running out of time, so we need to speed things up. How about if I just give you the facts you need to know?”

“That would be good.”

“I’m twenty-eight years old. I make six figures. My credit score is eight hundred and ten, and I have references from previous landlords. I’m neat and clean up after myself. I’m not home a lot, but when I am, I’m pretty quiet. I’m also damn good with a hammer.” He glanced around my apartment and pointed at a hole I’d accidentally made in the wall when I flung the closet door open too hard. “I can spackle that and put on a door stopper so it won’t happen again.” He pointed to the kitchen. “And those cabinets are pretty tall. I’m six foot one. No more having to stand on a chair to reach something on the top shelf. And—”

The timer on the stopwatch buzzed.

“Can I just say one last thing?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“I’ll share my Hulu and Netflix passwords. I have the premium Hulu account.”

I laughed. “Well, those are some pretty enticing qualities for a roommate.”

He smiled. “So I’m in?”

I sighed. “I’m sorry. While I appreciate your tenacity, unfortunately, you’re not. Though I interviewed fourteen other people today, and I have to say, you do seem like you’ll make some other lucky person a fantastic roomie.”

Declan frowned, but nodded. “I figured it was worth a shot. This is a great building, and I work right around the corner. It’s hard to find an apartment where it’s only a six-month commitment.” 

“My lease is up then, and I haven’t decided if I’m going to extend or not.”

“See? That’s another reason I’d be perfect. I’m only in town for six more months.”

“I’m sorry. This is definitely a case of it’s me and not you.”

He picked up his wine and guzzled it down before standing and extending his hand. “I appreciate you giving me your time. And thanks for the pinot.”

We shook. “It was nice to meet you, Declan.”

After I walked him out, I shut the door and leaned back against it. What a shame; he really seemed like a nice guy and the best candidate I’d met by a mile. I was just about to go wallow in another glass of alcohol when there was a knock at my door. Checking the peephole before opening, I found Declan standing there. 

“I forgot something important,” he said.

“Oh? What’s that?”

He took out his wallet and produced a photo of a nun. “This is my sister Catherine, and it’s not a costume from Halloween. She’s a legit nun. How bad can a person be if his sister is a nun?”

I laughed. “Is this the sister who dunked your head in the toilet?”

He grinned. “It is, actually.”

“Well, I’m not sure there’s a direct correlation between your sister deciding to dedicate her life to the church and you being a good person. Though, even if I take your word for it, it still doesn’t change my answer.”

Declan’s shoulders drooped. “Had to try. She tells me her being a nun won’t get me into heaven. Thought maybe it was good for something.”

“Goodbye, Declan.”

“Later, Mollz.”

***

“So…how’s the roommate search going?” Emma poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the small table in our break room. 

I sighed. “Why is it so hard to find a normal person these days? I’ve interviewed more than a dozen people, and not one suitable candidate.”

“Did you post an ad on the employee bulletin board, like I suggested?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want another nurse or tech. It makes it weird at work if things don’t work out.”

“Maybe Dr. Dandy will apply.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “I heard he’s sleeping on Dr. Cohen’s couch until he finds a place.”

That information certainly perked me up. “Really? Will and whatshername broke up?”

“Yup. Lisa in X-ray told me Dr. Cohen told her he’s staying with him. Apparently he and the wannabe actress are finito.”

“Wow.”

Emma smiled. “Yup. And fair warning, my friend… I’m allowing a ten-day grace period for him to grieve the end of a year-long relationship. But after that, I’m going to be up your butt making sure you let the man know you’re interested. He’s not going to be on the market for long, and you missed your opportunity last time he was single. You can’t keep pining for the guy.”

Of course she was right. And while I felt elated that Will was back on the market, the thought of coming clean to him about my feelings made me want to throw up. Will Daniels—or as Emma called him, Dr. Dandy, because of his last name and uncanny resemblance to a male model named David Gandy—and I had been good friends for four years now. We’d started on the very same day at the hospital and had gone through orientation together. I’d had a boyfriend back then, and he’d been seeing a girl from med school at the time, so even though I’d always thought he was insanely handsome, things didn’t bloom until two years ago. And most of the time since then, he’d been seeing one woman or another. Emma was right that the man never seemed to stay single for long. 

“He’s going to be at happy hour this Friday night,” I said. “A few of the crew from CCU are meeting up over at McBride’s. I’m curious to hear what he says about the breakup.”

“Does he know you’re looking for a roommate?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, he needs a place to sleep, and you need a roomie.” Emma shrugged. “Timing is everything. Maybe it’s fate and he’ll move in and take care of two of your needs.”

“I think your imagination might be getting ahead of itself. Why don’t we start by seeing if things are really over with him and whatshername? They’ve split up a few times, but he always winds up going back.”

“Okay. But I have a good feeling about you two.”

“Could you possibly have a good feeling about me finding a roommate instead? I just had to pay for another damn ad.”

Emma shook her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t find one decent candidate.”

Remembering my last interview, I said, “Actually there was one who would’ve been perfect—great credit score, neat, cooks, leaves early in the morning, and works long days.”

“So why didn’t you take her?”

“Because she was a he.”


★★★

Excited?  We are too!







About Penelope Ward

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism. 

With over two million books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over twenty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.



About Vi Keeland

Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times#1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles have appeared in over a hundred Bestseller lists and are currently translated in twenty-five languages.

She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.