Book Blitz: Copper Waters

Copper Waters
Marlene M. Bell
(Annalisse, #4)
Publication date: December 5th 2022
Genres: Adult, Crime, Mystery
A rural New Zealand vacation turns poisonous.

Antiquities expert Annalisse Drury and tycoon Alec Zavos are at an impasse in their relationship when Alec refuses to clear up a paternity issue with an ex-lover.

Frustrated with his avoidance when their future is at stake, Annalisse accepts an invitation from an acquaintance to fly to New Zealand—hoping to escape the recent turbulence in her life.

But even Annalisse’s cottage idyll on the family sheep farm isn’t immune to intrigue.

Alec sends a mutual friend and detective, Bill Drake, to follow her, and a local resident who accompanies them from the Christchurch airport dies mysteriously soon after. A second violent death finds Annalisse and Bill at odds with the official investigations.

The local police want to close both cases as quickly as possible—without unearthing the town’s dirty secrets.

As she and Bill pursue their own leads at serious cost, the dual mysteries force Annalisse to question everything she thought she knew about family ties, politics, and the art of small-town betrayal.

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EXCERPT:

“Nothing’s sinking in.” I pass the note to Alec and prepare myself. “Would you mind reading it aloud?”

“She and Ethan traveled together.” He gazes at me.

“Okay, we’d considered that.”

“Kate has business to conclude in New Zealand before she returns to New York. She asks me not to mention this to you until she arrives in the States but didn’t give a reason. Kate says she’ll meet you in person when she’s ready.”

“Seriously? Where does she plan to live? With me in Greenwich? The Goshen farm could be sold by now. Does she mention Jeremy finding her another place?”

Alec scans the page randomly. “No, she didn’t.”

I scratch my scalp and shake my head. “Then my sheep station trip to New Zealand is perfect timing. I have to leave now and see if I can catch her before she skips out. Ethan must know where Kate is. If it’s all the same, we’ll hang on to the tickets for our April trip, and I’ll buy my own way for this flight.” Tugging at my sweatshirt with clammy hands, I take the note from Alec and sail it into the flames, watching paper crinkle and burn on the log.

He steps forward, his chiseled profile gawking at the fire in disbelief.

“Were you ever going to tell me about Kate’s message?” A sob chokes my windpipe. “If it weren’t for Ethan’s invite, I doubt that we’d be talking about Kate.”

“Babe, I thought by staying neutral…” He twists his lips and looks at his shoes. “Seeing your reaction now; it was a mistake not to tell you.”

“That totally blows.” I ball my hands into fists. “More like you were afraid that I’d run down there to find her.” I’m mad enough to send smoke signals, so I take slower, calming breaths.

“If I’d told you… Yeah, I worried you’d run off. The ordeal in Italy, then Peter Gregory terrorizing you, and Helga has had barely enough time to settle around here. Your safety doesn’t include encouraging you to hop on a plane to another country so soon after a trauma like that. Waiting for Kate’s return felt right to me. At some point, I hope you’ll see things from my side. Kate put me in the middle, but it’s you I worry about.”

Willing myself to relax, I take his hand to get him to focus on me instead of the floor. “I know that.”

Peter Gregory, an old coworker from my past job at another gallery, is responsible for a young woman’s murder in Lecce, near the Mediterranean Sea on Italy’s eastern shore. Alec and I went to Southern Italy for a working vacation that spun us into solving more than one homicide in order for Alec to sell his dad’s Signorile Corporation, a sports car company.

“After a shower, I’ll give your mom a call from the car on the way home. I might have trouble getting a flight out on the spur of the moment, but if I do, I hope you’ll help me.”

“Anna, we should discuss this.” He catches my wrist. “I’d like to go along. Say the word, and I’m on that plane with you. Allow what’s happened with Kate to simmer. You might feel differently in the morning.”

Grasping Kate’s locket beneath my shirt, I slide the chain over my head and cup Alec’s hand, dropping the necklace there.

“Hold on to my locket while I’m gone. It’s the most precious thing I own. That way, you’ll know I’m coming back to you.” On my tiptoes, our salty kiss calls a loneliness— In a flash, two people are about to have a hemisphere drifting between them from outside influences that want to manipulate us. “Gen will be here to see Noah in a few hours, and you have him until Sunday. Let me go, Alec, and please wait for me at Brookehaven. I have to make this trip by myself. If there’s the slightest chance that Kate’s with Ethan or he knows where she is, I have to go. I’ve already lost precious time.” I start for the drawing room doors and remember something left undone. “Oh, and sorry for the sticky mess in your stable office.”

In a dead run, I’m biting a quivering lip. On the way to Alec’s bedroom suite, I send Chase a text to hold Ethan’s box and note for me at the gallery. True to form, Kate shoves us all out of our comfort zones, where I’m certain to find a disaster waiting for me to book a ticket to New Zealand in a mad rush.


Author Bio:

Marlene M. Bell is an award-winning writer and acclaimed artist as well as a photographer. Her sheep landscapes grace the covers of Sheep!, The Shepherd, Ranch & Rural Living and Sheep Industry News, to name a few.

Her catalog Ewephoric began in 1985 out of her desire to locate personalized sheep stationery. She rarely found sheep products through catalogs and set out to design them herself. Ewephoric gifts may be ordered online or request a catalog at TexasSheep.com.

Marlene and her husband, Gregg reside in beautiful East Texas on a wooded ranch with their dreadfully spoiled horned Dorset sheep, a large Maremma guard dog named, Tia, along with Hollywood, Leo and Squeaks, the cats that believe they rule the household—and do.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

 

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Book Blitz: Near Miss

Near Miss
C.S. Smith
Publication date: January 10th 2023
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

He’s hostage to his past. Betrayal and death haunt former British Special Air Service captain Lachlan Mackay after a disastrous mission in the mountains of Afghanistan ends his military career. Now a civilian, his job overseeing security teams in Kabul brings the opportunity to topple a powerful warlord, avenge the dead, and free himself from the crushing guilt of trusting the wrong woman. However, his plans for revenge get derailed when someone from his past targets his beautiful new American colleague.

She has a secret that could destroy him. Sophia Russo wants to make a difference in the lives of the Afghan people. As the new director of Legislative Affairs at Landry Associates International, her job is to lobby Congress to support her company’s development projects in the war-torn country. But when her best friend’s father, a retired four-star admiral, tells her someone may be trafficking weapons to a warlord, she agrees to spy on the prime suspect, LAI’s head of Global Security. Lachlan Mackay is dangerously sexy and full of secrets, but after getting to know the Hot Scot, her heart refuses to believe he’s a criminal.

The past won’t stay dead. When Sophia is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse between Lachlan and an unknown enemy, she teams up with him to help prove his innocence. The tables are turned when their hunt for the truth makes them the hunted.

To save Lachlan, Sophia may have to betray him, and Lachlan is forced to do the one thing he swore he’d never do again.

Trust a woman with his life.

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Author Bio:

C.S. Smith writes steamy romantic suspense and paranormal romance featuring current and former special operations soldiers. She admits to having a thing for alpha males. The bigger and badder they are, the harder they fall!

While earning a Master’s in National Security Studies from Georgetown University, she worked in and around the Pentagon surrounded by good-looking men in uniform, including the one she eventually married.

Her career as a writer took off in 2018 when her youngest child learned to drive and her days of micromanaging a family of five were coming to an end. Now she manages her husband of over thirty years and the family rescue dog – a supposed Golden Retriever that DNA tests revealed is really a lab, chow, boxer mix.

Her debut award-winning romantic suspense series, Dìleas Security Agency, focuses on three former elite special operators in a brotherhood forged by betrayal, blood, and death. If you enjoy hot alpha men and feisty women wrapped up in storylines full of danger and intrigue, be sure to look for Near Miss (Book 1), Missing in Action (Book 2), and Missed Opportunity (Book 3), coming in 2023.

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Book Blitz: Resting Grinch Face

Resting Grinch Face
Alina Jacobs
Publication date: November 17th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, RomanceI might not be able to ruin his life, but I will ruin his Christmas.
Yeah, I’m totally a grinch. But I come by it honestly.
Because of Oliver Frost, I flamed out at Harvard in the most humiliating way possible.
Now I’m back in my small town—just in time to suffer through a display of small-town Christmas cheer so festive it will make you puke your eggnog. But who cares about being home for the holidays when you live with your family like a loser and have to share one bathroom with seven other people?

I plan to spend my Christmas purgatory being tsked at by elderly residents and passive aggressively prodded by my mom’s friends about what I plan to do with my life.

I don’t know, Deborah, work in the Christmas market and get screamed at by tourists because I didn’t put enough sprinkles on their little brats’ coffees? Seriously, who gives five-year-olds that much caffeine anyway?!

See? Like I said. A grinch.
I hate Christmas.
I set a nativity scene on fire.
Got in a fistfight with an elf—I lost, by the way.
And threw a vat of Snowman Surprise all over Oliver. Don’t ask. Small-town Christmas insanity.
Sleigh what? Oliver is here???
The man who humiliated me and ruined my life?

Ho ho ho, fuck no.

He doesn’t deserve a quaint small-town Christmas.
He doesn’t deserve a fancy Christmas tree from my family’s farm.
And he certainly does not deserve to win a bottle of whiskey in the daily Christmas market raffle.
Goddamn, I needed that drink.
He should be haunted like Ebenezer Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Past. Or at least the Ghost of Hookups Past.

Momma’s gonna have herself a very merry Christmas revenge.
Swapping the salt and sugar so his Christmas cookies are ruined? Be still, my shriveled little heart.
Spying on him so I can gather recon to ruin his holidate? Damn, I forgot how ripped his chest was.
Sneaking down his chimney to steal all the presents under his tree? Amateur hour.
Until I get caught…

Guess I’m spending Christmas in jail.
But when he sees I’m not wearing a bra under my ugly Christmas sweater, Oliver smiles like Santa has come early.
Crap! I knew I should have worn my good underwear.

Hold on to your stockings because the eggnog is spicy and mostly booze. This is a fuck-second-chances, Santa-stalker, holiday-revenge romantic comedy. Featuring Christmas-hating heroines with poor decision-making skills, ripped guys who will leave a very large package under your tree, and adorable corgis dressed up as reindeer, this standalone book has a happily ever after, guaranteed!

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EXCERPT:

I slid like a squirrel straddling the roof peak, scooting along the ridgeline to the massive brick fireplace. I pried the round ceramic top off and stuck my head inside.

The Victorians liked their fireplaces.

While my parents’ wood-burning fire was more of a stovepipe, this house had been built to hold a massive fire.

I swung my feet over and shimmied into the chimney. Below me, Max must have figured out what was up because he was barking, the noise echoing up the chimney shaft.

“Dang, I can’t believe I fit,” I marveled. The cold air whipped my face, and I had a moment of clarity.

“Maybe this was a bridge too far,” I said and tried to hoist myself back up.

The chimney rim was slick with ice. My hand slipped. Then I fell down into the sooty black tube.

I stopped abruptly, my teeth knocking together.

“Help,” I squeaked.

I was stuck in the chimney, my arms wedged up above my head. Every time I let out a breath I slid farther down. My skirt was wedged under my boobs, and my sweater was wrapped around my head and neck.

“Help!” I rasped, kicking my legs. “Max, get help.”

The dog’s frantic barking changed to excited yips.

A pair of strong arms wrapped around my soot-covered thighs.

In any other scenario, I would have been really put out that Oliver was finally touching me only after I had flaked on working out the past year and developed a layer of winter flab. But I just wanted to be free. It was difficult to breathe.

“Save me,” I forced myself to whisper.

“Shit,” Oliver said, giving a solid tug on my legs.

I wedged down farther.

“I think you’re stuck in there.” His hands disappeared.

“Don’t leave me,” I begged.

His hand was back, his thumb stroking me reassuringly on my ankle.

“Don’t worry. I’m going to call the fire department. We’ll probably have to dismantle the chimney. I’m sure my neighbors will complain to me about it.” I heard the eye roll in his voice. Then his phone emitted beeps.

I kicked my feet. “Don’t you dare, Oliver Frost. Don’t you dare call the fire department. My mother will find out. I’ll be the talk of the town for years. Decades. It will be on my tombstone.”

“I can’t leave you here,” he said, voice echoing up the shaft.

“Oh, yes you can. I insist. I’ll be dead and done rotting in about three weeks. Then we can all just pretend this never happened.”

“Are you insane?”

Oh God. I had a horrible thought.

He can probably see straight up my crotch.

Was I wearing my nice underwear? Did I even own any sufficiently nice underwear?

“Please,” I begged. “My life is shit. Please just try pulling me out one more time?”

“I’m afraid to make you more stuck. Embarrassment won’t kill you.”

“It literally will,” I shrieked with my remaining breath.

Oliver muttered something that sounded like “God save me from this woman.”

“Fine,” he grumbled, moving the logs and the metal grate out of the way. “I’m giving this one shot. Then we’re going to host the fire department for the second time in as many days.”

After a rustling of fabric, his large hands slid up my bare legs.

“Sorry for manhandling you like this.”

His bare arms circled my waist, and I squawked as he wrapped them around my bare torso, connecting my body with his.

I could feel his bare chest against my thighs.

His head was somewhere in crotch vicinity, and he squeezed me tight.

Maybe I could just tell him to eat me out and then die happy.

Oliver gave a sharp hard tug. My sweater slipped up.

He adjusted his grasp and pulled, grunting hard.

“I think I’m moving,” I called.

He gave one more strong tug. My sweater ripped, and then I was free, tumbling down in a heap of ash and yarn on top of him.

He was covered in black soot. It was all over his pale skin, turning his hair a dark gray and making his eyes a startlingly bright blue.

“See,” I said, spreading my arms. “I knew you could do it. And you wanted to call the fire department.”

He didn’t say a word. He was staring at me, or more specifically my boobs.

I looked down.

“Elf balls.”


Author Bio:

If you like steamy romantic comedies with a creative streak, then I’m your girl!

Architect by day, writer by night, I love matcha green tea, chocolate, and books! So many books…

Sign up for my mailing list to get the free novella, AFTER HIS PEONIES, along with special bonus content, giveaways, and more!

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Book Blitz: Things I Overshared

Things I Overshared
Kelsey Humphreys
(Heartlanders Series, #2)
Publication date: December 6th 2022
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
Things I Overshared, an extrovert/introvert romantic comedy

Samantha Canton has had a rough year, to put it mildly. So, she is overjoyed to find out she gets to go on her dream work trip to Europe. But she’s not going alone. She’ll be crossing the pond with the company’s CFO, Emerson Clark.

Icy Emerson, as the industry calls him, is logical, serious and quiet. He likes solitude, the color gray, rain and hot tea – he is British, after all.

And he cannot stand Samantha in all her southern, chatty, upbeat, neon-dress-wearing glory.

No problem, she’s never met someone she couldn’t befriend.
Until Now.

Commence nervous verbal diarrhea.

And commence the ultimate Grumpy Sunshine, Billionaire, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn Romance with rich characters and a payoff that will leave you absolutely giddy.

**This is a swoony, steamy, full-length standalone adult contemporary romance. Prepare for Manhattan, London, Paris, surprise twists, laugh-out-loud banter, a happily ever after, and a sisters group text thread you’ll wish you could join.

This is the second book in the Heartlanders Series but can be read on its own.**

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Author Bio:

After tens of millions of video views, comedian Kelsey Humphreys has captured her hilarious, heart-warming characters in book form. Her steamy stories dig into deep truths about love, identity, purpose, and family. When she’s not writing romance or creating comedy videos, she is reading, running, mom-ming and wife-ing in Oklahoma. Follow her funnies on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok

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Cover Reveal: The Filthy Billionaires

The Mistress Contract
Evelyn Austin
(Filthy Billionaires, #1)
Publication date: January 2nd 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Dark Romance

When college student Madeline Swanson stumbled into the wrong job interview, I immediately wanted her…on her knees.

My offer is simple–I’ll cover her tuition, living expenses and a generous shopping budget. In return, she signs a contract, making herself available at my request–on my arm or in my bed, fulfilling all my darkest desires.

She says no now, but I’ll pursue her relentlessly until she signs the contract. Then, not only will I make her mine, I’ll own her…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accidental Mistress
Evelyn Austin
(Filthy Billionaires, #2)
Publication date: February 2nd 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Dark Romance

Lexi Anderson snuck into my hotel room and slipped into my bed, thinking I was someone else…

My first taste of her is explosive, and I immediately decide to make the naive, young college student mine, no matter the cost. Only then will she be under my control. Only then will she submit to me completely…

But she doesn’t know my darkest secret, and if I have anything to do with it, she never will.

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Author Bio:

Author of steamy dark billionaire romance. The higher the heat , the better!!

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Book Blitz: On the Line

On the Line
Amanda Chaperon
(For the Boys, #2)
Publication date: December 9th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Sports
Two years ago, professional hockey player Mitch Frambough and headhunter Lexie Monroe met on a late-October night and sparks flew. They fell hard for each other, and everyone thought they were endgame.

But now they’re not together.

In fact, they don’t even live in the same state.

When Mitch was traded from the Warriors to the Los Angeles Knights, his entire life changed with one phone call. His relationship with Lexie was in ruins, and the only way he could prevent further heartbreak was to leave Michigan without a backwards glance. Except, when his life is once again upended in a split second, he finds himself back in the Mitten. Surprisingly, everyone welcomes him home with open arms. Everyone except the one person he desperately wants: Lexie.

Lexie has never believed in love, and for good reason. The one time she gave it a shot—her relationship with Mitch—it ended in disaster. Now she’s washed her hands of the whole thing: love, relationships, him. Having him clear across the country helped. But when he returns to Detroit, everyone in her life is begging her to give him another chance. The only problem is Mitch doesn’t seem interested. Plus, she’d be stupid to let him close enough to break her again.

Call it karma or the gods or fate, but something has drawn these two back together. And now it’s time for them to choose: either they put their hearts on the line again, or they walk away for good this time.

After all, how often does love get a second chance?

AGE RANGE: 18+

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Please note this book contains an alcoholic parent, traumatic injury, using alcohol and sex as a bandaid for emotional pain, emotionally unavailable parents/issues of abandonment, strong language, and explicit sex.

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

“Look…” he said, unsure of how to begin. It had been a very long time since he’d had a conversation like this, and this might be the most important of them all. There had never been so much on the line. If he couldn’t get Lexie to see his side of things and understand that even if they hadn’t officially labeled anything, they were as-good-as in a relationship, he didn’t know what he would do. Because if this conversation didn’t go well, he would likely lose her completely.

And that was unacceptable.

“I’m just gonna say it. I’m crazy about you. And this,” he gestured between their naked bodies, “isn’t enough for me anymore, and I think you feel the same.”

“I don’t,” she said, propping herself on her elbow to turn away from him, but Mitch held fast, wrapping his arm tighter around her. She wasn’t going to get away that easy.

“And I don’t believe you.” He sat up and rolled so she was trapped under him. “Lexie, this hasn’t been just sex for us in a long time. It’s been seven months since we met. Why are you still lying to yourself? And me? You’re only hurting us both right now, honey,” he said, tracing his fingers along her cheekbone and jaw.

“Because I don’t know how to do this!” She shoved him so abruptly that the sheer surprise of it had Mitch sitting back on his heels, giving her the opening she needed to put some distance between them.

“And you think I do?”

“I think you’re a lot better at deeply emotional relationships than I am,” she whispered, hanging her head.

Hopping off the bed, Mitch moved so he was standing in front of her, struck by how strange it was to have such a serious conversation when they were both completely naked.

But if that’s what it took to make this woman his girlfriend, his everything, then so be it.

“Lexie, honey,” he said, scooping her hair out of her face and lifting her chin to gaze into the golden depths of her eyes. “We’ve been doing this relationship thing for months without putting the actual label on it. You realize that, don’t you?”

 


Author Bio:

Amanda Chaperon realized her passion for books, and for writing, at a young age. Growing up, she was rarely found without a book in her hands, a hobby she carried into adulthood. After joining bookstagram in 2020, she felt the pull to try her hand at novel writing. FOR THE BOYS is her first novel, but it won’t be her last.

She currently lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with her two-year-old Golden Retriever, and is a legal secretary by day. You can follow her on Instagram at @written.word.nerd.

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Book Blitz: Love Report

Love Report
Shellee Marie
Publication date: December 19th 2022
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
Professional baseball player Dan Pelameno struck out with the woman of his dreams. So, when she calls to set up an exclusive television interview with him, he jumps at the second chance to set things right. He let her slip away once, but he won’t make the same mistake.

Celebrity news reporter Kendra Star thought she had moved on from her ex, Dan until she had to see him again for a work assignment. When the encounter lands him a gig at her job, she promises to keep her distance from him and his charming ways. But the more she has to work with him, the harder he is to resist.

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EXCERPT:

“Kendra!”

I jolted my head up to Jay, and he eyed me warily. “As I was saying, now that the whole fiasco with Melanie is over, CEN needs a new direction…a new angle. We want to listen to the viewers. We want to be more positive with our programming,” he said, standing up from his perched position on his desk.

He ran his hands over his mouth and jolted his eyes at the massive coffee stain on my dress. “You missed your mouth?”

“Ah, you could say that,” I said.

He walked over to the cabinet in the corner of his office and pulled out a handkerchief. “Here, take this,” he said.

I took the handkerchief and motioned to wipe my dress. “Thank you so much! I didn’t have any napkins in my office.”

Jay raised his arms, stopping me. “No, no, no. Don’t wipe the stain with it. Put it under yourself, so you won’t mess up my leather chair.”
“Oh,” I said, raising my backside slightly and placing it underneath me.

Once my embarrassment eased, I ruminated over the words he’d said earlier, “new direction.” I’d heard them before. Only last time, that direction hadn’t included me, but my replacement, celebrity slayer Melanie. She’d damaged so many of CEN’s celebrity relationships it was difficult to imagine a positive comeback.

Although, somehow, I’d managed to come back in more ways than one. During my prolonged stint of unemployment, my bill collectors started to call me more than my relatives. I couldn’t have that happen again. I shook my head and focused on Jay’s words as he dropped his hand from his mouth.

He hovered over his desk, then placed his palms down onto the surface as if steadying himself in front of me. I shifted in my chair under his gaze.

“Someone reached out to the director of programming and suggested we do an apology tour. So, now upper management wants us to repair the relationships that Melanie damaged,” he said.

“Apology tour?”

“Yep, a series of intimate, heartfelt, sit-down interviews with each of the celebrities harmed to show them in a better light. But at the same time, it could also show CEN in a better light. In addition to fixing the relationships, of course. A second chance do-over of sorts.”

I nodded without hesitation or shame. I was a damn good interviewer, and I knew heartfelt. I wasn’t perfect, but I threw my heart into everything I did. “I can do that,” I said.

Jay smiled at me like a proud father and pointed in my direction. “I know you can. And there’s no one else I would’ve trusted to do it. We have to show everyone we’re still the same ole CEN.”

Moments like this were rare with Jay. They always made me think that if I worked harder, maybe I could have more of them. I mentally repeated his next statement in his hint of a New York accent because I knew it by heart.

“CEN is that old friend you can rely on to keep you up to date on trends,” he said. But, then, “Only now we keep you up to date on our friends.”

Hmm, that last part was new.

I nodded at his cringeworthy new phrase, attempting to detour him from the inevitable tangent that usually followed his “profound” statements. “So, who’s first on our apology tour?” I asked brightly.

“Well, the caller suggested Dan Pelameno.” He shook his head, then said, “The way we screwed over that guy’s marriage, I’d say I agree.”

I froze. Did he say, Dan Pelameno?

I stuttered, searching for my next words. “I — I think I read somewhere that Dan and his w-wife… ex-wife…are on good terms. So, it would probably be way more harmful to him to potentially rehash things with an interview.”

“Nonsense, it’ll be great. Our fans love Dan, and Dan loves the spotlight. So, just avoid harsh questions, and it’ll be fine.”

“But —”

Jay raised his hand and closed his eyes before narrowing them on me intensely. “This is a crucial opportunity for this company and, quite frankly, for you as well. Show the execs why you were worth that raise. Get Pelameno’s number and schedule the interview with him personally. We can’t mess this up. The network took a hit with that Melanie bullshit. We need this. You need this.”

I nodded and rose from my seat. “Yes, Jay. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Defeated, I headed for the door, but Jay stopped me to say, “And Kendra?”

“Yes?” I asked.

“Welcome back.”

#

“Shit, shit, shit,” I said, closing my door and pushing my back against it. I’d trudged the hall slowly, hoping for a distraction on the way, but, of course, my coworkers were nowhere in sight when I needed one.

I took in my office. It was still empty from the day I had to pack everything up in a box and carry it out. The fun knick-knacks and trinkets I’d collected during segments and guest appearances were still packed up at home. It was another reminder that my life had been completely thrown off kilter.

I tapped my head against the door. Dan Pelameno? Maybe there’s more than one? Surely not? Who am I kidding? There can only be one Dan.

Despite Jay’s directive, I didn’t need to search for Dan’s number. I already had it. I slid down the length of the door and stared at my phone over on the desk, working up the courage to call my ex. Well, almost ex…


Author Bio:

Shellee holds a Master of Arts degree in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication. She also has two minors in Women’s Studies and Political Science.

Shellee is an avid reader, and in her spare time, she can frequently be found curled up with a good book. She loves a wide variety of formats and genres. She also enjoys spending time with her brilliant daughter, Trinity, and her favorite pups, Myla and Chino.

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