Caution, April and Jace are coming in 🔥🔥🔥
May 08, 2023 11:01 am
Hello! I hope you're well. I'm making today's email short and sweet. I've been under the weather with a wicked case of seasonal allergies. Frankly, my energy reserves are low from little sleep. Even so, I'm working in the background writing and editing. I've even got some surprises to share with you later this week and in the coming month.
Scroll for all the goodies!
INSTALOVE SPOTLIGHT
Firefly Fireworks is a frenemies-to-lovers, second chance, summer romance with a little rom-com fun and light banter.
Speaking of a banter. Jace and April disagree on the tiniest things, like are the little bugs that light up the night sky fireflies or lightning bugs? What do you call them?
Jace loves to push April's buttons. It's the only way she'll give him the time of day. But deep down, he loves her and will do anything to win her heart. I love low angst enemies to lovers. The right set of circumstances shines a new light on someone, and their true heart comes to the forefront. Read the first chapter below.
Firefly Fireworks contains a too hot for my romance category, NSFW bonus scene link at the end of the book. Be sure to grab it.
scroll to read the first chapter
Firefly Fireworks contains copyright material.
Chapter 1
Jace
“What’s cookin’ good lookin’?” I stride into the kitchen, knowing I’ll find the gorgeous as ever love of my life, April Dalton, hard at work behind the scenes of tonight’s festivities. Purple Haze lavender farm hosts a Fourth of July celebration like no other. Though I’m surprised the kitchen isn’t abuzz with her backup crew. “Where is everyone?”
April’s back stiffens, and I can almost feel the sting as she bristles. Her reddish brown hair is pulled up into a messy bun held together with a few clips. I’ve spent many nights dreaming of her naked in my bed, hovering over me, then one by one removing the pins from her hair, so it cascades over my chest.
“What are you doing here?” Her tone is sharp and disapproving. She spins around with a colander in one hand and a large spider strainer in the other. Her eyebrow is cocked with the usual scowl on her face that she saves just for me. That look tells me tonight will be the same as any other. My fantasy will remain a dream.
In a split second, her eyes widen, and the colander and spider strainer slip from her hands and bounce off the floor with a heavy clatter.
She glances over her shoulder, and everything plays out in slow motion. She spins around, quickly grabbing for the large pot of boiling water, but it’s too late. The bow of her apron catches the pot handle, and it tumbles from the stove, spilling down the side of her chef’s pants. I drop the wine bottle and take off in a sprint across the kitchen. I hear the bottle hit the tile floor and shatter into a thousand pieces.
April tap dances around the water, screaming as the boiling hot water penetrates the pants fabric and clings to her skin.
“Take them off,” I yell. As soon as I reach her, I grab the pants and yank them down her legs. I sweep her up into my arms and cradle her, carrying her as quickly as possible to the large utility sink. “Put your feet and legs in.”
I crank the cold water up so it reaches most of her leg, then sprint to the freezer for ice. By the time I reach her with a towel full of ice, she’s scrunched in the sink with cold water flowing over the growing red area along the curve of her thigh. I dampen the ice-filled towel and press it gently to her reddened skin.
She sucks in a long breath and hisses its release through chattering teeth. Her hands clutch the edge of the sink as she strains to hold her butt above the water swirling under her.
“So stupid,” she mutters, then unleashes her wrath full force on me. “I don’t have time for this. What are you doing here, Jace?”
“I’m trying to help you. Now hold this.” I wrap my arm around her back to brace her while she holds the ice pack in place.
“I was doing just fine before you showed up.” She glares up at me and winces as I lift her from the sink full of running water and move her to the dry counter. Her voice drips with annoyance and pain.
“I can see that.” I meet her annoyance with sarcasm and am only slightly amused when she deliberately rolls her eyes. “Wearing your apron with the bow in front like that is dangerous.”
“Don’t lecture me about kitchen safety.” She points a finger at my chest with such force I’m surprised her fingernail doesn’t slice through my shirt. “I’m a trained chef. I’m perfectly capable of doing my job without your criticism.”
“That so?” I glance down at her finger, then lower, eyeing her creamy thighs, no longer covered with sterile chef pants. I slowly draw my eyes back up and stare directly into her cool onyx eyes. “I’m not the one sitting here in flimsy black lace panties, am I?”
April
“Oh, my God.” Instant panic bubbles to the surface.
I drop the ice pack and scurry to cover myself with the scrunched-up apron twisted around my waist. I expect Jace to chuckle or hurl a wise-ass comment any second, but he’s silent. My thigh is half numb from the cold water and ice, but I still flinch as soon as the frigid pack presses against the area. Jace’s long, thick fingers span across the mounded towel, and I notice the rhythmic tick of his pulse in the webbed veins just above his knuckles.
I look up to find him staring down at me. His steely blue ice eyes pierce my heavily guarded armor, and an unfamiliar sting flickers inside my chest. His nostrils flare, and the vein in his neck twitches. The only sound is the heavy rise and fall of his breath. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s aroused, but don’t dare glance downward to prove what I suspect. It’s preposterous. Jace loves to torment me. And he’s probably seen so many women in their skimpy underwear that he’s lost count.
I blink back the funny feeling coiling in my gut and draw in a deep breath to regain my composure.
“This is all your fault. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t barged into my kitchen.” I twist and turn, craning my neck, desperately trying to keep my dignity intact. “Where are my pants?”
He lifts the ice pack and plods across the kitchen. I watch the fabric of his jeans give and take, stretching over his muscled thighs as he makes deliberate, quick strides across the room. When he bends over to pick up my pants, his waistband dips, and a sliver of back muscle peeks from under his shirt. His jeans cling snuggly to his taut ass, and for a hot minute, all rational thought slips my mind.
Jace Abernathy is sexy as hell.
When he turns back toward me, my eyes remain at mid-level, and it’s obvious that he most definitely is aroused. Or maybe he always packs that much heat. I don’t know. Why would I know? It’s not like I’m attracted to him, or he’s attracted to me. He slows his pace and shortens his stride, no longer a man on a mission to retrieve my pants.
My eyes travel up the oversized bump beneath his zipper, over the T-shirt displaying his rock-hard six-pack abs and the broad pecs he’s sporting. I swallow the hard lump that’s crept up my throat and realize my panties are damp. And then my eyes land on his pink full lips and the smirk forming there. By the time our eyes meet, it’s too late.
Jace has me exactly where he wants me. He played me like a fool and suckered me into his grasp. This was his plan all along. The hot pot of water was just the icing on the cake.
“Stop right there.” My cheeks flush hot. “Not one step closer.”
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Continue reading April and Jace's story and find out where the real fireworks happen, one magical Fourth of July under a blanket of stars.
Each book in the Honey Ridge Summer series is a standalone read with recurring characters weaved throughout the stories. Guaranteed HEAs with no cliffhangers or cheating.
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I'll check back in on Thursday with a time-sensitive exciting announcement you won't want to miss. Until then, take care of yourself and enjoy your week!
XOX Piper
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