Mowed Over (Sonoma Book 2)
Page 18
Thank you again for all your love and support!
Sincerely,
Mae Harden
P.S. I’d love to keep in touch with you! I’m usually pretty speedy to reply to messages on Facebook and Instagram, and you can always find me in my Facebook group, Mae Harden’s Happily Ever Afters. I also have a mailing list where I host giveaways and send out occasional updates.
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Other books by Mae Harden:
Stripped Down (Sonoma Series, Book 1)
Mowed Over (Sonoma Series, Book 2)
Revved Up (Sonoma Series, Book 3) Pre-Order
An excerpt from Revved Up by Mae Harden
Parker
I like bad boys. At least, I like them in theory. Growing up the chunky, glasses-wearing daughter of a pastor and a librarian, my experience with boys was limited to supervised dates with the closeted son of the assistant pastor. He was as much a bad boy as he was into me, which is to say, not at all.
But a girl can fantasize. And when I do, it’s about a long-haired, tattoo-covered, tall, dark and handsome man on a motorcycle. He steals me away on the back of his hog, the engine rumbling between my thighs as we fly down the road, wind whipping through my hair--
"PARKER!"
I yelp and tumble backwards off my stool, landing hard on the wood floor.
"Oh my god! I’m so sorry!" Lilah yells as she rushes around the counter to help me.
"Ow," I moan, rubbing the back of my head as I sit up.
"Jesus, you’re as clumsy as me," Lilah holds out a hand to help me up. I take it, letting her help me to my feet before brushing myself off. Not that the floors are dirty. I’m meticulous about keeping my little bookshop clean.
“You ok?” my friend asks with an apologetic grimace.
“Oh, I’m fine. Just a little bruised. You scared me!”
Lilah laughs, her green eyes full of mischief. “Dude, I said your name like three times! You were super spaced out. What were you thinkin’ about?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me and I’m sure I blush.
She picks up the book I dropped on the counter, flipping it over to read the title. A shirtless man, all bulging muscles and long windswept hair graces the cover. A model-gorgeous woman sits behind him on a motorcycle, her arms draped all over him while he glowers into the distance. Le sigh.
“Didn’t you finish this already? Book club is in two and a half hours,” she asks, waving the book in my direction.
“Of course, I finished it! I’ve read it twice already. I was just flipping through it again before book club.”
“Well that explains the thousand-yard stare,” my friend laughs as she sets the book back on the counter. “God, this one was hot. You have good taste, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t even into the whole rugged-motorcycle-man thing.”
She sets a bag on the counter next to my vintage typewriter. It doesn’t work but it looks so good in the shop that I can’t part with it. I peek inside the brown paper bag.
“Seltzer?” I ask her with a little frown.
“And wine. Don’t get your panties in a twist, Parker,” she laughs as she unloads the party supplies for tonight. “I got carried away with the Cabernet last weekend. I need a booze-free night tonight.”
Pfft. Yeah, right. More like she’s pregnant and not telling anyone yet. We’ve only been friends a couple of months but there’s no way the Lilah I know is voluntarily giving up a glass of red wine.
“Okay,” I say noncommittally as I try to keep my eyebrow from creeping up my face. I snag the little brown box stamped with the Olive Branch Bakery logo and crack the top, huffing the chocolate infused air and moaning.
Lilah laughs. “Don’t get too excited. We’re experimenting with new flavors and we need guinea pigs. There are some weird ones in there.”
“I volunteer as tribute,” I sigh, resisting the temptation to steal one of the shiny little truffles. I close the box and set it aside for later.
“You say that now but wait until you hit the rosemary caramel. It’s… different.” Lilah grins and hands me a salad in a takeout container with big toasty pieces of ciabatta on the side. “I know you don’t have time to eat dinner between closing and book club.”
“God, I love you!” I tell her, taking the salad and giving her a one-armed hug. I don’t know what I would do without Lilah and Olive.
I moved to California on a whim four months ago. To date, it’s the single boldest, bravest thing I’ve ever done. Sometimes I look around and I still can’t believe I did it. I packed up my beat-up old Honda Civic and drove to California, all alone, with just enough savings to start my business and escape another dreary Minnesota winter and a town I can’t stand.
When I stumbled across the rental listing for the little shop in downtown Sonoma, I just knew it was fate. I could feel the warm California sun on my skin and picture myself driving past miles and miles of picturesque vineyards. I could start fresh and be anyone I wanted to be.
Of course, in my fantasy I had a convertible and giant sunglasses and endless free time to explore wine country all by myself. The reality of opening a business is something else entirely. Long days stuck inside assembling bookshelves, painting, ordering books, organizing, cleaning, bills and never-ending paperwork.
I’m pretty sure I’d be miserably lonely if it wasn’t for the sisters at the bakery across the road. One week after signing my lease, I put a sign up in my shop window reading:
Coming Soon!
Sorry, I’m Booked! – A Romance Bookstore for Everyone
Within minutes, Olive and Lilah were at my door, ready to break it down if I didn’t let them in. That sums up my relationship with the Donovan sisters perfectly. Julia had arrived fifteen minutes later, breathless, and declaring “this better be worth” her break at the hospital. Spoiler alert, it was.
Lilah hugs me fiercely before heading back to the bakery. I spend the next two hours helping customers and tidying up the shop. I polish the wood counter, sweep up, and clean the fingerprints off the glass front door before locking up. I pull my salad out of the little fridge in the back with a happy sigh and settle in to read while I eat.
Book club is everything I ever hoped it would be. The three Donovan sisters and our friends, Chelsea and Sally, fill the eclectic collection of couches and chairs in the shop’s sitting area. Chelsea and Julia heatedly debate the motorcycle romance I picked for this month’s read while I top up wine glasses and straighten the cheeseboard Olive brought over.
“It’s about vulnerability and overcoming their fear of rejection!” Chelsea all but yells. Judging by the way she’s holding her copy of the book, I hope Julia has better catching reflexes than I do.
“I’m just saying, it’s not realistic! He’s all macho and Alpha on his motorcycle but he’s such a pussy about speaking his mind!” Julia argues back.
I sigh to myself. I love this hero. He’s all dirty talk in bed and fiercely possessive but Julia isn’t wrong. He is a bit of a pussy when it comes to his feelings. The two of them keep arguing while Olive, Lilah, Sally, and I look on, eyes bouncing between them like it’s a tennis match and grinning at each other. This happens every month and I think it boils down to the fact that Julia and Chelsea are just inherently opposites. Chelsea is all sweet innocence. The blushing bride type living happily ever after with her Prince Charming.
Julia is loud, outspoken, spontaneous, and fearless. She is unapologetic about living her best life. I envy her. Moving out here is the only spontaneous thing I’ve ever done, and it was the best decision of my life. I’ve got my fresh start and I can be New Parker. Spontaneous Parker. Maybe even Wild Parker… well, probably not. I still have to manage the day-to-day bookstore stuff. It’s not like I can go out and party every night. But I can be spontaneous.
The little brass bell over the shop door chimes, p
ulling me out of my thoughts. Ben, Lilah’s fiancé enters through the narrow door, angling his shoulders to fit properly. He’s almost frighteningly large in my opinion, but tiny Lilah adores him. Olive’s fiancé, Brooks, follows Ben inside and a third man steps out from behind them, leaning against the door frame.
A tingle of electricity runs through my body, stopping my heart and my breath all in one go. Dark hair falls across part of his face, brushing his cheekbones and obscuring one of his eyes as he purses his lips in an irritated way. He doesn’t look at all happy to be here but that doesn’t stop my body from reacting with aching awareness.
Julia is yelling something about someone caving but she might as well be yelling into a bucket of water for all I’m picking up on it. I can’t tear my eyes away from him. He’s thick and muscular but not really chiseled.
Tattoos cover his arms, disappearing under the sleeves of his tight black t-shirt and trailing all the way down his wrists to the backs of his hands. I can even see some ink peeking out of the collar of his shirt. I wonder what they look like and the thought of him lifting that shirt off over his head makes my mouth go dry.
There’s something sweet about his face and I’m not sure what it is until he meets my eyes and a smirk lifts one corner of his lips. Holy god his lips are pretty. The pout was nice but that indolent little smile is staggering.
I’m staring.
I know I am.
But if I thought I couldn’t look away before, it’s nothing compared to the way I feel when his vibrant green eyes hold mine. Look away? I can’t even breathe right. His eyes slowly sweep over my body, shameless and bold, and his eyebrow lifts in an appreciative way. I squeak. Like a little mouse.
Thankfully no one hears me because Julia is saying something about drool, scooting her chair back so that it screeches on the floor.
“What?” I ask her, ripping my eyes away from the man by the door. He has to be one of their brothers. The dark hair and bright green eyes are a dead giveaway and when my eyes finally land on Julia and her pouty lips, the family resemblance is unmistakable.
Julia gives me a rueful smile, eyebrow arched, as she says, “Oh, nothing. I’m just going to leave the splash zone before things get icky.”
Chelsea spits wine down her front and I must look like a deer in the headlights because Julia’s face softens towards me. I feel heat rise in my cheeks as my eyes dart from Julia back to Lukas. It’s got to be Lukas with the tattoos. I’ve heard enough about their brothers to know Asher is too straightedge to have tattoos. Lukas is the troublemaker, at least that’s what Olive says. And he sure as hell looks like trouble from where I’m standing.
His little smirk grows into a devastatingly lazy smile. He runs a hand over the shadow on his jaw and I’m the worst because all I can think are dirty thoughts. Best friend’s brother or not, I wonder how that scruff would feel scraping my inner thighs. What would it be like to grip those muscular arms as he drove into me?
“Lukas! Out!” Lilah yells as she heads towards him, all but pushing him out the door. He lets her shepherd him out the door but not before giving me a wink. Ben follows them, a hand pressed to his mouth. And then everyone is staring at me, eyebrows raised, cocked, scrunched and lifted.
I feel my cheeks burn as I shrink into myself. I wish they would stop. Why can’t they all look at something else? Talk about something else, anything else for Christ’s sake. I spot Lilah’s book on the coffee table, snatch it and follow her out the door. Anything to escape.
“Lukas, you leave Parker alone.” Lilah’s voice hits me as I step outside, but Ben’s enormous frame is blocking her from my sight.
“Calm your ass, Ladybug. She’s not my type anyway.”
The deep, smokey voice hits me like a ton of bricks to the stomach. I feel like a fool. Everyone I know in California just witnessed me have a mental break at the sight of that man. They watched him look me up and down and deem me unworthy. That wink was just a parting shot.
I hear him start his motorcycle and drive off. A second later, Lilah turns and sees me, apologizing profusely for her brother.
I do my best to play it off, despite the sick pit in my stomach. “It’s cool,” I tell her with a smile I don’t feel. “For what it’s worth, my daddy would hate him.”
That’s not totally true. My dad doesn’t hate anyone. He certainly wouldn’t approve of me dating a man like that though. Not that it matters, since a man like that would never even consider someone like me. I give her my most convincing smile, even though I still feel cold inside, and hand her the book she forgot. Lilah and Ben leave, walking down the street, his arm wrapped around her protectively. I kind of just want to sit down and cry on the sidewalk but there’s a crowd of people right inside my bookshop so I put on my best everything-is-perfect face, take a deep breath and head back inside.
Acknowledgements
Ok. I know I’m going to forget someone and feel like an asshole about it. I really do have a ton of people to thank for their support and for helping me get this book out into the world, if I’ve forgotten someone, I am so sorry!
I dedicated this book to my girlfriends, Emily, Becky, Brittany, and Stacey. I cannot thank them enough for keeping me sane, cheering me on, and still meeting my eye line after reading all the dirty bits. I don’t know what I would do without you four.
I want to thank my beta reader, April Claudina, not just for catching little discrepancies, but for her suggestions on making my character’s connections deeper. She also helped me with Stripped Down and I can wholeheartedly say my books wouldn’t be the same without her.
My writing group, the RWSL. Holy mother of god, do I love you guys. Thank you for sharing the highs and lows, the frustrations and the laughs.
I specifically want to thank authors Juniper Kerry, Claire Hastings, and Celia Nott. I don’t think I could do this without you three. Thank you for the emotional support, for bouncing ideas back and forth, for reading for me, catching my mistakes, and generally keeping my head on straight. Your friendship through this process has meant everything.
Thank you to my editor, Amy Maranville at Kraken Communications for polishing and perfecting my book baby. I’d be a hot mess without you.
I want to thank my family. My sisters, who read my books, and my parents and brothers who thankfully DON’T read my books. Their love and support means everything to me.
I want to thank my kids (who will never read this). It’s not easy for them to give up mommy time when I need to work but they’ve been incredibly patient and sweet while I transition to a work-from-home career. I should probably also thank Paw Patrol for giving me an hour a day completely free of interruptions.
Last, but most importantly, I want to thank my amazing husband, who works his butt off all week and still takes charge of our kids so I can work through the weekend. He is the most loving and supportive man. I truly couldn’t ask for a better partner to share my life with. All the best characteristics of my book heroes come straight from him. I love you so much.
With unending love and gratitude,
Mae Harden
About the author
Mae Harden is an author, pastry chef, podcast co-host, and lover of all things dirty. She writes contemporary romance with a penchant for dirty talk and a healthy dose of humor. Mae lives in Virginia with her husband and two kids, a chunky cat, and a pair of fluffy border collie sisters.
For more on Mae Harden and her work, visit her website: www.MaeHarden.com