Bad mood. That is the theme today. I swear I need to set these up for the next month so I don’t keep posting so late. I am so sorry, readers… I’ll do better, I promise. I’m spending so much time getting organized and such, so, this is going to change…

And being this late puts me in a bad mood, but we’re gonna blame DH for it since he left me alone in the kitchen section of the Kohl’s today. He knows I have no willpower when it comes to the kitchen section. You can leave me in almost any other section, well, maybe not the jewelry or purse section, but any other section and I could really care less. The kitchen section though… Yeah, I’m a lost cause, I know this.

So, who do I have that’s bad mood material? Hmmm… Why don’t we go with Jane from Sugar Rush… She spends a lot of time in a bad mood in the book.

Snippet:

“How did the delivery go, honey?”

“‘Honey’? What’s with people today? That’s the second time I’ve been called ‘honey.’ I wasn’t his honey, and I’m not your honey.”

“People? Did something go wrong with the client?”

Jane snorted, quite unladylike, and agitatedly unzipped her snow jacket. “Right. As if you didn’t know.” The drive back to the city had been better than the drive to the mountains. The roads were not quite as slick with the sun out, and she’d had ample time to fume not only about Edward sending her on a long-ass delivery but a bogus one at that.

However, if she were honest with herself, she’d admit that that wasn’t what had her so on edge. It was that thoughts of the cowboy wouldn’t go away. He was all tall, tanned skin, rugged hands, and sun-streaked, dark blond hair reminiscent of a surfer. She shook her head. Great, a cowboy surfer. Perfect. Neither of which would ever be interested in her.

She’d never wanted a man so much in her life as she had wanted him the moment he’d opened the door. His grin was cocky, and his eyes were dark and lustful. His skintight jeans had hugged his hips and hidden nothing, and his soft black sweater defined every muscle in his chest. His feet had been bare and while she’d never paid much attention to a man’s feet before, his not being covered by socks or sneakers or boots had been so homey, so casual that she’d found it incredibly sexy. The thought then and now gave her pause. Sexy feet? She’d heard of men loving a woman’s painted toenails, but she’d never thought about a man’s feet before. God, is this how low she’d sunk? How long it had been for her without her having realized it that not only was she looking at his ass in a pair of jeans and his upper body in a sweater, but she was now thinking a man looked hot and sexy with bare feet?

She groaned and took off her snow jacket, then hung it up on the hook behind the door. She licked her lips, which brought to mind his kiss. His lips had been so soft and so rough at the same time when he’d had the audacity to briefly touch them to hers. His fingers on her face had made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and she didn’t like it. Not one little bit.

It meant that she was starting to feel again and soon she would start to want. In that moment though, she would ignore the fact that she already wanted him. A lot. In a very big way.

Besides, he was young. Way too young for her. No wrinkles creasing his face, no gray at his temples. He had the smooth edges of a younger man, and she had no business fantasizing about him, wanting him. But damn oh damn oh damn…

“What’s wrong?”

She whirled toward Edward and planted her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong? You sent me out there with an empty box of truffles. You sent me way the hell out there to a gorgeous hunk of man with an empty box of truffles. Why, Edward? Why on earth would you do that to me?”

He didn’t even look chagrined. He didn’t look surprised that she’d figured it out. He didn’t even look at her with a hint of embarrassment at having been caught setting her up. He just gave her a straightforward look, and she knew she wasn’t going to like his answer.

“Do you want the truth, Jane? Do you really want the truth?”

“Of course I want the truth.” She did, didn’t she? Yes, yes, yes. Truth was a good thing. Right? Right.

“All right, then. I did it because I am tired of you sitting in that chair, staring out at nothing, watching all those awful reality shows. You’re eating truffles and junk food and, quite frankly, it’s depressing. I am tired of it. Phillip’s gone. He broke up with you and yet the world still goes round and round. Let it go. Move on with your young and wonderful life because he sure as hell moved on with his.”

Dammit. She didn’t like the truth. She’d have preferred he lie through his pearly whites. She didn’t like the truth because he was right. Phillip had dumped her and moved on with his life and his lovers. What was her problem? It wasn’t like Phillip was really worth pining over, not like, say, Cowboy Surfer would be. If ever there was a man worthy of moping and crying over, it was him, not some GQ cover model wannabe like Phillip who had the emotional depth of a shot glass and probably not even that deep.

But that was all beside the point. Edward was in the wrong here.

“You’re not even going to deny trying to set me up with him? Jeez, Edward.” Jane honestly didn’t know if she should hit him or hug him. Deep down, she knew he had her best interests at heart. “Oh, and speaking of young lives…how young is he?”

Oh now his cheeks turned a little pink. Interesting. “I don’t know.”

He was trying to ignore her by busying himself with wiping the kitchen counters, tidying the canisters, fiddling with the edges of recipe pages. She wasn’t buying it. “Don’t give me that. You do know. How young is he?”

“In his twenties.” It took a second, but when she didn’t say anything, he looked up and was met with her stare. They both knew she could outstare him any day of the week, so she stood there with her hands on her hips, tapped her toe, and waited. “Oh fine. He’s twenty-six.”

Jane closed her eyes, hung her head, and groaned loud and long. “Twenty-six?” Oh God, she was robbing the cradle. “I can’t believe you set me up with a…a…kid.”

Edward sighed dramatically, and it brought her head up. “He’s not a kid. He’s an adult, barely ten years younger than you. A beautiful adult too, in case you hadn’t noticed. Do you know how many women and men would just die for him to look in their direction? And he’s interested in dating you.”

“Well, he’s too young, and I don’t want to date. Don’t you remember me swearing off men? And as for the interested in dating me comment…please,” she scoffed. “He hadn’t even seen me until today and for all you know, this little meeting you arranged could have gone horribly wrong and he’s no longer interested in me.”

She spun away and finished undressing. Her shoes; her lovely, sexy, Carrie Bradshaw-esque shoes were long gone and carelessly tossed into a corner with the word ridiculous echoing through their laces. The bottoms of the snowsuit were flung over the back of the chaise, and she walked across the loft into her bedroom in her long underwear.

end snippet

Oh yes, Miss Jane here is just fit to be tied…grins. I loved her.

Please check out (though I’m quite sure you already have given what time it is…) the snippets from the following authors:

Leah Braemel
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
Eliza Gayle
TJ Michaels
Lauren Dane
Jody Wallace
Shelli Stevens

Have a great weekend!

~lissa