Our guest this week is Sharleen Scott! Sharleen is here to share her new Romantic Suspense, Caught in Make-Believe. Caught in Make-Believe.is the third book in Ms. Scott’s The Caught Series. Welcome, Sharleen! We can’t wait to hear all about Caught in Make-Believe.
Caught in Make-Believe Blurb:
It’s his last trip home, one way or another.
When investigative journalist Jace Colton discovered the truth behind a dark net crime organization, those close to him paid the ultimate price. Further threats forced him to abandon New York and disappear. Five years later, he returns to his hometown, Angel Beach, Oregon, to salvage the life his pursuers destroyed.
But he may not have returned alone.
Another failed relationship convinces bakery manager Samantha Dylan she’s done with project men, and the last thing she needs is someone like taciturn Jace Colton twisting her heart into knots. He has secrets, and she knows he might leave.
Of course, the last thing Samantha needs is what she wants most.
Jace is walking a tightrope and everything feels off kilter. His past demands a showdown. Will they survive the fight?
- Caught in Make-Believe Amazon Buy Link: https://amzn.to/2Svjhcp
Excerpt from Caught in Make-Believe:
Let me get a few more things hauled out,” Jace said, “and I’ll start dinner.”
Before Samantha could question this, he was back in the kitchen grabbing another old cabinet. She followed him to the dumpster. “Dinner? You’re fixing dinner? For me?”
He heaved the cabinet into the dumpster and turned. “Do you know how to operate the grill? If you do, I’ll take off now.” He looked at her with that familiar amused expression.
She’d never barbequed in her life. “I’m sure I could figure it out, but if you’re set on the idea, you can show me.”
“I’m set on it. I’ll wash up and get the steaks ready,” he said on his way into the house.
“Steaks?” Sam muttered as she followed. “I don’t have any steaks.”
“You do now,” he called from the bathroom. He returned, drying his hands on a paper towel. “I picked up a couple of New Yorks after I left the hardware store.” He left her standing alone in the living room with her mouth hanging open.
She found him on the porch starting the barbeque. She watched closely in preparation for her solo flight the next night, noticing a meat tray full of steaks sat on the side shelf along with a can of baked beans and a bag of salad. He’d made an impromptu kitchen shelf from some boxes and was searching through the seasonings he’d thoughtfully placed there. So much for her earlier assessment that Jace Colton needed babying. He was quite self-sufficient, and self-reliance in a man was so sexy. She needed to watch herself around this guy. He was a heartbreak waiting to happen.
“What can I do to help?” she asked, though he had the situation under control.
He shrugged. “Have a seat and put your feet up. I’ve got this.”
She opened a bottle of Maryhill Winery Riesling and poured two glasses before taking his suggestion to put up her feet. He tipped his glass to her and smiled as he turned the sizzling steaks. The night air was brisk but not uncomfortable. As the sun sank into the horizon, Sam noted how Jace had strung her Christmas lights around the porch creating a romantic ambiance.
“How is your book coming along?” he asked.
She shook free of her thoughts. “My book? Terrific. I’m nearly halfway. How about you?”
“Same. Do you want me to read anything yet?”
“You were serious about that?” Jace Colton had been in the journalism big leagues, and she couldn’t imagine why he wanted to help nobody Sam Dylan. “Truly serious?” she asked with a frown.
“Yes. It’ll be a while for the steaks if you want to print a few pages for me.”
Sam sipped her wine and peered at him over the glass. “You’re sure?”
He nodded and smiled. “Quite sure. I wouldn’t offer otherwise.”
They talked about writing over dinner, discussing the importance of an opening hook and tension on every page, as her manuscript pages sat on the table edge awaiting their reading. When the last bite of steak was consumed, Jace pulled a pair of black-framed glasses from his T-shirt pocket and slipped them on. He picked up her pages and adjusted the glasses on his nose.
Sam gulped and stared as her heartbeat jumped a notch.
He glanced from the pages to her. “What?”
“The glasses.” She pointed toward him. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
He shrugged. “Drugstore readers. I have trouble with fine print.” When she continued to stare he took the glasses off and looked at them. “Is there a problem with them?”
The only problem she had centered on how sexy he was in glasses. “No,” she said. “They just make you look…bookish.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Sam gave him a once over. “Not as far as I’m concerned.”
Author Bio:
Sharleen Scott is the author of the romantic suspense Caught Series and Tangles, the story of a man struggling with his mother’s escalating Alzheimer’s disease. She lives in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains with her husband Brett, two college kids, two spoiled cats, and a pup.