I am sitting here watching episodes of “Project Runway”. Don’t you just love Heidi? And yes, before you ask, I am a “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” fan too. How can I not be? Each is a romance novel crossed with a train wreck that is obvious to everyone but the contestants. After a combined 33 seasons, you’d think they would figure it out, too.
Anyway, why am I binge watching instead of writing? I can catch up on back episodes because – ta da – I have finished rewrites of the latest Beguiling Bachelor novel. Okay, technically I will have one more review when I get the changes back from my final editor, but those should be mostly grammar and punctuation not pages of rewrites. So I am celebrating in a big way.
First, I went to the movies. I love the movies. In college, I could see four movies in a day. Of course, they cost less then and I could stay up later. Today I saw“Girl on a Train”. The movie is very good, but the book is better.
Now I am catching up on “Project Runway”. If I was eating chocolate life might be perfect, but I am holding out for ‘trick or treat’ loot. I can buy it on sale since it is post-Halloween.
Sympathy for the Bedeviled
Today, I thought I would share a little of the new book with you. The working title is “Bedeviled”, but I am weighing that with “Bemused” and even “Bewitched”. I have to make a decision this week so the cover artist can finish her work. It is the story of Alexander Gaines, the very sexy and very clever banker who has been a trusted friend in “Bedazzled” and “Beholden”. He met the lovely Charlotte at Sloane’s rooftop party, and since then, they have become friends and running partners, training for the Chicago marathon.
For the first time, I have woven a bit of intrigue between lots of romantic andsteamy moments. I hope you will let me know what you think. Watch for a final title, cover art, launch details and more soon.
And so we begin…
Chapter One
Charlotte was hiding something.
Alex could feel it in his bones. Since meeting in June, she had been elusive and mysterious – even cryptic sometimes. If she wasn’t so damn alluring he would have walked away long before now. He had vacillated between wanting her and wanting to get away from her, but wanting her always won. He had wondered if she was keeping some deep, dark secret or if it was a suddenly overactive imagination, but today, once she had ‘the accident’, he was sure. She was definitely hiding something.
Their morning had started much like any other. Their run had been companionable and ended as the last of the pink sunrise tinted the sand on the nearby beach.
“Good time today,” Alex had praised, shaking off his constant, simmering desire for her long enough to stop staring at her. He checked his stopwatch as they toweled off and gulped from their water bottles. Sitting on a low stone wall, the beach behind them, Lincoln Park and the Chicago skyline before them, they shared the sunrise of a crystal clear morning and the healthy exhaustion that followed their workouts. “We have to go longer tomorrow, though.”
“I know,” Charlotte responded, annoyed. “I hate early mornings. Yeah, yeah,” she headed him off before he gave her a lecture, ”I know we have to do it, and once I am running I’ll be fine, but until then just let me complain. Not all of us can just talk ourselves into ignoring pain and exhaustion.”
Alex listened to her non-stop loathing of that early morning alarm. It was a routine by now, all for effect. She would complain, he would counter. Their training was shorter runs interspersed with long runs requiring the 5:30 a.m. start that she so vociferously complained about. She hated those long run days but with only six weeks to go until the Chicago Marathon, they were pushing each other hard.
Pushing each other’s buttons, too.
“How long will you be around this time?” she queried, breaking into his thoughts of her, of her funny habits and quirks that he had come to know, of her body so close to his.
“I head back to California week after next. You?”
“I need to be in Boston next week, so it looks like our schedules won’t overlap –for a change. What keeps taking you to L.A. anyway? This must be your second or third trip this month. And you were gone all that time over the summer.”
So the verbal dance began.
“Just business. The usual,” Alex gave her his standard answer.
“Whatever that means,” came Charlotte’s sarcastic response.
“Well, what’s with all your trips to Boston?” he turned the tables on her.
“Harvard stuff,” her response was too quick and equally vague.
“Whatever that means,” Alex mimicked in a sing-song voice. He dropped the subject though.
I can’t push her if I don’t want her hounding me, damn it all.