Snippet Saturday October 27, 2018

Snippet Saturday, October 27, 2018

How is it October already? Anyone else feel like the year has flown past them? 

Nothing says Christmas like being snuggled up with two hot-blooded bear shifters on the island of Shifter Falls, Maine.

In my next book, we're expanding the Shifter Universe I created in Silver Fells, North Carolina.I'm taking you north to the small island of Shifter Falls, Maine to meet bear twins Keefer and Keller Paxton.

Bernadette "Bean" Adams is a down-on-her-luck waitress working at the Moose Cafe where she meets the Paxton brothers. There's an instant attraction but December hasn't been kind to Bean and she has other things on her mind.

Chapter One

Bean
“I can’t believe the brothers sat in your section again tonight,” Rae whispered to her co-worker Bernadette “Bean” Adams. Around them the patrons of the Moose Café ate and chattered, giving them a few minutes to talk.

Bean only shrugged. She’d been living in Shifter Falls, Maine for the last few months and had never seen the twins before. Then seemingly out of nowhere, they’d arrived at the diner two nights ago.
“They’re good tippers,” Bean said with a shrug. She grabbed the pot of coffee and made her rounds. She was a woman on her own and almost entirely dependent on tips. She didn’t have time to gossip with Rae.

Christmas was only a few days away, and the warble of Brenda Lee’s classic song played on the radio. Tinsel garland decorated each pane window and the lights blinked on a five-foot-tall Christmas tree in one corner.

Bean didn’t want to think about how alone she was this year or the empty, rumbling sound of her belly when she tried to sleep at night. She didn’t want to think about the cold shelter she’s procured or the assembly of people living there with her.

“How’s your dinner, Sir?” she asked with a big, bright smile as she approached the two men in her section. Tall, broad-shouldered, with shaggy brown hair and beards, they were the very embodiment of what she always pictured a lumberjack to be.

The one man chuckled. “We’re just construction workers. No need to sir us. We work for a living.”
Bean blushed in response to his flirtatious tone and the admiration in his eyes.

“I’m Keefer Paxton, and this is my brother Keller.” Keefer was a big man. Bean suspected he, like most of the residents on the small island in the northern reaches of Maine, was a shifter. Potentially bear, she thought with a little nod. It certainly fit with the construction worker job.

“I’m Bernadette, but most people call me Bean,” Bean explained with a self-deprecating smile. She gave a little wave at the two men and wanted to roll her eyes at her own silliness.

“Bean. I like it. It suits you,” Keller said. His voice was rich. Redolent with suppressed power that triggered a warm melting within Bean’s core that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the man.

She smiled up through her bangs, caught in the special moment of awareness in meeting someone new. Exciting. She wanted to draw this moment out, like savoring a hard candy.
“You from around here, Bean?” Keefer asked. Bean’s gaze was pulled to the other brother. For a moment, she was lost in the heady stare of his brown eyes. She blinked and shook her head, pulling herself out of his spell.

“Only since the spring,” Bean said. Keefer nodded, a lock of hair slipping down over his forehead. Before she could control herself, she reached out and smoothed it away. Keefer’s mouth parted slightly, and she heard someone – herself? Gasp.

Fiery warmth spread up from her chest and flooded Bean’s cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” she said, stepping back from the table.

A confident grin played around Keefer’s mouth as he reached for her, but she was already too far away. “I didn’t mind,” he assured her.

“Still. I am so sorry.” Embarrassment clogged her throat as she pulled away from them. “I need to. Go.” She turned on the heel of her sneakers and made a beeline back behind the counter.

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Working with my fantastic editors now so, the book should be ready in time for Thanksgiving. Will have a cover reveal next Saturday so stay tuned!

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