Book 2: A Second Chance Christmas
The Christmas Mountain Clean Romance Series
When Kevin broke her heart, Lexi left town…
Now a political strategist, Lexi Townsend's career and love life are going nowhere. When she’s offered a plum holiday assignment–an ideal candidate with deep pockets, someone who could make the leap from local to national politics–she begins to dream about better days.
Who needs love when she has a career?
But Lexi’s candidate is Kevin O’Malley, professional golfer and hometown hero, the same guy who shattered her heart in high school. Can Lexi set aside the past and put them both on track for the national stage? And can this couple find the forever kind of love a second time around in Christmas Mountain?
Excerpt:
I shouldn’t have agreed to meet Kevin here with all its memories. This assignment had disaster written all over it.
My mama didn’t raise no quitter.
Call it stubbornness. Call it stupidity. Call it my Achilles heel. I didn’t walk away from a challenge. And the challenge was going to be keeping a firm hold on any Kevin-induced insanity.
I stepped onto Flat Rock in the late afternoon light, thrusting my hands in the pockets of my black leather jacket (Michael Kors, another D.C. Goodwill score) and kicked at a pebble with the toe of my black leather boots.
“Lex?”
I turned and put on my most practiced smile, the one that said I was happy to see the guy who’d implied to the entire high school that he’d slept with me when he hadn’t.
Kevin O’Malley hadn’t changed. He was still too hot for his own good. Tall, fit, not a beer pooch on him (more’s the pity). Thick dark hair that was almost black. Deep brown eyes that were almost black. A leather jacket and a soul that were definitely as black as midnight.
He smiled at my perusal.
Oh, that smile. It was all wrong. That smile said he’d done something wicked and wasn’t about to apologize for it. It wasn’t the smile of a politician, at least not one who got elected.
“Stop smiling.” Best begin as I meant to go on. If I was in it, I was in it to win it, without remorse as to what having Kevin O’Malley as the mayor of Christmas Mountain would do to the town.
His lips flatlined.
If only his heart did as well…
When he kept breathing, I had no choice but to explain. “You’re smiling all wrong. You need to look as if you’re trustworthy.” Which was impossible.
“I didn’t come here to argue.” Kevin raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “Can we start with some pleasantries?” He pointed to my feet. “Nice boots.”
“Pleasantries?” I wobbled in my beloved heels, not buying his act for a minute. “I’m here on business. The business of getting you elected mayor of this thriving metropolis.”
He smirked in that wicked way of his. “I always did like your sense of humor.”
My heart fluttered, not immune to flattery, even his. But Kevin needed to know I wasn’t the naïve girl he’d once kissed. Er…kissed more than once. “What happened to Mayor Tackett?” The sleepy-eyed old man who’d been mayor as long as I could remember.
A gust of wind raced down the river, heading south, trying to take me and my hair with it.
“Mayor Tackett got appointed judge on the county circuit.” Kevin held out a hand to me. “Come away from the edge. I’m afraid you might fall in.”
There would be no falling. I wasn’t falling for his faux good manners. Not this time.
I kept my hands in my pockets and walked past him, nose in the air.
This was my moment. Kevin O’Malley needed me. I could walk away.
A shrill voice in my head urged me to shove Kevin to the ground, plant my heel in his chest, and tell him he wasn’t good enough to polish my boots, much less earn the vote of the fine taxpayers of Christmas Mountain. Thankfully, somewhere along the line I’d learned that following the advice of shrill voices–in my head or otherwise–wasn’t wise. I could swallow my pride and do the dirty work required to take a step up the ladder at DB&A. And I could do it with command and grace.
As I passed, Kevin slid a hand down the leather arm of my jacket.
It was fifty degrees outside, and yet suddenly it felt as hot as the Fourth of July.
The Story Behind the Story
Political romance? I know. Bad move. It’s just that I always loved the movie Speechless with Michael Keeton and Geena Davis. There was banter and immediacy and most of all…attraction.
So when my friends Susan Hatler and Ciara Knight asked me to be part of a multi-author holiday series, I thought this would be a different take on things. And it is different - lol. Sassier than most of my sweet romances. But it’s Lexi’s story and she’s a slight woman with big attitude.
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