4 More Days…And a CONTEST

Just four more days until The Troublemaker Next Door releases. I have ants in my pants waiting to see my book on a shelf in B&N. Silly, I suppose, since I’ve been published for 10 years. But this is my first mass market book, so I’m allowing myself the foolish grin.

Back when I started, if you didn’t publish in print, you weren’t considered a “real” author. There was no self/indie publishing through Amazon or B&N. Ebooks were a curiosity many expected to go nowhere. Well now, fast forward a few years. Life in the publishing world has changed. A lot!

The Troublemaker Next Door is available in both ebook and print. Right now, it’s actually CHEAPER in print at Amazon and B&N. Quite a deal if you pre-order. However, I just received my copies of the final version of the book, so I’m putting my order on hold. And just…wow. Thank you, Sourcebooks for the lovely copies.

Let’s just hope I’m not the only one who thinks so…

And just for fun, an excerpt from The Troublemaker Next Door and a contest.

In the comments section, tell me the name of Maddie’s boss to be entered to win a print copy of the book. (shipping to Continental US only) Contest ends June 1st at 8PM PST.

EDIT: WINNER! Faye P. Congrats, Faye!!

“Oh man, I’m really sorry.” Abby apologized for the fourth time in as many seconds.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Sounds like your friend had the mother of all bad days.” Flynn still had a hard time catching his breath.

Had Mike said the women were hot? He was out of his celibate mind. Abby had cute down to a science, and that resemblance to Lea which kind of freaked him out. But Maddie? She of the long legs, killer rack, and sultry face? Sultry, a word he’d never used to describe a woman. But damn, it fit. She wasn’t pretty or cute, but with full lips, that flush on her cheeks, and those direct, man-hating eyes so dark they looked like never-ending night, the woman had a knockout punch he still hadn’t recovered from.

“Maddie can be a little dramatic, but she had cause.” Abby picked up her friend’s purse and shoes and put them on the desk next to her computer.

It suddenly struck Flynn that in all the time he’d been standing there listening to Maddie, he hadn’t noticed that the women had turned his mother’s idea of a sitting room into an office. French doors off the smaller room gave it a bigger feel, and the hardwoods had been covered with a Persian rug in dark red accents. Dark red, reminding him of Maddie’s hair. Man, he had a thing for redheads. All that temper… he could only imagine what she’d be like in bed.

“Flynn?”

“Sorry. Hey, you want me to go down to her boss’s office and pound some sense into him?”

She blinked. “Probably not a good idea unless you want a lawsuit. Fred Hampton has a lot of money.”

He shrugged. “That’s okay. I know a lot of people who’d back me up. Heck, my nephew would alibi me with no problem. I’ll go kick this Fred guy’s ass, and we’ll all pretend I was here fixing your sink while Colin watched me the whole time. Kid has the face of angel but can lie like a champ.” Was it bad he sounded like he was bragging? Though the thought of beating the shit out of Maddie’s boss had real appeal. Who the hell treated a woman like that but real scum?

“Nice offer. I’ll pass it on to Maddie when she’s in a better mood. Now, about the sink, how much do I owe you for parts or labor or whatever?”

He shook his head. “Your landlord should have handled this when the problem first happened.” He made a mental note to talk to his mom and dad after he chewed out Mike.

“It’s not their fault. I kind of dragged my feet to get it fixed. Vanessa usually handles the house issues, but she’s been busy at work lately.”

“Please tell me she doesn’t work with Maddie.” He liked saying her name. Short for Madison? Madeleine? He’d have to find out.

Abby snorted. “No way. Vanessa is an accountant. Very cut and dry. The woman means business when it comes to numbers. You need a good person to do your taxes, you should call her.”

“I would if I didn’t make my little brother, I mean, if my little brother hadn’t already offered to take care of them for me.”

She laughed and walked with him to the kitchen to grab his tools. “I have two sisters. They can be a handful. At least mine live on the East Coast.”

“Lucky you.” Cameron was such a snot. Thought he knew everything when it came to financial planning. From what little Flynn knew, his brother did, but it didn’t help Cam’s already huge ego to point that out. “If you need anything else, let me know.” He fished a business card out of his back pocket.

“You really are a plumber.” Her surprise disgruntled him, and she must have seen it, because she blushed. “I know you said you were, but I thought that might have been a little brotherly competition. As in, you’re better at plumbing than he is. And besides, you don’t look anything like our old neighborhood plumber. He was an older man with a big belly and that problem men get with their pants when they bend over.”

It took him a minute. “Ah. Crack, the nonaddictive kind. The pants too low for you?”

She shuddered. “Way too low.” So much for thinking the woman was shy. “But yours seem okay. Forgive me for making generalizations.”

She walked him to the front door.

“No problem. But if you want, I could wear my pants really low for you the next time your sink clogs.”

She winked. “Sounds good to me.”

She shut the door behind him, and he heard her faint chuckle. He decided he liked Abby Dunn. Her roommate, on the other hand… That redhead he had no intention of leaving alone. Now that he thought about it, his mother wasn’t exactly being neighborly by not inviting her new tenants over for a summer barbecue. He’d have to rectify that, but not until he had a few words with Mike. What had he been thinking to leave a houseful of women like that all alone? God knew what Vanessa looked like. Flynn had a sudden image of the three roommates scrapping around in a ring throwing Jell-O at one another, Maddie leading the match, and hustled back to his brother to yell at him.

The Troublemaker Next Door

available June 3rd