How Sweet It Is

Release Date: December 30, 2014

By Kelly Jamieson

Synopsis

A free-spirited woman…

Eccentric interior designer Mirelle Brasseur is tired of relationships with handsome, charming, fickle men—in other words men just like the father who abandoned her. She’s fun and funky, but takes her career seriously. She’s not about to let a man derail her dreams or wound her heart again.

An ambitious man…

Award winning chef Bradan Hunt is handsome and charming, but he’s always honest with women about his one date-one night rule. Between his best-selling cookbooks, his TV appearances, and his restaurant, he’s too busy for a relationship. He saw what a lack of ambition did to his parents. Bradan wants more. His newest restaurant is going to be the best, so he hires Mirelle to help him design it.

Turn up the heat…

Soon it isn’t just the food sizzling in the kitchen, in spite of Mirelle’s misgivings, as the attraction between the chef and the designer heats up. It will take more than one date-one night for them to overcome their pasts and find a way to cook up a sweet future together.

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Excerpt

Bradan had no idea what he was doing there. He had no time for volunteering and he wasn’t really all that much into animals except the ones that ended up in his kitchen. Although he was always deeply respectful of the sacrifice those animals had made. But he had to admit the pets all did have a certain appeal, and so did the sexy blonde who was showing him around.

Today she wore a tiny gray T-shirt, jeans that were rolled up in a deep cuff above her delicate ankles and pink Converse. Those pink Converse fascinated him, for some reason. She definitely had her own unique style. She’d tried to tame that wild mane of blonde waves in some kind of bun thing, but strands kept sliding out and hanging in her face. It was sexy as hell. As was her ass, when she turned to lead him down the hall.

“We’ll go do some laundry,” she said. “Sorry, it’s not the sexiest task here.”

“What’s sexier than laundry?” he asked dryly.

She laughed. “Most people who volunteer want to work directly with the animals, but there’s so much else that needs to be done, too. These things are just as important.”

“How long have you been volunteering here?”

“A couple of years. I love animals and I wish I could have a pet but I’m not allowed pets in my apartment building…well…” Her voice lowered conspiratorially. “I actually have a secret pet. Don’t tell anyone.”

He watched her with amusement. “What kind of secret pet?”

“A rat.”

“A…rat?” His hands paused, full of towels he was removing from the dryer.

“Yes. His name is Amos.”

“A rat.”

She nodded. “Yes. He’s very gentle and affectionate. He loves being with people.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You’re bullshitting me, aren’t you?”

“No!” Her eyes widened. “I’m serious! Rats make great pets. They’re very domesticated. Amos is super sweet.”

“Fuck me.” He shook his head. As a chef, a rat was absofuckinglutely the last animal he ever wanted to see. “This I gotta see.” The words came out of his mouth with honest innocence—he really did want to see Amos the rat and to see Mirelle with him. But she immediately got all cool and closed up again. He sighed, carrying the laundry over to a table to fluff and fold it.

When she forgot herself, she was sweet and funny, her upbeat personality and easy smile so sexy and appealing. When she remembered who he was, she got all tight and serious and rigid. Damn. He tried to focus on what she was showing him and telling him.

“I’ll show you where to put the towels.”

When he eventually pulled out his cell phone to check the time, he cursed inside. He had to get back to the restaurant. He’d been missing in action too many nights this past week with Paco picking up the slack, but dammit, he didn’t want to leave.

“I have to go,” he said regretfully.

“Yeah, I’m about to leave, too.”

“D’you need a ride home?”

“No, I have my car. I just have to say goodbye to Monty.”

He watched her find the dog he’d seen her with when he’d arrived, crouching down to hug him, letting him lick her chin. Monty gazed up at her adoringly and she rubbed him with such a fierce look of affection on her face, Bradan’s heart turned over.

Damn. He wasn’t into dog kisses, but he found himself wishing she was holding him that tightly, looking at him with such profound love, letting him lick her all over. When she straightened, the emotion on her face had his heart squeezing. She was really sad to be leaving the dog. He recognized the deep sensitivity in her but she smiled at him with determined cheer as she grabbed a hooded sweatshirt and her purse from a locker. Today her bright-colored purse appeared to be constructed of…Kool-Aid packages. Whoa.

“We could get a cup of coffee,” he said, following her out.

She turned and looked at him. “You said you had to go.”

“I…yeah.” Jesus! This was not how things went for him with women! He rubbed his face. He had to get a grip here or risk making a fool of himself over her.

Author Bio:

Kelly Jamieson writes romances with heat that’s sweet. Her writing has been described as “emotionally complex”, “sweet and satisfying” and “blisteringly sexy”. If she can stop herself from reading or writing, she loves to cook. She has shelves of cookbooks that she reads at length. She also enjoys gardening in the summer, and in the winter she likes to read gardening magazines and seed catalogues (there might be a theme here…) She also loves shopping, especially for clothes and shoes. But her family takes precedence over everything else (yes, even writing). She has two teenage children who are the best kids in the world, not that she’s biased, and a wonderful husband who does loads of laundry while she plays on the computer writing stories.

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