Book Loving Pixies

THE WEDDING DILEMMA

by Mariah Ankenman

Publication Date: May 17, 2021

Genres: Entangled: Amara, Contemporary, Romantic Comedy

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3eO4x6m
iBooks: https://apple.co/3ygfRA0
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Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3eRtpdg
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/33PVvzi
Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3eS2fmQ

Blurb:

My life has always been pretty predictable. Run into burning buildings, save those in distress, be a hero. Shoot the shit with my fireman buddies, come home, and do it all again tomorrow. Little did I know that a random SOS call from a woman stuck in a plaster cast with nothing underneath (I swear I only caught a flash of skin) would throw me for a complete loop.

Until I see the flighty artist again. At my mom’s engagement party. To her dad.

Suddenly the unpredictable woman I couldn’t stop thinking about is my soon-to-be-stepsister. Yeah, the same one I mortified when I accidentally saw her a tiny bit naked. This should make family gatherings way more interesting.

Except when your mom’s as loaded as mine is, you can never fully let your guard down when a guy comes sniffing around. So I can’t help but be suspicious, even though his daughter’s the perfect blend of beautiful and wild. As we spend more time together, prepping for our parents’ wedding, we both agree that maybe there’s nothing wrong with having a little bit of fun in the meantime. But if she knew I was investigating her dad on the side, she would never forgive me…

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3eO4x6m

iBooks: https://apple.co/3ygfRA0

B&N: https://bit.ly/3w8ei5a

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3uUydo3

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3eRtpdg

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/33PVvzi

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3eS2fmQ

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2RnKzX9

Excerpt:

“Mind if I use your restroom before we dive into planning?” He asked once he closed the dishwasher back up.

She quickly adverted his gaze, hoping he hadn’t caught her shamefully staring at his backside. “Of course, it’s down the hall on the left.”

Tamsen grabbed the notebook with the few ideas she’d started to write down for the party and sat at the table going over the notes she’d made. After a few minutes, she glanced up and checked the clock on the stove. Parker had been in the bathroom a while. She hoped she didn’t mix up some ingredient in the casserole and give him stomach problems. She didn’t have as many cooking disasters stories as she did art project stories, but there had been a few. The salt instead of sugar incident of 2013, last year’s baking soda disaster cupcake fail, and the expired milk episode on her father’s sixtieth birthday. That one still haunted her.

Wanting to check and make sure everything was okay—at this rate she would need to change her name and move to some remote island to avoid further embarrassing herself in front of this man—Tamsen hurried down the hall to check on Parker.

But he wasn’t in the bathroom.

The only bathroom in the apartment was empty, the light off. As she made her way down the hall, she was surprised to see Parker standing in the doorway of her room staring intently at the sketches and easel set up in the corner by the large window. It got the best light in the apartment, so it’s where she did most of her drawing and painting.

She cleared her throat loudly, gaining some satisfaction form the small jump in the corded muscles of Parker’s back. He turned with a sheepish grin.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop.”

She raised one eyebrow.

“Okay, I did. I saw a light on and…” he waved an arm, encompassing her art. “Tamsen, these are amazing.”

Her cheeks heated, warmth and pride filling her at his compliment. “Thank you.”

“I’m not an art aficionado, but these are…powerful.” He stared at the drawings again. “I don’t know if that makes sense, it’s just the word that pops into my head as I look at them.”

“Whatever emotion you feel is the goal,” she answered, coming to stand beside him. “That’s the beauty of art. It’s interpretive. The artist may create one thing, but it truly comes to life in the observed. Whatever it makes you feel, it’s right.”

“Are these all for that human body project you were talking about?”

“Some of them.”

They were all sketches of the human body. Some drawn from life, some from pictures, others she created in her head.

“Life drawing is one of the first things they teach you in art school, but I’ve always been drawn to the complexity of the human form. How different we all are. How similar. The curves and angles, big and small. Each body catering to the soul inside it. I love capturing that soul on paper. Every subject brings new insight. I…I’d love to draw you sometime.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. Her mouth had started to ramble again. Running away without her brain. Why had she said that? Yes, she did want to draw Parker, but that didn’t mean she had to tell him about it. She certainly wasn’t going to tell him about all the naughty dreams she’d been having involving him or the sketches she’d already drawn of him…

 The heat of his body enveloped her as he moved in closer. She felt the brush of his lips against her ear. A shiver of pleasure running up her spine as his warm breath tickled the hairs on the back of her neck as he spoke.

“You want to draw me? How about in the buff? That can be arranged.”

About the Author:

Bestselling author Mariah Ankenman lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her two rambunctious daughters and loving husband who provides ample inspiration for her heart-stopping heroes. Her books have been nominated for the prestigious RWA Golden Heart® and CRW Stiletto awards. Whether she’s writing hometown heroes or sexy supernaturals, Mariah loves to lose herself in a world of words. Her favorite thing about writing is when she can make someone’s day a little brighter with one of her books.

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