Fall in love with the fairy tale all over again...
Cinderella Busted
The Cinderella Romances Book 1
by Petie McCarty
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Once upon a time, in Jupiter Island, Florida . . .
She's the gardener . . .
**Only .99cents!**
Cinderella Busted Excerpt
Garrett’s cell phone rang. He checked the readout and answered, “Hey.” He smiled. “Like clockwork.” He glanced at Lily, then away. “Peeling dry fronds off the top of two palms.”
Lily’s head snapped up. Who was Garrett talking to?
“You bet. I’ll call you and let you know.” He clicked off, pocketed the phone, and reached for the cart.
“Garrett?” Lily called.
He turned.
She hesitated, embarrassed now to ask him who was on the phone.
He grinned. “That was Tammy checking up on you.” He pushed the laden cart toward the opposite hallway from the one Rob had pedaled through.
“Oh,” Lily said, mostly to herself since the receptionist had gone back to her typing.
Why had Tammy called Garrett and not her, she wondered and watched him push the cart across the lobby. She pivoted on the top step of the ladder to resume her manicuring when the elevator dinged and the doors parted. She jerked at the sound, only this time she felt a small wave of panic. Garrett was here in the lobby with her, so who had just arrived?
Her peripheral vision caught Garrett turning toward the elevator—looking nervous—and that only fueled Lily’s anxiety. She refused to be caught staring at the elevator occupant and pivoted on the top step to reach for a dried frond in one continuous motion. Her shifting weight bobbled the miniature ladder, and she felt the stubby legs lift off the tile. Grabbing for the tall palm to steady herself, she missed and clawed only air as the little ladder tilted up and over.
Lily flailed in midair and awaited the inevitable crushing contact with the marble floor, praying nothing would break. She heard Garrett yell, and her peripheral vision caught movement as her body was miraculously snatched up and crushed against a suited muscular frame. Her arms flew out to cling and hang on like a little rhesus monkey, ecstatic she hadn’t slammed into the marble floor and overwhelmed by an intoxicating scent of male and aftershave from where her face lay buried against a shirt collar and neck.
Neither she nor her savior moved for a several long moments. She opened her eyes and peered over a broad shoulder to see Garrett frozen in place and gaping at her. The little receptionist looked like a goldfish with her mouth opening and closing repeatedly.
The adrenaline rush subsided, and Lily felt her savior slowly lower her to the ground without breaking contact with his torso. She felt every inch of her chest and abdomen slowly ease down her savior’s suit, and her eyes nearly rolled back in her head from the intoxicating scent and erogenous shifting of two perfectly aligned bodies.
Her feet touched the ground, and two strong hands cupped her elbows until she secured her balance and, more importantly, jumpstarted her lungs to normal oxygen-seeking mode. One large and embarrassingly noisy gulp of air did the trick. Two more deep breaths, just to be on the safe side, and she slowly tilted her gaze upward to see who had streaked to her rescue. She wanted to look, yet she didn’t want to look for fear of who was holding her at this moment.
First came a strong chin, then a sensual mouth, two intense green eyes, and Lily went deathly still.
Rhett.
Betting On Cinderella
The Cinderella Romances Book 2
Once upon a time in Biloxi, Mississippi . . .
**Only .99cents!**
Betting on Cinderella Excerpt
“I want to make love to you.”
Andi stilled.
Garrett mentally kicked himself. He had gone and scared her.
Too much. Too soon.
But he couldn’t make himself move. He could lie here forever with Andi in his arms.
She wriggled from his grasp to sit up. “Um . . .”
“What?”
She looked too uncertain.
Not good.
He was okay with, “Not now, but maybe later.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Good thing he was sitting down. The jangle of fear that hit him could have knocked his knees out from under him.
“Can’t or won’t?” he forced out. No maybes on this one.
“Both.”
What the hell? Can’t and won’t?
All his uncertainties flooded back. Flora had said Andi and Peters were just friends. Was that friends with benefits? And what about that damn Drakos pawing her last week? No, he wouldn’t let those doubts crowd them here on the couch.
“Too soon?” he tried.
“Partly.” She looked away, and his heart sank amongst the growing heap of doubts.
“There’s someone else,” he said flatly, working to keep his expression blank and the hurt at bay.
She met his gaze square on then, no doubt trying to muscle her courage. “There’s something I should tell you.”
Damn.
“I’m—” She exhaled hard. “—no good at it.”
What? Is that all?
He fought back a grin of pure joy. “I’ll give you lessons.” He pulled her back for another kiss.
She shoved at his chest. “No. I don’t think I should.”
She flinched at his expression, and he worked to smooth his scowl.
“Go ahead. Spit it out.” Even he didn’t like his tone. “You’re sleeping with someone else, right?”
He should have done his homework before he went off half-cocked with all the flowers and balloons, trying to woo her.
“No, and I should slap you for that, suggesting I’m loose enough to go out with you while sleeping with someone else.”
“Then what the hell is it?” he shouted, forgetting all about Flora at the back of the house.
“I’ve never done it before!” she shouted back.
“What? Slapped someone?”
“No, you jerk. Slept with someone.” This, she didn’t shout.
He froze, right down to his heartbeat, and stared at her bright-pink cheeks. Could it be? Was she? A virgin?
“Holy smokes,” he wheezed.
She stared at her untouched glass of wine. “I’m not saying you and I will never,” she said softly.
Relief, warm and desperate, allowed his muscles to finally move. He gently traced the line of her cheek with his finger, a lump forming in his throat at the touch of something so rare and priceless.
“Glad to hear that.” He brushed his lips across hers, light as a whisper. Once. “My little sweetheart.” Twice. “My precious—” Three times. Always a charm.
“You’re not mad?”
Those big blue eyes stared up at him with an innocence that made his too-experienced heart ache with emotion.
“Mad?”
Should he tell her he wanted to go outside and howl his joy at the moon? To yell to the world what a lucky son of a gun he was? His Andi would be his Andi—proprietary, like his stock portfolio. All his. No one else. A primal sense of possessiveness overwhelmed him.
“No, sweetheart, not mad. Glad,” he managed, then tugged her close and let his kiss show her exactly how he felt.
“When you’re ready,” he said against her lips. “Only when you’re ready.”
He had finally said and done the right thing, for she grabbed his shirt and laid an eye-crossing kiss on him.
Par For Cinderella
The Cinderella Romances Book 3
Once upon a time in Cedar Key, Florida . . .
Par for Cinderella
Silhouetted in the outside light, Aidan looked big . . . and dangerous. Over six feet of pure sin. Too much for her to handle, and Casey officially changed her mind. Turned chicken.
He must have sensed her decision to flee, like a timber wolf senses his prey. “What are you doing down here?”
The deep sensual timbre of his voice vibrated along her spine and created tiny pinpoints of desire along its length. Her mouth had that dry feeling she got at the end of her tour spiel—dry and raspy.
“I-I was just going up to bed.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“I-I was too.”
His sexy chuckle rumbled in the darkness, and her skin prickled with anticipation. She couldn’t fool Aidan or herself.
Her brain taunted, Flight or fight, make up your mind.
She suddenly recalled her earlier decision following Janie’s call—to grant herself the month with Aidan. Better her have him than let Deedee steal him away. Casey had fully intended to enjoy every single minute of that month with Aidan before she’d chickened out just now. Instead of running away, she could enjoy the feel of those broad shoulders and muscled arms filling up the doorway right here. She could also allow herself a good long stare at that perfect butt when he turned, and maybe even enjoy that kissable mouth with those please-never-take-them-off-me lips.
“Stop looking at my mouth,” Aidan growled, “or you’ll be sorry.”
Her heart ended her dilemma. Go for it.
She could feel his unseen eyes track the movement of her chest, rising and falling with each hard-won breath. Time to force the issue for them both.
“K-Kiss me,” she whispered. Frozen in place, she left the outcome up to Aidan.
He didn’t move a muscle for three lifetime-lasting heartbeats.
One . . . he doesn’t want me.
Two . . . he’s still angry.
Three . . . my own fault.
She turned for the stairs, and he had her in two strides. His arms snaked around her waist and yanked her tight to his chest as his mouth took hers. This was no tender, make-up kiss. This was all need and desire and maybe a little punishment too.
She didn’t care. Her fingertips had gotten their Christmas wish, and Casey buried them in the silky hair at his collar, luxuriating in the soft texture and wanting to keep him close. Even that didn’t stop the tingling in her fingertips.
Aidan’s tongue teased her lips apart, then swept inside and tangled against hers. She grew lightheaded as she reacquainted herself with the moist sweetness of his mouth, tinged with a hint of beer. A joyful reunion after the fear of separation, and she intended to savor every sexy nuance of flavor.
He growled low in his throat and turned his head to deepen the kiss. Casey just prayed he wouldn’t stop kissing her. Aidan had to care about her. He didn’t, couldn’t kiss another woman like this. Could he? An image of Deedee flashed behind her eyelids.
She pulled back, but her fingers refused to relinquish their hold on his soft curls.
“What was that for?” he asked, his voice rough with desire. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”
“I don’t want to be just friends,” she whispered.
“Thank God.”
Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World—"The Most Magical Place on Earth"—where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said good-bye to her "day" job to write her stories full-time. These days Petie spends her time writing sequels to her regency time-travel series, Lords in Time, and her cozy-mystery-with-romantic-suspense series, the Mystery Angel Romances.
Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband and an opinionated Nanday conure named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in No Angels for Christmas.
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