A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS by Jennifer Snow is out now! Check out this gorgeous holiday romance and grab your copy today!
Title: A Lot Like Christmas
Author: Jennifer Snow
Genre: Holiday Romance
About A Lot Like Christmas:
For Jessica Connolly, there is no better place than her coastal hometown of Blue Moon Bay. She has a wonderful family, supportive best friends, and a successful bakery on Main Street. Unfortunately, every time she designs one of her ex-boyfriends' wedding cakes, she's reminded just how unlucky she is with love...and that she's a good luck charm for men to find their happily ever after. With someone else. The minute they break up. So she's decided to be done with love. Dr. Mitch Jameson is more comfortable traveling the world with Doctors Without Borders than staying in one place. He just needs to survive the holidays in his small hometown before he can leave again. The beautiful, intriguing bakery owner with an aversion to dating might be just who he needs to occupy his restless heart. From sipping hot chocolates at the local festival of lights to early morning dessert deliveries, Jessica and Mitch rediscover the spirit of the holidays. But when the 25 days of Christmas are over, will their romance be over, too?Excerpt:
Her cousin and self-designated bullshit detector, Trent, eyed him as he waited for the round of drinks at the bar. Mitch shifted from one leg to the other and readjusted his glasses, feeling the giant man’s unyielding gaze on the side of his face as he leaned against the bar. Tattooed sleeves covered both the guy’s arms, and the tight T-shirt he wore clung to chest and shoulder muscles that would make The Rock jealous.
Jessica had made the introductions when they’d entered, but he sensed there was more info Trent was bent on finding out.
He tapped his fingers nervously against the bar to the tune of some Justin Beiber holiday song playing on the overhead and surveyed the decorated space. The bar/bowling alley could compete with his mom for the most holiday spirit. Strands of light garland was draped along every surface, and oversized red, green, and gold baubles hung from the ceiling. Reindeer centerpieces sat on every table, and a big rotating Christmas tree was set up in the corner near an old jukebox. Even the bartender and wait staff were sporting elf costumes. It had been so long since he’d celebrated the season, he’d forgotten how much his hometown really got into the festivities.
Unfortunately, Trent didn’t look so holly jolly as he continued to silently assess whether or not Mitch was worthy of his cousin’s time.
“Mitch, right?” he finally asked while filling a pint glass.
“Yes. I’m Lia’s older brother.” He seemed to feel he needed that info to validate his hanging around, even though Lia wasn’t in town yet.
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-nine. I’ll be forty in February.”
“Jessica is twenty-nine.”
“I’m aware.” She’d said the age difference didn’t bother her. It certainly didn’t bother him. Would her friends find it odd that she was dating an older guy? They’d hadn’t really discussed previous relationships or whether or not he was her usual type. It didn’t really matter.
“And you’re single?” Trent pressed.
He sighed. “I wouldn’t be dating Jess if I wasn’t.” Was he overstepping with the word “dating”? Relationships were a lot more complicated these days. What term would she have used? Seeing one another? Hanging out?
Trent shrugged. “Not like it hasn’t happened before that some jerk thought he could get away with using her as a sidepiece without her knowing.”
Damn. First the good luck charm thing, now this. Obviously her track record with men wasn’t the greatest. His gut twisted slightly and he wasn’t sure if it was because he hated the thought that she’d been previously hurt or that there was the potential with him that she could get hurt again.
“Do you have any kids?” Trent’s interrogation continued.
“Not that I know of,” he said, then realizing Trent wasn’t the right audience for the bad joke, he said quickly. “I definitely don’t.”
“You’re a doctor?” Trent asked.
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“Pediatrics.”
Trent nodded, his shoulders relaxing slightly. Mitch’s working with kids had garnered him some bonus points, obviously. “You live in the city?”
“Actually, I’m kinda homeless at the moment,” he said.
Trent’s thick dark eyebrows met in the middle.
“I mean, I travel the world with Doctors without Borders, so I don’t keep a place in the city anymore.” He had for the first year, but then it had seemed pointless for the few weeks a year he actually used it. Closing his practice and selling his condo had been the most liberating experience. No ties. No real material possessions. No obligations or commitments. Life this way suited his nomadic spirit.
“Doctors without Borders?” Trent continued to study him as though not fully trusting that it wasn’t just some line he used to attract women.
He nodded. “Yes. I just came back from Cambodia a few days ago.”
“So, you’re leaving again?” Trent asked as he placed their drinks on the bar in front of him.
Mitch nodded as he opened his wallet, retrieved enough cash for the round, and placed it on the bar. He picked up the drinks, but Trent stopped him before he could walk away. “Well in that case, just do me one favor.”
His palms sweat slightly and he felt his grip slip on the glasses. “What’s that?”
“Don’t go breaking any hearts this Christmas,” he said.
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