As many of you know I have taken a giant step for me and self published my 1st book. It was a tough decision to make but I knew I had to start somewhere. Self publishing like blogging is a journey. And I decided the only way to thank those who support me in my blogging journey was to make the book available to you.
The book is available free on Kindle from August 27th until August 30th. The link for American readers is simply: http://www.amazon.com/Moving-On-Maria-Matthews
The first chapter is available here to give you a taste of it.
As my two readers pictured here are not good at giving reviews, I am asking for reviews on Amazon or Goodreads.
Once again thank you all for encouraging me to keep writing. (I promise I will get better at it as time goes by.)
He watched from the shadows, studying her, relishing her discomfort. Time stretched on, he smiled. It felt sweet to witness her fear about being let down. This was the first time he was late to meet her. He inched his way forward. With a sudden burst the last few feet were covered in a rush of thundering footsteps.
The sound sent her spinning about. Panic fled, relief flooded her face as she said, “Oh it’s only you.” Then Karen continued. “Sorry, Joe, I didn’t mean it that way. You gave me such a fright. I was miles away.”
“Somewhere nice?” His teasing tone prompted an answer.
Karen’s smile reached her eyes and lit up her whole face. The transformation was immediate. She changed from being ordinary to extraordinary.
It had drawn Joe to her. Her quiet beauty and his secret game. But she didn’t know about it yet. He would reveal all at the right moment. A tingle of anticipation shot through him.
He remembered vividly the first time they met. His orchestrated loud sneeze interrupted her battle with the many bags containing her afternoons shopping. With a loud clatter they dropped to the floor. He had been apologetic and kind, quick to pick them up.
Conversation had been light and easy. Before she knew it Karen had impulsively agreed to go for a coffee with him. He was well aware of his powers of persuasion and suspected that her usual answer to sudden invitations was a stiff thank you followed quickly by a soft refusal.
However, she later confessed, she was tired of feeling lost, a nobody in a vast swirling pool of people that was the city. His invitation had been like a breath of fresh air, changing everything.
Karen said, “I was thinking of how much we have in common. It is really remarkable to find someone who has the same interests and views on life.”
Joe looked into her eyes searching for some indication of suspicion. What he saw made him relax. “It was fate. Do you agree? I mean, why else would you have said yes to coffee with a complete stranger so quickly?”
“How could I refuse a handsome knight?” She smiled tentatively.
The truth was Joe had planned everything from the start. He had caught her at a moment when her defenses were down. He imagined her life was tedious and she longed to have the bravery to step outside her box. He wondered if she had been tempted to end the boredom everything swiftly and cleanly. He hoped not, he had other plans for her….
“Ah for feck’s sake. What now?” I asked as I ducked down.
“Got someplace better to be?” His voice was husky.
Sexy eyes, husky voice a woman would have to be crazy to ignore him. I stopped thinking, as I saw a man wearing a balaclava walking down the aisle towards us. The gun he was carrying did not appear to belong to one of the toy soldiers now lying in disarray on the floor.
“Over there join the others” he barked.
“Might as well do as the nice man with the gun suggests,” brown eyes said.
“Why?” I, stubborn to the last, had to ask.
“Because if you don’t, I will shoot.” The rifle fired. Ceiling plaster descended on us. We moved. Like sheep herded into a corner, we joined three others.
“Cosy this, isn’t it?” Brown eyes cooed at me.
“Cosy as hell!” I retorted.
“Got some place better to be?”
“I’m getting tired of you asking that. It implies that you just came here to pick up any woman you could get your hands on.”
“Don’t think I’m that desperate yet that I’d resort to this, Honey.”
“I’m not your Honey.”
“Ok then tell me your name, or Honey it will be.”
“Gillian.”
“Gillian, honey would you mind letting go of my hand? Or if you like you can hold my left hand? I am getting pins and needles.”
“No! You let go first.”
“You are awfully sexy when you are mad. Perhaps we should count this as our first date?”
“Not if you were the last man on earth.”
The air was frizzling about us when a cool light voice interrupted.
“Ah, I’ll take him if you don’t want him. “This was from the young man in white on my left.
“You are welcome, just as soon as I pay for this doll and he lets go you can haul him away.”
The twinkle in his eyes was dazzling.”No offence intended mate but I prefer women. Petite women who know when to let go!”
I hate to admit it but I was turned on, right there and then in the middle of this exploding, gun toting toy store. However, I would not admit it to him if it were the last thing I ever did. So I chased the butterflies from my stomach and reminded myself why I was here in the first place.
“I think you two are kind of cute together.” The man beside me said.
“Like fire and water.” I agreed with a nod.
“No, like coffee and cream,” he suggested. The look I threw his way should have frozen his brain.
“Sorry.” He muttered.
“She loves me really,” brown eyes told him.
I stood on his foot. “Ouch, you’ve got awfully big feet for a woman.”
“Something else about me, for you to dislike then.”
“I don’t dislike you; it’s just this doll thing. Can we agree on flipping a coin, best of three?”
“Whose coin?”
The sound of a siren interrupted us. There was banging on the front door and then gunfire, more gunfire. Having bullets whistling by your head does not exactly encourage or promote tossing coins.
We were now lying flat on the floor.
He opened his mouth, “My name is Harry by the way. I always like to be on at least first name basis before I get my woman horizontal.”
“I’m nobody’s woman.”
“Ah, that’s sad, particularly at your age.” Our companion said. “You should take Harry up on any offer he makes.”
“Yes you should, I agree with,” Harry said.
“Sam, how do you do.” He shoved his hand between us and Harry almost, almost let go of the doll.
“I’m doing ok.” Harry drawled. “Beautiful woman in my arms, doll between us, it’s a real gem, three in a bed situation, don’t you think? Gillian Honey.”
“I’ll Gillian Honey you, if you make any more smutty insinuations about us.”
“And what sort would you make?”
“Absolutely nothing.” I was lying of course. I was way ahead of him on that one. It involved a huge fire, nice king size bed and nature taking its course.
“Just my type of woman, wearing nothing, insinuating nothing and letting things progress at their own pace.”
“Look buddy,” I prodded him in his chest and stopped. It was hard and my finger hurt. “Is there anything at all soft about you?”
“Absolutely nothing” He grinned and winked.
“Typical smutty man.”
“If you say so, but please call me Harry, buddy is not very appealing.”
“Good, great. Now give me the damn doll. It looks as though the police are about to break in here, we can say goodbye, happy Christmas and never meet again.”
“Fine if you do as you say. Give me the doll.”
Events stopped us in our tracks. The gunman reached down and yanked me to my feet. I still had a hold of the doll.
“Right lady, come with me. ” He said moving away and yanking me after him.
We didn’t budge. Funny how odd bits of knowledge spring to mind, like for every action there is an immediate re-action.
Then it happened Harry let go of the doll. Like an elastic band being released I was careering across the very nicely polished floor on my ass with a large man in a balaclava, in hot pursuit, shouting abuse and struggling to find his gun.
Harry jumped nimbly over me and landed squarely on the gunman’s stomach. The small crowd of onlookers, all gave an, ‘Ouch’ or ‘ooooh’ in sympathy. I lay there mesmerised as Harry began to get familiar with Mr. Balaclava’s face.
Ten minutes later, we were rescued, including the battered gunman. There was a line of policemen behind Harry asking for his autograph. I was still a little dazed. Never had anyone come to my defence in such a Hollywood swashbuckling manner.
I said so to Sam. He smiled at Harry saying, “If this was Hollywood you would pick her up and carry her off into the sunset.”
“I am there before you Sam, ” Harry bent down and swooped me up into his arms, as he turned for the door.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” I asked linking my hands about his neck.
“Sorry,” he muttered and lowered his lips onto mine. Minutes or it could have been days later I opened my eyes to see Sam sneaking out with the Princess.
“Thief, he’s stealing my Princess, stop him!” I yelled.
Sam fearing a Sumo style tackle from Harry, came towards me saying, “I was just dusting her off.” He held her out to me. I grabbed her and scowled at him.
Clutching her to my chest I said, “She’s Harry’s.”
Smiling at me he said, “No, I’ve got my princess, Joanna can make do with all the other stuff I bought her.”
I frowned.
“My niece.” He told me with a grin. “You can meet her later.”
“Later?”
“After we make sure everything is in working order!” He told me as he carried me out.
Survive & Thrive
Listen to your inner self..it has all the answers..
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decidinglybob 