The Homespun Holiday by Sarah O'Rourke Publication Date: November 29, 2015
Dr. Mackenzie Daniels was a loner. He had the divorce, a far-away family, and well-known cranky persona to prove it. And if he had his way, he would continue on his loner way, in spite of the attempts of the townspeople to infiltrate his life with their irritating, so-called charming ways. That was...until he met the beautiful Nurse Millicent Robbins.
Millie Robbins had done the love and marriage thing, and all she could say was that she got a beautiful daughter out of the entire debacle. Love was not in her long-term plans when she graduated from nursing school, thank you very much....until she found herself falling head over heels for the grouchiest but most gorgeous doctor she’d ever met.
Can Mack and Millie find their way to love in spite of their histories? Can happiness actually exist for two star-crossed lovers?
Join the entire town of Paradise for a Christmas celebration of lasting love!
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Dropping his hands on his hips, Mack looked at the clock hanging above the plasma television. It was already half past five. She was expecting him by six. Since she only lived ten minutes away, he had plenty of time. Dropping into the leather recliner in the corner – the one where he sat and read at night – he dropped his head back against the chair. “Fuck,” he groaned out loud. He didn’t know whether he dreaded tonight or was excited by it. It had been years… literal years… since he’d taken a woman out on a date. Sure, he’d fucked women more recently than that, but those were chicks he’d picked up in a bar or at a medical conference ... women that he’d had a few hours of shameless fun with before sending them on their merry way. Each one of them had been carefully selected and knew the score before their clothes had ever come off. If any of those ladies had been interested in more than the number of orgasms he could give them, he’d sent them off on their way with a wave and a smile.
Because he didn’t do long-term relationships anymore. He certainly didn’t fucking date.
Except, now, it appeared he did.
What the hell kind of voodoo magic had Millicent Robbins worked on him when he wasn’t looking that now had him contemplating more than a casual fuck with a woman?
Because he knew it could never be casual with Millie. And not just because she had a kid, either.
No, Millie was the type of woman with whom a man put down roots. That kind of guy bought a house. That type of man would get a dog. That man would help her raise a family. Holy shit, he’d already done two out three of those things, he realized with a horrified gasp.
Bolting to his feet, he darted toward his phone. He had to call this whole thing off before he found himself shackled to yet another woman that would end up hating him for his dedication to his job. He had to cut Millie loose before she looked at him and accused him of wasting the best years of her life waiting for him to be ready to concentrate on them instead of rushing off to take care of his patients.
He’d dialed the first three numbers of her phone number before he realized….
“Millie isn’t Tiffany,” Mack said out loud as he stared at the phone in his hand. Looking toward his Newfoundland dog, he grinned. “She’s nothing like Tiffany, is she?”
One sharp yap from Nugget confirmed what he already knew and he slowly replaced the phone on its base.
“Holy shit,” he whispered, sinking onto the couch as he stared at his huge long-haired dog. “Millie couldn’t be more different from Tiff if she tried.” First off, Millie wasn’t injected with as much plastic as a Barbie doll. Her tits still bounced when she walked, unlike his ex’s that sat like stone against her chest. Millie loved babies and kids. Hell, she even had one of her own that she loved with a passion that rivaled any parent’s love he’d ever seen. Tiff, on the other hand, couldn’t stand babies. Sad, since he’d loved children and had wanted them to have at least a couple of their own. She despised the idea of having to be responsible for another person. Although, in hindsight, he supposed it wasn’t really shocking since she could barely accept responsibility for the things she did. Most important of all, though, was the fact that he could never see Millie being unfaithful to him because she had something his ex-wife had always lacked. Something called integrity. If Millie wasn’t happy with him, she wouldn’t troll the local bars looking for an easy hook-up to dull the pain. Hell, no. Millicent would march right up to him, rip off his scrotum, and shake it over her head much like the Native Americans did when they’d taken a scalp from an enemy. Oh, Millie would probably give him the opportunity to make things right with her before she resorted to violence, but if that was unsuccessful, he had no doubt she’d go the other route.
His Millie could be a firecracker when crossed.
Fuck, now he was thinking of her with highly possessive pronoun usage? He was well and truly screwed.
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Sarah O'Rourke
is actually TWO besties who live three states apart and write at all hours of the day and night! Born and raised in the Southern United States, they are overly attached to their one-click accounts, can’t make it through the day without copious doses of caffeine, and spend way too much time on the phone with each other. Between them, they have four children and eighteen years of marriage...one to a super soldier and the other to egomaniac engineer. They hate empty chocolate wrappers and writer’s block, love to talk to readers...and oh, by the way, they write about strong, kick-ass women and hot alpha heroes!
