Release Day Blitz
Mixed Up
by
Emma Hart
 |
| Release Date: April 18, 2017 |
~ Synopsis ~
Hiring my brother’s best friend was
not on my to-do list.
Neither was he.
Expanding
my dirty cocktail bar into food was supposed to be easy, except finding a chef
in my little town of Whiskey Key is anything but.
Until
Parker Hamilton comes home—bringing his Michelin starred chef’s hat with him.
He
has no work. I need someone like him in my new kitchen.
There’s
just one problem: I hate his cocky, filthy-mouthed, sexy-as-hell guts.
Even
if I might want him. Just a little…
Working for my best friend’s
sister? Not on my to-do list.
She’s another story.
Whiskey
Key was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, except I haven’t reached the
heights I have by lying in a hammock drinking cocktails. So when Raven Archer
is desperate for a chef, I offer up my skills.
I’m
bored. She needs what I can give her.
Except
there’s a problem: I’ve always hated her.
Her
and her big, blue eyes, sassy mouth, and killer curves.
If
only I didn’t want her.
~ Excerpt
~
The
sound of my phone buzzing on the nightstand was loud, jarring, and very, very
annoying.
It wasn’t the most pleasant sound in the world to
wake up to.
Groaning, I rolled over and batted my hand around on
the top of the nightstand. Then, I realized the bed was vibrating. It was a
mammoth effort to open my eyes, but somehow I managed it so I could look down
the gap between the cupboard and my bed. Just like I assumed it was, my phone
was wedged between the leg of the bed and the wooden side of my nightstand.
I fished it out with my finger. The moment it was
free, it stopped ringing.
Of course it did.
I picked it up and looked at the screen. Ryan. I
frowned—it was early for him to be calling…wait, no it wasn’t. It was
seven-thirty. I’d overslept.
No sooner had I finished the thought than my phone
buzzed again. It was Ryan.
“What do you want?” I demanded, answering the phone.
“Did you oversleep?” came his response.
“Maybe. I was tired. What do you want?”
He laughed. “Have you seen Parker?”
“You just woke me up. Do you think I’ve seen
Parker?”
“Shall I call back when you’ve had coffee?”
“Can you get to the point of this irritating
conversation?” I shoved the covers to the side and swung my legs out of the
bed. I hadn’t bothered to throw any clothes on before I’d fallen asleep last
night.
Ryan sighed. “Ilsa said Parker didn’t go home last
night. She came over this morning when his car wasn’t in the drive and asked me
if I knew where he was. I don’t, and you’re the last person I know who would’ve
seen him, so I’m calling you.”
I jerked around and looked at the other side of the
bed. Messy and unkept, but no Parker.
“No idea.” I swallowed and glanced at the floor. His
clothes were gone, too. Only mine remained. “Hold on.” I put my phone down and
checked the notification bar. There were no messages from him, so if he wasn’t
here and hadn’t gone home, maybe he was downstairs?
I threw an oversized shirt on over my head and
quickly pulled some panties up my legs before grabbing my phone again.
“I don’t have any messages from him,” I said,
opening my bedroom door. “I can’t hel—” I finished on a scream, because the
missing man was standing shirtless in my kitchen.
“Raven?” Ryan said into my ear right as Parker
glanced over his shoulder at me. “Are you all right?”
“Ssshhh—shit!” I held my finger in front of my
mouth. “Spider!” I said to Ryan. “I walked into the bathroom and there’s a big
spider in my tub.”
Parker rubbed his hand down his face and shook his
head.
“You’re screaming at a spider?” Ryan’s amusement was
evident in his restrained tone.
“It’s a big one. It scared me.” I slammed my bedroom
door behind me. “I just locked it in there.”
“It’s a spider.”
“You’re not helping.” This was the worst lie ever.
“I need to get rid of it, so I have to go. If I haven’t heard from you by the
time Parker starts work, I’ll tell him to call his mom. Bye!” I hung up and
threw my phone on the sofa like it was on fire.
“What the hell was that about?” Parker asked,
spatula-flipper thingy in hand.
“You’re still here!” It came out as more of a squeak
than anything.
He stared at me for a moment. “Yeah, but I’m kind of
stuck on the fact I’ve been both a stubbed toe and a spider this week.”
I sunk my fingers into my hair. It was messy, and my
fingers got caught on some small knots as they threaded through the locks.
“Ryan called and woke me up.” I summarized the phone call. “And I panicked when
I saw you, because I didn’t know you were still here.”
“Why wouldn’t I be here?”
“I fell asleep and thought you left!”
He shook his head, turning back to my cooker. “I
fell asleep, too. I didn’t wake up until your alarm went off this morning.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up? I’m late and I have to
put orders through today.”
“You didn’t move,” he said. “So I shut it off, took
a shower, and came to make breakfast.”
Now that he’d mentioned it, I could see his dark
hair was wet. “Okay, well, you need to call your mom and tell her you aren’t
dead or anything.”
“I’ll text her soon. I can’t do it right after
Ryan’s called you, can I? That won’t look suspicious at all.”
“Half an hour. Say I left you a voicemail to see if
you were coming into work because you were MIA and you realized you forgot to
tell her you weren’t coming home.”
“The fact I have to tell her I’m not coming home is,
in itself, ridiculous.”
“And that’s why I live alone.” I smiled and pulled a
bottle of water out of the fridge. “What are you making?”
“Omelets. Yia-Yia left me omelet seasoning so I
thought I’d try it.”
I peered over his arm at the pan. “Where did you get
the the ingredients?” I knew for a fact I didn’t have eggs in my fridge.
“Downstairs.” He glanced at me as if the answer was
obvious. Which it was, honestly. “Your fridge is both impressively empty and
sadly understocked.”
I shrugged and leaned against the counter. “I don’t
eat breakfast unless I’m forced to.”
Parker slid the omelet out of the pan and onto a
plate in one smooth movement. Then, he picked up the plate, and held it out to
me. “Well, I’m forcing you to eat.”
I might not have been a big breakfast eater, but I
wasn’t going to turn down food.
“I can deal with that.” I smiled and reached for the
plate, but before I could take it, he swung his arm out wide where I couldn’t
reach it. “Hey!”
He grabbed the front of my shirt, yanking me toward
him. I’d barely righted my footing when he dropped his mouth to mine and
planted a slow, easy kiss on my lips. Releasing me like he’d done nothing out
of the ordinary, he put the plate back between us and also handed me a knife
and fork. “Morning.”
I snatched the plate and cutlery before he could
take it away again. “Thanks. I think?”
He laughed as I sat at the table. “Your good morning
was screaming at me. The least you could do was kiss me.”
I rolled my eyes and stabbed my fork into the
cheesy, melty, eggy goodness. “You should have announced yourself. Left your
pants on the floor or something.”
“I’ll remember that for next time.”
“Next time? This is going to happen again?” I was
teasing him, because let’s be honest. There were worse things in life than
having sex with a hot guy, then waking up to find said hot guy making you
breakfast while half-naked.
“Yep. I’ll just remember to call my mom first.”
I laughed, then moaned as I finally put the first
forkful of breakfast into my mouth.
Parker side-eyed me. “If you want to finish your
breakfast in peace, don’t do that again.”
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~ About the Author ~
By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult
author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to two beautiful
little monsters. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of whatever she
fancies—usually wine—and writes books.
Emma is working on Top
Secret projects she will share with her followers and fans at every available
opportunity. Naturally, all Top Secret projects involve a dashingly hot guy who
likes to forget to wear a shirt, a sprinkling (or several) of
hold-onto-your-panties hot scenes, and a whole lotta love.
She likes to be
busy—unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to be when all the
ideas come to life.
