Decking the Halls
Blurb:
DECKING THE HALLS
Amaia Sinclair applies for a job at Buchanan and
Ellsworth because it’s the best job in town, not because the man in charge
happens to be her first love. She is the best at what she does, and needs a job
closer to her ailing mother. She wants to be hired on her own merits, and is;
but what she doesn’t expect is that the man she left behind would want to pick
up where she left off so many years ago.
Declan Buchanan thought he’d never see Amaia again
after she disappeared from his life so many years ago. When she walked into his
office with an impressive resume and bold ideas for the company he hires her on
the spot. Problem is, he can’t keep his thoughts strictly business. Everything
in him wants to reclaim what they once had.
When the deception of their past rears its ugly head
on the most important night of their careers, they could lose not only each
other but the company they’ve worked hard to rebuild. Which will they choose?
The company or each other?
Excerpt One:
A hint of regret lingered
inside Declan. He enjoyed the company of the confident, smartass woman who had
been in his office earlier. Pushing her to tell him the truth might have
changed that. The woman in front of him was nervous and a tad skittish.
“Your father is a
hopeless romantic. It wouldn’t surprise me if he found someone new.” She smiled
from behind her glass of wine.
There she was. She wasn’t
back full force but it was a start. His focus would have to keep the
conversation away from the past for now. “It wouldn’t surprise me either.” He
leaned back in his chair running his fingers along the stem of his wine glass.
“I meant to ask you in the interview today what made you decide to go into
advertising.”
“It was Alfred. Remember
how he used to bring us into the office?”
Declan couldn’t help but
roll his eyes at the memory. “How could I forget? Any time you wanted to escape
for a bit you would sneak up to the roof.” As a kid he hated those trips. They
always made him feel like he was on display as his father showed him off to
everyone.
“While you and Alfred
walked around the office, I snuck off to the art department. There were a few
times in high school that Alfred left you at home and let me spend the day
there. It was what I wanted to do.”
“I don’t remember him
taking you by yourself.” When had his father done that? Why didn’t he remember
it?
“You were too busy
pretending to ignore me.” Her eyes sparkled as her laughter danced across the
table.
“I was not.” He
protested, laughing himself a moment later. “Okay maybe I was. I didn’t pass up
an opportunity to stay behind while he went to the office, though.”
“And I never passed up an
opportunity to go with him. I stayed with it after we left.”
She shut down and buried
whatever emotions were bubbling to the surface right before his eyes. He pushed
forward with the conversation in hopes of drawing her back out. “Did you go to
school here in California?”
“No.”
No? That was it? Nothing
else. No elaboration of where she had gone or what she had done with her life
since they had last seen each other. “Where did you end up going to school?”
“New York City. I came
home for holidays until...” She snagged her bottom lip between her teeth,.
“…until Christopher and I were married.”
“Christopher?” He cleared
his throat when his voice cracked. “Where did you meet him?”
“We met at Myers. Hit it
off really well. He became one of my best friends.” his time she cleared her
throat. “We married a year later in a small ceremony.”
The picture became
clearer. She wanted it to remain a working relationship because she was
married. It had been years since they had seen each other, but why did it feel
like someone just punched him in the gut? “Will he be joining you soon?”
“Joining me? Oh no, he’s
staying in New York.” Her eyes stayed focused on the wine glass in front of
her. “I talked to him once I got here, but I doubt I will hear from him for a
few weeks.”
Declan quirked his
eyebrow up. “Your husband is staying on the other side of the country and you
won’t hear from him for a few weeks? What kind of husband does that?”
“The kind I’m divorced
from.” Her shoulders lifted in a small shrug. “We were great friends and we
shared love, but not the right kind. We’re still friends but no longer
married.”
The picture in his mind
blurred again. He had no clue what he was dealing with here. She’d been married
but now divorced. It was definitely a puzzle he wanted to figure out. There was
only one way to do that. Probe for more answers. “And the rest?”
“The rest, as they say,
is history.”
“History is a good way to
put it. If we don’t fix the issues soon, it is all going to go up in flames.”
He took a sip of his wine but it suddenly tasted bitter.
“There is still time to
fix it.”
“If you say I’m the man
for the job, I might throw up.” He tried to smile, but failed. “I love my dad,
but as you said in your interview, I’ve got a giant mess to clean up.”
“Alfred has been grooming
you for this since you were little.”
“That’s part of the
problem, Maia. He’s been shoving this at me for as long as I can remember.
Always telling me how important it would be once I took over, and now look at
it. I never wanted this.”
“This is me you are
talking to. You started talking about being in charge of this place when we
were seven. Granted most of your campaign ideas back then had to do with Star
Wars or Legos.” Her smile was beautiful, even if it carried all the sadness he
felt in his own heart. “What else would you want to do?”
“That’s it. I don’t know.
This is all I’ve ever known.” The food on the table had been forgotten. His
appetite had disappeared, and by the way she pushed her food around, so had
hers. “He wants me to be some grand captain of the family ship. Newsflash…the
ship is sinking.”
She shook her head with a
smile, “Always so serious, Caleb.” Her hand slid across the table to rest on
top of his this time. “And look at you now. That’s exactly where you are. The
captain of the ship.”
“Yeah, a ship full of
holes.”
“We’ll just have to
rebuild the ship, then.”
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Bio:Mary Terrani lives a chaotic life as the mother
of two rambunctious boys of the teen and tween variety. They keep her on her
toes on a regular basis, so she’s happy to get lost in other worlds. Her
long-standing passion for the written word drives her need to create chaos with
her pen that only she can solve. She loves to dabble in many genres, from young
adult to paranormal, and even a post-apocalyptic piece she’s co-writing with
fellow author, Sarah Cass.
When she’s not writing, Mary can be found in a
variety of activities including knitting, gaming, and anything involving her
favorite geekdoms. Mom, author and all around geek she loves spending time with
her family.
Contact Links:Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/MaryTerrani
Twitter: http://twitter.com/maryterrani
Blog: www.maryterrani.com
Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/maryterrani
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