SPOTLIGHT & EXCERPT: She Will Be Loved (A Cupid's Bow Novel) by Melissa Storm (@MelStormAuthor)

A feel-good romance with no sex, no swearing–just an honest love that develops between two people. If you believe in fate, redemption, and finding hope in the darkest of times, you will adore this newest book in the Cupid’s Bow series!

Luke Ward was New York City’s best and brightest young physician until a freak accident changed everything. Now he’s taken a position as the staff doctor at a large retirement village in Abeline where he plans to live out the rest of his days hiding from the painful truth he’s traveled so far to escape.

When the father of her unborn baby walks out on her, Mandy Rockwell decides to swear off men for good. She refuses to give up either her baby or her dream of opening her own bakery, so naturally she doesn’t have much space in her life for anything else, especially not yet another broken relationship.

They both have everything to lose, but somehow Luke and Mandy can’t ignore the spark that ignites between them. Will they be able to make a future together, and what will happen when their pasts come calling?

RELEASED JUNE 2016

KEEP READING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BOOK
AND READ AN EXCERPT!

About the Book

Excerpt from She Will Be Loved

The next porch he found himself climbing had a white, stone goose dressed in a bright, yellow rain hat and slicker beside a sign that read Grandkids welcome. Parents by appointment. The door was bright purple, and he liked that, even though he was pretty sure it violated one of the many home owners’ association rules.

He knocked, wondering what kind of eccentric, blue-haired granny he’d find waiting on the other side.

A few seconds later the door flung open to reveal a very un-grandma-like individual. Her young, smooth cheeks and naturally blond hair were the last features he’d expected to greet him.

She looked him over for a moment, and he couldn’t help but stare as she did. Flour clung to her bright pink cheeks as well as the apron she wore over her shorts and T-shirt. A sloppy ponytail held her long, blond hair back away from her face, and her eyes shone with curiosity. “Umm, can I help you?”

He swallowed down the lump that was forming in his throat and put on his most pleasant smile. “Are you…” Luke searched the sheet in front of him for the correct name. “Deborah Rockwell?”

“Do I look like an eighty-year-old woman?” she asked flatly, then broke out into a big, boisterous laugh. “Deborah’s my grandmother. I’m Mandy, and I’d shake your hand but I’m kind of covered in flour and sticky goop right now. Will you accept a wave instead?”

As she waggled her fingers at him, he felt equal parts disappointed and relieved that he couldn’t steal this small chance to make physical contact with her. If simply looking at her practically took all his breath away, what would happen if he were to touch her soft, glowing skin?

Glowing…? Oh, no.

His eyes shot down to her midsection, and saw a small but obvious bump. She couldn’t have been too far into her second trimester from the looks of it. He wanted to run away every bit as much as he wanted to sweep the beautiful stranger into his arms and carry her away with him. Instead, he just stood there staring slack-jawed and reading the text on her apron over and over again. Hot in the kitchen. Hotter in the bedroom.

She caught him staring and flushed even redder than before, embarrassment adding to the heat that had already permeated her cheeks. “Oh, ha. This is my grandma’s.” She tittered nervously and lifted the apron off over her head and balled it up in her hands. “Speaking of Grandma, she’s out for a walk, but she should be back any minute. Would you like to come in and wait?”

“I, uh…”

“Actually, yes, come with me.” She tugged him over the threshold, forgetting or no longer caring about the “flour and goop” that covered her hands and forearms. “I’m working on a new recipe, and I need a taste tester. You don’t mind, do you?”

Luke allowed himself to be pulled along, all the while wondering how quickly he could extricate himself from this situation. This attraction was wrong for so many reasons. First, she was pregnant, and he just couldn’t do with babies and all the vulnerability, all the memories that came with them. Second, she was pregnant, which likely also meant she was taken, probably married to boot. And then there was the simple fact that this was his time to start over, to learn a new profession, to make a new life—not to make a new relationship, a new family… a new mistake.

But then she sat him down at the counter and jabbed a spoon toward his mouth with a smile so big splashed upon her face that it couldn’t be anything but one hundred percent genuine. “Taste,” she ordered.

As soon as he parted his lips, she set the spoon into his mouth and unleashed a symphony of flavors on his tongue—citrus, vanilla, buttercream, and some other exotic hint he couldn’t quite identify. It was so delicious he had a hard time swallowing the bite, knowing there wouldn’t be another to follow it up with. He wanted to keep this sweetness on his tongue as long as he could, to fully enjoy it before letting it go.

Mandy’s eyes grew wider and wider the longer he went without saying anything. “Well?” she finally urged. “How is it?”

A gorgeous woman who could cook like an angel. That is, if cooking was something angels ever did up in heaven. Oh, he was in trouble. So, so much trouble.

“It’s good,” he said at last, finally swallowing the morsel. “Very good.”

Her face fell. “Only good? I can’t build an entire menu from good. I need great.”

“It is great. The best frosting I’ve ever had.”

“Honest?” Her blue eyes grew large as she awaited his follow-up assessment.

“Honest. Umm, could I maybe have some more?”

They laughed together, and it felt good—great.

“Sit down, and let me make you a plate.”

He looked down to the stool beneath him, then back up at Mandy. “Umm, I’m already sitting.”

“Right. Just a sec then.” She chuckled and shook her head as she marched toward the other side of the kitchen. A moment later, she plopped a shiny blue plate before him—with golden music notes painted around the edges. On that plate there was a napkin neatly folded in half and a large cupcake with extra frosting. She sat down beside him and took a long, slow drink of water from a half-empty Aquafina bottle.

He felt rude eating without her, but he also felt rude not digging in the moment she set the plate in front of him. After a brief hesitation, Luke asked, “Aren’t you going to have some, too?”

She snorted. “No, no. If I ate everything I baked, well…” She puffed out her cheeks and rolled her eyes. “Besides, it’s way more fun for me to watch you enjoy it.”

He took a huge bite, basking in the pop of flavor that danced across his tongue.

“Good?”

He nodded enthusiastically.

“Great?”

He gave her the thumbs up.

“Perfect. Now would you mind telling me who the heck you are?”

The Cupid’s Bow Series

About Melissa Storm

melissa-storm-author-pic Melissa Storm is a mother first, and everything else second. She used to write under a pseudonym, but finally had the confidence to come out as herself to the world. Her fiction is highly personal and often based on true stories. Writing is Melissa’s way of showing her daughter just how beautiful life can be, when you pay attention to the everyday wonders that surround us.

Melissa loves books so much, she married fellow author Falcon Storm. Between the two of them, there are always plenty of imaginative, awe-inspiring stories to share. Melissa and Falcon also run the business Novel Publicity together, where she works as publisher, marketer, web designer, and all-around business mogul. When she’s not reading, writing, or child-rearing, Melissa spends time relaxing at home in the company of her four dogs, four parrots, and rescue cat. She never misses an episode of The Bachelor, because priorities.