Return of the Jerk (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 2) (54 page)

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Authors: Andrea Simonne

Tags: #Return of the Jerk

They’re both quiet, gazing at each other.

“Please, tell me we’re not really going home,” she says.

Nathan chuckles. “Course not, we’re flying to Mexico.”

“Mexico?”

He grins. “Yeah, land of the banditos.”

“YOU KNOW WE’RE
doing everything backwards,” Blair says.

She’s lying on the beach under an umbrella, with sunblock that has a SPF rating of one zillion. As a redhead, she doesn’t take chances with the sun.

Nathan’s lying beside her, studying his phone, getting restless. They’ve been here in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula for almost two weeks, and she knows the signs. He’s planning their next adventure. So far, they’ve snorkeled with tropical fish, slammed tequila with local villagers, sampled the most delicious coffee she’s ever tasted, hiked through lush jungles, and climbed a Mayan pyramid.

In truth, they’ve also seen quite a bit of the inside of their hotel room.

“We’re having our honeymoon before the wedding,” she says.

He chuckles. “Babe, you’re married to a travel blogger. Trust me, our lives are going to be one long honeymoon.”

She smiles, but doesn’t say anything more. Just watches him, admiring his profile. His skin has been turning golden-brown since they’ve been here. When he glances at her, the whites of his eyes glow and the green is as clear as the Caribbean waters only a short distance away.

They’ve decided to get married again—a real ceremony, with family and friends to celebrate. She’s already planning her wedding colors and the cake she wants.

Although, in the end, all she really wants is Nathan.

Blair thinks about
The Razor’s Edge
, about Isabel and Larry, and how Isabel never got to have Larry as her own. She’s grateful that isn’t her fate, too.

I get to live the life she didn’t.

Blair turns back to reading her Kindle. It’s Nathan’s new book. He finished it and loaded a draft of it for her to read.

It’s incredible, which isn’t a surprise. What’s a surprise is that she’s in it. Woven into the storyline is their story, the way they fell in love.
So amazing.

Though she nearly choked on her margarita when she saw the title he gave it—
Journey to Red Willow Valley
.

“You’re not seriously calling it that!”

“Course I am.” His expression goes lazy. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing. It’s brilliant, actually.”

“Knew you’d agree. In fact, I’ve already started work on another book. This one’s titled
Exploring the Land of Forbidden Fruit
.” He leans closer, lowers his voice. “I’m going to need a lot of research for this one, princess. Probably take me years to finish. You up to the task?”

She sighs with happiness. “I’ll do my best.”

 

The End

 

Thank you so much for reading
Return of the Jerk
! I loved writing Blair and Nathan’s story. I hope you enjoyed spending time with them too. If so, would you please consider the following:

  1. Write a review on Amazon to help other readers find this book.
    Click to go to the
    Amazon review page.
     
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  3. If you haven’t read the first book in the series,
    Year of Living Blonde
    (Natalie and Anthony’s story), you can get your copy
    from Amazon
    here.
    It’s also available through Kindle Unlimited. All the books in this series are stand-alone titles and can be read in any order. The next book
    Some Like it Hotter
    (Lindsay and Giovanni) should be available spring 2016. Sweet Tori also gets her own book (her hero is a cop, of course!) I don’t have a title yet, but my plan is for a release during the second half of 2016.

SWEET LIFE IN SEATTLE

Year of Living Blonde, Book 1

Purchase from Amazon

 

Return of the Jerk, Book 2

Purchase from Amazon

 

Some Like it Hotter, Book 3

Coming Soon

 

OTHER

Fire Down Below

Purchase from Amazon

I FEEL INCREDIBLY
lucky to have such amazing support. My first reader and sister-friend Erika Preston read the earliest draft of
Return of the Jerk
and as always her suggestions helped make this story the best it could be. Thank you, Erika. You rock! (Fiona thanks you too and you know she doesn’t tolerate anything less than the best!) I’m very thankful to Hot Tree Editing, especially my Editor Kristin Scearce, who did a wonderful job catching errors and helped make this book such a smooth read. I also want to thank all the betas from Hot Tree for their kind words, helpful input, and for their support on Goodreads before the book’s release. My friend Susan Gideon proofread the final manuscript and as always did a fantastic job. Thank you so much Susan. I know I keep saying you’re amazing, but that’s because it’s true! I’m also thankful to Christine Borgford at Perfectly Publishable who did the beautiful interior formatting & design for my last book and now the fantastic job on this one too. Writing can get lonely, but I’m lucky to have the awesome and talented Plot Princesses—Amy Rench, Haley Burke, and Tami Raymen—thank you ladies for your encouragement, inspiration, and for all those meetings that turn into laugh sessions.
Köszönöm
to my dad, who was kind enough to help me with the Hungarian translation I needed for Nathan. Lastly, I want to thank my wonderful husband, John, for always supporting my dreams. Baby, you are the best! John was also nice enough to come up with most of the alternative names for ‘Red Willow Valley.’ I was only looking for one or two ideas, but he came up with so many and they were so funny, I had to use them all. I mean, only a guy’s brain could have come up with something like ‘my favorite red lunchbox.’ Seriously!

ANDREA SIMONNE GREW
up as an army brat and discovered she had a talent for creating personas at each new school. The most memorable was a surfer chick named “Ace” who never touched a surf board in her life, but had an impressive collection of puka shell necklaces. (I still have them!) Eventually she turned her imagination towards writing. Andrea still enjoys creating personas, though these days they occupy her books. She’s an Amazon bestseller in romantic comedy and the author of the series Sweet Life in Seattle. She currently makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two sons.

 

Some of the places you can find her are:

www.andreasimonne.com

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Goodreads

Amazon

[email protected]

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