Title Matt’s Mystic Connection
Author Katie O’Sullivan
Genre Contemporary Romance / Beach Reads
Book Blurb
Sparks fly when Sam meets Matt at a kiteboarding tournament in Mystic, Connecticut, where the sizzling connection between them is almost combustible. Samantha Jones moved to Cape Cod at the age of ten, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Between wrangling first graders and caring for her aging grandmother, she doesn’t have time for serious relationships. Every free moment is spent on the water, and the money from the sponsorships doesn’t hurt. Up until recently, Matthew Daniels had it all: great job, cool apartment in the heart of San Francisco, and a girlfriend he was ready to take the next step with. Now, all that’s left is the job at the up and coming kiteboard brand. He’s hoping a fresh start on the East coast – back with all of his college buddies – will be the hard reset he needs to get his life back on track. What he doesn’t anticipate is the unforgettable woman he meets in Mystic.
Excerpt
Electric shivers ran through Sam’s body as the pair greeted each other and exchanged the usual small talk. Her breath caught in her throat as she stood frozen in place, mesmerized by his voice, his face, his… everything. Double fudgsicles, this guy is hot. Tall and lean, chiseled cheekbones covered in sexy stubble, strawberry blond hair with a little bit of curl to it that he’d obviously tried – and failed – to tame. The white of the shirt offset his deeply tanned skin. Every nerve ending in her entire body tingled, every single one of her senses on ultra-high alert. Damn, this perfect specimen of a man pushed all of her buttons, even ones she hadn’t realized were there to be pushed.
His sun-kissed face had the tell-tale white lines from sunglasses etched alongside the crinkles at the corners of each turquoise eye. He obviously spent a lot of time on the water, most likely a fellow kite boarder if she coupled the gorgeous tan with her jacket-versus-shirt rule. When he grinned, deep dimples creased both of his cheeks. Holy Hotcakes, Batman! His smile should be illegal!
When Wyatt introduced her next, she shook his hand, taking note of the calloused pads and firm grip. Oh fudge, the man gives good handshake. “Nice to meet you, Matt. Did you ride today?”
“I caught my fair share of air.” His smile widened, the indents of his dimples going deeper. “I watched you kick some ass in the women’s freestyle. You’re something else, Ms. Jones.”
“Thanks. Call me Sam.”
“I’m Matt.”
“So I’ve been told.” A smile danced on her lips. She sipped her martini, her eyes still locked with his. “Do you work with Wyatt?”
“Only kinda sort of,” he replied with a smirk.
“Which means…?”
“It’s a long story and your drink’s almost empty. Can I buy you another?”
She laughed and lifted her half-empty martini in a mock toast. “I’m pretty sure it’s an open bar for the next few hours, courtesy of the O’Neill Company.”
Blue eyes twinkled as he raised his beer bottle and clinked it against her glass. “Which means I can afford to be generous and buy everyone a drink.”
Holly and Wyatt added their orders to the list. Matt turned and walked off in the direction of the nearest bar. Sam watched him go, the confident movement of his narrow hips oddly mesmerizing. The same and yet somehow different from that cocky swagger of so many guys on the circuit.
A memory flashed through her brain of a drunken night back in January, telling her best friend something about a man’s confidence being directly related to the size of his you-know-what. Of course that was back when Eliza claimed to totally hate her new boss. Now that the pair had been openly dating for months – Sam still wasn’t sure how they thought they’d kept that whole affair a secret – her friend could indeed confirm that both the confidence and swagger were totally warranted.
Could Mat have the same… confidence builder?
Her tongue darted out to lick her lips before she realized what she was doing. Because, yeah, she might be a first grade teacher but she wasn’t dead. She could appreciate man candy as well as any other woman in the room, even if she didn’t plan on doing anything about it.
Holly and Wyatt pulled her back into the conversation, speculating on whose names would be posted on the leader board in the morning. “You’ll totally score in the top five after those flips today,” Holly said with utter certainty.
“That would be pretty awesome.” Sam bit her bottom lip, thinking back over her performance. “I hope it doesn’t hurt me that I sat out that last session. Even now, my hip is still sore from crashing onto my board, and figured I needed to save something for tomorrow.”
Wyatt shook his head. “You nailed some hard tricks out there today before that last fall. I’m sure the judges will take those into account.”
“Let’s hope so.” Sam smiled and shifted the conversation away from herself. “So Wyatt, do you have a local watersports shop here in Mystic?”
He laughed. “Nah, just the one in North Fork for now, right across the Sound. It’s actually only a two hour ferry ride, so I never miss a Mystic event.”
Holly elbowed Sam’s side. “He said that before. Did you hit your head on your board when you took that spill, or just your hip?”
“Oh right. Sorry.” She felt her cheeks heat, realizing she’d tuned out the rest of the conversation the minute she locked eyes with Matt. She couldn’t remember the last time that happened to her. Ever? Had she ever been so focused on a guy that she lost track of everything else? She glanced across the room and caught sight of Matt at the front of the bar’s line, his reddish blond curls a head above anyone around him, flashing those dimples at the bartender. The female bartender. An uncomfortable feeling curled in her belly, almost as if she were jealous. Which was beyond crazy since she’d met him moments ago and barely spoken two words to the guy.
And here she was doing it again. Obsessing instead of participating in the conversation at hand.
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Author Biography
Katie O’Sullivan is an award-winning writer with more than a dozen contemporary romance and young adult books to her name. A voracious reader, she loves to read and write second chance stories with strong female characters and hot alpha males. A recovering English major, she earned her degree at Colgate University and now lives on Cape Cod with her family and big dogs, drinking way too much coffee and inventing new excuses not to dust.
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