Title: The Fireman’s Christmas Wish
Author: Nan Reinhardt
Genre: Small town contemporary romance
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Book Blurb:
Her heart is wide open, but he’s nailed his shut.
Preschool teacher Harley Cole has always viewed life through rose-colored glasses. With a career she loves, friends she enjoys, and a home that is her haven, there’s only one thing missing—finding her soul mate. As the holidays approach, Harley is inspired to help her former high school crush rediscover his holiday joy. It’s just a good deed…until the feelings she thought were gone come rushing back.
Fire Chief Becker Lange returns home to River’s Edge with a heavy heart. His divorce has emotionally ravaged him, leaving him more confused than ever about what women want. So to protect himself from another failure, he closes his heart. And then Harley Cole makes him a flirty dare that she can help him overcome the holiday blues. Beck’s not sure he wants to, but Harley’s a hard woman to tell no.
Can the magic of Christmas and a sweet stray kitten bring these two lonely souls together?
Excerpt:
Beck’s horror-stricken expression would have been comical if Harley hadn’t had a good idea what he was thinking. She was proved right when, aghast, he said, “What? You think I should do what?”
She offered a reassuring smile. “Dating, Beck. Stop looking at me like I’m suggesting that you join a satanic cult or go on a crime spree across the country. I just think you should start dating again.”
“Why?” He leaned back as Sheila placed a plateful of chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes in front of him, along with a side dish of green beans and a basket of biscuits. “I mean why now all of a sudden?”
“It’s not all of a sudden. I’ve been thinking it for a few weeks now. Well, since Valentine’s Day, frankly, when you sat in the corner at Four Irish Brothers looking cranky while the rest of us toasted Kitt and Rye.”
He held up his coffee cup. “I toasted them.”
Harley shook out a napkin and laid it across her lap before taking a bite of her fish, which was as delicious as Mac had promised. “Yeah, with a look on your face that said you thought it was a huge pain in the butt to do it.”
“I remember that night as being very…nice. Rye and Kitt are a great couple.” He scooped up a forkful of potatoes and chicken and noodles, clearly savoring it as he chewed and swallowed, before going after the green beans with great relish. The guy loved to eat, no question. And how unfair was it that he could eat like a lumberjack and stay sleek as a panther?
“How about when Laurie stopped the showboat a couple of months ago so she could tell Max she loved him?”
He quirked a dark brow in her direction and added another dab of butter to his biscuit. “Also a great couple.” He pointed one finger at her. “And I danced on that boat, if you’ll recall.”
She ate a bite of jasmine rice—the best she’d ever tasted—and pointed right back at him. “One crummy dance and I had to practically drag you out on the floor. I’m just saying you need to learn how to have fun again.”
“And you think dating qualifies as fun, is that it?”
“I do.”
He set his fork down, sat back, and folded his arms over his chest. “The stress of trying to connect with someone, wasting time texting reassurances to a woman I barely know, figuring out where to take her, reading her moods, drama when I don’t call immediately, jealousy when she flirts with other guys or vice versa, getting on each other’s nerves, pretending to like it when her big damn slobbery dog jumps on me?” His expression was as pointed as his words. “Sounds like loads of fun to me, Harles.”
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Author Biography:
Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet, small-town romantic fiction for Tule Publishing. Her day job is working as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, however, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten and is still writing, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled, woman in her prime. Nan lives in the Midwest with her husband of 49 years, where they split their time between a house in the city and a cottage on a lake.
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