Excerpt 1
“Have you talked to Tassie recently?” Deena asked as they headed out of town.

“Last Sunday. She and the prince were on their way to dinner with one of his brothers.” Jace glanced over at Deena, who seemed to get prettier by the minute. “Why? Have you heard from her?”

“Just a few texts and photos. She sent one yesterday of her and Eli with two of his grown nephews. They were heading to Paris for a festival.”

Jace felt a prick of annoyance that Tassie kept Deena more updated on her travel plans than she did him. Then again, he couldn’t blame his sister. Most of their communication started and ended with him asking when she was coming home and reminders to be careful and safe and to not trust strangers.

He probably sounded like a lame recording set to repeat.

No wonder Tassie only called him once a week and rarely sent a text. It was his own fault for acting overbearing and no doubt coming off as angry, even if he was. Tassie wasn’t the one who’d stirred his ire. Most of that ferocity was directed at himself, with a substantial portion attributed to the stupid prince with the charming smile who had turned everything in Jace’s world upside down.

Well, maybe not everything.

Deena was her own kind of surprise. Jace had yet to decide if the changes in her were of the good or bad variety.

A touch drew his gaze to where Deena’s hand rested on his forearm. He debated shaking it off or covering those long fingers with his own dirty paw. Instead of following either inclination, he focused on her sunglasses even though all he could distinguish was a reflection of himself.

With his face red from the heat and too much time in the sun, compounded by his current embarrassment, it was a vision he didn’t really need to see.

“Don’t beat yourself up if Tassie is doing her own thing,” Deena said with a note of encouragement in her smooth voice. “This is what she’s always wanted. What’s she’s dreamed about her entire life. All we need to do is be happy for her. Right?”

“Right,” Jace said, although he’d rather offer a dozen reasons why Tassie was going to eventually come home with a broken heart. Her experiences with Eli were going to make it that much harder to live in Summer Creek when this … whatever was going on with his sister and the prince, came to an end.

Deena’s eyebrow lifted above her sunglasses again, as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. She refrained from commenting, though, and pulled a U-turn in the road, stopping behind his service rig.

“Want me to wait for you to make sure you get it running?” she asked.

“No. I won’t keep you longer than I already have, but thank you for the ride both ways. I appreciate it.”

“No problem, Jace. Call if you can’t get it to start, and I’ll come get you.”

He would rather chew glass than call Deena for help in his current frame of mind, but he swallowed down the refusal and nodded at her. “Thanks. Have fun at the baby shower.”

“I intend to. Bye, Jace.”

He hopped out, lifted the tools and creeper from the back, then let Cleo deliver a sloppy lick to his cheek. It was the closest he’d come to a kiss for a long, long time.

 

Excerpt 2
Dane chuckled and moved back beside him. “I see. When did this happen?”

“What happen?”

“You getting all tied up in knots over Deena Durant. Isn’t she dating some dude from Burns?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know, man! I’m not tied up in knots over anyone.”

“Of course you aren’t.” Dane thumped him on the shoulder. “But it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if you were. Deena cleans up well. Since you’re a mechanic, her welding skills could come in pretty handy.”

Jace growled, wondering what would happen if he shoved his fist into Dane’s face to get him to be quiet. Deputy Knox Strickland walked by and gave him an odd look, so he decided it was probably best to avoid engaging in fisticuffs with his best friend at a dance held at the school.

What was happening to him?

Jace felt like he was fourteen again and full of bottled-up anger and anxiety that had no way to release. Maybe he should just take Deena home now before he did or said something he’d later regret.

The band leader welcomed everyone, and the musicians launched into a fast-paced tune. Jace watched as couples hurried onto the floor and started two-stepping around the gym.

Deena wasn’t one of them.

He watched her take a seat at a table where Eli and Tassie had left their cups of punch. Deena seemed perfectly content all the way over there by herself through the first and second song.

By the third, Jace found himself wanting to ask her to dance, even though he dreaded stepping all over her toes.

“You should ask her to dance,” Parker said as he, Hud Cole, and Nate Knight walked over to him. “I bet she won’t bite.”

Dane gave him a slight push forward. “It won’t hurt anything to ask her for a dance, man. Go on. Do it.”

“I heard a rumor that she broke up with the bread delivery guy. As far as anyone knows, she’s fair game,” Nate said, tipping his head toward Deena.

Jace didn’t think he could take down all four of them at once, but the thought of slugging the men tormenting him held a great deal of satisfaction. Rather than succumb to the urge, he gave Dane one more parting glare, then strode across the floor until he stood beside Deena’s chair.

“Hey, there,” he said, smiling down at her. “I realize this might be asking you to risk permanent damage to your feet, but would you like to dance with me?”

Deena grinned and stood. “What’s a broken toe or two between friends?”

He wanted to shout that friends wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when it came to their relationship, but it’s what they were. What they’d been for a long, long time. Before he said something to embarrass himself and reveal his feelings for her, he took her hand and led her to the dance floor.

A slow dance, just swaying back and forth, couldn’t be too hard to manage. Could it?

Nerves nearly overtook him as he turned to face Deena, and stepped on her right foot. Appalled by what he’d done, he moved back, but she grabbed onto his hand and tugged him forward.

She laughed. “Are you sure it’s safe to dance with you?”

 

Excerpt 3
His thoughts swiveled back to Eli and Tassie. “Have you heard anything about my sister and Eli?”

“No, other than Eli seems completely lovestruck and adores your sister. I’ll only say this once, and you can ignore it if you want to, but Eli is a great guy. He’s mellow, down to earth, has common sense and kindness. He can take or give a good joke. He’s not the least bit entitled or arrogant and genuinely cares about people. Tassie could search a long time to find someone like Eli, and I’m not saying that just because he’s my wife’s favorite sibling. Eli truly is a good human.”

Jace let Parker’s words sink in. If his sister had to fall in love, then he supposed it could have been much worse than with a good-hearted prince.

“Give Eli a chance. You might just find that you like him, at least a little bit,” Parker suggested.

“I’ve liked him less every day Tassie has been gone over the two weeks she initially planned to be in Briden. Are you sure she’s coming back with Poppy for the festival?”

“That’s what my wife said. Tassie and Eli are both returning with her.”

Jace couldn’t stuff down a groan before it escaped. “You mean lover boy is coming with Tassie?”

Parker smirked. “I’ll be sure to tell him you gave him that name. He’ll be thrilled.”

“You do that, and I’ll tattle to Poppy that you forgot to shut the door to the greenhouse and Ethel got into the plants. Your little story about selling a bunch of them won’t hold water if she finds out the goat ate them, and you paid for them, then took the gnawed-on flowers out to the desert for a hasty burial.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Parker narrowed his gaze, like they were about to engage in a shoot-out on Main Street.

Jace shrugged. “I probably wouldn’t, but you never know.”

Parker cut a piece of his steak, then motioned with his knife to Deena and Bread Boy, who were sharing bites of a cheesecake.

If Jace hadn’t been half-starved, it might have turned his stomach to observe the couple.

“You can’t blame her for having a life if you’re too big of a coward to speak up. You never did answer my question, though.” Parker studied him for a moment. “How long have you had a thing for her?”

“Not long. The evening of Natalie Park’s baby shower, I got to see Deena all dressed up on her way to the shindig. It felt kind of like being struck by lightning when I realized the beautiful woman I was ogling was my little sister’s best friend, all grown up.”

A laugh rolled out of Parker. “I’m envisioning the look on your face.” He leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Oh, yeah. That was a picture-worthy moment, I’m sure.”

“Shut up, smart aleck.”

Quotes from Marrying the Mechanic
Life was passing him by, and he hadn’t even been cognizant enough to realize he’d become a bystander.

 

The lovely female in his arms was a story full of pages he hadn’t yet read. 

 

I’m quite familiar with the scrappy tomboy who was taller than most of the boys by the time she was in sixth grade, but I want to know more about the woman she’s become.

 

He needed to step back and let her have the room she needed to blossom into the person she was always meant to be. 

 

He couldn’t hold her back when it was time to let her go.

 

She kissed him so tenderly, he felt as though her love smoothed all the jagged edges of his heart.