“You should be in bed,” Ace said.
“Yours?”
Holy crap, Hallie thought, no way she said that out loud.
He stilled, his gaze finding hers, his expression utterly unreadable. “Ask me again when you’re not sick and you’re actually capable of climbing into it with me.”
She started to speak but choked instead. She coughed, her eyes watering. “Say what?”
“You heard me.”
Tempting Hallie, coming December 29th!
I’ve missed blogging about life and all the random things, so heather’s not-so-private letters is… well, a thing. It’s less authory and more just-for-fun bloggery. Check it out if you feel so inclined! 😉
First Post!
Two people… impossible odds…
When Hallie Henderson has to rush her landlady’s cat to the vet late one night, she doesn’t expect her landlady to insist upon taking Ace O’Hanlon, of all people, with her as backup. The man runs hot and cold, can go from a smile to moody and broody in under two seconds, and has spent years making no bones about hating her brother.
But in one night, Ace’s low rumble of laughter brings a smile to Hallie’s face, a little witty back-and-forth banter ensues, Hallie issues a long-overdue thank you, Ace renders first aid, and Hallie finds out that Ace—accidentally though it was—once saw her half-naked on a storage room security feed in his bar. — Awkward!
… one night that changes everything…
When Hallie shows up on Ace’s doorstep in the middle of the night, sporting her pajamas and a pair of goofy bedroom slippers, Ace is, naturally, confused. When they end up at the animal hospital after hours with no one but each other for company, he’s forced to see her outside of the connection they’ve always shared. — Her brother.
She’s feisty. A challenge always sparkling in her eyes. Full of life and easy laughter. And Ace, well, Ace is just a man. A man with a bar Hallie keeps walking into.
They’re the last two people anyone ever expected, but the more they’re together, this broken and bruised bartender and this soft, vulnerable, cargo-pants wearing, hammer-wielding woman hiding her own broken pieces behind a thick wall of armor, the more everything changes.
Coming December 29th 2022!
So all I’m going to say about this one… is if you want to know how this scene ends… Tempting Hallie will be out mid-December. (You know you’re going to want to know! I want to know and I wrote it!)
Hallie sprinted to her apartment, grabbed her keys and her wallet, climbed into her truck and took off. Ace lived about five minutes up the road, and that was with traffic. As it was, it was almost one in the morning, and there was no traffic.
Aware that she was in powder blue pajamas with smiling sunshine faces and white puffy clouds all over them—no bra to speak of because she’d just climbed into her bed when Clara Belle knocked on her door and asked for help—Hallie braced herself for the picture she’d present when she showed up on Ace’s doorstep, praying she didn’t have to go in search of him at the bar.
It was going to be nothing short of humiliating.
And that was before she remembered she’d forgotten to throw on flip-flops or sneakers, and instead was wearing fuzzy, black and white moo-cow slippers with giant, floppy pink ears…
We’re taking a little detour from Ace & Hallie this week… because every Hallie needs an Olivia! So here’s to best friends! ❤️
Hallie’s phone rang and she picked up immediately. “Hey, what’s going on?” she answered.
“Are you dressed?” Olivia, her best friend, asked.
Hallie glanced down at her sweats. “Yep.”
“For going out in public?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t mean down to the corner store for midnight snacks.”
Hallie glanced down again. “Yeah, that’ll be a no.”
“Exactly. Put on something nice. A dress or something.”
Hallie scowled. “Why?”
“I’m coming to get you.”
“For what?”
“We’re going out.”
“Out?” Hallie checked the time. “Out where? It’s nine-thirty already.”
She heard Olivia’s exasperated sigh come through the phone. “Do you hear yourself?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Get dressed.”
“But I’m not finished with my popcorn.”
“Well finish it real fast then put on something fancy.”
“How fancy?”
“I told you already. A dress or something.”
“Or something leaves a lot of options.”
Olivia laughed, and Hallie heard a car horn in the background. “No jeans. No tees. No comfy shorts. No sports bras. No work boots. Absolutely no sweats.”
“That doesn’t leave much, does it?” Hallie muttered, waving bye to Clara Belle and heading to her apartment above the garage.
“It leaves plenty. You have nice clothes. Put them on. Oh, and wear sexy panties.”
Hallie stopped, pulling up short just before reaching her front door. “What do you mean wear sexy panties? For what?”
“Do I have to explain everything?”
Hallie walked into her apartment. “No, but you definitely have to explain the panties.”
“We’re going out to meet men.”
“What men?”
Olivia’s heavy sigh came through the phone again. “Whatever hot men we meet, and we’re doing it in sexy panties. Now come on, Grandma. Get dressed.”
“Did you just call me grandma?”
“Did you just imply it was too late to go out at nine-thirty on a Friday night?”
“I’m sure I did no such thing,” Hallie said, knowing full well she had.
“Whatever. Change the sweats. I’ll be there in fifteen.”
“Bold of you to assume I’m wearing sweatpants.”
“Hallie?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you wearing sweatpants?”
“Yep.”
“Change. Now. Fifteen minutes!”
Heather Threatte, Author 