Oops, I Did it Again
I keep doing this, breaking the unwritten but cardinal rule of ‘how to make money in romance publishing’. I try to go against my instincts but they win out every time—or my characters win out. I keep telling hubs they’re the ones who actually write the books, I’m merely the typist. He doesn’t really get that, but other writers out there, I know you do. So when I titled my post Oops I Did it Again, I probably should have called it Bloody Annoying Men. Or maybe Bloody Nice Imaginary Men. Because that thing I’ve done, that rule I broke? It’s this:
I wrote a nice guy.
He’s a lawyer, a workaholic and an alpha male who gets possessive and can be extremely bossy and opinionated. He thinks badly of the heroine for the first two chapters, before she reveals some home truths. He truly does come across as a bit of a repressed asshole for about fifty pages. But then… then he realizes he was wrong, actually has the humility to apologize, and proceeds to kiss the stuffing out the heroine, then stumbles all over himself in a thoroughly adorable manner trying to work out how to exist in a state of happiness when he’s not used to that. From that moment I fell for Greg Danvers, and the bastard took over. He became loveable and soft-hearted and protective and sweet and nice damn it. In a world where the dominating, arrogant, whip-wielding alphahole billionaire reigns supreme, how’s an author supposed to get readers to take notice of her nice guys? Huh?
Sigh.
Imperfect Penelope should be off to my editor in a day or two, assuming these kids let me edit it properly. Release date is around March next year. The following is an unedited snippet.
Greg’s hand was now drawing circles on her back. He used his other to tilt her chin until she was facing him. His brown eyes were steady and earnest in a way Bryan’s never had been. “You’re not foolish. You’re kind hearted and you have faith in people, that’s not a bad thing. You’ve even been gracious to me, when I haven’t deserved it. Trust me, Bryan’s the fool for not seeing what he had in you.”
To her mortification, Greg’s generous words made Penny’s eyes well up. She tried to turn her head away so he wouldn’t see, but it was too late. He cupped her chin more firmly to keep her in place, frowning at what he saw. “Oh, Penny. Don’t cry.”
“I’m not.” As she tried to blink the moisture away one fat drop of it fell down her cheek, making a lie of her denial. Her face flamed with embarrassment. “Let me go.”
The frown never left his face, but somehow it didn’t look as formidable as it usually did. It looked pained. “No. Come here.”
Penny knew she should have challenged his autocratic command, but he tugged her forward with such surety and gentle purpose that she found herself sinking into him. He eased against the back of the couch as he drew her against him and wrapped his arms securely around her.
See? He’s nice. Ugh.
Sami
