EIGHTY-ONE DAYS
by Zoë Mullins
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Eric didn’t know Luke would be heartbroken when he left town to join a hotshot forest fire crew in Western Canada. They’d been best friends since kindergarten, had gone to school together, had bought their first car and a home together, and had shared their lovers. At some point, friendship had turned to love.
Luke didn’t expect that when he’d brought his crazy cat in for stitches that his heart that would be mended by the sassy new veterinarian. Jenna may have been new in town but she’d heard the rumors and she liked the carnal fantasies he spun for her in bed of he and his best friend sharing her.
Of course, that was before Eric’s job brought him home and back into their lives.
Jenna isn’t sure she can be what they need, but she’s not going give up without a fight.
Even if that means inviting the sexy firefighter to share their bed. Surely there is enough love to go around.
Don’t be a stranger? Had that been Eric’s way, he wondered, of saying I miss you too? The situation had been totally f*cked up, but it had worked. At least, right up until the moment he had met Jenna. He couldn’t do that to Jenna.
Instead he had told Eric about how Winchester had fallen asleep in her arms. How Jenna knew how to make homemade pasta but hated tomatoes. He had begun detailing all the little things that she did or said that were making him fall in love with her and that he knew could make Eric fall in love with her too.
He knew it wasn’t fair to any of them, but after seeing how well they had gotten on all summer, he couldn’t help but hope for something more. He wanted the fantasy.
“Hey. You totally just zoned out there.” Jenna squeezed his hand and he looked up. “We don’t have to stay for the movie.”
“No. I want to.” It had become a monthly ritual, to head to his parents’ for dinner and a movie. “I promised Mom we’d watch The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with her.”
“I know you’re really doing that for me.” Jenna snuggled into his side and kissed his cheek.
“You’re right. I’ll probably sneak away with Dad to watch baseball.”
“Totally acceptable, so long as you bring me a Nespresso from your Mom’s ‘off-limits’ coffee maker.”
“It’s only off limits to my dad. She totally loves that you enjoy the Nespresso. We can get one for home, you know?” Luke knew she found the coffee he made too weak. She liked her coffee like sludge. It made him shudder.
She shook her head, smiling. “Nope. This way it’s special.”
He had just brought her a cup of Nespresso and was going to join his father in the rec room to watch the baseball game he’d recorded that afternoon when he heard the crunch of tires on the driveway.
“I got it,” he called to his mom so they didn’t have to stop their movie. He pulled open the front door to see Eric ascending the steps.
Luke stared.
Eric looked just as startled. After a moment he stumbled over his words, “Your mom. That is, I mean, she invited me for dessert.”
“Eric, come on in. I saved you a piece of apple pie.” Luke’s mother, Maggie, called from inside.
A prolific writer, even in elementary school, she was jotting down poems and stories whenever she had the chance - usually during math class.
After many years of working in corporate communications, Zoë decided in 2015 it was time to focus her energy on the kind of writing she loved – hot romances with strong, alpha heroes and quirky, independent heroines.
Zoë’s husband of nearly 20 years threw his full support behind that dream and loves to tell people his wife is a romance author. They live in Atlantic Canada with their two crazy collies. When not at her computer, you will find Zoë chasing after her muddy dogs, working in the garden or helping to renovate their money-pit of a house.
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