April 30, 2015

Book Promo: Excerpt & Giveaway! That Thing You Do, Whispering Bay Romance #1 by Maria Geraci



Allie Grant doesn’t believe in second chances. She does, however, believe in the power of a permanent paycheck. So when a tipster reports that the soon-to-be demolished senior center in her hometown is haunted, Allie hightails it to Whispering Bay to get the scoop that could secure her dream job at Florida! magazine. What she finds, though, is far scarier than any ghost. Cue her ex-boyfriend, sexy construction foreman Tom Donalan.

When Tom catches Allie poking around his construction site, he quickly realizes his former high school flame is just as feisty as ever. And, heaven help him, her irresistible, mile-high legs still take his breath away. But Tom isn’t about to delay the building’s demolition because of a silly ghost story.

With neither of the stubborn exes backing down from their opposing positions, sparks fly. And, underneath the surface, the fire of their old attraction burns as hot as ever. When strange things start happening with increasing frequency around town, even a tough skeptic like Tom is tested. The question is, can Allie and Tom stop fighting long enough to get to the bottom of Whispering Bay’s ghost problem—and the more important matter of mending their broken hearts?



She was flabbergasted. Speechless in a way that she’d never been before. Tom Donalan had just exposed his jugular. He’d basically told her he loved her. Without saying it, of course. But that’s what he was leading up to. It was her Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey fantasy come to life. She should jump up and pump her fist in the air. Or do a happy dance. Or feel something. Shouldn’t she? But all she felt was sad.

“What do you want me to say to all that, Tom?”

“You know what I want.” He bent down to kiss her. 

She turned her head to avoid his touch and the sadness quickly turned to anger. It was all she could do to not punch him in the nose. How dare he do this to her twice in a lifetime? She snatched her hands away.

He reached out for her again. “Baby, I—” 

“No. It’s my turn now.” She jumped up from the bed and began to pace the room. “That day I told you I loved you? It didn’t matter that you didn’t say it back. I mean, yeah, I wanted to hear you tell me you loved me, too. I wanted to hear it so bad, but I knew you weren’t ready. And that was okay, because… my love wasn’t some conditional thing. But then when you told me you and Lauren were getting married? I wanted to puke. I wanted to hate you, but I—” She swiped a tear from her eye. How had that gotten there?

“I admit it. Okay? You broke my heart, Tom. You looked me straight in the eye and told me you thought you loved someone else. That you had this big responsibility to take care of your mistakes. Well, what about me?” she asked, her voice rising with each word. “Where was your responsibility to me?”

He looked stunned.

“So I went home and I locked myself in my room and I cried because all I could think of was myself. And how I felt. And Buela was banging on the door, trying to get inside because she could hear me crying. And she kept begging me to tell her what was wrong. But I told her to go away. And after a while, she did. And she must have gotten Zeke…because then he started banging on the door, too.” 

Allie stopped her pacing. She’d forgotten all about Zeke trying to coax her out of her room. It was like she’d buried that memory along with a bunch of other stuff from that night. Obviously, Zeke hadn’t forgotten a thing. His animosity toward Tom made perfect sense now.

“But I wouldn’t let Zeke in, either,” she continued. “So I cried myself to sleep that night. And the whole next day I acted like nothing was wrong, even though she knew that was bullshit. All she wanted was to comfort me. And I…I wouldn’t let her. And then two days later, she was gone.”

“Allie, you didn’t cause your grandmother’s heart attack.” He stood and tried to pull her in his arms but she placed a hand up, warning him to back off.

“Don’t you think I know that? But the last two days she had on this earth…all she wanted was…. After Mom died, she gave up her whole life to come take care of me and Zeke. If it wasn’t for her, who knows where we would have ended up? And the one little thing she wanted from me I couldn’t give her because I was so fucking selfish. All I could think about was myself.” 

His voice cracked. “We were kids, Allie. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen. You thought you’d have more time with her.”

“Yeah, well, life sucks. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“You blame me, don’t you?” he said quietly.

“No, Tom, I don’t blame you. I blame me. But, somehow you’re tied into it. At least…into that version of me. So, yeah, you’ve been terrific these past few days, and yeah, the sex was fantastic. I admit it. It was best sex of my life, too. But you and I are never going to be together because you’re always going to be a reminder of the biggest regret of my life.”

He flinched. But she wasn’t trying to hurt him. She was only trying to be honest. 

“So that’s it. No second chances. No nothing? Is that what you want?” He sounded bitter, and a part of her wanted to tell him…what? That they could start over? Zeke was right. Tom wasn’t the guy for her. 

“What I want is, for you to take me home.”



Maria Geraci writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, “immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, was nominated for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA ® award. She lives in north Florida with her family, which includes a very needy chihuahua, an extremely needy dachshund and a not-so-needy cat (guess which one she likes best?). You can reach at her www.mariageraci.com.




2 comments:

Tasty Book Tours said...

Thank you for hosting THAT THING YOU DO!

Mihaela said...

It was my pleasure :)