By Grace Harper
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“Can you hear
me?”
Adaline Starling
needs a new tenant for the flat above her store, and Callum Hague needs
somewhere to live.
Adaline is a
genius, hiding in a magazine store, she has never opened. She is trying to
convince the world that she is whole, that there is nothing wrong with her.
Callum Hague
likes to fix things, preferably thousands of miles away from his hometown. He’s
returned from a year long project in Nairobi where he has built a school.
They both have
hidden imperfections that have shaped their lives from childhood. If they were
left to their own devices, they would both become reclusive.
Their best
friends think they would be perfect for each other and set about fixing them
up.
It takes a
serious incident for them to confess their invisible flaws, but will they accept
each other’s hidden imperfection?
With supporting
characters that include a cheeky apprentice and an overbearing charity
chairwoman.
Will Adaline
turn a deaf ear to everyone’s advice to own her imperfections?
“Sod him. Does
that mean your flat is available to rent?” Steph asked me, she stared intently
on my reactions. I made a fish impression, trying to break her scrutiny, she
only lasted thirty seconds before breaking into fits of giggles. I raised my
eyebrows still making the fish an impression with my lips. My cheeks hollowed
out, and I increased the tempo of my lips moving up and down. Steph threw her
cloth napkin at me, and I grinned.
“Why do you want
to know?” I leaned forward, my eyes wide, raising one eyebrow. I knew what she
was up to, she reeked of a cunning plan. It was written all over her sheepish
looking face. I threw her napkin back at her, folded my arms under my breasts
and waited for her to answer.
Steph
straightened up and took a deep breath. “Eliott’s best friend has just come
home from overseas. He stays with us, but after a day, he feels uncomfortable
imposing on us. We’d have him there forever, but he thinks because we’ve been
married less than a year, we should have the freedom to have sex wherever and
whenever we feel like it. He thinks that him being around will dampen our sex
life.
“That’s pretty
considerate. Is this person good looking?” I asked. I don’t want a hot guy
moving into the flat opposite mine. I don’t need the distraction. I’d never met
a handsome man who wasn’t an arsehole.
“No, I don’t
think so,” she frowned and looked up to the sky for divine help. “No,
definitely not handsome.”
“You’re a shit liar.
Is he rich?”
I thought rich,
handsome men were the worst kind. I should know, my university was full of
them. Steph had fixed me up on a few dates with her friends. All of them
stunning in the looks department and had a decent bank balance. All of them
rude, arrogant and self-centred. I had no interest in those kinds of men. Give
me a poor, plain looking man, any day of the week. So long as he had rugby
player thighs.
“Um,” she
pondered this question, looking left and right. Who, she thought was going to
help her with the question I had no idea. Unless she hoped the seagulls
sauntering around our table knew the answer.
“Let me make
this easier. Is he richer than the Beckhams?”
“Um,” she paused
again.
“Bloody hell
Steph, you had to think about that? Why the hell would you be trying to get him
to rent the flat if he’s minted?” Irritated temporarily I took a swig of my
latte, only to find it freezing cold. Politeness dictated that I swallowed the
liquid. My upbringing would have had me spitting out on the paving stones next
to us. The term, dragged up, applied to me.
“He is really
down to earth, normal like you, Eliott and me. You won’t regret letting him
move in, I promise.” Steph commenced fluttering of her eyelashes, blowing me
smooch kisses and clasping her hands in a begging motion.
“I want to
interview him first, if he passes my strict questions, then he can move in.
But, the flat is a state. Jeff left it in a real mess, the doors are hanging
off the hinges in the kitchen, the carpet needs replacing. None of which I can
afford. The shop is a money pit too. I need to sell a decent comic to finish
the renovations.”
“Did I mention,
he’s a carpenter?”
British author
who loves to write about strong women and handsome men. She writes steamy
romance novels that will warm your heart.
Writer of the
Brodie Saga and the Geary Series, Grace immerses you in stories of love, or
rather, love's pursuit to bring together two people who were meant for each
other. It's not always quick or easy but it will happen eventually.
When Grace is
not writing, she can be found mooching about in stationery stores. Grace might
have a Maltesers addiction but is not ready to stand up and own that just yet.
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