Spotlight & Giveaway: Assigned by Paris Wynters

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Paris Wynters to HJ!

Hi Paris and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Assigned!

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Assigned is the third book in my SEALs of Little Creek series. It centers around Riley and Lucas who have been assigned to one another through the military’s match-making program. The problem is they dated back in high school, and Riley had broken Lucas’s heart. But both of them need to be in the program so they have to learn to forgive one another and move on, making the most of their situation.
 

What inspired this book?

Some of the things that inspired this story are living with a disability myself and the years I had spent as a single parent, always wondering if I was a good parent, if my efforts were good enough.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

Riley is the heroine of the book. She has Crohn’s disease and is struggling to figure out her place in the world. She hasn’t yet come to terms with the fact her wants may need to be adjusted by the parameters set forth physically by the disease. Riley is a culmination of some people I know, and myself, who find it hard when limits are placed on us by our own bodies, and how sometimes we have to arrive at a place where we have to accept we cannot do everything we’d hoped to.

Lucas is a Navy SEAL. He is a single father, having divorced from his first wife. But they were on good terms. He struggles a bit with his self-worth and being a provider. Lucas I have been getting to know throughout all the books since he appears in books one and two. This was just a natural evolution of putting him into a marriage situation and it was fun seeing him develop.

What was your favorite scene to write?

In this series, I’ve loved the men trying to decorate spare bedrooms for their new wives and TOTALLY getting it wrong. But this was also a favorite scene because it subconsciously showed how much detail Lucas remembered all these years about his former girlfriend’s teenage bedroom.

When I walk into the spacious room I’m once again rooted to the floor in shock. The center of the room is dominated by a canopy bed draped with sheer white fabric dotted with tiny embroidered flowers. There are enough pillows on the bed to suffocate someone, all in different shades of orange: tangerine, apricot, peach. Each bedside table sports a lamp in the shape of the Eiffel Tower. A fluffy light-blue throw rug stretches across the floor. A pod chair with auburn cushions hangs in the corner. All of it is familiar. Too familiar. The furniture and décor bears a marked resemblance to my bedroom back home in Texas. There’s no way the similarities are random. None. “Holy time warp.”
Oops. That was supposed to stay in my head.
Lucas places the box down on the desk in front of two large windows, then turns and crosses his arms, his legs spread as he straightens to his full height. He lifts his chin and looks down at me. “There a problem?”
“No. It, uh, seems awful familiar, though.”
He kicks at the fluffy blue throw rug. “I was trying to make you feel at home. Never met anyone so excited to get furniture for her fifteenth birthday before.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

The most difficult scenes to write were actually the ones involving Lisa, Lucas’s ex-wife. And more so because I remembered all those feelings that stirred up when meeting my son’s father’s new wife and how I felt about my son being in her care. While Lisa may have moved on from her ex-husband and on friendly terms, when it comes to her child, it’s a different story, especially when she knows about how Riley had hurt Lucas. It was also difficult because I had to find a balance between Lisa being a bitch yet being true to portraying what she is feeling.

The woman stares, unblinking. Then a myriad of expressions crosses her face. Oh, crap. She doesn’t know. Seriously, freaking awkward. And why the hell didn’t Lucas talk to her? I mean, how didn’t she know? Mason surely would have said something, wouldn’t he? Unless my husband told his son not to mention it.
Was I some dirty little secret? No. That doesn’t make sense. Two of his friends went through the same program, so there wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. Yet, he didn’t tell them at first and he clearly didn’t tell his ex. I have no idea how to explain it to a former spouse as I have never been married. Why on earth hasn’t he told her?

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

This book showcases my writing style.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

An understanding that the things people are going through in their life should come out on their terms. While sometimes we do things to be helpful, and with good intentions, we might actually be taking away someone’s agency.

And the other big takeaway would be that it’s okay to be your own version of yourself. That limits exist whether it would be due to a disease, a disability, or even life circumstances like work or money. Lucas has parameters on the type of father he can be due to his job. It doesn’t make him any less perfect than someone who has a nine to five job. Sometimes I think we build these unobtainable expectations on what we think a good parent, a good spouse, a good co-worker, or a good friend can be.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I am currently working on a brand new contemporary romance set in New York.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: An ebook copy of Assigned & 3 Tule ebooks

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If given the opportunity, if you were single (or if you are single), would you sign up to volunteer to be a military spouse through a match-making program?

 
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Excerpt from Assigned:

Dark gray clouds surround the last bits of blue in the sky like a predator circling its prey. A startling low rumble rings out as fat droplets rain down from the sky, cold and sharp on my head and shoulders. I turn up the collar of my jacket to keep it off my neck. The clouds close in, devouring the last of the blue, and with no break in the gray above, the chance of a letup is slim to zero. It’s going to be a rainy day and no amount of pleading with God is going to change that. Best get used to it.
Besides, the weather fits perfectly with the way the week had been going. Mere minutes after arriving CONUS—back in the contiguous United States—life had smacked me upside the head like an angry mama with a misbehaving brat. Arriving home months after being deployed is never easy, but this, yeah, not what I had in mind.
“Lucas, are you even listening to me?” My ex-wife’s voice cuts through my ruminations on the unfairness of weather fronts. I know the tone. I’m on her very last nerve.
I grind my molars and try to focus. “Lisa, what am I supposed to do? You decided to move while I was gone, and now I’m expected to come up with a miraculous way to fix Mason’s behavior issues?”
Mason.
My eight-year-old son. The tie between Lisa and me that would never bend or break, even if most of the other ones had. While I’d been gone, he’d moved to a new school, gotten in two fights, and been sent to the principal’s office for talking back to the teacher. Lisa was at her wit’s end and dumped it on me the second my feet hit American soil.
A loud groan cuts over the line. “I’m expecting you to get involved. To step in. No one said it was up to you alone to fix the problem. I’ve never done that to you.”
My fingers tighten around the phone as my foot lands heavily into a puddle that has formed on the concrete walkway leading to the building my commanding officer is in. The cold water seeps into my boot. I swallow hard, knowing my next words will either start a fight or frustrate my ex-wife. Or both. “I have to go. I’ll call you back once I’m done with my meeting.”
She huffs. Frustration, it is. “Unless you’re sent on a mission and then who knows when we’ll talk again?” There’s a long pause before she continues, and I sense the sigh on the other end more than I hear it. “But that’s the way things go. I get it.”
Without another word, she disconnects the call. My chest tightens. Nothing like failing those you care for. Again. Being a SEAL, I don’t have the flexible schedules those in other careers may have. I can’t push off a meeting with my superiors to discuss my son’s behavioral issues in school. Those things have to wait, or Lisa has to handle them herself. And she has been. And she’s getting kind of pissed about it.
I yank the door open to the three-story brick building that stretches across the center of the base and make my way to Captain Redding’s office on the second floor. My stomach tenses as I trudge down a hallway lined with photos of former commanders. Today was supposed to be my day off, but for whatever reason, Redding needed to speak with me. ASAP. So here I am.
The secretary greets me with a nod as I walk in. The door to my commanding officer’s office is open and he waves me in.
“Captain Redding. Sir.”
“At ease.” My C.O. places the papers in his hand down onto the big oak desk and leans back in his chair, looking me up and down with his dark eyes as if he’s taking measurements. At fifty, Redding is still intimidating as fuck. Don’t even think I’ve seen the man smile.
Ever.
He gestures to the two chairs in front of his desk. “Take a seat.”
I ease into the one to my left, plant my feet solidly on the industrial-grade carpet, and wait for my commanding officer to continue. With the day I’ve been having so far, I don’t need a verbal ass whooping to boot, but I’ll take it if I have to. And since my best friend, Anthony Martinez, has been away at officer candidate school, George Redding has yet to find another person to dole out his frustration on. Though, let’s be clear, Martinez was the cause of most of that frustration. I might just be guilty by association.
“Heard great things about your performance. You’ve earned a significant number of duty performance points. Between those, some vacancies, and your test scores, a promotion is in order.” Redding tapped his pen on the papers in front of him.
Well, fuck. Maybe this day ain’t so bad after all.
“Lucas, you work hard. You’re a good man. Sure, when you and Martinez are together, Stephens may want to run for the hills, but there is a lot of potential in you, son.” Redding drops his hand to rub his knee beneath the desk. We all pretty much have an injury or two that won’t ever fully heal. It’s part of the job. Redding is no exception. Rumor has it he blew the knee out in an op in Afghanistan, pulling a local out of a building that was about to collapse.
“Thank you, sir.” I fight the urge to squirm in my chair. Redding is a man who would sooner swim naked through shark-infested waters than dole out compliments. So, something must be up.
“How’s time home been treating you so far?”
And there goes the ray of sunshine. Poof. Like everything else on this rainy day. “Some things going on with my son since my ex-wife moved to Chesapeake with her fiancé. Trying to take care of it while I’m back home and have some time.”
Redding nods. “Lisa’s a strong woman. A shame things didn’t work out between the two of you. But this job takes us away from our families a lot, so do what you can while you can.”
I can’t help but glance behind his desk at the framed photo of an older, attractive African-American woman with a younger man and woman in Sunday-go-to-church clothes on either side of her. Smiles light up their faces, and not the fake ones people put on for a picture. True, genuine smiles. Redding’s walked the walk to keep his family happy.
“Yes, sir.” I shift forward in my chair to stand when Redding raises his hand and signals me to stop. Crap, there’s more.
He pulls a manila folder from the left side of his desk to sit in front of him and opens it. “Before you deployed, we had a conversation about you joining the Issued Partner Program.”
Oh.
Shit.
I chew the inside of my cheek and take a second to collect my thoughts. While deployed, the military’s spouse matchmaking program had been an occasional thought, something to keep me focused on the positives, instead of the atrocities I faced when outside the wire. Nothing like imagining who the committee might assign to me to become my wife.
It still baffles my mind on occasion that such a program even exists. But I can understand why the Issued Partner Program was created. With the high divorce rates and some of the shenanigans that occur—like some idiots marrying their friends to move into better housing and out of the barracks—the higher ups needed to come up with a way to try and solve the problem. Still not sure why they decided on jumping directly to marriage instead of dating. Most likely operational security had a large part in that decision.
I looked forward to the virtual interviews, chatting with the therapists and social workers about everything from my goals for the next five years to how I liked to spend my R and R time. The program is something I truly believe in too. How could I not when two of my friends found love through it? I’d seen firsthand the way their partners complemented them in temperament and spirit. I’d seen the faraway smiles on their faces when they thought about their wives. Overheard the bits and pieces of conversations filled with warmth and laughter and desire and, yes, love. “Sir, yes. You recommended me and I signed up.”
“Well, I also called you in today because a match has been found for you.” Redding folded his hands across his middle and watched me.
Not the way I was expecting the day to go at all. Nope. What a freaking roller coaster. Instead of the elated feeling I expected at hearing the news I’d been assigned a match, my hands grow clammy and my heartbeat picks up speed. Redding was right when he said it was a shame my ex-wife and I didn’t work out. She was great for the life. Supportive. Independent. Could handle things on her own. I never had to worry.
Only, our passion died out and even when we tried to fix it, the spark never came back. No amount of date nights, special lotions, or whipped cream in the bedroom could light that fire once it had gone away. We’d changed. Remained friends. Loved one another. But there was no chemistry anymore. No blushes. No inadvertent caresses. No breath that came fast and hot just from seeing her face. I’d come back from a mission and instead of falling into bed in a tangle of limbs and lips and hands and hair, I’d get a honey-do list and a hug. I might have been okay with that, but Lisa decided she needed—deserved—more. I couldn’t exactly argue. I believed she did too.
For a while I’d been satisfied juggling my career as a SEAL and being a father to Mason. It more than filled my days and temporary girlfriends filled the nights I wanted filled. But when Martinez got married and wanted to go home to Inara more than he wanted to hit the bar, I found myself craving a partner once again. Someone to come home to who desired my presence as much as I did to be in theirs.
Shit.
Should’ve talked to Lisa before I deployed, informed her I’d signed up for the program. But things had been crazy with her engagement and my pre-deployment training. And a text was not the way to inform my ex-wife of my intentions. Just one more thing to add to the list of ways I let her down.
Not that I mentioned anything to my parents either. They’d been upset over the divorce. Think my mom’s been secretly hoping we’d get back together, which is also why I hadn’t told them my ex-wife is engaged to someone. Though, maybe Mason mentioned it to them. But surely if they were aware they would have mentioned something to me.
My gaze falls to the folder on the desk. Blank and smooth, giving no hint at what might lie inside it. Would the woman assigned to me be a good fit? Would we have a great friendship like I had with Lisa and yet be able to keep that spark? Would there even be a spark in the first place? My muscles tense and the corner of my eye twitches. An image of freckles across an upturned nose and honey-blond hair dances through my brain. I push down the old memory from high school, from the girl who had taught me what love is and had then turned around and taught me all about heartbreak.
“Lucas?”
“Sorry, sir.”
“You turned green for a second there. Are you reconsidering your involvement in the program?” He tilts his head to one side, appraising my reaction. His furrowed forehead and tight lips are noticeable even within the creases of his sun-weathered face, a sight that ratchets up the anxious energy bubbling in my chest.
I clear my throat and straighten in my chair. “No, sir. Just an old memory. So, the committee assigned someone to me?”
Redding shuffles through the pages and reads for a second. “Sure did.”
This could be a win-win for me and my son. The program has been mostly successful across the board making matches for people, and having someone at home could benefit Mason. I wouldn’t have to worry what to do if training ran late or if there was a last-minute exercise. Not that I would have this new person taking care of my son right away. I’d want to make sure I could trust Mason’s well-being with her first. And Mason would need time to get used to the idea. At least now the possibility exists for him to live with me a couple of days during the week.
My eye twitches again. Not that I hate Lisa or anything, but the move certainly changed all of our lives. When we lived close to each other, Mason stayed with me on as much of a consistent schedule as could exist with my job because his mom lived a few blocks away. But now, it’s a trek. Yet—as she has pointed out to me more than once—she has to move on with her life. Her world can’t revolve around me, especially when I can’t be present as consistently as I want to be and still do my job.
I fidget in my chair. “Um, sir. Can I see the file? Who is it?”
Redding picks up the folder and hands it to me across his desk. “Some woman named Riley Thompson.”
The folder falls through my hands, the papers scattering onto the floor below. No. Fucking. Way.
No way it’s that Riley. Maybe there’s more than one Riley Thompson because it would just be the rotten cherry on this crap sundae of a day if it was the Riley Thompson of the freckles-and-golden hair variety, of the ecstasy of first love and the sucker punch of first rejection. It can’t be her. What would she even be doing here? She should be back home in Texas.
But as I bend over and scramble to scoop up the papers, her picture comes into view. My vision tunnels and sweat beads on my forehead. While it may be fifty-five degrees outside, the office temperature must be at least five thousand Kelvin.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath as I sit up, placing the folder in my lap. “Sir, is there any possible way the committee could reassign me?”
Redding’s lips press together, the lines in his forehead deepen, and his frosty eyes both narrow and become more intense. “The program isn’t some app you can swipe left on. The committee goes to great lengths to correctly match individuals. What is the problem?”
What is the problem? How about the fact Riley is the girl who broke my heart in high school? Or the fact she’s the reason I left town and joined the military. And let’s not leave out she was the first, if not the last, woman to make me wonder what I even had to offer. “Riley isn’t a stranger. I grew up with her and I don’t think we’re a good fit.”
Redding groans and rubs his hands over his face. “You don’t have a lot of options here, Lucas. You can get on board. You can reject the match, put yourself back on the wait list, and risk it taking years to find you another match—if the program is even around that long. Or you can pull out of the program. And I’m going to be honest here, son. The committee has determined you and this woman are a good fit. They might not take too kindly to you stating otherwise without even trying, and they might just kick you out of their own accord.”
He didn’t have to say it, but the inference was clear. Rejecting the match would also mark me as someone who didn’t cooperate, who wasn’t a team player. Not exactly great qualities in a SEAL. Especially after I volunteered for the assignment. All the work that had made Redding talk about promoting me just now could be for nothing. Out the window, as if it had never happened.
I slump as much as I can into the chair. I’d been right in thinking the weather had been an omen. The universe was well aware of what would be happening. Gray skies and pouring rain matched the way my life was at this very moment. Did the committee choose the weather too? Along with matching me with the one person I’d rather not see again in my life?
I sift through the papers, not really taking in any of the information inside, thinking back instead to the time we’d spent together. Sure, she broke my heart into tiny pieces and stamped on them with her saffron, Converse Chuck Taylor-covered feet. But she’d also been a caring person, especially compassionate to the animals on her family’s ranch. I’d seen her bottle-feed a baby lamb with the tenderness of a mother with a newborn and calm a frightened horse with just the sound of her voice. She’d always had a kind word for everyone, a smile that lit up rooms. If that part of her still existed, I would be able to trust her with Mason, even if I couldn’t trust her with my heart. That I would keep protected with a guarded perimeter she’d have to blast her way through.
And one thing is for sure. My son needs my help. There’s been too many changes and he’s not adjusting well. He’s acting out. With the divorce, moving to two new houses, and going to a new school, I can understand why. So, if I get on board with being assigned to Riley, it could allow Mason to visit more often to hang out in the neighborhood, and bring more stability into my home, which could help with whatever issues he’s having.
Hopefully.
I straighten up in the too-small chair. “Sir, I’m on board. I’ll give it my best shot.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

How can she become a new version of herself when she’s married to her past?

After two of his buddies found love through the military’s matchmaking program, Lucas Craiger decides to give it a shot. He’s not necessarily looking for love, just companionship and a kind, reliable stepmom for his young son. When he’s assigned to his high school sweetheart who shattered his heart, his plan for an uncomplicated relationship becomes acutely complicated.

Riley Thompson signed up for the matchmaking program because she needs a fresh start—and the health insurance. She desperately wants to build a life with a man where her autoimmune disease doesn’t define her and she can prove herself. But being matched with Lucas isn’t the new beginning she wanted. He’s the love of her life she let go when she was first diagnosed.

Lucas is determined to make the most of this second chance with Riley, but when his custody battle heats up, his new marriage isn’t the only relationship in jeopardy.

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Meet the Author:

Paris Wynters is a multi-racial author who writes steamy and sweet East Coast love stories that celebrate our diverse world. She is the author of Hearts Unleashed, The Navy SEALs of Little Creek series, Love On The Winter Steppes, and Called into Action, and is represented by Tricia Skinner at Fuse Literary.

When she’s not dreaming up stories, she can be found assisting with disasters and helping to find missing people as a Search and Rescue K-9 handler. Paris resides on Long Island in New York along with her family. For fun, Paris enjoys video games, hockey, and diving into new experiences like flying planes and taking trapeze lessons. Paris is also a graduate of Loyola University Chicago.
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