Spotlight & Giveaway: The Ex Spy Who Maybe Loved Me by Christi Barth

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Christi Barth to HJ!

Hi Christi and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Ex Spy Who Maybe Loved Me!

 
Hi – and thanks to everyone who pauses their day to read this!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

What happens when your off-the-charts hot one-night-stand…shows up at your office? Find out inn this small-town Rom-com with a buttoned-up STEM heroine and a hero who was an intl spy until 4 days ago.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Airport bars, the world over, looked the same. Wyatt Keene knew, because he’d been in what felt like all of ’em. Sure, this one had a lobster cafe, since it was Portland, Maine, and a bagel place, since it was America. Windows that showed the solid wall of fog that had him socked in. And a u-shaped bar selling the local craft brew.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Cygnet Lab in the book is loosely based on the very real Cold Spring Harbor Lab – stunningly beautiful, and on the cutting edge in molecular genetics & biology.
• Did I make up the title of Exiteer? You bet. Because it made me giggle. The job itself does exist, though.
• Blake’s research project is REAL. When I googled ‘top scientific breathroughs of the last year’, astounding things came up. They truly have cured blindness in mice!
• I hope you enjoyed the generous doses of Everett I sprinkled throughout the book, because (drum roll, please) he’s the hero of the next Swan Cove book!
• Ana is inspired by Rosa on Brooklyn 99.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

Well…they have sex in Chapter Two. So pretty much basic good looks and some very strong banter, if I do say so myself. While it’s supposed to be a 1 time airport fling, they very quickly end up stuck sharing an office. Sort of hating each other. Ultimately, then, I’d say that Wyatt first spins out of hate to respect for Blake’s drive and focus in her lab.

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Hot
Explosive
Confused
Smoldering
Tender
 

The First Kiss…

Wyatt surged toward her. His palms bracketed her cheeks with surprising gentleness.

His lips, though? There was pressure.

Firm, solid pressure as he kissed her with a steady, teasing repetition between nips and wide kisses that teased open her mouth and drew a moan from her that he swallowed, and then kept kissing some more.

Nothing else was touching below their necks. Just his hands on her cheeks and the facile mouth that moved across hers. Blake’s single brain cell not focused on pleasure drew a comparison to when her trainer made her do isolation exercises with weights. It was as if the rest of her body didn’t exist. It certainly didn’t matter.

Their tongues now twining around each other—that mattered.

Wyatt tasted faintly of the beer he hadn’t finished—mostly the sugar and cinnamon. It was such a juxtaposition with the utterly masculine feel of his big hands covering most of her face. Blake was all about female independence. And nobody would dare mansplain anything in her lab.

But there was something knee-melting about the way a big, strong man could make her revel in being ultra-womanly and delicate. When it came to sex, Blake preferred her men tall, muscled, and take-charge.

Wyatt checked all the boxes.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

Without drowning you in plot, Blake’s lab is holding a huge art competition. Each artist is teamed up with a scientist for inspiration. Her boss basically wants her with her artist, Wyatt, 24/7 to show how committed she is (spoiler–she’s not. Hates the idea of the contest). She’s ordered to give him a tour of the town…and that’s when the ice finally cracks between these two.

Wyatt let go. Shoved his hands in his pockets. “We got off to a rocky start. Well, we got off to an incredibly great start, followed by a rocky reboot. God knows what would happen if we have to start over a third time. Just tell me what’s going on.”

He was very persuasive. Something about the combo of his smooth tone and intense eyes. “As I mentioned right after the announcement—”

“Our pit fight?”

Blake winced. Hopefully whoever was watching them couldn’t also hear them. “No. We’re not calling it that. Sounds like we were both oiled up and slipping in a vat of Jell-O.”

Wyatt straightened. Pretended to stroke a long beard as he cleared his throat. “Our deeply adversarial conversation.”

“Better.” She’d tell him. It might make this whole thing smoother, the more he realized how closely they were being scrutinized. “The leadership at Cygnet is extraordinarily hyped up about this contest. About how it will bring additional funders out of the woodwork. This morning, it was reinforced to me that my enthusiastic support is expected in order to guarantee my promotion.”

The downturn to his mouth showed his disapproval. “That feels very 1984.”

His reference caught her by surprise. “You read Orwell?”

“Even artists usually graduate from high school. Hell, Blake. Cut me some slack.” He popped the last of his fudge and tossed the crumpled bag into a can a good fifteen feet away.

Whoops. She’d definitely crossed a line.

How to express that she wasn’t intentionally being a bitch? The art of pleasant, meaningless small talk had been drilled into her as soon as she’d begun to use full sentences. But Wyatt threw her off. Made her uncertain of what might come next.

The beauty of science was that it was so exact. Pure. Centered on facts, not reliant on interpretation. Blake had no context in which to relate to Wyatt, no facts to fall back on that she knew about artists as a personality type.

That was lazy of her. And unfair. Unforgivably judgmental. “Sorry. I don’t know what to expect from an artist, so I’m expecting the worst.”

“For fuck’s sake. Stop thinking of me as an artist. Start treating me like just a man.”

“There’s nothing ‘just’ about you.”

Whoops, again.

That had slipped out. Blake had been aiming to keep their truce, not escalate to something…incendiary.

But the creases around his eyes relaxed. “Thanks. Yeah. Keep rolling out the compliments.”

“You’ll have to earn them,” she replied tartly. “Oh, and your enthusiasm would be appreciated, too. Since they’re watching us.”

“They’re what?” Wyatt stiffened, like he’d stepped onto a frozen lake and seen a jagged crack underfoot.

“Someone told Dr. Peabody you left before me last night. They’re watching to be sure we’re working well together.”

“That’s bullshit.” He spun on one heel, all coiled energy as he semi-crouched and looked around.
The speed and concentration alarmed Blake a bit. His reaction seemed wildly overblown.

The street was full of businesses, with a few apartments above. There were a solid twenty people strolling. A shuttle from the pier was unloading cruise ship passengers in front of the Irish pub. This was peak leaf-peeping season, so tourists were rampant.

“What do you expect to see? A guy in a trench coat on top of his lab coat with binoculars, hiding behind the gazebo?”

“Thanks for telling me where to look.” And just like that, Wyatt relaxed. “Sorry you’re getting so much heat. I’ll amp up my enthusiasm. Starting now. What’s with the dog-groomer visit? You have a pup there?”

“Possibly.” Blake walked them past one more planter, this one with deep purple ornamental cabbages and tilted tiny haunted houses half buried in the dirt. When she reached for the door, Wyatt beat her to it.

That would be her first pro in the man vs. artist column for Wyatt. He struck her as quite the gentleman.

After all, he’d brought her to orgasm first, every time…

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

There’s an epic Halloween party where all the scientists let loose (giving Wyatt a chance to do his spy thing). It shows the fun secondary characters that are so important in a small-town rom-com, as well as Blake relaxing and Wyatt snooping. It has everything!

Blake leaned against Wyatt, as if to prove her point, and then snapped a selfie.

Uh-oh.

Wyatt did not need his photo out in the world. That might have been a rule from his old life. But in his new life? He still didn’t want to take any chances. While watching Everett disappear into the crowd, he said, “Hey, please don’t post that anywhere.”

“I wouldn’t,” she said haughtily. Blake’s wide emotional swings were cracking him up. “What about the parts of my life you’ve seen leads you to believe I’ve got time to waste on social media?”

“You said you’re crazy about musicals. Figured you might have an account to fangirl ’em.”

“You think you’re such a good judge of character?”

You bet. That’s what the government had paid him for.

That, and being wily, unobtrusive, observant, good with his hands whether on the handle of a knife or diffusing a bomb, and a general save the world or bust attitude.

“I’d say I see through a facade pretty quickly.” Wyatt was prepared to needle her all night. But it only took a couple of seconds before Blake wilted under his stare.

“Damn it. Fine. Yes, I have an account on Instagram.”

“Ha!”

Lady Thiang barked right after him, clearly siding with Wyatt.

“Not in my name, of course,” Blake hurried to clarify. “And I only follow and comment. I never post. Neither Cygnet nor my family would be pleased if I put my real self out there to be torn apart by trolls.”

Huh. Here he was, no longer worried at all about how others might see him. Or if they’d care a flying fuck about his actions. Wyatt wasn’t exactly giddy with that freedom. More like he didn’t know what to do with it.

And Blake seemed absolutely chained by the expectations heaped on her. Not happy about it. Just…accepting. They were both stuck, at weirdly opposite ends of the spectrum.

Wyatt elbowed her. “You owe me, Doc. For guessing your secret.”

“Stick around all night. Who knows what you might collect?” The look she gave him from beneath half-drooped lids was a sultry promise.

Whoa.

The safety of everyone in this building might be at stake. And he was the only one with the unique skill set—and availability—to make that determination.

Wyatt took a deep breath, then repeated the thought again. Stick to tonight’s mission. It was his absolute best chance to collect intel.

Don’t blow it on wanting to back Blake into the nearest office and kiss that hot pink gloss right off her lips.

Readers should read this book …

Sure, it is funny and quirky and flirty. But it also delves deep into emotions and the overarching question of what do you really want to do with your life? It delivers all the feels, all the, um, friskiness, and a kick-ass STEM heroine.

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

I literally received edits on book 3 of this series today – and finished book 3 in my Nephilim series a week ago. Whew! So…next month, I have a short story in the ROYAL anthology with a bunch of other amazing authors. In October, HELL OF AN ANGEL, my second Nephilim romance releases. And because it has only been a few weeks since it released, I’ll also shout out ESCAPING VALENTINE’S DAY, a second chance romance set in Italy!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: An ebook of BAD FOR HER (another small-town rom-com with a doctor heroine) and a $10 Amazon gift card.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If your career was unexpectly ripped away from you, what would you do? Stay in the same field in a dissatisfying, lesser role, or do a 180 and pivot to a dream you’d never had the gumption to follow?

 
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Excerpt from The Ex Spy Who Maybe Loved Me:

Blake takes Wyatt (as her paired artist and nothing more, since their relationship is a big secret) to dinner at her brother’s.

The smile Blake shone on her was a tad trembly, but warm. “I’ve been so worried that you wouldn’t like me ever since you and Fitz began dating. The prospect of tonight terrified me. Not many people enjoy slogging through conversations with scientists, in my experience.”

Wyatt didn’t think he had much of a heart to break. But it certainly felt scratched, hearing Blake cast herself in such a shitty light.

He wouldn’t stand for it.

“I did. Enjoy talking to you. When we met at the airport. Still do.”

Four sets of eyes flipped to stare at Wyatt. Blake’s were wide with shock.

Hell.

Talk about a rookie mistake. Volunteering info without being directly asked for it. This whole being himself, not being careful thing? It’d just created a disaster. Especially since Blake had made him promise not to reveal the actual timeline of their meeting.

If she reamed him a new one, he’d deserve it.

“You two met before the contest?” Everett shook his head, clearing the previous half-of-a-story that Wyatt had told him like a mental Etch-a-Sketch. “You said you got matched up with her on stage. Not that you matched yourself to her beforehand.”

“No, well—” Before Wyatt could hustle to explain, Fitz cut him off with a guffaw, pointing at Blake, who didn’t even feel like she was still breathing next to Wyatt.

“Did you bring in a ringer, Blake?”

Hallie elbowed Fitz in the ribs. Hard. “How could you ask your sister such a thing?”

“It’d be a smart, competitive strategy. How is that an insult?”

Everett picked up the corkscrew and another bottle of Shiraz. “Because Blake doesn’t cheat. She’s a rule-follower to the nth degree. Can we get back to whatever did or did not occur at the airport?”

“There is no such thing, scientifically, as a cone of silence. And I can’t ask you to hop in the cars and drive to Cygnet to have this conversation in the Faraday cage there.” Blake tapped her index finger against her lips. Gave each of them a ferocious stare-down.

Blake was adorable when she went off on a scientist tangent. Although now would clearly be an inappropriate time to share that thought. Wyatt had—unintentionally—shared more than enough already. In a night already full of weirdly personal reveals.

At least she didn’t sound pissed.

Fitz held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor, sis.”

She threw back a giant slug of wine. “Then, yes. Wyatt and I met at the Portland airport. Got socked in by weather together. And then we chose to, well, have copious amounts of spectacular sex.”

Hallie squeaked. Wyatt groaned and scrubbed his palm across his eyes. Everett whipped off his glasses and frantically polished them with the tail of his blue flannel shirt.

Holy fuck.

It was one thing for Wyatt to admit they’d met sooner than anyone knew. It was entirely another thing to give an orgasm recap before dessert. She really had plowed through the wine in worry over—what—being an entertaining guest for her brother?

Wyatt gave a hearty chuckle as he swiped the glass out of her hand. “You’ve definitely had enough. I thought that was our secret?”

“It was. Or rather, it was supposed to be.” There must be a glacier missing from Antarctica to account for all the ice coating Blake’s words. “You, however, just opened the vault and invited everyone in for story time.”

Oh, he knew he’d screwed up. Had earned a slap-down.

But Wyatt disagreed with her claim. Maybe he’d let a little slip. Little enough, though, that it was easily explained away with a simple lie. Obfuscation. A reimagining of the truth. Nobody, however, would’ve guessed about their sharing a room from his casual mention of their meeting.

But he wasn’t idiot enough to argue with Blake about it either here or now.

If he’d thought the vibe was awkward before? It was ten times worse. The awkwardness didn’t just fill the air. It coalesced into a human shape and sat down between Wyatt and Blake.

“For the record? This is the least bored I’ve ever been at a dinner party.” And then Hallie burst into rippling rounds of giggles.
At first, nobody else joined in. But when shit spiraled this far out of control, what else was there to do but laugh? Especially when Blake was the first to join in.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

NYC is exactly what scientist Blake Montgomery needs. A little decadence and a whoooole lot of anonymity, well away from the prying eyes of her charming, touristy small town of Swan Cove. Now, at the end of a whirlwind trip, she has one final thing to cross off her to-do list: a sexy fling. And the hot, green-eyed stranger at the Maine airport bar might be her perfect one-night stand. Until, of course, he shows up in her town the very next day.

Wyatt Keene is just an average guy—now. But four days ago, he was a black ops intelligence agent who spent fifteen years being someone—anyone—except himself. For one hot night, Blake makes him forget he’s supposed to start his life all over again…as himself. Talk about mission impossible.

Except suddenly Wyatt and Blake are not only stuck in the same town together, but also sharing the same office, and there’s no escaping their scorching hot chemistry. Wyatt’s trying to convince everyone, especially Blake, that he’s just a normal guy—whatever that means. But nothing spells danger like trying to start a relationship with an ex-spy who hasn’t quite left his old life behind…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

USA TODAY bestseller Christi Barth earned a Masters degree in vocal performance and embarked upon a career on the stage. A love of romance then drew her to wedding planning. Ultimately she succumbed to her lifelong love of books and now writes award-winning contemporary romance.

Christi can always be found either whipping up gourmet meals (for fun, honest!) or with her nose in a book. She lives in Maryland with the best husband in the world.
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