Spotlight & Giveaway: Worth the Wait by Traci Douglass

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Traci Douglass to HJ!

Hi Traci and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Worth the Wait!

 
Hi there! Thanks so much for having me back on the blog today!
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

W – We meet two ex-siblings who haven’t seen each other in 10 years
O – One of them, the heroine, used to have a serious crush on the hero when she was a teen
R – Rugged hero didn’t notice her much back then, but now that’s changed
T – That’s because they’ve inherited a house together and are forced to live together
H – House itself if kind of a mess. Heroine wants to sell. Hero wants to keep it and fix it up

T – They each have their own goals for the future and neither involves the other
H – Hero is recovering from injuries and wants to use the renovations to prove he’s still capable
E – Except actress heroine wants to sell her half and use the proceeds to move to Hollywood

W – While they fix up the place and decide what to do, sparks flare between them
A – And more than the old house is repaired
I – It also involves lots of 80s nostalgia and
T – The ending is a swoon-worthy homage to all those 80s brat pack movies

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“I’m sorry. We need someone more…viral.” The casting director’s voice boomed through the cramped audition space. “Next!”

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book.

Mandy, my heroine, is a gal who had a very nomadic childhood caused by a mother who was constantly searching for love and never quite finding the right fit. She had a string of serial marriages and poor Mandy was moved about a lot as a kid. As a result, she’s got some phobias about staying in one place too long and commitments.

My hero, Alex, grew up as a kind of golden boy. Handsome, smart, popular. It’s no wonder the heroine had a crush on him when she was younger. But everything changed for Alex after he was involved in a workplace shooting and permanently injured. He’s now having to come to terms with that, as well as deal with his anxiety issues following the traumatic event. When he meets Mandy again ten years later, h e’s a very different guy from the one she remembers.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

Other than what’s listed above? Hmm. I watched lots of This Old House videos to try and get the renovation details right. LOL. And the scene in the book with the Ferris Bueller drinking game is an actual thing!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

I think this story is definitely a case of opposites attract. Mandy is all optimism and light and for Alex that’s something he’s been missing since his accident. For Mandy, she remembers how Alex used to be and still sees that guy inside him, hidden under all the hurt and fear and is determined to help him get his happy back, whatever that looks like now.

The First Kiss…

Since I shared their first kiss a few days earlier, how about today I share their first “almost” kiss?

“Sorry. I came to get my level.” He pointed at the tool near her feet. “What are you doing?”
“Cleaning. Unpacking. Getting Duckie’s area set up.” “Duckie?”
“My goldfish.” She pointed at the fish tank.
“Oh.” Alex picked up his level then stepped closer to
peer through the glass at the small goldfish. “He’s cute. Looks kind of lonely, though, with nothing but gravel.”
“I’ll get him some stuff.” Mandy frowned, arms crossed. “Just haven’t had time yet.”
“Sure.” He swallowed hard, just then realizing how close they stood, close enough for him to hear the catch in her breath and see the rise of pink in her cheeks. Close enough that if he leaned in just a little, he could kiss her and… God. He needed to get out of here. Now. Alex cleared his throat. “I should, uh, get to work.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
Except neither of them moved. Time seemed to slow. The air sizzled with possibilities.
And if that’s not your clue to bail, I don’t know what is…
His ribs ached and his temples pounded. This crazy
attraction to Mandy threatened everything he wanted— safety, security, solitude. He tugged at the neckline of his T-shirt, wondering when the room had gotten so hot. “I’m, uh…” He inched back toward the door. “I’m gonna go.”
“Okay.” She fiddled with the handle of the hairbrush, lowering her gaze. Her nails were painted red, the color matching the logo on the front of her Les Mis shirt. He hadn’t noticed that before. All he could picture were those pretty crimson nails scraping down his back.
Oh, boy.
This was stupid. Insane. Idiotic. This wasn’t him.
She was strictly off-limits. Period. Amen. End of story. Then she stepped forward, putting them toe-to-toe
again. “I have one more box to get.”
Damn if her nearness didn’t cause his muscles to go lax
and the pressure in his head to ease. She blinked at him, and he stared into her blue eyes. So, so blue. Mesmerizing blue. The thought of leaving and everything else went right out of his head. All he could think about now was her, how she looked, how she smelled, how those pink lips of hers might taste if…
“Hey, Lex?” Mark called from the stairs. “You still up here?”
Pulse racing, Alex stepped back and blinked, the spell broken.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

The spider scene. It’s the first moment they’re forced to interact more closely with each other and my hero Alex shows his true colors as a knight in shining armor, even if his exterior is a little dented these days:

There was a ladder in the corner, so she climbed up to start tearing down the webs from the ceiling. The face mask helped keep the dust out of her airways and, with her earbuds in, she soon got into a groove. Flo Rida sang about having a Good Feeling and she worked her way down the wall to the opposite corner, poking a dangling large brownish dust bunny with her mop to dislodge it, but it didn’t move. She knocked it again, harder this time. The stubborn thing stayed put, but a crack opened in the side of it, sending a flood of tiny black dots streaming down the wall. Weird. As far as she knew dust bunnies weren’t liquid. The more she squinted at the tiny objects, though, the more she made out legs. Legs and bodies. Legs and bodies and beady eyes and—
OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!
Spiders. Spiders were everywhere. All those legs and beady eyes and fangs. Her breath came hot and fast, trapped against her face because of the mask. The rush of blood in her head drowned out the music in her ears, and her shaking legs threatened to topple her off the ladder, directly into the swarming mass of horror now covering the floor beneath the ladder.
Nowhere to go. No escape.
Her lungs seized, and dark spots grew larger at the periphery of her vision. She was going to pass out. Pass out and fall and be devoured by those spiders with their fur and fangs. She had nightmares about spiders with fangs.
She clung to the ladder and tried to scream for help, but all that emerged was a breathless gasp. “Help! Please help me!”
The cold metal ladder dug into the scalding skin of her cheek as the world darkened around her. This was it. The end.
See you soon, Mom.
“Mandy, I was thinking…” a voice said from what sounded a million miles away. “What the—”
The curse was lost amid the clamber of heavy work boots up the ladder behind her. Soon a warm, hard chest pressed against her back, and two strong arms slid around her waist, holding her close, protecting her from insect evil. She whimpered with relief.
“It’s okay,” Alex said against her temple, his lips brushing her skin and making her shiver. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, not trusting her voice. All Mandy wanted at that moment was to turn and bury her face in his

neck so she’d never have to see the awful spiders again, but he held her in place, his heart racing in time with her own.
“Jack?” Alex called, his words rumbling through her, deep and reassuring. “Can you bring that bug spray up here again please?”
Mandy rested her forehead against one of the rungs, battling the urge to puke.
“Oh man,” Jack said moment later from the doorway, a large metal can and a hose with a spray nozzle in his hand. “I sprayed in here earlier, I swear. Sorry, Mandy.”
“It’s fine. Just please make sure they’re all dead this time while I get her out of here.” Alex yanked her off the ladder and into his arms before carrying her out to the second-floor landing and placing her gently on her feet. He removed her face mask and tossed it aside before pushing her static-filled hair away from her face. “Will you be okay here for a minute?”
She nodded, swallowing hard against the bile burning her throat and holding onto the banister for dear life.
Alex hobbled down the stairs as quickly as he could, then returned a few minutes later with a bottle of water and a folding chair. He cracked open the water and set up the chair before settling her into it and thrusting the cold drink into her trembling hand. “Drink something. You’ll feel better,” he said. “Just give it a minute.”
“I’m sorry. I feel like such an idiot.” Her stomach cramped as she chugged the cold water then held the bottle against her heated cheek. “There were so many of them. So. Many.”
“I know. I saw.” He waited until she looked at him, then smiled. “And I know you don’t want to hear this now,

but spiders aren’t all that bad. They eat the other bugs, so actually they’re kind of good.”
Yep. He was right. She didn’t want to hear that. “I’ll take your word for it, thanks.”
They stayed there a while. A minute? An hour? She didn’t know. Time lost meaning when you were terrified. Eventually, though, her pulse slowed and her stomach settled. Jack finished up in the bedroom and returned downstairs. During the mayhem, she’d forgotten all about Alex’s injury, but now as he shifted his weight and rubbed his left leg, it was obvious it was bothering him. She started to get up. “Thanks again for helping me. Why don’t you sit?”
“I’m fine. It’s fine.” He kept his gaze lowered. “Just been awhile since I rescued anyone.”
Mandy snorted. “If it’s any consolation, it was very manly of you.”
“Yeah?” Alex chuckled. “That’s what I’m going for these days. Manly.”

If your hero had a sexy-times play list, what song(s) would have to be on it?

For Alex, he’s all about those 80s power ballads, so definitely:

• In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel
• I Want Your Sex by George Michael
• Little Red Corvette by Prince
• Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye
• Sweetest Taboo by Sade

If you could have given your characters one piece of advice before the opening pages of the book, what – would it be and why?

Let go of the past and move forward with the way things are now. Both of my characters are trying to navigate their lives based on their pasts and it’s just not working. If they could just drop that baggage and see all the wonderful things in front of them now they’d get that HEA a whole lot faster, but then what’s the fun in that? LOL.

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?*

Currently, I’m revising a Christmas story for the Harlequin Medicals line that’s part of a continuity with three other authors, so that’s been fun. I’m also writing Book 2 in my Point Beacon sweet romance series with Entangled. More info on both of those projects coming soon!

My next release after Worth the Wait is with Harlequin Medical Romance called Their Hot Hawaiian Fling, which comes out May 1st 2020!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Two digital copies of Worth the Wait. Open internationally.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Do you have any phobias? If so, tell me in the comments below for a chance to WIN!

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Worth the Wait:

“Things change.” He tossed the dirty rag down to the floor then gave a small shrug. “Not that I have to worry about that right now anyway.”
The reminder of his old dreams made his heart shrink in his chest. He had wanted kids back then, still wanted them now, even if chances were slim to none he’d have any, given his current relationship status. Probably for the best, anyway, since how could he protect them? He hadn’t even been able to protect himself that day outside the courthouse. Aching disappointment swelled like a bruise inside him and had his pulse thundering in his ears once more. He forced himself to breathe, staring at the wall across from him instead of at Mandy, who was still talking.
“…and celebrate. My treat.”
“I’m sorry?” he said, catching the tail end of her words. “I didn’t hear what you said.”
“Dinner. You and me. At a nice restaurant. My treat. C’mon. Please?” Mandy stepped toward him again. “Getting out of here for a few hours might do you good.”
“No.” Alex shook his head and leaned against the metal railing, inching away. The last thing he wanted was leave the house tonight. “We can get delivery again. Or there’s
leftover pizza in the fridge. Or—”
“Nope.” She inched closer. “No delivery. No leftovers. I
want to celebrate. It’s my first night here in the new house.” Celebrate? The thought of crowds and parties made him want to break out in hives. He swallowed hard and stepped sideways. “Sorry. I’m not up to much socializing these days.”
Space. He needed some…
He moved a bit farther down the railing, thinking he had room, but he’d somehow misjudged the distance somewhere in his jumbled thoughts. His foot slipped off the edge of the platform and his balance went haywire. Arms pinwheeling, Alex tipped sideways, his fingers grazing nothing but air as he lost his balance completely.
“Alex!” Mandy rushed forward and clutched the front of his shirt, but it was too late. They both tumbled over the side. Luckily, the padding below did its job and broke their fall, air blustering out of the stacks of plastic tarps like a gigantic whoopie cushion. He landed on his back with Mandy atop him then blinked up at the medallion on the ceiling, winded and stunned but otherwise unhurt. Her hair had fallen across his face, and he puffed it away with his breath before pushing up onto his elbows. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.” Mandy squinted at him then around the room. “How about you?”
“Yeah.” Alex scratched a leftover hardening glob of mud from his temple. “I’m good.”
She scrambled off him then extended a hand to help him up. “Then we have a date.”
“A date?” He frowned and stood. “No.”
“Hey, you owe me after these unsafe working conditions.” “This construction site is perfectly safe.” He dodged her question and headed to the kitchen. “I need some water.” She trailed along behind him, persistent as ever. “And I
need dinner.”
“Then order something and we’ll eat here.”
“No. I want to go out. With people.”
“Call Gina.” He shuddered and grabbed a bottle of
water from the cooler. “Maybe she’ll go with you.”
“She’s working tonight.” She moved closer and placed her hand on his forearm. If she was trying to melt him, that was the way to do it. “Please? I promise we’ll go somewhere quiet. The research I did said that slow reemergence was a good choice for a lot of people with anxiety, especially those who developed it later in life. Getting out might do you good. When’s the last time you were out of this house?” “This afternoon, when I talked to your movers.” He
gulped his water.
“The porch doesn’t count.” Her shoulders drooped. “Or
is this about me?” Mandy sighed, her tone turning dejected. “It’s me, isn’t it?”
His gut clenched and their conversation from the other night at dinner zoomed back into focus. Was she still upset about that stupid homecoming dance? This had nothing to do with that, nothing at all. This was him. The shooting. He needed her to understand that. Without thinking, he took her arms and pulled her closer, meeting her gaze. The air between them sizzled, and there was no denying it now. He wanted Mandy. Even if he shouldn’t.
Worse still, he liked her.
Liked her softness, liked the tingle up his spine whenever their bodies touched. Liked the idea of pulling her even closer and—
Uh-oh.
Problem was, he wasn’t thinking. Not with the right body parts anyway.
“Please?” she whispered and a little more of his resistance crumbled.
Dinner didn’t have to mean anything, right? It could just be between friends. Strictly platonic. Except the feelings raging through his bloodstream now were decidedly un- platonic.
“Hey? Alex?” She waved her fingers in front of his face. “You still with me?”
He blinked at her pink mouth, the desire to kiss her so strong he actually leaned in and lowered his head before he stopped himself. “Do you want to sleep with me?”
“What?” Her expression shifted from earnest to stunned.
Abort! Abort! He hadn’t mean to say that out loud. Crap. And now she was looking at him like he’d grown a second head. Marvelous. Grumbling, he let her go and turned away, angry at himself and embarrassed, sweating and chilled at the same time over his own stupidity. Once upon a time, he’d been a real ladies’ man. These days he needed help from Rand McNally to locate his lost game where women were concerned. “Forget I said that, okay?”
Agonizing seconds ticked by, his heart in his throat. Finally, she said, “What if I don’t want to?”
He took that in for a minute as they stared at each other
across the expanse of the kitchen. The spark of heat in her blue eyes suggested she might want him, too, but he needed to lay it all on the table to be sure she knew exactly what he was offering. “I don’t do long-term. It would just be sex. Is that what you want?”
“Maybe.” Her small smile did crazy things to his insides.
The moment stretched until she said, “But all I’m asking you for tonight is dinner. C’mon. You know you want to.”
He actually did, but did he dare? She’d said she’d keep it quiet, so maybe he could do it. And if not, well he’d warned her. Fine. He plunked his empty glass into the metal sink. “One dinner.”
“Yes!” Her glowing smile returned, and she clapped her hands. “You won’t regret it.”
Alex frowned down at the tile floor, hoping she was right.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Mandy Reynolds needs a reset on life in so many ways. Her acting career isn’t exactly where she’d hoped it to be. She can’t even get a job as a germ for a commercial. When she inherits half a house she sees it as a sign and heads home to Heavenly Falls, Illinois. She’ll sell the house, and use the money to take her career to the next level in Los Angeles. That is if she can convince her hard-headed––and stupidly gorgeous–– ex-stepbrother, Alex Noonan, to sell fast.

The last time Alex saw Mandy, she was a gangly teen, who followed him around like a sad puppy. But she’s grown into a smart and funny woman, who is as frustrating as she is beautiful. The fact that they have to live in the house––together––while they fix it up, is one temptation he doesn’t need. And while he’s having fun spending time with her, she’s moving on soon, and he needs time to heal.

Plus, she has no idea he’s got a secret that could put a monkey wrench in all of her plans…
Book Links: Amazon | B& N | iTunes | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Traci is a USA Today Bestselling Author of Contemporary and Paranormal Romance. Her stories feature sizzling heroes full of dark humor, quick wits and major attitudes and heroines who are smart, tenacious and always give as good as they get. She holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and she loves animals, chocolate, coffee, hot UK actors, and sarcasm–not necessarily in that order.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads |