Join me in welcoming Kris Bock to Living After Midnight!
My heroine is opening a cat café offering fancy coffee drinks, homemade baked goods, and the chance to play with rescue cats (and maybe even adopt one). She normally wears jeans and T-shirts, since she'll be scooping kitty litter. She does sometimes dress a little nicer:
She had yet to decide if she preferred meeting vendors in person to talking to them on the phone. On the one hand, you made closer connections in person, and it seemed to leave less room for misunderstandings. She got to study the items she needed to order, to judge quality. But on the phone, she could try to drop her voice a bit and maybe they’d think she was older. In person, people often thought her even younger than 24. She put on makeup for meetings, and even wore skirts and heels, but that didn’t seem to help. She probably looked like a little girl playing dress-up.
This gets into trouble though. She comes into the café after a vendor meeting. Her sister, Marley, is in the kitchen talking to Colin, the man Kari thinks her sister should like. Kari pauses to spy on them, hoping to hear signs of romance. Turns out they're talking about her.
She considered dropping to the floor, crawling to the door, and pretending she’d just arrived.
That was ridiculous. More specifically, it would be ridiculously embarrassing if she got caught. Better to keep going to her office, close that door quietly, and hope that when they realized she was in the building, they wouldn’t guess when she’d entered.
Her shoes squeaked on the floor. She froze.
Marley said, “Someone needs to teach that girl how to have fun.”
Kari stepped out of her pumps, crouched to grab them, and crept forward.
Domino wound between her legs and meowed loudly, annoyed that she was ignoring him.
Had the voices from the kitchen stopped?
Kari rushed the last few feet to her office. She reached her closed door and turned the handle. The door opened with a creak. Had it always made that noise?
In the main room, a cat yowled, and another hissed back amidst the quick sounds of scuffling.
Kari leapt over the child gate. Her foot caught. She grabbed at the swinging door. Her shoes flew out of her hand and across the room, landed with a clatter, and skidded under her desk.
She’d forgotten she was wearing a skirt that restricted her movement.
Poor Kari! Some of us shouldn't try to dress up. I'm one of those people. A few days ago, I went to a friend’s house to soak in the hot tub. In the dark, I missed a step off the back porch and sprained my ankle. Imagine the damage I could do to myself in heels! Good thing I live in New Mexico, and our fashion standards aren't high.
Coffee and Crushes at the Cat Café: A Furrever Friends Sweet Romance
What do you do when you meet the guy of your dreams? Set him up with your sister, of course.
Kari doesn't have time for love when she's opening her new cat café. Renovating an old restaurant, hiring employees, fighting with the health inspector – oh, and welcoming 16 shelter cats – keeps her plenty busy. She's doing this for the cats, the community, and most of all her family. The café will give her sister, Marley, a job worthy of her baking skills.
Then a tattooed military vet wanders in claiming to be a master baker himself. The café doesn't need another baker, but maybe Marley needs a man. Surely she'll fall for a guy this sweet, this sexy, this tasty.
Colin has other ideas. It's Kari who makes him want to pour on the sugar and turn up the heat. But he's spent the last two years recovering from physical and psychological wounds. Is he really ready for a relationship? He's not even sure he should commit to Samson, the fluffy marshmallow of a cat who steals his heart.
Get this sweet romance on Amazon, or free with Kindle Unlimited.
Kris Bock writes novels of romance, mystery, and suspense. Her Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats.
Kris also writes romantic suspense set in the Southwestern U.S. If you love Mary Stewart or Barbara Michaels, try Kris Bock’s stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue in the Southwest. Read excerpts at www.krisbock.com or visit her Amazon page. Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter for announcements of new books, sales, and more.
Kris Bock Blog: The Southwest Armchair Traveler
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