Update: The random number generator picked Johnnie-Marie to win this final giveaway – congrats! and I hope you enjoy the read!!
The following is a (approx.) 450 word excerpt from my new release, Cupcakes, Trinkets & Other Deadly Magic. Want to read more? Comment on this post to win an ebook with your email address (e.g. name AT gmail DOT com).
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I let my eyes drift over him like he wasn’t the absolute focus of my attention as I crossed around the baking display case. I murmured greetings to some of my regulars, and, as unhurried as possible, wandered over to the bistro table where my foster sister Sienna sat sipping a latte and nibbling on a mocha butter white cake Thrill in a Cup. I hated it when she paired similar flavors like that, but my sister did what my sister wanted. We both did. We were as similar in that attitude as we were dissimilar in looks.
I cleared my throat as I came around from behind to the front of the table. Sienna didn’t lift her dark eyes from the book of spells she was reading on her Kindle. I was momentarily distracted that such an ebook existed, and wondered where it could be purchased. Sienna seemed to be reading up on binding spells, which made sense given that was her specialty.
A breeze from the door — the unusual heat the day had provided was fading as the sun set — stirred a few of my trinkets and recalled my attention to the vampire.
“Sienna,” I hissed.
“What?” My sister glanced at me over the rim of her coffee. She’d skimmed off all the foam and was left with the creamy espresso underneath; her bored eyes almost matched the color of the liquid. “The coffee beans are burned.”
“The coffee is not burned.”
“Is too.”
“Sienna, there’s a vampire at the door.”
“What?” Sienna laughed and looked over my shoulder toward the door. “Where?”
“Right there! Tall, blond, and fangy.”
“You can’t actually see their fangs, you know. Ahead of time, I mean.”
“Sienna!”
“There is no vampire at the door, Jade.”
I looked over my shoulder. Indeed, the doorway was empty, and closed. The last customer to leave must have politely shut it behind them.
“Imagining things?” Sienna murmured, but her attention had returned to her book of spells. Spells that were above both our magic grades as far as I had seen with a glance. Which is why I rarely bothered to practice magic — it was mostly out of my reach. Sienna always liked to know, however, even if she couldn’t do.
“Right,” I murmured, tracking my eyes from the door along the French-paned windows. I’d had them especially built for the bakery when I opened last year. The mullions were painted white, as was the paneled wooden front door. I had been going for a French provincial look, but with the addition of the slat wood floor and the hodgepodge of trinkets hanging everywhere, I’d achieved more farmhouse than sleek old country.
The vampire was gone.
I was nowhere stupid enough to step out onto the sidewalk to look for him … okay, maybe just a quick peek. The sidewalk and street were empty of vampires, though. The sun was fully set, the last vestiges of reddish orange still tinting the sky to the west. It was suddenly chilly enough to see a puff of my breath. I folded my arms over my T-shirt-clad breasts, and a light breeze lifted my blond curls from my neck. At least it wasn’t raining.
I dropped my hands and smoothed them over my spotless apron. The sidewalk was teeming with after-work shoppers. Strollers competed with teacup pets, the dogs even pricier than the kids. But then, my customers could afford the price tags of both. I held the door open for one mother fresh from yoga and decided that I needed a class before dinner myself.
What the hell was a vampire doing in Vancouver? And why the hell had he wound up at my door?
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