In a Colorado mountain
town, a good girl kindergarten teacher propositions a sexy bad boy uncle of one
of her students…It’s all part of ROMANCING THE WALLFLOWER by Michelle Major
About ROMANCING THE WALLFLOWER
Dedicated kindergarten teacher
Erin MacDonald isn't the type to make the first move on a man—especially
gorgeous David McCay, her secret crush. But when a crisis involving one of her
pupils offers a chance to help the pro baseballer turned local brewery owner,
Erin goes way out of her comfort zone. So way out she makes a
shocking suggestion!
David moved to the Colorado mountain town to look after his
sister and her son. Now he's a stand-in parent to his nephew, trying to fight
his attraction to Erin…who just propositioned him. David is nobody's hero. So
why can't he convince the sweet, kindhearted beauty that she deserves better
than him? Is it because they're the perfect imperfect match?
On Sale in Print:
August 22, 2017
On Sale in Digital:
September 1, 2017
CELEBRATE THE RELEASE WITH A
GIVEAWAY!
Grand Prize: 1 Winner Will Each Receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card
Runner-Up: 3 Runner-Up Will Receive
any Backlist Michelle Major Title (Digital Version Only)
Excerpt
Erin MacDonald choked on the gulp of strawberry
daiquiri she’d just swallowed. “I’m not staring at anyone’s butt,” she said as
she grabbed a wad of napkins and dabbed at her chin and shirtfront. “And don’t
talk so loud.”
Melody Cross, one of the second-grade teachers
at Crimson Elementary, snorted. “It’s a crowded bar on a busy Thursday night.
No one can hear me.”
But Melody had the kind of booming voice that
could quiet a room full of squirming eight-year-olds the afternoon before
summer break. The tall table they stood at was a good five feet from the bar,
but Erin swore she saw the man’s broad shoulders stiffen.
“Want me to take a picture of him?” Suzie
Vitale, her fellow kindergarten teacher, offered with a tipsy smile. “It lasts
longer.”
Before Erin could stop her, the curvy blonde
aimed her phone at the backside of the gorgeous guy who not only worked the bar
but also owned Elevation Brewery. The brewpub had opened a little over a year
ago and had become a popular hangout for both locals and tourists in the quaint
mountain town of Crimson, Colorado.
Erin had noticed David McCay, the brewery’s
owner, the first time she’d stepped into the nouveau rustic—and very on-trend
for Colorado—space. He was tall and lean, with dark blond hair that curled
around the collars of the flannel shirts he favored. David McCay was as
handsome as a movie star and built like he spent endless hours tossing huge
sacks of barley—or whatever it was beer brewers did.
Erin, who was built like she spent her days
sitting cross-legged on a reading rug, had surreptitiously watched him each
time she came into the bar with friends or coworkers for a random happy hour or
birthday celebration. He was often tending bar or sometimes she’d spot him
coming out from the back, wearing the heavy rubber boots and backward ball cap
that she’d quickly learned were his uniform when actually brewing beer.
Colorado was known for its craft brews, and the
fact that Elevation had made a name for itself so quickly was a testament to
his hard work and talent at running a business.
At least that’s what Erin wanted to believe. Her
mother liked to remind Erin that she too often assumed the best about people,
which allowed them to regularly take advantage of her.
But David McCay hadn’t taken advantage of her,
even though it was the stuff of her fantasies. Even though his nephew, Rhett,
was now in her kindergarten class and David had been with the boy and his
mother for back-to-school night. Erin had barely been able to put a sentence
together with David towering over the other adults in the back of her
classroom, but he hadn’t bothered to acknowledge her. Heck, it was doubtful he
even knew she existed.
Except when she blinked and looked up, he was
staring straight at her. Sparks of awareness flamed through her body, setting
every inch of her skin on fire. He lifted one thick brow as if he could read
her thoughts. Which might be impossible since it felt like all of her brain
cells had spontaneously combusted under the weight of his stare.
She heard Melody giggle behind her, and Suzie
gave her a little shove forward. David now stood at the edge of the bar, only a
short distance from her, with movement all around him. Customers in groups
laughed and talked. A waitress set her tray on the rich wood bar top. A group
of women at near the edge of the bar vied for his attention. But his focus
remained on Erin.
Then something—someone—suddenly blocked her
vision. Cole Bennett, Crimson’s recently elected sheriff, was talking to David.
Cole was also tall and broad, and to use one of her mom’s favorite expressions,
made a better door than a window.
Erin shifted to the right as she overheard Cole
mention Rhett, David’s nephew. David’s gaze hardened and his jaw clenched.
Unable to stop herself, she moved forward, sidestepping a couple heading toward
the back of the bar and a group of twentysomething guys who looked like they’d
just come off a hiking trail, until she stood directly behind the sheriff.
She was five feet four inches tall in the clogs
she favored for work, so both men towered over her and were completely unaware
she was listening to their conversation. Invisibility was Erin’s unintentional
superpower. She knew much more than she should about her coworkers and
neighbors, simply because people didn’t notice she was there.
“Rhett is safe,” Cole told David. “But they
can’t get him to come out.”
“What the hell was Jenna thinking?” David asked,
then scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “No, don’t answer that.”
“She’s in trouble, David. The crowd she’s
running with—”
“I’ll handle it.” He pulled a set of keys out of
one of the pockets in his tan cargo pants. “I just need to tell Tracie I’m
leaving for the night. I’ll be over for Rhett.”
“I have to call Social Services,” Cole said
softly, and Erin felt the tension ratchet up a notch.
“Give me some time with him first, okay?”
“Can you—”
“I’ll handle it,” David repeated. He moved
behind the bar and spoke to the woman filling two pint glasses from the tap.
The sheriff walked out of the bar, patrons
instinctively clearing a path for him although he wasn’t in uniform tonight.
When she looked up, David McCay stood toe-to-toe
with her. She realized she’d moved forward to block his path from behind the
bar.
In her daydreams, she’d compared his eyes to the
brilliant summer sky above the ragged peak of Crimson Mountain or the iridescent
cobalt of a tropical lagoon. But now his frosty stare was more like the ice
blue of a glacier, so cold a shiver passed through her.
“I don’t have time for this, sweetheart. You and
your friends are going to have to play your liquid courage bar games with
someone else.”
“It’s not a game,” Erin said.
“Darlin’, you ordered a froofy drink in my bar.
It’s either a game or a joke.”
This close to David, the heat and frustration
radiating off him made her feel different from the woman she knew herself to
be. She was aware of her body in a way that was new and exhilarating. She
wanted more. She wanted…something she couldn’t name. Still, the promise of it
made her weak with longing.
Also braver than she’d ever been. Or maybe crazy was a better
word, because when he moved to step around her, she placed a hand on his arm.
“I can help with your nephew.”
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