Book Blitz - Excerpt & Giveaway - Love Repaired by Deana Birch


Love Repaired 
by Deana Birch 
Publication date: July 30th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Attorney Amee sets aside her own needs to juggle the broken pieces of her life and family until mechanic Ben repairs her heart.
Divorce attorney Amee Benton—who has an ex of her own—is pretty sure she’s a #MomFail. Showing up late on a Friday night to retrieve her car from the shop and finding the pink frosted cupcakes she forgot to leave at her daughter’s ballet camp confirms it.When mechanic, Ben Mathis, confesses to stealing one of the confections and asks who is taking care of Amee, she knows he’s a unicorn—a magical, beautiful beast who surely only exists in fantasies. And she tells him just that. With an f bomb for good measure.Amee has three things Ben finds irresistible in a woman—brains, a family, and a serious potty mouth. At a chance run-in at Ben’s own personal hell, AKA the mall, he summons the courage to ask her out. Though Amee is leery of dating a younger man, and Ben is more than aware of their social gap, the two take a chance.But Amee’s life isn’t like his. And when her ex returns and the doubting divorcée blunders, all of Ben’s insecurities are piqued anew. Now, Amee must prove to Ben his worth is much more than stand-in dad and rebound boyfriend or she’ll watch magic gallop off into the forest forever.
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Google PlayEXCERPT:
Ben:
Two small heads peeked out from behind curtains as I sat in my truck idling in her driveway. I had offered to meet her in a parking lot and go from there, but she had insisted I pick her up at home. The thought of those two cute girls already disapproving bothered me, but it was Amee’s call, not mine. 
From the window, the shorter one waved in my direction. I checked over both shoulders then pointed inward to myself in a ‘Who me?’ gesture. Her reply was a smiley nod and the older one disappeared. Maybe only one of them isn’t on board with her mom dating me. Still…
Commotion at the front double doors caught my eye. Jude shoved Amee out onto the front steps, waved once to me then closed behind her.
As Amee walked down the pathway in her long skirt and denim jacket, I wiped my palms on my pants. I hopped out of my side, leaving the door open, and escorted her around the front of the truck to the passenger side. She slid in, and I jogged back to my door. 
In the cab, I nodded to the little girl still observing us. “You sure they’re okay with this?”
She smiled tightly as she checked the window then looked back to me. “They have to be. Jude and I talked about it. A lot. They have to be.”
I shifted the truck into reverse and winked over to the tiny blonde, who now had a doll waving to us. “She seems to be okay.”
“Yeah.” She let out a half laugh, half scoff. “You should have seen the tiara she wanted me to wear. Let’s go. I’m ready to be off mom duty. Where are you taking me, anyway?”
I backed out of the driveway. When we got to the stop sign at the end of her road, I grinned. “What if I’d rather show you than tell you?”
Amee’s lips were pursed, and she stared back at me. “You’re not going to abduct me, are you?”
With a wink, I said, “I’d like to after all those damn texts this week. But no, just a date.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “I actually fucking love surprises.” 
I did so adore it when the dirty mouth showed up. She moved her elbow to the base of the window and cradled her chin with the palm of her hand. 
“And it’s been a long time since I had one. A good one anyway.”
“No pressure.” I turned off on to the gravel road.
We rode in silent but comfortable anticipation until I reached the spot I’d found the Sunday prior when I’d taken Nate for a hike. I reversed into the clearing and killed the engine. 
“I need five minutes,” I said as I scratched the back of my head. 
With the headlights still on for a little guidance, I hurried to the bed of my truck. I arranged the blankets and opened the basket Trev’s mom had prepared. Once the setting was as good as I thought it could get, I jogged around to open her door. 
Amee was fiddling with her fingers in her lap. It was hard to tell if she was nervous or bored. Neither one a good sign on a date. 
“One second.” I reached over and pulled out the keys, extinguishing the headlights. 
With a small smile, I offered her my hand. She took it with her own timid grin and I guided her to our starlight picnic. When we were just in front of the bed, her neck was exposed and with her so vulnerable, I couldn’t resist brushing my beard along the crook of her shoulder and giving her a gentle kiss. 
Her shiver was the perfect reaction, and for a brief moment, I thought about tossing her onto the blankets and worshiping the shit out of her.
In time, Benji. In time. 
Her eyes fluttered. In front of us were all the city lights and what I hoped would be an acceptable date. She brought a hand to her mouth and stared.
“You like?” I reached around her hips and drew her back to me. 
Her head fell onto my shoulder and I gave her a quick peck on the cheek. 
“I like,” she said and turned to me.
“Good. I’m starving, and my friend Trev’s mom makes the best meatloaf sandwiches and peach cobbler in the world.” I climbed up and sat on the outstretched blanket. “Come on.” I patted the spot next to me.
“What do you eat on non-cheat days?” She joined me on the covers, her feet kicked to the side, and she leaned back.
I twisted off a beer cap and handled her a bottle. “Lots of chicken and veg. And protein shakes. Maybe a banana.” I shrugged and tapped my bottle neck against hers. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” She tipped her bottle to me. “To my first night picnic. I love it. Thank you.”
The smell of Trev’s mom’s cold hamburger mixed with her special spices sent my taste buds into overdrive. I tore off a bite and savored it. “Oh my God.” My stomach purred its approval. 
As we ate and drank, she filled me in on her week at work and with the girls. I skirted around the subject of my own. A drunken cousin on a Monday night, me struggling with homework and Nate getting mildly bullied didn’t seem like much to brag about.
I repacked our trash into the basket and watched the lights glimmer below us. When Nate had suggested a picnic for a date, I’d thought it was silly. But when I’d realized it would have to be at night and I couldn’t really afford a fancy restaurant, it had clicked into place. Luckily, I’d fixed Regina’s car and offered for her to pay me in meatloaf and dessert. 
“You cold?” I opened my legs and she nudged her way over.
“I’m always cold.” She rubbed her hands together as she snuggled her back to my stomach.
I reached for the other blanket and draped it over her knees and feet. Bringing her hands into mine over her shoulder, I blew a warm breath into them. “Better?”
Her gentle sigh was a perfect response. 
The city flickered in front of us and a lonely cricket chirped from the woods. Amee stared ahead, probably going through one more of her lists of why I was wrong for her—which, in all fairness, I was. Poorly educated, cheaply bred and no real future that I could assure. At least my Uncle Teddy’s house was paid for and my rent was affordable, but with the addition of Kim and Nate, the four of us lived from paycheck to paycheck. And there was only one of those to speak of—mine. 
Both of our situations were complicated. I wasn’t exactly proud of my living conditions. A beat-up double bed in a finished basement was far from a bachelor pad. And she had two young girls at home. At least the ex-husband was out of the picture. I couldn’t imagine letting go of a woman of Amee’s caliber was easy, although she did have to see him every week. 
“This has been truly perfect. Thank you.”
I hooked my chin on her shoulder and squeezed her a little closer. “You ready to go?”
She turned to face me, and gave her head a slow, sultry shake. The back of her hand brushed against my beard. Amee stroked my ear with her fingertips then curled them into my hair. 
When she let go, she touched my shoulders then journeyed down my arms and up again. I longed to reciprocate but sensed there was more meaning than feeling my muscles. 
At my waist, skin met skin with her fingers on my stomach. I fell back onto my elbows and she climbed on top of me, her flowing dress forming a circle on the blanket. Holy shit. The only thing standing between more flesh was her underwear and my pants.
“You been thinking about our texts?” Her voice was almost a whisper.
“Best part of my week.”
She pushed down, and my very obvious erection wrote thank-you notes at the contact. 
“I can tell,” she said with a small grin.
I hit the blankets below and searched the stars for restraint. Lucky for me it was a cloudy night. I shot up, flipped her over, and we were nose-to-nose within seconds. I ran my hand over her smooth leg, exposing it to the night.
“You still cold, Cupcake?”
With a brush of my lips, she shuddered. I kissed her again, then again, deeper but just as slow. Her warm, sweet mouth was too much, and I needed to rub for some relief. I took a hold of her little ass, and when my fingers found lace, I dug in. A whimper accompanied her leg as she hooked it around my lower back, guiding me to continue my grind. Our kiss amplified, the below-the-belt friction only making me more ravenous. I moved my hand from her ass to her breast and moaned. Even through fabric I could tell her breasts were sensational—a perfect size and no doubt under-appreciated. When my thumb skimmed the pebbled center, she arched her back even more. 
I kissed down her neck, and at the base, I had to nibble. It was too much. She was too sweet, too selfless. I needed to make sure she was real. I kissed the spot I’d just claimed as my own and trailed a line with my tongue to her ear.
“So…beautiful.” My throaty whisper made her seek out my lips. Amee scraped her fingernails along my neck and tugged hard at my hair. She released one hand and scratched down my back. How she’d known it fucking turned me on more, I had no idea. 
Jesus Christ. I wanted to get inside that lace. She would be dripping. I touched her thigh and could already sense her warmth. After another gentle kiss on her sure-to-be-swollen lips, she dropped her head to the blanket below. 
“Condom. Please tell me you have a condom,” she groaned. 
Wait. What?
Did she think I was going to have sex with her? No doubt I wanted to. Shit, I needed to. But she barely knew me. Counting coffee, it was only our third date.
Double shit. I’d taken it too far. I rolled off her and fell on my back, my dick shouting profanities at me for the lack of contact. 
“Please. Please. Please tell me you have a condom in your pocket.” She propped up on an elbow. “Ben.” Her hand found the flesh of my stomach and she climbed on top of me. I closed my eyes and let her rock in her rhythmic bliss. She leaned down to my ear and said, “I want you to fuck me.”
Am I in purgatory? Because it was equal parts heaven and hell. Meanwhile, my dick had a new best friend and her name was Amee Benton. 
“Ben?”
“I don’t want to have sex.” I hated every word in that sentence. Every syllable. Every letter. 
Fuck you, sentence. 
“Oh.” She stopped her tease. Protests, including signs and chants, called out from behind the zipper of my pants. 
“I mean I do. Obviously, I do.” 
She unhooked her legs from my hips and plopped down next to me, facing the opposite way.
“Hey.” I shuffled over to see her face. 
Amee frowned and hugged her knees. 
“No. No. No. You don’t get to do that.”
“What?” She pouted. Actually pouted. Mercy.
“First of all, let me just say that your fat lip is adorable. But”—I unfolded her arms and pushed her down on her back—“you don’t get to take this as a rejection.” 
With her bottom lip in a full pout, she said, “Feels like rejection.” 
“Really?” I rubbed against her one more time to offer the proof. “I’m just not ready to take that step with you.”
“Exhibit A says you are.” She smiled. 
I kissed her again. “Guilty as charged. But we’re not there yet.” I breathed her in one last time then pushed to my knees. “Come on. It’s past your curfew.”
Crawling around the blanket, I collected the remains of our meal. Amee hadn’t moved and was studying the sky. 
“You’re not helping?” I asked, not really caring, just curious as to what she was thinking about.
“I’m on strike and staying here until you change your mind.” She turned her head to me and batted her eyes with exaggeration. “Any chance of that happening?”
I hopped off the truck and held out my hand. “Not tonight, Cupcake.”
On the drive home, she played with my free hand while she stared out of the windshield. It was after midnight when I pulled up along the curb to her house. 
“Thank you for a beautiful night.”
We kissed again, and when she pulled away, she touched her cheek.
“You better hope this whisker burn is gone by tomorrow. I can’t have all the school moms clucking around me at the Fall Fest I organized.” She winked and reached for the door handle.
“Oh, right. See you then,” I said and cleared my throat.
Her hand stayed on the handle, but she didn’t open the door. Instead she turned to me and asked, “What do you mean ‘see you then’?”
“I’m taking Nate. His mom…” Is a drunken embarrassment. “Can’t make it.”
“Oh.” Her smile was off. “See you there. Night.” She hopped out of the truck and walked up the pathway to her front door. When she turned around and waved goodbye, the corners of her mouth were curved the wrong way. 

Author Bio:
Contemporary romance and erotica writer Deana Birch was named after her father's first love, who just so happened not to be her mother. Born and raised in the Midwest, she made stops in Los Angeles and New York before settling in Europe where she lives with her own blue-eyed Happily Ever After. Her days are spent teaching yoga, playing tennis, ruining her children's French homework, cleaning up dog vomit, writing her next book, or reading someone else's.

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