Whether it’s a surprise baby landing on his doorstep or six-year-old twin girls who make him rescue them from trees…there’s nothing more irresistible than a hot, alpha hero falling in love with a surprise family at the same time he finds the woman of his dreams.
This boxed set includes two steamy full-length contemporary romance novels about the sweet surprise of family by NYT and USA Today bestselling authors.
**Surprised by Family will be on sale for just $.99 for a limited time, beginning on April 13**
Blurb of “Revival” by Noelle Adams:
When she was a girl, Leila had an embarrassing crush on Baron James, her brother’s best friend. She’s grown up now, divorced with twin daughters and a new job as a college professor, and she needs to make good decisions. No matter how irresistible Baron is when he reenters her life, she won’t be a fool over him again.
Baron James has been a bad boy all his life, chasing women and seeking thrills, but he’s forced to take on leadership in his family’s company after his father dies. His new role takes everything he has, and he doesn’t have room in his heart to start a relationship with Leila and her daughters.
But his heart doesn’t seem to know this…
Excerpt:
“Good afternoon,” a pleasant male voice said from the open doorway of her office. “Dr. Luther?”
Leila had been trying to fix her hair, and she twirled around too quickly, hating the thought of being caught primping. One of the files in her hand slipped open and several sheets of paper fell out. With a gurgle of frustration, she leaned over to pick them up, dropping the file in the process.
She picked up the papers but unfortunately left the file on the floor. She stepped on it as she stood back up. There was no friction between the file folder and the hardwood floor, and her foot slipped on it.
She lost her balance completely. The pile of files tucked under her arm ended up littering the floor, and Leila ended up on her ass.
She closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath, feeling her cheeks flame red and praying desperately that it wasn’t the dean at the door.
“Are you all right?” the man said, his voice rich with something she knew to be laughter.
“Yes.” She opened her eyes and took the hand the man had extended to her. She didn’t look up at his face, though. She’d pull herself together before she checked to see who’d witnessed her clumsy display.
She dusted herself off while the man bent over to pick up some of her scattered files.
When he straightened up to hand them to her, they recognized each other at exactly the same moment.
“Leila? Leila Johnson?” he asked.
“Baron?” she breathed, almost in unison. Now she wasn’t just flustered and embarrassed. She was completely disoriented.
She hadn’t seen Baron since she’d graduated from high school. He and Dave had gone to different colleges, and they’d drifted apart as Baron’s lifestyle had gotten wilder and wilder. Dave hadn’t heard from Baron in years.
She thought he lived in New York now, working in the James Coffee offices there.
Yet here he was in her office in Boston, watching her make a fool of herself.
She felt like she was twelve years old again.
To her relief, Baron looked just as disoriented as she felt. A frown transformed his handsome face as his dark eyes scanned her from head to toe. “It’s Leila Luther now? I remembering hearing somewhere that you got married.” His gaze tried to follow her left hand.
She showed him her empty ring finger. “Divorced.”
“Ah.” He smiled and arched his eyebrows. “Sorry?”
In spite of herself, Leila choked on a bubble of laughter, the irony in his voice hitting her without warning. “I’m not, so I don’t know why you should be.”
She wasn’t sorry about the divorce. Her academic career had taken its toll on her marriage. After she’d had the girls six years ago, Rick had expected her to drop out of school and take care of them.
She hadn’t. She loved the girls more than anything, but she also loved her academic career, and there was no reason not to have both. Rick hadn’t been happy, though.
He’d shown his unhappiness by having an affair with a new associate at his law firm.
“Sorry about all that,” Leila added, gesturing to the floor and the files he still held. “I seem to be kind of a mess today.”
“No problem.” He stacked the files neatly and placed them on the one clean corner of her desk. “Sorry if I took you by surprise. I’d assumed the student who, er, greeted me would let you know I was on my way up.”
She wondered if he thought she’d known he was coming up and that was why she’d been primping. She’d dressed professionally rather than attractively today in a brown pants suit, but she suddenly wished she’d worn something different.
She’d never be a beauty queen, but she could look decent if she made an effort.
She wasn’t the plain, geeky girl she’d been before.
Blurb of “Autumn Wish” by Stacey Joy Netzel:
Nikki Rowen desires a family of her own–but first comes love, then comes marriage. She thought she had the former, until the moment she mentioned the latter and her boyfriend left her with nothing but a broken heart. Just as she’s beginning to doubt she’ll ever have a ’til death do us part Happily Ever After, she meets her new neighbor in the most unexpected way.
In Sam Mallin’s experience, the word family is synonymous with abandonment; he’s more than content on his own. Yet, in less than a week, he finds himself caring for an infant dropped on his doorstep, and playing house with his beautiful next-door-neighbor. When his feelings for Nikki deepen, he fears he’s nothing more than the ready-made family she so desperately wishes for. How can a self-proclaimed loner hold onto the two females most important to him without history repeating itself in a world of heartbreak?
Excerpt:
He’d just reached into the refrigerator for a beer when the doorbell chimed. The cheery summons grated across his nerves, making him cringe. Could he ignore this unwanted visitor who appeared to have practically been waiting in the bushes for him?
A glance over his shoulder gave him the answer. Nope. His bare windows, glaring lights, and the volume of the TV made it impossible to pretend he wasn’t home. Curtains and blinds seemed a great investment right about now.
Kicking the fridge shut, he twisted the cap from the bottle. The doorbell went off again, twice as long as before, as if the person on the other side held it down. Damn it. If this was another married woman bringing him pie, he was going to—
Smile, and say, “Thank you.” That’s what neighbors did, right?
He took a long, fortifying pull off his beer, then thumped it on the counter on his way to answer the door. Too bad his neighbor right next door hadn’t been one of those pie-wielding visitors. He’d have invited her inside.
Then he got a glimpse through the window…of her standing on his front porch.
“Well, whaddaya know,” he murmured with a sudden grin of anticipation. Maybe she’d come in and watch the game with him. Hell, he wouldn’t even care if she held a pie in her hands.
He swung the door open and smiled his welcome at the pretty blond. His gaze dropped, then froze. Where he would’ve preferred a pie, she held a baby carrier—complete with baby.
Damn, she had a kid. After what his mother put him and his sister through, he didn’t do women with kids.
“Samuel Mallin?”
He lifted his gaze up from all that pink to a pair of guarded blue eyes. Forcing his lips to maintain their upward curve, he answered, “I prefer Sam. And you’re Nicole, right?”
“Nikki.” She frowned. “How’d you—”
“I had some of your mail in my box yesterday,” he admitted.
“Ah.”
Her wry smile was appealing enough to make him forget about the baby. But it faded fast as she took a breath, shifted her stance, then extended her arms, carrier and all.
“Sam, this is yours.”
There was a crumpled envelope clutched between the fingers of her right hand. Tilting his head, he read his name in the crinkled address field and removed it from her grasp with a laugh. He liked that she’d chosen to bring his mail over personally. If he’d been thinking, he’d have done it first—and found out about the kid.
“Thanks,” he said as her baby began to fuss. “I just put your stuff in your mailbox.”
Nikki lifted the carrier higher with an exasperated huff. “You don’t understand. She is yours.”
In the middle of stuffing the folded envelope into his back pocket, his gaze dropped to the baby. Blue eyes, just like her momma. It took his brain a moment to make the connection, and then his pulse jumped as his eyebrows shot skyward. “Uh…I don’t think so.”
The baby sucked hard on a pacifier, her eyes shifting back and forth as she squirmed in the confined seat. Oh, hell no. He lifted his gaze once more, taking note of the woman’s curves on the way up. Yeah, she was pretty, but not worth this level of crazy. He’d have much preferred another pie.
“May I come in?”
“No,” he stated. “She’s not mine.”
He fumbled for the edge of the door. The woman stepped forward as he began to shut her out.
Her chin lifted and those blue eyes of hers glittered with determination. “Her name is Ella. She’s three and a half months old.”
“I haven’t—”
He broke off as she shouldered her way past, into his living room. Sam closed the door and followed her to the couch where she set the carrier and an overflowing diaper bag. He glanced toward the kitchen, searching out his cell phone on the counter. Was he going to have to call the cops to get rid of her?
The baby started to cry, so Nikki picked her up and rocked her while speaking in a soft, crooning voice. The gentle sound soothed his nerves until common sense returned with a vengeance.
Denial shook his head as he moved to stand in front of her. “Listen, I don’t know what you think you’re going to get out of this, but we’ve never met before, much less done what we would’ve needed to do to create that baby.”
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**About author, Noelle Adams: Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances.
**Contact Noelle: Website Facebook GoodReads Twitter
**About author, Stacey Joy Netzel: I fell in love with books at a young age, so for me it seemed only natural to graduate to writing them. I credit my parents for encouraging my dreams of becoming a published author, as well as the very talented friends I’ve made in Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Wisconsin Romance Writers (WisRWA).
An avid reader and fan of movies with a happily ever after, I live in Wisconsin with my husband and three children, a couple horses and some barn cats. In my limited free time I enjoy gardening and canning, and visiting my parents up north at the cabin on the lake with the whole family.
**Contact Stacey Joy: Website Facebook GoodReads Twitter
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I loved the sound of this as soon as I read: falling in love with a surprise family at the same time he finds the woman of his dreams. Sounds fab. Best of luck! 🙂 xx