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🌟 Please join me in welcoming author Becca Seymour to Stories That Make You Smile. Becca is here today celebrating the release of the fourth book in her fantastic True-Blue series, Thinking It Over. Becca has brought along an exclusive excerpt and a generous giveaway! 🌟
Thinking It Over by Becca Seymour
Love could break the rules and not follow a set plan or routine.
Series: True Blue (book #4)
Publisher: Rainbow Tree Publishing
Cover Artist: Booksmith Design
Release Date: June 13, 2020
Length: Novel / 63k words / 236 pages
Pairing / Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance, age difference, office/workplace romance, pets are ‘portant, teachers, friends, pets, low-angst
Blurb
When a young teacher connects with the principal of his school, work and ex issues, the possibility of happiness, and a chocolate Labrador called Penny means they have a lot to think over.
Newly appointed teacher, Jasper Taylor, can’t believe his luck. After a year, he’s found a job with the possibility of a permanent contract, which finally allows him to put his teaching degree to good use. After meeting the silver-haired principal of the school, Jasper discovers his new position offers an additional temptation. He knows he should retreat, but who said avoiding attraction was easy, especially when the man he’s crushing on seems too good to be true?
Well-respected and focused on his career, Austin Harrison is at the top of his game. He’s turned a struggling school around, has finally put up boundaries with his demanding ex, and may just have secured full custody of his chocolate Lab, Penny. The appointment of the new English teacher, Jasper, threatens to unsettle the stability he’s been working towards. Austin’s attraction is immediate, heady, and oh so complicated. But does complicated mean he has to walk away?
Join Jasper and Austin in Becca Seymour’s low-angst, feel-good LGBTQ series, True-Blue Book 4. In the small town of Kirkby, there are busybodies, dogs who cause chaos, families who have the “best” of timing, and where good men have the opportunity to find their perfect match.
Excerpt
I smiled in greeting. “Morning.”
He yawned in answer, covered his mouth, and followed with “Morning.” As he edged further into the room, he cast a glance around the place. “You get in early?”
“Yeah.” I bobbed my head. “Woke early, so thought I’d head on in.” I continued piling bottles of milk in the counter fridge.
“Not sleeping well?” Concern lit his words.
“No, I am, usually. I had a late night with Ian. My own fault. Meant I was restless.” I closed the fridge door, stood, and stretched. I looked at Davis, who’d paused rather than heading directly into the kitchen like he usually did. His brows were high, expectancy written all over his face. I didn’t even need to ask what the look was for. Instead, I shook my head and said, “No.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but I shook my head again. He clamped his mouth closed, and I sighed in relief.
“But he’s such a nice guy.”
I groaned. I should have known better than to have thought he would let this go. Since I’d dragged Ian to his and Scott’s Thanksgiving get-together last year, Davis hadn’t let up about Ian and me being more than just friends.
But there was no way that would ever be happening.
What Davis didn’t know was that Ian and I had made out once. Albeit a sloppy, drunken version of lips mashing together. We’d ended up pulling away, noses scrunched, and laughing. The connection simply hadn’t been there. Open and honest, we’d agreed the chemistry wasn’t there and the last thing we wanted was to put our friendship at risk. That night, we drank a couple of shots and decided to stick to being friends.
And I was more than happy with that. He had become one of my best friends, and while he was a hot guy, my attraction didn’t go any further than simple admiration. And I knew him well enough to know my feelings were reciprocated.
Davis had other ideas.
“He is a nice guy. A good friend too. We don’t need pushing together.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“Hey,” he said with a smile, lifting his hands up and out before him, “You were the one a while back saying you’d like someone to snuggle up with at night.” He stepped around the counter and through the doorway into the kitchen. “And a dildo, a teddy bear, and hitting Private on your phone’s search engine is not the same thing.” He laughed his ass off as he disappeared from sight.
“If you weren’t my boss, you know I’d tell you to go screw yourself, right?” I threw over my shoulder, amused.
“It’s a good thing I’m your boss and don’t believe in interfering in employee’s lives then, huh?” His words reached me, followed by his snort.
“Yeah, good thing,” I jibed, turning to the cash register and checking the cash and making sure the card reader was set to go.
It was amazing how quickly time flew on by when you had a pretty awesome, down-to-earth boss and a job that relied on routine. The morning rush was long over, and we were getting things ready for the lunchtime crowd. It had been hectic, but we’d managed like we usually did.
I’d just restocked the muffins when my phone buzzed in my pocket. A quick glance around showed no customers waiting, so I pulled it out, expecting to see Mom’s name. A local number lit up the screen. I hovered my finger over Accept as I called out to Davis. “You okay out here a minute? I need to grab this call.”
“Yeah. Sure thing.”
I smiled my thanks as I hit the button. “Hello.”
“Good morning. Is that Jasper Taylor, please?”
I scrunched my brows, wondering who could be calling as I answered, “Yes, speaking.”
“Oh, wonderful. Hi, Jasper. It’s Barb here from Crescent High, Principal Harrison’s PA. I was hoping we could arrange some time for an interview, please.”
Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and my stomach lurched. Crescent High was only thirty miles away. I also knew it was a good school. Crescent was a slightly bigger town than Kirkby and was an easy commute. “Yeah, sure.” I paused for breath, trying like hell to control the high-pitched eagerness pouring forth. “What date were you looking at?”
I concentrated hard as Barb spoke, the pounding of my overeager heartbeat making it difficult. “Is tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. too soon? Principal Harrison is eager to get you in and start the process.”
I nodded eagerly, following up with “Absolutely, I can make that time.” Tomorrow was my day off, so it worked perfectly.
“Superb,” she said. “Just head to the visitors’ reception to sign in, and they’ll point you in the right direction.”
“Will do. Thanks. I’ll see you then.”
The line went dead, and I pulled it from my ear, staring at the device wide-eyed. For over a year I’d been looking for a position as a teacher, and there had been absolutely nothing. Crescent High was one of the first places I’d checked out. Admittedly, I bugged them at the beginning and the end of every term, letting them know my availability, but I was desperate to return to the classroom.
☆ Exclusive Excerpt ☆
The coast was clear, so I slipped into the staff shower room to wash the day off me. It had been a full-on day trying to get kids to not roll their eyes back in their heads so far that I’d have to call 911 when I tried to convince them that Shakespeare had been a radical genius. And trying to get one of my classes to understand the intricacies of an extended metaphor could quite possibly have driven me to drink.
But I’d survived another day. More than that, I’d enjoyed it, felt the thrill of the buzz when Bobby was able to explain the difference between a possessive apostrophe and one used for omission. That small light that seemed to flicker and click into place made the countless explanations and examples worth it.
After agreeing on our date, it took till the next day for me to realize in truth: there wouldn’t be enough time to get home, clean up, and return in time to pick Austin up. This had led me to scope out the staff facilities, one of which was a shower room.
It didn’t take long to hose myself down and get me smelling fresh. Dressed in my favorite black Levi’s, a brand my dad had totally got me appreciating, and a pale blue button-down, I headed to my car, noting I wasn’t the last to leave, so there was no need to worry about security.
Music played quietly in my car, helping to ease the nerves finding their way into my system. I figured nerves were a good thing. It meant I cared enough about Austin to try my hardest to ensure he had a good night. After walking Penny, we’d head to a family-owned pizza place in the next town over.
Aware that this small town had a rumor mill that spread quicker than lies on Twitter, I’d been a little anxious about staying too local. It would mean a forty-minute drive to the restaurant, but I hoped we’d have more semblance of privacy by doing so.
As I pulled up outside of Austin’s, I immediately grinned at seeing both Penny and the man himself waiting on the porch. “Hey,” I greeted as I stepped out.
His gaze roamed my body as he headed down the steps toward me, and I made my way closer to him. With no idea of the right way to greet him, relief settled through me when he leaned in and planted a small kiss on my mouth. Despite the briefness, I still closed my eyes, savoring the touch. A content sigh slipped past my lips before he pulled away.
“You look really good,” he said as he angled back a little, eyes landing on my bright red rain boots. He grinned. “Expecting rain?”
I grinned back and gave a small shrug. “It rained yesterday, and I didn’t want to wreck my shoes or jeans on our walk.”
“Red’s definitely your color.” He reached for my hand, and we turned, both of us focusing on Penny, who was clearly struggling to contain herself on the porch. With her tail wagging dangerously fast, I was concerned she was going to do herself damage. “Come on then, Penny. You’ve been super patient,” Austin said.
Meet the Author
Becca Seymour lives and breathes all things book related. Usually with at least three books being read and two WiPs being written at the same time, life is merrily hectic. She tends to do nothing by halves so happily seeks the craziness and busyness life offers.
Living on her small property in Queensland with her human family as well as her animal family of cows, chooks, and dogs, Becca appreciates the beauty of the world around her and is a believer that love truly is love.
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Also by Becca Seymour
Coming Home Series
Giveaway
Becca is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card with this tour. Enter via Rafflecopter:
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This sounds great, I think I need to download a sample! 🙂
It does. I’ve read the first in this series. I need to pick up the rest. 💖