Heather Greer – How We Met & Romantic Excerpt – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Heather Greer shares how she met her husband and how her characters meet in her latest Contemporary Romance, Cake That. Head’s up, this is one of my editing babies. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing for a copy. Deadline: Sept 4th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Heather:

You know in movies when the awkward girl turns around and sees the popular boy for the first time only to be completely taken with how incredibly attractive and out of her league he is?

Cue the romantic’s sigh. Cue the nay-sayer’s eye-rolling while denouncing the existence of such meetings.  These scenes aren’t as impossible as you may have been told. It happened to me in a Hallmark store. (And I feel like Hallmark owes me my own movie because of it, but I’ll try for that later.)

On the first day of my first job right before I graduated high school. I was the awkward girl with glasses and no fashion sense who was too tall and gangly to be considered attractive. I was an introvert who at various times got accused of being too shy or unapproachable because of my personality tendencies. You get the picture.

My co-worker showed me around, and we ended up in the backroom where someone came out of a room that I later learned was the staff restroom. Romantic, I know, but it’s the truth. He came around the corner, not looking up. My coworker got his attention.

“Andy, I’d like you to meet Heather, our new employee.”

His gaze rose to meet mine. Tall, dark, and completely adorable. Brown eyes, slightly curly brown hair, and a boyish grin that immediately rendered me unable to act like the intelligent person I’d always been. I stuck out my hand with a mumbled, “Hi.”

I learned he was there filling in for someone on vacation. At the end of the week, he’d be gone. We talked as I trained. One conversation with him and another coworker brought out the embarrassing fact that I’d never received flowers before. He couldn’t believe it. I shrugged it off.

On Friday, he called me to the breakroom and presented me with a perfect red rose and the invitation to an impromptu date after we both got off work. And while I can’t say we have lived a fairy tale life full of rainbows and sunshine, that was the start of a soon to be 28-year love story strong enough to weather the storms life brought us. A romance to last the rest of our lives.

Livvy Miller and Evan Jones, the main characters in my new book, Cake That! didn’t meet at work, but they were wowed from the start just as I was. Here is their meeting from Livvy’s point of view.

Excerpt from Cake That by Heather Greer:

Livvy felt Evan’s presence beside her as they walked up the path to the front door, though she had a feeling he shortened his stride to allow her to keep up without jogging. At five feet, eight inches, she’d never been short. But Evan had to be at least six-four. And gorgeous, too.

Though she thought she’d covered it well, she had nearly been rendered mute when he turned his hazel-gray eyes on her. Of course, who retained their ability to speak in front of someone with the presence of a Hollywood leading man?

Honey-blonde curls flipped out from under his hunter-green beanie, and the matching scruff on his cheeks only added to the appeal. And when he smiled at her with those boy-next-door dimples? It was a wonder she could introduce herself at all. She only hoped she hadn’t rambled incoherently.

Heather again:

With Livvy and Evan competing on a cake decorating show against 8 other competitors and with $100, 000 on the line, the recipe for romance could easily turn into a recipe for disaster. Personalities in the competitors’ house and possible sabotage in the kitchen combine to turn up the heat of competition. Winning will take total focus. And both Livvy and Evan are determined to win, even if it means missing out on the sweet possibility of love.