CHARMING * SWOON-WORTHY * EMOTIONAL
Sparks fly between the youngest Morgan brother, the always sunshiny Boone, and his boss, the older workaholic, down-on-love grumpy woman who hired him as her male nanny.
"Ăźber-adorable "
BOONE
I know a BS excuse when I hear one. And my new boss has thrown half a dozen at me about why we can't be together. I only have one thing to say to all of that. The number of fucâuhâforks I give about what other people think about us is zero. A big fat goose egg.
See! I've even learned to watch my language around her and the kid. I'm that serious about proving to this woman she needs to give meâgive usâa chance. That it doesn't matter if she is a little older than me, or that I work for her, or that the Mudville gossip mill will definitely choose us as the topic du jour.
All that matters is that I can prove to her that life, especially life in a small town, is so much better when you don't give a fuâum, I meanâfork.
Darn it, that swear jar is going to bankrupt me.
SARAH
Iâve sworn off men. It took me thirty-nine years and two huge mistakes in the romance department to come to my senses but I finally did. Work is my life now and thatâs exactly the way I like it.
Thatâs what makes it extra uncomfortable that the adorable three-year old I inherited for six months while my sister is deployed has chosen a hot, ripped twenty-something farmer as our new live-in nanny.
Booneâs too nice, too sunshiny and too good with the boy for me to fire him, but dammit he needs to start wearing more clothes around the house because Iâm one hard ab away from breaking my vow of celibacy with a man whoâs ridiculously wrong for me in so many ways.
Â
Zero Forks is an opposites attract, older woman younger man, steamy, grumpy boss romance set in Mudville, the crazy small town youâve come to know and love.
ADD ZERO FORKS TO YOUR BOOKBUB WISHLIST
Illustrated Cover Paperback on Amazon
.
SARAH
How illegal was it to leave a sleeping child strapped in his car seat in the car alone?
It was a cool day and I had left the windows cracked. Even thinking that had me cringing and secondâor third-guessing my decision as I envisioned the news report.
Thirty-nine-year old woman arrested in Mudville for child endangerment and neglect.
Lovely.
And why did they always mention the age? It really didnât seem necessary.
As if the prospect of turning forty wasnât traumatic enough, I didnât need an arrest haunting me. But at least Iâd look well put together for my mug shot. Although heels and a pencil skirt had to be the worst fashion choice Iâd ever made given how today had turned out.
I decided to not beat myself up about it since today was my first full day with my nephew. God help me. God help us both.
READ MOREI glanced out to my car parked along the curb and then back to the waitress.
Until now, Iâd had no concept of how challenging Lizaâs life was as a single mom. I was rapidly learning.
But juggling take-out food and sleeping children was the least of my worries. It was becoming rapidly apparent that the logistics of this babysitting gig werenât going to work.
Thanks to getting the new account, Iâd be working harder and more hours than ever before. I obviously needed full-time childcare.
Iâd googled the duration of shingles and found it could be well over a month before my dad would be clear. And there was a good possibility my mother would have caught it by then and the cycle would start all over again. It was obvious they wouldnât be up for tending Stewie for a while.
My apartment was tiny, so I couldnât move Stewie into my place with me long term. My sister lived too far from where I worked, so staying at her place was out of the question. I was going to have to somehow find a short-term rental for us for at least the next couple of months.
It was a lot, but that was all taking a backseat to my concern that if Stewie woke up alone in the car while I was in the diner, he was going to flip the hell out. Then Iâd be arrested for sure.
Blowing out a loud breath I turned back to try to catch the waitressâs attention and ask her how much longer it would be for the order Iâd placed.
She walked by and I called out, âExcuse me.â
âYeah?â
âI have a three-year old asleep in the car outside. Is there any way you could put a rush on my order?â
Preferably, before all hell broke loose and the cops showed up.
The waitress cringed. âThe kitchenâs pretty slammed but if you want, you can go out and wait in the car and Iâll run the order outside to you when itâs ready.â
I jumped at her offer. âYouâd do that?â
âSure.â She nodded.
âThank you, thank you, thank you.â Iâd thank her even more with cold hard cash in the form of a tip.
âNo problem,â she replied before skittering off to deal with a woman waving at her from the other end of the counter.
That problem solved, I ran outside to the car and tried the door. Locked. Of course Iâd locked it. I didnât want Stewie to be kidnapped on my watch.
But Iâd only brought my wallet into the diner. Not my purse. So where were the keys?
Leaning in I peered through the window . . . and spotted the keys dangling from the ignition.
Holy shit. How could I have done that? Locked my keys in the car with the kid?
Jeez, I was a horrible babysitter.
Chances where good I was going to accidentally kill him yet. Then Iâd be in prison where I wouldnât have to worry about rentals or ad campaigns.
Drawing in a breath, I looked around, panicked. There were a ton of cars parked out here, and the diner had been packed inside, but there wasnât a soul outside on the sidewalk.
Panicked, I realized my cell phone was also inside the car, in the holder on the dashboard where it had been giving me GPS directions from my sisterâs to my apartment.
Mouthing another obscenity, I glanced around me again, completely at a loss. I could go inside and ask to use the dinerâs phone to call the auto club to come break into my car for me, but then Iâd have to admit Iâd locked my nephew inside.
I didnât relish that idea. But I also couldnât let Stewie wake up and realize he was trapped inside.
Could a kid his age open the car locks if I talked him through it? I had no idea.
I was so unprepared for this task it was criminalâliterally. There was no way around it. I was just going to have to give in, go back into the diner and beg for help.
Fighting tears, I covered my face and groaned in frustration.
âProblem?â The manly voice had me peeking between my fingers to see the insanely good-looking twenty-something guy Iâd noticed in the diner before.
The hot one who, if I werenât crazy, had been checking me out. The one who was much too young for me to be thinking of as hot to begin with or assuming heâd be interested at a woman my age.
Nope. I wasnât going to ask him for help. No way. Iâd take a chance on the auto club getting here before Stewie woke up.
My irrational proclamation was upturned when Stewie chose that second to do just that. I saw the big blue eyes open beneath the shock of overly long, wavy dark brown hair that my sister refused to trim.
I saw the moment he saw me on the wrong side of the locked door. Luckily, he was too young to know it was locked or that there was a problem.
If I could just control my own expression heâd never know.
Forcing a smile I leaned low and said, âStewie. Hey, buddy. Youâre awake.â
âIâm hungry,â he said, his little voice muffled by the mostly closed window between us.
âI know you are, bud. The food is coming.â Maybe I could slip the french fries to him through the crack in the window one at a time.
I felt mister hot young bod behind me before I turned and saw him there. Heâd leaned to see past me, to the steering column, even as I moved to block his view.
A smirk twisted his lips. âYou lock the kid in the car with the keys?â
âNo. I meanââ I let out a sigh. âNot on purpose.â
His grin widened. âWait here. Iâll be back in a sec.â
âNot like I can go anywhere,â I mumbled as he trotted away from me.
As promised, he was back in under a minute. Thank God because I was running out of small talk with Stewie.
âLet me in there,â he said as he sidled around me to get to the driverâs side window.
âWhat are you going to do?â I panicked when I saw the long metal rod in his hand. âDonât break the window.â
He frowned at me. âIâm not.â
Sliding the thin piece of metal between the window and the doorframe, he wiggled it around a bit and then, thank goodness, I heard a click.
After pulling the tool back out he reached down and opened the driverâs door. âThere you go.â
I let out my breath in a whoosh. âThank God.â
âActually, the nameâs Boone, not God, and youâre welcome.â He grinned.
I couldnât even be annoyed at his cocky attitude and dumb joke. I was too grateful. Heâd helped me out of a huge jam. Saved Stewie from a certain meltdown. Prevented an embarrassing call for help.
âThank you.â
âMy pleasure.â He hit the button to unlock all the doors, opened Stewieâs and leaned in. âHey, buddy. How you doing back there?â
âIâm hungry,â Stewie repeated, making me feel like the worst aunt in the world.
âThe order is coming,â I explained.
âYeah. Theyâre slammed on weekends. It can take a while. Want some of my shake?â Boone asked Stewie directly, holding the cup out toward him.
My eyes widened. We were coming into cold and flu season. I didnât know this guy. Before I could express all my concerns, Stewie reached out for the cup.
âIâll hold it for you. Itâs kind of big.â This stranger bent his long legs and settled right in the back seat next to Stewie, holding the cup for him with one big hand while he guided the straw into the childâs mouth with the other. âItâs good, huh?â
Stewie nodded.
âAlways ask for extra thick when you order. Thatâs the trick,â Boone explained, as Stewie focused on him like he was spilling the secrets of the universe.
âHey, here you go.â
I spun at the girlâs voice and found the waitress next to me, bag extended toward me with one hand.
âThank you,â I said, grateful as I realized Iâd never went into my wallet to get her a tip. I rushed to put down the bag and remedy the situation when she stepped to the rear door and peered inside.
âHey, Boone. Whatcha doing in there?â
âHey, Sha. Just hanging out and sharing my shake with this little dude.â
She laughed. âIâd say heâs a step up from some of the people you usually hang out with.â
âHa, ha. Smart ass,â he mumbled.
âSmart ass,â Stewie repeated with a wide grin on his face.
I sucked in a breath. I shouldnât react. That would just reinforce the behavior, but I couldnât control myself.
Booneâs eyes shot wide as he glanced at me. âOh shit. Iâm sorry.â
Stewie giggled and proceeded to chant, âShitshitshitshitshit.â
In fact, he made it into a song. One that went on and on and actually had a catchy tune to it.
At that, the waitress lost it, laughing so hard she had to bend over at the waist.
Boone cringed and met my gaze and I knew one thingâhowever long I had him for, our time together was going to leave a lasting impression on Stewie . . . and afterward my sister might never speak to me again.
COLLAPSEJaneane on BJ's Book Blog wrote:Just like the first books in this series, this one was Ăźber-adorable and funny and small-towny and sparky and just totally sweet. I LOVED it!
...an adorable + funny + sweet small town reverse-age-gap love story!
I adore the small town feel of this series... And my oh my, how freaking wonderful and adorable is Boone.
6 thoughts on “Zero Forks”
I am loving the kissing book series. What we really, really, really need is Carson’s story – pleeeeeease Cat, please .
LOL Funny you asked that… Carson’s definitely getting a story!
Absolutely fascinating and enthralling series. I am a bookaholic and cannot put these books down until I have read every delicious word! I read continuously and you are an author I dearly love.
Thank you so much!! That’s so good to hear. I’ll admit it was a scary transition for me to go from writing mostly Navy SEALs, into small town rom com!
Love this series
OM goodness so much fun. I canât wait to get my hands on Booneâs story or Carsonâs either. And what the heck is going on with the old couple in Kissing Books did they get togetherđą Itâs like living in Baggs WY again, with party lines and barn dances and huge community barbecues. Thanks Cat â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
Comments are closed.