It was love. Once. Or lust. An inexplicable pull. A deep, visceral attraction. I’m talking about the item that hangs in your closet. Unworn. Or sits on a shelf, the tags still on.  Once, you stood in a dressing room thinking Oh yeah! And now it resides, forlorn, behind the safe clothing, the outfits you can put on in your sleep. Are they mistakes or glimpses into a rarely acknowledged side of yourself? By a certain age, we know what we’ll feel and look good in. But once in a while, something different calls to us. Like the ankle strap, skyscraper Michael Kors heels, deeply discounted at my favorite off-price store.  They sat untouched and unloved side by side with the cowboy boots, and Merrell’s I usually wore.  Who had I been channeling when I said yes to them? For what fictional black tie event? I had unearthed them during one of my periodic closet purges. As I always did during the de-cluttering process, I gave the shoes one last chance. Oh my. Not only was I taller, I instinctively stood up straighter and sucked my stomach in. My hips looked slimmer.  No wonder I’d bought them. But could I…

I’m so happy to be back on Fresh Fiction today! Since my latest release is a holiday story in the STRANDED WITH A HERO CHRISTMAS anthology, I thought it’d be fun to talk about what makes holiday cooking more fun. And a hot guy in the kitchen is always a bonus, right? In AN OFFICER AND A REBEL, Kelsey wrecks her car in the snow and is rescued by her high school boyfriend’s older brother, who’s now a town cop. He offers to let her stay with him while the storm clears. As they’re talking that night, she mentions how she and her mom always make Christmas cookies, and she’s sad she’ll miss it. So the next day, Nate borrows a bag of chocolate chips, trying to make up for her missing out on her usual tradition. Better yet, he stays to help her measure out ingredients and taste test the dough, which of course requires close proximity and stolen glances. There’s something about a cozy kitchen, the scent of baking food, and ten minutes to kill while you wait for those cookies to come out of the oven. I happen to recommend kissing to pass the time. It burns…