By Jagger’s book, Chore Play, we thought Victoria might get her own book at some point. Her and Jagger sparring was just so fun to write. I think we didn’t want to say good-bye. We added an ex-husband and the decided the kid would be a seven-year-old daughter. All we had to do was get her to relocate from L.A. to Chicago. And that’s when we decided that she’d only do that if it were to help out someone she loved dearly.
Some of you are probably saying, yeah, yeah, we like Victoria, but give us the skinny on Reed.
Reed sure is dreamy, right? In our plotting, we knew we wanted the guys in Charity Case to be different than others we’ve written. We wanted to do another series with only the heroines POV (sorry dual POV lovers, but we’ll be writing some extra scenes in Reed’s POV as bonus material). We agreed he needed to be a good guy—not a player or a bad boy. Someone who would pull Victoria out of her self-imposed dating hibernation and make her realize how beautiful and strong she is.
Fun fact on how fast our stories can change. Reed was just going to be an attorney, but he was never going to be their best man until we were writing the blurb and realized what’s the conflict again? Since we’d never done an ex best friend storyline before it was a winner.
That’s about all the 411 on Manic Monday.
Our usual dream team plus a few new additions who need a round of applause.
Letitia from RBA Designs for the amazing covers. From the first Manic Monday she sent, we were in love. This series is actually Piper’s favorite of all of ours. So far anyway! ;)
Ellie from Love N Books for line editing. Thank you for dealing with our usual question, “we’ll have it next week, how fast can you turn it around?”
Shawna from Behind the Writer for her eagle eye proofreading skills and making sure everything flows.
Sarah Ferguson and Social Butterfly PR for their organization, patience and help on not only Charity Case Series but on a daily basis.
All the bloggers who carve out time to read and review our books. For the teasers you make, the word you spread, the messages you sent. It only spurs our excitement for the next book.
Our first readers of a really shitty, unedited copy—Heather, Angela and newbie, Tina.
This is the first time we reached out to some of our readers for help. Neither one us knew much about Multiple Sclerosis and we didn’t want to write something we knew nothing about. Thank you to Tina Morgan, Melissa Godwin Lane, Anna Fay and Heather Fueger. We are sorry that this disease has touched your life in either yourself being diagnosed or a close friend or family member. Your information was invaluable. Though it wasn’t the basis of the story itself, we did want to make sure we portrayed Victoria’s mother accurately.
All our early ARC readers, first for wanting to read our stuff early and for posting their reviews.
And of course, all our unicorns. <3 Your excitement and enthusiasm for our characters keep our inspiration on overdrive. We are thankful each day to have every one of you Unicorns in our corner.
Next up is Chelsea! It’s no surprise that according to the poll in our Unicorn Facebook group that Lennon and Jasper have to make an appearance. Now to weave that in…huh? We cannot wait for you to get Chelsea’s book because Dean might be the complete opposite of Reed except for the fact, he’s going to win her over whether she believes him or not.
xo,
Piper & Rayne
BTW – There was just something about Pete. Yeah, he wasn’t the best husband the first time around, but we think there’s something endearing about him. Should we straighten him out and make him deserving of his own book? We kinda want to write one…
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
© 2018 by Piper Rayne
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Cover design: RBA Designs
Line Editor: Gray Ink Editing
Proofreader: Shawna Gavas, Behind The Writer
The perfect man for me is the one who broke my heart. #thanksbutnothanks
Once bitten.
Twice shy.
Yeah, I wish.
I'm on a mission to find myself a nice, solid, respectable man. The only problem is nice, solid, and respectable comes in a meh package and is B-O-R-I-N-G as hell.
It's been established. I have one type. Bad Boy. I tried the other flavors, I really did. But there's nothing like the allure of a man who takes what he wants without apology.
As if my love life isn't dramatic enough, Dean Bennett walks into my life again thinking he's going to win me back with his charm and charisma. He might come in a different package, but under that expensive suit he's still the same cocky, arrogant, pompous prick who only cares about numero uno.
I'm not that naïve young girl anymore so I have to ignore the fact that the way he looks at me practically sets my panties on fire.
Everyone deserves a second chance to right a wrong. The problem? He's not just an ex-boyfriend…
He's my ex-husband.
Chapter One
“Addison and Clark.” I glance up from my phone to try and give my taxi driver the directions through the rearview mirror. He nods and says something that I can’t hear because he’s talking into his Bluetooth instead of to me.
I shrug and continue to hammer out the message with my thumbs.
Me: I’m going to be about ten minutes late.
Three dots appear below my message and I envision my date sitting at the bar waiting for my arrival.
Glen: K.
Me: Do you like the bar?
The three dots appear and then disappear. I keep the phone poised in my hands for a few minutes before giving up on a response and dropping the phone in my lap.
A manila folder rests under my purse on the backseat of the taxi that I need to drop off before I can begin my weekend. I glance out the window at everyone rushing down the streets to get to their Friday night plans. That should’ve been me.
When Glen reached out through Coffee Meets Bagel, I was skeptical. CMB is known to attract guys who are looking for commitment. His profile picture was a gym selfie and though it might have stirred up the lady parts, I’m working on having my brain override my vajayjay’s radar these days. My brain said this guy smells like trouble—especially after the beach guy’s picture who ended up being a catfish.
After I didn’t respond to his message right away, another message came through. He said he knows the picture is lame, but his friends convinced him it was the way to go. I asked if the picture was him and he told me if I showed up on the date, I’d find out it was in fact him. He was playful and funny, and he hooked me. And now I’d volunteered to deliver this damn package and ruin what could very well be the story we tell our potential grandchildren with, first I had to drop off papers at a tax attorney’s office for my boss.