Younger sisters and other trials

I have a younger sister. It’s just the two of us and no one in my life has driven me crazier. But you know what? I was always really protective of her too. I hated when mom and dad would ground her. It scared me to death when she had an asthma attack. So, when she started dating, I felt that I had the right to have an opinion—and interrogate— the guys. It helped that we grew up in a tiny town and I’d known most of these guys since kindergarten, but I still wanted to be sure they would treat her right, respect her and make sure she was truly happy. Which really helped me relate to the characters in my book, Just My Type.

When I decided to write Just My Type, I knew that Sara, the youngest of the Bradford siblings, would be the heroine. I’d already known her through her sister and her brother’s stories and knew how much they—and all their friends—loved and looked out for her. I also really wanted her to have a wonderful love story. So that was a given. But who was the right hero for her? In the second book, Just Like That, it became apparent that Sara had a little crush on Sam’s friend Mac. But I couldn’t make him have deeper feelings for her too, could I? I knew that would be tough on Sam and Jessica (her older siblings). I knew that it would be tough on Mac, too. He’d have to worry about upsetting his best friend. I wasn’t as convinced it would be tough on Sara though. She was used to getting whatever she wanted from everyone, so probably wouldn’t think this was any different.

Turns out, once I thought about Mac and Sara together, I couldn’t get that out of my head. Mac’s always cared about, and tried to protect Sara. That could easily turn into more right? But I also knew that Sara would have to be the one to initiate things. Mac’s an honorable guy. He would never go after his best friend’s little sister.

Sure enough, Sara wanted Mac and she decided to go for it. Mac, as it turns out, did have beyond-friendship-feelings for her, but he was prepared to just live with it and never let anyone know about it. Except that Sara won’t be ignored.

Thus, Just My Type came to be!

It’s book three of the Bradfords series (Just Right and Just Like That were released earlier this year) and it was fun to revisit these characters (both Mac and Sara show up in both previous books), get to know them even better and give them their own adventure! Hope you’ll agree!

Here’s a little peek at Sara and Mac. You can find a full excerpt and more on my website www.ErinNicholas.com and more on Twitter, Facebook and at my YahooGroup in the next several days leading up to the September 14th release!

Just My Type, Erin Nicholas, Sept 14, 2010

Warning: Contains hot sex at the beach, kinky online shopping and yes, cotton candy flavored body powder does exist.

“How do you keep these so tight with all those Twinkies?” She rubbed her hand back and forth over the warm, white linen of his shirt.

Mac seemed to freeze. And stop breathing. His eyes were locked on hers and she felt a current zing between them. She’d never touched him like that. They’d held hands, even hugged before and she’d touched his arms, back, shoulder, even face once, but never his chest, or stomach, or lower.

“Sara?” His voice was definitely hoarse.

“Mac.”

“Move your hand.”

She slid it downward and Mac shot back, tipping his chair onto its back legs and throwing him off balance enough that he stumbled to his feet, knocking the chair over.

“Hell, Sara!” he swore. Straightening to his full height and glaring down at her he demanded.

“What the hell was that?”

She blinked at him, trying for innocence. “You said…”

“I didn’t mean that!” he snapped.

“Well, why not? I certainly wouldn’t mind doing it.”

He gaped at her and she almost laughed. She’d never seen Mac flabbergasted like this.

“You wouldn’t mind doing what exactly?”

Maybe he thought—or hoped—she was talking about something else. She had to make this clear.

“Putting my hand on your…”

“Okay,” he interrupted, throwing up his hands. “Enough. You’re obviously drunk.”

Instead of looking up and arguing his statement, Sara’s eyes found the object of conversation almost right in front of her. And he looked interested in what she was proposing.

Mac had an erection. Right there. Front and center. Unmistakable.

“You sure you’re not interested?” She looked directly at the tent in his pants.

He quickly righted the chair, sat and dropped his napkin in his lap. “Knock it off.”

“What? You’re telling me you’ve never thought of it? Ever?”

“Of having your hand down my pants at your brother’s wedding? No, I can honestly say I haven’t.” He wouldn’t look at her.

“So when have you thought about having my hand down your pants?”

More here!