At Home with Andre Excerpt Tour

Blurb:

New York public relations consultant and self-proclaimed control freak Katie McDowell may have made the biggest career mistake of her life. She’s agreed to temporarily leave her beloved Manhattan to manage the company’s struggling New Orleans office, knowing her biggest client is television chef Andre Thibodeaux, whose massive masculine presence makes her feel hotter than the onset of menopause.

Finding her way in a funky new city and earning the trust of her employees is tough enough without annoying hot flashes, night sweats and ugly mood swings, not to mention the lingering memory of one steamy night she shared with the big man she thinks she can’t have.

Sexy, smart, and successful, Chef Andre has everything a man could want except the right woman, and he’s determined to learn why Katie rejected him. To convince her to stay in Louisiana, he’ll need to find a way to make her fall in love-with him, as well as the vibrant southern city he calls home.

Exclusive Excerpt:

I’m about to knock off and head to the gym to work off some calories, as well as my sexual frustration, when my assistant walks into my office, holding a cardboard container bearing the logo of a venerable French Quarter bakery. Opening the box, I find a ring-shaped cake covered in white icing and dusted with green, gold, and purple sugar. I’ve never seen anything like it.

The enclosed card reads, Don’t bite the baby. Andre.

What baby? Is this a local joke I don’t understand? From the corner of my eye, I see Lila walk past my open office door and I wave her in.

“What is this?” I ask.

“Oh, someone sent you a King Cake. They’re a prized treat this time of year, right up until Fat Tuesday.

“You should Google it and get the whole history,” she suggests.

I take another peek at the garish cake sitting in its box.

“Is there a baby in there?”

Lila places one hand over her mouth to suppress a laugh. “A plastic baby Jesus. If you get the baby in your piece of cake, it’s supposed to bring good luck, or something like that.”

I ponder her answer for a moment before vowing to go home and claim my prize.

Back at my apartment, I set the open cake box on my kitchen counter and begin poking holes in it with the end of a wooden spoon. After several attempts, I hit something firm. Using my fingers, I dig out a tiny figurine and place it in my palm before curling my fingers around it. An emotional tidal wave engulfs me as I blink back tears. Why would the sight of a cheap plastic toy make me want to weep? It could be another uncontrolled mood swing, although I know there’s more to it.

I’m pretty sure I love him.

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Author Bio and Links:

Kathleen Duhamel is the author of Deep Blue, Deeper, and At Home With Andre. She wrote and illustrated her first short story at the age of eight, and has been a writer for most of her life. Her love of the written word continued throughout her varied career as a newspaper journalist and editor, public relations executive, freelance travel writer and owner/operator of two small businesses. A native of Texas, she spent most of her adult life in Colorado before relocating to Virginia in 2014, where she lives with her husband, a standard poodle and geriatric cat. She is a lifelong devotee of rock and soul music, contemporary art and pop culture.

http://www.kathleenduhamel.com/

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