Welcome back to Love Bytes author Sean Michael celebrating the release of the latest Mannies Incorporated Novel “Family Portrait”.
Check out Sean’s guestpost, excerpt and giveaway below 🙂

Thank you to Love Bytes for hosting me today!

First of all – Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

I know it’s a made-up holiday to help sell crap during an off-season, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love it just as a holiday for love. I am, after all, a romance writer. I’m not about the commerciality of the holiday, just the love and romance of it.

 

So, in Family Portrait, Dee will get the kids to help him make heart shaped cookies for Ash. All the kids will get to help decorate them however they wanted – even little Dillon will smash a few pink and white and red sprinkles into a heart-shaped cookie with his little fist, slightly mis-shaping it, but making it all the more precious for that.

 

Dee will also make hearts out of plaster, and put each of the kids’ handprints in one, as well as one with his own handprint. Then he’d bake them and paint them and box them up for Ash.

 

Meanwhile, Ash will help the kids all make cards for Dee. There will be glitter. Oodles and oodles of glitter. It will be a glitterpalooza, a glitter bonanza. Bath time will be extra shiny that night. Then Ash will take his favorite picture of Dee and the kids, have it printed up and framed for Dee.

 

Valentine’s Day night, Dee and Ash will cuddle up in a big chair and watch a romantic movie together after the kids have gone to bed. Yes, they will no doubt fall asleep partway through the movie and before they have a chance to make love, but that’s what being fathers is all about. Hell, that’s what love is all about. The romance is making the time to be together, even if you fall asleep during it.

 

Sean Michael

smut fixes everything

 

Blurb:

 

Ashton Grumfeld is a photojournalist who has spent a lot of years embedded with the troops in Afghanistan, only coming home to visit his sister Amy and her family for a few days at Christmas every year. When Amy and her husband are killed in a freak boat accident, the guardianship of their four children falls to him.

 

Darren Swanson has been nanny to the Grumfeld’s children since just before nine year old Diana, the eldest, was born. When their parents die, he’s left on his own with four kids until their uncle can make it out of Afghanistan and get home. It takes almost two weeks before that happens, two weeks of having to deal with newly orphaned children all the while wondering what’s going to happen when Ashton finally arrives on the scene.

 

Will Ashton and Darren be able to make a new family as they figure out how they fit together in the children’s lives, and each other’s? Find out in Family Portrait.

 

Buy links:

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Amazon

Kobo

 

Ash was no more going to be able to sleep now than he had for the last five days. But at least he was clean, right?

“Jesus, Amy. Seriously? A party boat? What were you thinking? You have four fucking kids. Four.”

No, Mr. Grumfeld. You have four fucking kids now. Somewhere God was laughing at him.

He had a thousand questions, and nine hundred of them would have to be answered by the lawyer.

His stomach snarled, and he pondered his options. There were nuts in his bag, but he wanted something delicious, something hot, so he headed out, looking for the fancy-assed chrome and marble kitchen. So different from the mess hall in Afghanistan where he’d come from.

There was a light from the end of the hall and he followed it, finding the kitchen, which not only had a light on over the sink, but the nanny was there, too, standing over a pot at the stove and stirring.

He didn’t know whether to just back off or say something.

“I’m making hot cocoa if you’d like some.”

Okay, that was spooky—he had been pretty damn quiet.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was hungry.” Starving.

“You didn’t interrupt, I just couldn’t sleep. I’ll make you a mug. You’re welcome to anything in the fridge, of course. There’s cold cuts for sandwiches. Fruit. Cheese. Help yourself.” Then Darren snorted. “It’s your place, eh? I guess you don’t need me to tell you to help yourself.”

“Hey, this is way more your place than mine. I… I’m not intending to change anything.” He didn’t even know what to change.

Darren stopped stirring and transferred the contents of the pot into two mugs. Then Darren turned off the stove and handed him one of the mugs. The guy leaned against the counter, lean lines, brown shaggy hair, and deep brown eyes with huge bags beneath them. It looked like Ash wasn’t the only one not getting any sleep.

“I guess the lawyer will have something to say about what’s what, eh?”

“I guess? They just said to get home, that I had four kids to raise.” He just didn’t know. Dammit.

Darren winced. “Wow, that’s a pretty shitty way to hear about your sister’s death. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. I…” He pushed himself up, and held out one hand. “Ash. Pleased.”

“We already did this, but it was a bit fraught with crying kids and suspicion.” Darren shook his hand, warm and firm. “Darren, but everybody calls me Dee. I just wish it was under better circumstances, but I’m glad you’re here.”

Best-selling author Sean Michael is a maple leaf–loving Canadian who spends hours hiding out in used book stores. With far more ideas than time, Sean keeps several documents open at all times. From romance to fantasy, paranormal and sci-fi, Sean is limited only by the need for sleep—and the periodic Beaver Tail.

Sean fantasizes about one day retiring on a secluded island populated entirely by horseshoe crabs after inventing a brain-to-computer dictation system. Until then, Sean will continue to write the old-fashioned way.

 

Sean Michael on the web:

WEBSITE: http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com

BLOG: http://seanmichaelwrites.blogspot.ca

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelWrites/

TWITTER: seanmichael09

INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/seanmichaelpics/

 

Sean brought a giveaway for our readers!

Have a chance to win a ecopy of ONE of the first 6 books in the Mannies Incorporated series (winners choice)
a Rafflecopter giveaway