A fortune shouldn’t get you killed. a Promise shouldn’t break your heart.
Attorney Rafe Stanton knows making promises is a dangerous thing. Over and over he has failed to keep people under his protection safe. For years he watched his younger cousin Noah lose his battle with drugs and alcohol, which eventually led to a deadly car accident. When he finds out about Noah’s secret marriage to Logan Tate, Rafe has one last chance for redemption.
Inheriting a fortune should be a blessing, but for Logan life never works out that way. He’s learned the hard way that dreams don’t come true—and if they do, well, there is usually a hefty price tag attached. All he really wants is a quiet life, but that isn’t in the cards when his apartment gets broken into and a pretentious lawyer from Boston arrives thinking he can call the shots.
The two men don’t see eye-to-eye about the inheritance, but with Noah’s powerful family coming after Logan, they find themselves reluctantly on the same side. A gunman, greedy in-laws, and meddling friends are not enough trouble; soon they also need to deal with the explosive chemistry between them.
But Rafe made a promise to the past and Logan doesn’t trust easily, so a future together seems out of reach.
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What gave you the idea for Promise Me?
I grew up on a pretty steady diet of Regency Romances. My mom had a whole (secret) bookshelf—jam packed. And Georgette Heyer’s stories were always one of my very favorite. Promise Me is inspired by her book The Reluctant Widow. Yes, so Elinor suddenly is rich overnight, but it’s nothing but drama.
Inheriting a fortune should be a good thing. Who hasn’t at least once dreamt about a probate lawyer knocking on the door with an unexpected bequest? I looked it up…and it seems inheriting money happens way more often than winning the lottery. Go figure!
So, I came up with Logan Tate, a stubborn survivor, who definitely deserves a little bit of luck in his life. It comes in the form of probate lawyer Rafe Stanton, who is the executor of Logan’s late husband’s will. Now, Logan is about to become filthy rich, and trouble starts almost immediately when his apartment gets broken in to, and the slightly arrogant Rafe Stanton thinks he can take over Logan’s life.
To support my struggling heroes, I couldn’t resist the attempt to bring some of the quirky humor Georgette Heyer packs in her books into my story. Don’t get me wrong, I can only aspire to her level of mastery, but I tried to imagine what some of my regency favorites would be like if they hadn’t lived in the early 19th century in London, but today. The ice queen who wields way too much power in polite society. The dotty old aunt, who manages to say just the right thing every single time. The best friend, who’s loyal without fail.
All in all, Promise Me is really about two men realizing what it takes to be happy. Money, family, friends and love—all play a role.
Do your books spring to life from a character first or an idea?
Actually, usually it’s the ‘meet cute’. I love to come up with crazy ideas how two people could meet and then a ton of reasons why they should never fall in love with each other. There’s inspiration everywhere! The whole world is full of ‘meet cutes’ to be written about. But, of course, sometimes it’s also an idea. For example, for the Perfect Match books, it’s mostly my obsession with loneliness and how incredible vulnerable it makes most of us.
My new book, Promise Me, started out differently. I had this scene in my head and it all revolved around a character. Attorney Rafe Stanton was really the reason to sit down and start writing this story.
Rafe is tortured by his failure to protect and save his younger cousin Noah. And then it’s too late. Noah dies in a car accident. The rainy funeral in chapter one is the very first scene I put on paper. And from there on the whole story evolved. What if Rafe got a second chance? A chance to redeem himself by ensuring that Noah’s fortune goes to his husband—like Noah indented—and not to his greedy family.
It was clear pretty quickly that a guy like Rafe, who has a protective streak a mile high, needs a strong counterpart, so along came Logan Tate. A survivor with a shady past and some serious trust issues.
While Rafe was my inspiration, I admit I loved writing Logan and his chosen family. I admire that he knows what he wants out of life and over & over again stands up for himself—especially when it comes to the pretentious Rafe Stanton, who thinks he can just call all the shots.
Promise Me, more so than most of my other stories, was written by the characters, and not only Rafe and Logan, but their whole supporting cast. Maybe that’s why it was so much fun to write.
What was your favorite part writing this novel?
This story is probably a lot more personal than some of my other stories. I wrote Promise Me after losing my job. IRL I’m a project manager. I live on plans, schedules and lists and suddenly the well-established blueprint for my life was completely gone.
So, I guess it’s no surprise that I wrote a story about two men who get thrown together at a time when their whole world changes dramatically. Logan Tate’s life hasn’t been all roses, but he’s a survivor and he knows what he wants, but he has to fight to keep control of his own fate. Rafe Stanton has made mistakes that haunt him and keep him from moving forward.
I didn’t even need a grand master plan to write this story…my two MCs pretty much battled out their lives word by word right in front of me whenever I turned on my computer. It was a lot of fun to write this book.
Author Bio:
Eighteen years ago, AG Meiers came to the US for adventure and stayed for love. Currently, she lives in New England with her husband and two awesome kids—balancing work, friends and family, and writing.
When she has some free time, her favorite thing to do is travel and visit new places. Her past trips have already brought her to a variety of countries on four continents. She never passes up an opportunity to experience different cultures, diverse people and amazing locations.
Even though she has been dreaming up stories all her life, she has only recently started to write them down and share them with the world. As a writer she loves to put her characters through a lot of challenges, conflict and heartbreak, before she allows them to find their happy-ever-after.
Connect with AG Meiers:
https://www.agmeiers.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ag.meiers.1
AG is giving away a Kindle Fire7 with this tour:
“They’ll come after him hard. This could get ugly. That’s why I’m saying take a look at him and decide how you want to play this.”
Rafe knew his friend was right. “A stripper. Oh, damn, Noah. You couldn’t find anything else to piss off your parents.”
“It’s textbook.” Kane chuckled. “Whatever you decide; I’ve got your back.”
“Thanks, Kane. I’ll keep you in the loop.”
“Sounds good. Drive safe.”
North of Burlington traffic finally eased up. After all the rain, it was finally a sunny day—only a few clouds chased across blue skies. Rafe pulled out his sunglasses and tried to relax. It was quite telling that he wasn’t surprised to learn that Noah’s husband was shady and a modern-day fortune hunter. Ever since Rafe had seen the marriage certificate, he’d been speculating and had been expecting the worst. Based on the initial information the PI had dug up, he had been spot on.
A series of very likely scenarios went through his head. Noah had no people skills—everybody was his friend, and anyone who supplied drugs or alcohol immediately made it on the top of the list. It was easy to take advantage of his cousin, and he’d probably been high as a kite when he signed the certificate. Rafe tried to think back fourteen months but came up with a blank. Noah hadn’t been around much and Rafe hadn’t gone looking for him. The few times they had met, Noah had been doing better—wrong, very wrong. A wave of guilt washed over him with all the sadness of Noah’s death. He’d talked to his therapist about the five stages of grief, but somehow Rafe just felt an overwhelming clusterfuck of emotions. Regret—harrowing regret—waving through it as the only constant.
“Goddamn, Noah, I hope he’s not too awful, so I can at least keep my last promise to you,” Rafe said into the silence of his car. “I know I let you down with everything else.”
Resolutely, Rafe tried to push back all pictures of a skimpily dressed stripper with sly eyes pushing a pen into Noah’s hand while rubbing his groin and whispering obscenities into his ear. He was almost glad when his phone rang again hoping for a distraction, but then he flinched when he saw the name. Fuck. It was tempting not to pick up, but that would be a shit move. Quickly, he accepted the call.
“Hi Walter.”
“Hey stranger. I know you said you’d be busy, but I thought I check in. Do you have a few minutes?”
“Yes. I’m in the car driving to a client. Sorry, I didn’t call you back this weekend.”
“Don’t worry about it. You told me about your cousin. So very sad. Of course, you need some time with your family. If there is anything I can do, please let me know.”
Walter Schuller was exactly the type of guy Rafe should be considering for something more serious. A little older. Settled into a successful life as a well-known psychiatrist with a few books under his belt. Smart. Cultured. Liberal. He and Rafe had a ton of things in common and they were compatible in bed. They had met at a charity event in Boston last summer, and since then they’d hooked up occasionally. Rafe knew Walter was interested in being more than casual, but so far Rafe had pushed back. “I’m doing okay. I’m Noah’s probate executor. It’s the last I can do for him now.”
“Sure, I understand, but just make sure that you don’t use your work as shield against your emotions. We humans are social creatures. We need other people around us, and I don’t want you to fall back on your old coping mechanism.”
You mean fucking around? The words were on Rafe’s lips. Lately, he’d been regretting that he’d shared his challenge to maintain a meaningful relationship with Walter—really to scare him off. It had completely backfired. It seemed like Walter was now on a mission to save Rafe from himself. He tried to ignore Walter’s slightly patronizing tone, because it was high time he made an effort to find something slightly more serious than an endless string of anonymous sexual encounters he used for stress relief. And Walter had been the first guy who had stuck around longer than one or two dinners. He had the patience of a saint.
“I appreciate your concern,” Rafe said.
He’d never told Walter about his complicated relationship with Noah, so there was no way he could understand how important this trip was; still somehow, the man managed a flawless response. “I completely understand. Taking care of somebody’s legacy is important. You’re doing the right thing, but if you need a break, I have tickets to a Celtics game in two weeks. The weekend before Thanksgiving. If you feel like it, I’d love it if you came with me. You could stay the night. Let me take care of you for a change.”
Rafe pushed his sunglasses up on his head to rub his eyes. Walter was fucking perfect, and Rafe was a total ass for not making more of an effort.
“I’d love that. Text me the details and I’ll be there.”
“Awesome. I won’t keep you, but I can’t wait to see you that weekend.”
Rafe let out a sigh. “Fuck my life,” he mumbled to himself. Why was this so freaking difficult for him? Letting another guy in. Walter had been nothing but kind and dependable and still, Rafe kept him at arm’s length. Despite his best efforts to focus on Walter and all the solid reasons why he should be making it more official, after a few miles his mind slipped right back to Noah and his secret marriage.
When she has some free time, her favorite thing to do is travel and visit new places. Her past trips have already brought her to a variety of countries on four continents. She never passes up an opportunity to experience different cultures, diverse people, and amazing locations.
Even though she has been dreaming up stories all her life, she has only recently started to write them down and share them with the world. As a writer, she loves to to put her characters through a lot of challenges, conflict, and heartbreak before she allows them to find their happy-ever-after.
Author Website: https://www.agmeiers.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/ag.meiers.1
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18515319.A_G_Meiers
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/AG-Meiers/e/B07MCHQH5B
