Jessi Novac leads the quiet life of a romance author until someone leaves a series of explicit notes under her windshield wipers and heavy breathing on her answering machine.
Until NYPD can track down the culprit who's trying to scare the bejesus out of her, Jessi hides out at her grandmother's beach house in Myrtle Beach where she hopes to get her bearings. Instead, her life takes an even bigger tilt toward crazy when she meets her clumsy neighbor -- Ian Alexander. She's suspicious of Ian and attracted to him at the same time. Their relationship becomes a calamity of errors until strange things start happening at the beach house too. Jessi clings to Ian for protection, but soon discovers her heart may be in more danger than her life.
Excerpt:
Seduced awake by the smell of bacon frying and the sound of coffee gurgling, Jessi threw her legs over the side of the bed. An overlarge painting of a fisherman holding a stringer of fish greeted her vision, a reminder she wasn't in her grandmother's beach house.
Jessi chastised herself for spending the night with her newly-met neighbor, and for being a wimp in general. Who behaves like this? No wonder the stalker continued to rule her world - she was easy prey. What must Ian think? "Oh God," she groaned silently. She'd advanced on him, not the other way around. Kissing him equaled madness. After pulling in a long breath of frustration, she blew it out and tried to rationalize her behavior. The kiss was most likely prompted by...by... Crap! She had nothing. In a nutshell, she'd finally lost it.
The coffee pot no longer made noises and the sound of bacon frying had stopped as well.
Jessi sprang from the edge of the bed and assessed her appearance in the dresser mirror. Egad! She looked like the spawn of Einstein, minus the mustache. Her short hair stuck out, only on one side of her head - the same side where sleep lines creased her face. She looked as though someone had drawn a line down the center of her - one half rumpled, one half not. Her gaze fell to her attire - once again she'd slept in her clothes. But what a great night's sleep it was. She felt refreshed and ready to kick some stalker-butt.
* If you'd like to read more about Jessi and Ian, you can find STAY CLOSE, NOVAC! at:
