Maggie Blackbird

Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. Readers can jump from one author to another who share hooks from their current WIP (work in progress) or any previously published books.

For this week’s edition of Book Hooks, I give you a teaser from Redeemed, book two in The Matawapit Family series, a second-chance, contemporary romance that is 50% off when you purchase from Extasy Books.

A single woman battles to keep her foster child from his newly-paroled father—a dangerous man she used to love.

Bridget Matawapit is an Indigenous activist, daughter of a Catholic deacon, and foster mother to Kyle, the son of an Ojibway father—the ex-fiancé she kicked to the curb after he chose alcohol over her love. With Adam out on parole and back in Thunder Bay, she is determined to stop him from obtaining custody of Kyle.

Adam Guimond is a recovering alcoholic and ex-gangbanger newly-paroled. Through counseling, reconnecting with his Ojibway culture and twelve-step meetings while in prison, Adam now understands he’s worthy of the love that frightened him enough to pick up the bottle he’d previously corked. He can’t escape the damage he caused so many others, but he longs to rise like a true warrior in the pursuit of forgiveness and a second chance. There’s nothing he isn’t willing to do to win back his son–and Bridget.

When an old cell mate’s daughter dies under mysterious circumstances in foster care, Adam begs Bridget to help him uncover the truth. Bound to the plight of the Indigenous children in care, Bridget agrees. But putting herself in contact with Adam threatens to resurrect her long-buried feelings for him, and even worse, she risks losing care of Kyle, by falling for a man who might destroy her faith in love completely this time.

Genre(s):  Multicultural, Contemporary Romance, First Nations Romance, Adult, Inspirational.
Heat Rating:  Level 3
Publication Date:  April 19, 2019
Publisher:  eXtasy Books

PURCHASE A COPY FOR 50% OFF AT EXTASY BOOKS

Did you ever think all of this was meant to happen?” Bridget’s heart churned into overdrive, rattling against her chest. “You left Winnipeg to try to make a better life for you and Kyle. You came to the career fair to see what your options were for post-secondary schooling. We met. We were meant to meet. God willed this.”

“Did He really, kwe?” Adam stared at her. “I forgot all about a career when I saw you. Forgot about everything. I mean everything.”

“I’ll never forget how the two of you looked…” Adam’s shoulders wider than bridges, his get out of my way lazy strut as the crowd scampered to give him a wide berth, and his overpowering presence had left Bridget quivering in her seat at the display table. A man with ruthless dark eyes, but a child on his hip, a toddler cuddled around his daddy, held by a big hand on his tiny rump. Adam and Kyle had tugged at Bridget’s insides, summoned her from the table, commanded her to approach the man with the street-tough handsomeness and smoldering testosterone.

“It was God,” she whispered. “It was God.”

“It wasn’t God. It was lust.” Adam snorted.

“Lust?” Bridget sputtered. “How can you say that?”

“It’s true. I took one look at you and thought, walk it over here, honey.” Adam shook his head.

Bridget had to remember Adam had been inexperienced at his new life at the time. Naturally, he’d let his crotch goad him. “You were a perfect gentleman.”

“Kwe, what else was I s’posed to be? You were a lady. Y’know how many ladies I’d known before I met you? None.” His words reeked of disgust. “The only women I knew were just like me. I wasn’t gonna take you to a bar and get drunk.”

“Try to remember you were starting a new life. I didn’t expect you to take me to a bar. You took me for coffee.”

Adam’s lips tugged at the corners.

Bridget breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe she was talking down his anxiety, or whatever was making him fidget. He had the familiar look in his eyes, one she hadn’t recognized at the time but understood now. Fear was creeping up his spine, and a man like Adam had no idea how to handle fear, an emotion he wouldn’t own up to because of what his parents had put him through, because of what he’d learned to hide on the streets, because of what he’d learned in jail and prison.

Life had taught Adam in order to survive, he had to strike first or be struck down.

“I understand now why you drank.” She laid her head on his thigh. When he petted her hair, the apprehension creeping up her back vanished. “You were scared. You told me you didn’t know how to give or receive love, so you did what you’d learned to do since you were a child.”

He kept petting her hair. “Kwe, you deserve a man—”

Bridget sat up, anger erupting in her chest. “Quit feeling sorry for yourself.”

Adam swatted at his hat. “Woman, you like telling off men, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t, but I’m not going to let you talk yourself back to your old life. You’re strong—”

“Strong?” Adam faced her. “Why’d you think I call you kwe? I told you how our people revered our women. Inside each of you is strength rooted to the earth ‘cause you’re tied to the earth. Woman is earth. She’s strong. She perseveres.”

He licked his lips. “She reaches inside a man and shows him…” His voice grew softer, soft enough to feather Bridget’s warm flesh. “Shows him how to be gentle, be kind, be thoughtful. The earth nurtures us and gives the Anishinaabeg life and strength. Woman is earth. She does the same for a man. His strength comes from her. Comes from her… love.”

Bridget kept stroking his thigh. With the birds singing their songs and the waves lightly lapping at the rocks, where they sat was silkier than a lullaby.

“Kwe…” Adam’s voice shook. “Kwe…” He cleared his throat. “Kwe…” His hard thigh muscle contracted under her palm. His jawline quivered. “Kwe… I’m… I’m scared.”

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