It's time to release some baggage!

Hi everyone,
Dana Littlejohn here with a look into my latest release Releasing the Baggage. Releasing the Baggage is about two people who want a good relationship but have been in too many bad ones to believe a good one still might exist. In order for them to be happy together they both have to release the baggage they're bringing to the table and start all over.

Jerri Ivory was over divorce cases, but when your boss asks you to do him a favor... During the important case, her boss is killed and she becomes a suspect all while she is trying to get to know Felix, a man her friend Linda hooked her up with. With all the chaos and mayhem going on in her life, can Felix slow her down long enough to show her they were meant to be?

Excerpt:


The conversation paused when their food was delivered.
“I guess what really happened was we just grew apart. That’s the only thing I can think of. I didn’t know it at the time, but we had different agendas and were on different paths from the start. She didn’t want to do the work it takes to bridge the gaps.”
“So, it was all her fault, huh?” she asked skeptically.
“No, I’m not saying that at all. It’s never one person’s fault when two people are involved in a relationship.”
“So, you believe a marriage is a fifty-fifty thing?”
“Actually, I think it’s more like one hundred- one hundred. Each person should bring one hundred percent into their marriage, not fifty percent.”
Jerri sat quietly eating for a while contemplating his words. “Hmm, you sound like you didn’t want the divorce, Felix,” she finally asked.
“I didn’t.”
Her head snapped up. “You didn’t?”
“No, I don’t think you get married to get divorced. It’s supposed to be ‘until death do you part.’ I was willing to work on it, but she wanted out.”
She nodded and pushed her plate back. “Do you still love her?” She reached for her glass and, not realizing it was empty, brought it to her lips.
He chuckled at the look on her face when she realized it was empty and refilled it for her. “No, I don’t. I don’t think I had for a long time before she asked for the divorce.”
Jerri sipped her drink. “So, I guess that kind of makes you a little bitter toward the whole marriage thing, huh?”
He shook his head. “Absolutely not. She hasn’t poisoned me toward getting married again at all. I still think it’s a beautiful thing. As long as it’s with the right person,” he added. “She obviously was not the right person for me, and I wasn’t for her.”
“I’ve been privy to a lot of divorces—some decent, most not—and the one thing all those people have in common is none of them took their marriage seriously anymore.” She shrugged. “I don’t know, the whole thing has kind of soured me a little to the whole idea.”
Felix reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “I still take it seriously. Perhaps all you need is some positive relationships to combat some of that negativity you’ve been exposed to.”
Over the candlelight, their eyes met in a hypnotic trance. The same feeling had come over her when he held her as they danced that slow, sexy salsa dance. Something deep within the depths of those sultry honey colored eyes called to her. Jerri felt like she was falling, losing herself within those sensual golden pools. She tried to speak, but her mouth and her brain had momentarily lost disconnection. Her body was leaning across to him and he was doing the same. The sudden clank of the plates crashing into each other as the waitress came to remove the dishes brought her back to reality, making her aware of her surroundings. She chuckled away her embarrassment and sat back in her chair. 
“So, Felix, are you always this charming or is this a ploy to get into my panties?” she asked playfully.
His blush was instant as he tried to laugh it away. “Charming? No, I’m just being me, but if you find that charming, then I’ll take whatever extras come with it.”
“I don’t know, Felix, you might not want to get into my panties,” Jerri said jokingly. “To push past the coohie cobwebs would be a hell of a workout, even for someone in as great a shape as you are.”
Confusion settled on his handsome features as he absorbed what she said, and then he burst into fits of laughter. “I don’t think I’ve heard that particular metaphor for abstinence before.”
Jerri nodded and picked up her glass again. “Well, unfortunately my friends keep me updated on such things.”
“Well, I think we’re in the same boat, then, Jerri. It’s been a long time since I had sex, too, years, in fact.”
“So, I guess that makes us both second-time virgins, huh? It’ll be like starting all over again if we ever hooked up.”
“Yeah, I guess it would be.”
Their eyes met over the candlelight again. An entire conversation passed between them without a single word being said aloud. Each one understood exactly what the other wanted and needed. Felix was the first to break the heavy, sexually charged silence.
“Check, please!”

Releasing the Baggage is available now at Secret Cravings Publishing 

Dana Littlejohn
website