If you love Dark Romance, you’ve come to the wrong place.

And I spend most of my day writing dirty romance books about older men who fall in love with younger women and make fools of themselves trying to win their hearts. I live in Austin, with my husband, two crazy Chihuahuas and an even crazier cat. Matilda is a Texas girl in love with a Philly boy who loves to write dirty books about two people who trip into love and fumble their way into a Filthy, Funny, Happily Ever After. If she only knew how long I’ve been waiting to give her one. She wants to build a life in Abbott, and she wants a baby. I never got over her, and I never stopped waiting for the day our paths would cross again.īut now she’s back. When she left for the big city, she broke my heart in two. I didn’t stand a chance against her fiery red hair and pale blue eyes. I followed it straight to sixteen-year-old Ginger Fox, the prettiest girl in our small town of Abbott and my eldest sister’s best friend. When you’re ten years old, you follow your heart. I didn’t mean to fall in love with an older woman. I’m going after what I want and having the family I need. I’m tired of waiting for the right man to come along. Maybe I don’t have a husband, but I’ve waited long enough. It’s the perfect home to raise my family, and it’s the ideal place to start over-my hometown. I find out my favorite house, the one I daydreamed about when I was young, is up for sale. One month from my thirtieth birthday, I decide I’ve had enough.

Who says you can’t leave the rat race? The call of money can be all-consuming, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the biological clock that’s been ticking since I turned twenty-eight.

Baby Steps by Matilda Martel