It’s #NationalKittenDay!

Today’s #SundaySnippet is from Through the Red Door, Book 1 in my Book Nirvana series.

Lulu the bookshop cat has an uncanny way of leading the characters where they need to go, often by knocking the perfect book off the shelf. 📚

Since her husband’s death, widowed bookshop owner Clara Martelli has avoided the red room where he curated their extensive collection of erotica books. Lulu knows it’s time to open the red door. 🐱

“Mew?” Lulu butted her furry head against her mistress’s leg.

Clara clutched her jacket over her heart and, when she could breathe again, laughed aloud.

“You scared me, Puss-face.” She stooped to pick up the cat, who settled, purring, against her shoulder.

“Harry must’ve left the light on, eh?” Comforted by the cat’s weight and warmth, she inserted the key and opened the red door.

It swung open at her touch, easy, smooth. Still, she hesitated on the threshold. Nothing had changed back here—nothing visible, anyway. The Victorian lampshade Jared found at an estate sale shed a warm pink light, giving the little chamber a womb-like coziness. All she had to do was grasp the fat silk tassel hanging beside the door and tug to turn off the light. No big deal. Yet she froze there lost in memories.

Lulu mewed and rubbed her silky head against Clara’s ear, then hopped down and sashayed over to the S-curved conversation settee. She sprung up onto the seat and sprawled, staring.

“Rrrrowrrrmmmrrrrp.”

“Okay, fine. But just for a minute.” Clara settled onto the other side and reached over the curved seat back to rub the cat’s warm, fluffy belly. She remembered Jared’s chuckle. “This’ll prevent couples from getting carried away by the racy books.” It was true—they’d tried. The conversation seat was far too uncomfortable for acting out fantasies inspired by the erotica collection. Still, the worn velvet upholstery was warm and inviting beneath her hand.

In the capricious way of cats, Lulu hopped down and strolled out of the room.

“I see how it is,” Clara called after her. “Lure me in and then abandon me.”

In a whisper, she added, “Thank you.”

💘

Letting him inside could be her salvation…or her undoing.

Blurb: Clara Martelli clings to Book Nirvana, the Oregon bookshop she and her late husband Jared built together. When rising rents and corporate competition threaten its survival, her best hope is their extensive erotica collection, locked behind a red door. In dreams and signs, her dead husband tells her it’s time to open that door and move on. When a dark and handsome stranger’s powerful magnetism jolts her back to life and he wants a look at the treasures of that secret room, she can’t help but want to show him more.

Professor Nick Papadopoulos is looking for historical erotica. Book Nirvana’s collection surpasses his wildest dreams, and so does its lovely owner. A widower, he understands Clara’s battle with guilt, but their searing chemistry is too strong to resist. Besides, he will only be in town for two weeks, not long enough for her to see beyond the scandal that haunts his past.

Take a peek behind the red door today!   https://books2read.com/u/bxnz0P