Ashley Loren
Ashley Loren is a storyteller, coffee drinker, and horse lover. When she isn’t sitting at her keyboard dreaming up new worlds, she devours romance novels and spends time with her own soulmate and their family. She is passionate about helping people to put their words into the world. Find out more about her at AshelyLorenWrites.com.
Ashley appeared in our first summer anthology, Moonlight and Margaritas, with her story, “Not That Kind of Girl,” a contemporary romance highlighting an FMC struggling with fertility issues. Very different—and at T&TT, we love that!
“Alexa is the type of girl you don’t bring home to meet your mother—and she’s proud of it. But a sexy stranger approaches her and offers to buy her a round of margaritas. When she turns around, she instantly recognizes her brother’s best friend. He offers her a chance to get out of their small town with him and his band, but she tries to warn him away from getting involved with her. She has a secret that she knows will send him running. Will she open up to him or stick with the bad girl routine?”
Get jazzed for Ashley’s story by making an indulgent margarita inspired by it! Then settle back and enjoy it with your copy of Moonlight and Margaritas.
What’s Ashley’s romance-writing confession?
If you had to be stuck in a romance novel, which subgenre would you choose?
”I would definitely be caught in a romcom. One of the reasons I married my husband is because he knows how to make me laugh with his unique sense of humor. I don’t think I could make it through life if I wasn’t with a partner who could make laugh!”
Enjoy the beginning of “Not That Kind of Girl” in this sneak peek!
“A cosmopolitan for the lady,” Mark says. I smile demurely and say nothing.
“Actually, make that a margarita on the rocks.” The deep baritone voice comes from behind me, a voice so familiar, and yet I can’t place it. I hesitate to spin around because I don’t want to ruin the good thing I have here with Mark simply because I have run into someone who knows me—or at least knows enough about me to know my go-to drink order. “For the lady,” he adds.
Mark spins faster than I do, and his face crumples as he takes in the challenger.
“I don’t know who—” I start.
“I bet you don’t even remember my name. After all that we’ve been through,” he says.
At that, I turn around and clock the well-defined biceps beneath the short sleeves of his worn grey tee. It’s less of a decision to stare openly and more of a necessity as my eyes travel their way to his face. I always come to this bar, and I definitely don’t remember spurning someone with muscles like those.
But then my eyes make it to his face.
The lopsided grin with the dimple on his left cheek. The bright green eyes, round, mocking me for not remembering him. The chiseled nose that sticks out just a fraction of an inch too far to be considered ruggedly handsome. His hair is tousled so artfully that I have to wonder if he woke up that way or spent hours with a can of mousse.
Justin.
My brother’s best friend from childhood. Damn, he did grow up to be good-looking.
Find out what happens when you get your copy of Moonlight and Margaritas!