Five Minutes Late
by Rich Amooi
Release Date: August 29th, 2014
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Hosted by: Book
Enthusiast Promotions
"Can an always-tardy garlic mogul and a punctual Silicon Valley librarian fall in love? The world needs garlic and somebody’s got to sell that garlic. Cedric Johnson is that man. But even though he’s got just about everything he can wish for, Cedric is still missing one thing in his life: someone special. Fate may be on his side, but he encounters a few distractions along the way—like almost being killed by a UPS truck. Oh, and a little case of blackmail. Ellie Fontaine is a walking Wikipedia with clear professional goals, but when it comes to landing Mr. Right, she doesn’t know jack squat. She even gives online dating a shot and ends up with an unappetizing buffet of unibrows and losers. What’s a girl to do? After Ellie saves Cedric’s life, serendipity takes over as they continue to run into each other. Their connection grows stronger with each meeting, even though he embodies her number one pet peeve: he’s always late. But even if they can get past their issues and misunderstandings, Ellie’s ex-boyfriend, an unscrupulous cop, will do anything to keep them apart. Five Minutes Late is a hilarious fast-paced romantic comedy, full of snappy dialogue and fun, quirky characters, guaranteed to warm your heart."
Excerpt #1
“He kissed
me in the library!” said Ellie. “That’s my place of work and it’s completely
inappropriate.” Ellie forked some noodles on her plate. “I’m up for the biggest
promotion of my life and if that kiss has repercussions, I’ll kill him with my
bare hands.”
Grandpa
Frank laughed. “You’re not overreacting a bit?”
“You don’t
go kissing people in their place of work.”
“Well, I
don’t know about that. Things happen in the moment of passion and sometimes you
just can’t help yourself. I kissed your grandma in the malt shop … a few
times.”
Ellie
stopped chewing.
“Don’t look
so surprised. I wasn’t a prude, you know.”
“I know, but
…”
“Is it about
the promotion? Or is it something else?”
Grandpa
Frank knew her so well.
No. It
wasn’t about the promotion, now that she’d thought about it. The real issue was
she enjoyed the kiss and didn’t want it to stop. That scared her, because she
still wasn’t sure about who he was. She was attracted to Cedric that was for
sure. He was witty and charming, but she had a lot of unanswered questions and
doubts about him.
Ellie
smiled. “Have I ever told you that you’re a wise man?”
“Yes.”
Grandpa Frank chuckled. “But I don’t get tired of hearing it.”
“I enjoyed
it. The kiss.”
Grandpa
Frank nodded.
“And I
slapped him.”
Grandpa
Frank grimaced. “Poor guy. I guess this is one of those times where we men
don’t understand you women. Why would you slap him if you enjoyed the kiss?”
Ellie
shrugged and fidgeted with the salt and pepper shakers. “Nervous reaction, I
guess.”
Excerpt #2
“Who was the
first person to walk on the moon?”
Ellie
sighed. “Seriously? If you’re going to try to stump me, you need to come at me
with something better than a fifth-grade question.”
“So, you
don’t know?”
“Neil
Armstrong.”
“Correct …
and you’re right, that was too easy. You must be good at Trivial Pursuit.”
“They hired
me as a consultant for their Book Lovers Edition.”
Cedric
blinked.
She smiled.
“You don’t believe me? Try me.”
Cedric sat
up and rubbed his hands together. “When was the civil war?”
“Which one?”
“Very good.”
Cedric laughed. “American.”
“1861 to
1865.”
“The
Spanish?”
“1936 to
1939. Look, I appreciate the effort, but I can answer these questions with
ninety-nine percent of my brain cells tied behind my back.”
“Is that
right?”
She nodded.
“Got anything else more … stimulating?”
Cedric
grinned. “Of course. Stimulation is my expertise.”
Okay. He
couldn’t believe he said that. What was he thinking?
“Well then,
give it to me.”
Cedric
smiled. “Scientific name for garlic?”
“Allium
sutivum.”
He made the
sound of a buzzer. “Nice try, but that’s incorrect.”
“No, it’s
not.”
“It’s allium
sativum.”
“Oh come on,
close enough.”
“Sorry.”
“You got a
thing for garlic?”
“I guess you
could say that.” Cedric took a sip of his coffee, feeling much more confident
about things. “What’s the world record for the longest kiss?”
Ellie
hesitated and bit her lower lip. Why the hell did she have to do that? Now he
was looking at her mouth again.
“Are you
making up this question?”
Cedric
chuckled. “It’s a fact. I think I read it on the Chapstick website.”
“And you
don’t think they said that to promote kissing and sell more Chapstick?”
Cedric
shrugged. “I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt.”
Ellie
smiled. “I admit I don’t know this one, so I’m going to guess.”
“I’m okay
with that.”
“Three
hours?”
“Seriously?
Three hours is nothing.”
“Nothing?
You’ve kissed someone for three hours?”
Cedric
nodded. “Sally Farnsworth … eighth grade.”
Ellie
laughed. “We would have some seriously chapped lips after three hours of
kissing.”
“I’m not
sure. Let’s find out.” Cedric pretended to get up and startled Ellie.
“Sit down.
We are not going to kiss.”
Cedric
laughed. “Today.”
“Today
what?”
“We are not
going to kiss today.”
Cedric was
pretty sure he saw her trying to hold back a smile.
“Look,” said
Ellie. “Are you going to tell me the answer or not?”
“Fifty-eight
hours.”
“What?
Impossible.”
“No it’s
not.”
“A
fifty-eight hour kiss?”
“Yes.”
Ellie was
deep in thought. “God. How would you go to the bathroom?”
“Very
carefully.”
About the Author
Rich Amooi is a former Silicon Valley radio personality and wedding DJ, now a writer of comedy and romance. He believes in destiny, silliness, infinite possibilities, Betty Crocker Super-Moist Yellow Cake with chocolate frosting, gratitude, laughter, and happy ever after.
Rich lives in San Jose, California with his wife and their very hairy dog. He enjoys writing stories that are light, fun, a little bit crazy, and romantic. :)
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