I love when characters stop in for a chat. Today, the heroine from Dani Collins’ new sexy rom com is indulging me with a revealing chat. Let’s get started…
What’s your name, and who are you in your world?
I’m Meg, the heroine of Afternoon Delight. When my best friend needs surgery, I offer to run her adult toy shop.
Ooh, you have me intrigued! Give us a visual. What do you look like?
I’m almost forty, recently divorced and I married out of high school because I was pregnant. I love my kids, but I’ve always made the safe choices, including staying with my husband the first time he cheated. I feel like my entire youth whisked past as I raised two kids and helped my ex build his dental career. I’m an accountant and you’d probably call me a soccer mom. I’ve kept myself fit and have blond streaks, but also, I’m ready to try new things.
You’re only as young as you feel. What time period and location does your story take place?
I’m back in my hometown of Victoria, BC, hoping to convince my widowed mom to sell the family home and move to Toronto with me, but she’s resisting.
What is your occupation? Are you any good at it? Do you like it?
I’m a small-business accountant working for a big firm. I’m so good at it, they promoted the knucklehead I trained, wanting to keep me on the frontlines of working directly with customers. That’s why I quit and took over this store. I know how to count the beans, but I don’t have a clue how to sell this type of product. Every day is an adventure!
Good for you, for quitting! What did you think the first time you saw Zak (the hero)?
The very first time I saw him, I mistook him for his father, who has dementia. So I felt pretty dumb and clumsy and like I’d been out of the dating game way too long. Because yeah, I thought Zak was very good-looking in a bearded, flannel-wearing, woodworker kind of way. Also, he made me laugh and feel warm all over.
Aww. I love funny meet-cutes! What is your family like?
It was always just me and my parents, then I had my two kids with my ex—Shelby who is in her second year of university, and Roddie, who’s still in high school. My dad was sick a long time and we lost him over a year ago. That’s why I’m trying to convince Mom to move closer to us. She’s all alone here.
I came to Victoria to help her clean out the house, but she’s fighting me every step of the way. When I realized my friend Georgia was in danger of losing her store, I offered to step in, but now I’m back to living with my mother, my son is moving in with us, and we’re all driving each other a little bit crazy.
Sounds like you have wonderful family, though crazy is par for the course. If you had a free day with no responsibilities and could have fun, what would you do?
I’ll tell you what I did do when that happened. I called Zak to meet me at a motel and took a bag of samples from the adult toy store. We had a ton of fun.
OMG! Yes! I’m imagining what kind of dirty fun you guys had. Anyway, back to the interview… What makes you laugh out loud?
Zak. He says the funniest, most ridiculous things. I adore his silly sense of humor. I’d tell you what he said when he found me tangled in the sex swing, but that’s something you’ll have to read for yourself to really appreciate.
Dang it, girl. You’re such a tease! Tell us three things we’d find if we looked under your bed?
Erm, they’re all from the store so, um, use your imagination?
My imagination is already in overdrive! What other character from your book do you think your author should write a book about? Care to tell us why?
She definitely needs to tell the story of Zak’s twin, Zara. Like me, she’s been so deep in the trenches of being a wife and mother, she’s forgotten who she is. She and her husband are struggling, but her husband is actually a really great guy, not a jerk like my ex. I’d like to see them rekindle things.
Wonderful! Let’s hope Dani gets her butt in gear and writes Zara’s story! 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by, Meg.
Releases: August 19, 2025
Digital and Print, all platforms including direct on Dani’s Bookshop
BLURB:
It’s never too late to toy with change…
Freshly divorced and nearing forty, Meg regrets making all the safe choices. When her best friend needs surgery, Meg puts her accounting career on hold to run her friend’s racy adult toy shop—but her vanilla life never prepared her for this!
At thirty-two, Zak leaves the tech world for his dad’s antique store, wanting time with him before dementia erases his father’s memories. He’s Meg’s landlord, but she becomes his confidante, distracting him from his troubles with her suggestive puns and amusing misadventures.
Flirty banter leads to test-driving toys together, but Meg knows they won’t last. Their age-gap puts them in different life-stages and she lives in Toronto. A few afternoons of delight can’t change her life. Or can they?
Afternoon Delight is a stand-alone, slow-burn to steamy older woman/younger man romance. No cliffhangers, no cheating, just laughs, chemistry, and heart.
EXCERPT:
Meg is putting together a gift basket and Zak brings her a vintage skin mag:
“I want you to treat this with the reverence it deserves,” Zak said when he returned. He set a Penthouse magazine from the mid-seventies on the desk. A young woman on the cover was removing her black bra, revealing small, pert breasts.
“The articles are worth reading,” I noted as I scanned the callouts. One was about Castro and another about Paul Newman. “Did you know this?” I pointed with mock alarm. “Streaking leads to making love in public?”
“It’s a gateway kink.” He nodded somberly.
“Who knew?”
“Penthouse.” He nodded again. “Take a photo and post it. You will get offers and they will be generous.”
“Really?” I wrinkled my nose in skepticism, thinking about how body hair trends had changed over the decades, not to mention breast augmentation. Then I narrowed my eyes. “Where did you get this? Do you have a secret room in the back?”
“Where I polish wood? Yes. And I’m not embarrassed to admit it.”
My pulse tripped, and I bit my lips together to hide my smile.
“Nor should you be.” I fought to keep a straight face. “I’m working with a different product, so it’s mostly about keeping the dust off, but, you know. Same diff.”
A twinkle entered his blue eyes. He crossed his arms and rocked on his heels.
“Here I thought you’d be so busy receiving packages, you wouldn’t have time to dust.”
“You’re about to ask me where I receive those packages, aren’t you?” I was fighting a bubble of mirth. “Front of the store. That’s why I’m doing all that maintenance. Keeping things in good working order.”
“Quality assurance.”
“Exactly. No shame in that.” My bravado was thinning along with my voice. My face was on fire. It took everything in me to hold his laughing blue gaze.
“Why would you be ashamed? It’s more of an obligation to those who… Hmm.” He winced. “I was going to say ‘come through the door,’ but…” He winced in dissatisfaction.
“I appreciate how hard you wordsmith your comebacks.”
“Now you’re just talking dirty for the sake of it.”
We were both struggling not to break, but the air was crackling in a way I hadn’t felt since I don’t know when. It was like being tipsy and stoned and horny all at once.
He glanced away, biting the corner of his crooked grin.
BUY LINKS:
Dani’s Bookshop: https://shop.danicollins.com/products/afternoon-delight
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCCST3QG
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/afternoon-delight-dani-collins/1147557710?ean=2940181696013
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/en/ebook/afternoon-delight-50
AppleBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/afternoon-delight/id6747011734
GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Dani_Collins_Afternoon_Delight?id=EQhkEQAAQBAJ
PRINT LINKS:
AZ: https://www.amazon.com/Afternoon-Delight-Dani-Collins/dp/1738240754/
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/afternoon-delight-dani-collins/1147557710?ean=9781738240753
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/afternoon-delight/f424ad7a0fe85dc9?ean=9781738240753
Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Afternoon-Delight-Paperback-9781738240753/17370865294
AUTHOR BIO:
Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author Dani Collins thrives on giving readers emotional, compelling, heart-soaring romance with laughter and heat thrown in, just like real life. While she is best known for writing contemporary romance for Harlequin Presents and Tule Publishing, she also writes historical, erotic, and romcom. When she’s not writing—just kidding, she’s always writing. Dani is married to her high school sweetheart. They’re empty-nesters and live in Southern BC, Canada.
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