Adventures in Asia – #Singapore #Romance #Giveaway #MFRWHooks

For today’s MFRW Book Hooks blog, I’m featuring my multicultural romance Singapore Fling. This story is part of my Asian Adventures series. Like the other books I’m featuring this month, these tales are pretty realistic, though they may seem exotic to some of my readers .

Anyway, if you like my hook, leave me a comment. I’ll choose one commenter to receive a free copy in the ebook format of your choice.

Blurb

In the cleanest city in Asia, things can still get messy.

Thai entrepreneur Ploy Kaewkornwattanasakul has come to Singapore to close a deal. Ploy needs to convince tech whiz Jason Chow to license his ground-breaking innovation to her company on favorable terms. The future of her startup depends on her negotiating skill. When she meets Jason, though, she realizes she wants not just the invention, but the inventor, too.

Jason Chow is a brilliant engineer, a successful businessman and a bit of a rebel. He’s attracted to Ploy from the moment he sets eyes on her. However, he doesn’t dare respond to her advances, for fear she’ll discover his secret vice.

Ploy doesn’t understand why the sexy CEO has rejected her. She figures she’ll have to content herself with the cold comfort of a signed contract—unless the strength of Jason’s desire overwhelms his shame.

The Hook

As she threaded her way among the mobile phone kiosks and discount clothing shops on the ground floor of People’s Park, Ploy felt at home for the first time since she’d stepped off the plane. This wasn’t that different from Bangkok. While the gleaming airport, spotless public transit, towering sky scrapers and precise, robotic officials reminded her of something from a video game, the food court she found on the lower level deepened the sense of familiarity. Sure, the signs were in English and the prices were four times what she was used to, but hawkers were hawkers, all over Asia.

The stocky noodle vendor in the yellow apron grinned when Ploy addressed her in the Hokkien she’d learned from her parents.

“Gum xia,” the middle aged woman said, handing back her change. “Thank you.”

The broth was oilier than in Thailand and three teaspoons of roasted chili sauce barely raised the spice level. Still, Ploy emptied the bowl. She’d had to leave her condo at four AM to catch her seven thirty flight; there had been no time for breakfast.

The sacrifices I make for my business! She grinned to herself, snagging the last bit of pork with her chopsticks. Most Thais would awaken an hour earlier rather than forgo a meal. It would all be worth it, though, if she could convince Interia to sign the joint development agreement.

No sooner had Ploy pushed the dish away than a uniformed staff member rolled up next to her with a plastic bin of dirty utensils. It took no more than a few seconds for the employee to grab the bowl, balance it on top of a pile, wipe the table clean, and disappear.

Ploy glanced around the open space. Every table was full, most with multiple people, eating with single-minded determination. Clearly at the height of lunch hour, available tables were rare. Throughput was critical.

Probably she should vacate her table, but she didn’t like feeling pressured. Anyway, she’d just paid the equivalent of two hundred baht for a single bowl of not-very-exciting noodles. For that price, she could buy a full dinner in Bangkok. She had the right to sit here for a while.

She glanced around at the other customers in the busy, noisy hawker center, a mixture of shoppers and business people judging by their clothing. Most alternated between animated conversation and shoveling food into their mouths. Others sat glued to their phones, swiping away with one hand while manipulating chopsticks in the other. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry.

Three tables away, though, she noticed an anomaly: a solitary young man, reading a hard cover book. She couldn’t make out the title at that distance—it could have been in Chinese, for all she could tell—but whatever it was, it completely engrossed him. He was oblivious to the bustle around him, including the frequent accusatory looks he received from the cleaning staff.

A real, printed book! Ploy was surprised to see anyone his age opting for dead trees as opposed to a touch screen.

There was nothing remarkable about the man himself. A bit taller than average for a Singaporean, slender but not skinny, he had typical Chinese features. He wore the dark pants and white shirt, sleeves rolled up, that was the common business uniform in the steamy climate. His slightly shaggy black hair fell into his eyes as he bent over the book. A pair of dark-framed glasses and a phone rested on the table next to him.

Something about his utter stillness drew her, though. Attracted her, in fact. She found his focused concentration exciting. This was a man with a powerful will, a person who had no difficulty ignoring what did not concern him. A bit of a rebel, too, given his willingness to flaunt social convention in this aggressively polite city. Like her, he wasn’t about to bow to the unreasonable demands of his inferiors.

Buy links at https://www.lisabetsarai.com/singaporeflingbook.html

Don’t forget to leave me a comment and enter my giveaway!

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