It is my pleasure to feature Delaney Diamond! She has an interesting yet controversial subject. Enjoy 🙂 

Is It Wrong Not to Want Kids?

 The desire to procreate is not only part of life, it’s a popular theme in romance novels. But what about people who don’t want children? Is there something wrong with them? People who do have kids always talk about the joys of parenthood, but they omit the very valid reasons why someone shouldn’t have any. I, personally, can think of four perfectly good reasons. Here they are in order of least to most important:

Four. You get a good night’s sleep. My four-year-old niece recently spent the night with me, and she took over the bed. How someone so tiny could take up that much space is beyond me. It wasn’t enough to have me hanging off the edge of the mattress, she had to throw her arm around my neck, too, and wake me up in the middle of the night. I guess that’s better than when my nephew was her age. Somehow the kid would wind up upside down in the bed and his feet would invariably find their way to my face.

Three. You can sleep in late. I’m not a morning person, so this is very important to me. There’s nothing like lying around in bed and not having to worry about small bodies rushing in and jumping all over it to wake you up because they’re hungry. Usually this happens on the weekend. During the week when they have to go to school, you’d think they were dead based on their comatose state. Go figure.

Two. You can make spontaneous plans. There is no spontaneity if you have children. You can’t suddenly decide to go watch a movie or join friends for dinner at the last minute. No, my friend. You need a babysitter and must plan all activities at least six weeks in advance.

One. The number one reason why it makes sense not to have kids, is that you can finally have a conversation on the phone. Is it me, or do children purposely start screaming and yelling and running around with scissors the minute their parents are on the phone? I swear they do it on purpose. By the end of the conversation, you’re so exhausted from repeating yourself, you realize it’s better to just send a text or email the next time you want to catch up with your friend.

All joking aside, I love kids. I have a niece and nephew whom I adore, but in my latest release, Unforgettable (Book 1 of the Johnson Family series), I wrote about a hero who didn’t want children. Lucas Baylor made that clear when he had a fling with Ivy Johnson nine years ago. When you read the story, you’ll get a better understanding of his reasons. She ends up pregnant and has his child anyway.

Often in romance novels, the heroine is forced to marry the hero or she’s forced to seek him out because she needs something from him. Usually she needs a financial bailout, but Ivy has her own money. Her family is famous and owns a multi-billion dollar beer and restaurant corporation. So she doesn’t need Lucas’s money, and she offers him the option to walk away from his responsibilities, which turns out not to be that easy to do.  

 

BLURB

She offered everything he never knew he needed…

Ivy Johnson is stunned when Lucas Baylor makes an appearance at her family’s event in Seattle. She hasn’t seen him in nine years and never expected to again. Avoiding him is a must. She can’t let him uncover her secret, but Lucas won’t be denied. When her deception is revealed, it throws his life into a tailspin and forces them to face the truth of their feelings for each other—feelings they’ve both tried in vain to forget.

 EXCERPT

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t want to be a father,” he grated.

He never had. He’d been cautious all along, always using condoms and had even played around with the idea of a vasectomy. Only the finality of the procedure had kept him from having the surgery. Because even though he knew without a doubt he didn’t want the trappings of fatherhood, part of him held out just in case he ever changed his mind.

“Then don’t be a father,” Ivy said evenly.

“We crossed that bridge eight years ago.”

“I said you could walk away and no one will blame you. She doesn’t know you, and far as she’s concerned, her father is dead. You can go back to Atlanta with a clear conscience.”

He stilled. “Is that what you want?”

“I want you to have what you want. Our lives don’t have to be disrupted and neither does yours.”

She was giving him a way out—freedom. Freedom from responsibility, freedom to continue his life in the way he had been living it without interruption. The travel, the women, his work—everything would remain the same. Yet he hesitated to seize the opportunity she offered. 

“I could just walk out of here?”

“Free and clear.” Same cool voice, same impassive features. He couldn’t read her at all.

“I didn’t want this, Ivy.”

“You think I don’t know that?” A quivering smile crossed her lips. “I understand and I don’t blame you. You can make your choice the same way I did. What do you want to do?”

The same question again.

He thought about the little girl he’d just spent a few moments with. He didn’t know her and she didn’t know him. He could leave and she wouldn’t know the difference because she already thought another man was her father. He’d just be some random guy that she’d met and would soon forget.

Instead of the excitement he would have expected, the thought knocked the wind from him. He sank onto the edge of the desk and stared at his shoes. His lungs didn’t seem capable of providing enough oxygen. He gulped air into his nostrils, finding it hard to breathe all of a sudden.

“What do you want to do?” Ivy asked again.

His head snapped up. “Can’t wait to get rid of me?” he asked in a biting voice.

“Like I told you before, I have lunch plans.”

“Well I wouldn’t want to disrupt your goddamn lunch plans. You must be f**king starving.”

She flinched at his tone.

There was nothing more to say. “You want me to leave, Ivy, I’ll leave.” A huge knot settled in his stomach. Why didn’t he feel better about this decision?

“I never said I wanted you to leave, but you can.” She held her body rigid. “And I’d understand.”

Their gazes locked on each other.

Still he didn’t move. He could walk out and be a free man, or stay. This should be an easy decision, but it was turning out to be much harder than expected. He thought again about Katie. She had uncles, grandparents, and billions of dollars. Anything she wanted she could have, including a gold-plated cell phone when she turned nine years old. She didn’t need him. He had nothing to offer. He didn’t come from money, and he didn’t know who he was or where he came from.

He bolted from the desk. He had to get away before he suffocated. He swung the door open and without looking at Ivy again, walked out the door.

 Buy links:

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 About the Author

Delaney Diamond is the USA Today Bestselling Author of sweet, sensual, passionate romance novels. Originally from the U.S. Virgin Islands, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She reads romance novels, mysteries, thrillers, and a fair amount of nonfiction. When she’s not busy reading or writing, she’s in the kitchen trying out new recipes, dining at one of her favorite restaurants, or traveling to an interesting locale. She speaks fluent conversational French and can get by in Spanish.

Enjoy free reads and the first chapter of all her novels on her website. Join her e-mail mailing list to get sneak peeks, notices of sale prices, and find out about new releases.

Website: http://delaneydiamond.com

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 ***CONTEST***

Prize: One reader will be gifted their choice of an ebook from my Love Unexpected interracial series or my African-American series, the Hawthorne Family. (The first book in the Hawthorne Family series – The Temptation of a Good Man – is now a free download! Make sure you get your copy while it’s free for a limited time.)

How to Enter: Answer the following question: Is it wrong not to want kids?

Deadline to enter: 11:59 PM EST on May 25, 2014.