Showing posts with label Excerpt Reveal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Excerpt Reveal. Show all posts
Friday, February 5, 2016
Scandal at Vauxhall Layna Pimentel
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Contingency Plan by Fiona Davenport
Title: Contingency Plan
Series: Risqué Contracts #2
Author: Fiona Davenport
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Release Date: February 1, 2016
Blurb
A career-ending shoulder injury left football star Brysen Mariano at loose ends. Nothing seems to spark his interest lately, not even a lucrative business opportunity and his upcoming move back to his hometown. Then he meets his smoking hot real estate agent and she has more than his spirits lifting.
Elisa Young made the colossal mistake of getting involved with a work colleague—a blunder she’s more than paying for since she’s stuck seeing her ex and his younger and brainless girlfriend on a regular basis. It’s enough to make her swear off men, leaving her without a date to bring to the mountain retreat she needs to attend for work. Her only option is to talk her baby sister into skipping the classes to hit the slopes and act as a buffer over the long weekend. Or she can take Brysen up on his offer to be her contingency plan and bring him along instead—a choice she’s certain will land her on her back…and not because she’s fallen off her skis.
Warning: This book has a former football star who's ready to score a wife off the field. It's a quick and dirty read with a trip to snow-tipped mountains, but don't worry, it'll heat up your Kindle.
**This is the second novella in the Risqué Contracts series, but each story can be read as a standalone and features a different couple.
Elisa Young made the colossal mistake of getting involved with a work colleague—a blunder she’s more than paying for since she’s stuck seeing her ex and his younger and brainless girlfriend on a regular basis. It’s enough to make her swear off men, leaving her without a date to bring to the mountain retreat she needs to attend for work. Her only option is to talk her baby sister into skipping the classes to hit the slopes and act as a buffer over the long weekend. Or she can take Brysen up on his offer to be her contingency plan and bring him along instead—a choice she’s certain will land her on her back…and not because she’s fallen off her skis.
Warning: This book has a former football star who's ready to score a wife off the field. It's a quick and dirty read with a trip to snow-tipped mountains, but don't worry, it'll heat up your Kindle.
**This is the second novella in the Risqué Contracts series, but each story can be read as a standalone and features a different couple.
Purchase Links
99c
Excerpt
“Fucking idiot,” he rasped. “He really is a dumbass if he had you and cheated.”
“Maybe I’m the dumbass for dating him in the first place.”
He shook his head while reaching for my hand. “He didn’t realize how lucky he was, but I’d be happy to help you demonstrate it up close and personal.”
My mind was reeling. Brysen had dated a steady stream of gorgeous women during his time in the NFL. I knew this because I’d done some internet stalking after our first appointment and was a little disappointed to see the kind of women he’d dated since there was no way I was his type. Not that I wasn’t confident in myself, but I was nothing like the models he usually had on his arm. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“You get that I’m a man, right?”
My eyes swept up and down his tall frame, taking in his tousled dark hair, chocolate brown eyes, and rock hard muscles earned over years of being a professional athlete. There wasn’t a woman in the world who didn’t know Brysen Mariano was all man the minute she first laid eyes on him. “Yeah, it’s kinda hard to miss.”
“Which means I understand how guys think. It’s actually a good thing your sister couldn’t make it this weekend. You showing up with her would have been a win to a guy like that.”
It stung a little, but he was probably right. “Showing up alone is going to be even worse.”
“You aren’t going to be alone, Elisa.”
“I’m not?”
“Maybe I’m the dumbass for dating him in the first place.”
He shook his head while reaching for my hand. “He didn’t realize how lucky he was, but I’d be happy to help you demonstrate it up close and personal.”
My mind was reeling. Brysen had dated a steady stream of gorgeous women during his time in the NFL. I knew this because I’d done some internet stalking after our first appointment and was a little disappointed to see the kind of women he’d dated since there was no way I was his type. Not that I wasn’t confident in myself, but I was nothing like the models he usually had on his arm. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“You get that I’m a man, right?”
My eyes swept up and down his tall frame, taking in his tousled dark hair, chocolate brown eyes, and rock hard muscles earned over years of being a professional athlete. There wasn’t a woman in the world who didn’t know Brysen Mariano was all man the minute she first laid eyes on him. “Yeah, it’s kinda hard to miss.”
“Which means I understand how guys think. It’s actually a good thing your sister couldn’t make it this weekend. You showing up with her would have been a win to a guy like that.”
It stung a little, but he was probably right. “Showing up alone is going to be even worse.”
“You aren’t going to be alone, Elisa.”
“I’m not?”
He squeezed my hand lightly. “I’m going to be your date for the weekend.”
Also Available
99c
Author Bio
Hello! My name is Fiona Davenport and I’m a smutoholic. I’ve been reading raunchy romance novels since… well, forever and a day ago it seems. And now I get to write sexy stories and share them with others who are like me and enjoy their books on the steamier side. Fiona Davenport is my super-secret alias, which is kind of awesome since I’ve always wanted one.
Author Links
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Waiting For Love by Dawn Stanton
Title: Waiting for Love
Series: Waiting #2
Series: Waiting #2
Author: Dawn Stanton
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release
Date: February 2, 2016
Blurb
Professor Garrett Hanlon -
Fantasies about him have consumed me since the first day of class. The fact that he’s my professor doesn’t seem to matter at all. There’s something between us, an attraction so powerful, so intense, that I can’t seem to keep my distance, even though I know I should…even though I know, he wants so much more from me than I’m willing to give. Is being with him worth ruining my entire academic future?
Jeff Walsh -
We have a “friends with benefits” relationship, and it’s been working well for us…until now. He’s the quarterback of the university’s football team, and we’ve known each other since the first day of sophomore year. We have a lot of fun together, but is it fair for us to continue this way when all I can think about is Professor Hanlon and the way he sets my body on fire with a simple touch?
I feel as though I’m on the verge of something special, something amazing, something that comes along once in a lifetime. If I could only find the courage to choose…. but what if I take the chance, make the choice, and it brings me nothing but heartache?
Is falling in love really worth risking it all?
Purchase Links
TO BE ADDED
Excerpt
We’re two weeks into the semester and it was much less of a struggle for me to wake up on time today. I’m not really a morning person, but I am a creature of habit. Once I settle in and get used to my new schedule, it’s smooth sailing for me. I’m running early enough this morning to grab a cup of coffee at the kiosk on campus. The line is long and it has me rethinking my decision. I glance down at my watch and notice that I still have fifteen minutes until my creative writing class begins; plenty of time to satisfy my caffeine craving. As I wait to place my order, I become aware of someone standing behind me. In my periphery, I notice it’s a male and he clearly doesn’t understand the meaning of personal space. His chest has brushed against my back, at least, three times and I can feel the warmth of his breath on the bare skin of my neck as he exhales. I want to turn around and tell him to back off, but instead, I grit my teeth and convince myself to ignore him. I move forward as much as I can without crowding the person in front of me and I get a brief moments peace before he’s brushing against me. Only, this time, he doesn’t stop at a simple touch...this time, he remains there, pressed along my backside. His body is giving off a massive amount of heat and yet I inexplicably break out with goosebumps all along my arms. The customer in front of me steps forward to place their order and I breathe a sigh of relief as I place some space between the stranger and myself.
“Good morning Miss Tyler.” I jump a bit from the unexpected voice whispering huskily in my ear. It may only be the second week of class, but already I recognize that voice and it belongs to Professor Hanlon. Shit. I stiffly shift my stance and pivot to face him, my back poker straight. His eyes slowly skate over my form, lingering on my chest, before raising back up to meet my stare. As our eyes connect I swear the hair on my arms stands on end and I’m fighting the insane urge I have to kiss his delectable lips. He leans forward, moving slowly toward my mouth and just as it seems like our lips will connect he shifts to the side. His lips make contact with the lobe of my ear as he whispers.
“Good morning Miss Tyler.” I jump a bit from the unexpected voice whispering huskily in my ear. It may only be the second week of class, but already I recognize that voice and it belongs to Professor Hanlon. Shit. I stiffly shift my stance and pivot to face him, my back poker straight. His eyes slowly skate over my form, lingering on my chest, before raising back up to meet my stare. As our eyes connect I swear the hair on my arms stands on end and I’m fighting the insane urge I have to kiss his delectable lips. He leans forward, moving slowly toward my mouth and just as it seems like our lips will connect he shifts to the side. His lips make contact with the lobe of my ear as he whispers.
“It’s your turn now.”
Also Available
Author Bio
Author Dawn Stanton, writes women's fiction with a romantic and risqué edge. With her debut novel Waiting for Us, she fulfilled a life-long dream of becoming a published author.
Stanton, a life-long resident of the east coast, makes her home in New England with her husband, Bestselling author Daniel Stanton, and their two sons. Look for the next book in the Waiting series, Waiting for Him, Book #3 in April of 2016. Dawn and Daniel are planning to work together on a collaboration sometime in the near future.
Stanton, a life-long resident of the east coast, makes her home in New England with her husband, Bestselling author Daniel Stanton, and their two sons. Look for the next book in the Waiting series, Waiting for Him, Book #3 in April of 2016. Dawn and Daniel are planning to work together on a collaboration sometime in the near future.
If you'd like to stay up to date on new releases and all book related news you can go to my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DawnStantonauthor
Author Links
Monday, February 1, 2016
The Choices Trilogy Box Set
Title: The Choices Trilogy Box Set
Series: The Choices Trilogy
Author: Dee Palmer
Genre: Erotic Romance
Release Date: January 28, 2016
Blurb
Never a Choice
The Choices Trilogy is an intense and fragile story. Bethany Thorne has secrets and she’s told a few lies but she’s hurt no-one. She just wants a better life, a life with choices but a chance encounter at her new University with disturbing stranger Daniel Stone makes her heart beat, her body tremble and rocks her very foundation. Her innate and newly discovered submissive nature is highlighted further by her extreme reaction to each encounter with Daniel Stone. Dark and dominant he evokes an instant heat and desire she has never felt before. But he is dangerous, he is powerful and he seems to see right through her. Choosing to try and stay under his radar proves to be the first choice to slip through her fingers.
Always a Choice
Dark and erotically demanding Daniel is everything and more, Bethany embraces the challenge of being with a man like Daniel whilst trying to come to terms with what he needs and what she can give him of herself. Is it ever going to be enough? Daniel consumes and possess every part of her, its intoxicating and seductive. Bethany needs to choose between being true to herself and the promises she made and being the type woman Daniel demands.
The Only Choice
Faced with a choice no-one should ever have to make Bethany’s devastation is complete. Secrets, lies and impossible choices have torn her world apart but it is not the first time she has had to rebuild her world. So she’ll do it again…because this time she has to.
When Bethany meets Daniel, she is backed into a corner and with the threat of losing even more she comes out fighting. Daniel quickly learns there is nothing quite as intoxicating as a woman with nothing left to lose and nothing quite as irresistible as his Bethany. But there are more games being played than either of them are truly aware and the winning prize is a coveted Happy Ever After.
Purchase Links
99c until January 30 only
Excerpt
My fingers are numb with cold as I press the lift button and the nerves aren’t helping as I rip the envelope open. The man at the concierge desk nearly fell over himself making sure I didn’t pass him without taking it. The envelope is blank. I know it holds my immediate instructions. Since it is not handwritten and I know Daniel is on his way to meet me, I blush to think the poor man at the desk has had to print this off. I suck in a sharp breath at the very short note.
You are mine Miss Thorne,
You are mine Miss Thorne,
I want you Naked and Kneeling…Nervous?
You should be,
D
He is right about that. I stuff the note back in the envelope and slip it into my shoulder bag. Each time I have been here has resulted in the most intense erotic encounter, painful, exciting and emotionally exhausting. But each time has been an exception and had an ulterior motive, pain, truth… painful truth or punishment. I fumble with my key and mentally shake myself. This is us, this is Daniel and he is all about pleasure and since he first brought me here I have been wondering how long before ‘here’ becomes our normal not our exception.
The flat is quiet and I find myself tip toeing into the main living area, which is utterly ridiculous. I drop my bag in the entrance and make my way to the bedroom. I don’t know how long I have got until Daniel arrives but I do know he won’t be pleased if I haven’t obeyed his instruction. I push the door open and freeze. The room is warm with a hundred candles flickering, casting a sensual glow and softening the edges of the somewhat sinister apparatus hanging from the walls, the bench and the cross. He must be here. I can’t hear any movement but I do notice the ensuite door is shut. I quickly lose my coat and strip the rest of my many layers. The room maybe warm and my skin feels flushed but my body shivers with anticipation. The door starts to open and I dive to my knees and I know I should bow my head but I want to see him. I need to see him.
“Tsk tsk Miss Thorne…do we really need to go over the basics?” He strides toward me and locks his penetrating stare onto me. It takes a second before I look away but I only needed a second. His black jeans and fitted shirt skim his perfect body, a few buttons are open at the neck and he has rolled his sleeves up to the elbow like he means business. Dirty work maybe and by the wicked grin his soft lips are sporting he is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Lucky me. “Good girl…I don’t want to waste time covering old ground when there is so much more to explore.” His voice is level, deep but he swallows back a cough and I know he is, perhaps, not so calm after-all. He threads his hand into my hair, his fingers momentarily giving a heavenly massage before they flex and grip pulling my head back so sharply I cry out. He holds me firm as he draws closer. My eyes pinched shut with the first bite of pain but the desire that flashed through my body consumes me.
“Look at me.” I open my eyes and see nothing but pure fire and lust, it melts me. He grips a little tighter and I gasp. “Fuck…you like the pain… You know, I forget you like the pain. Do you like it as much as the pleasure Miss Thorne?” I try to shake my head but his grip is solid and I only inflict more pain on my tender scalp. He chuckles. “Oh really? Are you sure about that?” The intensity of the sexual tension is magnified by the anticipation in the long pause that follows the question.
“I…” My voice falters but not because I don’t know what to say but because I don’t know what my answer will mean for us when I tell him the truth. He raises a brow for me to continue. “I don’t know.” I don’t like the pain but I won’t deny it arouses me to heights I never new existed. My answer is a lie. I am a coward but this is his playground and as much as I trust him, I don’t quite trust myself.
“Hmmm…” His grip in my hair loosens. He draws his finger along my jaw and tips my chin high. “If you say so Miss Thorne.” He stands back and I feel a rush of cool air fill the space his heat created between us. “Stand.” He commands and I obey on shaky legs and with a building liquid core I can feel pool between my tightly gripped thighs. I am so turned on I know I am not going to last one minute. “You know you are so fucking beautiful it’s a crime to cover this body in anything other than me. My touch.” He steps closer and his fingers curl and stroke my cheek. His touch is light but sparks with charge at each delicate contact with my sensitive skin. He moves slowly from my jaw down the side of my neck. Putting the slightest pressure to make me tilt my head and give him open access to my neck. A deep groan rumbles in his chest but he keeps it there, his words are soft and intoxicating as they kiss my skin. He continues, “My kisses.” His lips feel like a brand sizzling my neck, soft, firm and possessive. I bite back a whimper but I can feel my body start to tremble. “My come.” He whispers and I am amazed I am still standing I feel so weak.
“Daniel please!” I plead, embarrassed I have little to no control over my body with this man, embarrassed but not surprised.
He is right about that. I stuff the note back in the envelope and slip it into my shoulder bag. Each time I have been here has resulted in the most intense erotic encounter, painful, exciting and emotionally exhausting. But each time has been an exception and had an ulterior motive, pain, truth… painful truth or punishment. I fumble with my key and mentally shake myself. This is us, this is Daniel and he is all about pleasure and since he first brought me here I have been wondering how long before ‘here’ becomes our normal not our exception.
The flat is quiet and I find myself tip toeing into the main living area, which is utterly ridiculous. I drop my bag in the entrance and make my way to the bedroom. I don’t know how long I have got until Daniel arrives but I do know he won’t be pleased if I haven’t obeyed his instruction. I push the door open and freeze. The room is warm with a hundred candles flickering, casting a sensual glow and softening the edges of the somewhat sinister apparatus hanging from the walls, the bench and the cross. He must be here. I can’t hear any movement but I do notice the ensuite door is shut. I quickly lose my coat and strip the rest of my many layers. The room maybe warm and my skin feels flushed but my body shivers with anticipation. The door starts to open and I dive to my knees and I know I should bow my head but I want to see him. I need to see him.
“Tsk tsk Miss Thorne…do we really need to go over the basics?” He strides toward me and locks his penetrating stare onto me. It takes a second before I look away but I only needed a second. His black jeans and fitted shirt skim his perfect body, a few buttons are open at the neck and he has rolled his sleeves up to the elbow like he means business. Dirty work maybe and by the wicked grin his soft lips are sporting he is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Lucky me. “Good girl…I don’t want to waste time covering old ground when there is so much more to explore.” His voice is level, deep but he swallows back a cough and I know he is, perhaps, not so calm after-all. He threads his hand into my hair, his fingers momentarily giving a heavenly massage before they flex and grip pulling my head back so sharply I cry out. He holds me firm as he draws closer. My eyes pinched shut with the first bite of pain but the desire that flashed through my body consumes me.
“Look at me.” I open my eyes and see nothing but pure fire and lust, it melts me. He grips a little tighter and I gasp. “Fuck…you like the pain… You know, I forget you like the pain. Do you like it as much as the pleasure Miss Thorne?” I try to shake my head but his grip is solid and I only inflict more pain on my tender scalp. He chuckles. “Oh really? Are you sure about that?” The intensity of the sexual tension is magnified by the anticipation in the long pause that follows the question.
“I…” My voice falters but not because I don’t know what to say but because I don’t know what my answer will mean for us when I tell him the truth. He raises a brow for me to continue. “I don’t know.” I don’t like the pain but I won’t deny it arouses me to heights I never new existed. My answer is a lie. I am a coward but this is his playground and as much as I trust him, I don’t quite trust myself.
“Hmmm…” His grip in my hair loosens. He draws his finger along my jaw and tips my chin high. “If you say so Miss Thorne.” He stands back and I feel a rush of cool air fill the space his heat created between us. “Stand.” He commands and I obey on shaky legs and with a building liquid core I can feel pool between my tightly gripped thighs. I am so turned on I know I am not going to last one minute. “You know you are so fucking beautiful it’s a crime to cover this body in anything other than me. My touch.” He steps closer and his fingers curl and stroke my cheek. His touch is light but sparks with charge at each delicate contact with my sensitive skin. He moves slowly from my jaw down the side of my neck. Putting the slightest pressure to make me tilt my head and give him open access to my neck. A deep groan rumbles in his chest but he keeps it there, his words are soft and intoxicating as they kiss my skin. He continues, “My kisses.” His lips feel like a brand sizzling my neck, soft, firm and possessive. I bite back a whimper but I can feel my body start to tremble. “My come.” He whispers and I am amazed I am still standing I feel so weak.
“Daniel please!” I plead, embarrassed I have little to no control over my body with this man, embarrassed but not surprised.
Author Bio
Dee Palmer hates talking about herself in the third person so I won’t. My husband had my iPod engraved one Christmas with ‘sing like no-one’s listening’ and I know my family actually wish they weren’t listening because I am, in fact, tone deaf but it doesn’t stop me and this gentle support has enabled me to fulfil a dream. This has been a truly brilliant experience, I wrote The Choices Trilogy back to back and released them this year just one month apart...Don't you hate waiting for the next book in a series? The entire process has undoubtedly been made possible by my incredibly supportive family. I know this is very much an acknowledgment but I know I wouldn’t be writing even this single paragraph if it wasn’t for them so this is about who I am, I am because they let me be.
Author Links
What the Sea Wants by Karin Cox
Title: What the Sea Wants
Author: Karin Cox
Publisher: Indelible Ink Press
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
(Paranormal Elements)
Release Date: January 29, 2016
Blurb
When Ash Gordon lost his life, Juliette Brewer lost herself.
But when reality is as fickle as the tides, not all who are missing are lost.
“There’s something about me you need to know—something I’m not sure I can tell you.”
Juliette Brewer has always been different. From the age of four, she’s endured frequent premonitions of tragedy, but the one thing she never saw coming was the thing that would send her under. When she catches the ocean-coloured eyes of surf-lifesaving heartthrob Ash Gordon, Juliette’s life changes for the better … until a tragic accident destroys their dreams. Everyone else has given up, moved on, and put Ash's loss behind them, but Juliette can’t—and perhaps she shouldn’t. Not all who are missing are lost, but if she refuses to accept reality, will the sea claim her sanity as well as her lover’s life?
Purchase Links
99c for release day only
Excerpt
Moonlight made dark mirrors of his eyes as he stared at me. “For how long?” he asked, his voice dark and low, rasping.
I tossed my head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means for how long?” He sighed and rocked back, pointing to the heavens. “See all those stars up there, Juls?”
I followed his gaze up to where the Milky Way resembled a fat seam of smoke in the sky. “They’re magical.”
“They’re dead.” He corrected me. “At least some of them are. Light years ago. Now they’re nothing. Nothing but light.”
It was true, of course—sad but true—and all of a sudden I felt the night’s chill again.
“It doesn’t matter how much we love their shine, or how much we need their heat,” he went on. “One day they’ll all wink out. They’ll all be forgotten.” Ash’s large, square hand, rough with callouses from rubbing wax on his board, slid over mine. “Maybe our Sun will have stopped shining by then, too. Maybe it’ll be cold and we’ll all be gone and there’ll be no one left to remember them, no one left to remember us.” His expression was pensive, dark brows drawn. “But some things get remembered—that’s what I believe.”
Turning my hand palm up, he traced the constellation of whorls and grooves. Life-line, head-line, heart-line, mount of Venus, all the while watching the stars.
“Is that why you write songs,” I asked. “So you get remembered?”
I tossed my head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means for how long?” He sighed and rocked back, pointing to the heavens. “See all those stars up there, Juls?”
I followed his gaze up to where the Milky Way resembled a fat seam of smoke in the sky. “They’re magical.”
“They’re dead.” He corrected me. “At least some of them are. Light years ago. Now they’re nothing. Nothing but light.”
It was true, of course—sad but true—and all of a sudden I felt the night’s chill again.
“It doesn’t matter how much we love their shine, or how much we need their heat,” he went on. “One day they’ll all wink out. They’ll all be forgotten.” Ash’s large, square hand, rough with callouses from rubbing wax on his board, slid over mine. “Maybe our Sun will have stopped shining by then, too. Maybe it’ll be cold and we’ll all be gone and there’ll be no one left to remember them, no one left to remember us.” His expression was pensive, dark brows drawn. “But some things get remembered—that’s what I believe.”
Turning my hand palm up, he traced the constellation of whorls and grooves. Life-line, head-line, heart-line, mount of Venus, all the while watching the stars.
“Is that why you write songs,” I asked. “So you get remembered?”
He shook his head. “No. I write them to remember. Love gets remembered, that’s what I think.” His tone had grown warm again, his lips gentle as he bent to kiss each of my fingertips.
Author Bio
KARIN COX is an Australian author who writes in her “spare time” while being a fulltime mum to a precocious daughter and a black cat with the improbable name of "Ping Pong." She is the author of more than 50 trade-published titles, including children’s and adult fiction, biographies and travel guides, and Australian natural and social history texts, several of which are award-winning. Being so busy hopping from one genre to another, she runs almost wholly on white wine and insomnia, which could account for the cray-cray, but probably doesn’t.
Her poems and short stories have been published in anthologies worldwide, and her novels and anthologies GROWTH, CAGE LIFE, CROWS AND OTHER BEASTS, CRUXIM, CRECHE, CREED, DARK GUARDIANS and WHAT THE SEA WANTS are available from all good online distributors and bookstores. Titles in Karin’s bestselling DARK GUARDIANS trilogy have several times topped best-seller charts for gothic romance and dark fantasy.
Author Links
Some Sort of Love by Melanie Harlow
Title: Some Sort of Love
Series: Happy Crazy Love #3
Author: Melanie Harlow
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Jenn Watson, Social Butterfly PR
Cover Photo: Love N. Books
Cover Model: Franggy Yanez
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Blurb
On the surface, I have it all—a career I adore, a loving family, the Nixon metabolism but not the Nixon ears, and a salary that supports my lavish taste in designer shoes, fine wine, and lacy lingerie…but I have no one to share it with.
Until the day I run into him—my one night stand from college with the cocky smile, let’s-get-out-of-here eyes, and dirty, dirty mouth.
Levi Brooks is six feet four inches of hot bearded fantasy. A sexy single dad with broad shoulders, strong hands, and a fantastically big…heart. (I mean, it’s massive. And generous. And it pumps so hard… um. Sorry. Lost my place.)
But he lives for his son, and he's keeping me at a distance because he thinks I deserve someone better—a man who can give me more time, more attention, more of himself. He doesn’t believe he could ever be enough.
But he's wrong.
He’s everything.
Pre-order Links
Excerpt
“So.” I glanced out the windows to the patio. “You want to go back out there?”
“Not really,” she said.
“You want to get out of here?”
She grinned. “Yeah. I do.”
I watched her rush up the stairs to get her things, and as soon as she was out of sight, I adjusted myself in my pants. My dick had jumped to life the second she said yeah, I do, as if the question had been you want to get naked and fuck? rather than something much less suggestive. Not that I didn’t want to get naked and fuck—hopefully I’d last a little longer than I had in the broom closet eleven years ago—but I didn’t want to make her feel like that’s what I expected. She wasn’t a horny nineteen-year-old college student anymore; she was a doctor, for fuck’s sake. She was beautiful and smart and mature and sophisticated, and a woman like her did not want some Neanderthal who probably needed a haircut and a new pair of shoes to throw her up against a wall for a five-minute fuck.
A woman like that deserved attention all night long. She deserved someone who would undress her slowly and delight in each new inch of her skin as it was revealed. Someone who would run his hands all over her body and find out where she liked to be touched, how she liked to be touched, what she wanted to hear whispered to her in the dark. Someone who would wrap those gloriously long legs around his neck and use his tongue until she begged for his cock, then use his cock until she begged for mercy.
Fuck. I could be that guy.
Except I couldn’t be. Not tonight. Because I wasn’t a horny college student anymore either—I was just a horny single dad who didn’t have the luxury of taking a woman home and lavishing all my time and attention on her the way I wanted to.
As soon as I had the thought, I felt guilty. Scotty was the love of my life and always would be, and whenever I felt the slightest bit resentful about something I couldn’t do because of him, that resentment was immediately crushed by shame. He didn’t ask to be born wired differently, into a terrible relationship, to a mother who would decide she couldn’t handle being a parent, to a father who wasn’t prepared for any of it. He was completely innocent, and he needed me to be a better man.
Running a hand through my hair, I exhaled and wondered if I should ask Jillian for a raincheck on a night when Scotty’s usual sitter could be there. If he woke up again and I wasn’t home yet, he might never get back to sleep. We’d be up all night, tomorrow would be miserable, and the whole start to the week would be off.
But she was so beautiful. And I hadn’t been this attracted to someone in so long.
“Fuck,” I muttered, checking my watch. What was the right thing to do? If she were a different sort of woman, if her brother-in-law weren’t my friend and client, if we lived three states apart…if any number of circumstances were changed, I’d grab her hand, drag her out to my car, and spend the next thirty minutes fucking her brains out in the back seat. It would feel so good to take control that way, to lose control that way, to release some of this fucking tension. But was that fair to her?
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
“Hello?”
“He’s up again.” Monica’s voice was strained, and in the background I heard the familiar keening of a nighttime meltdown. My chest hurt, the way it always did when Scotty was upset.
“Shit. OK, I’m on my way. Twenty minutes, OK? Thirty at the most.”
“OK.”
“Tell him he can play on his iPad.”
“That’ll just rile him up more. He’s tired. He needs to go to sleep.”
I clenched my fist. “Just do it, OK? It will help calm him until I get there.”
As I ended the call, I heard footsteps above, and then Jillian appeared at the top of the stairs carrying a small suitcase. I watched her descend, the tightness in my chest growing. Also the tightness in my pants. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said, her face concerned as she reached the ground and saw my expression. She set down the suitcase. “What’s up?”
Sighing, I put my phone back in my pocket. “I have to get home. Scotty woke up and he’s upset.”
“Oh.” She tried to hide it, but I saw the disappointment in her eyes.
“I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“That’s OK. I understand.”
“Can I call you?”
“Of course.” She smiled, and her lips looked so soft and inviting, I took a step closer.
If you kiss her, it will be that much harder to leave.
I knew it was the truth, but I couldn’t help myself. One kiss. Just one. And then I’ll go. I moved even closer and took her head in my hands.
The curve of her smile deepened. “What are you doing?”
“I’m thinking about kissing you.”
“Stop thinking.”
I lowered my lips to hers and let them rest there, fully intending the kiss to be short and sweet, just a goodnight.
But I couldn’t break it off. I wanted more—I wanted to taste her. Slanting my head, I changed the angle of the kiss, teasing her mouth open with mine, slipping my tongue between her lips. A little sigh escaped her, and my dick jumped to life again.
You have to go, you have to go, you have to go.
But her hands were moving up my chest and my fingers were sliding into her soft brown hair and I could smell something sweet and citrusy on her skin and it mingled with the taste of whiskey on my tongue and oh God, I wanted my tongue everywhere on her body. I wanted make her come with it just so I could hear that little sigh again and again and again. And I wanted to feel my hands in her hair just like this while she got on her knees and took my cock between her lips, looking up at me with those big blue eyes…
Groaning, I forced myself to take my lips off her before I completely lost my senses. “God, I wish I could stay,” I said, resting my forehead against hers. “I wish a lot of things.”
“I know.” She played with my tie again. “I wish I was taking this tie off you, not straightening it.”
“What a coincidence, that’s one of my wishes too.”
“Not really,” she said.
“You want to get out of here?”
She grinned. “Yeah. I do.”
I watched her rush up the stairs to get her things, and as soon as she was out of sight, I adjusted myself in my pants. My dick had jumped to life the second she said yeah, I do, as if the question had been you want to get naked and fuck? rather than something much less suggestive. Not that I didn’t want to get naked and fuck—hopefully I’d last a little longer than I had in the broom closet eleven years ago—but I didn’t want to make her feel like that’s what I expected. She wasn’t a horny nineteen-year-old college student anymore; she was a doctor, for fuck’s sake. She was beautiful and smart and mature and sophisticated, and a woman like her did not want some Neanderthal who probably needed a haircut and a new pair of shoes to throw her up against a wall for a five-minute fuck.
A woman like that deserved attention all night long. She deserved someone who would undress her slowly and delight in each new inch of her skin as it was revealed. Someone who would run his hands all over her body and find out where she liked to be touched, how she liked to be touched, what she wanted to hear whispered to her in the dark. Someone who would wrap those gloriously long legs around his neck and use his tongue until she begged for his cock, then use his cock until she begged for mercy.
Fuck. I could be that guy.
Except I couldn’t be. Not tonight. Because I wasn’t a horny college student anymore either—I was just a horny single dad who didn’t have the luxury of taking a woman home and lavishing all my time and attention on her the way I wanted to.
As soon as I had the thought, I felt guilty. Scotty was the love of my life and always would be, and whenever I felt the slightest bit resentful about something I couldn’t do because of him, that resentment was immediately crushed by shame. He didn’t ask to be born wired differently, into a terrible relationship, to a mother who would decide she couldn’t handle being a parent, to a father who wasn’t prepared for any of it. He was completely innocent, and he needed me to be a better man.
Running a hand through my hair, I exhaled and wondered if I should ask Jillian for a raincheck on a night when Scotty’s usual sitter could be there. If he woke up again and I wasn’t home yet, he might never get back to sleep. We’d be up all night, tomorrow would be miserable, and the whole start to the week would be off.
But she was so beautiful. And I hadn’t been this attracted to someone in so long.
“Fuck,” I muttered, checking my watch. What was the right thing to do? If she were a different sort of woman, if her brother-in-law weren’t my friend and client, if we lived three states apart…if any number of circumstances were changed, I’d grab her hand, drag her out to my car, and spend the next thirty minutes fucking her brains out in the back seat. It would feel so good to take control that way, to lose control that way, to release some of this fucking tension. But was that fair to her?
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
“Hello?”
“He’s up again.” Monica’s voice was strained, and in the background I heard the familiar keening of a nighttime meltdown. My chest hurt, the way it always did when Scotty was upset.
“Shit. OK, I’m on my way. Twenty minutes, OK? Thirty at the most.”
“OK.”
“Tell him he can play on his iPad.”
“That’ll just rile him up more. He’s tired. He needs to go to sleep.”
I clenched my fist. “Just do it, OK? It will help calm him until I get there.”
As I ended the call, I heard footsteps above, and then Jillian appeared at the top of the stairs carrying a small suitcase. I watched her descend, the tightness in my chest growing. Also the tightness in my pants. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said, her face concerned as she reached the ground and saw my expression. She set down the suitcase. “What’s up?”
Sighing, I put my phone back in my pocket. “I have to get home. Scotty woke up and he’s upset.”
“Oh.” She tried to hide it, but I saw the disappointment in her eyes.
“I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“That’s OK. I understand.”
“Can I call you?”
“Of course.” She smiled, and her lips looked so soft and inviting, I took a step closer.
If you kiss her, it will be that much harder to leave.
I knew it was the truth, but I couldn’t help myself. One kiss. Just one. And then I’ll go. I moved even closer and took her head in my hands.
The curve of her smile deepened. “What are you doing?”
“I’m thinking about kissing you.”
“Stop thinking.”
I lowered my lips to hers and let them rest there, fully intending the kiss to be short and sweet, just a goodnight.
But I couldn’t break it off. I wanted more—I wanted to taste her. Slanting my head, I changed the angle of the kiss, teasing her mouth open with mine, slipping my tongue between her lips. A little sigh escaped her, and my dick jumped to life again.
You have to go, you have to go, you have to go.
But her hands were moving up my chest and my fingers were sliding into her soft brown hair and I could smell something sweet and citrusy on her skin and it mingled with the taste of whiskey on my tongue and oh God, I wanted my tongue everywhere on her body. I wanted make her come with it just so I could hear that little sigh again and again and again. And I wanted to feel my hands in her hair just like this while she got on her knees and took my cock between her lips, looking up at me with those big blue eyes…
Groaning, I forced myself to take my lips off her before I completely lost my senses. “God, I wish I could stay,” I said, resting my forehead against hers. “I wish a lot of things.”
“I know.” She played with my tie again. “I wish I was taking this tie off you, not straightening it.”
“What a coincidence, that’s one of my wishes too.”
She laughed and kissed me quickly. “Another time, maybe. You better go.”
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Author Bio
Melanie is the author of the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, the FRENCHED series, and the sexy historical SPEAK EASY duet, set in the 1920s. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.
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