Friday, December 05, 2014

December Love with Lissa Matthews

Shifting Currents by Lissa Matthews

 
Blurb:
Blake doesn’t want a mate. No way. No how. And he certainly doesn’t want her camping on his land, floating down his stretch of river, or looking like she belongs in his bed. But that's exactly what he gets when he happens upon a curvy woman with shades of sunset hair named Leah.
 
She's on vacation and isn’t looking for any complications, especially in the form of a shifter or the possessive MINE signal he gives off.
 
So, what are two bears to do when they've convinced themselves they don't want, much less need anyone else?  They give in to the pull and mate, of course, but in sex only. No life commitment. No cubs. No changing the way they live: Separate and independent of each other.
 
Except when she leaves his mountain, Blake can't get her off his mind and Leah can't stop craving his particular brand of gruffness. Now, the one thing neither wanted, has come full circle, and is ready to bite them both.
 
Snippet:
He knew pain and loss, and he didn’t want anything to do with it ever again. A woman would only complicate his uncomplicated life. “I’ll just stay away from her,” he declared to the four walls. “I’ve done a good job of it so far. I can just keep doing so until she leaves the area.”
 
You could kick her out. She is trespassing.
 
Blake couldn’t argue with the thought. She was camping on private property. But, he reasoned, she was set up and he wouldn’t make her move. Especially since it would put him in the position of having to talk to her. No, he’d let her stay and hope that she left real soon.
 
Feeling satisfied with himself and his decision, Blake made for the kitchen and the Mason jar of iced coffee in the fridge. If summers were good for anything, it was iced coffee. He drank it black, undiluted but for a few ice cubes and a slight sweetness.
 
He stepped onto the deck at the back of the house, and took a deep breath. The heat wasn’t so bad with something cold coating his throat and cooling him from the inside out. But it was still oppressive. He turned to re-enter the cabin, but caught the scent before he could turn his head. She was near. To the northeast and getting closer.
 
Blake debated with himself. Should he get closer? Should he get a look at her? His body screamed that yes, he should. His brain screamed obscenities at him for even considering it.
 
Her scent was stronger now. “Man, this is such a bad idea,” he whispered to no one even as he set the jar down and crept off the deck to the forest floor. Lucky for him, for a six foot five guy, he could be surprisingly stealthy.
 
He wound his way through the brush toward the water, careful to keep out of sight. A stand of trees and low-lying bushes allowed him to stay out of view. He crouched to his knees and waited.
 
He didn’t have to wait long. Her inner tube rounded the bend in the river several seconds later and Blake had to bite down on his tongue to keep a groan at bay. His soul growled “Mine” and his brain knew they were all goners.
 
About Lissa:
Born and raised in the South and currently living in North Carolina, talented, multi-published author, Lissa Matthews, has many loves in her life: Family, friends, NASCAR, football, music of all kinds, cooking, and penning stories filled with feisty, sassy heroines and naughty heros, and last, but certainly not least, coffee.
 
Please visit her Website for the most up to date information on her books and sign up for her Newsletter to be informed of new releases, sales, and special subscriber information.
 

Thursday, December 04, 2014

December Love with Wendi Hulsey

Desperate Desire Synopsis

Courtney Conner is the master at hiding behind a mask, she thinks she has one hell of a poker face. Courtney has everyone believing she’s in control of her life after everything that happened to her one horrible night. She believes everyone is fooled; except she can’t lie to herself. Struggling daily with the demons that invade her thoughts, dreams and life; she finds herself coping in self-destructive ways. But do they ever make her forget what happened?

Blaine Stevenson has shown Courtney a new lease on life and she wants to become the woman he can love. He’s everything she has ever wanted in a man; funny, kind, wealthy, and gorgeous. However, appearances are not always as they seem. Blaine also has a secret he has not yet revealed to Courtney. Can she handle what he is about to show her, or will this be something else that makes her run away from love?

Courtney and Blaine’s physical attraction is undeniable, but can they overcome their secrets. Will Blaine be the man to fulfill Courtney’s deep and desperate desire to be loved? Or will their secrets be too much to overcome? Not everything is as simple as it seems. Can Courtney love another to let go of her past?
 

 
Desperate Desire (book #2.5)
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1qVf1NA
iTunes-books: http://bit.ly/1w4gS99
 
Wendi Hulsey
Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1ho0dIJ
 
 

 

    

    

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

December Love with Elise Hepner


Elise Hepner lives with two spastic cats and a very supportive, slightly crazy husband. There is never a dull moment in the house, unless the caffeine runs out, which it never does. She's a multi-published erotica author with Cleis Press, Ellora's Cave, Xcite, and Secret Cravings Publishing.

She's driven by her tea addiction and a tiny stuffed turtle her husband picked up from Disney World that sits on her desk and "supervises" her work.

When not writing (which is rare), she's watching countless hours of reality television, playing the Sims or shopping online. Plus there's that odd obsession with the color purple. Everything is purple. Visit Elise at her website www.elisehepner.com to keep up with her naughty ramblings, random tidbits and future work.

She has a newsletter where you can sign up for sneak peeks, contests, giveaways, new release news and other fun things: http://eepurl.com/pW8Sj

Twitter: @EHepner
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/elisehepner
Facebook: Elise Hepner
Instagram: Elise_Hepner

Warning: This book contains a geeky, secretly insecure but overly cocky handy-man with a penchant for pleasing, a dominatrix in training who’s on the rebound, and enough smut to strip a couple layers off your soul. Plus there’s mac n’ cheese with a smattering of self-actualization for good measure.


After Chloe Barrons’ fiancé cheats on her via webcam, she begrudgingly accepts her Type-A mother’s offer of a spur of the moment luxury spa weekend. But things don’t play out quite from point A to point B when she arrives drunk and disoriented on the front porch of a deserted North Carolina beach house. From the very start she’s caught off guard by Noah Knightly, a sinfully sexy, self-proclaimed commitment-phobe who’s a handyman for his sister’s relationship rehabilitation center—a rehab where Chloe is the sole guest during off-season.
 
But faced with temptation, to stay guarded she’ll have to call the shots.

Noah shouldn’t have taken Chloe’s reservation. But in need of a second pair of hands to fix up the beach house, he throws all his sister’s rules out the window. Soon he worries that maybe he’s bitten off more than he can chew: each day Chloe cracks more of his cocky façade bringing down his guards to reveal a stuttering geek who has a hidden will to please her in any way possible.

With no way to ignore her pain, Noah sets himself up as a guniea pig to prove to Chloe that not all men are created equal—in or out of the bedroom. As Chloe comes into her own through every sexual session, Noah needs to decide if he’s man enough to accept the one thing he never thought he wanted—love.

Buy links:
Amazon
B&N
Smashwords


Excerpt


With a reserve of energy she didn’t feel, Chloe bounded up from the bed. Not the best idea, considering her brain’s penchant for rattling around in her skull the minute she moved because of her hangover. Maybe she could get Noah to make a Bloody Mary to take the edge off before she left? Chloe climbed the plush carpeted stairs back up into the living room.

“Since it looks like we’ll be spending a bit of time together, care to enlighten me on why you took a reservation when it’s off season and your sister wasn’t even here to run it?”

Chloe sat back across from him and took a slow drink of her juice, using the added time to get a closer look at his slightly freckled face. Cute. Whatever attraction rose up tightening her throat she quickly squashed it down. A man had gotten her here in the first place. If it wasn’t for her mother’s penchant for psychological healing, without the aid of television and a quart of ice cream—she would be surrounded by piles of good books, take-out, and new workout DVD’s she wouldn’t attempt to use for a solid month.

When Noah caught her watching him, she deflected her stare to the bookcase behind his head, cringing at the A to Z self-help tomes. When she came out of rehab she might have more of a complex than when she went in last night.

“Didn’t feel like turning down company. Plus I could use the extra hands around the house getting the place weatherproofed for hurricane season.”

Chloe had to cover her mouth to keep from shooting citrus out of her nose.

“Nice plan, right?” He waggled his dark brows and took another bite of bacon.

“You purposely let me come here because you were looking for a playmate while you babysat the house?”

“You’re much more fun than building model cars and searching for the meaning of life.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Plus, I won the genetic jackpot. You’re quite the looker,” he said it offhand, meeting her eyes, and winking with darkness in his gaze that left nothing to imagination.

“What are you, sixty years old?”

“That was a compliment, in case you’ve never heard one.”

“Yeah, great going, complimenting a woman who probably just got out of a debilitating relationship, is emotionally vulnerable, and ready to kick some ass. What a charmer you are, Noah.”

He cleared his throat, picked up his plate, and headed toward the kitchen. Despite her resolve to let his comment slide off her back, she’d opened her big mouth. But more than anything she wished she could close her eyes to get the image of his fine ass out of her mind as the swinging door closed behind him. Pathetic didn’t cover it. She needed another dictionary definition. What were the odds of finding a dictionary in this house?

Was she even thinking about staying? The idea was idiotic at best. In a house with a total stranger in the middle of nowhere for any span of time—when did that choice go from you’re crazy, to eh, it’s workable? The fact that she managed to miss kind of a big decision when she was the one making the choice in the first place made her feel like she’d come to the right place for her discombobulated mental state. Yet…she trusted her gut. There was something to women’s intuition and Noah didn’t scream psycho killer. Of course, she didn’t think they made a t-shirt for that type of thing. But either way her first layer of apprehension peeled back with the knowledge that she had basic knowledge of self-defense and there were plenty of knick-knacks around the house to double as weapons should the need crop up.

It would be an adventure, right? He wasn’t keeping her here. She could leave and walk away—literally—at any time.

“Oh, by the way—”

Noah stuck half his body through the swinging door, large fingers splayed across the pastel green paint. He licked his lips, mouth shaping into a wolfish grin that left her fingers twisting together in her lap. Noah raised one of his hands in the air.

“One, I’ve been told I’m not relationship material. Two, I’m great rebound sex in case there isn’t anything else in this boarded up hole to occupy your mind. And last, but not least, if you want to kick my ass on behalf of my species that’s all well and good—I’m a gentleman, I’ll let you—but you bet your sweet ass you’ll be playing nursemaid afterward. And that’s with the kinky outfit, or no deal.”

There were no words. Chloe sat there without a single retort even close to her mouth. Was he kidding? Before she could regain her senses he’d popped his head back into the kitchen, and water ran in a loud rush. Almost, but not quite, blocking out the joy in his gruff laughter as it echoed through the door. Gentleman, yeah that was a joke. He was a gentleman like Rhett Butler wasn’t a cad—and Rhett was the best bad boy of ‘em all.

She should know, she’d only watched that movie over a hundred times growing up because it had the prettiest cover in her mother’s old movie collection. No matter what, Rhett was a cad. And, though she tried not to be flustered, Noah gave off the same swarthy I-know-what-you-look-like-without-your-clothes-on vibe.

So what if she’d tried a relationship with the solid, wet-blanket, Ashley type and that hadn’t exactly worked out? That didn’t mean a damn thing.

“Plan on throwing me any other fastballs? Or are we not speaking because I dared to mention how beautiful your smile is and hurt your girl power pride?”

His voice shook her out of her reverie.

“You haven’t even seen me fully smile.”

“I’ve seen the ghost of one. Maybe if we keep playing this “getting to know each other” game I’ll get to see more. What do you think?”

He wiped his damp hands on his jeans leaving dark smudges that led Chloe’s eye elsewhere. She crossed her arms, determined to pay attention to the hideous, metal deep sea fish sculpture on the wall.

“I think that you haven’t given me jack squat to go off of in terms of getting to know you. I also think, Noah, that it’s probably in your best interest to start chatting, otherwise these hands might not feel like working.”

“Please tell me those hands will be doing other, more delightful things,” he practically purred, clutching his heart. “Oh, also, unless you’re a shrink, there isn’t much else to do around here. No radios or TV. Consider yourself promoted to first foreman. Better than reading the self-help crap, right?”

“Oh will you can it? Jesus, I’m not sleeping with you!”

He shrugged, making the move mean far more than it should have, while also showing off the hard muscles in his chest.

“I never really asked, did I?”

She couldn’t help it—she made a pure noise of frustration and glared sharp, lethal icepicks his way. What did he do? Only the second most infuriating thing ever after all his cheesy come-on’s. Noah threw up his hands in front of his body making a mocking face filled with fake terror. Eyes wide, mouth an “o,” he sprinted to the corner folding his large frame until he cowered hiding his face in between his knees. Heaven help her, a bubble of laughter floated out through her mouth and broke into pieces.

You’re hopeless.

Noah peeked his head out from his lap with a goofy grin.

“That impressed you, huh? Didn’t know your host took several unwanted years of drama in high school in order to make up for failing math grades. Pretty genius performance, wasn’t it? Might have won me an Oscar.”

Well, there was her first tidbit into the brain of her new hot—er, host. When Noah stood up from his crouch he quickly stretched his arms up above his head, leaving a delectable piece of pale flesh with a smattering of dark, treasure trail hair leading beneath his jeans. Chloe snapped her eyes away and thinned her lips pretending to adjust on the coach and folding her legs up under her.

“You’re getting better.”

“At what?”

“Nothing. You ready for your lesson on how we’re going to work together to keep this place in tip-top shape?”

“Do I get to say no?”

He made an obnoxious beeping noise in the back of his throat that sounded like a game show buzzer.

“Wrong answer. But you do get handy demonstrations, your own tool belt, and dinner tonight if you do a good job.”

“Do I get a gold star, too?”

“I can probably figure something out for you.”

Noah snatched her hand, a shock to her system tightening all the muscles in her upper arm. His warm palm engulfed her whole hand. Was this what it had been like when he’d carried her inside last night? Had she folded up in his arms like she fit? She swallowed and met his serious look.

“Come on, I’ve got a whiteboard downstairs.”

Chloe couldn’t deny his excitement. When he pulled her up and raced them down the stairs she followed—telling herself it was only because he would have dragged her anyway. But when he pulled her into a spare bedroom, it had been converted into an office with a white board that took up three of the four walls, her mind was boggled. Not one inch of board was free.

“You’ve been busy.”

Chloe took in the myriad of checklists, bullet points, and definitions scrawled in a neat sloping hand. One of the notations caught her eye. The roof needed fixing? He wanted her up on a slope a million feet in the air? Oh, that was priceless. With a careful eye she tried to stuff the overload of information into her brain.

“You need to be trained.”

Noah took a seat in the office chair, swiveling his body around a few times before he came to a full stop with his long legs stretched out. His hands were laced together in the middle of his chest, while he regarded her with an expression she couldn’t quite place—and probably didn’t want to think too hard. She went back to studying the notations.

“This is almost everything you need to know about construction and what we’ll be doing as early as tonight. Think you can handle it all?”

At least he’d given her a head start—with his help a day of intense study might be enough to keep her safe. Besides, the busywork could keep her mind in the right place and off of any thoughts of the ex. She could admit—begrudgingly—that she kind of couldn’t wait to see Noah in a tool belt, shirtless, and a little dewy with sweat. His verbal banter wouldn’t hurt as a distraction either. With a long exhale, she shoved the thought into a little box, readying herself for the oncoming storm.

 

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

December Love with Rivka Spicer

Hi everyone! My name is Rivka Spicer and I’m an author living in the far, frozen north of Scotland. Tilly has really kindly allowed me to post on her blog today so I thought I’d use the opportunity to tell you about my new book, Bloodlines.

 
It’s a post-apocalyptic dystopian Young Adult story following Piper and Kael as they navigate first love under the shadow of The Enclave. The official blurb is:
In the years after a virus wiped out most of the population, humanity was teetering on the brink of extinction and the new governing body enforced a law for survival; at the age of 16, all girls must travel to The Enclave, where they will spend two years producing children to ensure the propagation of the species.
9 generations later, Piper doesn’t want to go. Educated by parents that taught her to read and write, she sees The Enclave as a violation of her rights. Unable to escape her captors, she is plunged into a race against time to uncover the dark secrets and betrayals perpetuated by The Enclave. If she fails, she loses her right to choose the man she loves.
 
It was inspired by a discussion I had about A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. If providing children was a duty, what would the impact of that be? Particularly when it comes at an age where everything is confusing.

You can buy it on Kindle here:
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P3IHMBE
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00P3IHMBE?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Or in paperback here:
US: http://www.amazon.com/Bloodlines-Rivka-Spicer/dp/1502804948/ref=asap_B008LBEV7S_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414842453&sr=1-9
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloodlines-Rivka-Spicer/dp/1502804948/ref=asap_B008LBEV7S_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414842502&sr=1-9

If anyone would like to get in touch with me to talk about anything, please see my links below. I’m also a textile artist, jewellery maker and general craftster in the little free time that I have outside of writing, so you can speak to me about anything and I’ll probably be on board!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RivkaSpicer
Blog: http://alylonna.wordpress.com (Where I post about recipes, books, reviews, authors and crafting!)

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/alylonna/ (where I sometimes post storyboards)

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rivka-Spicer/e/B008LBEV7S/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Thank you so much to Tilly for letting me step in today!

Monday, December 01, 2014

December Love with Gracen Miller








If music nourishes the soul…
Loved by millions, but shunned by blood, Heath "Fang" Fangor has led his band, Hot Wired, to the top while others have fallen by the wayside. He devoted his life to music, and from that devotion harvested a new family--his band mates and fans.

A man can desire nothing else…or can he?
 
Living in the shadow of her brother's fame sucks! Sam Collins is desperate to have what she wants--a simple and uncomplicated life. She's no stranger to scandals and how they work. Now that she's inadvertently dragged Fang into the center of her latest gossip, could the scandal she created in her quest for freedom have gone too far?

Amid stardom the heart stages a new melody…
Fang has more fame and fortune than he will ever need, but none of that matters if he can't have the woman of his dreams. years have been wasted waiting for the right moment to approach the woman his heart desires above all others. There's just one major problem...she's his best friend's sister. To have her, he will have to risk it all.

One that might be responsible for Rockin the Heart!


Heath was a rock star god. The tight lines fanning outward from his silver eyes
classified him as a pissed off rock star god.
“Wanna tell me what you did this time to get the platinum treatment?” He indicated the jail cell, while ramming his fingers through his shaggy, jet-black hair.
Preferring to shrink into the shadows and avoid a confrontation with him, Sam took a deep breath and rose from the bench. She stepped away from the metal seat to draw
closer to the bars dividing them.
She’d expected her brother, Jason—Jase—to ride to her rescue. Like always. Her
foundation. Predictable. Dependable. Rattled by her sibling’s abandonment, she ogled the skull on Heath’s shirt, mortification overwhelming her.
If Heath was Jase’s replacement, then he’d been serious when he said ‘don’t call me the next time you’re arrested.’ She’d assumed he yelled that in anger. She was surprised he’d bothered to offer aid at all.
Gut hollow at her brother’s desertion, she cleared the ache out of her throat and asked, “Can’t you just bail me out and we’ll forget this ever happened?”
Knowing he wouldn’t go for that suggestion, Sam swallowed hard and shuffled her feet.
Disappointing Jase was one thing, but letting Heath down was an entirely different matter. She’d crushed on the man since her tenth birthday when he’d given her a heart-shaped jewelry box. Didn’t matter he’d been too old for her at a mature fourteen. That infatuation hadn’t waned with age either, but only grown stronger. Not that he showed her a stitch of interest. To him, she was nothing more complicated than a kid sister.
His digits curled around one of the bars. The tattoo lettering on his left knuckles his current disposition—ired. On the other hand the letters H-O-T-W graced his knuckles. If read together, they spelled out the name of his band: Hot Wired.
“Not this time, Samantha.”
She cringed. The only time he broke out her full name was when he was upset or
disappointed with her.
“You been drinking?”
“You know I haven’t.” Just shy of twenty-one, in her world getting liquor wasn’t an issue. Neither was alcohol her preferred drug of choice.
“Drugs?”
She rolled her eyes, the question too stupid to warrant a response.
“This type of publicity is bad news for the band.” She’d heard that one before. None of her recklessness damaged Hot Wired’s career. Not that she sought to hinder their mega stardom. She wasn’t that selfish, she just struggled with controlling her impulses on occasion.
Therapy failed to help. Yelling spawned further rebellion.
Living under the umbrella of the band’s fame grew tiresome. Her life should be her
own, to live however she pleased. Weary of the media hounding her, she craved going
back to a time when nobody knew her name. A normal life like when she’d been a kid.
She’d grown up on daydreams of the band making it to the big times. They won the
lottery of recording deals, while Sam discovered stardom came at a high price.  Along with that knowledge came the freebie of all lessons…fantasies were often better than reality. The last time she’d visited the mall without a trail of vipers eager to report her purchases she’d been fifteen.
Sheesh!
Was it too much to ask to have a date the world didn’t scrutinize? Even the loss of
her virginity made headline news. That act should’ve come with the expectation of privacy. Thanks to the tabloids, Jase almost burst a blood vessel over that exploitation.
Once she’d picked her nose in public on purpose because a rag-reporter stalked her.
Scratched her butt on another occasion. Gave them something to write. Those were the photographs and articles that gave her incentive to laugh.
“The only reason they’re not pressing charges is because of Jase.”
“Thanks for the reminder.” Along with it came the reminder that her brother sent Heath
instead of coming himself.
Despite the news-hounds, she got out of a lot of shit thanks to her brother’s identity.  This incident would be all over the rags and Internet before morning.
‘Hot Wired’s drummer’s sister is at it again!’ They’d go on to paint her wild and immoral
comportment.
Have at it you fucks. Can’t hurt me any more than you already have, but what about the band?
Distance from Hot Wired would aid all of them. She’d get her peace of mind back, and they’d be devoid of the rebel-rouser in their group.
She’d mentioned changing her last name and moving back to their Southern roots in the
small Alabama town where she’d been born. Jase had gone bat-shit crazy at the suggestion and went on and on about how their parents would be rolling over in their grave at her abandoning the family name.
The name-change idea had been discarded. Swept under the rug like a dust bunny
never to be spoken of again.

Torn between two worlds, Sam was suffocating. Living with someone she couldn’t have
in a world where she didn’t belong.




Rhythm is the heart of every song.
Jase Collins lives for the stage and the perks of rock stardom. His wild antics and high-profile affairs have earned the sexy drummer the title of Hot Wired’s bad boy. He’s not quite as jaded as his fans think—but just jaded enough not to recognize the best thing that’s ever happened to him until she walks out of his life. And he doesn’t even know her name.
But without harmony a man is lost.
Fallon Morgan has had her life mapped out since high school.  She’s earned a full ride scholarship to UCLA with the driving goal of earning her doctorate. Nothing can derail her dreams—except maybe a one-night stand with the infamous Jase Collins. His chilly reception the morning after convinces her to put her biggest mistake in the past and move on without looking back.

When two hearts begin to beat as one…
 
When Fallon’s life takes a dramatic turn, she finds herself with no one else to turn to for help. Jase is obnoxious, demanding, and yet surprisingly tender. Though it chafes her to depend on him, the more time she spends with him changes her perceptions of the bad boy rocker. With each passing day she finds more and more faith in the man behind the public persona.  If she can learn to trust her feelings, she might be willing to risk her heart.
 
They could find themselves Lost in the Beat!


Every cell in Fallon’s body wanted to rebel on principal. Like the good girl she was, she succumbed to Jase’s demands. “Do you ever not get what you want?”
“Yeah.” He stepped right into her personal space, knocking his very naked chest against her breasts.
The way her nipples protruded upon contact, they might as well have been naked against his flesh. The simultaneous dampness in her panties unnerved her. Damn her traitorous body! She ignored the pulsing between her thighs and coerced her libido to focus on him and not her body’s yearnings.
He lifted his hand and wrapped his fingers around her ponytail. A slow, gentle pull on her hair and he notched her head back. “Twice last year I didn’t get what I wanted.” He sounded put out by the inconvenience.
Proof he lives a charmed life! That was as good as always getting his way in her valuation. She’d endured many more disappointments than that in the past year.
His sapphire-blue eyes looked black in the dim lighting. “Care to know what those two were?”
If she said no, then he’d suspect she predicted those disappointments centered on her.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes. Number one…I didn’t want Sam and Fang together.” Surprised, her eyes widened at his confession. The tabloids would pay good money for that juicy tidbit. “Didn’t think they were right for one another. Gave them a lot of hell for that.” He shrugged. “My accident—you heard about that, right?” At her nod, he went on. “It reminded me how short life is, so I gave them my blessing to be together.”
Fallon licked her lips, suspecting his sister hadn’t really needed his blessing to do what she wanted. “It was the right thing to do.”
A humorous glint sparkled in his eyes. “I’m not known for doing the right thing, darlin’. Like now.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
He adjusted his hand, sliding it along her ponytail, before burying his fingers into the coil of her strands beneath the snug grip of the rubber band. His other arm curled around her shoulders, drawing her tight against his frame. Her heart pounded in her ears, and he
smelled good.
Jase nipped her bottom lip and at her sharp gasp, he took advantage and slid his tongue into her mouth. The cool minty taste of him verified he’d taken the time to brush his teeth.
Her eyelids fluttered shut, and she groaned upon his first contact, a slow drag of his tongue against hers. The immediate surge of wetness that drenched her panties scandalized her.
Her eyelids snapped open, and she spied him watching her. Fine lines creased the corners of his eyes. Again and again his tongue caressed hers, reminding her how he’d licked her breasts and between her legs.
More moisture dampened her panties, and her passage clenched in need. She compressed her thighs, but that action caused her ache to grow instead of abate as she’d intended. He withdrew from her mouth, and she almost botched stifling her groan of disappointment. Awed by the effect Jase asserted over her body, she stared at his lips. She’d lost all sense of restraint when he’d put them on her.
Just like the first time.
“You were the second thing I wanted last year.” He removed his arm from her shoulders and ran his thumb along her jaw. “I had private investigators search for you, but they repeatedly came up empty-handed.”
Stunned by the admission, she wasn’t sure what to make of it or if she even believed him. “Why’d you have P.I.’s looking for me?”
“Because you’re the one that got away.”
Jase looked serious. He didn’t flinch away from her direct stare. Didn’t grin, didn’t even blink. But the idea that she was ‘the one that got away’ was ludicrous…Fallon snorted, calling bullshit. She bet he said that to every woman he wanted to screw. While he could have his pick of women, she was a convenient lay.
I am no one’s dupe.
“This chick isn’t stupid enough to believe that line.”
A flash of hurt pinched his features. His mouth parted as if he’d say something, but he settled for shaking his head and dragging his fingers through his hair.
Their sultry spell demolished, she watched him, refusing to allow herself to regret her callous honesty. He could have any woman he wanted, but she wasn’t for sale.
Jase released his hold on her and picked up the keys and cell she’d dropped on the floor. He placed them on the counter and met her gaze dead-on. “You’re obviously not as intelligent as I thought you were either.”







Gracen is a hopeless daydreamer masquerading as a “normal” person in southern society. When not writing, she’s a full-time basketball/lacrosse/guitar mom for her two sons and a devoted wife to her real-life hero-husband of over twenty years. She has an unusual relationship with her muse, Dom, but credits all her creative success to his brilliant mind. She’s addicted to writing, paranormal romance novels and movies, Alabama football, and coffee...addictions are not necessarily in order of priority. She’s convinced coffee is nectar from the gods and when blending coffee and writing together it generates the perfect creative merger. Many of her creative worlds are spawned from coffee highs and Dom’s aggressive demands.

To learn more about Gracen or to leave her a comment, visit her website at www.gracen-miller.com.