Category: Giveaway

Guest Author LOUISE GAYLORD showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME LOUISE GAYLORD

AUTHOR NAME

Louise Gaylord is an acclaimed national award-winning author who established herself with her very
first book, a suspenseful murder mystery centering on a young, sharp female assistant district attorney.
This was the cornerstone of what has become her popular Allie Armington mystery series, the idea for
it sparked when Louise herself spent three months on a grand jury panel.

The series has grown to four novels, with stories ranging from the Southwest (“Anacacho” and “Spa Deadly”) to New York (“Xs”), to the most recent (“Dark Lake”) featuring her beloved Adirondacks.

In the middle of establishing her mystery writer credentials, she expanded out of the genre with an insightful character study novel, “Julia Fairchild,” and then the delightful “Recipes from Camp Trillium.” The cookbook features worldwide recipes from Louise’s family and guests during years they visited her in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.

Her first Allie Armington Mystery, “Anacacho,” won the 2003 National Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery/Suspense sponsored by Publisher’s Marketing Association in Los Angeles. The San Francisco Book Festival awarded Louise with best audio book in 2010 for “Spa Deadly.” “Recipes from Camp Trillium” won the Dan Poynter’s Global eBook Awards, in which “Julia Fairchild” and “Spa Deadly” were also finalists. And most recently, “Dark Lake” was recognized in the General Fiction category of the Los Angeles Book Festival.

Louise’s newest book, “Sutton Place,” will be published August 27, 2013, by Little Moose Press,
Beverly Hills, California.

Louise lives in Houston, Texas, though she might be found writing almost anywhere in the world.
Connect with Ms. Gaylord at these sites:

WEBSITE TWITTER

Q&A with “Sutton Place” author Louise Gaylord

What will fans of “Julia Fairchild” like about your newest book, “Sutton Place?”
“Sutton Place” is the prequel to “Julia Fairchild”. The reader learns in detail about the incidents that drove Julia from New York to New Mexico.

Three months serving on a grand jury panel inspired your Allie Armington mystery series. How did you come up with Julia’s character?
Julia just “grew like Topsy” in my mind. She’s a composite of all the strong women I have known.  Lies, family secrets, obsessions – will Julia ever catch a break?  She catches her break in “Julia Fairchild”.

Your mystery novels are known for having very unexpected twists and surprise endings. How do you keep readers on their toes?
I don’t outline so sometimes I even surprise myself! I really write to amuse myself. One of my writing instructors said I should have fun when writing. I have a friend who writes a chapter here and then a chapter there. I can’t do that. I have to write in a linear fashion.

As a successful, award-winning mystery writer, you stepped out of the genre to work on a few other books, including Recipes from Camp Trillium. What’s your favorite dish to stir up in the kitchen?
Grandma Betsy’s Chicken. My mother put Lawry’s seasoning and Worchester sauce on everything. This made a nice, simple one-dish meal to serve all. To make it, you just need chicken, Worcestershire sauce and Lawry’s® Seasoned Salt. Then add any vegetable of your choice. Cut up potatoes, mushrooms, onions or red bell peppers, carrots, almost anything except greens. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Quarter the chicken or cut it into single-serving pieces. Place the chicken skin side up in an aluminum foil-lined pan. Throw the vegetables all around it. Douse it with Worcestershire sauce and sprinkle with seasoned salt. Bake that for 25 to 40 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

You studied art history in college after your grade-school teachers encouraged you to do
something with your painting skills. How has painting helped you write?
I’m a very visual person. So I can imagine a scene as if I’m painting it and portray that in words on page. A lot of people who write also paint. I noticed though that I never had a problem dropping the paintbrush to go play tennis or golf.  But once I started writing I couldn’t leave my computer.

You’re churning out books left and right. What are you working on now?
An Allie Armington Mystery. The working title is: “A Cruise to Die For.” Stay tuned!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Just When Things Seem to be Going So Well…

…a horrific incident from Julia Fairchild’s past — one she thought had been buried long ago —comes
charging back into her life. Then a promising romantic weekend goes bad, which makes staying at Sutton Place more than Julia can handle. So she flees her home, her family…her life. But apparently, she can’t go far enough.

The Fairchilds were a happy family of wealthy New York stock, with two loving daughters. Until the
secrets started to surface.

The first secret was revealed when Julia was told the truth about her father. Her reaction to the
revelation sent her spinning out of control.

The second secret concerned the parentage of Julia’s sister, Ariel. How Ariel responded to the
revelation astounded the rest of the family.

Now Julia is building a superb reputation at one of New York’s finest hospitals. The future looks bright
until a romantic weekend turns into a disaster. Fleeing home and family, she moves to New Mexico
and starts to pull her life together.

Just when it looks like things are heading toward happily-ever-after, events in New York draw Julia
back to Sutton Place, where she learns of Ariel’s secret life and finds herself facing her worst
nightmare.

Sutton Place moves a mile a minute and never lets you see what’s coming around the next turn.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Suspense
Published by: Little Moose Press
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Number of Pages: 261
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-9893988-1-7
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9893988-2-4
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9893988-3-1

PURCHASE LINKS:

              

THANKS TO SAMANTHA AT JKS COMMUNICATIONS,
I
HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS
FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW
GIVEAWAY ENDS OCTOBER 24th AT 6PM EST

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DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

Guest Author RAYMOND KHOURY showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME RAYMOND KHOURY

RAYMOND KHOURY

RAYMOND KHOURY is a New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Last Templar, The Templar Salvation and The Sanctuary. Born in Beirut, Khoury and his family fled to Rye, New York when he was 14 to escape Lebanon’s civil war. Khoury worked as an architect and investment banker before becoming a successful screenwriter and producer for networks such as BBC. Today, he focuses on his writing career. Rasputin’s Shadow is his sixth book.
Connect with Raymond at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

On a cold, bleak day in 1916, all hell breaks loose in a mining pit in the Ural Mountains. Overcome by a strange paranoia, the miners attack one another, savagely and ferociously. Minutes later, two men—a horrified scientist and Grigory Rasputin, trusted confidant of the tsar—hit a detonator, blowing up the mine to conceal all evidence of the carnage.

In the present day, FBI agent Sean Reilly’s search for Reed Corrigan, the CIA mindcontrol spook who brainwashed Reilly’s son, takes a backseat to a new, disturbing case. A Russian embassy attaché seems to have committed suicide by jumping out of a fourth-floor window in Queens. The apartment’s owners, a retired physics teacher from Russia and his wife, have gone missing, and further investigation reveals that the former may not be who the FBI believe him to be.

Joined by Russian Federal Security Service agent Larisa Tchoumitcheva, Reilly’s investigation of the old man’s identity will uncover a desperate search for a small, mysterious device, with consequences that reach back in time and which, in the wrong hands, could have a devastating impact on the modern world.

Packed with the twists, intrigue, and excitement that Khoury’s many fans have come to expect, Rasputin’s Shadow will keep readers turning pages long into the night.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Historical Thriller
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: October 8, 2013
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN-978-0-525-95313-5

PURCHASE LINKS:

            

THANKS TO ALISSA AT MEDIA MUSCLE,
I
HAVE ONE (1) COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS
FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW
GIVEAWAY ENDS OCTOBER 23rd AT 6PM EST

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WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
VIA EMAIL AND WILL HAVE 48 HOURS TO RESPOND
OR ANOTHER NAME WILL BE CHOSEN

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DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

Guest Author SHANNON RICHARD showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME SHANNON RICHARD

SHANNON RICHARD

Grace King knows two things for certain: she loves working at her grandmother’s café and she loves the hunky town sheriff. She always has. As she bakes him sweet treats, Grace fantasizes about helping him work up an appetite all night long. But whenever she thinks she’s finally getting somewhere, he whips out some excuse to escape. Growing up, he never looked twice at her. Now Grace won’t rest until she has Jax’s undivided attention.

Jaxson Anderson can’t deny that his best friend’s kid sister is the sexiest woman in Mirabelle, Florida. Unwilling to burden Grace with his painful past, Jax keeps the sassy blonde at arm’s length. Yet one heated kiss crumbles all of his carefully built defenses. But when a town secret surfaces, threatening to destroy everything they have believed in, can the man who defended Grace from bullies as a child protect her now?
Connect with Shannon at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Shannon Richard grew up in the Panhandle of Florida as the baby sister of two overly protective, but loving brothers. She was raised by a more than somewhat eccentric mother, a self-proclaimed vocabularist who showed her how to get lost in a book, and a father who passed on his love for coffee and really loud music. She graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s in English Literature, and still lives in Tallahassee where she battles everyday life with writing, reading, and a rant every once in a while. Okay, so the rants might happen on a regular basis. She’s still waiting for her Southern, scruffy, Mr. Darcy and in the meantime writes love stories to indulge her overactive imagination. Oh, and she’s a pretty big fan of the whimsy.

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Romance – Contemporary
Print Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Forever
Publication: Date: October 1, 2013
ASIN: B00BAXFZTC

PURCHASE LINKS:

           

THANKS TO JULIE AT GCP/FOREVER,
I
HAVE ONE (1) EBOOK COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
VIA NETGALLEY.  MUST HAVE AN ACCOUNT
FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW
GIVEAWAY ENDS OCTOBER 21st AT 6PM EST

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WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
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DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

Guest Author CHERYL RAINFIELD showcase & giveaway

WELCOME CHERYL RAINFIELD

CHERYL RAINFIELD

“I write the books I needed as a teen and couldn’t find.” – Cheryl Rainfield

Cheryl Rainfield is the author of the award-winning SCARS, a novel about Kendra, a queer teen sexual abuse survivor who uses self-harm to cope; STAINED (Oct 1) about Sarah, a teen with a port-wine stain and body image issues who is abducted and must rescue herself; the award-winning HUNTED, a novel about a teen telepath in a world where any paranormal power is illegal; and PARALLEL VISIONS, about a teen who sees visions of the future–but only when she has an asthma attack. She’s also the author of two hi-lo books for reluctant readers: The Last Dragon and Walking Both Sides. Cheryl Rainfield is an incest and ritual abuse survivor, a feminist, queer, and an avid reader and writer. She lives in Toronto with her little dog Petal.

Cheryl Rainfield has been said to write with “great empathy and compassion” (VOYA) and to write stories that “can, perhaps, save a life.” (CM Magazine) SLJ said of her work: “[readers] will be on the edge of their seats.”
Connect with Cheryl at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In this heart-wrenching and suspenseful teen thriller, sixteen-year-old Sarah Meadows longs for “normal.” Born with a port-wine stain covering half her face, all her life she’s been plagued by stares, giggles, bullying, and disgust. But when she’s abducted on the way home from school, Sarah is forced to uncover the courage she never knew she had, become a hero rather than a victim, and learn to look beyond her face to find the beauty and strength she has inside. It’s that—or succumb to a killer.

BOOK DETAILS:

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 10/1/2013
Pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780547942087

PURCHASE LINKS:

       

THANKS TO AUTHOR CHERYL RAINFIELD & JKS COMMUNICATIONS,
I
HAVE ONE (1) SET OF 3 PREVIOUS TITLES TO GIVE AWAY.
OPEN TO ALL-EBOOKS
        
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DISCLAIMER
No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

Guest Author JESSICA LEMMON showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME JESSICA LEMMON

JESSICA LEMMON

Jessica Lemmon has always been a dreamer. At some point, she decided head-in-the-clouds thinking was childish, went out, and got herself a job . . . and then she got another one because that one was lousy. And when that one stopped being fulfilling, she went out and got another . . . and another. Soon it became apparent she’d only be truly happy doing what she loved. And since “eating potato chips” isn’t a viable career, she opted to become a writer. With fire in her heart, she dusted off a book she’d started years prior, finished it, and submitted it. It may have been the worst book ever, but it didn’t stop her from writing another one. Now she has several books finished, several more started, and even more marinating in her brain (which currently resides in the clouds, thankyouverymuch), and she couldn’t be happier. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want. (While eating potato chips.)
Connect with Jessica at these sites:

WEBSITE TWITTER

 

Sadie Howard would never admit there’s such a thing as love at first sight, but she can’t deny the connection between her and sexy Adonis Aiden Downey. She also can’t deny she loves to kiss him-his mouth might be his most precious asset. Despite every promise to herself not to get involved any deeper than a first date, she can’t keep from seeing more of Aiden . . . in more ways than one.

Aiden Downey had no idea the hot blonde from the club would trigger his protective, gentle nature, but the moment she drops her guard and he sees the real Sadie Howard, he’s a goner. When a family crisis puts the brakes on their budding romance, can Aiden find a way to hold on to her? Or will he lose the best thing in his life just as quickly as he found her?

BOOK DETAILS:

Print Length: 89 pages
Publisher: Forever Yours
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
ASIN: B00DLC88C6

PURCHASE LINKS:

        

ONCE BURNED Sadie Howard never dates a guy more than once-but Fate has other plans for her when it comes to Aiden Downey, the one that got away. Aiden loved her, left her, and broke her heart. Yet suddenly she’s bumping into him at every turn, driven to distraction by his wicked grin and rock-hard body. Now she can’t resist finishing what they started-as long as she doesn’t let herself fall in love . . .

TWICE AS TEMPTING
Aiden Downey threw away the best thing he ever had when he let Sadie go, and now he’s determined to win back the woman he’s always wanted. Sadie agrees to let him into her life-and her bed-as long as there are no strings attached. But Aiden’s not about to make the same mistake again. Can he convince her to take a second chance on a once-in-a-lifetime love?

BOOK DETAILS:

Print Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
ASIN: B00AG0VMYM

PURCHASE LINKS:

           

THANKS TO JULIE AT GCP/FOREVER,
I
HAVE ONE (1) EBOOK COPY TO GIVE AWAY.
VIA NETGALLEY-MUST HAVE ACCOUNT
FILL OUT RAFFLECOPTER ENTRY FORM BELOW
GIVEAWAY ENDS OCTOBER 19th AT 6PM EST

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WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN BY RAFFLECOPTER AND NOTIFIED
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DISCLAIMER
I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
ADDENDUM
I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am an IndieBound affiliate. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

 

And the winner is………..

…..of The Russian Endgame by Allan Topol

CONGRATULATIONS!!


1 Charlotte Be a Public Follower of ‘CMash Reads’

An email has been sent and the winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.

GCP Presents: JILL SHALVIS showcase & giveaway ENDED

WELCOME BACK JILL SHALVIS

JILL SHALVIS

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.
Connect with Jill at these sites:

WEBSITE        TWITTER   

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

After dropping out of pastry school and messing up her big break on a reality cooking show, Leah Sullivan needs to accomplish something in her life. But when she returns home to Lucky Harbor, she finds herself distracted by her best friend, Jack Harper. In an effort to cheer up Jack’s ailing mother, Dee, Leah tells a little fib – that she and Jack are more than just friends. Soon pretending to be hot-and-heavy with this hunky firefighter feels too real to handle . . .

No-strings attachments suit Jack just fine – perfect for keeping the risk of heartbreak away. But as Jack and Leah break every one of their “just friends” rules, he longs to turn their pretend relationship into something permanent. Do best friends know too much about each other to risk falling in love? Or will Jack and Leah discover something new about each other in a little town called Lucky Harbor?

 

Read an excerpt

          It wasn’t all that difficult to find Leah, once Jack set his mind to it.  Since the beginning of time, when she’d been troubled, she’d been drawn to two things.

Him.

And the ocean.

She hadn’t come to him.  That was new.  There’d been a time when she’d have come to him no matter what was troubling her.

Except, of course, at the moment he was the source of her trouble, even though it was of her own making.  The last time that had been the case, she’d left Lucky Harbor.

But he knew she couldn’t leave now.  She was here for her grandma, and though Leah had plenty of faults, her grandma meant too much to her.  Unlike himself…  He tried not to resent that, but there was no getting around the fact – he did resent it.  He was pissed off that she had no idea what she meant to him, back then.

Or now.

His heart squeezed a little, making room for a few other emotions besides his temper.  Empathy.  Maybe even reluctant affection.  He could’ve gotten into the water with her, but it was after midnight and Christ, he was tired.

Nothing good ever happens after midnight.

His mom had always said so, and in this case, he was willing to bet it was true.  So he sat on the sand, positioned halfway between her car and the water, giving her no easy escape.  And waited.

And brooded. Because he was having lots of odd and unexpected urges as it pertained to Leah, and he didn’t know what to do about them.  Once upon a time, she’d been the only highlight in his day, the only one to make him smile.  She was still that person, but there was something new between them, and he wasn’t sure if it was good.  In fact, he was pretty sure he should be running like hell.

Finally, she swam in, and then she was standing up in the water, and he nearly swallowed his tongue.  It’d been a damn long time since he’d seen her in a bathing suit.  Maybe since high school, when she’d been a head taller than all the other girls and skinny as hell.

She was still tall but she’d filled out in all the right places and then some.  She wore a black bikini, nothing but a few straps low on her hips and two triangles over her breasts, and as a wave knocked her around a little, everything jiggled enticingly.

And suddenly he went from slightly chilled to very overheated.  Good Christ, she was … beautiful.  It should’ve assuaged his simmering temper just looking at her, but instead it stoked it, making him tense as hell.

Leah, on the other hand, was looking pretty carefree as she lifted her arms and shoved back her hair.

At the sight, his brain utterly clicked off.

She saw him then.  He could tell because, from one blink of an eye to the next, she froze every single muscle.  It’d have been fascinating to watch, except for the fact that she was freezing up over him.  She’d never reacted this way before.  He didn’t like it.  And besides, he was the wronged party here.  He was the one who got to be pissy.

“You’re still here,” she said flatly. “You scared me.”

“You need to be more aware of your surroundings.”

Dripping water everywhere, she crossed her arms over herself.  “It’s Lucky Harbor.”

He rose to his feet.  “Bad shit can happen anywhere.”

She met his gaze for one brief beat and then looked away.  “What are you doing here, Jack?”

“I figured as your ‘almost fiancé,’ I should see how you’re doing.”

She winced but didn’t respond.

“What the hell is this all about, Leah?”

“You know it’s about your mom’s cancer,” she said, hugging herself a little tighter.

She always got defensive when she screwed up, and since she’d screwed up a lot, she had a lot of practice.

“My mom has enough going on,” he said.  “She doesn’t need to be lied to.”

“Maybe not.  But she does need to be happy to heal.  And this made her happy.  All week she’s been glowing.”

He knew it was true, and a stab of guilt hit him that he hadn’t been able to make her happy without help.

Leah didn’t say anything more but she didn’t have to.  Yeah, she’d gotten them into this mess, but he knew damn well it’d been out of the goodness of her heart.  Jack knew that she thought she owed him for all those years ago, when he’d done his best to protect her, the chivalry having been deeply ingrained by his dad.

But they were even.

In the dark, Leah shivered, and that chivalry had him torn between enjoying the sight of her cold and wanting to wrap her up in his arms.  “Where’s your towel?”

“In the car.”

He pulled off his sweatshirt and tugged it over her head.

“I’ll get it wet,” she said.

“It’ll dry.”

“I’m—”

“Just wear the damn sweatshirt, Leah.”

There was an awkward silence while they stared at each other as behind her the water pounded the shore.

“I realize that this is really hard for you,” she finally said, pulling on his sweatshirt.  “Having everyone think you like me that way.  You’ll just have to pretend.”

He narrowed his eyes.  Had that been sarcasm?  Or…

Hurt?  “There was a time when I wouldn’t have had to pretend anything,” he said.  “But you flaked out, remember?  You pretended, and then you left.”

She grimaced, swallowed hard, and looked away.  “We were just kids.”

Was that how it played in her head?  Seriously?  “Does it make you feel better?” he asked quietly.  “To downplay what we were to each other?”

She closed her eyes.  “We were friends, Jack.  Friends who’d made a quick, knee-jerk, stupid decision to become naked friends and sleep together.”

“Yeah.  And then one of the friends didn’t show,” he said, much more mildly than he felt.

“It was a bad idea.  I was leaving.”

“Which you forgot to mention.”

She dropped her head back and stared up at the sky.  “I couldn’t stay, Jack.”

He took in her expression, filled with memories, and nodded.  “I know.  But you should have told me you were going.”

“You had another girl in your bed by the following weekend.”

Had he?  Hell, probably.  But she wouldn’t have meant anything to him.  Not like Leah had.  His chest tightened at the memory of the hole she’d left in his life.  He didn’t want to go through that again.  “I missed you.”

She said nothing, and he shook his head.  Fuck it.  He started to walk away, and then she spoke.

“Brandi Metcalf.”

He stopped.  “What?”

“Brandi Metcalf was the one in your bed by the next weekend.”  She turned her head and glared at him.  “Pretty blonde Brandi with the perfect boobs.”  She emphasized this by cupping her hands out in front of her own breasts.  “So don’t even try to tell me you missed me.”

He shook his head.  Apparently he wasn’t the only pissed-off one tonight.  “Okay,” he said.  “Let’s have it.”

“Let’s have what?”
“Well, I know why I’m pissed.  Why the hell are you pissed?”

“It’s not like it’s going to be a walk in the park for me either,” she said, giving him a little shot to the chest.  “Pretending to like you.”

“Me?” he asked, flabbergasted.  “What the hell is there not to like about me?”

The sound she made assured him that she had volumes on the subject.  “Don’t get me started.”

“I want to know,” he said.

“Fine.  You watch that stupid ice fishing show like it’s a religion, you’re a horrible backseat driver, you drink out of the milk carton – and fyi, so does Ben – you don’t put the cap on your toothpaste, or put the lid down on the toilet, and you shush me when you’re watching sports.”

He stared at her.  “That’s quite a list of shortcomings,” he eventually said.  “Is that all?”

“No.”  She shoved her wet hair from her face, though she managed to keep her regal stance, nose firmly in the air at nose-bleed heights.  “I held back because I didn’t want to be overly rude.”

He laughed softly.  “Don’t hold back, Leah.  Let’s hear all of it.”

“Well, your truck has more sporting goods than a store, you never say you’re sorry, and your girlfriends look like super models.  I mean what is that?  There’s nothing wrong with real boobs, you know!”

He took it all in and had to admit that he couldn’t say she was wrong, about any of it.  “And yet you call me The Picker.”

She ignored this.  “And your mom told me that you need knee surgery again.  You’re just too stubborn to get it done.  So you can add ornery to the list.”

He blew out a slow breath.  “It’s not ice fishing,” he said.  “It’s crabbing.  And sometimes I lose the cap on the toothpaste, or my dog eats it.  And I don’t need knee surgery, I’m fine.”

Leah snorted.  “You’re always ‘fine’.  Your knee could be falling off and you’d say you were fine.”

“I fail to see the problem.”

She snorted again, and he was starting to feel greatly insulted.  “You’re not exactly a walk in the park, Leah.”

“No?”

“No.  You’re flighty, you live for your every whim, you downplay any real emotion you feel.”

She hugged herself tight.  “Good thing this is all pretend then, isn’t it,” she said softly.

“Yeah.”

She was freezing.  And hauntingly gorgeous, so damn gorgeous standing there wet and silvery by the moon’s glow, like a goddess.  It’s Leah, he had to keep reminding himself.  Leah, who’d once beaten him in a marshmallow eating contest only to puke all over him.  Leah, whose dark green eyes had a way of telling the world to bite her.  Leah, who’d run off on him and left him heartbroken.  He took a step into her – for what exactly, he had no idea– and she poked a finger into his chest.

“God,” she said.  “You’re so …”  Words apparently failed her, but she let out a sound that managed to perfectly convey how annoying he was.

“Ditto,” he said, and then grabbed the finger drilling a hole between his pecs and tugged her hard enough that she lost her balance and fell against him.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, entangling a hand in her wet hair.

She went still as stone and stared into his eyes.  And then lowered her gaze to his mouth.

Yeah, they were in sync there.  Suddenly he couldn’t breathe.  Hers caught audibly in her throat, a good sign he decided.  Maybe she wouldn’t knee him in the balls.  Testing the waters, he grazed her jawline with his teeth.

She shivered.

Then he slid his mouth to the very corner of hers and was rewarded by the clutch of her hands on his shirt.  Having her hold on to him like this, like he was her only anchor, sent a bolt of lust straight through him.  “Leah,” he murmured, hearing the surprise in his own voice, feeling the heat course through him as he finally, God finally, covered her mouth with his.

Her lips parted for him eagerly, and he groaned, drowning in the erotic collision of her hot tongue and chilled, wet body.

Serious trouble.  He was in serious trouble.

Because he had a taste of her now, a damn good taste, and it was better than he could have imagined, making him want the rest of her.  With his fingers still in her hair, he pulled her in tighter, slanting his mouth across hers for more.  She moved with him, into him, making the connection all the sweeter.

No.  Sweet wasn’t the right word.

Hot.  She was so hot she was turning him inside out.  And then she made another of those soft, surrendering sighs deep in her throat, the sound slaying him.  She still had a death grip on his shirt and had managed to catch a few chest hairs while she was at it.  He didn’t care.  Sliding a hand beneath his sweatshirt, he cupped her ass over her wet bikini bottoms, rocking into her.

She had to feel what this was doing to him.  And given that she was breathing like she was running out of air, and still holding onto him tight enough to bruise, she also had to know where this was going.

Jack kissed Leah some more, sinking deeper into her taste, her softness, her scent, all while wondering how the hell she could drive him crazy and made him ache at the same time.  It was a feat that totally wrecked his equilibrium.  Maybe it was just the kiss.  Because holy shit, the kiss.  He still had a handful of her sweet ass, and he squeezed, wanting more.  But they were outside and the night’s temp was quickly dropping.  She was wet, trembling with the chill, and there was absolutely nowhere to go with this.  Not here, not now.  He’d had no business kissing her like he had an end game, and knowing it, he regretfully pulled back.

She blinked as if waking up from a dream.  “What—”  She cleared her throat.  “What was that?”

“Insanity.  It’s going around.”

BOOK DETAILS:

Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Number of Pages: 352
ISBN: 978-1-4555-2110-4

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