Mari Carr's Blog, page 100
June 25, 2011
Saturday Snippet
This week's theme is a dream. When I considered the topic, I instantly thought of Lane, the heroine in Waiting for Wednesday. She was one of my most vulnerable characters. Having grown up in the foster care system and after escaping an abusive marriage, she worked hard to find her inner-strength. Luckily, she found Tris Collins, so along with that empowerment, she also found love.
Snippet:
Lane jerked awake, sitting upright on the couch. She jumped again, alarmed by the shadow of a man perched on the coffee table in front of her.
"Ahh," she said, sucking in a deep breath.
"It's me," Tris said softly. "I didn't mean to scare you."
She placed her hand over her heart. "Give me a minute." He remained silent for a few moments as she attempted to compose herself.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm fine. You startled me."
"What the hell are you doing sleeping on the couch?"
Lane sighed. She'd been a fool to think she could keep up the illusion of sharing a room with Riley. Fact was, she was exhausted from too little sleep. Tris stared at her, waiting for an answer, and she struggled to come up with one that would appease him.
"The bed in Riley's room hurts my back."
"Try again."
"I was restless tonight and I didn't want to keep your sister up with my tossing and turning."
"We're probably getting closer to the truth with that one. The dark circles you've been carrying under your eyes the last couple days make me think this isn't the first night you've moved to the couch."
She shrugged. "I'm not a great sleeper."
"You were crying," he said, and her concerns about coming to stay with the Collins family came crashing down on her. Her erratic sleeping was one of the main things she didn't want anyone—especially Tris—to know about. It was embarrassing, weird, disturbing.
"Really?" she asked weakly. "That's strange."
Tristan shook his head. "No, I don't think it is. You gonna tell me about it?"
"Please don't ask me."
He considered her words and she felt the weight of the silence surrounding them crushing her. Then to her surprise he rose and, for a minute, she thought he was going to grant her a reprieve. She should have known better.
He bent down and picked her up from the couch as if she weighed nothing. "What are you doing?" He turned toward the stairs to the third floor, to his bedroom, and her cursed heart starting racing again.
"You don't want to talk, so we won't."
His words left her speechless and he chuckled lightly when he looked down and spotted the nervousness on her face.
"Don't worry, kitten. We're not going to do that, either. We're going to sleep. Looks like you could use about forty-eight hours of it."
"I can't sleep in your bed. What will your family say?"
"They'll probably say it's about damn time."
She looked at his room as they entered, taking in the simple décor. His was the one room in the apartment she'd yet to see. In fact, this was the first time she'd come to the third floor. Riley had told her that—aside from the twins' bedroom—the top floor of the building was used primarily for storage. Lane could only assume as the family had grown, so had the need for more bedrooms.
Tris placed her on the end of his bed, lightly pushing her. "Slide over."
It was a king-size bed and because his room wasn't that big, one side of it butted up against the wall.
"Big bed," she murmured as she moved as close to the wall as she could.
"First thing I did when Killian left for the military was pitch the single beds and buy myself a man-size one." He gestured to himself. "I might be a twin, but this body was not made to sleep on a twin mattress."
She giggled. "Must have been a tight fit."
"I hit my growth spurt at fourteen. For four years I slept with my feet dangling off the end of the mattress."
"I shouldn't be here," she whispered when he crawled in beside her, pulling her into his strong embrace.
"This is exactly where you should be."
Waiting for Wednesday is available at Ellora's Cave, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony and All Romance Ebooks.
Dream some more with these fantastic authors.
June 20, 2011
Quote of the Day
" The mind is good at revising reality to suit our needs." - Sue Monk Kidd, The Mermaid Chair
Mine is guilty of this all the time! LOL
June 19, 2011
Overnight Contest
The International Heat authors are hanging out over at the Samhain Cafe tonight from 7-9 EST. Hope you can stop by. As part of the Red Hot Summer Party, I'm holding a quick little overnight party.
The rules are simple–just take a look at my list of books (already pubbed ones, please) and tell me which one you'd like and which ebook format. I'll choose one winner from the commenters and that person will win the book they selected! Easy peasy. 
I'll announce the winner around noon EST tomorrow.
Red Hot Summer Party!
As if it's not already hot enough, the authors of International Heat are cranking up the temperature even more tonight at our first Red Hot Summer Party at the Samhain Cafe. We will be sharing super spicy (NSFW) excerpts from some of our latest releases as well as sneak peeks at coming soon books. There will be lots of laughter, crazy chatter and maybe even a prize or two…or three! It's from 7-9 EST tonight. If you aren't already a member of the Samhain Cafe yahoo group, simply click here to join.
Hope to see you there.
June 18, 2011
Saturday Snippet
Today's theme is living spaces. The setting of Erotic Research plays a very large part in the plot of that story. Julia and Ross have always been very good friends, but when they are trapped in a mountain cabin during a blizzard, they find some very creative, very sexy ways to heat up the chilly nights. Along the way, they are forced to face some hard facts about their true feelings for each other.
Snippet:
He rose and grabbed her hand. "Come on. Let's go sit by the fire."
Before dinner, he'd thrown on a pair of gray sweatpants and a faded navy blue T-shirt. Julia admired the way the pants hung low on his hips, yet she couldn't erase the image of him earlier—shirtless as she knelt in front of his enormous erection. She'd never seen him in anything other than his jeans and a T-shirt on Thursdays, or the Hugo Boss designer suits he wore to the office. Seeing his muscular, bare chest with honest-to-God washboard abs still had her libido doing somersaults. How they were going to coexist in this cabin for who knew how long was beyond her. She hoped for her sake he would keep his clothes on and limit his dressing to the bathroom, lest she make a fool of herself by drooling. She was also fairly certain the size of his penis was something she would see in her dreams for the rest of her life. My God. How could any woman accept something that size inside her? Just the thought of it sent shivers down her spine and she felt an unusual dampness seeping between her legs. So much for ignorance is bliss. Julia suspected this new knowledge of Ross's generous bounty was only going to cause her even more sleepless nights fantasizing about something that could never be.
Julia started for one of the soft chairs in front of the fireplace, but Ross intercepted and pulled her down with him to sit on the soft bearskin rug. As night fell, the cabin suddenly seemed very romantic. Attempting to distance herself from the fact she was sitting so closely to her hunky best friend, Julia forced her mind to other subjects. Perhaps a cabin like this could be the setting for her new book. An isolated cottage deep in the mountains during a terrible blizzard. It definitely had potential. Even now, as she and Ross were enveloped in cozy warmth with only the fire to light the room, Julia could easily envision the characters from her erotic novel in just such a place.
"So," Ross said, lying on his side with his head propped on his elbow. Even in such an unassuming pose, Julia couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by his presence beside her.
"How's the book coming?" he asked, as if reading her mind.
"I've only been here a day, Ross. I've barely had time to unpack, let alone start writing."
"Even so," he continued, "I know you, Jules. You've probably been obsessing over the plotline for days. What's it going to be about?"
Julia blushed as she considered his words. Truth be told, she had been imagining the story every night in bed since she'd read the erotica books he'd loaned her—with him cast in the role of the leading man and her as the heroine. She'd even gone so far as to order a vibrator online, although she hadn't worked up the nerve to actually use it yet.
"Well?" he persisted.
"Ross, you know I hate it when you pressure me about a story line. Truthfully, I haven't decided what to write about yet. I'm tossing around a couple of angles."
"Really," Ross said, not the least bit put off. "What angles? Maybe I can help you decide."
"Well," she began, startled by his persistence. Ross never pushed for story lines. He always trusted her to script a plot completely before she asked him to help her tweak it. "I…was thinking about trying one of those…you know." She waved her hand in midair, too mortified to tell him where her fantasy world had taken her.
"No," he said, imitating her vague hand gesture with a grin, "I don't know."
Biting her lower lip, Julia scowled at him. "Ross," she began to protest.
"Domination?" he asked. "Or maybe a kidnapping story where the woman is sold as a sex slave into a harem?"
Afraid Ross might discover how close to the truth he was coming, Julia turned her head to hide the damned blush burning her cheeks. In her fantasy, she was his sex slave. She belonged totally to him, doing anything and everything he asked of her. Thanks to the erotica books he'd loaned her, she now had a wide array of sexual fantasies about him, far beyond the usual missionary-position one she'd indulged in for years. Her favorite one involved him tying her up and forcing her to have multiple orgasms. A purely ridiculous fantasy considering the fact she'd never had a single orgasm and didn't know the first thing about how to have one, let alone several.
"Hmm." He took her chin in his fingers and drew her face back to his. "What are you plotting in that delicious little mind of yours, Brown Eyes?"
"I— I—" she stuttered again. "Domination." She blurted out the word quickly, hoping perhaps he wouldn't hear or understand what she'd said.
"Domination. And what do you know about domination?" He sat up and slowly moved closer to her.
"Only what I've read," she whispered, her gaze dropping to his lips as he moved even closer.
"Jules." His breath was hot against her cheek. "I'm going to kiss you."
"You are?" she asked breathlessly, her tongue sliding along her lower lip.
"Mm-hmm," he murmured, his lips pressed softly against hers, "and then I'm going to help you do a little research for your novel."
With those words, his lips opened against hers and his initial soft butterfly kiss took on a life of its own. His lips bruised hers in his intense efforts to possess her mouth. Julia had never been kissed with such reckless passion. All of her previous lovers had been almost timid in the way they approached her. As if they were afraid she would break. Ross seemed to suffer from no such fear. He used his kiss and his body to push her to her back on the soft rug, coming over her, covering her completely and leaving her feeling helpless and desired all at the same time. Julia could feel his enormous erection pressing against her hot center through her soft lounge pants as he pulled her legs apart and settled between them. Overwhelmed, she tried to draw away, if only to catch her breath, but Ross's large hands captured her head, holding her still for his assault.
"Don't fight me," he said gruffly as he continued to use his tongue, lips and teeth on her mouth. "Don't fight this."
Domination. The word flitted through her mind as his words came back to her. He's going to help me research. Research domination.
Erotic Research is available at Samhain, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Fictionwise, and All Romance Ebooks.
Check out some more Saturday snippets by these fantastic authors.
June 17, 2011
Three Reasons Why
Jill Harper has three reasons why she and Wes Robson can never be more than friends. They're total bullshit and she knows it, but those reasons are the only thing keeping her from facing and revealing a very painful truth. Three Reasons Why is releasing today at Ellora's Cave. It's the stand-alone sequel to Kiss Me, Kate.
Wes wants Jill Harper in every possible way a man can want a woman. But she's resisting. Hard. When he learns she needs a handyman for her diner, he decides fate is smiling upon him—until Jill offers three reasons why they can't be together. Always up for a challenge, Wes decides to prove her ridiculous reasons unsound, one by one.
Jill knows her reasons are total bull, but she's sticking by them, come hell or high water. Unfortunately, Wes Robson is extremely persuasive. Especially in bed. If the sex gets any hotter they'll likely burn down the town. Before long, Jill's reasons begin falling away as fast as her clothing whenever Wes is around.
But Jill knows exactly what Wes wants for his future, and she's just prolonging the inevitable heartbreak. The real reason she can't give herself to Wes, can't allow herself to love him, can only lead to pain—the kind from which neither may ever recover.
Excerpt:
"What are you doing?"
"Getting an advance on my pay." Wes leaned toward her and didn't stop until his lips were a mere breath from hers.
Jill wanted to shove him back, tell him to get the hell away from her, but she'd dreamed of his lips since Christmas. Yesterday's kisses had only whetted her appetite for more. Just one more taste, she thought. One taste.
"Just one taste," he murmured against her mouth, and she realized she'd uttered her thoughts aloud. Slowly, seductively, he dragged his lips against hers, teasing her by withholding the true kiss she desired.
Her libido was in overdrive and crushing out all other emotions with its desire to pull Wes toward her and eat him alive. His bulging pecs were well-defined through his tight T-shirt and, though she refused to glance down, his denim-clad erection pressed against her stomach.
"Kiss me or get out," she demanded when he continued his torturous teasing, his warm breath and soft lips barely brushing hers. She resisted the urge to move forward and capture his lips. Struggled against the desire to take what she wanted.
"You're going to fall in love with me," he said, and she tried to deny the truth of his words.
"Nope. Not interested."
Wes turned his face slightly and his grin tickled her skin. His next words brushed against her cheek. "You want me, Jill Harper."
"Shut up." Her words and her body were at war as she reached up to grip his hair tightly in her fists. "Shut up and kiss me."
His hot breath caressed her overheated skin as she pulled his lips to hers. She'd wanted his kisses for so long, and now that his lips were on hers once again, she wondered why she'd resisted. He allowed her to control the kiss for several minutes, but soon his alpha instincts reappeared and—as she'd experienced at the holiday—he took possession of her body. His tongue didn't merely explore her mouth, it laid a relentless siege, capturing everything it touched and burning a path wider than Sherman's March to the Sea.
When she feared she'd suffocate, she broke away with a cry, but he refused to be pushed away. He grasped her head firmly in his hands and pressed his forehead against hers. "Why are you fighting this? You must see how good we are together."
She wanted to shove him away, call him an arrogant, cocky man and laugh in his face, but her body was screaming for more. Her hands tangled in his shirt, stretching the soft cotton, and it took all her remaining strength not to rip it from his body.
"It's sex. Lust. That's all." She was annoyed at the breathless quality of her voice. God, please let that be all. Surely she could scratch the itch and send him packing.
Wes pulled farther away, and she wanted to cry out at the loss of his body next to hers. He grinned and she struggled to respond, to chastise him for the cocky grin, but words failed her.
"I'll take the lust…for now. I've waited years for you. I'm not waiting any longer. You and me and a bed, pixie. It's going to happen sooner than later, so you may as well get yourself ready for it."
June 15, 2011
Kiss Me, Kate
With the arrival of the sequel, Three Reasons Why, on June 17, I thought I'd share a few details and a snippet of Kiss Me, Kate.
Kiss Me, Kate was my very first Ellora's Cave release. I can still remember the absolute shock and excitement I felt when I received that first email from editor, Kelli Collins in March 2008. Back then, she was Kwiatkowski–yeah…let me just say I was very happy when she got married. Took me ages to learn how to spell that name! The original title for Kiss Me, Kate was At the End of the Day, which Kelli wasted no time in telling me SUCKED. Ah, that truly was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and yes, the Collins clan in the Wild Irish series were named in her honor. Kiss Me, Kate was contracted in May 2008 and released in September of that same year. Les Byerley designed the cover, which I loved!
The character of Kate is actually one of the few heroines in my stories who actually resembles me. Not in looks so much as personality. They say write what you know. That story was early in my career, so Kate (and Julia in Erotic Research) were stories told from my personal perspective had I been put in those situations, which, dammit, I have not. LOL.
If you haven't had a chance to read Kiss Me, Kate, I hope you'll give it a try. It's not "required" in able to understand what's going on in Three Reasons Why. Both books are stand-alone stories. Jill and Wes from Three Reasons Why are featured in Kiss Me, Kate, and I think their love story has been one of my most requested books over the years. I've received countless emails wanting to know where there book is! Thanks to all of you for that kick in the pants. I needed it.
Kiss Me, Kate
Kate is blindsided when her husband cleans out their house and bank account before skipping town with another woman. Desperate to get out of her sister's apartment, Kate jumps at the chance to help Rick and Wes, DEA agents whose latest case finds them in urgent need of a house-sitter.
Taking care of the old farmhouse is just what she needed. As the months pass, a stronger Kate emerges. She's also developed an email friendship with Rick, and it isn't long before they secretly begin starring in each other's lust-filled fantasies. Problem is, after her failed marriage, Kate wants only a physical relationship. She's terrified of losing her heart—which is exactly what Rick intends to capture upon his return.
They reach a compromise. One that involves explosive no-strings sex—for now. Rick patiently deflects her fears and willingly slakes her passion while keeping his darker fantasies in check, afraid of scaring his shy, innocent lover. But unbeknownst to Rick, Kate has a few untapped fantasies of her own.
Excerpt:
His hands wrapped themselves into the long strands of her hair, pulling her face back to his. "I want to be with you, Kate." His lips traveled along her cheeks until they reached her ear and he teased the lobe with his teeth. "I want to make love to you."
Kate's heart began to race at his words.
"But not tonight," he said. "Tonight we'll play. Get acquainted."
"Play?" Zack was more the wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am type and she wasn't quite sure what Rick meant by "play".
Chuckling, Rick's lips traveled down to her neck, nipping and sucking at the sensitive flesh there. "My sweet little innocent." His hands reached down to the hem of the shirt she'd hastily donned after Zack's attack.
Kate's hands flew to his in an attempt to stop him, but he merely brushed them away. "Trust me, Kate."
Those three words were her undoing because Kate knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she did trust Rick, implicitly.
Pulling the shirt over her head, Rick gave her no reprieve as he quickly slid her pants down. "Step up," he directed and she complied.
She was left standing before him in her new sexy black bra. Unfortunately, she'd replaced the matching thong with a clean pair of granny panties. Sighing heavily, she cursed her luck again.
"You just missed the matching thong," she said with a crooked smile. If she couldn't wow him with her sexy new body, she would have to fall back on the only other attribute she had left—her sense of humor.
"You can model it for me later." His hands held hers away from her body. She was uncomfortable with his close scrutiny and tried to pull her hands free.
"Rick." She wanted to protest, but he merely continued to look his fill.
"You're gorgeous."
"Yeah, right," she replied. "You have a thing for belly warmers, do you?"
Rick laughed and pulled her body against his. "I have a thing for anything you wear. Although, I am looking forward to seeing you in nothing at all."
Kissing her, he slowly moved her backward until she felt the backs of her legs brush the mattress.
"Lie down." His voice became commanding as he issued the order and she complied willingly. She couldn't wait to see where tonight would lead.
Rick quickly shed his shirt but left his jeans on. Bending over her, he pressed kisses on her neck and at the bare flesh above her bra.
"Your breasts are amazing." As he spoke, he cupped one in each palm. "The perfect size."
"They're too big."
"Sweetheart, there ain't no such thing as too much money or breasts too big." She giggled as he leaned farther down and blew a raspberry on her stomach. Squirming underneath him, she tried to escape as he held her down and tickled her.
"Stop," she cried breathlessly through her laughter. "Uncle!"
"Ah." He smiled smugly. "Victory. Now I have you at my mercy."
Reaching up, Kate pulled Rick's face down to hers for a kiss. She never laughed in bed and she found his teasing irresistible and charming. He was turning out to be so different from the man she'd expected him to be. She knew he had a sense of humor, but he was always so intense and serious in his emails.
Breaking free from her kisses, Rick's face suddenly turned serious. "Put your hands on the bed above your head."
She did as he asked and Rick placed his own hands on top of hers, pushing them into the mattress. "Don't move them. No matter what. If you do, I will punish you."
"Punish me?" Kate's insides melted at the thought of Rick turning her over on his lap and spanking her. She'd read lots of erotic novels during her lonely marriage and the idea of spankings never failed to arouse her.
Rick bent down and took one of her lace-covered nipples between his teeth and bit down, softly at first, gradually nipping harder. Kate gasped at the feeling, her hips thrusting up for relief.
"Be a good girl, Kate, and you won't have to worry about my methods of punishment."
"Doesn't sound like much fun."
Kiss Me, Kate is also available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony and All Romance Ebooks.
June 13, 2011
Quote of the Day
From one of the best books I ever read…
"There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft….When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness." – Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
June 11, 2011
Saturday Snippet
This week's theme is BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. When I considered the theme, one friendship immediately sprung to mind. In Saturday Night Special, Aaron and Riley have been best friends since the cradle. Despite their personality differences (which are many), they just sort of fit together. SNS is one of my all-time favorite stories because I can't think of anything more romantic than falling in love with your very best friend.
Snippet:
He sighed heavily. One question was tormenting him. "What are you doing in Vegas, Riley?"
"Gambling."
"Very funny." He grimaced, not amused by her joke.
"I'm having fun, Aaron. You know, that thing you've never quite mastered?"
He sucked in a deep breath and counted to ten. Riley constantly teased him about being a stick in the mud. He knew it was said in good fun, but this time her words felt more like an insult than a joke. Sometimes it sucked being regarded as the boring, responsible one among their group of friends.
Need a ride home from the bar? Call Aaron. Got a flat tire? Aaron will have a jack…and a spare. Moving? Aaron will lug all your shit down three flights of stairs and supply the truck to haul it.
A growl rose up in his chest. He was pissed off at Riley for thinking him so dull he wouldn't do anything as spontaneous as taking a weekend trip to Vegas.
"You seriously call hopping on a plane and flying to Vegas with Trevor Blankenship 'fun'? I call it fucking dangerous."
"Bullshit. I haven't done anything even remotely dangerous…yet. I called Keira and told her where I was and I didn't come alone. I came with a friend." Riley threw another dollar in the machine.
"You didn't call Keira until after you were already here."
"And like the good sister she is, she called you to come save the day. Right?"
"She was worried about you, Riley."
"I'm a big girl, sugar. A fact my family and you seem content to ignore."
"I'm not forgetting you're an adult. I'm just not overlooking the fact you're completely drunk in a strange town with Trevor and a hooker as your chaperones."
Riley's gaze traveled from the slot machine to Aaron. "I told Trev she was a hooker, but he wouldn't believe me." She took a long drink before setting the cup down and hitting the Spin button again.
"What are you drinking?" He picked up her glass and drained it. Alcohol suddenly seemed like a very good idea. He waved over the waitress and grabbed his own drink.
"Tasted like something with rum to me," she said. "You better take it easy on that. I'm already wasted. If you keep pounding those down, who'll get us home?"
He shrugged and took another swig. Now that he was here, he wasn't in any big hurry to leave. "It takes a lot to get me drunk."
"Yeah, well, maybe you should consider taking up the hobby. Drunk seems to be the best way to live in dreary Baltimore nowadays." Her tone was sullen, belligerent, and he wondered at her words.
"Since when is Baltimore dreary? You love the city."
She sobered up a bit and he was struck by the hint of sadness in her eyes. When he thought back on it, he realized the same look had been there often the past few months. Why hadn't he noticed it sooner?
"So I guess now I don't love the city. Dammit, I just can't do it anymore, Aaron."
"Do what?"
"My life. I can't wake up in the same bedroom I've lived in since birth one more morning. I can't cook meals in that damn pub day in and day out anymore and I'm sick to death of partying with the same losers every Saturday night."
Her voice was filled with resentment, frustration, and he listened as the last detail—and he suspected the most important one—fell from her lips.
"I'm the last Collins kid at home. I'm it. The spinster sister," she added.
He burst into laughter. He knew she was being serious, but her words were so insanely funny he couldn't hold back his instinctive response.
Her eyes narrowed angrily. "What's so funny?"
"You," he said with a chuckle, "calling yourself a spinster. Two things I never thought I'd hear together in the same sentence. Riley Collins, the spinster." Repeating the words caused him to laugh again and some of the irritation he'd been harboring since leaving BWI that morning dissipated. Actually, simply finding her safe and sound had dispelled most of it.
"It's not funny. I've watched both my sisters find true love. They're living their happily ever afters while I'm still stuck at home alone with Pop."
"Happily ever afters? True love?" Aaron repeated. "Sounds pretty romantic for you, Riley. How much have you had to drink?"
"Ha ha. I've had too much and I'm gonna have more, but it doesn't matter. I'll still be fed up and lonely tomorrow."
Aaron looked at her dark brown eyes and felt a hope he'd never experienced stir inside him. "You said you never wanted to get married. You said it would cut in to your fun time, your independence. You've sworn off the entire institution since we were three."
"Yeah," she said. "Well, I changed my mind."
Aaron considered her words for a moment, and then gave in to the grin building in his chest. "Good."
"Good?"
He nodded, grasping her by the waist to set her on her feet. "Very good. Come on."
Saturday Night Special is available at Ellora's Cave, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony and All Romance Ebooks.
June 9, 2011
Finally!!!
Houston…we have a release date for Three Reasons Why. It will hit the Ellora's Cave shelves on Friday, June 17! I can't tell you how excited I am about seeing this book published. It is the stand-alone sequel to Kiss Me, Kate, my very first Ellora's Cave release. Now…17 books later, I made it! LOL. It's been a two-year labor of love…okay, and maybe a little bit of hate. This was a tough story to tell and, I'm not going to lie, there are parts of it that make me cry. I hope you enjoy discovering Wes and Jill's happily-ever-after as much as I did.
Three Reasons Why is a sequel to Kiss Me, Kate.
Wes wants Jill Harper in every possible way a man can want a woman. But she's resisting. Hard. When he learns she needs a handyman for her diner, he decides fate is smiling upon him—until Jill offers three reasons why they can't be together. Always up for a challenge, Wes decides to prove her ridiculous reasons unsound, one by one.
Jill knows her reasons are total bull, but she's sticking by them, come hell or high water. Unfortunately, Wes Robson is extremely persuasive. Especially in bed. If the sex gets any hotter they'll likely burn down the town. Before long, Jill's reasons begin falling away as fast as her clothing whenever Wes is around.
But Jill knows exactly what Wes wants for his future, and she's just prolonging the inevitable heartbreak. The real reason she can't give herself to Wes, can't allow herself to love him, can only lead to pain—the kind from which neither may ever recover.
Excerpt:
"What are you doing?"
"Getting an advance on my pay." Wes leaned toward her and didn't stop until his lips were a mere breath from hers.
Jill wanted to shove him back, tell him to get the hell away from her, but she'd dreamed of his lips since Christmas. Yesterday's kisses had only whetted her appetite for more. Just one more taste, she thought. One taste.
"Just one taste," he murmured against her mouth, and she realized she'd uttered her thoughts aloud. Slowly, seductively, he dragged his lips against hers, teasing her by withholding the true kiss she desired.
Her libido was in overdrive and crushing out all other emotions with its desire to pull Wes toward her and eat him alive. His bulging pecs were well-defined through his tight T-shirt and, though she refused to glance down, his denim-clad erection pressed against her stomach.
"Kiss me or get out," she demanded when he continued his torturous teasing, his warm breath and soft lips barely brushing hers. She resisted the urge to move forward and capture his lips. Struggled against the desire to take what she wanted.
"You're going to fall in love with me," he said, and she tried to deny the truth of his words.
"Nope. Not interested."
Wes turned his face slightly and his grin tickled her skin. His next words brushed against her cheek. "You want me, Jill Harper."
"Shut up." Her words and her body were at war as she reached up to grip his hair tightly in her fists. "Shut up and kiss me."
His hot breath caressed her overheated skin as she pulled his lips to hers. She'd wanted his kisses for so long, and now that his lips were on hers once again, she wondered why she'd resisted. He allowed her to control the kiss for several minutes, but soon his alpha instincts reappeared and—as she'd experienced at the holiday—he took possession of her body. His tongue didn't merely explore her mouth, it laid a relentless siege, capturing everything it touched and burning a path wider than Sherman's March to the Sea.
When she feared she'd suffocate, she broke away with a cry, but he refused to be pushed away. He grasped her head firmly in his hands and pressed his forehead against hers. "Why are you fighting this? You must see how good we are together."
She wanted to shove him away, call him an arrogant, cocky man and laugh in his face, but her body was screaming for more. Her hands tangled in his shirt, stretching the soft cotton, and it took all her remaining strength not to rip it from his body.
"It's sex. Lust. That's all." She was annoyed at the breathless quality of her voice. God, please let that be all. Surely she could scratch the itch and send him packing.
Wes pulled farther away, and she wanted to cry out at the loss of his body next to hers. He grinned and she struggled to respond, to chastise him for the cocky grin, but words failed her.
"I'll take the lust…for now. I've waited years for you. I'm not waiting any longer. You and me and a bed, pixie. It's going to happen sooner than later, so you may as well get yourself ready for it."
