Delilah Devlin's Blog, page 306

Flashback: Controlled Burn (Contest)

My daughter has perfect teeth. Not a cavity. Not ever. Thanks to genetics and modern dentistry. I, on the other hand, have horrible teeth. I have soft, chalky back teeth, prone to cavities. Which means, I have a few crowns back there. Last night, while I sat on my daughter’s sofa, she of the perfect teeth, one of my crowns fell out. Do you know, I had that one so long, I didn’t even know there was a crown on that tooth. Color me surprised!

Which really makes today a shitty, shitty day. I am going to call the dentist this AM to request an emergency appointment. This afternoon, I have a doctor’s appointment at the VA in Little Rock (oh joy). I had hoped for a little time to write. Now, I have a microscopic window open to write. So, I have a related question. Comment and you might win a free story! Don’t you love how I work real life around to having something to do with books?

For a chance to win your choice of one of these

Cowboys on the Edge stories, answer me this!

Do you have perfect teeth? Have you ever had a dental emergency?

   

(Click on a cover if you’d like to learn more!)

Don’t know what you’re missing in this cowboy series? Read a sexy excerpt…

Controlled Burn

This flame doesn’t need a match…

One high school prank gone wrong shouldn’t define the rest of Carly Lohan’s life. But setting fire to Caldera Canyon isn’t something townsfolk will ever forget. As the last part of her final act of restitution, she’s among the group of volunteers assigned to keep a prescribed burn of underbrush and grass from “running over the rim” into the ranches ringing the park.

Local rancher and volunteer firefighter Jeremiah McCord doesn’t trust the reformed firebug anywhere near the canyon’s controlled burn. Determined to keep her on a short rein, he’s everywhere she is, watching her. His distrust and determination sparks a plan for some sexy revenge—one that will get them both too close to the flames.

Get your copy here!

Long excerpt from Controlled Burn

Caldera, Texas had been aptly named by its founders. Although technically late winter, the air was unseasonably warm—hot as a witch’s cauldron, and the town just as cursed.

Or, at least the place was so far as Carly Lohan was concerned.

Carly closed her car door and drew a deep breath, thinking she’d as soon have a root canal as walk into the midst of the people gathering inside the community center. All gazes would turn her way. They’d nudge their friends, and the ugly whispers would begin.

She might as well have had a big “A” branded on her forehead, but not for adultery like Hester Prynne—her crime was far worse. Arson wasn’t something folks around here would ever forgive.

Not that she thought of herself as an arsonist. However, a charge like that, even against a minor, clung like skunk spray. Which was why she’d headed to college as soon as she’d graduated high school and now lived a town away. Tonight, she had to face Calderans one last time.

Gripping her purse like it was a shield, she strode toward the door. Before she even reached the steps, she heard a whistle sound from behind her.

“Well, would you lookie there. If it ain’t Carly Lohan. Long time, no see.”

If she were ninety, she would have recognized Tater Johnson’s nasal twang. He’d taunted from her first day in kindergarten and had been the biggest thorn in her side all throughout school. The fact she was here today was partly because of him. She forced a smile and turned. “Good to see you, Tater.”

He smoked a cigarette while sitting on the edge of his truck bed. “Burn up any canyons lately?” he drawled.

Wow. He didn’t even take a second to work up to that. Carly stopped the automatic wince before he could see it. The last thing she should do was rise to a single one of his taunts. “Not lately. You going to the meeting?” she asked, tilting her head toward the open doors.

“Course.” He tipped back his cowboy hat and gave her a narrowed stare. “Keepin’ Caldera Canyon safe is important to me—which is why I’m wonderin’ what the hell you’re doin’ here.”

Carly felt her face heat. Before she could think of a more mature reply, she shot him the bird and turned on her heel. Good Lord, she’d only been back for five minutes and was already reverting to her old ways.

His grating chuckles followed her inside the large hall. The instant satisfaction she’d felt at giving the rude gesture faded as she entered and searched the rows of metal folding chairs. All seats were taken—of course, except for a couple right in front of the speakers’ table. Shit.

She didn’t have a choice. She’d be sitting across from the current sheriff of Caldera County. Her gaze snagged on the man sitting beside him, Jeremiah McCord, and her stomach sank at the glare he leveled. Shit-shit-shit.

Only to herself would she admit the man intimidated her. He was a large man—well over six feet and broad. And he was handsome when his features weren’t set into grim lines as they were now.

“Let’s call this meeting to order,” a man dressed in a park ranger’s uniform said. “We’re all here to talk about the prescribed burn we’re implementing inside the park four days from now.”

She turned her attention to the speaker. At least, he wasn’t staring at her. She didn’t know him, so she kept her gaze glued to the ranger as he started the slide show.

Pictures of happy campers sitting around campfires flashed on the screen, followed by more photos of the rugged bluffs surrounding the park. “Our goal, come Monday morning, will be to burn brush and dried vegetation from the canyon floor, while keeping the fire under control and halting it before the blaze runs the rim of the canyon, endangering local ranches. We won’t touch the areas around the campgrounds or the park service buildings. Those have been kept clear of excess brush by camp personnel. We’re focusing our efforts on the areas north of the campgrounds, through the upper canyon, toward the north rim of the park.”

The next picture was of a jackrabbit hiding in the brush. “A prescribed burn is good for the canyon’s plants and trees, and for its wildlife. By removing underbrush and new seedlings, we give the forest a chance to grow and deprive wildfires of fuel.”

The next photo was of rows of volunteers digging firebreaks, with flames licking across dry grass. The flames blazed orange, yellow, purple—so pretty—she couldn’t stop herself from startling when the slide changed to a photograph of those same volunteers, covered in soot, but smiling as they stood in front of a scorched patch of earth, trees with their bark only slightly singed.

“This is the outcome we want. A safe burn. A way to renew the earth and prevent uncontrolled blazes in the future…”

Carly drew a deep breath, and then made the mistake of again looking at Jeremiah. His gaze bored into her, cold and hard. Had he seen how the picture of the fire held her mesmerized? Her stomach tightened, and she felt a little sick.

Keeping her expression neutral, she returned his stare. She wasn’t that same reckless girl. She’d done her penance, and then some. Performing this last act of restitution would expunge her juvenile record, and she could function without worrying someone would discover her past mistake. She could submit a job application without her hand shaking, because she feared a background check would reveal her crime. And maybe she could finally make use of her teaching degree.

Thank God, she didn’t have to work around here. Jeremiah would consider it his civic duty to make sure everyone kept a close eye on her. He wasn’t exactly the most forgiving man, and if she couldn’t find a better job, she’d never be able to repay him for what he’d lost.

The rest of the presentation droned on and on. The park ranger was followed by the local fire chief, and then the park service expert they’d brought in to help supervise the burn. She tried to pay attention, but felt as though a hundred accusing fingers were pointed at her back. So she sat rigid in her seat, arms crossed, waiting for the briefing to end. She’d get her team assignment and head back to the motel where she’d left her suitcase. Then she could close her door and sleep until Saturday’s training.

Seven years hadn’t been nearly long enough to ease the feeling of guilt that weighed her down. Moving away had helped her live a more normal life, but she’d had these little reminders every so often, part of the deal the judge had made with her to protect her future. Participating in the controlled burn inside the park would be the last time Calderans would have to suffer her presence. And she theirs.

At last, the park ranger turned off the projector. Everyone rose and made their way to the board where team assignments were listed.

She waited patiently while being jostled—probably deliberately. At last, she scanned the list.

Her name was listed on a team of ten—and led by Jeremiah McCord. Shit.

Jeremiah stood near the doors, ready to nab Carly before she could skulk away. Blake Thacker, the local fire chief, stood next to him. “You put her on my team.” Jeremiah muttered.

Blake’s mouth twitched. “You’ve been so vocal about what a hazard she is to have around, so I thought you’d rest easier keeping her close.”

Jeremiah grunted.

“It’s been seven years,” Blake said, slapping his shoulder. “She hasn’t burned up a canyon or set a house on fire.”

“Not that we know of.”

Blake shook his head. “Don’t you think  the time has come to give her a little slack? She’s a grown woman now, not a rebellious teenager.”

Eyeing Carly as she moved away from the board, he couldn’t help but note the fact she was a woman now. Still skinny, but taller and with an interesting bit of flare to her hips. “She’s a menace. Nearly cost me my ranch.”

Blake gave him a baleful glance. “And walking up to the front of the room had to have taken a lot of courage, knowing no one wants her here.”

Jeremiah didn’t like the pang of doubt that struck his chest. He’d aimed a pretty mean stare her way. Not that she’d seemed the least bit put off. Her chin had inched up, and she’d kept her gaze averted, watching those images of flames spreading across brush.

He hadn’t missed the one real moment of emotion that had crossed her face. The picture of the fire had held her captive. No, she hadn’t changed a bit. Maybe she’d simply gotten better at hiding her firebug proclivities.

“Play nice,” Blake said, under his breath as people filed out of the building. “Judge Sessions says this’ll happen, whether you want it to or not. I’ve given you a way to control the situation. You can thank me later.”

Blake gave him another pat and walked away, just as Carly, who was almost the last person out the door came abreast. Her glance landed on him then darted to the door. So she was nervous around him. Good. “Don’t be late for training,” he bit out.

She halted, and her glance crashed with his. “I won’t,” she said, her mouth crimping into a straight line, and her brow furrowing.

Jeremiah felt a little thrill of attraction tingle in his balls. Oh, hell no. But before he could stem the impulse, he blurted, “Where you staying?”

“At the Prickly Pear Motel.”

He slowly shook his head, dreading what he was about to say. But he knew he wouldn’t rest easy if he didn’t have her under his thumb, twenty-four/seven for the next four days. Keep your enemies close and all… “I’ll follow you there and wait for you to check out.”

Her chin shot higher. “I’m not going away. This is the last task I have to complete to clear my name.”

“I’m not having you roaming free until this is done.”

She stuck her hand on her hip. “Gonna ask your buddy the sheriff to lock me up when I’m not with you?”

Jeremiah nearly growled. “Sweetheart, you’ve got a choice—you’re either sitting in lock-up, or you’re coming home with me.”

“The hell I am.” Her smoky gray eyes rounded.

He liked the flush of pink that crept across her cheeks. He noted, not for the first time, that she was pretty. But her beauty was likely a honey trap. The judge had taken one look at her slim body and pretty blonde looks, and let her off lightly—giving her a short stint in a juvenile detention facility, a fine she’d never pay off, and community service, rather than sending her to a women’s prison where she belonged.

Sure, she looked like an angel, but he knew better. He’d seen the excitement glinting in her eyes when the picture of brushfire had popped on the screen. She hadn’t changed. No, Carly Lohan was a danger to him and every ranch rimming the canyon. “I’ll follow you to the motel.”

“Don’t you think we ought to at least be on first-name basis before you invite me home?” At his next glare, she blew out an exasperated breath that billowed her cheeks. “Fine, it’s just five days, and you saved me the expense of a hotel. You have to feed me, too.”

“Oh, you’ll earn your room and board, Carly,” he drawled, warming to the thought of how he’d keep her busy for the next few days. She wouldn’t be so saucy after mucking out horseshit in the barn. And then an image popped into his mind of other forms of service she might provide…

He clamped down on his attraction. Don’t go there. She was trouble with a capital T, and the sooner she was gone, the better.

Carly turned on a heel, marched through the doors and down the steps, him following close behind. Her car wasn’t much to look at. Paint was peeling. The rear fender was missing.

Looked like she’d had hard times. Again, his chest tightened, wondering where she’d been all this time, and what hardships she’d faced.

Not his problem, he reminded himself, setting his jaw as he climbed into his truck and followed her taillights a mile down the highway.

The Prickly Pear was the worst sort of dive, serving long-haul truckers and tawdry trysts. He parked beside her POS car and waited in his truck as she disappeared into a room. When she came out a moment later, she carried one suitcase. Obviously, she hadn’t unpacked.

She dumped the case in her trunk and stomped to the office. He watched through the dusty glass as she paid her bill.

The kid behind the counter darted a glance out the window, and his eyes widened on Jeremiah’s truck. Kevin Twomey. Ah hell. The whole town would know he’d been waiting for her outside a motel. Just what he needed. Kevin’s mama was the biggest gossip in the county.

At last, she made her way out and stopped beside his window. “I’ll follow you. Maybe he won’t think you’re a stalker.”

She didn’t give him a chance to respond, simply turned as neatly as a soldier and marched to her car. By the time he heard the engine, a smile was tugging at his mouth. She might be a firebug, and have no business participating in a controlled burn, but the girl had grit.

Elle James aka Myla Jackson: San Antonio Riverwalk Mayhem!

San Antonio River featuring the Tower Life Building at night, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Some of you might know that I write under two pen names—Elle James and Myla Jackson. Different authors write under different pen names for various reasons. Readers know Myla Jackson for her sexy cowboys in Texas at the Ugly Stick Saloon.

A couple years ago, I wrote WYATT’S WAR and published it under my Myla Jackson pen name. WRONG! What was I thinking? It was clearly an Elle James romantic suspense. I probably sold a handful of copies. Naturally, my Myla Jackson fans didn’t get it. It wasn’t my Myla style. I know that now, and I also knew my Elle James readers would “get” it if I put it out under my pen name Elle James. And now that I have my rights I’m able to repackage it under my Elle James pen name where it really belongs. So, though it is a re-release, it will be new to most of you my readers. Please check it out. I set this book in one of favorite cities, San Antonio with the beauty of the River Walk area and the usual mayhem of a killer loose. Please give WYATT’S WAR a chance. If you like my books, you’ll like this one!

Amazon | Kobo | Nook | GooglePlay | IBooks | Print

 Army Special Forces soldier tasked with augmenting security at a high-profile international trade convention teams with the sassy convention planner to protect the delegates from terrorist threats

She doesn’t want a glorified babysitter…until all hell breaks loose

Following a particularly tough deployment, Master Sergeant Wyatt Magnus is given a boondoggle assignment providing anti-terrorist security for an International Trade Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Convinced he’s in for a whole lot of boring hours, he’s surprised when he goes toe-to-toe with the feisty and sexy as hell convention director.

Fiona Allen has a difficult enough task corralling foreign dignitaries and pulling off a seamless itinerary. She doesn’t have time to handhold the far too arrogant and impossibly desirable Special Forces soldier assigned to her event by the Department of Homeland Security.

A hotel room double-booking lands them together in the same room. Her red-hot anger quickly turns to blazing desire. Giving in to one night of passion, she realizes will never be enough. But trouble is brewing in the form of a man on a mission of revenge, armed with hatred and enough explosives to obliterate the convention center and everyone inside.

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Elle James’s Newsletter

A Glance Back at May & A Look toward June! (Contest)

Dear Readers and Friends,

Today is the kids’ last day of school! Woot! That doesn’t mean the adults get to slack. Just means we’ll be spending more time with them! We plan to swim as often as weather allows, camp a couple of times on the lake, take a field trip or two to attractions around the state… You know, summer fun things. Nothing huge, just busy! Have to keep them from whining about being bored.

For my part, I still have a ton of books to refurb and get out there, along with new stories, and a new short story collection to share! So, plenty on my plate to do—in between swimming! Did I ever mention I’m a water baby?

Hope you’re ready for summer too! And if you’re looking for stories to read beside the pool, maybe I can help you out…

If you missed this month’s releases…

How does a girl choose between the bad boy who needs her and the boy next door she’s always loved?

Dani Standifer arrives home at her West Texas family ranch a day early, ready to pick up where she left off with Rowe Ayers, her high school sweetheart. However, when she opens the door to their line-shack trysting place, it’s clear she waited a day too long. Rowe’s with someone else—another man. And not just any other man—it’s Justin Cruz, the bad boy with whom she shared one wild encounter, years ago.

Justin’s waited a long time for this moment. He knows his reputation, but since he seduced Rowe, he’s been a one-man cowboy—waiting for Dani to return and become the delicious fulfillment of his and Rowe’s needs—if she’s up to the challenge.

To her own surprise, Dani finds she’s more than ready to have both men in her life—as soon as she and Rowe teach Justin a lesson or two about love.

Their small town may not be ready for their kind brand of loving. And Dani’s brother Cutter’s mile-deep grudge against Justin throws in a complication that could break the foundation the three of them hope to build…

Get your copy here!

~~~~~~~

I’m Hunter. It’s the name I was born with, and the name my SEAL buddies let me keep, due to my uncanny instinct for finding enemy combatants. I’m not an easy guy to know. Most women might give me a look, but there’s something in my eyes I’ve been told, that makes them wary about coming closer. A hint of violence that only freaks find sexy. Freaks—and Sara, my little sister. Stepsister, that is.

Get your copy here!

~~~~~~~

One lonely cowboy’s revenge was never so sweet!

Cutter Standifer is a man with a rigid personal code, who’s having trouble “acclimating” to the fact his little sister is marrying one cowboy and shacking up with a second. That the man she’s marrying is the same one who shattered his world a year ago isn’t something he can get past. Forgive and forget? Like hell. Not when he lost the only woman he ever loved.

It’s been a year since Katie Grissom shared the same air as Cutter, but she can tell he’s still simmering with anger over her betrayal. However, she’s been praying for a chance to make it up to him, so when Cutter offers her a no-strings affair, she jumps at the chance, hoping to either break through the rigid wall he has built around his heart or get him out of her system for good.

When Mother Nature complicates their arrangement, she’s scared he’ll do the right thing for all the wrong reasons. Now, she may never know whether she’s truly forgiven or whether he’ll ever learn to love her again.

Get your copy here!

~~~~~~~

When a lonely shut-in’s online query is answered for a sexy rendezvous, she’s stunned when her handsome “escort” proves more adept and familiar than she’d dreamed…

Get your copy here!

~~~~~~~

Jane wants Bruno…Bruno wants Cord…Cord wants Jane…but can everyone get what they really want?

Jane, fresh from a breakup, decides to seduce Bruno, one of the firemen next door, to restore her shattered confidence. But the trap she sets is sprung instead by his best friend, Cord. After she flees in embarrassment, Bruno makes a proposition too wicked for any good girl to consider, but how can she refuse the chance at not one, but two strapping firemen?

Bruno’s shared women with Cord before, but decides to use Cord’s attraction to Jane to break down his friend’s defenses for the ultimate threesome. Cord thinks he knows how this little tryst will go down, but he’s seduced into allowing Bruno intimacies this hetero guy has never before considered.

Get your copy here!

Coming in June & ready for pre-order now!

Releases June 2!

Releases June 13!

Releases June 16th!

Contest

For a chance to win a small Amazon gift card, tell me your summer plans!

Heather Long: Holding Out for a Shifter Hero (Giveaway)

All things Footloose seem to be coming to roost at my house this year.  The Kevin Bacon classic debuted in 1984.  12 years old at the time, I remember going to the opening day at a small theater, by myself, wearing white jeans and a multi-colored top. I wasn’t the only teen or pre-teen in the audience, and I wasn’t the only kid who got up to dance during a lot of the scenes.

Looking back on those days, three things stand out—the music, the freedom, and the rising tide of emotional nostalgia for when life was simply a battle between the desire to dance and the desire to keep kids safe.  Yes, there’s a lot more to the argument, though admittedly the idea that dancing led to drinking and drugs was always a stretch for me.

Holding Out for a Hero

Let’s get back to the music, Bonnie Tyler’s Holding out for a Hero was a huge part of Footloose. Looking back, I have to wonder at the choice. The song served as the score for the showdown between Ren (Kevin Bacon) and Ariel’s (Lori Singer) abusive boyfriend, Chuck (Jim Youngs). So the song fits that aspect, but the showdown is played out as a glorified game of chicken on tractors.

Yep, tractors.

My 12 year old self thought that was badass, but my 45 year old self looks back and says, “Tractors? Really?” So was the showdown badass because of the tractors or the song?

Of course, flash forward a couple of decades to Shrek 2 and suddenly we have a new version of Holding out for a Hero courtesy of Jennifer Saunders. The music did for Shrek exactly what it did for Footloose, conveyed heroism on our erstwhile heroes whether they fit the “common” conception or not.

The Song Remains the Same

I’m pretty sure what made both scenes badass was the song. And from that point forward, Bonnie Tyler’s song was ever-present in the back of my mind from my first viewing to the present. The song suggested heroism whether you’re talking superheroes, military men, shifters, and more. It can’t come as any surprise that the song would then become background music for every single book I’ve written including When Danger Bites which married military and shifter romance into one novel.

The story is right there in the lyrics:

Where have all the good men gone

And where are all the gods

Where’s the street-wise Hercules

To fight the rising odds

Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed

Late at night toss and turn and dream of what I need

I need a hero

I’m holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night

He’s gotta be strong

And he’s gotta be fast

And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight

I need a hero

Are you singing it in your head? I know I am. I even cranked up both versions when I began writing this blog. So if you are holding out for a hero, who is strong and fast, and fresh from the fight? I present to you Captain Jax Raymond of Bravo Team WOLF.

 

Oh and the second Footloose connection? It’s the high school musical for Mini’s junior year. We’re going to be holding out for more than a hero, we’re going to be holding out for a part.

One lucky commentator will win a $10 GC from Amazon, so tell me, what about you? Are you holding out for a hero?

 

Bravo Team WOLF

WHEN DANGER BITES

Buttoned-up Corporal Kaitlyn Amador is dangerous on every level. As a human, she poses a threat to Marine Captain Jax Raymond’s special Force Recon unit. Though the team has a reputation among the other recon units, only their commanding officer knows their secret. As a woman, the danger posed is entirely different. Jax can survive the temptation for only so long before his wolf takes over and pursues what it wants.

Military intelligence specialist Corporal Kaitlyn Amador is the first woman in the Marines to be assigned to a recon team. And everyone’s watching her. Her mission? Not only prove herself worthy of her place in the group, but uncover the mystery of why Bravo Team is so successful. A mission that gets more difficult every time she’s near Jax…

https://books2read.com/WhenDangerBites

About Heather Long 

USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime.

From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family.

She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.

Heather is best known for her 18-book paranormal romance series Wolves of Willow Bend, which begins:

Prequel: Wolf at Law

1: Wolf Bite

2: Caged Wolf

3: Wolf Claim

3.5: Wolf Next Door

4: Rogue Wolf

5: Bayou Wolf

6: Untamed Wolf

Heather’s other fantasy romance series include the paranormal westerns Fevered Hearts starting with Marshal of Hel Dorado, Black Hill Wolves which start with What a Wolf Wants, Witches of Mane Street, Mongrels, and the forthcoming Bravo Team WOLF series.

Her contemporary romance series include: Always a Marine, Going Royal, Elite Warriors, The Love Thieves, beginning with Catch Me and Lone Star Leathernecks, beginning with Semper Fi Cowboy.

Heather is well-represented in fantasy with her superhero series Boomers, a sci-fi western called Space Cowboy Survival Guide, an urban fantasy series called the Chance Monroe Adventures, and a stand-alone ghost novel titled Haunt Me.

Contact Details:

Website: http://www.heatherlong.net

Email: heather@heatherlong.net

Bookbub:  https://www.bookbub.com/profile/heath...

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Heather-Long/e...

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HeatherLongAu...

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/HVLong

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/iKxQ5

Excerpt of When Danger Bites by Heather Long:

Captain Jasper “Jax” Raymond leaned his motorcycle into the turn. The wind ripping past him filled him with a sense of exhilaration, and the engine’s roar satisfied a more primal urge, the growl echoing that of his inner animal. His wolf.

Heading back to base after leave always felt a little like shedding his wild freedom for a leash. Not his favorite analogy. Fortunately, Jax liked the other wolves assigned to his squad.

Training and fighting together had forged them into a cohesive team—a team he ran. At home, he was just a wolf, a member of the pack, a strong dominant with only his family to protect and his alpha to follow. When his alpha had asked Jax to serve and protect the pack, Jax had risen to the occasion. Leading had never been his goal in life, but now on base he was the alpha, and he was responsible for all of them.

As he came out of the curve, he zipped past an SUV on the side of the road. It took his mind a few seconds to process why the car had halted there. The vehicle had a flat tire and sat almost drunkenly in the grass off the blacktopped edge. A woman in full dress uniform had the rear of the SUV open and was reaching inside, presumably for the jack.

Slowing the bike, he checked the road behind him. No oncoming vehicles. He turned the bike around and headed back. No way an officer in Class As should be changing their tire on the side of the road. The fact she was a woman might have played into his desire to render aid, but mainly, he was in jeans and a T-shirt. If anyone should be getting dirty, it was him.

Parking the bike in front of her SUV, he shut off the engine then dismounted. “Afternoon, ma’am.” He kept his tone polite. Uniform or not, he was a big guy, and politeness went a long way to setting strangers at ease.

The officer in question stepped out from behind her SUV and eyed him. His wolf went on point the moment their gazes collided. She was gorgeous. But more, her deep, whiskey-brown eyes had a fierceness to them. His wolf recognized that ferocity, and it filled the man with the need to respond. The point of Class As was to provide a severe, if uniform, look to all officers and enlisted. From her buttoned-up jacket to her formfitting skirt, she proved alluringly female. The dark tan of her skin reminded him of a bronzed statue, but a hell of a lot warmer. Her dark hair held the promise of red where the sun struck it, but she had it all confined into a serviceable bun.

The image of freeing all that hair and satisfying his curiosity about the color and the texture flashed across his mind’s eye. Wolves were tactile creatures, and she was so damn put together. Reminding himself her bun wasn’t a ball of yarn and he wasn’t a cat didn’t a do damn thing for the mental suggestion.

“I’m fine,” she said, her clipped tone perfectly polite. The chill in her voice jerked him out of his gawking. “Thank you for stopping.”

“I’m sure you are…Corporal.” He zeroed in on the bars on her uniform. “It would be a shame to get the uniform messed up, especially since I’m right here, and I’d be happy to change the tire for you.”

Her brows raised a fraction, and the corners of her lips tightened. They were full, pretty lips with only the barest hint of gloss. Maybe she’d licked them? He liked the lower lip; it was plump and completely kissable… Why the fuck am I leering at her like some dumbass?

Pretty.

Yeah, his wolf had rather basic standards.

“I appreciate you making the offer, but I really can handle it.” Dismissal hung in her tone as she returned to the rear of the SUV, but a quick grin softened the sting. “Really, I can…” Were those last three words for him? Or herself?

She paused then blew out a breath.

One part of him said to leave it alone. If she thought she could change the tire without fucking up her uniform, fine. She was a big girl. The rest of him vibrated with the need to overcome her objection and take care of it for her.

The wolf won; it usually did in moments like this. Human or not, she was a Marine. It didn’t matter that he served because his alpha had asked for volunteers, he’d been a Marine for five years, and he had two more years on his contract. He’d always been a wolf, and the wolf would always win.

For all intents and purposes, the Marines were his pack. He wouldn’t leave a packmate to change her own damn tire, would he? Not when he was right there. The big question hovering in the back of his mind as he cleared the rear of her vehicle was, did he make it an order since he outranked her, or did he go for charm?

“You have trouble listening?” she asked him as she pulled the jack out and set it to the side. She had on a pair of work gloves. He admired the choice, but they clashed completely with the uniform and were a hell of a long way out of dress code. If she had the misfortune of encountering a senior officer—like him—she could get in trouble.

“No trouble at all, ma’am.” Hoping a smile and a bit of a coaxing tone would charm her out of her reticence, he grinned. The temperature hovered somewhere in the mid-80s. Perfect for a ride on his bike, even better for hanging out to have a cool drink, but standing there in the sun while she changed the tire would have her sweating through the uniform. “If you’ll forgive me for not just leaving you here on the side of the road, I would be honored to render assistance. My mama would take my head off if I let you tell me no.”

Instead of being impressed, she gave him a sideways glance. “You’re not southern enough to pull off the mama, and I don’t think she would take your head off.”

Jax blinked. It was rare for anyone human to call him on one of his stories. The other wolves could smell a lie, but humans? They generally went with it. His mother had told him once he had a face made for sin and a mouth to go along with it—or at least to get him out of trouble.

Reclaiming the jack, she chuckled, and the sound teased along his spine like a caress. Following her, he wanted to growl when she squatted with care. She wore three-inch heels. Perfectly within regs, but the fact she could squat so gracefully in them did wonders for his libido. “Sorry, friend. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter.”

“Huh.” The wolf might want to pet her, but the man liked her. “Fair enough. My mother would kick my ass, though.” And then some. His mother had taught him to hunt—she could track circles around his father.

“Somehow, that, I believe.”

Kalissa Wayne: Decoration Day

Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the United States. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and it is a day to remember those who have died while in the service of the US Armed Forces. I want to dedicate this blog post to them. These souls are some of the greatest heroes there can ever be remembered.

Why, you may ask?

Because they were willing to sacrifice their very existence to save someone else. Just think about it, we all complain about this “selfish younger generation” who seem to think only of themselves and what the world can do for them. But there are those in this younger generation who still believe in honor, duty, and sacrifice. In wars past, and in “police actions” in this day and age, a lot of these soldiers are not even old enough to buy alcohol and yet they are willing to step up and do what needs to be done. Be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

I had a college professor who assigned the class a task to write down ten things you would kill for and then ten things you would die for. On the surface it seemed like an easy task. We all say “I’d kill for…” this, that or the other. We’d kill anyone who hurts our family. We’d kill those who commit rapes, torture, or abuse. But what would we be willing to lay down our lives for? It took a long time for me to contemplate this question. I would fight for family, friends, even to protect a stranger in a life threatening situation, but to willingly say “I will die for you”… it was an eye-opening question for me.

Could I willingly agree to die instead of change something I believed in? I ended up with only three things on my “Die” list… faith, family, and to protect an innocent.

Material things mean nothing. Faith, love, and family mean everything. I say I would die for these three things, but until someone is put in the position to back up their words, one never knows. Take a moment during this holiday weekend to ask yourself these same two questions. What are you willing to kill for? What are you willing to die for? Then say a silent “Thank You” to those who left this world too soon while in service.

I honor those men and women who have stood by their word, who have willingly made the ultimate sacrifice to save others.

You are my heroes.

You will never be forgotten.

 

JANE’S WILD WEEKEND is ready for your weekend!

Saturday’s here! Whee! Saturday of a big holiday weekend for those of us USA’ers. I don’t like to say “Americans” in this context, because there are more nations on this continent than just the U-S-of-A, and I don’t think they’re celebrating Memorial Day Weekend like we are!! Well, I’m not doing much celebrating, actually. No road trip, no barbecue. We are hoping the pool is warm enough to spend some quality time there with the kids, though! And I did sleep in! That one’s a biggie!

Just wanted to introduce you you to my latest release. Just in case you have some lazy time this weekend and are looking for something hot to read! It’s another refurb, but a good one—if you like very naughty ménage stories! And I love the cover. Jane looks very, very tired… Poor girl’s worn out! Enjoy!

Jane’s Wild Weekend!

Jane wants Bruno…Bruno wants Cord…Cord wants Jane…but can everyone get what they really want?

Jane, fresh from a breakup, decides to seduce Bruno, one of the firemen next door, to restore her shattered confidence. But the trap she sets is sprung instead by his best friend, Cord. After she flees in embarrassment, Bruno makes a proposition too wicked for any good girl to consider, but how can she refuse the chance at not one, but two strapping firemen?

Bruno’s shared women with Cord before, but decides to use Cord’s attraction to Jane to break down his friend’s defenses for the ultimate threesome. Cord thinks he knows how this little tryst will go down, but he’s seduced into allowing Bruno intimacies this hetero guy has never before considered.

Get your copy here!

And if you’d like a quickie…

When a lonely shut-in’s online query is answered for a sexy rendezvous, she’s stunned when her handsome “escort” proves more adept and familiar than she’d dreamed…

Get your copy here!

Ready for pre-order now!

Releases June 2!

Releases June 16!

Cover Reveal Puzzle!

Had a last minute bail from an author. So, I thought I’d do something fun. I uploaded a story to Amazon early this morning. I love the cover. The girl in the pic looks very, very tired, which is very appropriate for this sex-fest story. It’s a refurbed story I had with Ellora’s Cave way back when…

If you’ve never read it, you should enjoy—if you’re into sexy firefighters, weekend orgies, and… Well, you’ll just have to see.

First the blurb, then play!

Jane wants Bruno…Bruno wants Cord…Cord wants Jane…but can everyone get what they really want?

Jane, fresh from a breakup, decides to seduce Bruno, one of the firemen next door, to restore her shattered confidence. But the trap she sets is sprung instead by his best friend, Cord.  After she flees in embarrassment, Bruno makes a proposition too wicked for any good girl to consider, but how can she refuse the chance at not one, but two strapping firemen?

Bruno’s shared women with Cord before, but decides to use Cord’s attraction to Jane to break down his friend’s defenses for the ultimate threesome. Cord thinks he knows how this little tryst will go down, but he’s seduced into allowing Bruno intimacies this hetero guy has never before considered.

Lindsay McKenna: Never Enough

NEVER ENOUGH, 3B1, is a Delos series novella and sequel to Forged in Fire, Book 3. Being Indie, it’s fun to write the “big book” and then follow it with a “Well? What happened to Matt and Dara next?” and answer my readers burning question. I don’t know a reader that doesn’t appreciate a follow-up novella or sequel. When I’ve formed a bond with the main characters and have sympathy for them, I want to know what happened after reading the book.

Sergeant Matt Culver, Delta Force, has fallen in love with Dr. Dara McKinley, a pediatrician who was visiting Kabul, Afghanistan to do charity work for children. They fall in love, but this country is dangerous to anyone who is an American. After a harrowing escape at a village in mid-Winter, Matt must keep Dara alive.

I admired Dara McKinley because she was thrown into a violent, life-and-death environment and had no clue as to how to survive it. Except that the man she was falling in love with, Sergeant Matt Culver, would become her guide, teacher and protector.

Sometimes courage comes in moments of shock, trauma and extreme conditions. Dara is a pediatrician, finishing up her residency, and getting ready to put a clinic for the poor near Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. But all her dreams explode when her vehicle is attacked, leaving her in the harsh winter of Afghanistan, chased by Taliban.

Matt Culver is a survivor and is saddled with a woman who has never been under such duress. He’s fallen in love with her. The challenges are enormous, not only brutal winter conditions in the mountains, trying to keep her safe and knowing odds of living through this, are next to nothing. Somehow, they survive.

Afterward, I wrote a book to take them in the next step of their relationship.  Matt has surprised Dara with a Hawaiian vacation.  He wants to get her into a safe place that she’s always wanted to visit, where they can have serious time for one another instead of running for their lives.  Somehow, even Paradise can have a dark side and Matt’s wish for a quiet vacation doesn’t happen.

Buy Links:  Amazon Buy Link |  B & N Buy Link |  iTunes |  Kobo |    Website

Rolynn Anderson: The Art of Dedication

I was trying to be positive with the title of this blog entry.   Truth is, as I’m ready to publish my eight novel, I’m in a dedication pickle.   Forget ‘artful.’

I started writing romantic suspense stories in 2001, got picked up by Wild Rose Press in 2011, and have published one book a year since then.   My first book lauded all the people who encouraged me to keep on writing.  Dedicating my second book to my father was a slam-dunk, because a character in the novel acted like my dad.  I wanted another book to honor my mother.  Then what?

We seat-of-our-pants writers don’t plan ahead.  Thus, the dedication pickle.

Subject matter for book four fit my sister.  Wait!  I can’t leave out my husband.  Book five lauded him.  I consulted with my two brothers for books six and seven, so no worries there.  Book eight is dedication-less, so far.

I’m curious about how you determine your dedications and the process you use to choose/ask/notify the dedicatee, or publicize the dedications for your books.  I could use some ideas!  Please leave your comments by clicking on the people said link below.

As you think about your answer, here’s my release, BAD LIES, dedicated to my brother, Colin, a brilliant geologist, who works on contracted projects with the U.S. Government.  My main character in BAD LIES has a career like my brother’s, so consulting with Colin not only gave me information I needed, but brought me closer to understanding his passion for studying the earth.

Here’s BAD LIES, now out in Kindle and paperback http://a.co/0DuYNPn

Italy’s haunted caves spell danger for an American golfer and a NATO geologist…

Sophie Maxwell is a late-blooming, unorthodox golfer, and mother of a precocious thirteen year-old. Determined to put divorce, bankruptcy, and a penchant for gambling in her past, Sophie goes to Italy for a qualifying golf tournament.

Jack Walker turned his back on a pro golfing career to become a geologist. As a favor to his ailing father he’ll caddy for Sophie; off hours, he’ll find caves on the Mediterranean coast, suitable for NATO listening posts for terrorist activity.

Someone is determined to stop Jack’s underground hunt and ruin Sophie’s chances to win her tournament.

On a Rome golf course and in the Amalfi coast’s haunted caves, all the odds are stacked against Sophie and Jack.  In their gamble of a lifetime, who wins?

Web and Blog:  http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson

My questions, again:  I’m curious about how you determine your dedications and the process you use to choose/ask/notify the dedicatee, or publicize the dedications for your books.  I could use some ideas!  Please leave your comments by clicking on the the people said link below below.

S.K. Ryder: I Owe Vampires Big

I owe vampires big. Without them, I may well not be writing anymore. Though I have told stories from an early age in some form or other, by the time I graduated college and suffered my first rejection by a publisher, I was pretty much done. There were business trips and work projects and real-world relationships that filled up my time. And after two years of graduate degree work in technology, I was certain that every creative synapse in my brain had been fried for good.

Enter vampires.

Vampires never interested me before (I mean, seriously, the whole blood drinking thing…ewww), but after reading a discussion of Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire, I was intrigued enough to want to check it out. The moment I started reading, I was in raptures. The lush descriptions, the erotic overtones, the alien-yet-not characters and their horrific-yet-familiar struggles—all of it simply blew me away.  I inhaled every book in her Vampire Chronicles. Twice. I also began gobbling up all things vampire in print, TV and film, and I learned which ones I loved and which I still couldn’t tolerate. It’s true—character development is everything. And as characters go, few canvases are richer than the tragic figure of the vampire and the high price he pays for his immortality, supernatural powers, and often great beauty.

I was hooked. And I had to process all these creative inputs by writing, or else I risked exploding. It took a few more years (okay, a lot more years) of squeezing in writing time between work and life (and untold books and workshops on writing craft) but I did eventually end up with a manuscript I was happy with and that a publisher wanted to take on.

Dark Heart of the Sun, the tale of a new-born vampire coming to grips with his new reality, was published by Soul Mate Publishing in August of 2016. In the sequel, Dark Lord of the Night (available on KU May 31st), he continues his perilous journey together with the mortal woman who claims his heart and is the key to his humanity.

If you have a similar fascination with vampires, leave a comment below and share how you first discovered them. I love to compare notes.

About Dark Lord of the Night

The only thing standing between a new vampire and eternal darkness is the mortal woman who claims his heart.

Youngling vampire Dominic Marchant struggles to master his deadly instincts as he hunts the urban jungles of South Florida. He keeps his hunger confined to the blood of the guilty with help from Cassidy Chandler, a human woman who can literally touch his soul. Their love is his last remaining tether to humanity, which is tested beyond endurance when powerful forces from his past introduce him to terrifying new appetites he could never have imagined.

His efforts to protect Cassidy from the depravity overtaking him push their relationship to the brink of shattering. Refusing to give up on the man who is her heart, she takes an unthinkable gamble to save him. But is she fulfilling an ominous prophecy that ensnares them both? Or has she become just another pawn in a cunning game played by the five-thousand-year-old vampire who claims Dominic as his own?

Desperate to rescue her from a fate worse than death, Dominic strikes a perilous bargain with his greatest enemies only to face an impossible choice–embrace his darkest self…or destroy the woman he cannot live without.

Available for pre-order now:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071F7JW69/

Excerpt

Dominic Marchant hunched low over the BMW motorcycle screaming between his legs and tried to outrun a nagging sense of unease. He wove through I-95 traffic at two hundred miles per hour. He swerved between hurtling semis and darting sedans. He blew past other bikes so close he could have snatched their riders from their seats. He rode the highway’s shoulder when all three lanes were plugged.

The ghost of anxiety had no trouble keeping up.

Serge would not hunt with him tonight.

The old pirate-turned-vampire was no model of consistency—or sanity—but he never passed up a chance to ride on Dominic’s bike. Never said no to hunting the most vice-infested streets in South Florida. Never hesitated to prowl together as that rarest of all vampire social structures, a team.

Not tonight. Tonight Serge was ‘busy.’

Dominic gave a derisive snort. The excuse was thinner than air. What it concealed, he couldn’t guess. Or, more accurately, didn’t want to guess.

No matter. He would hunt alone and satisfy the beast that lived in his heart. Tonight the blood he drank had to be spiced with terror. If he waited much longer, he would make corpses, and he was in no mood to dispose of those, much less explain them to Cassidy.

Thinking of her made him impatient to return home. The November night was soaked in cold foreboding. The only place he wanted to spend it was cocooned in her intimate warmth.

He took the next available exit ramp.

The disquiet continued to nip at the back of his skull. He couldn’t forget the way Serge had looked at him earlier, looking right through him like he hadn’t done in many months, seeing what only he could see—Dominic’s immediate future presumably, his ultimate fate maybe, madness most certainly. Whatever it was, Serge had opted to conjure an excuse and stay home tonight, which did not bode well. Serge’s glimpses of the future were rarely happy, and they always transpired in the most horrific of ways. But he’d sooner be staked in the morning sun than share any details of what was to come. That would have been ‘meddling’ in ‘what must be.’

Dominic scoffed again, but with less vigor this time. He had changed his routine tonight by choosing to hunt the urban sprawl of West Palm Beach rather than the greater jungle of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. Would that stop whatever disaster awaited him?

Or put him squarely in its path?

Continue reading: http://wp.me/P3RYkc-h3

About S.K. Ryder

S.K. Ryder is a software developer by day, a scribe by night and answers to Susan any time.  She writes the type of stories she loves to read: heart-pounding adventures full of supernatural mysteries and relationships between strong, compelling characters. Though she calls South Florida home, she has also lived in Germany and Canada and has traveled widely, usually in the hot pursuit of wild and scenic nature. When not debugging code, complicating her characters’ lives or plotting her next rafting adventure down the Grand Canyon, she can be found beach combing, scuba diving, sailing or just hanging out with a good book. When push comes to shove, she can also bake a halfway decent cake and stand on her head, though not at the same time.

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sk.ryder.books/

Website: http://skryder.com

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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15560843.S_K_Ryder