Lashell Collins's Blog, page 10

Erotic Dreams in Lunar Falls

Secrets of Lunar Falls has finally been sent off to the formatter, which means that I should have the pre-orders for various outlets set up by the end of next week. Could be as early as this coming weekend! But just between you and me … I have been obsessing over this one for the longest time now, trying to get it as close to perfect as it can possibly be. I love this story and the characters so much, and I’m so anxious for you all to read it. In fact, in all honesty, I think terrified might be a better word. Seriously, I’m not kidding, you guys! This one terrifies me a little bit, and I know it’s because this is a new genre for me and I feel like I don’t know what the heck I’m doing! But, as with every story I’ve ever written (and in the sage advice of author Toni Morrison), I just wrote the story that I wanted to read.

Anyway, here’s a really short excerpt for you to feast on. I’ll let you know about the pre-order situation as it happens.

Excerpt from Secrets of Lunar Falls

Hidden in the dense brush, he watched as the hybrid ran toward her and followed her back into the house. Then he stayed close by until he felt her fear dissipating. He hadn’t meant to frighten her. He hadn’t meant for her to sense him at all, he only wanted to check on her, make sure she was okay, just as he had done each night from the moment they’d met. And being completely honest with himself, he knew that he’d just wanted to see her. If only for a moment.

He rose from his crouching position and stood on two legs, sniffing the air and catching her delicious scent. Then he drew in a deep breath and let it out in a frustrated huff that sounded more like a growl than a sigh.

Inside the house Carly attempted to let the strange sensation go as she readied herself for bed, but when she slipped between the sheets she had difficulty falling asleep. She tossed and turned for nearly half an hour before finally drifting off. But the memory of her sensual experience in the garden lingered, even in her dreams, and Carly soon found herself in the woods at Wolf Creek, running.

She was wearing a knee-length billowy night gown and running barefoot among the trees, a smile on her face as she relished the tingle on her skin. She looked up at the bright, shining moon as she ran through the woods, and she laughed. The sound echoed all around them.

Them.

She wasn’t alone. She smiled at the wolves running all around her, running with her. She was one of them, wild and free, and they ran and ran for what seemed like hours.

Then she was standing in a clearing of the forest, her canine companions milling about around her. One of them, a large black wolf with glowing gray eyes, stepped out from among the others and walked toward her. She reached out to him, staring into his smoky eyes, and suddenly he wasn’t a wolf anymore. He was a man, crouched down before her. She smiled as Gabe Masters slowly stood, completely naked, looming tall and imposing as he stared down into her eyes. She felt his hands running along her now naked body, heating her still tingling skin. Then his hands were in her hair as he gently pulled her head back. He leaned in close, his lips and his nose lightly brushing over her skin as he sniffed her neck, inhaling deeply. An act that caused her body to shiver. Then his tongue retraced the path his nose had just taken, running from the base of her neck all the way up to the back of her ear, and she moaned loudly.

She woke with a start at the sound of her own voice, and she looked around the bedroom in a heated frenzy. Her cotton nightshirt was drenched with sweat and totally plastered to her damp skin, and she sat up wiping the thin sheen of perspiration from her forehead as she softly panted. She’d never had such a vivid erotic dream before, and never about someone she actually knew. A singer or two. Maybe the latest Hollywood hunk, but Sheriff Masters? She’d only met him a few days before, and granted the man was sexy as hell, but why was he starring in her very real, very wet dream? An erotic dream about wolves, no less.

“Shit. What is wrong with me?” she mumbled to herself.

Throwing back the covers, she got out of the bed and pulled her nightshirt over her head, stripping naked, save for the tiger’s eye necklace she rarely took off. She walked over to the armoire and opened the door of the wardrobe and took out a fresh nightgown, slipping it over her head. Then she tossed the damp one into the hamper on her way out of the room.

She walked through the dark house to the kitchen and opened the freezer, reaching in to grab a single cube of ice. Then she ran the frozen sliver of relief across her chest in an effort to cool off as she tried to push the enticing image of Gabe Masters licking her neck from her mind.

Outside, not twenty feet away, he sat at her back door, feeling her nearness. Smelling her arousal as it mingled with her mouth-watering scent and wafted through the open kitchen window. And as he sat there reveling in the essence of her, he wondered what it would feel like to really run his tongue along her beautiful neck.

#8Sunday – Secrets of Lunar Falls

Welcome to this week’s installment of Weekend Writing Warriors – the blog hop where writers of all genres share 8 sentences from something they’ve written. This week, I’m continuing on with my current work in progress, a paranormal romance titled Secrets of Lunar Falls, which is set in the lovely and fictional small town of Lunar Falls, Ohio.

I’m a little bit over 8 sentences here, but it was either that or creative punctuation. In this scene, our heroine, Carly, has just narrowly escaped an attack in the woods from a rabid bobcat, saved by a strange-acting large black wolf that then turned and dashed into the forest. After Carly calls 911 for help, the sheriff is the first one on the scene…

“Should I be concerned that you’re apparently an accident waiting to happen, Doctor?” he said as the corners of his lips turned up into a sexy smile. “First you trip at the diner, and now you seem to have stumbled over a dead bobcat.”
For reasons Carly couldn’t explain, the smile on his face made her stomach quiver. God, he was handsome, and she felt herself blushing as he held his hand out to her.
“That’s hardly what happened here,” she replied as she took his offered hand and allowed him to help her stand.
“What exactly did happen?” Gabe asked, and the look in his eyes seemed to challenge Carly somehow.
“Honestly … I’m not really sure; the bobcat lunged at me.”
“And you snapped his neck?” Gabe asked, a small sparkle in his gray eyes. Carly frowned slightly until she realized he was joking.
She smiled. “No. The wolf did that.”
“The wolf?” His raised eyebrows told her that he found this news a bit of a surprise. “Doctor, there are no wolves in Lunar Falls.”

Secrets of Lunar Falls Blurb:

When veterinarian, Dr. Carly Tipton, takes a new job in the tiny farming community of Lunar Falls, she expects to build a new life for herself. She expects to meet new people and have new experiences. Maybe she’s even expecting a little adventure. But what she’s not expecting is to fall head or heels in love – not with the town, and certainly not with its ruggedly sexy sheriff, Gabriel Masters. She’s also not expecting all the secrets Lunar Falls is hiding. Secrets that could destroy everything she ever believed was true about her own heritage and the family she left back home.

Gabe isn’t ready for Carly when she blows into town. That woman has the power to bring him – a man born and raised to be a GrandAlpha – to his knees, and she’s human! That simple fact alone makes her dangerous to Gabe’s position within the pack. But the fact that he can’t seem to stay away from her tells him that this woman is the one. Human or not … she’s his mate. And now Gabe has to find a way to make their bonding complete without sparking a civil war among his people.

Secrets of Lunar Falls is book one of an adult, sexy shifter romance trilogy.

 

Secrets of Lunar Falls is finally past the editing stage and is about to be shipped off to the formatter (I’m so excited!). I hope to have it set up for pre-order within the next two weeks, ready to release on Oct. 31st. I’m also looking for bloggers interested in hosting a stop on the blog tour, here’s information if anyone’s interested.

And don’t forget to check out the other fabulous writers participating in the Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop, here!

Weekend Jams!

New feature on this blog, starting today. I’m calling it Weekend Jams!

So, you should all know by now that I’m a music freak; my musical tastes run the gamut from rock to classical to R&B and back again, and I am very unapologetic about that. I truly believe that you can tell so much about a person by listening to the music that moves them, and what my varied musical tastes should tell you is that I am a very complex person with many, many layers … like an onion! (That, or I’m just nuts!). So for Weekend Jams, I’m basically just going to gush about my favorite songs, old and new.

Up first, I’ve been on a happiness kick lately, and I’ve got the Pinterest board to prove it! So, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams seems appropriate. I have learned that happiness is not a state to arrive at, it’s a mode of travel … a state of mind that we should carry around every minute of every day. Or as wise sage Steven Tyler once put it, “Life’s a journey, not a destination.” I know, I know … it’s a totally different song! But the quote works for Happiness too. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. It’s an attitude. A way of life. Clap along if you feel like that’s what you want to do!

 

http://lashellcollins.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Pharrell-Williams-Happy-Official-Music-Video.mp4

 

#8Sunday – Lunar Falls & Bobcats

Welcome to this week’s installment of Weekend Writing Warriors – the blog hop where writers of all genres share 8 sentences from something they’ve written. This week, I’m continuing on with my current work in progress, a paranormal romance titled Secrets of Lunar Falls, which is set in the lovely and fictional small town of Lunar Falls, Ohio.

In today’s scene our heroine, veterinarian Dr. Carly Tipton, has recently moved to Lunar Falls for a job, and she’s out for a walk through the woods when she happens on a local resident who doesn’t appear too eager to make her feel welcome…

The animal stood on a large boulder just twenty feet or so from her, and Carly felt her stomach give way as he hissed loudly at her. He sat poised and ready, his muscles taut as he watched her, and the fear suddenly ran rampant throughout her body as she realized that he intended to attack her. And she knew instinctively that she was in real trouble because bobcats didn’t normally attack humans, they preyed on much smaller things like mice and squirrels and rabbits, so if this cat was confronting her like he meant business then Carly knew he was most likely rabid.

She tried to back away slowly, but the instant she moved, so did he, leaving the rock he was perched on as he lunged for her! Carly screamed, and she attempted to protect her head and neck as she dropped to the ground. She heard a ferocious growl from behind her and a flash of black fur went streaking across her field of vision as she hit the dirt. She heard the scuffle and looked up to see the largest black wolf she’d ever seen in her life. He easily made two of Lobo, and the bobcat let out a distressed whimper as the much larger animal captured him by the throat and pinned him to the ground, effortlessly snapping his neck in the process.

Secrets of Lunar Falls is now in the editor’s hot little hands. I’m hoping to have it set up for pre-order by the end of September at the latest. Thanks for reading and commenting!

And don’t forget to check out the other truly fabulous authors participating in the Weekend Writing Warriors here!

#8Sunday – Lunar Falls & Bur Oaks

Another Sunday, another 8 sentences. Welcome to my Weekend Writing Warriors installment, the weekly blog hop where writers of every genre post an 8-sentence snippet from something they’ve written. Last week, I began working my way through my current work in progress, Secrets of Lunar Falls. It’s book one in a paranormal romance trilogy.

In this snippet from chapter one our heroine, Carly Tipton, is new to the town of Lunar Falls, having just moved there for a job. She stops in the local diner to grab a quick bite to eat and strikes up a conversation with the friendly waitress about the goings on in the mysterious town. But Carly gets a little more information than she bargained for…

“You’re saying someone killed themselves in my new house?” she asked, not at all sure how she felt about that. 

“Well, no. I don’t believe it happened in the house exactly,” the woman answered. “The way I remember it, Lily Faraday was found out back … where she’d hung herself from a tree.”

“You’re joking.”

“No. In fact, the tree was an 80-year-old Bur Oak, and it was beautiful. But after Lily died, her father insisted on having the thing removed,” the woman said, speaking in hushed tones. “They chopped it down not a week later.”

Secrets of Lunar Falls is in the final rewrite stage. Hopefully, by the time you read this I will have met my deadline and have it off to the editor already.   **fingers crossed**

Be sure to check out the other fabulous writers taking part in the Weekend Writing Warriors hop, right here!

 

Essential Jagged Ivory Still on Sale!

Hey guys, there’s been a flurry of activity going on over here today, and I just wanted to keep you updated.

First, I woke up to a great surprise this morning … The Essential Jagged Ivory, the box set of the entire 5-book rockstar series, hit the Amazon Bestsellers List. It was #95 in Romance Anthologies! I think it has since slipped back down out of the Top 100, but for a brief time, it was there. I have the screen shot to prove it! But if you help me spread the word that this fun, 5 full-length books box set is still on sale for only $.99 throughout the month of August, maybe we can push it back up a little, so make sure to tell all of your book-loving friends! That’s right, the blog tour may have ended, but the band is still on fire!

And speaking of the blog tour, which was so much fun, the 3 winners of the music-related prize bundle have still not been chosen yet. I’m waiting on my book publicist to get that info to me. Should have an announcement by early tomorrow though. The lucky winners will each get an ebook copy of The Essential Jagged Ivory, a $10 iTunes gift card, and a Jagged Ivory concert t-shirt! I’m a little bit in love with the tees, they turned out great! Here’s a shot of the front and back. I’m hoping to entice the winners to send me a photo of themselves wearing the tee that I’ll then put on the band’s website at jaggedivory.com  I’ll also be using a few of these as swag for different giveaways, so one of them could be yours!

 

 

The other piece of awesomeness that happened today is that Ethan: A Kelly Family Novella, which is now sort of permafree, made a couple of Amazon Bestsellers Lists of it’s own. It’s been holding steady at #4 on the free Thrillers & Suspense list, and at #17 on the free Police Procedurals list.

So, all things considered, I’ve had a pretty great day. I even rose to the challenge put forth by my book publicist, Stephanie Potos Biedlingmaier, and let my husband pour a bucket of freezing cold water over my head as part of the ALS ice bucket challenge. You can laugh at me if you want to here. If I seem extremely nervous in the video, it’s because I am. I’ve told you all how much I hate being on camera!

 

#8Sunday – Secrets of Lunar Falls

Happy Sunday, Everyone! It’s time for another Weekend Writing Warriors post – the blog hop where writers of every genre post just 8 sentences from their work. Last week I wrapped up a series of 8s from my recently re-released rockstar series, Jagged Ivory, so this week, it’s time for something new. And since I’ve been hard at work on my first paranormal romance, Secrets of Lunar Falls, I figured now was the perfect time to start getting some feedback on it. This 8 comes from the opening scene of the book.

 

The dead body lying on the hiking trail should have served as a reminder that Lunar Falls was indeed part of the real world, however magical and extraordinary it may sometimes seem. But the blissful euphoria of falling in love here had clouded even that reality, and now all Carly could do was stare, and try to keep Lobo from going near it. She didn’t even scream. She had seen dead bodies before, lots of times. Granted, none of them were human, but the four-legged variety counted, didn’t it?

It was strange to her that she wasn’t overcome by fear or even horror at the sight. And what a sight it was – the body had been picked over until it was little more than a half-eaten carcass. She should be slightly hysterical, shouldn’t she? At the very least, she should be nauseated.

Secrets of Lunar Falls is in the final rewrite stage as I work frantically to get it sent off to the editor on time. I was hoping for a Halloween release, but it’s looking more like early November. Thanks for reading, I look forward to your feedback.

And you can check out the other amazing writers of the Weekend Writing Warriors, right here!

#8Sunday – Jagged Surrender

It’s sunday once again, and that means it’s time for another Weekend Writing Warriors post – the blog hop where writers share 8 lines from something they’ve written. As you know, the last four weeks I’ve been working my way through each book of the Jagged Ivory series, in celebration of the release of the boxed set, The Essential Jagged Ivory. Well, this week’s 8 comes from the 5th and final installment, Jagged Surrender

In this scene our hero, Jagged Ivory front man, Otis Ivory, is coming to terms with his questionable behavior with and shitty treatment of women. A real breakthrough for a man accused of statutory rape after an underage sex tape scandal…

“I probably coerced her. Even though the Cleveland District Attorney apparently thinks otherwise, I’m not so sure anymore. I mean, think about it … I coerced you into a date ten minutes after we met. I didn’t think twice about it. I thought nothing about wielding my influence and my fame to get what I wanted. I used it to my advantage. That’s what I do. That’s how I deal with women!”

You can find Jagged Surrender at all ebook retailers, and also in the newly released The Essential Jagged Ivory boxed set. The set is on sale through the end of August, five book series for just $.99, so don’t miss it!

And you can check out the other amazing writers of Weekend Writing Warriors right here!

#8Sunday – Jagged Secrets

Happy Sunday! It’s time for another #8Sunday Weekend Writing Warriors post – the blog hop where writers share just 8 lines from something they’ve written. The last three weeks I’ve been working my way through each book in my Jagged Ivory series in celebration of them being re-released in a boxed set, so today it’s Jagged Secret’s turn.

 

In this scene our hero, rock drummer, Buzzy West, has been talking to an old girlfriend he hasn’t seen in eight years after she showed up, completely out of the blue, backstage at a Jagged Ivory concert. In the middle of their tense conversation, the door bursts open, and Buzzy gets the shock of his life…

 

 

 

 

“Hello, Mr. West,” he smiled, “I’m Bobby.” 

Buzzy opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. His head was spinning. He frowned at the boy and swallowed hard, then he opened his mouth to try again. 

“Hello,” he said quietly, holding out his hand, “It’s nice to meet you.” He shook the boy’s hand and held on to it for a moment longer than necessary as he stared into his most unusual eyes. The boy was a perfect mixture of Asian and Caucasian, and Buzzy’s heart and his mind were racing, both hurtling toward their own conclusions. He swallowed once more, licking his lips anxiously. Why was his mouth suddenly so dry?

 

Jagged Secrets can be found at all ebook retailers, and also in the newly released The Essential Jagged Ivory boxed set. The set is on sale through the end of August, five book series for just $.99, so don’t miss it!

And you can check out the other amazing writers of Weekend Writing Warriors right here!

 

Secrets of Lunar Falls

So, now that August is here and I’ve released my rockstar series in a fun boxed set titled The Essential Jagged Ivory, and put it on sale through the end of the summer, it’s time to turn my attention to other things. Namely my upcoming paranormal release, Secrets of Lunar Falls. 

I spent part of last week in San Antonio, Texas at the RWA Conference, and I heard a lot of talk about the blurring lines between genres like romantic suspense, paranormal romance and urban fantasy. One seminar in particular that was given by authors Tracy Wolff and Tara Lynn Childs was particularly interesting and encouraging, and it made me feel a whole lot better about this leap into paranormal romance that I’m taking because now I know that many romantic suspense writers have branched out into paranormal before me, and they do both quite successfully. So here’s hoping that I can join their ranks and produce something of worth and value to both genres.

Here’s an unedited excerpt from chapter one of Secrets of Lunar Falls so that you can see what I’ve been working on for so long. Hope you like it!

*****

“You’re new around here,” the waitress stated as she set her glass of juice down in front of her.

“Yes,” she answered, smiling at her as she took a sip. “I just moved into the old Faraday place out on Winston Road.”

“Oh, really? Well, that place has sat empty for nearly a year now,” she said. “I’m glad you took a chance on it; I always thought that was a pretty piece of property.”

“Oh, it’s gorgeous, I’m so in love with it,” Carly said, agreeing with her.

“So what can I get you?”

“Oh, um … I’ll have the veggie omelet with wheat toast.”

“Coming right up.”

She walked away once more and Carly sat thinking about what she’d said about her new place. Carol never mentioned that it had been empty for almost a year, had she? She had only told her that the previous owner had passed away and that the bank had been maintaining the place ever since. And when Carly saw how charming the house was and how beautiful the grounds were, she had to have it. Now she was curious about what this waitress could tell her about it.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out one of the pamphlets she’d taken from the welcome basket and began to look it over as she waited, hoping to find some info on the area hiking trails.

Turned sideways on her stool, she was engrossed in what she was reading when she suddenly felt as though she were being watched. That wasn’t unusual, she supposed. After all, she was new here. Some stares of curiosity were to be expected, weren’t they? Casually, she looked up from her pamphlet and scanned the diner. Glancing nonchalantly over her right shoulder her eyes met the intense stare of an incredibly handsome man sitting across the diner in a booth. He was sitting with a friend, but he stared at her as though he knew her, and Carly felt her face grow hot as she tried unsuccessfully to break their eye contact.

“Would you like a refill on that juice, honey?”

“What?” she answered, clearly flustered as she turned back toward the counter. “Oh, yes. Please.”

Nervously she tucked a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear as she took a deep breath and let it out with a slow exhale.

“You okay?” the waitress asked her.

“Yes. I just … got a little warm all of a sudden,” she answered awkwardly.

“Ron, I think our air is on the fritz again,” the woman called loudly back to the large gentleman at the grill.

“Oh, no! It’s just me … your air conditioning is fine,” Carly insisted.

“Well, have a sip,” the woman said, gesturing to the glass of juice. “Maybe you’ll feel better once we get some food in you.”

“Yes, I’m sure I will,” she smiled, picking up the glass and taking another much needed sip. And as she did, she couldn’t help wondering who that man was and why he had looked at her with such intensity. She fought with everything in her to keep from turning around and looking at him again, even though she could still feel his eyes on her. She decided she needed something else for her mind to focus on.

“Um, can I ask you a question?” she said, looking the woman in the eye.

“Sure.”

“You mentioned that my place sat empty for a long time. Do you know why? I mean, like you said, it is such a pretty property with all the landscaping and the garden out back. And the house itself is such a sweet little cottage. I was just curious as to why it hadn’t sold before now.”

“Oh. Well I imagine it’s because of the suicide,” the woman said softly, glancing around with a conspiratorial eye.

“Suicide?” Carly repeated.

The woman made a face that told Carly she had said too much, and she silently nodded. Okay, that was something her realtor really should have mentioned, right?

“You’re saying someone killed themselves in my new house?” she asked, not at all sure how she felt about that.

“Well, no. I don’t believe it happened in the house exactly,” the woman answered. “The way I remember it, Lily Faraday was found out back … where she’d hung herself from a tree.”

“You’re joking.”

“No. In fact, the tree was an 80-year-old Bur Oak, and it was beautiful. But after Lily died, her father insisted on having the thing removed,” the woman said, speaking in hushed tones. “They chopped it down not a week later.”

Carly said nothing as she listened and thought about the large tree stump on the edge of her property. That had to be the tree in question.

“Among the teenagers around here, the rumor is that … well, that she’s still out there, you know? That you can see her sometimes walking around the garden, and you can hear her on nights when the air is still. Sometimes she humming, sometimes she’s crying,” she said cryptically, and Carly stared at her with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, I’ve never been one to believe in ghosts, so … I won’t be looking to move anytime soon,” she said with a small smile. “But I’ll admit, it is a little creepy. Is that story true? About the suicide, I mean, not the ghost sightings.”

“I’m afraid so,” the woman said as she turned away and grabbed her plate. Then she set the freshly cooked omelet down in front of her.

“Thanks,” Carly said, mulling everything over in her mind as she spread her napkin across her lap and then cut into her breakfast.

Across the diner, sitting in a booth, he sat staring into his coffee cup. He felt like his entire world had just been rocked to its core out of nowhere. This couldn’t be happening. He didn’t even know who she was, he had never seen her in Lunar Falls before. And yet, he couldn’t ignore what his senses were telling him.

He couldn’t stop himself from looking again, turning to his right and studying the back of her form from across the room. She was beautiful. Warm brown skin and big hazel eyes. Long raven hair that hung past her shoulders. And that scent! It was like the sweetest mixture of honey and spice roses, and he suddenly wondered if her flesh would taste just as sweet.

His companion looked toward the counter and smiled. “Who’s the chick? She a friend of yours?” he asked with an amused grin.

“What?” Gabe said, looking at him with a distracted frown. “No. I don’t know who she is. I’ve never seen her before.”

He turned back to his steak and eggs, ignoring the smirk on his friend’s face.

“Never seen her before, huh?”

“No, Joe. I’ve never seen her before,” Gabe repeated.

“Well, you haven’t taken your eyes off of her since she walked in,” Joe said. “In fact, I think your nose opened up before she even neared the door, man.”

Gabe smirked at him, but rolled his eyes and stuffed another piece of the rare meat into his mouth.

“Nice try changing the subject, Joey. Now, back to you and Jessie,” he said, fixing his friend with a serious expression as he swallowed his mouthful.

“Gabe, there’s nothing else to say, man,” Joe sighed. “I mean really. She’s either going to keep running from me or she’s going to finally stop and let us be happy. And honestly … as long as Rose and Henry are whispering in her ear, I don’t think she’ll ever even slow down and consider us.”

Gabe let out a tired sigh as he thought about the situation. And as much as he wanted to tell Joey that he was wrong, and that his sister would come to her senses, he knew that he couldn’t. Jessie was stubborn. And sometimes she seemed very comfortable being under their mother’s thumb. Something he and his sister did not have in common.

“Well, I’ve got to get to the office,” Joe said, stuffing a last piece of steak into his mouth as he glanced at his watch. “Sick people hate to be kept waiting.”

“How very rude of them,” Gabe joked, pulling out his wallet.

“Thanks for breakfast,” Joe said standing up.

“Yeah. Next time it’s your turn,” he said with half a smile, and Joe laughed.

“Deal,” he said. Then he gestured to the counter. “You should go introduce yourself to your new girlfriend over there.”

Gabe looked over at the stranger once more and then back to Joe. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“From what I saw when she walked in, I don’t think you have much choice in the matter.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gabe countered, pulling out a few bills and laying them on the table as he stood up.

“Oh, I don’t know what I’m talking about, huh?”

“No, you don’t.”

Joe nodded his head in response. “Well, I know you scented her when she was more than a block away,” Joe said quietly so that they weren’t overheard. “I know your heart rate spiked when she walked through the door. Even now, I can smell your anxiety.”

“Go to work, Joe. You’ve got sick patients to see,” Gabe said, his voice holding just a hint of danger as he looked his friend in the eye.

Joe quickly lowered his gaze, keen to show no sense of disrespect or challenge. This was obviously a topic his buddy didn’t feel comfortable joking about. “Yep.”

They both turned and started for the door of the diner, and as they passed by her seat, Carly grabbed her bag and stood, bumping into Gabe’s side and then falling into his arms as her purse and wallet hit the floor.

Joe heard the yelp, and he looked back and tried unsuccessfully to hide his smile as he continued out the door.

For one endless moment their eyes locked, and Carly felt as though she were drowning in his deep gray pools as his strong arms held her tight. She felt lightheaded.

Gabe’s nostrils flared, and he inhaled deeply as he held her steady. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, sending his blood rushing through his veins so forcefully he could feel it pulsing through his limbs – a sensation that only increased when he heard hers doing the same. His eyes burned and he shut them quickly as he gently set her back on her feet.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed, looking back at her as he pulled himself together.

“No, I … it was all my fault, I’m sorry,” she replied, feeling extremely confused as she stared into his eyes as if searching for something. “I wasn’t looking at all where I was going.”

“Here, let me help you,” he mumbled as he bent down to pick up her fallen purse and wallet. Then he stood, rising to his full height as he handed them to her.

Carly was momentarily speechless as she gazed up at him. Tall was an understatement. He had to be at least six-foot four, maybe taller. And he had the physique of a professional athlete, brawny and muscular with powerful arms and thighs. Herculean was the word that came to mind. Olive skin, gray eyes, black hair, rugged chiseled features beneath a well-trimmed dark mustache and beard. Up close, the word ‘handsome’ seemed so inadequate somehow.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, holding her gaze. “You’re, uh … you’re not from around here.”

“No. I, um … I just moved here. I’m sorry, I’m Dr. Carly Tipton,” she said extending her hand.

“Oh, yes, of course,” he said, taking her hand in his and feeling the heat course through him as they touched. “You’re the new veterinarian Steven Birch has been waiting on.”

“Yes. How did you know that?” she asked.

“Well, my name is Gabriel Masters. I’m the sheriff here in Lunar Falls. I try to make it my business to know who’s coming and going,” he answered. “I’ve found it’s the best way to stay on top of crime. We have a very peaceful community here, and I like to keep it that way.”

“I understand,” Carly said softly. Then she flashed him a wicked smile and said, “I’ll think twice before inciting any riots around here.”

Gabe looked at her pointedly, studying the flecks of gold in her warm hazel eyes as he tried not to think about her intoxicating scent. He smiled slightly at her joke. “See that you do,” he said. “Well, I’ve got to get to work. But it was nice to meet you, Dr. Tipton.”

“You too, Sheriff.”

“You let me know if I can be of any assistance to you,” he said, looking into her eyes, and Carly suddenly felt lightheaded again, almost inebriated.

“I will do that,” she promised.

He gestured toward the door, allowing her to move in front of him, and when they neared the entrance he reached around her and pushed, opening the door for her as they stepped outside.

“Thank you again, for catching me in there,” she said.

“It was my pleasure,” he replied.

She smiled nervously at him before she turned and walked away. And as she crossed the street and headed back toward her car she couldn’t help but think about those amazing gray eyes of his. She shook her head as she thought about them, telling herself that it had just been her imagination. His eyes were gorgeous, just like the rest of him. But they had definitely not been glowing. Had they?