Tamsyn Bester's Blog, page 21
May 13, 2013
*Updates & Covers*
Hi Brats
It has been a frustrating few days here at TheSecretBookBrat HQ. Due to some nation - wide internet connectivity problems, internet access has either been really slow or non-existent. We’ve had some gorgeous covers come out this week and since I haven’t been able to post anything on the blog, I’m adding the covers now just as an update :) As soon our technical issues are resolved, TheSecretBookBrat will be updated completely, including the **ToRead2013**, **Reviews** and **Playlists** pages :) In the mean time, thank you for your patience & for visiting the blog regularly :) Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines
SynopsisRush promised her forever...But promises can be broken.Torn between his love for his family and his love for Blaire, Rush has to find a way to save one without losing the other. In the end one has to be more important. Letting go isn’t easy.
Blaire believed in her fairytale...but no one can live in a fantasy.
Her love for Rush and desire to have a family keep her believing that they can find a way for this to work. Until she has to make the right decision for her and the baby. Even if it breaks her heart.
Can they find the forever that they both want or has it all just gone...too far?**Expected Publication: June 10th**
Fear of Falling by S.L Jennings
Synopsis
I can’t remember the last time I felt completely safe. Security seemed more like a luxury to me, reserved for those who were fortunate enough to have picture perfect childhoods. For those who didn’t bear the ugly scars that keep me bound in constant, debilitating fear. I’ve run from that fear my entire life. But when I met him, for once, I couldn’t run anymore.
He scared the hell out of me in a way that excited every fiber of my being. It wasn’t the tattoos or the piercings. It wasn’t the warmth that seemed to radiate from his frame and blanket me whenever he was near. It was just…him. The scary beautiful man that threatened to alter 23 years of routine and rituals, and make me face my crippling fear.
My name is Kami and I am constantly afraid. And the thing that scares me the most is the very thing I want.
***Inspired by true events*** **Expected Publication: July 18th**
Just Breathe by Rachel Campbell
SynopsisFor Savannah Rae, living life without her parents was unimaginable. But being blamed for her first love’s suicide? That destroyed every part of who she was. Gone were the days of innocence, happiness, and dreams. Now her days simply meant attempting to survive. In her mind, her only means for that was replacing her grief with men, booze and the fast life. And for five years, it worked.
When an opportunity to leave the nightmares of her past in Australia opens up, she takes it. Los Angeles beckons - with hopes of late nights, new beginnings, and the promise of a string of endless men to distract her, she can’t wait to dive in.
One thing she didn’t count on was meeting her match.
In the eyes of outsiders, Tate Connors has it all; the ultimate LA bachelor who is content with his lifestyle of wild nights, women and one night stands. He's Mr. Unpredictable with looks that could destroy any woman with one glance.
The craziness of Los Angeles throws them into the chaotic path of each other. Savannah becomes the perfect game, and Tate becomes the ultimate prey. Lines are crossed, emotions are smashed, and the idea of who they truly are begins to be tangled.
However, one thing will become clear.
They are more alike than either one could ever have imagined.
**Expected Publication: July**
This Man Confessed by Jodi Ellen Malpas**Expected Publication: July 2nd **
Is it just me or are both June & July going to be fabulous months fro book releases ;) Hopefully the problems will stop soon and TheSecretBookBrat can get back to book-ish business as usual ;) More soon Brats J(I Hope!!!) Tam xxx
May 10, 2013
*Tour Schedule: This Trust of Mine by Amanda Bennett*
Hi Brats :)
I am thrilled to be hosting the blog tour for Amanda Bennett's 'This Trust of Mine' :) The tour for This Love of Mine was a success & I have no doubt that this one will be too :) Below you will find the tour schedule :)
Synopsis
"Love cannot be defined by age or time, but by the way that person makes you feel. He made me feel completely vulnerable, but vulnerability I have learned is a gift, one that I will gladly accept from Madison Raine."Kayla
Madison had irrevocably changed me. He opened me up to feel things I had never felt, and he never judged me for my past. In the short amount of time I had known him, I had fallen in love with him and everything he encompassed. He showed me how to live, how to enjoy life, but best of all, he showed me how to love. They say bad things happen to good people, well that saying rang truer to me now than ever before. Madison is gone. He is off at school in Arizona, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave with him. That was my first mistake.
See the thing about trouble is, it will always find you. Trouble found me the night he left, and that night forever changed me. Now I am fighting my way back, alone.
Madison
Leaving Kayla was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. To say I regret my decision to leave her behind, would be an understatement. My world shifted when I met her and I would forever be changed. Everything felt different now that I was away, everything with her at least. Something was wrong, I could feel it. I needed to go to her to find out what this feeling was, but would she trust me enough to tell me, and could I trust her to forgive me.
"When life, love and heart breaking circumstances stand to pull apart a bond so strong, what do you do without trust?" Tour Schedule May 20th - Sugar and Spice Book Reviews (Review, Excerpt) - Lebooksquirrel (Review, Excerpt, Playlist)May 21st - The Rockstars of Romance (Excerpt, Playlist, Character Interview) - Candice's Reviews & More (Review, Excerpt)May 22nd - Sandwich Making Book Bitches (Review, Excerpt, Author Interview) - Falling In Fall (Review, Excerpt, Author Interview) - Alpha's, Authors & Books Oh My (Review, Playlist)May 23rd - THESUBCLUBbooks (Review, Excerpt, Character Interview) - Morning After A Good Book (Review, Character Interview)May 24th - Hardcover Therapy (Review) - Bridger Bitches Book Blog (Review, Excerpt)May 25th - Swoonworthy Books (Review, Excerpt, Character Interview) - Reviews, Freebies & More (Review, Excerpt)May 26th - Romance Addiction (Review, Excerpt) - Winding Stairs Book Blog (Review, Excerpt)May 27th - Flirty and Dirty Book Blog (Review, Excerpt) - TheSecretBookBrat (Review, Excerpt, Playlist)
I am thrilled to be hosting the blog tour for Amanda Bennett's 'This Trust of Mine' :) The tour for This Love of Mine was a success & I have no doubt that this one will be too :) Below you will find the tour schedule :)
Synopsis
"Love cannot be defined by age or time, but by the way that person makes you feel. He made me feel completely vulnerable, but vulnerability I have learned is a gift, one that I will gladly accept from Madison Raine."Kayla
Madison had irrevocably changed me. He opened me up to feel things I had never felt, and he never judged me for my past. In the short amount of time I had known him, I had fallen in love with him and everything he encompassed. He showed me how to live, how to enjoy life, but best of all, he showed me how to love. They say bad things happen to good people, well that saying rang truer to me now than ever before. Madison is gone. He is off at school in Arizona, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave with him. That was my first mistake.
See the thing about trouble is, it will always find you. Trouble found me the night he left, and that night forever changed me. Now I am fighting my way back, alone.
Madison
Leaving Kayla was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. To say I regret my decision to leave her behind, would be an understatement. My world shifted when I met her and I would forever be changed. Everything felt different now that I was away, everything with her at least. Something was wrong, I could feel it. I needed to go to her to find out what this feeling was, but would she trust me enough to tell me, and could I trust her to forgive me.
"When life, love and heart breaking circumstances stand to pull apart a bond so strong, what do you do without trust?" Tour Schedule May 20th - Sugar and Spice Book Reviews (Review, Excerpt) - Lebooksquirrel (Review, Excerpt, Playlist)May 21st - The Rockstars of Romance (Excerpt, Playlist, Character Interview) - Candice's Reviews & More (Review, Excerpt)May 22nd - Sandwich Making Book Bitches (Review, Excerpt, Author Interview) - Falling In Fall (Review, Excerpt, Author Interview) - Alpha's, Authors & Books Oh My (Review, Playlist)May 23rd - THESUBCLUBbooks (Review, Excerpt, Character Interview) - Morning After A Good Book (Review, Character Interview)May 24th - Hardcover Therapy (Review) - Bridger Bitches Book Blog (Review, Excerpt)May 25th - Swoonworthy Books (Review, Excerpt, Character Interview) - Reviews, Freebies & More (Review, Excerpt)May 26th - Romance Addiction (Review, Excerpt) - Winding Stairs Book Blog (Review, Excerpt)May 27th - Flirty and Dirty Book Blog (Review, Excerpt) - TheSecretBookBrat (Review, Excerpt, Playlist)
**Cover Reveal & Excerpt: Forever Too Far by Abbi Glines**
Hi Brats :)
I know we are all anxiously awaiting the final installment of Rush & Blaires story <3 The publication date is June 10th, only 4 weeks from now **SQUEEEEEE**
How gorgeous is this cover....
Forever Too Far synopsis
Rush promised her forever… but promises can be broken.
Torn between his love for his family and his love for Blaire, Rush has to find a way to save one without losing the other. In the end one has to be more important. Letting go isn’t easy.
Blaire believed in her fairytale… but no one can live in a fantasy.
Her love for Rush and desire to have a family keep her believing that they can find a way for this to work. Until she has to make the right decision for her and the baby. Even if it breaks her heart.
Can they find the forever that they both want or has it all just gone… too far?
Excerpt
The night breeze was cold now. I immediately shivered and Rush stopped and wrapped his arms around me. “We need to go to the house. I’m not going to make her stand out here and talk. It’s too damn cold.” Rush told his father.
Dean finally stopped walking and looked back at me. His eyes slowly took me in and I could see the moment he noticed my stomach.
“Dean, this is Blaire Wynn. My fiancée. Blaire this is Dean Finlay, my father.” Rush said in a tight voice. He didn’t sound like he wanted to make this introduction.
“No one told me I was gonna be a grandpa,” he said in a slow drawl. I wasn’t sure how he felt about that because there was no emotion on his face.
“I’ve been busy,” was the only response Rush gave him. That was odd. Was he embarrassed to tell his dad? I felt sick at my stomach and started to ease away from him.
His arms tightened their hold on me and I could feel his attention focused completely on me. “What’s wrong?” He asked turning his back on his father and bending down so he could look me directly in the eyes.
I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of Dean. I could feel his dad’s eyes on both of us. I shook my head but my body was still tense. I couldn’t help that. The fact he hadn’t told his father was bothering me.
“I’m taking her to the car. I’ll meet you back at the house,” Rush said over his shoulder but kept his eyes focused on mine. I dropped my gaze wishing I hadn’t reacted now. I was making a scene. Dean was going to think I was a whinny princess.*I.CAN'T.WAIT*
More Soon :)
Tam
xxx
I know we are all anxiously awaiting the final installment of Rush & Blaires story <3 The publication date is June 10th, only 4 weeks from now **SQUEEEEEE**
How gorgeous is this cover....
Forever Too Far synopsis
Rush promised her forever… but promises can be broken.
Torn between his love for his family and his love for Blaire, Rush has to find a way to save one without losing the other. In the end one has to be more important. Letting go isn’t easy.
Blaire believed in her fairytale… but no one can live in a fantasy.
Her love for Rush and desire to have a family keep her believing that they can find a way for this to work. Until she has to make the right decision for her and the baby. Even if it breaks her heart.
Can they find the forever that they both want or has it all just gone… too far?
Excerpt
The night breeze was cold now. I immediately shivered and Rush stopped and wrapped his arms around me. “We need to go to the house. I’m not going to make her stand out here and talk. It’s too damn cold.” Rush told his father.
Dean finally stopped walking and looked back at me. His eyes slowly took me in and I could see the moment he noticed my stomach.
“Dean, this is Blaire Wynn. My fiancée. Blaire this is Dean Finlay, my father.” Rush said in a tight voice. He didn’t sound like he wanted to make this introduction.
“No one told me I was gonna be a grandpa,” he said in a slow drawl. I wasn’t sure how he felt about that because there was no emotion on his face.
“I’ve been busy,” was the only response Rush gave him. That was odd. Was he embarrassed to tell his dad? I felt sick at my stomach and started to ease away from him.
His arms tightened their hold on me and I could feel his attention focused completely on me. “What’s wrong?” He asked turning his back on his father and bending down so he could look me directly in the eyes.
I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of Dean. I could feel his dad’s eyes on both of us. I shook my head but my body was still tense. I couldn’t help that. The fact he hadn’t told his father was bothering me.
“I’m taking her to the car. I’ll meet you back at the house,” Rush said over his shoulder but kept his eyes focused on mine. I dropped my gaze wishing I hadn’t reacted now. I was making a scene. Dean was going to think I was a whinny princess.*I.CAN'T.WAIT*
More Soon :)
Tam
xxx
*Pre - Release Promo: Always Remember by Emma Hart*
Hi Brats :)
Just poppin' in real quick for Pre-Release Promo for Emma Hart's new book, Always Remember, expected to be published on the 13th of May :)
Always Remember SynopsisHow long does it take for a long-distance relationship to break down? Sixteen months.When Jen and Carl put their relationship to rest after Christmas, Jen’s biggest problem is going back to London ten days earlier than planned – and her ever-present attraction to Samuel ‘Bing’ Edwards.
Bing has no idea why Jen left Devon so fast. All he knows is that he wants her as much as he did the first day he laid eyes on her – so spending time with her while Lexy is still in Devon isn’t exactly a hardship for him. When he finds out she’s single, the only thing on his mind is finishing what they started at his dad’s fiftieth birthday party.
Feelings that have been a long time building between the two explode, and they both find themselves sucked into an easy yet passionate relationship, with Bing determined to prove to Jen that she’s it for him. That she is The One.
But in a city like London, the odds are stacked against them, and there’s always that one person ready to stir things up… And Jen doesn’t know how much of that she can take – even for the guy she loves more deeply than she ever imagined, and eventually she breaks.
Bing isn’t down with that. He wants Jen, and he wants her by his side for good. Jennifer Mason must learn that Samuel Edwards doesn’t do giving up. Especially not when his forever girl is involved 
*Add to Goodreads*
*Rafflecopter Giveaway* About Emma
By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to a terrible two year old and growing bump, due September 2013. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of juice and writes books.
She likes to write about magic, kisses and whatever else she can fit into the story. Sarcastic, witty characters are a must. As are hot guys. Emma is currently working too many books to even count - including Playing for Keeps, the companion book to New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, The Love Game. She likes to be busy - unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to when all the ideas come to life. Find Emma online at: Blog: http://www.emmahart93.blogspot.com/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/YAAuthorEmmaHart Twitter: @EmmaHartAuthor Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6451162.Emma_Hart
More Soon Brats :)
Tam
xxx
Just poppin' in real quick for Pre-Release Promo for Emma Hart's new book, Always Remember, expected to be published on the 13th of May :)
Always Remember SynopsisHow long does it take for a long-distance relationship to break down? Sixteen months.When Jen and Carl put their relationship to rest after Christmas, Jen’s biggest problem is going back to London ten days earlier than planned – and her ever-present attraction to Samuel ‘Bing’ Edwards.Bing has no idea why Jen left Devon so fast. All he knows is that he wants her as much as he did the first day he laid eyes on her – so spending time with her while Lexy is still in Devon isn’t exactly a hardship for him. When he finds out she’s single, the only thing on his mind is finishing what they started at his dad’s fiftieth birthday party.
Feelings that have been a long time building between the two explode, and they both find themselves sucked into an easy yet passionate relationship, with Bing determined to prove to Jen that she’s it for him. That she is The One.
But in a city like London, the odds are stacked against them, and there’s always that one person ready to stir things up… And Jen doesn’t know how much of that she can take – even for the guy she loves more deeply than she ever imagined, and eventually she breaks.
Bing isn’t down with that. He wants Jen, and he wants her by his side for good. Jennifer Mason must learn that Samuel Edwards doesn’t do giving up. Especially not when his forever girl is involved
*Add to Goodreads* *Rafflecopter Giveaway* About Emma
By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to a terrible two year old and growing bump, due September 2013. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of juice and writes books.
She likes to write about magic, kisses and whatever else she can fit into the story. Sarcastic, witty characters are a must. As are hot guys. Emma is currently working too many books to even count - including Playing for Keeps, the companion book to New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, The Love Game. She likes to be busy - unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to when all the ideas come to life. Find Emma online at: Blog: http://www.emmahart93.blogspot.com/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/YAAuthorEmmaHart Twitter: @EmmaHartAuthor Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6451162.Emma_Hart
More Soon Brats :)
Tam
xxx
May 8, 2013
*Cover Reveal: Lifeless by J.M La Rocca*
Hi Brats :)
I'm finally back, after a weeks absence due to a pesky little thing I call exams! *rolls eyes*
Someone's gotta do it right? ;)
So what better way to kick of my return to blog world than with a cover reveal :) I'm always excited about these because there are so many amazing authors out there who have been brave enough to share their love of writing with us :) So here ya go Brats...
Lifeless by J.M La Rocca
Synopsis:
After graduating from the University of South Alabama, Scarlett Moore finds out her boyfriend of five months is actually married with a kid on the way. Feeling used and heartbroken she decides it’s time to take her best friend Jules’ advice to move in with her, but she’ll have to move to Atlanta. There, Jules helps her get a job at Entertainment Atlanta where she works as an entertainment insurance agent. It’s nothing Scarlett dreamed of doing with her life, but it’s better than not having a job at all and who wouldn’t mind working with famous people, right?
But then she gets assigned EA’s newest client Kade Evans, rock star turned actor. Not only is he a drug addict, he’s also known for never dating the same girl twice. He’s tall, dark, and handsome, has an amazing voice, and good acting skills, but he’s also arrogant and intense.
After their first meeting the chemistry between them is undeniable.
The love that comes later is unexpected.
But Kade’s life is full of secrets. His past has now become his present and when Scarlett finds out what his secrets are, deception hits. Teaser: Kade captured my mouth in a hard kiss then stood up, taking off his jeans and boxers. “Stand up, Scarlett,” he commanded as he kicked his clothes out of the way. I looked at him with wide eyes, wondering what he was going to do. I got up from the couch and stood next to him, staring him in the eyes. The look he was giving me was pure, unadulterated lust. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy. “Take your clothes off then get on your knees on the edge of the couch and lean forward,” he commanded as he started stroking his length back and forth. I just stood there and watched him. He was so beautiful. I was mesmerized by the movement of his hands. I licked my lips wanting to drop to my knees so I could please him again. “Now, Scarlett,” he growled at me. Not wasting another minute, I lifted the t-shirt over my head and hurriedly took off my panties, watching him stroke himself the entire time. Kicking my soaked panties out of the way, I turned and kneeled on the edge of the cushion and braced my hands on the back of the couch. “Like this,” I asked, turning my head to look behind me. “Spread your knees further apart.” I did as he instructed. "Yeah, baby, just like that,” he said roughly as he moved closer behind me. About J.M La Rocca My name is Jennifer La Rocca and I'm a stay at home mom of 3yr old twins. I've been married for 7 years and I just recently moved from Pensacola, FL to Atlanta, GA. I started writing Lifeless three weeks after our move and just recently finished it. I've had a passion for writing since I was a little girl, writing poems and short stories. My mother has always told me that I should start taking writing seriously, but I always thought of it as just a hobby until a couple years ago. Now that I've finally written my first book I wish I would have listened a long time ago. Lifeless will be released July 9th and I can't wait for you to meet Kade and Scarlett. Facebook: www.facebook.com/jmlarocca1 Twitter: @jmlarocca1 Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17829280-lifelessWhat do you think Brats? :) Looks like another great read! More Soon.... :)Tam xxx
I'm finally back, after a weeks absence due to a pesky little thing I call exams! *rolls eyes*
Someone's gotta do it right? ;)
So what better way to kick of my return to blog world than with a cover reveal :) I'm always excited about these because there are so many amazing authors out there who have been brave enough to share their love of writing with us :) So here ya go Brats...
Lifeless by J.M La Rocca
Synopsis:
After graduating from the University of South Alabama, Scarlett Moore finds out her boyfriend of five months is actually married with a kid on the way. Feeling used and heartbroken she decides it’s time to take her best friend Jules’ advice to move in with her, but she’ll have to move to Atlanta. There, Jules helps her get a job at Entertainment Atlanta where she works as an entertainment insurance agent. It’s nothing Scarlett dreamed of doing with her life, but it’s better than not having a job at all and who wouldn’t mind working with famous people, right?But then she gets assigned EA’s newest client Kade Evans, rock star turned actor. Not only is he a drug addict, he’s also known for never dating the same girl twice. He’s tall, dark, and handsome, has an amazing voice, and good acting skills, but he’s also arrogant and intense.
After their first meeting the chemistry between them is undeniable.
The love that comes later is unexpected.
But Kade’s life is full of secrets. His past has now become his present and when Scarlett finds out what his secrets are, deception hits. Teaser: Kade captured my mouth in a hard kiss then stood up, taking off his jeans and boxers. “Stand up, Scarlett,” he commanded as he kicked his clothes out of the way. I looked at him with wide eyes, wondering what he was going to do. I got up from the couch and stood next to him, staring him in the eyes. The look he was giving me was pure, unadulterated lust. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy. “Take your clothes off then get on your knees on the edge of the couch and lean forward,” he commanded as he started stroking his length back and forth. I just stood there and watched him. He was so beautiful. I was mesmerized by the movement of his hands. I licked my lips wanting to drop to my knees so I could please him again. “Now, Scarlett,” he growled at me. Not wasting another minute, I lifted the t-shirt over my head and hurriedly took off my panties, watching him stroke himself the entire time. Kicking my soaked panties out of the way, I turned and kneeled on the edge of the cushion and braced my hands on the back of the couch. “Like this,” I asked, turning my head to look behind me. “Spread your knees further apart.” I did as he instructed. "Yeah, baby, just like that,” he said roughly as he moved closer behind me. About J.M La Rocca My name is Jennifer La Rocca and I'm a stay at home mom of 3yr old twins. I've been married for 7 years and I just recently moved from Pensacola, FL to Atlanta, GA. I started writing Lifeless three weeks after our move and just recently finished it. I've had a passion for writing since I was a little girl, writing poems and short stories. My mother has always told me that I should start taking writing seriously, but I always thought of it as just a hobby until a couple years ago. Now that I've finally written my first book I wish I would have listened a long time ago. Lifeless will be released July 9th and I can't wait for you to meet Kade and Scarlett. Facebook: www.facebook.com/jmlarocca1 Twitter: @jmlarocca1 Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17829280-lifelessWhat do you think Brats? :) Looks like another great read! More Soon.... :)Tam xxx
May 7, 2013
*Entwined With You by Sylvia Day: Chapter 1*
HI Brats :)
I know I've been super quiet lately but I'm writing exams! As soon as they are done then things at TheSecretBookBrat HQ will return to *CRAZY* :) Until then, I thought I'd pop in real quick &share the awesome first chapter of Sylvia Days' 'Entwined With You'... As Eva & Gideon's story continue, there are some wild rumours circulating that this is not the last book in the Crossfire Series.... Hmmmm, Ms Day will have to confirm those for us ;) I totally wouldn't mind another book but I don't think I'd survive the wait....
ENTWINED WITH YOU – Chapter One
This excerpt contains adult material and is intended for readers 18 years of age or older.
New York cabbies were a unique breed. Fearless to a fault, they sped and swerved through crowded streets with unnatural calm. To save my sanity, I’d learned to focus on the screen of my smartphone instead of the cars rushing by only inches away. Whenever I made the mistake of paying attention, I’d find my right foot pushing hard into the floorboard, my body instinctively trying to hit the brakes.
But for once, I didn’t need any distractions. I was sticky with sweat from an intense Krav Maga class, and my mind was spinning with thoughts of what the man I loved had done.
Gideon Cross. Just thinking of his name sent a heated flare of longing through my tightly strung body. From the moment I first saw him–saw through his stunning and impossibly gorgeous exterior to the dark and dangerous man inside–I’d felt the pull that came from finding the other half of myself. I needed him like I needed my heart to beat, and he’d put himself in great jeopardy, risking everything–for me.
The blare of a horn snapped me back to the present.
Through the windshield, I saw my roommate’s million-dollar smile flashing at me from the billboard on the side of a bus. Cary Taylor’s lips had a come-hither curve and his long, lean frame was blocking the intersection. The taxi driver was hitting his horn repeatedly, as if that would clear the way.
Not a chance. Cary wasn’t moving and neither was I. He lounged on his side, bare-chested and barefooted, his jeans unbuttoned to show both the waistband of his underwear and the sleek lines of his ripped abs. His dark brown hair was sexily mussed and his emerald eyes were bright with mischief.
I was suddenly struck with the knowledge that I would have to keep a dreadful secret from my best friend.
Cary was my touchstone, my voice of reason, my favorite shoulder to lean on–and a brother to me in every way that mattered. I hated the thought of having to hold back what Gideon had done for me.
I wanted desperately to talk about it, to get help working it out in my head, but I’d never be able to tell anyone. Even our therapist could be ethically and legally bound to break our confidence.
A burly, neon-vested traffic cop appeared and urged the bus into its lane with an authoritative white-gloved hand and a holler that meant business. He waved us through the intersection just before the light changed. I sat back, my arms around my waist, rocking.
The ride from Gideon’s Fifth Avenue penthouse to my apartment on the Upper West Side was a short one, but somehow it felt like an eternity. The information that NYPD detective Shelley Graves had shared with me just a few hours earlier had changed my life.
It had also forced me to abandon the one person I neededto be with.
I’d left Gideon alone because I couldn’t trust Graves’s motives. I couldn’t take the chance that she’d told me her suspicions just to see if I’d run to him and prove that his breakup with me was a well-crafted lie.
God. The riot of emotions I felt had my heart racing. Gideon needed me now–as much as, if not more than, I needed him–yet I’d walked away.
The desolation in his eyes as the doors to his private elevator separated us had ripped me open inside.
Gideon.
The cab turned the corner and pulled up in front of my apartment building. The night doorman opened the car door before I could tell the driver to turn around and take me back, and the sticky August air rushed in to chase the air-conditioning away.
“Good evening, Miss Tramell.” The doorman accompanied the greeting with a tap of his fingers to the brim of his hat and waited patiently while I swiped my debit card. When I’d finished paying, I accepted his help out of the back of the cab and felt his gaze slide discreetly over my tearstained face.
Smiling as if everything were okay in my world, I rushed into the lobby and headed straight for the elevator, with a brief wave at the front desk staff.
“Eva!”
Turning my head, I discovered a svelte brunette in a stylish skirt-and-blouse ensemble rising to her feet in the lobby seating area. Her dark hair fell in thick waves around her shoulders, and her smile graced full lips that were a glossy pink. I frowned, not recognizing her.
“Yes?” I replied, suddenly wary. There was an avid gleam in her dark eyes that got my back up. Despite how battered I felt and probably looked, I squared my shoulders and faced her directly.
“Deanna Johnson,” she said, thrusting out a well-manicured hand. “Freelance reporter.”
I arched a brow. “Hello.”
She laughed. “You don’t have to be so suspicious. I’d just like to chat with you a few minutes. I’ve got a story I’m working on, and I could use your help.”
“No offense, but I can’t think of anything I want to talk to a reporter about.”
“Not even Gideon Cross?”
The hairs on my nape prickled. “Especially not him.”
As one of the twenty-five richest men in the world, with a New York real estate portfolio so extensive it boggled the mind, Gideon was always news. But it was also news that he’d dumped me and gotten back together with his ex-fiancée.
Deanna crossed her arms, a move that accentuated her cleavage, something I took note of only because I was eyeing her again with more care.
“Come on,” she coaxed. “I can keep your name out of it, Eva. I won’t use anything that identifies you. This is your chance to get a bit of your own back.”
A rock settled in the bottom of my stomach. She was so exactly Gideon’s type–tall, slender, dark-haired, and golden-skinned. So very unlike me.
“Are you sure you want to go down this road?” I asked quietly, intuitively certain she’d fucked my man at some point in the past. “He isn’t someone I’d want to cross.”
“Are you afraid of him?” she shot back. “I’m not. His money doesn’t give him the right to do whatever the hell he wants.”
I took a slow, deep breath and remembered when Dr. Terrence Lucas–someone else who was at odds with Gideon–had said something similar to me. Now that I knew what Gideon was capable of, how far he would go to protect me, I could still answer honestly and without reservation, “No, I’m not afraid. But I’ve learned to pick my battles. Moving on is the best revenge.”
Her chin lifted. “Not all of us have rock stars waiting in the wings.”
“Whatever.” I sighed inwardly at her mention of my ex, Brett Kline, who was front man for a band on the rise and one of the sexiest men I’d ever met. Like Gideon, he radiated sex appeal like a heat wave. Unlike Gideon, he wasn’t the love of my life. I was never going to wade in that pool again.
“Listen”–Deanna pulled a business card out of a pocket of her skirt–”pretty soon you’re going to figure out that Gideon Cross was using you to get Corinne Giroux jealous enough to come back to him. When you smell the coffee, call me. I’ll be waiting.”
I accepted the card. “Why do you think I know anything worth sharing?”
Her lush mouth thinned. “Because whatever Cross’s motivation was for hooking up with you, you got to him. The iceman thawed a bit for you.”
“Maybe he did, but it’s over.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t know something, Eva. I can help you figure out what’s newsworthy.”
“What’s your angle?” I’d be damned if I would sit back while someone took aim at Gideon. If she was determined to be a threat to him, I was determined to head her off at the pass.
“That man has a dark side.”
“Don’t we all?” What had she seen of Gideon? What had he revealed in the course of their… association? If they’d had one.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to the point where thinking of Gideon being intimate with another woman didn’t trigger ferocious jealousy.
“Why don’t we go somewhere and talk?” she cajoled.
I shot a glance at the staff er at the front desk, who made a good show of politely ignoring us. I was too emotionally raw to deal with Deanna, and was still reeling from the conversation with Detective Graves.
“Maybe some other time,” I said, leaving the option open because I intended to keep tabs on her.
As if he sensed my uneasiness, Chad, one of the night crew at the front desk, approached.
“Ms. Johnson was just leaving,” I told him, consciously relaxing. If Detective Graves hadn’t been able to pin anything on Gideon, a nosy freelance reporter wasn’t going to do better.
Too bad I knew what kind of information could be leaked from the police, and how easily and often it was done. My father, Victor Reyes, was a cop, and I’d heard plenty on that subject.
I turned toward the elevators. “Good night, Deanna.”
“I’ll be around,” she called after me.
I stepped into the elevator and hit the button for my floor. As the doors slid shut, I sagged into the handrail. I needed to warn Gideon, but there was no way for me to contact him that couldn’t be traced.
The ache in my chest intensified. Our relationship was so fucked up. We couldn’t even talk to each other.
I exited on my floor and let myself into my apartment, crossing the spacious living room to dump my purse on one of the kitchen bar stools. The view of Manhattan showcased through my living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows failed to stir me. I was too agitated to care where I was. The only thing that mattered was that I wasn’t with Gideon.
As I headed down the hallway toward my bedroom, the sound of muted music floated outward from Cary’s. Did he have company over? If so, who was it? My best friend had decided to try juggling two relationships–one with a woman who accepted him the way he was and one with a man who hated that Cary was involved with someone else.
I shed my clothes across the bathroom floor en route to the shower. While I lathered, it was impossible not to think of the times I’d showered with Gideon, occasions when our lust for one another had fueled starkly erotic encounters. I missed him so much. I needed his touch, his desire, his love. My craving for those things was a gnawing hunger, making me restless and edgy. I had no idea how I was supposed to fall asleep when I didn’t know when I’d get a chance to talk to Gideon again. There was so much that had to be said.
Wrapping a towel around me, I left the bathroom–
Gideon stood just inside my closed bedroom door. The sight of him spurred a reaction so abrupt it was like a physical blow. My breath caught and my heart lurched into an excited rhythm, my entire being responding to the sight of him with a potent rush of yearning. It felt like years since I’d last been with him, instead of a mere hour.
I’d given him a key, but he owned the building. Getting to me without leaving a trail that could be followed was possible with that advantage… just as he’d been able to get to Nathan.
“It’s dangerous for you to be here,” I pointed out. That didn’t stop me from being thrilled that he was. My gaze drank him in, roaming avidly over his lean, broad-shouldered frame.
He wore black sweats and a well-loved Columbia sweatshirt, a combination that made him look like the twenty-eight-year-old man he was and not the billionaire mogul the rest of the world knew. A Yankees ball cap was pulled low over his brow, but the shadow cast by its brim did nothing to diminish the striking blue of his eyes. They stared at me fiercely, his sensual lips drawn into a grim line. “I couldn’t stay away.”
Gideon Cross was an impossibly gorgeous man, so beautiful that people stopped and stared when he walked by. I’d once thought of him as a sex god, and his frequent–and enthusiastic–displays of prowess constantly proved me right, but I also knew he was all too human. Like me, he’d been broken.
The odds were against our making it.
My chest expanded on a deep breath, my body responding to the proximity of his. Even though he stood several feet away, I could feel the heady attraction, the magnetic pull of being near the other half of my soul. It’d been that way with us from the very first meeting, both of us inexorably drawn together. We’d mistaken our ferocious mutual captivation for lust until we realized we couldn’t breathe without each other.
I fought the urge to run into his arms, the place where I so desperately wanted to be. But he was too still, too tightly reined. I waited in exquisite anticipation for his cue.
God, I loved him so much.
His hands fisted at his sides. “I need you.”
My core tightened in response to the roughness of his voice, the rasp of it warm and luxurious.
“You don’t have to sound so happy about it,” I teased breathlessly, trying to lighten his mood before he got me beneath him.
I loved him wild, and I loved him tender. I’d take him any way I could get him, but it’d been so long… My skin was already tingling and tightening expectantly, craving the greedy reverence of his touch. I feared what would happen if he came at me full force when I was so starved for his body. We might tear each other apart.
“It’s killing me,” he said gruffly. “Being without you. Missing you. I feel like my fucking sanity depends on you, Eva, and you want me to be happy about that?”
My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips and he growled, sending a shiver through me. “Well… I’m happy about it.”
The tension in his posture visibly eased. He must’ve been so worried about how I would react to what he’d done for me. To be honest, I’d been worried. Did my gratitude mean I was more twisted than I realized?
Then I remembered my stepbrother’s hands all over me… his weight pressing me into the mattress… the tearing pain between my legs as he rammed into me over and over…
I trembled with renewed fury. If being glad the fucker was dead made me twisted, so be it.
Gideon took a deep breath. His hand reached up to his chest and rubbed at the area over his heart as if it hurt him.
“I love you,” I told him, my eyes stinging with fresh tears. “I love you so much.”
“Angel.” He reached me with quick strides, dropping his keys on the floor and shoving both hands into my damp hair. He was shaking, and I cried, overwhelmed by the knowledge of how much he needed me.
Tilting my head to the angle he wanted, Gideon took my mouth with searing possession, tasting me with slow, deep licks. His passion and hunger exploded across my senses, and I whimpered, my hands tangling in his sweatshirt. His answering groan vibrated through me, tightening my nipples and sending goose bumps racing across my skin.
I melted into him, my hands pushing the cap from his head so that my fingers could sink into the silky black mane of his hair. I fell into the kiss, swept away by the lush carnality of it. A sob escaped me.
“Don’t,” he breathed, pulling back to cradle my jaw. He looked into my eyes. “It shreds me when you cry.”
“It’s too much.” I trembled.
His beautiful eyes looked as weary as mine. He nodded grimly.
“What I did–”
“Not that. How I feel about you.”
He rubbed the tip of his nose against me, his hands sliding reverently along my bare arms–hands with proverbial blood on them, which only made me love his touch all the more.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
His eyes closed. “God, when you left tonight… I didn’t know if you’d come back… if I’d lost you–”
“I need you, too, Gideon.”
“I won’t apologize. I’d do it again.” His grip tightened on me. “The options were restraining orders, increased security, vigilance… for the rest of your life. There was no guarantee you’d be safe unless Nathan was dead.”
“You cut me off. Shut me out. You and me–”
“Forever.” His fingertips pressed against my parted lips. “It’s over, Eva. Don’t argue about something that’s too late to change.”
I brushed his hand away. “Is it over? Can we be together now, or are we still hiding our relationship from the police? Are we even in a relationship?”
Gideon held my gaze, hiding nothing, letting me see his pain and fear. “That’s what I’m here to ask you.”
“If it’s up to me, I’ll never let you go,” I said vehemently. “Never.”
Gideon’s hands slid down my throat to my shoulders, blazing a hot trail across my skin. “I need that to be true,” he said softly. “I was afraid you’d run… that you’d be afraid. Of me.”
“Gideon, no–”
“I would never hurt you.”
I caught the waistband of his sweats and tugged, even though I couldn’t budge him. “I know that.”
And physically, I had no doubts; he’d always been careful with me, always cautious. But emotionally, my love had been used against me with meticulous precision. I was struggling with reconciling the absolute trust I had in Gideon’s awareness of my needs and the wariness that came from a shattered heart still healing.
“Do you?” He searched my face, as attuned as always to what wasn’t said. “Letting you go would kill me, but I wouldn’t hurt you to keep you.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere.”
He exhaled audibly. “My lawyers will be talking to the police tomorrow, to get a feel for where things stand.”
Tilting my head back, I pressed my lips gently to his. We were colluding to hide a crime, and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t seriously bother me–I was the daughter of a police officer, after all–but the alternative was too awful to consider.
“I have to know that you can live with what I’ve done,” he said softly, wrapping my hair around his finger.
“I think so. Can you?”
His mouth found mine again. “I can survive anything if I have you.”
I reached under his sweatshirt, seeking and finding his warm, golden skin. His muscles were hard and ridged beneath my palms, his body a seductive and virile work of art. I licked his lips, my teeth catching the full curve along the bottom and biting gently. Gideon groaned. The sound of his pleasure slid over me like a caress.
“Touch me.” The words were an order, but his tone was a plea.
“I am.”
Reaching behind him, he grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand around. He thrust his cock shamelessly into my palm, grinding. My fingers curled around the thick, heavy length, my pulse quickening at the realization that he was commando beneath his sweats.
“God,” I breathed. “You make me so hot.”
His blue eyes were fierce on my face; his cheeks flushed and his sculpted lips parted. He never tried to hide the effect I had on him, never pretended that he had any more control over his response to me than I had to him. It made his dominance in the bedroom all the more exciting, knowing that he was similarly as helpless to the attraction between us.
My chest tightened. I still couldn’t believe that he was mine, that I got to see him this way, so open and hungry and sexy as hell…
Gideon tugged my towel open. He inhaled sharply when it hit the floor and I stood before him completely naked. “Ah, Eva.”
His voice throbbed with emotion, making my eyes sting. He yanked his shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside. Then he reached for me, stepping carefully into me, prolonging the moment when our bare skin would touch.
He gripped my hips, his fingers flexing restlessly, his breathing quick and harsh. The tips of my breasts touched him first, sending a sudden rush of sensation through my body. I gasped. He crushed me to him with a growl, lifting my feet from the floor and carrying me backward toward the bed.
Because I love you all and I know it’s been so hard to wait for Gideon to come back, here’s a peek at some of Chapter Two…
Chapter Two
My thighs hit the mattress and I landed on my butt, falling to my back with Gideon leaning over me. He hitched me up with an arm banded around my back, centering me on the bed before he settled atop me. His mouth was on my breast before I knew it, his lips soft and warm, the suction fast and greedy. He plumped the heavy weight in his hand, kneading possessively.
“Christ, I’ve missed you,” he groaned. His skin was hot against my cool flesh, his weight so welcome after the long nights without him.
I hooked my legs around his calves and shoved my hands beneath his waistband to grip his taut, hard ass. I tugged him into me, arching my hips to feel his cock through the cotton that separated us. Wanting him inside me, so that I’d know for certain he was mine again.
“Say it,” I coaxed, needing the words he swore were inadequate.
He pushed up and looked down at me, gently brushing my hair back from my forehead. He swallowed hard.
Rearing, I caught his beautifully etched mouth in a kiss. “I’ll say it first: I love you.”
He closed his eyes and quivered. Wrapping his arms around me, Gideon squeezed so tight I almost couldn’t breathe.
“I love you,” he whispered. “Too much.”
His fervent declaration reverberated through me. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried.
“Angel.” His fist clenched in my hair.
Lifting my head, I took his mouth, our kiss flavored with the salt of my tears. My lips moved desperately over his, as if he’d be gone at any second and I had no time to get my fill of him.
“Eva. Let me . . .” He cupped my face, licking deep into my mouth.
“Let me love you.”
“Please,” I whispered, my fingers linking behind his neck to capture him. His erection lay hot and heavy against the lips of my sex, the weight of him the perfect pressure on my throbbing clit. “Don’t stop.”
“Never. I can’t.”
His hand cupped my buttock, lifting me into a deft roll of his hips. I gasped as the pleasure radiated through me, my nipples beading hard and tight against his chest. The light dusting of crisp hair was an unbearable stimulation. My core ached, begging for the hard-driving thrust of his cock.
My nails raked his back from shoulder to hips. He arched into the rough caress with a low growl, his head thrown back in deliciously erotic abandon.
“Again,” he ordered gruffly, his face flushed and lips parted.
Surging upward, I sank my teeth into his pectoral, just over his heart. Gideon hissed, quivering, and took it.
I couldn’t contain the ferocious swell of emotion that needed release–the love and need, the anger and fear. And the pain. God, the pain. I still felt it keenly. I wanted to tear into him. To punish as well as pleasure. To make him experience some small measure of what I had when he’d pushed me away.
My tongue stroked over the slight indentations left by my teeth and his hips rocked into me, his cock sliding through the parted lips of my sex.
“My turn,” he whispered darkly. Leaning on one arm, the biceps thick and beautifully defined, he squeezed my breast in his other hand. His head lowered and his lips surrounded the taut point of my nipple. His mouth was scorching hot, his tongue a rough velvet lash against my tender flesh. When his teeth bit into the furled tip, I cried out, my body jerking as sharp need arrowed to my core.
I clutched at his hair, too impassioned to be gentle. My legs wrapped around him, tightening, echoing my need to claim him. Possess him. Make him mine again.
“Gideon,” I moaned. My temples were wet from the trails of my tears, my throat tight and hurting.
“I’m here, angel,” he breathed, nibbling across my cleavage to my other breast. His diabolical fingers tugged at the wet nipple he’d left behind, pinching it gently until I pushed up and into his hand. “Don’t fight me. Let me love you.”
I realized then that I was pulling at his hair, trying to urge him away even as I fought to get closer. Gideon had me under siege, seducing me with his stunning male perfection and intimate expertise with my body. And I was surrendering. My breasts were heavy, my sex wet and swollen. My hands roamed restlessly as my legs caged him.
Still, he slipped farther away from me, his mouth whispering temptation across my stomach. Missed you so much… need you… have to have you… I felt a hot wetness slide over my skin and looked down to see that he was crying, too, his gorgeous face ravaged by the same surfeit of emotion flooding me.
With shaking fingers, I touched his cheek, trying to smooth away the wetness that only returned the instant it was wiped away. He nuzzled into my touch with a soft, plaintive moan, and I couldn’t bear it. His pain was harder for me to deal with than my own.
“I love you,” I told him.
“Eva.” He slid back onto his knees and rose, his thighs spread between mine, his cock thick and hard and bobbing under its weight.
Everything in me tightened with ravenous greed. His big body was carved with rock-hard slabs of tautly defined muscle, his tanned skin sheened with perspiration. He was so powerfully elegant, except for his penis, which was bluntly primal with its thick coursing veins and wide root. His sac, too, hung large and heavy. He would make a statue as beautiful as Michelangelo’s David, but with a flagrantly erotic edge.
Honestly, Gideon Cross had been designed to fuck a woman right out of her mind.
“Mine,” I said harshly, pushing up and scrambling gracelessly into him, pressing my torso tightly into his. “You’re mine.”
“Angel.” He took my mouth in a rough, lust-fueled kiss. Lifting me, he moved, turning us so that his back was to the headboard and I was spread over him. Our flesh slid against each other, slickened by sweat. His hands were everywhere, his muscled body straining upward as mine had done. I cupped his face, licking fast into his mouth, trying to satisfy my thirst for him.
He reached between my legs, his fingers delving reverently into my cleft. The roughened pads stroked over my clit and skirted the trembling opening to my sex. With my lips pressed to his, I moaned, my hips circling. He fingered me leisurely, building my need, his kiss gentling into a slow, deep fucking of my mouth.
I couldn’t breathe for the pleasure, my entire body quivering as he cupped me in his hand and his long middle finger slid lazily into me. His palm rubbed against my clit, his fingertip stroking over delicate tissues. His other hand gripped my hip, holding me in place, restraining me.
Gideon’s control seemed absolute, his seduction wickedly precise, but he was trembling harder than I was and his chest was heaving more forcefully. The sounds spilling from him were tinged with remorse and entreaty.
Pulling back, I reached for his cock with both hands, gripping him firmly. I knew his body well, too, knew what he needed and desired. I pumped him from root to tip, drawing a thick bead of pre-ejaculate to the wide crest. He pushed back against the headboard with a groan, his finger curving inside me. I watched, riveted, as the thick drop rolled to one side of his glans, then slid down the length of him to pool at the top of my fist.
“Don’t,” he panted. “Too close.”
I stroked him again, my mouth watering as a gush of pre-cum streamed out of him. I was wildly aroused by his pleasure and the knowledge that I had such a profound eff ect on such a blatantly sexual creature.
As he cursed, his fingers left me. He grabbed my hips, dislodging my grip on him. He yanked me forward, then down, his hips bucking upward, his raging cock driving into me.
I cried out and gripped his shoulders, my sex clenching against the thick penetration.
“Eva.” His jaw and neck taut with strain, he started coming, spurting hot and hard inside me.
The gush of lubrication opened me, my sex sliding down his pulsing erection until he filled me too full. My nails dug into his unyielding muscles, my mouth opened to draw in desperate breaths of air.
“Take it,” he bit out, angling my descent to gain that last little part of me that let him to sink in to the root. “Take me.”
I moaned, welcoming the familiar soreness of having him so deep. The orgasm took me by surprise, my back bowing as the heated pleasure tore through me.
Instinct took over, my hips moving of their own volition, my thighs clenching and releasing as I focused only on the moment, the reclaiming of my man. My heart.
Gideon yielded to my demands.
“That’s it, angel,” he encouraged hoarsely, his erection still as hard as if he hadn’t just had a teeth-grinding climax.
His arms fell to his sides. His hands fisted in the comforter. His biceps clenched and flexed with his movements. His abs tightened every time I took him to the hilt, the rigid lacing of muscles glistening with sweat. His body was a well-oiled machine and I was taking it to its limits.
He let me. Gave himself to me.
Undulating my hips, I took my pleasure, moaning his name. My core clenched rhythmically, another orgasm rushing up too quickly. I faltered, my senses overwhelmed.
“Please,” I gasped. “Gideon, please.”
He caught me by the nape and waist, and slid down until we were flat on the bed. Pinning me tightly, he held me immobile, thrusting upward… over and over… shafting my sex with fast, powerful lunges. The friction of his thick penis rubbing and surging was too much. I jolted violently and came again, my fingers clawing into his sides.
Shuddering, Gideon followed me over, his arms tightening until I could barely breathe. His harsh exhalations were the air that filled my burning lungs. I was utterly possessed, completely defenseless.
“God, Eva.” He buried his face in my throat. “Need you. I need you so much.”
“Baby.” I held him close. Still afraid to let go.Copyright © Sylvia Day 2013
Shoooweeee.... I need a cold shower after that...
More soon my Brats :)
Tam
xxx
I know I've been super quiet lately but I'm writing exams! As soon as they are done then things at TheSecretBookBrat HQ will return to *CRAZY* :) Until then, I thought I'd pop in real quick &share the awesome first chapter of Sylvia Days' 'Entwined With You'... As Eva & Gideon's story continue, there are some wild rumours circulating that this is not the last book in the Crossfire Series.... Hmmmm, Ms Day will have to confirm those for us ;) I totally wouldn't mind another book but I don't think I'd survive the wait....
ENTWINED WITH YOU – Chapter One
This excerpt contains adult material and is intended for readers 18 years of age or older.
New York cabbies were a unique breed. Fearless to a fault, they sped and swerved through crowded streets with unnatural calm. To save my sanity, I’d learned to focus on the screen of my smartphone instead of the cars rushing by only inches away. Whenever I made the mistake of paying attention, I’d find my right foot pushing hard into the floorboard, my body instinctively trying to hit the brakes.
But for once, I didn’t need any distractions. I was sticky with sweat from an intense Krav Maga class, and my mind was spinning with thoughts of what the man I loved had done.
Gideon Cross. Just thinking of his name sent a heated flare of longing through my tightly strung body. From the moment I first saw him–saw through his stunning and impossibly gorgeous exterior to the dark and dangerous man inside–I’d felt the pull that came from finding the other half of myself. I needed him like I needed my heart to beat, and he’d put himself in great jeopardy, risking everything–for me.
The blare of a horn snapped me back to the present.
Through the windshield, I saw my roommate’s million-dollar smile flashing at me from the billboard on the side of a bus. Cary Taylor’s lips had a come-hither curve and his long, lean frame was blocking the intersection. The taxi driver was hitting his horn repeatedly, as if that would clear the way.
Not a chance. Cary wasn’t moving and neither was I. He lounged on his side, bare-chested and barefooted, his jeans unbuttoned to show both the waistband of his underwear and the sleek lines of his ripped abs. His dark brown hair was sexily mussed and his emerald eyes were bright with mischief.
I was suddenly struck with the knowledge that I would have to keep a dreadful secret from my best friend.
Cary was my touchstone, my voice of reason, my favorite shoulder to lean on–and a brother to me in every way that mattered. I hated the thought of having to hold back what Gideon had done for me.
I wanted desperately to talk about it, to get help working it out in my head, but I’d never be able to tell anyone. Even our therapist could be ethically and legally bound to break our confidence.
A burly, neon-vested traffic cop appeared and urged the bus into its lane with an authoritative white-gloved hand and a holler that meant business. He waved us through the intersection just before the light changed. I sat back, my arms around my waist, rocking.
The ride from Gideon’s Fifth Avenue penthouse to my apartment on the Upper West Side was a short one, but somehow it felt like an eternity. The information that NYPD detective Shelley Graves had shared with me just a few hours earlier had changed my life.
It had also forced me to abandon the one person I neededto be with.
I’d left Gideon alone because I couldn’t trust Graves’s motives. I couldn’t take the chance that she’d told me her suspicions just to see if I’d run to him and prove that his breakup with me was a well-crafted lie.
God. The riot of emotions I felt had my heart racing. Gideon needed me now–as much as, if not more than, I needed him–yet I’d walked away.
The desolation in his eyes as the doors to his private elevator separated us had ripped me open inside.
Gideon.
The cab turned the corner and pulled up in front of my apartment building. The night doorman opened the car door before I could tell the driver to turn around and take me back, and the sticky August air rushed in to chase the air-conditioning away.
“Good evening, Miss Tramell.” The doorman accompanied the greeting with a tap of his fingers to the brim of his hat and waited patiently while I swiped my debit card. When I’d finished paying, I accepted his help out of the back of the cab and felt his gaze slide discreetly over my tearstained face.
Smiling as if everything were okay in my world, I rushed into the lobby and headed straight for the elevator, with a brief wave at the front desk staff.
“Eva!”
Turning my head, I discovered a svelte brunette in a stylish skirt-and-blouse ensemble rising to her feet in the lobby seating area. Her dark hair fell in thick waves around her shoulders, and her smile graced full lips that were a glossy pink. I frowned, not recognizing her.
“Yes?” I replied, suddenly wary. There was an avid gleam in her dark eyes that got my back up. Despite how battered I felt and probably looked, I squared my shoulders and faced her directly.
“Deanna Johnson,” she said, thrusting out a well-manicured hand. “Freelance reporter.”
I arched a brow. “Hello.”
She laughed. “You don’t have to be so suspicious. I’d just like to chat with you a few minutes. I’ve got a story I’m working on, and I could use your help.”
“No offense, but I can’t think of anything I want to talk to a reporter about.”
“Not even Gideon Cross?”
The hairs on my nape prickled. “Especially not him.”
As one of the twenty-five richest men in the world, with a New York real estate portfolio so extensive it boggled the mind, Gideon was always news. But it was also news that he’d dumped me and gotten back together with his ex-fiancée.
Deanna crossed her arms, a move that accentuated her cleavage, something I took note of only because I was eyeing her again with more care.
“Come on,” she coaxed. “I can keep your name out of it, Eva. I won’t use anything that identifies you. This is your chance to get a bit of your own back.”
A rock settled in the bottom of my stomach. She was so exactly Gideon’s type–tall, slender, dark-haired, and golden-skinned. So very unlike me.
“Are you sure you want to go down this road?” I asked quietly, intuitively certain she’d fucked my man at some point in the past. “He isn’t someone I’d want to cross.”
“Are you afraid of him?” she shot back. “I’m not. His money doesn’t give him the right to do whatever the hell he wants.”
I took a slow, deep breath and remembered when Dr. Terrence Lucas–someone else who was at odds with Gideon–had said something similar to me. Now that I knew what Gideon was capable of, how far he would go to protect me, I could still answer honestly and without reservation, “No, I’m not afraid. But I’ve learned to pick my battles. Moving on is the best revenge.”
Her chin lifted. “Not all of us have rock stars waiting in the wings.”
“Whatever.” I sighed inwardly at her mention of my ex, Brett Kline, who was front man for a band on the rise and one of the sexiest men I’d ever met. Like Gideon, he radiated sex appeal like a heat wave. Unlike Gideon, he wasn’t the love of my life. I was never going to wade in that pool again.
“Listen”–Deanna pulled a business card out of a pocket of her skirt–”pretty soon you’re going to figure out that Gideon Cross was using you to get Corinne Giroux jealous enough to come back to him. When you smell the coffee, call me. I’ll be waiting.”
I accepted the card. “Why do you think I know anything worth sharing?”
Her lush mouth thinned. “Because whatever Cross’s motivation was for hooking up with you, you got to him. The iceman thawed a bit for you.”
“Maybe he did, but it’s over.”
“That doesn’t mean you don’t know something, Eva. I can help you figure out what’s newsworthy.”
“What’s your angle?” I’d be damned if I would sit back while someone took aim at Gideon. If she was determined to be a threat to him, I was determined to head her off at the pass.
“That man has a dark side.”
“Don’t we all?” What had she seen of Gideon? What had he revealed in the course of their… association? If they’d had one.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to the point where thinking of Gideon being intimate with another woman didn’t trigger ferocious jealousy.
“Why don’t we go somewhere and talk?” she cajoled.
I shot a glance at the staff er at the front desk, who made a good show of politely ignoring us. I was too emotionally raw to deal with Deanna, and was still reeling from the conversation with Detective Graves.
“Maybe some other time,” I said, leaving the option open because I intended to keep tabs on her.
As if he sensed my uneasiness, Chad, one of the night crew at the front desk, approached.
“Ms. Johnson was just leaving,” I told him, consciously relaxing. If Detective Graves hadn’t been able to pin anything on Gideon, a nosy freelance reporter wasn’t going to do better.
Too bad I knew what kind of information could be leaked from the police, and how easily and often it was done. My father, Victor Reyes, was a cop, and I’d heard plenty on that subject.
I turned toward the elevators. “Good night, Deanna.”
“I’ll be around,” she called after me.
I stepped into the elevator and hit the button for my floor. As the doors slid shut, I sagged into the handrail. I needed to warn Gideon, but there was no way for me to contact him that couldn’t be traced.
The ache in my chest intensified. Our relationship was so fucked up. We couldn’t even talk to each other.
I exited on my floor and let myself into my apartment, crossing the spacious living room to dump my purse on one of the kitchen bar stools. The view of Manhattan showcased through my living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows failed to stir me. I was too agitated to care where I was. The only thing that mattered was that I wasn’t with Gideon.
As I headed down the hallway toward my bedroom, the sound of muted music floated outward from Cary’s. Did he have company over? If so, who was it? My best friend had decided to try juggling two relationships–one with a woman who accepted him the way he was and one with a man who hated that Cary was involved with someone else.
I shed my clothes across the bathroom floor en route to the shower. While I lathered, it was impossible not to think of the times I’d showered with Gideon, occasions when our lust for one another had fueled starkly erotic encounters. I missed him so much. I needed his touch, his desire, his love. My craving for those things was a gnawing hunger, making me restless and edgy. I had no idea how I was supposed to fall asleep when I didn’t know when I’d get a chance to talk to Gideon again. There was so much that had to be said.
Wrapping a towel around me, I left the bathroom–
Gideon stood just inside my closed bedroom door. The sight of him spurred a reaction so abrupt it was like a physical blow. My breath caught and my heart lurched into an excited rhythm, my entire being responding to the sight of him with a potent rush of yearning. It felt like years since I’d last been with him, instead of a mere hour.
I’d given him a key, but he owned the building. Getting to me without leaving a trail that could be followed was possible with that advantage… just as he’d been able to get to Nathan.
“It’s dangerous for you to be here,” I pointed out. That didn’t stop me from being thrilled that he was. My gaze drank him in, roaming avidly over his lean, broad-shouldered frame.
He wore black sweats and a well-loved Columbia sweatshirt, a combination that made him look like the twenty-eight-year-old man he was and not the billionaire mogul the rest of the world knew. A Yankees ball cap was pulled low over his brow, but the shadow cast by its brim did nothing to diminish the striking blue of his eyes. They stared at me fiercely, his sensual lips drawn into a grim line. “I couldn’t stay away.”
Gideon Cross was an impossibly gorgeous man, so beautiful that people stopped and stared when he walked by. I’d once thought of him as a sex god, and his frequent–and enthusiastic–displays of prowess constantly proved me right, but I also knew he was all too human. Like me, he’d been broken.
The odds were against our making it.
My chest expanded on a deep breath, my body responding to the proximity of his. Even though he stood several feet away, I could feel the heady attraction, the magnetic pull of being near the other half of my soul. It’d been that way with us from the very first meeting, both of us inexorably drawn together. We’d mistaken our ferocious mutual captivation for lust until we realized we couldn’t breathe without each other.
I fought the urge to run into his arms, the place where I so desperately wanted to be. But he was too still, too tightly reined. I waited in exquisite anticipation for his cue.
God, I loved him so much.
His hands fisted at his sides. “I need you.”
My core tightened in response to the roughness of his voice, the rasp of it warm and luxurious.
“You don’t have to sound so happy about it,” I teased breathlessly, trying to lighten his mood before he got me beneath him.
I loved him wild, and I loved him tender. I’d take him any way I could get him, but it’d been so long… My skin was already tingling and tightening expectantly, craving the greedy reverence of his touch. I feared what would happen if he came at me full force when I was so starved for his body. We might tear each other apart.
“It’s killing me,” he said gruffly. “Being without you. Missing you. I feel like my fucking sanity depends on you, Eva, and you want me to be happy about that?”
My tongue darted out to wet my dry lips and he growled, sending a shiver through me. “Well… I’m happy about it.”
The tension in his posture visibly eased. He must’ve been so worried about how I would react to what he’d done for me. To be honest, I’d been worried. Did my gratitude mean I was more twisted than I realized?
Then I remembered my stepbrother’s hands all over me… his weight pressing me into the mattress… the tearing pain between my legs as he rammed into me over and over…
I trembled with renewed fury. If being glad the fucker was dead made me twisted, so be it.
Gideon took a deep breath. His hand reached up to his chest and rubbed at the area over his heart as if it hurt him.
“I love you,” I told him, my eyes stinging with fresh tears. “I love you so much.”
“Angel.” He reached me with quick strides, dropping his keys on the floor and shoving both hands into my damp hair. He was shaking, and I cried, overwhelmed by the knowledge of how much he needed me.
Tilting my head to the angle he wanted, Gideon took my mouth with searing possession, tasting me with slow, deep licks. His passion and hunger exploded across my senses, and I whimpered, my hands tangling in his sweatshirt. His answering groan vibrated through me, tightening my nipples and sending goose bumps racing across my skin.
I melted into him, my hands pushing the cap from his head so that my fingers could sink into the silky black mane of his hair. I fell into the kiss, swept away by the lush carnality of it. A sob escaped me.
“Don’t,” he breathed, pulling back to cradle my jaw. He looked into my eyes. “It shreds me when you cry.”
“It’s too much.” I trembled.
His beautiful eyes looked as weary as mine. He nodded grimly.
“What I did–”
“Not that. How I feel about you.”
He rubbed the tip of his nose against me, his hands sliding reverently along my bare arms–hands with proverbial blood on them, which only made me love his touch all the more.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
His eyes closed. “God, when you left tonight… I didn’t know if you’d come back… if I’d lost you–”
“I need you, too, Gideon.”
“I won’t apologize. I’d do it again.” His grip tightened on me. “The options were restraining orders, increased security, vigilance… for the rest of your life. There was no guarantee you’d be safe unless Nathan was dead.”
“You cut me off. Shut me out. You and me–”
“Forever.” His fingertips pressed against my parted lips. “It’s over, Eva. Don’t argue about something that’s too late to change.”
I brushed his hand away. “Is it over? Can we be together now, or are we still hiding our relationship from the police? Are we even in a relationship?”
Gideon held my gaze, hiding nothing, letting me see his pain and fear. “That’s what I’m here to ask you.”
“If it’s up to me, I’ll never let you go,” I said vehemently. “Never.”
Gideon’s hands slid down my throat to my shoulders, blazing a hot trail across my skin. “I need that to be true,” he said softly. “I was afraid you’d run… that you’d be afraid. Of me.”
“Gideon, no–”
“I would never hurt you.”
I caught the waistband of his sweats and tugged, even though I couldn’t budge him. “I know that.”
And physically, I had no doubts; he’d always been careful with me, always cautious. But emotionally, my love had been used against me with meticulous precision. I was struggling with reconciling the absolute trust I had in Gideon’s awareness of my needs and the wariness that came from a shattered heart still healing.
“Do you?” He searched my face, as attuned as always to what wasn’t said. “Letting you go would kill me, but I wouldn’t hurt you to keep you.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere.”
He exhaled audibly. “My lawyers will be talking to the police tomorrow, to get a feel for where things stand.”
Tilting my head back, I pressed my lips gently to his. We were colluding to hide a crime, and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t seriously bother me–I was the daughter of a police officer, after all–but the alternative was too awful to consider.
“I have to know that you can live with what I’ve done,” he said softly, wrapping my hair around his finger.
“I think so. Can you?”
His mouth found mine again. “I can survive anything if I have you.”
I reached under his sweatshirt, seeking and finding his warm, golden skin. His muscles were hard and ridged beneath my palms, his body a seductive and virile work of art. I licked his lips, my teeth catching the full curve along the bottom and biting gently. Gideon groaned. The sound of his pleasure slid over me like a caress.
“Touch me.” The words were an order, but his tone was a plea.
“I am.”
Reaching behind him, he grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand around. He thrust his cock shamelessly into my palm, grinding. My fingers curled around the thick, heavy length, my pulse quickening at the realization that he was commando beneath his sweats.
“God,” I breathed. “You make me so hot.”
His blue eyes were fierce on my face; his cheeks flushed and his sculpted lips parted. He never tried to hide the effect I had on him, never pretended that he had any more control over his response to me than I had to him. It made his dominance in the bedroom all the more exciting, knowing that he was similarly as helpless to the attraction between us.
My chest tightened. I still couldn’t believe that he was mine, that I got to see him this way, so open and hungry and sexy as hell…
Gideon tugged my towel open. He inhaled sharply when it hit the floor and I stood before him completely naked. “Ah, Eva.”
His voice throbbed with emotion, making my eyes sting. He yanked his shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside. Then he reached for me, stepping carefully into me, prolonging the moment when our bare skin would touch.
He gripped my hips, his fingers flexing restlessly, his breathing quick and harsh. The tips of my breasts touched him first, sending a sudden rush of sensation through my body. I gasped. He crushed me to him with a growl, lifting my feet from the floor and carrying me backward toward the bed.
Because I love you all and I know it’s been so hard to wait for Gideon to come back, here’s a peek at some of Chapter Two…
Chapter Two
My thighs hit the mattress and I landed on my butt, falling to my back with Gideon leaning over me. He hitched me up with an arm banded around my back, centering me on the bed before he settled atop me. His mouth was on my breast before I knew it, his lips soft and warm, the suction fast and greedy. He plumped the heavy weight in his hand, kneading possessively.
“Christ, I’ve missed you,” he groaned. His skin was hot against my cool flesh, his weight so welcome after the long nights without him.
I hooked my legs around his calves and shoved my hands beneath his waistband to grip his taut, hard ass. I tugged him into me, arching my hips to feel his cock through the cotton that separated us. Wanting him inside me, so that I’d know for certain he was mine again.
“Say it,” I coaxed, needing the words he swore were inadequate.
He pushed up and looked down at me, gently brushing my hair back from my forehead. He swallowed hard.
Rearing, I caught his beautifully etched mouth in a kiss. “I’ll say it first: I love you.”
He closed his eyes and quivered. Wrapping his arms around me, Gideon squeezed so tight I almost couldn’t breathe.
“I love you,” he whispered. “Too much.”
His fervent declaration reverberated through me. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried.
“Angel.” His fist clenched in my hair.
Lifting my head, I took his mouth, our kiss flavored with the salt of my tears. My lips moved desperately over his, as if he’d be gone at any second and I had no time to get my fill of him.
“Eva. Let me . . .” He cupped my face, licking deep into my mouth.
“Let me love you.”
“Please,” I whispered, my fingers linking behind his neck to capture him. His erection lay hot and heavy against the lips of my sex, the weight of him the perfect pressure on my throbbing clit. “Don’t stop.”
“Never. I can’t.”
His hand cupped my buttock, lifting me into a deft roll of his hips. I gasped as the pleasure radiated through me, my nipples beading hard and tight against his chest. The light dusting of crisp hair was an unbearable stimulation. My core ached, begging for the hard-driving thrust of his cock.
My nails raked his back from shoulder to hips. He arched into the rough caress with a low growl, his head thrown back in deliciously erotic abandon.
“Again,” he ordered gruffly, his face flushed and lips parted.
Surging upward, I sank my teeth into his pectoral, just over his heart. Gideon hissed, quivering, and took it.
I couldn’t contain the ferocious swell of emotion that needed release–the love and need, the anger and fear. And the pain. God, the pain. I still felt it keenly. I wanted to tear into him. To punish as well as pleasure. To make him experience some small measure of what I had when he’d pushed me away.
My tongue stroked over the slight indentations left by my teeth and his hips rocked into me, his cock sliding through the parted lips of my sex.
“My turn,” he whispered darkly. Leaning on one arm, the biceps thick and beautifully defined, he squeezed my breast in his other hand. His head lowered and his lips surrounded the taut point of my nipple. His mouth was scorching hot, his tongue a rough velvet lash against my tender flesh. When his teeth bit into the furled tip, I cried out, my body jerking as sharp need arrowed to my core.
I clutched at his hair, too impassioned to be gentle. My legs wrapped around him, tightening, echoing my need to claim him. Possess him. Make him mine again.
“Gideon,” I moaned. My temples were wet from the trails of my tears, my throat tight and hurting.
“I’m here, angel,” he breathed, nibbling across my cleavage to my other breast. His diabolical fingers tugged at the wet nipple he’d left behind, pinching it gently until I pushed up and into his hand. “Don’t fight me. Let me love you.”
I realized then that I was pulling at his hair, trying to urge him away even as I fought to get closer. Gideon had me under siege, seducing me with his stunning male perfection and intimate expertise with my body. And I was surrendering. My breasts were heavy, my sex wet and swollen. My hands roamed restlessly as my legs caged him.
Still, he slipped farther away from me, his mouth whispering temptation across my stomach. Missed you so much… need you… have to have you… I felt a hot wetness slide over my skin and looked down to see that he was crying, too, his gorgeous face ravaged by the same surfeit of emotion flooding me.
With shaking fingers, I touched his cheek, trying to smooth away the wetness that only returned the instant it was wiped away. He nuzzled into my touch with a soft, plaintive moan, and I couldn’t bear it. His pain was harder for me to deal with than my own.
“I love you,” I told him.
“Eva.” He slid back onto his knees and rose, his thighs spread between mine, his cock thick and hard and bobbing under its weight.
Everything in me tightened with ravenous greed. His big body was carved with rock-hard slabs of tautly defined muscle, his tanned skin sheened with perspiration. He was so powerfully elegant, except for his penis, which was bluntly primal with its thick coursing veins and wide root. His sac, too, hung large and heavy. He would make a statue as beautiful as Michelangelo’s David, but with a flagrantly erotic edge.
Honestly, Gideon Cross had been designed to fuck a woman right out of her mind.
“Mine,” I said harshly, pushing up and scrambling gracelessly into him, pressing my torso tightly into his. “You’re mine.”
“Angel.” He took my mouth in a rough, lust-fueled kiss. Lifting me, he moved, turning us so that his back was to the headboard and I was spread over him. Our flesh slid against each other, slickened by sweat. His hands were everywhere, his muscled body straining upward as mine had done. I cupped his face, licking fast into his mouth, trying to satisfy my thirst for him.
He reached between my legs, his fingers delving reverently into my cleft. The roughened pads stroked over my clit and skirted the trembling opening to my sex. With my lips pressed to his, I moaned, my hips circling. He fingered me leisurely, building my need, his kiss gentling into a slow, deep fucking of my mouth.
I couldn’t breathe for the pleasure, my entire body quivering as he cupped me in his hand and his long middle finger slid lazily into me. His palm rubbed against my clit, his fingertip stroking over delicate tissues. His other hand gripped my hip, holding me in place, restraining me.
Gideon’s control seemed absolute, his seduction wickedly precise, but he was trembling harder than I was and his chest was heaving more forcefully. The sounds spilling from him were tinged with remorse and entreaty.
Pulling back, I reached for his cock with both hands, gripping him firmly. I knew his body well, too, knew what he needed and desired. I pumped him from root to tip, drawing a thick bead of pre-ejaculate to the wide crest. He pushed back against the headboard with a groan, his finger curving inside me. I watched, riveted, as the thick drop rolled to one side of his glans, then slid down the length of him to pool at the top of my fist.
“Don’t,” he panted. “Too close.”
I stroked him again, my mouth watering as a gush of pre-cum streamed out of him. I was wildly aroused by his pleasure and the knowledge that I had such a profound eff ect on such a blatantly sexual creature.
As he cursed, his fingers left me. He grabbed my hips, dislodging my grip on him. He yanked me forward, then down, his hips bucking upward, his raging cock driving into me.
I cried out and gripped his shoulders, my sex clenching against the thick penetration.
“Eva.” His jaw and neck taut with strain, he started coming, spurting hot and hard inside me.
The gush of lubrication opened me, my sex sliding down his pulsing erection until he filled me too full. My nails dug into his unyielding muscles, my mouth opened to draw in desperate breaths of air.
“Take it,” he bit out, angling my descent to gain that last little part of me that let him to sink in to the root. “Take me.”
I moaned, welcoming the familiar soreness of having him so deep. The orgasm took me by surprise, my back bowing as the heated pleasure tore through me.
Instinct took over, my hips moving of their own volition, my thighs clenching and releasing as I focused only on the moment, the reclaiming of my man. My heart.
Gideon yielded to my demands.
“That’s it, angel,” he encouraged hoarsely, his erection still as hard as if he hadn’t just had a teeth-grinding climax.
His arms fell to his sides. His hands fisted in the comforter. His biceps clenched and flexed with his movements. His abs tightened every time I took him to the hilt, the rigid lacing of muscles glistening with sweat. His body was a well-oiled machine and I was taking it to its limits.
He let me. Gave himself to me.
Undulating my hips, I took my pleasure, moaning his name. My core clenched rhythmically, another orgasm rushing up too quickly. I faltered, my senses overwhelmed.
“Please,” I gasped. “Gideon, please.”
He caught me by the nape and waist, and slid down until we were flat on the bed. Pinning me tightly, he held me immobile, thrusting upward… over and over… shafting my sex with fast, powerful lunges. The friction of his thick penis rubbing and surging was too much. I jolted violently and came again, my fingers clawing into his sides.
Shuddering, Gideon followed me over, his arms tightening until I could barely breathe. His harsh exhalations were the air that filled my burning lungs. I was utterly possessed, completely defenseless.
“God, Eva.” He buried his face in my throat. “Need you. I need you so much.”
“Baby.” I held him close. Still afraid to let go.Copyright © Sylvia Day 2013
Shoooweeee.... I need a cold shower after that...
More soon my Brats :)
Tam
xxx
May 3, 2013
*Blog Tour: Hard To Hold On by Shanora Williams*
Hi Brats :)
The 'Hard To Hold On' blog tour is finally here!! :)
At he end of Hard To Resist, Natalie & Nolan say their goodbyes at the airport - Nolan is heading back to California to look after his terminally ill mother. As a young couple, they face uncertainty about what lies ahead for the relationship but what they are sure about is their love for each other... Or are they?
Hard To Hold On starts 4 months after Nolan's departure & after yet another tragedy in Nolan's life, Natalie tries to help him in the best way she knows how. Unfortunately, Nolan also tries to deal with his circumstances the best way HE knows how & ends up pushing Natalie away.
Natalie decides to give Nolan the space he's asked for but somehow comes to the conclusion that it could possibly be over for good. Once again she's left confused & heartbroken... Even more so after she meets Tyler Stokes - a sexy, confident guy from her English class. Natalie knows it will be almost impossible to move on from Nolan but she decides that Tyler is the perfect distraction - what she doesn't realise is that not everything is as it seems & Tyler's sudden appearance in her life has nothing to do with chance or coincidence.
Natalie & Nolan come to a crossroads in their relationship - they have to decide whether or not they are willing to keep fighting for each other. Along the way, they make some REALLY stupid decisions but eventually everything they've ever been through comes full circle - they always end up together.
Hard To Hold On was an emotional ride that I won't easily forget - Natalie tries to be strong & tries to get over Nolan but deep down she knows it will never happen, while Nolan tries to make sense of shitty circumstances & after realising what a mistake it was to let Natalie go, he fights for her. Both characters frustrated the shit out of me. It was a constant back & forth between the 2 & eventually I was screaming "Just get over your bullshit & get back together already!!"... I love Natalie & Nolan & at one point even I was worried about what would become of their relationship.
Shanora is such an incredibly talented writer & the amount of emotion she poured into Natalie & Nolan's story seeped through the pages & totally wrecked my heart. The intensity of their attraction to each other smacks you between the eyes & the sexy as hell sex scenes will give you a serious case of goosebumps....
Whether or not they get their HEA, you'll have to read it to find out - but either way you won't be left disappointed ;)
Thanks for stopping by Brats :) Love ya <3 Tam xxx
The 'Hard To Hold On' blog tour is finally here!! :)
At he end of Hard To Resist, Natalie & Nolan say their goodbyes at the airport - Nolan is heading back to California to look after his terminally ill mother. As a young couple, they face uncertainty about what lies ahead for the relationship but what they are sure about is their love for each other... Or are they?
Hard To Hold On starts 4 months after Nolan's departure & after yet another tragedy in Nolan's life, Natalie tries to help him in the best way she knows how. Unfortunately, Nolan also tries to deal with his circumstances the best way HE knows how & ends up pushing Natalie away.
Natalie decides to give Nolan the space he's asked for but somehow comes to the conclusion that it could possibly be over for good. Once again she's left confused & heartbroken... Even more so after she meets Tyler Stokes - a sexy, confident guy from her English class. Natalie knows it will be almost impossible to move on from Nolan but she decides that Tyler is the perfect distraction - what she doesn't realise is that not everything is as it seems & Tyler's sudden appearance in her life has nothing to do with chance or coincidence.
Natalie & Nolan come to a crossroads in their relationship - they have to decide whether or not they are willing to keep fighting for each other. Along the way, they make some REALLY stupid decisions but eventually everything they've ever been through comes full circle - they always end up together.
Hard To Hold On was an emotional ride that I won't easily forget - Natalie tries to be strong & tries to get over Nolan but deep down she knows it will never happen, while Nolan tries to make sense of shitty circumstances & after realising what a mistake it was to let Natalie go, he fights for her. Both characters frustrated the shit out of me. It was a constant back & forth between the 2 & eventually I was screaming "Just get over your bullshit & get back together already!!"... I love Natalie & Nolan & at one point even I was worried about what would become of their relationship.
Shanora is such an incredibly talented writer & the amount of emotion she poured into Natalie & Nolan's story seeped through the pages & totally wrecked my heart. The intensity of their attraction to each other smacks you between the eyes & the sexy as hell sex scenes will give you a serious case of goosebumps.... Whether or not they get their HEA, you'll have to read it to find out - but either way you won't be left disappointed ;)
Thanks for stopping by Brats :) Love ya <3 Tam xxx*Cover Reveal: This Trust Of Mine by Amanda Bennett*
Hi Brats :)
This is one Cover Reveal I've been super excited for! Amanda Bennett is one of my biggest supporters & closest friends in my online community of Brats :)
We first fell in love with Madison & Kayla in This Love Of Mine & while we patiently await the release of the 2nd book, here's something that will hopefully make the wait a little less painful...Or a little more painful, depending on which way you look at it... ;)
"Love cannot be defined by age or time, but by the way that person makes you feel. He made me feel completely vulnerable, but vulnerability I have learned is a gift, one that I will gladly accept from Madison Raine."Kayla
Madison had irrevocably changed me. He opened me up to feel things I had never felt, and he never judged me for my past. In the short amount of time I had known him, I had fallen in love with him and everything he encompassed. He showed me how to live, how to enjoy life, but best of all, he showed me how to love. They say bad things happen to good people, well that saying rang truer to me now than ever before. Madison is gone. He is off at school in Arizona, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave with him. That was my first mistake.
See the thing about trouble is, it will always find you. Trouble found me the night he left, and that night forever changed me. Now I am fighting my way back, alone.
MadisonLeaving Kayla was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. To say I regret my decision to leave her behind, would be an understatement. My world shifted when I met her and I would forever be changed. Everything felt different now that I was away, everything with her at least. Something was wrong, I could feel it. I needed to go to her to find out what this feeling was, but would she trust me enough to tell me, and could I trust her to forgive me.
"When life, love and heart breaking circumstances stand to pull apart a bond so strong, what do you do without trust?"
Rumor has it that Madison is driving Amanda up the wall which means This Trust of Mine will be finished soon! In the mean time, keep your eyes open for teasers every Tuesday & Thursday until the Release Day, 21st of May :) TheSecretBookBrat will also be hosting the Blog Tour for This Trust of Mine & the Tour Schedule will be posted soon :) Thanks for stopping by Brats :) See Ya Soon Tam xxx
This is one Cover Reveal I've been super excited for! Amanda Bennett is one of my biggest supporters & closest friends in my online community of Brats :)
We first fell in love with Madison & Kayla in This Love Of Mine & while we patiently await the release of the 2nd book, here's something that will hopefully make the wait a little less painful...Or a little more painful, depending on which way you look at it... ;)
"Love cannot be defined by age or time, but by the way that person makes you feel. He made me feel completely vulnerable, but vulnerability I have learned is a gift, one that I will gladly accept from Madison Raine."Kayla
Madison had irrevocably changed me. He opened me up to feel things I had never felt, and he never judged me for my past. In the short amount of time I had known him, I had fallen in love with him and everything he encompassed. He showed me how to live, how to enjoy life, but best of all, he showed me how to love. They say bad things happen to good people, well that saying rang truer to me now than ever before. Madison is gone. He is off at school in Arizona, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave with him. That was my first mistake.
See the thing about trouble is, it will always find you. Trouble found me the night he left, and that night forever changed me. Now I am fighting my way back, alone.
MadisonLeaving Kayla was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. To say I regret my decision to leave her behind, would be an understatement. My world shifted when I met her and I would forever be changed. Everything felt different now that I was away, everything with her at least. Something was wrong, I could feel it. I needed to go to her to find out what this feeling was, but would she trust me enough to tell me, and could I trust her to forgive me.
"When life, love and heart breaking circumstances stand to pull apart a bond so strong, what do you do without trust?"
Rumor has it that Madison is driving Amanda up the wall which means This Trust of Mine will be finished soon! In the mean time, keep your eyes open for teasers every Tuesday & Thursday until the Release Day, 21st of May :) TheSecretBookBrat will also be hosting the Blog Tour for This Trust of Mine & the Tour Schedule will be posted soon :) Thanks for stopping by Brats :) See Ya Soon Tam xxx
May 2, 2013
*Blog Tour: Rock With Me by Kristen Proby*
Rock With Me by Kristen Proby
Front Man Leo Nash from the world-famous rock band, Nash, is the last person on earth Samantha Williams would trust. She’s already learned about loving a celebrity the hard way and isn’t signing up for another lesson.Every time Sam gives Leo attitude, he wants to knock that chip off her fragile little shoulder. What the hell did he ever do to her, anyway? He’s not used to women treating him like he’s poisonous, and he isn’t about to let her run away every time he gets close. He’s had enough of people running away to last him a lifetime…when this one runs, he gives chase. But, catching Sam isn’t as hard as he thought.The sexual attraction between them is so thick, Sam can practically hold it in her hand. There’s no way she can deny herself the promise of pleasure being with Leo would provide. But, pleasure always comes with pain and when secrets are revealed and trust is challenged, who will run and who will chase? Review I would love to spend a day inside Kristen Proby's mind & pick apart the part of her brain responsible for creating the men (in particular) in her With Me series. I thought the Hot Train might've stopped at will, but no, it appears that the men in Seattle all drink the same water because Leo Nash is just....*SMEXY* We were introduced to Samantha Williams earlier in the series as Luke's sister. She wasn't the most likeable of characters but now we get to know her on a very personal level. We learn about her insecurities, her loyalty to her famous family & her bad experience with another famous a**hole. We also see the woman beneath the tough exterior who feels invisible because of the success of her family. Her goal in life has been to make a name for herself on her own terms, rather than riding on her family's name. When her loyalty is tested it comes at a hefty price but she chooses to carry that burden on her own, tiny shoulders. Bring in Leo Nash & you have a fireworks display equivalent to that of "the 4th of July."He's bossy, dominant & has a craving for absolute control, brought on by a harrowing childhood. Sam's sassy attitude & foul mouth drives him crazy while it drives other men away & he can't resist the desire to see who she is behind the facade she works hard to keep up. He starts their 'relationship' as friends but makes it clear that it will be more by the time he's done with her, and some how Sam allows herself to feel more for Leo.
The sexual chemistry proves to be too much for both of them & once that line is crossed, Leo wants to possess every part of Sam, her body & her heart. He wants to take care of her, protect her & finds that she is everything he has wanted. “You are everything I’ve ever wanted, Sam. More than music. More than anything.”
It doesn't take long before Sam submits her body to Leo & the her heart, falling in love with the sexy rock star that breaks through every defense she has.
There is so much more to Leo & Sam's story than just sexual imtimacy that will leave you squirming. It's about family & how sometimes it doesnt take blood to be family. And although this story is about Leo & Nash, the rest of the secondary characters we've come to know & love still feature, making the story complete! You still see Nat & Luke living out their Happy Ever After, and Nate & Jules starting their lives (with lots of apagasms) and Will & Meg finding their feet together. It's a huge family that you feel part of through each book.
Kristen Proby's writing is fantastic - I enjoyed the humour in Rock With Me & the conversations were, at times, completely hilarious! You will LOVE LOVE LOVE this book :) Kristen has outdone herself yet again!
Excerpt:
“You know what, Melody, I think we’ll just look around on our own, if that’s okay with you.”
“Oh.” She pouts and glares at me before turning big hazel eyes on Leo in what I’m sure she thinks is her flirty look. “Are you sure? I don’t mind showing you around.”
“I’m sure, thanks.” Leo grabs my hand and pulls me toward the stairs. “You are not helping,” he growls.
“I’m sorry, but that’s hilarious, and your own fault.”
“My fault?” He asks incredulously.
“Well, yeah. One, you should have told the agency who you are so they could send someone more appropriate, and two, you’re the one who always walks around shirtless in all your videos and photo shoots. I know for a fact she wants to lick your stars.”
“Shut up,” he mutters and pulls me down a hallway, looking in each of the rooms.
“You can’t get tattoos on your sexy V, the one spot on a man’s body that makes a woman sit up and beg, and not expect to get attention.” I inform him smugly and giggle some more when he continues to glare at me.
As we pass the top of the staircase on our way to what I assume is the master suite, we hear Melody’s voice downstairs.
“You will not believe who I’m showing a house to right now! Leo freaking Nash! I’m not lying. No, he’s wearing a shirt.”
I bust out laughing some more as Leo growls and pulls me into the master bedroom. “Told you.”
“I just wanted to look at some houses,” he mutters and wanders around the large, empty space.
“I think you should have your assistant call the agencies from now on.”
“Probably. Do you like this room?” He asks me.
“It’s big.” I wander to the window and look out at the Sound, the water reflecting the mid-afternoon sunshine. “The view is great.”
“Yeah, I like the view too.”
“The floors aren’t giving my feet frostbite, and the walls are a light mocha color, which is warm and nice.”
“You’re wearing shoes,” he reminds me with a grin.
“Your floors in Malibu would still give me frostbite through my shoes.”
“Smart ass.” He grins and opens a door to an enormous walk-in closet with built-ins for shoes and bags, and even a center island for other accessories.
“I might have just died and gone to heaven,” I breathe, feeling my eyes widen and my heartbeat increase. “This is just… Oh my God.”
“Closet is a yes.” Leo laughs.
“This is your house,” I remind him and consciously make my face go blank. “Not mine.”
“Yet.”
“Not mine,” I repeat and shake my head.
“Okay, let’s just say there’s space in here for you to have a drawer of your very own for when you stay over.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Yes. Let’s look at the bathroom.”
The bathroom is even better. “I could swim in that tub,” I mutter and wander through the space. The shower is the size of Manhattan. We could host parties in there. Full concerts.
Oh my God, the sex we could have in that shower.
“Are you okay?” Leo asks, his voice light and full of laughter.
“Yep,” I respond and trail my hand over the light granite countertop. There are two sinks, roughly four feet apart, with a plethora of counter space and drawers beneath. I turn around and lean against the granite, watching Leo across the room. “I think I want to lick your stars too,” I murmur and look him up and down.
His eyes narrow on me and he slowly moves to the door, latches it shut and locks it, then walks to me, leans on his hands on either side of my hips and stops, his face just inches from my own.
“You don’t get to lick anything right now.”
“Really?” I raise an eyebrow and watch his eyes as they roam down my body.
“No. But I do.” He grips my sides and boosts me up onto the countertop so my feet are dangling and my pussy is close to the edge.
“Leo, that girl is right downstairs.” He moves between my knees and leans in close, his lips against my temple and hands unfastening my jeans.
“I don’t give a shit. It wouldn’t matter to me if Jesus and JFK were right downstairs. Even they couldn’t stop me from tasting you right now. Lift your ass.”
I comply and he peels my jeans and panties over my butt and down my legs and discards them on the floor. He cups my hips in his firm hands and kisses my cheek, down to the soft spot below my ear and along my jawline to my lips.
“I can smell how turned on your are,” he whispers against my lips and one of his hands roams between my legs and cup my center. “God, you’re warm and already wet, baby.”
“It was the closet that turned me on,” I whisper and then moan when he pushes a finger inside me.
“Then I’d better buy the house,” he murmurs with a smile.
“Just kidding,” I breathe.
“What made you this wet?” He asks and bites my lower lip, then soothes it with is tongue.
“You.”
“What about me?”
“Thinking about the fun we could have in that shower.” My breath catches as he gently brushes my clit with his thumb.
“Mmm, yeah, that could be fun,” he agrees and kisses me softly. “Samantha?”
“Yes.” Oh, God, just push a little harder. Just a little harder. I move my hips, trying to increase the pressure against my sensitive nub, knowing I’m so damn close.
“I’m going to eat you out here on this counter.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
<a id="rc-9172c114" class="rafl" href="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com/2013...http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9172c114/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a><script src="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script> Links: Website: http://www.kristenproby.com/ Twitter: @handbagjunkie Facebook: www.facebook.com/booksbykristenproby Author Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/kristenproby ROCK WITH ME Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17201104-rock-with-me?ac=1 More Soon Brats :) Tam xxx
Front Man Leo Nash from the world-famous rock band, Nash, is the last person on earth Samantha Williams would trust. She’s already learned about loving a celebrity the hard way and isn’t signing up for another lesson.Every time Sam gives Leo attitude, he wants to knock that chip off her fragile little shoulder. What the hell did he ever do to her, anyway? He’s not used to women treating him like he’s poisonous, and he isn’t about to let her run away every time he gets close. He’s had enough of people running away to last him a lifetime…when this one runs, he gives chase. But, catching Sam isn’t as hard as he thought.The sexual attraction between them is so thick, Sam can practically hold it in her hand. There’s no way she can deny herself the promise of pleasure being with Leo would provide. But, pleasure always comes with pain and when secrets are revealed and trust is challenged, who will run and who will chase? Review I would love to spend a day inside Kristen Proby's mind & pick apart the part of her brain responsible for creating the men (in particular) in her With Me series. I thought the Hot Train might've stopped at will, but no, it appears that the men in Seattle all drink the same water because Leo Nash is just....*SMEXY* We were introduced to Samantha Williams earlier in the series as Luke's sister. She wasn't the most likeable of characters but now we get to know her on a very personal level. We learn about her insecurities, her loyalty to her famous family & her bad experience with another famous a**hole. We also see the woman beneath the tough exterior who feels invisible because of the success of her family. Her goal in life has been to make a name for herself on her own terms, rather than riding on her family's name. When her loyalty is tested it comes at a hefty price but she chooses to carry that burden on her own, tiny shoulders. Bring in Leo Nash & you have a fireworks display equivalent to that of "the 4th of July."He's bossy, dominant & has a craving for absolute control, brought on by a harrowing childhood. Sam's sassy attitude & foul mouth drives him crazy while it drives other men away & he can't resist the desire to see who she is behind the facade she works hard to keep up. He starts their 'relationship' as friends but makes it clear that it will be more by the time he's done with her, and some how Sam allows herself to feel more for Leo.
The sexual chemistry proves to be too much for both of them & once that line is crossed, Leo wants to possess every part of Sam, her body & her heart. He wants to take care of her, protect her & finds that she is everything he has wanted. “You are everything I’ve ever wanted, Sam. More than music. More than anything.”It doesn't take long before Sam submits her body to Leo & the her heart, falling in love with the sexy rock star that breaks through every defense she has.
There is so much more to Leo & Sam's story than just sexual imtimacy that will leave you squirming. It's about family & how sometimes it doesnt take blood to be family. And although this story is about Leo & Nash, the rest of the secondary characters we've come to know & love still feature, making the story complete! You still see Nat & Luke living out their Happy Ever After, and Nate & Jules starting their lives (with lots of apagasms) and Will & Meg finding their feet together. It's a huge family that you feel part of through each book.
Kristen Proby's writing is fantastic - I enjoyed the humour in Rock With Me & the conversations were, at times, completely hilarious! You will LOVE LOVE LOVE this book :) Kristen has outdone herself yet again!
Excerpt:
“You know what, Melody, I think we’ll just look around on our own, if that’s okay with you.”
“Oh.” She pouts and glares at me before turning big hazel eyes on Leo in what I’m sure she thinks is her flirty look. “Are you sure? I don’t mind showing you around.”
“I’m sure, thanks.” Leo grabs my hand and pulls me toward the stairs. “You are not helping,” he growls.
“I’m sorry, but that’s hilarious, and your own fault.”
“My fault?” He asks incredulously.
“Well, yeah. One, you should have told the agency who you are so they could send someone more appropriate, and two, you’re the one who always walks around shirtless in all your videos and photo shoots. I know for a fact she wants to lick your stars.”
“Shut up,” he mutters and pulls me down a hallway, looking in each of the rooms.
“You can’t get tattoos on your sexy V, the one spot on a man’s body that makes a woman sit up and beg, and not expect to get attention.” I inform him smugly and giggle some more when he continues to glare at me.
As we pass the top of the staircase on our way to what I assume is the master suite, we hear Melody’s voice downstairs.
“You will not believe who I’m showing a house to right now! Leo freaking Nash! I’m not lying. No, he’s wearing a shirt.”
I bust out laughing some more as Leo growls and pulls me into the master bedroom. “Told you.”
“I just wanted to look at some houses,” he mutters and wanders around the large, empty space.
“I think you should have your assistant call the agencies from now on.”
“Probably. Do you like this room?” He asks me.
“It’s big.” I wander to the window and look out at the Sound, the water reflecting the mid-afternoon sunshine. “The view is great.”
“Yeah, I like the view too.”
“The floors aren’t giving my feet frostbite, and the walls are a light mocha color, which is warm and nice.”
“You’re wearing shoes,” he reminds me with a grin.
“Your floors in Malibu would still give me frostbite through my shoes.”
“Smart ass.” He grins and opens a door to an enormous walk-in closet with built-ins for shoes and bags, and even a center island for other accessories.
“I might have just died and gone to heaven,” I breathe, feeling my eyes widen and my heartbeat increase. “This is just… Oh my God.”
“Closet is a yes.” Leo laughs.
“This is your house,” I remind him and consciously make my face go blank. “Not mine.”
“Yet.”
“Not mine,” I repeat and shake my head.
“Okay, let’s just say there’s space in here for you to have a drawer of your very own for when you stay over.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“Yes. Let’s look at the bathroom.”
The bathroom is even better. “I could swim in that tub,” I mutter and wander through the space. The shower is the size of Manhattan. We could host parties in there. Full concerts.
Oh my God, the sex we could have in that shower.
“Are you okay?” Leo asks, his voice light and full of laughter.
“Yep,” I respond and trail my hand over the light granite countertop. There are two sinks, roughly four feet apart, with a plethora of counter space and drawers beneath. I turn around and lean against the granite, watching Leo across the room. “I think I want to lick your stars too,” I murmur and look him up and down.
His eyes narrow on me and he slowly moves to the door, latches it shut and locks it, then walks to me, leans on his hands on either side of my hips and stops, his face just inches from my own.
“You don’t get to lick anything right now.”
“Really?” I raise an eyebrow and watch his eyes as they roam down my body.
“No. But I do.” He grips my sides and boosts me up onto the countertop so my feet are dangling and my pussy is close to the edge.
“Leo, that girl is right downstairs.” He moves between my knees and leans in close, his lips against my temple and hands unfastening my jeans.
“I don’t give a shit. It wouldn’t matter to me if Jesus and JFK were right downstairs. Even they couldn’t stop me from tasting you right now. Lift your ass.”
I comply and he peels my jeans and panties over my butt and down my legs and discards them on the floor. He cups my hips in his firm hands and kisses my cheek, down to the soft spot below my ear and along my jawline to my lips.
“I can smell how turned on your are,” he whispers against my lips and one of his hands roams between my legs and cup my center. “God, you’re warm and already wet, baby.”
“It was the closet that turned me on,” I whisper and then moan when he pushes a finger inside me.
“Then I’d better buy the house,” he murmurs with a smile.
“Just kidding,” I breathe.
“What made you this wet?” He asks and bites my lower lip, then soothes it with is tongue.
“You.”
“What about me?”
“Thinking about the fun we could have in that shower.” My breath catches as he gently brushes my clit with his thumb.
“Mmm, yeah, that could be fun,” he agrees and kisses me softly. “Samantha?”
“Yes.” Oh, God, just push a little harder. Just a little harder. I move my hips, trying to increase the pressure against my sensitive nub, knowing I’m so damn close.
“I’m going to eat you out here on this counter.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
<a id="rc-9172c114" class="rafl" href="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com/2013...http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9172c114/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a><script src="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script> Links: Website: http://www.kristenproby.com/ Twitter: @handbagjunkie Facebook: www.facebook.com/booksbykristenproby Author Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/kristenproby ROCK WITH ME Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17201104-rock-with-me?ac=1 More Soon Brats :) Tam xxx
April 30, 2013
*Blog Tour: No Attachments by Tiffany King*
Hi Brats :)
Today Tiffany King's 'No Attachments Blog Tour makes a stop over at TheSecretBookBrat HQ & I can't for ya'll to read what I have to say about this beautiful story :)
Ashton Garrison walked away from a privileged life in order to hide from the one thing she's not willing to face. She knows she left behind a trail of pain, but in the long run, her betrayal will hurt less than the truth. She now has one goal: Live life to the fullest with no regrets and no attachments. She has high hopes that a move to new surroundings will provide the escape she desires, but what Ashton doesn't count on is how fate always seems to find a way to screw up any good plan. Sometimes, when love comes knocking, the pull is too strong not to answer. Suddenly, what she thought she wanted to escape from is what Ashton now wants more than anything. Nathan Lockton has one mission: find his target and complete the task he was hired to do—no attachments and no emotion necessary. He's done it over and over again. What he thought was a typical lost-and-found job has turned into a life examining moment as Nathan is forced to deal with something he has always ignored--his feelings. Now faced with a decision, Nathan must choose to either follow his heart or complete the job. Love can come when you least expect it. The question is: If the odds are stacked against you, how far are you willing to go for the one you love? Ashton has pretty much run away to a small 'hick' town in the middle of nowhere. From the beginning you know that she's counting down to something, but you don't know what until a little later on in the story. She's very guarded with her emotions but has somehow become very attached to the people that have taken her in for the last 4 months. One night, while out drinking with her 2 'besties', they spot a tall, dark & handsome guy at the local bar & decide that he will be the one to help Ashton cross of an item on her bucket list - have a one night stand with a complete stranger. Nathan, our tall dark & handsome stranger in the bar, is very aware of Ashton & her friends but what they don't know is he's there on purpose. He was hired by a 'client' to track Ashton down & when she hits on him, the feelings she brings to life take him off guard. She's sassy, stubborn & as afraid of attachments as he is. After they reach an agreement - to have a brief affair with no attachments - they soon find themselves feeling more for each other than they bargained for. When their truths surface, Ashton discovers why Nathan is really there & Nathan discovers the heartbreaking reason Ashton ran away from home... Deciding to face what she's been running from, Ashton leaves Nathan a letter, asking him to wait for her & when he proves his love, it makes the 'Happy Ever After' so much better than you imagined. This is so much more than just a love story. It's about finding something to fight for when you're ready to give up & finding a reason to keep going when you think there is none. Nathan & Ashton become so free with each other, expressing how they feel about each other as if they've been together forever. I connected with both characters so well but more so with Nathan because I could relate to the position he was in. I loved him!! And as for Ashton, I admired her courage & her strength, but especially her sassy mouth - she isn't afraid to say what's on her mind! Tiffany King is a fabulous writer, creating characters that you fall in love with from the very first page. I was so excited to read 'No Attachments' & am happy to say that I was anything but disappointed!!
** '1 Click' No Attachments **
Author Bio:
Tiffany King is the author of The Saving Angels Series, Wishing for Someday Soon, Forever Changed, Unlikely Allies, Miss Me Not and Jordyn: A Daemon Hunter Novel book one. Writer by day and book fanatic the rest of the time, she is now pursuing her life-long dream of weaving tales for others to enjoy.
She has a loving husband and two wonderful kids. (Five, if you count her three spoiled cats). Her addictions include: Her iphone and ipad, chocolate, Diet Coke, chocolate, Harry Potter, chocolate, and her favorite TV shows. Want to know what they are? Just ask.
<a id="rc-9172c112" class="rafl" href="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com/2013...http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9172c112/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>
Twitter- @AuthorTiffany
Facebook- Tiffany King
Pintrest- Tiffany King
Blog- authortiffanyjking.blogspot.com
Goodreads- Tiffany King
Thanks for stopping by Brats ;)
As Always....More Soon ;)
Tam
xxx
Today Tiffany King's 'No Attachments Blog Tour makes a stop over at TheSecretBookBrat HQ & I can't for ya'll to read what I have to say about this beautiful story :)
Ashton Garrison walked away from a privileged life in order to hide from the one thing she's not willing to face. She knows she left behind a trail of pain, but in the long run, her betrayal will hurt less than the truth. She now has one goal: Live life to the fullest with no regrets and no attachments. She has high hopes that a move to new surroundings will provide the escape she desires, but what Ashton doesn't count on is how fate always seems to find a way to screw up any good plan. Sometimes, when love comes knocking, the pull is too strong not to answer. Suddenly, what she thought she wanted to escape from is what Ashton now wants more than anything. Nathan Lockton has one mission: find his target and complete the task he was hired to do—no attachments and no emotion necessary. He's done it over and over again. What he thought was a typical lost-and-found job has turned into a life examining moment as Nathan is forced to deal with something he has always ignored--his feelings. Now faced with a decision, Nathan must choose to either follow his heart or complete the job. Love can come when you least expect it. The question is: If the odds are stacked against you, how far are you willing to go for the one you love? Ashton has pretty much run away to a small 'hick' town in the middle of nowhere. From the beginning you know that she's counting down to something, but you don't know what until a little later on in the story. She's very guarded with her emotions but has somehow become very attached to the people that have taken her in for the last 4 months. One night, while out drinking with her 2 'besties', they spot a tall, dark & handsome guy at the local bar & decide that he will be the one to help Ashton cross of an item on her bucket list - have a one night stand with a complete stranger. Nathan, our tall dark & handsome stranger in the bar, is very aware of Ashton & her friends but what they don't know is he's there on purpose. He was hired by a 'client' to track Ashton down & when she hits on him, the feelings she brings to life take him off guard. She's sassy, stubborn & as afraid of attachments as he is. After they reach an agreement - to have a brief affair with no attachments - they soon find themselves feeling more for each other than they bargained for. When their truths surface, Ashton discovers why Nathan is really there & Nathan discovers the heartbreaking reason Ashton ran away from home... Deciding to face what she's been running from, Ashton leaves Nathan a letter, asking him to wait for her & when he proves his love, it makes the 'Happy Ever After' so much better than you imagined. This is so much more than just a love story. It's about finding something to fight for when you're ready to give up & finding a reason to keep going when you think there is none. Nathan & Ashton become so free with each other, expressing how they feel about each other as if they've been together forever. I connected with both characters so well but more so with Nathan because I could relate to the position he was in. I loved him!! And as for Ashton, I admired her courage & her strength, but especially her sassy mouth - she isn't afraid to say what's on her mind! Tiffany King is a fabulous writer, creating characters that you fall in love with from the very first page. I was so excited to read 'No Attachments' & am happy to say that I was anything but disappointed!!
** '1 Click' No Attachments **
Author Bio:
Tiffany King is the author of The Saving Angels Series, Wishing for Someday Soon, Forever Changed, Unlikely Allies, Miss Me Not and Jordyn: A Daemon Hunter Novel book one. Writer by day and book fanatic the rest of the time, she is now pursuing her life-long dream of weaving tales for others to enjoy. She has a loving husband and two wonderful kids. (Five, if you count her three spoiled cats). Her addictions include: Her iphone and ipad, chocolate, Diet Coke, chocolate, Harry Potter, chocolate, and her favorite TV shows. Want to know what they are? Just ask.
<a id="rc-9172c112" class="rafl" href="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com/2013...http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9172c112/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="http://www.thesecretbookbrat.com//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>
Twitter- @AuthorTiffany
Facebook- Tiffany King
Pintrest- Tiffany King
Blog- authortiffanyjking.blogspot.com
Goodreads- Tiffany King
Thanks for stopping by Brats ;)
As Always....More Soon ;)
Tam
xxx
