HelenKay Dimon's Blog, page 16

Happy Thanksgiving!

Excerpt Day #3

Here we are on the final excerpt day. I’m going to warn you now: this book is an erotic romance. For me that means the book is more descriptive than my usual in terms of sexuality, and the hero and heroine’s sexual relationship helps drive the romantic relationship. Honestly, these two are a bit messed up. They have a rough history and when they get together again they have a load of emotional baggage piled up between them. So, with that introduction, here’s a peek at MERCY:

Becca Ford ducked into the alley running next to Holton Woods, the exclusive members-only supper club perched at the end of the cul de sac on the edge of Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. With quiet steps, she edged along the side, her back skimming the wall as she scanned the area for cameras. For once the plan depended on being caught by security instead of dodging it.

In any other city alley the smell of stale beer and a sharp smack of vomit would have hit her the second she turned the corner and stepped behind the three-story brick building. Not here. The members – politicians, powerful businessmen and foreign dignitaries – didn’t go through the intensive membership process and pay the hefty initiation fees and monthly dues to come to just any club. No, Holton Woods once housed a private boys’ school and it retained its inclusive attitude even now.

Her gun pressed against her lower back as she stared at the double doors and obvious lock securing this side of the property. She’d skipped the most logical choice of knocking on the front door, knowing she’d never get past the bruising bodyguard to the boss. The only answer was to get “caught” and dragged inside. Let the men think they’d won the round. That they were in charge. But she’d know the truth.



Still, she thought about the very lethal man on the other side of the door and calculated her chances of living through the next five minutes and put the probability around twenty percent. Not great but the possibility of survival hovered around zero if she didn’t get inside. She’d pissed him off and he could just as easily destroy her as help her. But she didn’t have another option.

After one final sweeping glance above for cameras, she stepped closer and sensed a presence in the alley matching her step for step. Bright sunshine pounded down as the punishing humidity drenched the back of her thin black tank top. She kept her head forward but her gaze traveled. On her third step, she heard a distinctive click and a shadow danced on the pavement to her right.

With all her training, standing still proved difficult. Her instincts screamed to duck or punch before someone closed in. This someone was smart enough to grab her arm and close the distance between them to keep her from lashing out or performing a back kick to his balls.

And this one definitely had balls. The attacker was a man. His broad shoulders gave his shadow a menacing look and blocked the sun streaming behind her. She could smell a subtle scent that reminded her of Earl Grey tea.

Metal pressed against the back of her head, and not with a gentle touch. This was the push of a gun by a guy prepared to shoot then dump her body well before the club opened hours from now. The waistband of her olive cargo pants pulled tight against her stomach as her weapon scraped against bare skin then was gone.

She was about to turn around when the gun was shoved hard enough to knock her head forward. “Hands up, sunshine.”

She knew the voice, all rough and angry. Wade Royer, club manager, six-foot-three enforcer to the boss and suspected criminal. To her, more than suspected, which was why she worked to have this guy arrested eight months ago. Worked and succeeded. She’d brought him in, despite the odds. She did her job. The prosecutors failed to do theirs…or collected big checks not to. Either way, she took the fall, or that’s what seemed to be happening to her life right now.

With her hair in a ponytail, his hot breath blew across her exposed neck. “The boss has been watching you skulk around out here and wants to see your pretty face up close.”

She fought off a tremble but not from Wade’s closeness. With the dark scruff over his chin and dark stare he screamed scary and terrified men twice his size, but she could handle him. She’d shot, stabbed and outrun men like him for years. The phone would buzz with an assignment and she’d go wherever the order said and do whatever she was told. If caught, she was on her own. If killed, no one would care. That was the job.

But the idea of seeing Wade’s boss again rattled her resolve. The memory of his piercing eyes had her stomach bouncing, part from unwanted excitement but mostly from a churning dread of his power over her. Even though it had been the plan to confront him, just knowing he’d been watching her roam around outside his building trapped the air in her lungs like a giant, choking fist. She coughed to find her breath but nothing came.

The image of the boss’s face had barely rumbled in her brain before one of the back doors swung open. An eerie blackness loomed in the opening right before a figure filled the space.

Jarrett Holt, tall, dark and so deadly his competitors literally disappeared. He stood there in a black suit that matched his black heart and an ocean blue tie that highlighted the eyes he once told her he’d inherited from his whore of a mother. Not prostitute. No, Jarrett referred to the woman who gave birth to him as a whore, as if the rough word condemned her more than Jarrett’s harsh upbringing.

In some respects he looked like any other serious D.C. business owner fresh from a conference with a list of wealthy contacts on speed dial. But Jarrett was not like any man she’d ever known. Black hair he wore longer than was fashionable, until it grazed his collar, and a permanent shadow of stubble low on his cheeks and chin. He hid his millionaire status as well as he hid the secrets of how he amassed his fortune and gained his power.

He possessed the toned build of a long-distance runner, which he was. He had broad shoulders and loomed over her by a few inches, even though she stood just shy of five-ten. But his strong hands grabbed her attention. They could bring a woman to shuddering orgasm after only a few knowing touches.

He’d wielded a hold over her that straddled the thin line between pleasure and panic, never physically hurting her but all too willing to shake her equilibrium until she fell at his feet. He’d enjoyed dominance and demanded full control over her body. And he was her only chance at staying alive long enough to figure out how to convince her former employer to let her live.

MERCY

Copyright 2014, HelenKay Dimon

All Rights Reserved, Berkley Publishing

Excerpt Day #2

Today’s excerpt is from RELENTLESS. This book centers on Ben Tanner, the newest member of the Corcoran Team. He’s had a thing for a nurse he met on a previous job. She’s not into dangerous men but she is attracted to him. The first date goes well but the “after” is a different story. Take a look:

Jocelyn Raine walked under the wrought-iron archway and followed the path to her garden apartment. It was just after nine and the sun had disappeared behind the Annapolis, Maryland, horizon about a half hour ago. Lights inset in the pavers crisscrossed, highlighting the way as she turned right and jogged up the three steps to her front door.

Her cell buzzed at the same time she reached for her keys. While juggling her small purse, she almost dropped the phone. It slipped out of one hand but she caught it in the other before it hit the hard concrete of the small porch.

She swiped her finger over the screen. The promised check-in text from Ben Tanner greeted her. The guy had light brown hair in a short, almost military, cut and the most compelling olive-green eyes she’d ever seen.

She could describe the color exactly because she’s stared into them all night across the dinner table on their first date. Add in the linebacker shoulders and that scruffy thing happening around his chin, and no sane woman could brush him off without a second look.

It all worked…except for the part where he carried a gun. She hated guns. She wasn’t a fan of violence and despised being scared. She hadn’t seen a horror movie since she was a teen. All of which explained why the guy had to ask six times before she finally agreed to go out with him tonight.



Didn’t help that within the first two days of knowing Ben she’d watched him run, shoot, dive, guard and wrestle a scary dude to the ground. All in the critical care unit of the hospital where she worked, and all while sporting an injury. He’d been shot in the upper arm but that hadn’t stopped him from setting up next to a guy in a coma, insisting the unconscious man needed a guard.

And that’s why she had finally said yes to him. Something about the former NCIS special agent broke through her defenses. Just a few minutes ago he had insisted, in that respectful voice, that he walk her to the door. She had said no to avoid the awkward “to kiss or not to kiss” confusion, though he was a temptation.

She texted back that all was well and slipped her keys into the locks, first the deadbolt then the standard one. A woman couldn’t be too careful. She’d learned that the hard way.

Once inside, the three-inch pumps came off first. She sighed in relief when her feet hit the thick area rug. That would teach her to wear sexy shoes. Ben only saw them for a second anyway before she tucked them under the table, so she didn’t get the point.

The light next to the couch bathed the open area in a soft glow. After resetting the lock and dumping everything but the cell on the table just inside the door, she headed for the family room area to her right. Ben could text again, so why not be ready?

She looked around for the remote. The television provided background noise, but she had to turn it on first. Ducking, she checked the floor then the couch cushions. Spinning in a circle, she scanned the room. She always kept it in the basket on the center of her square coffee table. Her gaze went back to that spot, but it still wasn’t there.

An odd chill moved across the back of her neck. She blamed the air conditioner she’d set lower than normal to battle the unusual June heat. But then her gaze came to rest on the magazines spread over the coffee table. She stacked them in a pile. Every day and always.

Some people called her obsessive-compulsive, or OCD. She preferred the term overly neat. Either way, she put stuff in its place and things were not the way she had left them two hours ago.

All thoughts of her sexy date fled.

The chill morphed into a warning itch. She’d been in this situation before and this time she didn’t ignore the alarm bells. With a quick look at her phone, she clicked on Ben’s name and waited for it to ring on his end. The reaction might be overblown but—

She sensed movement. A change in the air in the room. Little things, almost imperceptible things. A heat—a presence—right behind her.

She spun around as her hand dropped and something brushed against her cheek. A sweet smell hit her dead on and she shook her head to evade the pungent scent.

A scream died in her throat when a knife waved in front of her. She looked from the muscled arm to the face hardened by lines around the eyes and mouth. A man, tall, bald and dressed completely in black.

Light bounced off the blade. Her breath hitched in her chest as fear hammered through her, threatening to knock her down.

RELENTLESS

Copyright 2014, HelenKay Dimon

All Rights Reserved, Harlequin Publishing

Excerpt Day #1

Today is the first of three days of excerpts. This one is for BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE, a long novella from Samhain that comes out in digital in February 2014 and in a print duology called UNEXPECTED in November 2014. This book starts out as an office romance and quickly turns. An internal company investigation points to Thea, the heroine and boss’s administrative assistant, as the culprit in a theft. but before that the boss – Lincoln, known as Linc – and Thea spend a night at the office doing something other than working. It’s their first time together…then everything goes haywire.

Since this starts out with sexy times, I’ll put the “more” button early and you can decide if you want to read on

Thea Marshall’s back hit the wall. Words caught in her throat as strong hands skimmed up her skirt and along the bare skin of her upper thighs. A mix of heat and need pulsed through the office.

The breath rushed out of her and the room went wavy, but she welcomed the rush. She’d craved his touch, dreamed about this moment, since that first day she walked into the executive suite of Campbell Construction four months ago.

Everything about Lincoln Campbell worked for her. From the scruff over his chin to the short, almost military-cut brown hair and intense blue eyes. That simple black-band watch he always wore.

The chest, the face. And the hands. Those long fingers were pure perfection.



“This is a mistake.” He said the words against her neck, but his mouth kept moving. Licking and kissing while he hooked a palm under the back of her knee. With a tug her leg landed high on his hip, leaving her open and vulnerable to his touch.

“I know.” Part of her wanted to relax into him. Let those fingertips travel all over her until every cell screamed for him to push inside. She needed all the intensity he usually focused on the job to switch to her. Surround her.

But she didn’t plan to sit back and watch. She’d strip him, taste him. One by one she opened the buttons of his crisp white dress shirt, placing a kiss on each muscled inch she uncovered. Next went the aqua tie that highlighted his eyes.

No wonder her control had finally cracked tonight. She’d opened the door to say goodnight and let him know everyone, including the cleaning crew, had cleared the floor. Knocked right into him and now their mouths roamed all over each other.

One of his hands slapped against the wall next to her head as the other slipped past the elastic band of her panties. She angled her hips, trapping his fingers between them.

“I can’t stop.” His fingers mirrored his words. One rubbed against her. Slid right into her folds and brushed up and down.

Her head fell back as the room began a lazy spin. “Me either.”

“We should—”

“No.” Her head snapped back up when she heard the brief return of his hesitation.

She spared a second’s thought for the blaring HR warnings and all those mandatory workshops about undue influence at work. They were necessary, but not for them. Linc wasn’t using her. She wanted him and absolutely knew what she was doing.

“Thea.”

He was going to back away and go into emotional-lockdown mode. No way could she let that happen because she would never get him back to this place again. Not after all the months of waiting and hoping, watching him go out with a series of cool blondes in the evening after spending afternoon meetings looking away the second she glanced in his direction.

She put her palms against his cheeks and forced him to meet her gaze now, willing him to listen and believe. “This is my choice. I’m saying yes.”

“You’re my—”

“Kiss me.”

She pressed her lips against his. Before one breath could pass to the next, the kiss turned raw and hot. His mouth explored hers as her ankle snagged the inside of his thigh. This close his taste, his smell, seared her senses. Sensations bombarded her, and she grabbed onto those impressive shoulders to keep from sliding to the floor.

After a minute his mouth broke off. Instead of pulling away, his lips went to that tender place right at the back of her ear as his fingers maintained a steady rhythm, back and forth over her.

“I know better than this,” he said.

The shiver started in her chest and shook to her knees. “Stop talking.”

One of those amazing fingers pushed up inside her. Her internal muscles clung to him, bringing him in deeper. When she tightened her thigh until it locked their bodies together, a groan rumbled from his chest. It sounded as if it had been ripped out of him.

A sudden stillness fell over him. His biceps bunched and tension radiated around them. Slow and steady, he dropped his head until his forehead rested against hers.

No, no, no. “Linc?”

“Walk away.”

She shook her head, letting her hair drift over her shoulders. “No.”

“Please.”

“I want you.” She lifted his head and whispered the words against his lips. “Forget I’m your assistant and you’re the boss. Forget the rules. This isn’t about power and we both know it.”

He barked out a harsh laugh. “I should at least take you to dinner first.”

As if she could choke down a bite right now. “I doubt we’d make it to the elevator.”

He lifted his head. The steady gaze from those ice-blue eyes pinned her to the floor. “Then the wall it is.”

BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE

Copyright 2014, HelenKay Dimon

All Rights Reserved, Samhaim Publishing

My 2014 Releases

I decided this would be a good time to look ahead and highlight my 2014 book release schedule. For the rest of the week I’ll give you a sneak peek of my first three releases – BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE (contemporary long novella), RELENTLESS (romantic suspense from Harlequin Intrigue) and MERCY (my first single title erotic romance) – but for now, here’s what you can expect. Note that even though most of the books listed are part of related-books series, each book stands alone so you can pick these up without reading the earlier books. The Hanover Brothers series is the only one where reading in order might be a good idea because there are a lot of family secrets in that one, but it’s not mandatory.

The dates and titles might shift, but this is pretty set:

February: BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE – This is a long contemporary novella. A businessman and his assistant, a bad decision and a lot of hero groveling.

April: RELENTLESS – The 3rd Corcoran Team book follows former NCIS agent Ben Tanner & his attraction to a nurse who doesn’t like trouble. Boy, did she pick the wrong guy.

May: MERCY – This is my first erotic romance single title. No BDSM or threesomes, so if you MUST HAVE that in your erom know that it’s not in here, but it is really sexy (some would say dirty) and the sex drives the relationship. The book follows two messed up people with a messed up past. Did I mention she’s a burned CIA agent and there’s a male/male secondary couple? Yeah, all that.

May: LAWLESS – Book #4 in the Corcoran Team series from Harlequin Intrigue. This one follows Joel Kidd as a routine check on his former flame turns into a camping trip disaster. I love writing for Intrigue and I enjoyed writing this one the most so far

June: TRACELESS – Book #5 of the Corcoran Team series and the one where we find out what’s really going on with Connor Bowen and his missing wife. And I can’t say anything else about this one since the “where is Jana” question flows through all five books.

August: LONG WAY HOME – This is a Hanover Brothers story many readers have asked for – Callen finds his heroine. Actually, he found her before and let her go…and she is not happy she has to come after him.

October: ONLY – This is my second erotic romance single title. It’s related to MERCY. Sebastian, the hero’s best friend in MERCY, has a naughty past and one woman is determined to tame him. Well, outside of the bedroom. She likes him wild in private.

November: UNEXPECTED – When BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE first comes out it’s in digital only. The book comes out in a print duology with the fantastic Vivian Arend and her book BABY. BE MINE here. The books have a common theme – pregnant heroines.

November: TOO FAR GONE – This is the final Hanover story and FBI Walker meets his match in Mallory. She’s a fan favorite and a personal favorite, and I’m excited to write her story.

Tomorrow – a BABY IT’S COLD OUTSIDE excerpt.

Intrigue News

I have good news…I just sold more books to Harlequin Intrigue!!! These will come out in 2015 and are an offshoot of my Corcoran Team series. The books break down like this:

Out now – FEARLESS AND RUTHLESS. These books introduce the Corcoran Team and a new setting, which happens to be one of my favorite places, Annapolis, Maryland. Brothers Davis and Paxton Weeks are the heroes in these two. You first met them in a book from last year, COPY THAT, but they are the stars in these.

Out in 2014 – First up is RELENTLESS in April. [Note: it's up for pre-order - just click on the link] The hero is former NCIS agent Ben Tanner. Honestly, I didn’t plan Ben at all. He popped up in FEARLESS and I actually deleted the scene right after I wrote it. I couldn’t figure out who he was, why he was in the story and why I kept giving him a point of view. Then I went on a few more chapters and he popped up again. I finally gave up and added his deleted scenes back in and by the end of FEARLESS he’s part of the team.

The second book, LAWLESS, comes out in May. This one is Joel Kidd’s story. He also showed up for the first time in COPY THAT. He had a rough time in that book and things don’t exactly run smoothly in his book. He’s called in to help his ex-girlfriend, the one he still loves. The one HE dumped…and she is not pleased.

The third 2014 release is TRACELESS. It comes out in June and reunites estranged spouses Connor and Jana Bowen. Readers hear about Jana before this but this is the first time you’ll meet her. And that’s all I’m saying about that one.

Out in 2015 – Throughout the series there are references to additional members of Corcoran, referred to as the traveling team. These are the stories I just sold. You meet these other team members in LAWLESS and TRACELESS. Their books – tentatively titled CORNERED, SHELTERED and TAMED – come out in summer 2015.

So if you liked the Corcoran Team there are plenty of more books ahead.

Release Day!!!

Today is release day for EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW, one of the launch books for the Cosmo Red-Hot Reads by Harlequin line.

You can stare at the sexy cover and read the back blurb:

Dating in D.C. is like navigating an apocalyptic wasteland populated by men in expensive suits with zero mating potential. Need to Know provides all the information a savvy single woman like you needs to avoid dating disasters.

By night, Jordan McAdam is the proprietor of a popular website that rates D.C.’s hottest bachelors—everything from how quick they are email you back to their skills in the sack. She’s been burned once too often to accept any man at face value. By day, her job as an office temp puts her in the perfect position to do a little fact checking on her rich and powerful subjects.

When her latest assignment brings her face to face with the sexy but mysterious Forest Redder, Jordan decides to do a little “hands on” research of her own. To Jordan, he seems like the perfect man – but she knows there is no such thing. Moreover, there’s a big problem: Forest knows Jordan’s the woman behind the scandalous site—and Jordan knows he knows. Will he expose her secret—or find his own posted on Need to Know?

Or you can check out the advance buzz for it:

“HelenKay Dimon is a fabulous writer, and my high expectations are met in her latest, Everything You Need to Know.” -Heroes & Heartbreakers

“Everything You Need to Know is a fast read. I found the characters to be likable and have the perfect amount of angst.” -Fiction Vixen

“Dimon has also done a wonderful job creating some serious sexual tension between these two. While most of her books are hot, Hot, HOT, I thought this novella was perfectly balanced between the sexual chemistry, the tension, and finally the actual smexing.” -The Book Pushers

“It is an engaging short story that keeps you cheering for the couple’s ultimate happiness.” -Harlequin Junkie

And you can just go ahead and order here:

Amazon

Barnes& Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Harlequin

If that’s not enough, I am guest blogging at Jill Shalvis’s blog and there’s a giveaway. There’s also a giveaway at The Book Pushers and the book will be popping up on other blogs soon!

A Little Peek

My newest release – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW – comes out on Tuesday. I thought this might be a good time to give you another little peek.

His hand fell from the doorknob as he straddled the inside/outside threshold to his office. “Why are you still here?”

“I wanted to catch up.”

Of all the odd things she’d said to him during their short time together, that was one of the oddest. “On what?”

“Work.”

He conducted a quick visual search and didn’t see a folder or any other sign of business. She shifted her weight around and her gaze did a quick dart to her desk. The whole fidgeting thing struck Forest as out of character. If anything, the Jordan he’d seen pulsed with a coolness vibe. That immering heat was one of the many things he found so attractive about her. But something had her bouncing around now.

“Jordan, I hand out the assignments. If Wen is piling on enough to keep you here at—” Forest checked his watch as a new wave of exhaustion from his ninth consecutive sixteen-hour workday crashed over him. “It’s almost ten.”

“By that logic, you should be home, too.”

“It’s not really the same thing. I own the place.”

She waved her hand. “Either way, I’ll let you go.”

“Or we could finish our conversation.” He had no idea why he said it. Well, some idea, but the timing was pretty screwed up.

She stopped in midturn. Didn’t look at him, but didn’t run, either. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” She made the comment to her feet.

“Because?”

She faced him then. “You mentioned kissing.”



He took in her wide eyes and the way she clenched her hands together in front of her. Whatever internal battle waged in there had her cheeks a rosy pink. He decided to take that as a good sign of something. “I’d rather do it than talk about it.”

“I doubt your HR department would approve.” Yet she took a step toward him.

The urge to reach out rammed into him with the force of a house. But he’d made his move. There couldn’t be any doubt that he wanted more than dictation from her. She had to initiate here. Give him some sign. Any damn sign—hell, he’d settle for that blinking thing—and he’d pick it up from there and run with it.

“Again, I own the place.” A fact that kept slipping by people for some reason.

“So, the rules don’t apply to you?”

She seemed a bit confused about the rules. Maybe a bit obsessed, as well.

Damn, everything about this woman turned him on. Even the usually annoying shit. Maybe it was the combination of the quick mind and mouth with those slim skirts and mile long legs. The combination built the anticipation inside him until the pressure behind his zipper threatened to explode.

He focused on the least sexy document on the planet instead—the employee manual. “I don’t have a prohibition against interoffice dating.”

Those sexy lips twisted in a frown. “Do you want to be sued?”

“The people who work here are grown-ups. They attend all sorts of seminars on workplace behavior.” Forest had no idea how they got on this subject, but as long as they were… “I’ve had executives date before and sneak around until their attempts at subterfuge ended up wasting time and frustrating

the hell out of me.”

“That’s very romantic of you.”

He leaned against the doorway, ready to slam on the brakes or reach out for her. He just needed her to send up a flare so he knew which way to go. “If they want to sleep with each other, and both agree and know the terms, I’m not getting in the way.”

At his words, a definite heat flared in her eyes. “I’d guess that’s a very unique business position.”

“I’m not sure what that means.”

“Just when I think I get you…” Her voice trailed off, but her steps didn’t falter. She walked until she stood right in front of him.

A simple lift of his hands and he could touch her. Damn, he wanted to touch her. Kiss her. Lick her. Drag her to the ground. Any combination of those worked fine for him.

Instead, he forced his mind to stay in the moment. “Yes?”

With one last sweeping glance into the office behind him, she balanced her hand on the wall closest to his shoulder. “Fine.”

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s stop dodging. Kiss me.”

Sweet Jesus. The woman constantly zigged when he thought she’d zag. “Here? You’re sure?”

“I’m a big girl, Forest. I know what I want. At this second, you kissing me is at the very top of the list.” Her other hand went to his tie, traveled from his neck in a sure line to his stomach. “But it’s just one kiss.”

She had to be kidding. No way would that ever be enough.

In case you’re wondering, you can pre-order at:

Amazon

Barnes& Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Harlequin

Deal Listing!

Remember I told you about my new book deal with Avon? Well, here’s the pretty deal listing from Publisher’s Marketplace. Again…wahoo!!

HelenKay Dimon’s KEEPING SECRETS, the first book in a romantic thriller series about the work hard/play hard men of a joint MI6/CIA black ops unit tasked with eliminating international threats, to May Chen at Avon, at auction, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2015, by Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency (World English).

Translation: Taryn Fagerness Agency

New Venture!

Look what’s happening!!

Come on over to The Hot Spot!

Join authors Vivian Arend, Lauren Dane, Alyssa Day, HelenKay Dimon, Kit Rocha and Moira Rogers at The Hot Spot – our new home at Facebook where you can find steamy excerpts, book news and discussions, contests and other fun stuff!

To celebrate our grand opening, like the page and enter to win a kindle paperwhite loaded with some of our books ?

a Rafflecopter giveaway