Serena Akeroyd's Blog: All Things Serena! , page 232
June 27, 2014
Giveaway ALERT! 10 copies of Fall Into Love up for grabs!!
10 free copies of Fall Into Love up for grabs!
Here’s the POST by Serena Akeroyd.
Book Blitz: The Stage by Shelby Rebecca
Book Title:The Stage
Author:Shelby Rebecca
Genre: New Adult Rock Star Romance
Release Date:July 2, 2014
Hosted by:Book Enthusiast Promotions
Mia the saint.
Kolton the sinner.
Kolton Royce is a tatted, bad boy rock star at the top of his game.
Mia Phoenix is an overly responsible nineteen-year-old striving for stardom since losing her parents in a house fire.
When Mia ends up on Kolton’s team for the debut of the new nationwide singing competition, The Stage, she’s not sure if it’s her or her voice that he’s hellbent to control.
After he takes special interest in her welfare, they’ve been warned, any contact between them outside of filming is strictly forbidden.
He has other ideas.
She’s a phoenix rising from the ashes, the only one who understands the pain that lies beneath the persona. Though he’s not sure if he’s too bad for her, he can’t stay away.
All sinners have a past. All saints have a future. But, does being born in fire make the fissures weak in all the wrong places, or stronger than they’ve ever known?
The Stage is written for an adult audience 18+. This excerpt contains adult language. Copyright, Shelby Rebecca, 2014. All rights reserved.
In this excerpt of THE STAGE, Kolton Royce has made his team on the nationwide singing competition, The Stage, wait all day and into the evening to film a group scene together. Mia Phoenix has just found out that Kolton has hired a nanny to take care of her little nine-year-old sister, Riley (who she’s raising alone after the house fire that took the lives of both parents) so she can still compete on the show. After filming the scene, he offers to take her to the hotel where she’s been staying while they’ve been filming. He picks up her sleeping sister and gets in the back of his car. This is what happens next.
Chapter Four
Call me Kole
“Something funny, Mia?” he asks, his face half shadowed as the car begins to move us forward.
“Riley hates boys,” I say. “She’d be so pissed if she knew she was all nestled up to you like that.”
“Well, it can be our secret,” he says, and a chill runs up my spine. I want out of this car, now.
“Are we going to the hotel?” I ask to appease the odd feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“We need to talk about that,” he says. His chin sticks out and he rubs the stubble on his cheek.
“What are you doing?” I feel brave all of the sudden, but my voice gives away how aware I am of my own lack of control over this situation.
“I want you to call me Kole.” His voice is deep. He sounds troubled. Nothing like the entertainer I’m used to watching on TV.
“Why do you want me to call you Kole?” Adrenaline. Heart pounding. Take a breath.
“Say it again,” he says, shutting his eyes. His voice sounds carnal and filled with need. It scares me.
“I’m not going to call you that. I just need you to take us to our hotel?” I need his help, but I can tell he’s not being honest with me.
“Mia,” he says. And oh, the way my name comes out of his mouth. “I saw you the other day outside the studio, then your voice up there. You’ve really stood out to me, overall. I want to, no—I need to help you.”
“Kolton, I—”
“I’ve read your file,” he says, interrupting me. “I’ve watched the media footage about your parents and the fire,” I have to cover my mouth with my hand.
“I don’t—”
“We have a lot in common.” His voice sounds like tears when they’re stuck in the throat. “I feel very protective of you,” he admits, and clears his throat.
My hands are shaking. Is he crazy or something? Like one of those celebrities who owns a puma and wants only red M&Ms in his dressing room? Plus, we’ve been driving for too long. Where is he taking us?
“Are we on the freeway?” I ask. It’s hard to see out of these black windows. They’re eerily dark like shadows and secrets. I feel agitated—my eyes too wide to blink.
“Yes,” he says, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Why?” I ask, noting the slight tremors of my hands.
“I’d rather just show you.”
“Listen, just because I’m on your team doesn’t mean—,” I start.
“It’s all or nothing for me,” he interrupts. He’s rubbing his thumb into the palm of his hand and talking to the shadow window.
“You’re really controlling.”
“Don’t say that,” he scolds, as his jaw tenses up.
“Like that’s going to help,” I say.
“What?”
“Snapping at me.” I fold my arms and lean back into the seat.
“I don’t want you to be afraid of me. When I want something, I get it. Does that make sense?”
“And what you want is?”
“Hmm,” he says, contemplating. “To help you, to help take care of your sister so you have limited distractions, and you can go all the way to the finals. For now, that’s what I want.”
“I’m not a groupie who’s willing to be abducted and taken wherever you want me to go.” But then again, I guess he did exactly that. Anger boils up in me like boiling water.
He ignores me. We stare at opposing black windows, sitting in silence. Only the hum of the tires on asphalt and the in and out of Riley’s slumber-breaths between us.
I’m too agitated to ask him where we’re going. If he refused to tell me again, I’m going to go off. We take a slight right, getting off the freeway and head down a road lined with high-rise buildings. The car stops and I can’t control the tremors in my hands as I wait for him to say something. Explain himself.
“Kolton? Where are we?” I ask, my voice higher than I’d meant it to be. We’re parked in front of a brick high-rise with two huge ferns outside the front entrance.
“The Wilshire Thayer,” he says. “I didn’t have a chance to talk to you. It was a split-second decision.” He pinches between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “I’ve moved you to the penthouse here. It’s an exclusive building. The security is tighter than the hotel. I feel better about you staying here while I’m gone.”
“What? I—you—I’m? You moved our stuff out of the hotel?”
“Not personally, no.”
“Is this something you’ve done for your whole team? Like, we’re all staying here?”
“No, Mia, they’re not,” he says, as he leans slightly forward, his green eyes are being highlighted by the street light. They look predatory and possessive. “I only want what’s best for you.” I’m shaking my head no. I put my hand out to ward off any more talking from him. This is not fucking okay.
“Just take us back to the hotel,” I demand.
“No. That’s not going to be possible.” He leans back into the partial shadows.
“This is why you were late today?” I ask, feeling honored, but smothered all in the same moment.
“Partly, yes,” he admits, looking straight through me again. My whole body shudders. I do not want to be under anyone’s control. “Let’s get her inside,” he says, as he taps the window. The door is opened from the outside, and he motions for me to get out first.
“We need to talk about this!”
“Not now, Mia,” he admonishes me like a child. “I’ve had a very long day—and nothing you say is going to change anything at this point. Let’s go inside and discuss it.”
I stomp out of the car and then he comes out, holding Riley, and walks past the front desk. The doorman nods to him, and we are ushered into one of the elevators. His driver is with us, and I notice a gun strapped under his arm. He must also be his bodyguard. I feel dizzy, nauseated. I put my hand over my stomach to ease the rumbling, boiling rage.
The older man has inserted a key into the elevator control. I’m assuming it’s because he’s taking us to a floor that’s off limits to the rest of the building.
There’s twelve floors and then a “P”. Penthouse, I guess. What! There’s thirteen floors? What’s up with me and the number thirteen these days?
I look at Riley. She’s so tired. She’s not moved a muscle. She’s even snoring a little.
“You don’t live here, do you?” I ask, hearing the shaking in my own voice.
“Some of the time, yes.” I’m pursing my lips together and biting the inside of the bottom one. “I also have a house in the hills.” My fingers have unknowingly chipped off almost all of my dark nail polish.
“Does it have a fire escape?” I ask. If we’re going to the top floor, that really worries me.
“It has the best built-in alarm, and that includes fire. It’s completely up to code. I had the sprinklers installed myself before I moved in. And yes, there’s a fire escape—just installed,” he says. “It reaches down to the floor below you.” He looks like he’s in pain as he says it, like it makes him sad that I asked.
“Since I have no way to leave tonight, we’ll stay the night. But we’re going back to the hotel tomorrow.” I’m mad at him. Furious. Someone had to go through our belongings to pack them up. And shouldn’t he have asked me first?
He doesn’t answer me. “I’m not some slutty girl who sleeps her way up the ladder,” I say, defensively. To that, he laughs a little.
“No, I didn’t think you did.”
Shelby grew up between two mountains and a lake in Wasilla, Alaska. She used to run around in the tall grass, catch frogs, rescue dragonflies, ride horses, and ice-skate during recess. She still likes adventures and has even gone skydiving. Today she lives in Northern California with her husband, John, and their daughter, Elise, their two dogs, and a fish named Jade.
Book Blitz: Our Kind of Love by Shane Morgan
Book Title: Our Kind of Love
Author: Shane Morgan
Genre: New Adult
Release Date: May 31, 2014
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions
Reign is convinced that Nate is the perfect guy for her. That’s until Micah walks into her Mom’s restaurant looking for a job. Now Reign can’t seem to stop her heart from yearning for the guy with the mysterious sea blue eyes and melting smile.
Will she live up to everyone’s expectations, or risk it all for someone with a troubled past?
Micah is all but perfect. He’s spent eight months in a juvenile detention center back in Colorado for his unintentional involvement in a crime. Now at nineteen and hoping to escape his ghosts, he lands a part-time job working at a seaside restaurant in Newport, Rhode Island where he meets the irresistible Reign. Micah can’t help the way he feels whenever he’s around her, but she’s already taken and he doesn’t want to disrupt her life or get himself in anymore trouble. But then his attraction for Reign proves too strong to deny, and Micah finds that he just might discover a reason to stop running.
Shane Morgan is the bestselling young adult and new adult author of Impossibly Love, and Impossibly True. She currently lives in Rhode Island where she spends her days blogging, reading, and writing.
Shane’s belief is that imaginations can never be too wild. If you’re thinking it then the story is already written inside your head. It’s simply time to share it with the rest of the world.
Our Kind of Love excerpt
Micah sees Reign for the first time
Sitting down on a park bench, I stare up at the colors of the fading sky. The bursting orange and yellows mix together like one big orgasm. I appreciate the natural beauty for a while, until something, okay, someone, more captivating graces my view.
A young woman, lost in thought, walks barefoot across the sea wall made of white pebbles separating sand from sea. With the poise of a gymnast, her body shivers with each step against the ocean breeze. Her cute blue dress with floral prints flares modestly just below her knees. She pays no attention to anything else around her, unaware of how my eyes are trained on her every move.
As the setting sun slants across her tanned legs, she pauses for a beat. Flipping straight light brown hair off her shoulders, strands falling elegantly down her back. I love long hair on girls. The smell (that’s if it’s clean, I’ve had instances where it wasn’t), the feel, and the texture. Caught up, I lean forward, my gaze fixed on nothing but her. Turn. How I wish she’d turn around so I could see her face. Even my heart begins to thud with anticipation.
Finally, as if hearing me, she twists. Her attention riveted on something out on the street to her left. Oh c’mon, turn toward me. The sun will be gone in minutes. She swivels, fully around this time. I’m breathless as I catch a glimpse. I could see she’s beautiful, but not in a shallow way. Something about her intrigues me.
So what am I doing? Why am I just sitting here watching her?
Snapping back to my senses, I spring from the bench and start to walk over to her, hoping she won’t run away when I tell her how angelic she is before my eyes. Jeez. That’s corny as hell, but I don’t care. I have to talk to this girl.
I’m almost there when the loud beep-beep of a car draws her attention. She twirls and I stop in my tracks. A wide smile spreads across her pink lips, and like an idiot, I convince myself she’s actually smiling at me. Realization bites me on the ass when she hurries past me like I’m invisible, heading for the red jeep parked on the side of the street waiting for her.
She didn’t see me. Like seriously?
I stand in place and watch as she climbs inside the jeep, shuts the door, and the driver takes off. Now I feel like crap, because I wasted time and missed the chance to talk to her. I wonder if I’ll ever see her again.
With hunched shoulders, I walk up the sand onto the grass and sit back on the bench, dumping grains out of my flip-flops.
A lone gull scampers across the sand. A bright moon rises in the sky. I run my fingers through my already messy hair and start to laugh. Dude, why did you get so riled up? That girl’s simply another pretty face. How many have I seen these last few months? Why should I care?
I meet, we hook-up, and I move on.
The last thing I’m looking for is a girlfriend. I’m a no commitments type of guy. None of them ever took the guilt away, anyways.
But it’s crazy, how I feel. From just one look, my gut says that girl is worth getting to know. Maybe someone I wouldn’t mind sticking around for.
WEBSITE | MAILING LIST | INSTAGRAM
Release Day Event: King by Jamie Begley!
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$50.00 Amazon or B&N Gift Card and
Signed Copies of TEASED, TAINTED & KING
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King
My good intentions always led to disaster. The cold hard truth is that I was
never meant to be a father to Lily. Staying in Treepoint, Kentucky for a few
weeks to get to know my daughter was meant to be a time of discovery, instead I
find out that she’s married to a killer and living in a sex club. I’m going to
find out how to destroy The Last Riders and give Lily the future she deserves.
Evie
He thinks I’m a whore; he doesn’t know me. I’m nobody’s fool, but he thinks
he’s going to use me to find The Last Riders only weakness. That’s his biggest
mistake of all. There’s more to me than meets the eye. King thinks he’s too
good for me, that I’m less than dirt in his eyes. What the King of Queen City
is going to find out too late is that I’m his judge, and I hold his life in my
hands.
I was born
in a small town in Kentucky. My family began poor, but worked their way to
owning a restaurant. My mother was one of the best cooks I have ever known, and
she instilled in all her children the value of hard work, and education.
Taking
after my mother, I’ve always love to cook, and became pretty good if I do say
so myself. I love to experiment and my unfortunate family has suffered through
many. They now have learned to steer clear of those dishes. I absolutely love
the holidays and my family puts up with my zany decorations.
For now, my
days are spent writing, writing, and writing. I have two children who both
graduate this year from college. My daughter does my book covers, and my son
just tries not to blush when someone asks him about my books.
Currently I
am writing four series of books- The Last Riders, The Dark Souls, The VIP Room,
and Biker Bitches series. My favorite book I have written is Soul Of A Woman,
which I am hoping to release during the summer of 2014. It took me two years to
write, during which I lost my mother, and brother. It’s a book that I truly
feel captures the true depths of love a woman can hold for a man. In case you
haven’t figured it out yet, I am an emotional writer who wants the readers to
feel the emotion of the characters they are reading. Because of this, Teased is
probably the hardest thing I have written.
All my
books are written for one purpose- the enjoyment others find in them, and the
expectations of my fans that inspire me to give it my best. In the near future
I hope to take a weekend break and visit Vegas that will hopefully be this
summer. Right now I am typing away on my next story and looking forward to
traveling this summer!”
Goodreads
page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7127521.Jamie_Begley
page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJamieBegley
Website: http://www.jamiebegley.net/
Email: JamieBegley@ymail.com
Twitter: @Jamie_Begley
Nero is the
king of Legacy Prep, living a life of power.
Elle is the school’s punching bag, living a life of fear.
The only good girls Nero knows jump in his bed when he tells them to.
The closest Elle has come to a bad boy like him is in the cafeteria line.
The mob boss gave him orders to find out what she knows.
Her mouth is sealed.
I just want to be a fucking made
man.
I’m just a fucking waitress.
Hey! My
name is Sarah Brianne and after living for twenty-two years the characters in
my head told me enough was enough and I have finally put pen to paper (or is it
finger to keyboard?) to tell their stories. Since I was a little girl I have
watched every chick flick I could get my hands on, then when I became older I
discovered a whole new world of romance novels. To me there is nothing better
then a tale of true love and those are the stories that have inspired me to
write. Like everything else in my life I have put my own spin on two lovers
destined to be together.
Next to my
books my prized possession are my two beautiful fur babies, Kalypso and
Khaleesi. I know what you’re thinking, do you pack them in your purse? Yep,
right next to my kindle.
Please
stalk me and feel free to message me here,
Facebook.com/AuthorSarahBrianne
@AuthorSarahBri
COVER REVEAL: DORI LAVELLE’S DEFINING MOMENTS!
How much heartbreak can one heart take?
Melisa Dane has made it through the worst. Her heart was broken, but Florian Dane, better known as “Heat”—and the man of her dreams—returned to mend it. Now, with her family almost complete, Melisa is ready to sit back and enjoy life.
But fate isn’t done with her yet. The perpetual smile on her face freezes when the second man to steal her heart shows up in her life once again. Scott Bergfeld, the husband she buried and grieved for years ago, is not dead, and he comes back bearing secrets.
Heartbroken and confused, Melisa tries to find answers to questions she never thought she’d ask, but what she learns throws her life into turmoil. Soon, cracks start to form in her marriage with Heat. As her heart is torn into two halves—between the man she loved first and the man she married first—she comes dangerously close to having her whole life destroyed again. How many people will end up getting hurt? This time, does she have the strength to make it through?
Dori Lavelle,
is a mother, wife, and lover of happy endings and mint chocolate. She thinks
love and chocolate make such a perfect pair. Give her a great romance novel
with a hint of suspense and a mug of hot chocolate and she’d be one happy
woman.
Growing up,
Dori read a lot, and when she wasn’t happy with a particular ending, she wrote
a different one, just for herself. Before long, she was writing stories when
she should have been doing homework. The time has come for her to share the
stories she cooks up in her head.
Website :
http://www.dorilavelle.com/
Newsletter :
http://ymlp.com/xgbbwwbwgmgj
Facebook
Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dori-Lavelle/1423314904547560
Goodreads
Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7348559.Dori_Lavelle
Blog:
http://dori-lavelle.blogspot.com
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DoriLavelle
Email:
Dori_lavelle@yahoo.com
June 26, 2014
Sneak Peek: Tapout by JC Valentine
Book Title: Tapout
Author: JC Valentine
Genre: New Adult Romance
Release Date: July 8, 2014
Hosted by:Book Enthusiast Promotions
History brought them together. Circumstances may them apart.
Alyson Blake’s past left her with scars. Scars that she tried to fix the only way she knew how—by helping others. But actions have consequences, and Alyson is about to find out that being naïve is no excuse.
Fighting is Jamison Weston’s passion. Alyson is his obsession. Despite the past and a few lingering concerns, their relationship is as solid as ever. Until a shocking lie is uncovered and all of his plans begin to unravel. Now, Jami is rushing to pick up the pieces, but as relationships are put to the test, will he be strong enough to keep it together, or will it all just fall apart?
Best selling author J.C. Valentine is the alter-ego of Brandi Salazar, whose enjoyment of tales of romance spurred her to branch out and create her own.
She lives in the Northwest with her husband, their wild children, and far too many pets. As a university student, she studies literature, which goes well with her dream of becoming an editor. Brandi entertains a number of hobbies including reading and photography, but her first love is writing fiction-in all its forms.
June 25, 2014
Book Blitz: The Black Jack Gentleman by Liz Crowe
The Black Jack Gentlemen
A city and a sport with something to prove—Meet the men who take that challenge.
The Black Jack Gentlemen—Detroit’s expansion soccer team.
They play hard. And live harder.
Book 1: Man On
Book 2: Red Card
Book 3: Shut Out
And coming soon…
Book 4: Set Piece
Book 5: Hat Trick
MAN ON ….. .99 during the 2014 World Cup!
Bad boy of European football, Nicolas Garza is about to hit American shores with a vengeance. Signed by the Detroit Black Jack Gentlemen as lynchpin for their expansion club, Nicco only half believes he’s making the right move. But with a past full of ghosts and rotten behavior chasing him from his homeland, he has no real choice.
Parker Rollings is a college soccer superstar, but his parents’ plans for their only son do not include professional athletics. When the Black Jacks approach him to finalize their roster, Parker leaps at the chance to keep playing, leaving behind medical school, stability and his first and only college sweetheart.
Nicco and Parker face off as bitter rivals for a coveted starting spot at midfield and are forced to channel their negative energy into something positive for the sake of the group—and themselves.
All eyes are on the fledgling team in its debut season. It’s crucial that the Black Jacks prove all the doubters wrong. They must make a good showing in the league and with new fans. But player drama,club dynamics, and misplaced priorities may tear it apart before it even begins.
RED CARD….. FREE during the 2014 World Cup!
Free will makes us human.
Choice makes us individuals.
Love makes us unique.
Metin Sevim has it all. At the pinnacle of international soccer playing success, he has managed to craft a perfect world for himself along the way.
When fate strips him of free will and the ability to choose his own path, he retreats from everyone and everything, destroying his hard-won career in the process.
Dragged back from the brink by his desperate family, Metin reluctantly agrees to coach the Black Jack Gentlemen Detroit soccer team but remains debilitated by memories and loss.When a surprising friendship emerges, it renews his passion for life, providing much needed solace…and extreme complications.
A saga of family dynamics and gender politics that cuts across cultures and circumstance, Red Card illustrates the human capacity for forgiveness through the life of one man as he attempts to rebuild his shattered existence.
SHUT OUT….. .99 during the 2014 World Cup!
A submissive once, a submissive forever?
A man on the run from the only life he’s ever known, Brody Vaughn is poised to accept the Black Jack Gentleman’s newly vacant goalkeeper’s position. It’s a desperate move, but one he must take to regain his emotional equilibrium. Reeling from his Mistress’s rejection and on the ragged edge of a total breakdown, he arrives in Detroit. Numb with thinly veiled grief, he walks into the club’s front office completely unaware that an encounter with true destiny awaits him.
Sophie Harrison has seen it all–as Domme, sub, and victim. Now that her complicated circumstances have landed her as legal counsel for the expansion Black Jacks team, she holds herself aloof in body and spirit. Nothing and no one gets past her fiercely guarded walls. Until the day she looks up to greet the new goalie standing in her doorway, his raw combination of vulnerability and strength making her breathless.
Two people, horribly scarred by the excesses of the BDSM lifestyle and hiding from their true selves, meet across a desk over a simple contract. All bets are off.
CAUGHT OFFSIDE…. .99 during the World Cup!
Stand alone novella
1Night Stand Series
Decadent Publishing
Ramon Castillo, world famous soccer player and international playboy has been brought low by a career-ending injury. After the humiliation of a shattered leg at the World Cup final, he has spent a year enduring surgeries and painful therapies, the last three months of which are at the Castillo resort in Las Vegas under the watchful eye of his cousin, Jackson Castillo and owner of the Castillo hotel chain. But Ramon’s lack of interest in soccer, women, or in anything besides the blackjack tables has Jackson worried.
Gillian Winter, catering and banquet manager for the MGM Grand Hotel is nurturing her own deep wounds. Her beloved husband has died unexpectedly, leaving her with a young son whose one dream is to meet his hero: Number 17 on the American National Soccer team, Ramon Castillo. When an apparent chance encounter in the lobby of the MGM reveals Ramon’s presence in their midst, everyone’s lives are changed forever.
Can Madame Eve work her magic and bring true healing to Ramon and Gillian? Or is it too late?
All RATED R for language
MAN ON
A handful of fresh-faced young Americans interspersed in the group, which made Nicco feel old. Which totally pissed him off. What was Inez thinking anyway? There were two players per position in the room, two strong contenders for each spot—except his. He sipped his water bottle and glared at the Germans. Nervous tension gnawed at his gut but he kept his face calm. Finally when their temporary coach showed up and flipped the blinds closed, he relaxed.
So everyone in the room has to fight for their spot except me? That works.
He dropped his feet to the floor at Rafe’s pointed glance and propped his elbows on the table prepared to ignore the forthcoming pep talk.
He’d already made plans for the night and wanted to rest up beforehand. This goofy welcome pep talk would be as good a time as any. Letting his thoughts wander to the nightclub promising full discretion, he made himself stop obsessing over the failed therapy session.
The door clicked open and all eyes landed on the tall, blond man who walked in,backpack on his shoulder, dressed to play. Nicco’s scalp tingled at the sight of him—strong torso, long legs, firm jaw covered with several days’ worth of fuzz.
Good Christ but he was a perfect specimen.
Nicco kept his casual stance but startled when the kid’sbright blue eyes and huge white smile landed on him.He resisted the urge to smile back. Something about the man made Nicco distinctly uncomfortable. He suddenly wished he’d held onto the shrink’s business card.
“And Parker will be working with you, Nicco.”
He sat up, knocking his water to the floor as Rafe’s words got his immediate attention. He stared at the polite hand the kid stuck in his face then over at Rafe. His throat closed up between the proximity of the impossibly handsome man andrealization of the fact that the vision of masculine perfection he’d lusted after for the lastfew seconds wanted to take his spot on the field.
Oh hell no.
He leaned back again and ignored his inner polite self. Instead, he smirked, ignored the punk, and turned to face their coach as if suddenly fascinated by what the guy had to say. Parker stood a minute, and Nicco watched his face turn red before he sat in the one empty chair nearest the door.
Rafe passed out new phones, reminded them of their obligation to “tweet” and “post profile updates” on Facebook at least three times a day. All shit Nicco already knew. Rafe’s hot young lady assistant issued key cards to the ones who’d just arrived,including the kid Nicco studiously ignored but whose very presence was making the front of his jeans uncomfortable.
RED CARD
“It’s your hips that are the problem.”
Alicia startled at the sound of his now-familiar, sing-song accent. She’d been kicking a line of balls into the net, one after the other for about fifteen minutes since she’d been early in her haste to get the hell out of her house and away from her sister’s loud disapproval.
Taking a breath, she crossed her arms and studied him. Metin wore a pair of dark blue soccer shorts, plain heather-gray shirt, and cleats, as easily as he’d worn the dress pants and crisp cotton shirt the night she’d met him—the night you fucked him, you mean.
He stood, loose-limbed, at ease in his element. His teeth glowed against his dark skin. The eyes she had melted into not forty-eight hours ago shone with something she couldn’t identify—happiness? Sarcasm? Lust? Who knew? Hoping to hide her frustration, she bent down to tie her laces tighter so he couldn’t see her face flush when her gaze hit the front of his shorts.
She rose, determined to resist the take-me-now aura the guy threw her way. He probably didn’t even realize he did it. Not anymore. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s wrong with my hips?”
“Come at me.”
She blinked, confused. “Um, huh?”
“Attack, make like you want to score. You know? Like you do in games?”
“Oh, right.” Dropping the ball tucked under her arm, she glanced over his shoulder at her target. He let her, trotting backward a few steps, then made for the ball. She feinted, maintaining possession before dribbling a few more feet.
He came out of nowhere as she was about to make her final scoring charge, stripping her of the ball and sending her crashing to the turf.
“Ow. Shit,” she muttered, getting to her feet, a familiar, angry competitiveness stripping all the horniness right out of her head. “I still don’t get what….”
“Do it again.” He kicked the ball toward her,harder than necessary, but she stopped it and placed her cleat on top contemplating a different strategy.
Shifting to the side, she danced past him, using all the speed she could muster, and headed straight for the goal. And there he was again, taking the damn ball away from her as if she were a rookie.
She tried to shield it, putting her back to him and sensing every inch of his warm, perfect physique against her skin. Forcing herself to focus, she landed a hard elbow to his midsection and escaped his trap then traveled down the field alone, turning on all her motors, no longer hearing anything, way into her zone.
And then, the damn man appeared in front of her again, batting the ball between her legs and taking off in the other direction, hand to his side where she’d nailed him.
“God damn it, Metin. What is your point? You’re a pro. I’m an unemployed college graduate. You’re a man. I’m not. You make money at this, and I never will. What the hell are you trying to prove?” Her legs hurt from her workout the day before and she could barely catch her breath. She was, in a word, miserable. But the sight of him a few yards away, messing with the soccer ball while he stared at her, brought visions of tackling him, holding him down, and kissing him right to the front of her overheated brain.She turned away, ready to escape.
“Once more.” The soccer ball smacked the back of her legs so hard she yelped. “That’s your fucking yellow card for the elbow. One more and you’ll sit.”
SHUT OUT
“Vaughn! Goddamn it.”
Brody sat, staring at his feet, ignoring the usual post-match noise and bustle around him. Most especially he hoped to hide from the voice of Rafael Inez, the club’s manager. Reminders of how poorly he’d performed today were not going to help him. He’d been playing soccer in some capacity since he walked, since he had memories of anything. And today had been among his worst, ever.
From the streets of Nashville and the hills of East Tennessee, he’d been on teams, in clubs, trained by himself, trained by pros, the whole goddamned nine yards. He’d seen every sort of match condition, coaching, officiating misstep, and parental overreaction. He realized what it meant to suck serious ass. And he understood why he’d done just that today, too—hence the dark clouds draping his consciousness
The team manager drew closer, his deep voice joined by another, as a sort of bonus, really. He leaned against the dark wood lining the walls in the over-the-top, fancy locker room.
Metin Sevim, the Turkish coach, once a Spanish league phenom, had had the world at his feet until a horrific tragedy struck, leaving him drunk and useless for years. Apparently recovered, he had a look on his face Brody Vaughn caught loud and clear—the “we lost and it is pretty much your fault but I don’t want to upset you too much” glare that coaches the world over affected.
Exhausted in mind and spirit, sick of the chewing out before it even started, Brody gazed at both men. Rafe’s snapping eyes reflected the same expression as Metin’s. He opened his mouth first, but the Turk put a hand on his arm. The men regarded each other as the swirl of post-match activity came to a loud peak.
Players in various stages of undress wandered in and out of the main locker room, grabbing towels, pulling on the dress pants, shirts, and ties the club required of them when entering and leaving the facility. One thing Brody would say about the former-hot-headed, player-turned-failure-turned-coach, Metin knew when not to talk. He tilted his head, still pinning Brody with something that faded from this is your fault to what the hell is wrong with you?
Then he sighed and, to Brody’s surprise, dropped onto the chair next to him, leaned forward, elbows on knees, and seemed to examine the expensive, rubberized floor. Brody hadn’t even made it to the shower yet. He felt so weighed down and lethargic, just lifting his arms to put his head in his hands took more energy than existed on the planet. He knew why, along with the fact that there wasn’t a thing to be done about it.
How would he even begin to describe his issue? Heart pounding, legs aching, shoulder screaming where he’d landed on it, then waved away the trainer at the sixty-fifth minute. By that time all of the players were pretty gassed from the late summer heat, but held on, toe-to-toe, with the Canadian national team in a friendly. The stupid, sneaky forward had seen him wincing, favoring his left shoulder, and drove the ball in on his newly weakened side. It had been a simple fifty-fifty ball; face to face. He had blown it, him and his overpaid, lame ass, wobbly self.
Thanks to his one quick encounter with the front office legal woman, he’d been left in a quivering, useless, uncertain heap of need. Fuck that. He had to get a grip.
Amazon best-selling author, beer blogger and beer marketing expert, mom of three, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe lives Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fundraising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.
Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”). More recently she is garnering even more fans across genres with her latest novels, which are more character-driven fiction, while remaining very much “real life.”
With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
Blog Tour: Agent M4: Riordan by Joni Hahn!
Agent M4: Riordan by Joni Hahn
Series: D.I.R.E. Agency, # 4
Publication Date: June 4, 2014
Genre: Sci-fi Romance, Superhero Romance
Credentials:
• Former D.I.R.E. Enemy Agent
• Mongolian Prison Survivor
Enhancement:
• Magnetism
Sent to a Mongolian prison against his will, former enemy agent Riordan St. James is suddenly back in civilization. With his hands crushed, and littered with scars, he trusts no one. When he accepts D.I.R.E.’s prosthetic hands to operate a future, super power enhancement, Riordan knows their offer comes with a price – he just isn’t sure he wants to pay.
After an affair with a client turns deadly, psychologist and senator’s daughter Natalie Meeks, doesn’t trust her own judgment. When she’s hired to help Riordan adjust to civilization again, she finds herself in familiar, forbidden territory – battling a fiery attraction to her client.
One heated encounter with the elegant Dr. Meeks convinces Riordan to abide by D.I.R.E.’s bargain. However, when new evidence about his disappearance uncovers shocking secrets, he questions not only his decision, but the people around him – including his sexy-as-hell doctor.
While their lives become more entangled, yet pulled apart, a madman turns up the heat on his plans for Natalie. And the only person she can trust is the one man that doesn’t trust her…
If men were like ice cream, Riordan St. James would be rocky road.
Tilting her head, Natalie Meeks studied the new D.I.R.E. agent through the one-way glass. He was one major hottie and, like ice cream, the last thing she needed on her hips.But, a girl could dream.Golden, sun-streaked hair lay in sweat-soaked tufts against the wide horizon of his shoulders. His pale blue eyes were barricaded and hard, a narrow beard lining his tight jaw. Glistening, tanned skin, mapped with scars, covered a torso of concrete-like muscle, his back a crossroads of whip marks.
Hanging on a pull-up bar several yards from the other agents, Riordan appeared to be a loner, on the opposite side of a bridge from human contact and relationships. His perpetual scowl screamed back off, his tense shoulders poised for attack. All he needed was a do not enter sign stamped on his forehead to make it official.
It must be her lucky day. She had to figure out how to get past the human obstacle course and get inside.
“So, are you ready to meet him, Doctor?”
No, she wasn’t ready to meet Riordan St. James. As a matter of fact, she really wanted to leave. Once upon a time, she’d considered herself qualified to diagnose and treat people with emotional conditions. Now, she didn’t trust her own judgment on what deodorant to use.
“As I told you on the phone, Mitchell, I really don’t feel skilled–“
“Save it.” Mitchell sliced a hand through the air, his brows furrowed. “What happened with Paul Warner was one hundred percent his fault, Natalie. He knew what he was doing.”
That made it even worse. As his psychologist, she should’ve seen it coming. She could’ve prevented it.
Mitchell Jacobs wouldn’t understand that. Paul would’ve been just another casualty in his book. In hers, a possible love turned tragic regret.
Crossing her arms over her middle, she sighed. “He won’t be pleased to meet me.”
Mitchell chuckled with a shake of his head. “No, he won’t. I’ll bet a bottle of Glenfiddich 1937 Scotch he’ll be royally pissed.”
Oh… yay.
Riordan climbed onto a treadmill farther across the room. He pressed a couple of buttons and started to jog.
“So, what do you want from me, Mitchell? A clinical diagnosis?”
“I want you to get him ready for the field. I think he lacks confidence. Right now, he thinks he’s ready – I say, he’s not.”
Natalie frowned as she played with her pearl earring. That meant working with him beyond today. What did she have to do to make Mitchell realize her qualifications disqualified her for the job?
Riordan St. James was different from any patient she’d ever counseled. He had a raw, barbaric edge about him, reminding her of a street fighter. He played by his own rules, wore attitude like a badge and defense like a shield.
She worked with the upper echelon of society. People that enjoyed telling her their troubles, people that looked for easy prescription drugs and found her unyielding. Many of her clients worked with her father in the Senate, or lived in upscale San Diego.
Her patients liked her. Listening rather than talking had been a trait from birth, her desire to help others deep and ingrained.
Riordan St. James didn’t strike her as a talker or someone that wanted help.
He pushed himself harder and faster than any of the other agents in the room. Sweat ran from his brow, the waistband of his shorts soaked through.
“When do you need him?”
“Yesterday.” Mitchell sighed as he turned to face her. “I took a gamble with St. James, Natalie. When he came in, he was in bad shape. Among his injuries, his hands had been broken and crushed. Deformed, for lack of a better word.”
Her gaze shot to the man on the treadmill. Though several feet away, he appeared exceptionally… fit, his hands normal. However, the scars littering his body backed up Mitchell’s story.
“Using a device similar to a 3D printer, we mapped out the previous bone structure of his hands and created replicas made with neodymium, iron and boron.”
Stilling, she held out a hand to halt his speech. “Wait. Are you telling me he has magnetic bones in his hands?”
Nodding, Mitchell said, “Yes, but the attraction is minor at this point.”
Slack-jawed, she could do nothing but stare. Had she just stepped into Frankenstein’s laboratory? “Why? Why not give him normal prosthetics?”
Leaning a shoulder against the wall, Mitchell shoved his hands in his pockets. “Have you heard of Robert Naylor?”
The infamous crime boss. Natalie doubted there were many people that hadn’t heard of him. “Yes.”
“St. James was one of Naylor’s best agents. The man has talents I can use. My plan is to give Riordan the ability to attract and repel objects with his magnetic hands. He has the groundwork now. Once I know I can depend on him, I’ll install the rest of his system.”
Shaking her head, Natalie couldn’t believe what she’d heard. “You’re going to make him some kind of… superhero?”
Mitchell gave a lopsided grin. “You could call him that.”
Logic warred with astonishment in her head. “That kind of thing is impossible… isn’t it?”
His arrogant smirk almost seemed patronizing. “I assure you, it’s quite possible. I already have a team of agents with super powers. My son, Tristan, among them.”
What had she gotten herself into? D.I.R.E. made scientific enhancements to human beings. Her father had used D.I.R.E. in the past. Did he know about this?
She pointed at Riordan through the glass. “He agreed to this… enhancement?”
Mitchell nodded before glancing at Riordan. “Make no mistake, Natalie. He trusts no one. And, he has good reason for feeling that way, too. St. James knew if he didn’t take my offer of new hands, he’d live handicapped the rest of his life. The magnetic bones were a quick, permanent fix – for him and our team.” His voice lowered. “He needs to trust again. He can trust D.I.R.E.”
The sun-god dropped to the floor and did push-ups. This was just so wrong. Wasn’t it? Messing with the human body? Playing God?
Then again, the idea of following someone going through the process, and tracking his subsequent work, fascinated her. It would take her work to a level she’d never imagined.
You can’t even diagnose normal humans. You want to diagnose superheroes?
“He’s been working his ass off, trying to get back in shape,” Mitchell said. “He’s made remarkable progress. If anything, he’s determined to defeat not only bad guys but his own demons.”
Riordan switched to one-handed push-ups without skipping a beat. He had demons, no question. They stood on the opposite side of that bridge he’d erected. She just wasn’t sure if the bridge was intended to keep them at bay or to rush them head on when he felt ready.
Then again, she had her own demons to slay. Helping Mitchell and Riordan St. James would keep them front and center. What if she failed them both?
Mitchell said, “I need good agents, stat. And, when I get St. James up and running, my gut tells me he’s going to be one bad ass superhero.”
By day, Joni Hahn keeps her secret decoder ring hidden while she works as a mild-mannered HR manager and accounting generalist. She believes the world can never have too many superheroes, and anxiously waits for the call when one will need help saving the world… or getting into his costume. Joni was born with a hopelessly tender heart and believes there is nothing more exhilarating than falling in love (other than the rear shot of Chris Evans hitting the punching bag in The Avengers – that was pretty darn exhilarating). A native Texan, she thinks cowboys are the epitome of masculinity, and country music is the other soul music.
Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads
June 24, 2014
Book Blitz: Tea and Primroses/Blue Midnight by Tess Thompson
Book Title: Tea and Primroses
Author: Tess Thompson
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: February 2014
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions
Tea and Primroses: Nothing is as it seemed in calm, quaint Legley Bay.
Famous novelist, Constance (last name) lived a seemingly straightforward – if private – and somewhat predictable life. Friends, beloved daughter Sutton, a beautiful home, and all the success an author could wish for. A perfect life….but was it?
When a hit and run accident suddenly takes her mother’s life, Sutton finds hidden secrets with her heartbreak. Emotional walls she assumed Constance had built to protect her privacy may have been to protect something – or someone – else entirely. Family and friends return home for support, including her own lost-love, Declan. He’s the first thing she craves to help her cope with her loss and the questions she’s left with, but he’s also the last person she wants to see. Will he be able to put down roots at last?
Can the loss of true love be the making of a life or is it destined to be the undoing of everything? When money, power and love combine across time, anything is possible.
Prologue
When the doorbell rang, Sutton Mansfield at first thought it was part of the music on the radio. She hummed to her favorite country station, set loud as she moved about her bungalow, sipping hot, black tea and unpacking from her overseas trip. She was looking forward to lunch with her mother, who had used her contacts in the publishing industry to arrange the dream trip for Sutton’s thirtieth birthday. Sutton had studied for two months with a master baker in Paris.
She pushed open her front window; the familiar scent of the seaside entered the room. It was an ordinary morning in Legley Bay: the sound of seagulls in the distance; the familiar view of her street, lined with modest houses built mostly in the 1940s; and, just beyond, the Pacific Ocean a paler blue than the August sky. Legley Bay was a one-stoplight kind of town, the unwanted stepchild of the northern Oregon coast. There were no tourist temptations here, no stretch of beach with famed rocks like Cannon Beach or Manzanita or Arch Cape. No one opened shops or restaurants to tempt wealthy city dwellers. It was nothing more than the ordinary here, buildings sagging and faded from damp, salty air, and small businesses struggling to survive against Wal-Mart and Costco thirty or so miles in every direction but west.
Opening the window a little farther, she took in a deep breath through her nose and felt grateful for the familiar. Home is home. It was good to return. She turned away from the view and back to her cozy bungalow, decorated with eclectic pieces she’d gathered over the years, antiques and shabby chic, all very French countryside, like the artisan and rustic baked goods she made: crusty breads, buttery pastries, soft cookies.
She’d conquered the croissant while in Paris. She smiled, thinking of it, but instantly sobered. There was nowhere to debut her new skills but her own kitchen. She had no job. Six months ago she’d left her assistant baker position at a well-known bakery in Portland, where she’d apprenticed for the better part of five years, to move home to Legley Bay. It was her dream to open her own shop, but so far the courage to do so had been as elusive as the perfect croissant.
The sound of the doorbell came again. Yes, it was the door, not a note in the music. Who could it be? No one but her mother knew she was back in town. She turned down the radio; her mobile phone was buzzing—Roger. She tossed the phone on the couch; it bounced on a cushion and fell onto the soft rug. Voicemail. Just go to voicemail, she thought. I need time to think. Not yet. She needed to speak with her mother first. Her mother would help her sort it through. Mom, I’m having doubts about the wedding. That’s all she would need to say. Then they would hash it out over a glass of wine or a walk on the beach. Is it just that I’m afraid or do I not love him enough? Her mother would know the answer.
The doorbell rang again just as she reached for the doorknob. Opening it, she saw Tim Ball, the town’s Chief of Police. He was the same age as her mother, in his mid-to-late fifties, and his lined face was still handsome, hinting at the town’s football star he once was. But today his skin was gray and his features pinched. She backed away from the door, as if he were going to hurt her. What was the matter?
“Sutton, can I come in?”
She nodded, backing into the room. Don’t say it.
He guided her toward the couch. “Please sit, sweetheart.”
She did so, clasping her hands together on her lap. “Is it my mom?”
“I’m so sorry.” He stopped; his eyes reddened. “She was killed this morning.”
Book Title: Blue Midnight
Author: Tess Thompson
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: July 2014
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions
“If you change your mind, here’s this.” Finn Lanigan kissed a young Blythe Heywood one last time under an Idaho star-scattered sky. Then she left, returning to her fiancé and the wedding she’d committed to. It was the last kiss that ever weakened her knees, the last sky she noticed for over a dozen years.
Thirteen years later, newly divorced, she finds the forgotten slip of paper in the back of drawer.
Finn Lanigan – 208-555-2004
She’d tossed it years before, hadn’t she? Surely she had, in one of the moments that first year of marriage when her loyalty was resolute. Apparently not. Here it lived. Her temptation. Her road not taken.
Facing three weeks without her young daughters, she sets out to find the man she left behind so long ago. With only the name of the small town where he once lived, Peregrine, Idaho, and the memory of their last kiss under a starry sky, she heads across the Pacific Northwest in search of him.
What she finds in the foothills of Blue Mountain and the tiny town of Peregrine changes her life forever. But it is her destiny and destinies cannot be denied.
The first book of the Lanigan Clan Collection, laced with Thompson’s complex and diverse characters, “Blue Midnight” is a mature love story about second chances, family and the complexities of trust and vulnerability after betrayal.”
Chapter 1
I found it at the very back of my bedside table drawer, next to a forgotten bottle of nail polish. I’d forgotten to empty the drawers in preparation for the movers that morning and was doing so now, shoving most of the neglected or forsaken contents into trash bags. But this scrap of paper, it stopped me. Shaped like a duck’s beak and wedged between the bottom of the drawer and the back panel, with just its tip exposed, it wasn’t enough, really, to indicate something of any significance. But I knew. I knew in an instant. I stood motionless, taking in every jagged detail. Then, I tugged; it came loose easily. This small slip of paper with a man’s name and number scrawled in blue ink seemed benign enough. Finn Lanigan 208-555-2004. And yet, the pulse at my neck quickened. Heat traveled from my center to every limb. I sank on molten legs to the stripped mattress. I held this scrap of paper, torn from a bar receipt, between damp fingers and stared at it like the ghost it was.
I’d tossed it years before, hadn’t I? Surely I had, in one of my moments that first year of marriage when my loyalty was resolute. Hadn’t I disposed of it when I embraced my choice? Apparently not. Here it lived. My temptation. My road not taken.
My daughters’ voices floated up the winding staircase from where they chased one another like wanton puppies in the now nearly empty 4,500 square feet of custom floors, intricate finish work, and marble countertops. I went to the window that faced the street and looked out onto our neighborhood park, empty this morning of children. Today was the first day of summer vacation and children and their mothers were sleeping late. How many hours of my life had I spent in that park, pushing my babies in swings, chasing after them as toddlers, and, when they were old enough to climb the play structures by themselves, chatting with other mothers about this milestone or that? The hours could not be calculated, of course, nor the wages lost by choosing to stay at home with my children instead of continuing my career.
The windows were open to let the fresh June air cleanse away all remnants of the scents of my family before the new owners claimed it with their own smells. Outside, the movers shouted to one another as they loaded the family room couch into the moving truck. My neighbor from two doors down walked by the truck, her eyes averted. Her manicured hands grasped the leash of her Labradoodle. She couldn’t look. It was easier to pretend the collective nightmare for almost every woman in our affluent Seattle neighborhood had not happened to someone in their circle, someone with whom they exercised, had dinner parties, and volunteered at private school. Someone they liked. A stay-at-home mom, almost forty-five, left by her husband for another woman and forced to leave her beautiful home and sought-after neighborhood. I was everyone’s worst-case scenario.
My eyes went back to the slip of paper in my hand.
If you change your mind, here’s this. Then he’d kissed me one last time under an Idaho star-scattered sky larger than any other. After the kiss I wished would last forever ended, as all good things must, I turned away, back to the life I’d agreed to, the wedding I’d committed to. It was the last kiss that ever weakened my knees, the last sky I noticed for thirteen years.
Now, Clementine, my seven-year-old, pounded up the stairs, followed by the tip-tap of her older sister Lola in her flip-flops. I shoved the slip of paper in the pocket of my shorts. I couldn’t know then why I didn’t just toss it in the garbage like I had so many memories and possessions in the weeks preceding. I know now. It was my destiny, and destinies cannot be denied.
Tess Thompson is a novelist and playwright with a BFA in Drama from the University of Southern California. In 2011 she released her first novel, Riversong, which subsequently became a best seller.
Like her main character in the Legley Bay collection, Tess is from a small town in Oregon. She currently lives in a suburb of Seattle, Washington with her two young daughters, Emerson and Ella, and their puppy Patches. She is inspired daily by the view of the Cascade Mountains from her home office window.
Tess is working on her next novel and regularly blogs about her journey as a mother, author and friend at http://www.tesswrites.com.
Tea and Primroses
Blue Midnight
June 23, 2014
Release Day Event: Hold On To Love by Roberta Capizzi
Book Title: Hold on to Love
Author: Roberta Capizzi
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 23, 2014
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions
Three weeks. All Alyssa O’Riordan needs is three weeks away from her wealthy life in New York City, to clear her mind and decide what she wants from her life. A dude ranch in Wyoming seems like the perfect place for a temporary escape from the cage her life has become.
What she doesn’t expect is to come face-to-face with a handsome cowboy, who’s just as grumpy and rough as he is good-looking. All of a sudden, the promise of a relaxing, invigorating holiday seems long gone.
Three weeks. For Sean Maclaine, three weeks around the new guest feel like an eternity. After his first-hand experience with the upper class, rich daddy’s girls have become his worst nightmare, so when Alyssa O’Riordan shows up at his family’s ranch, he knows the time won’t go by fast enough. All he has to do is stay away from her, and count the hours until she finally goes back to New York.
Three weeks. Will three weeks be long enough for them to get over their prejudices and start looking beyond the surface?
An avid reader since her childhood years and being an only child, Roberta always enjoyed the company of her fictional friends from the children’s books she loved reading, while she dreamed of writing her own stories one day.
It was when she discovered novels by authors Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy in her teenage years that she realized it was time she put down in words the stories she had kept well hidden in her mind until then.
What started as a hobby, soon turned into a real passion and a way of life, until she could no longer keep the stories to herself, and decided to get over her fears and share them with the world.
Roberta lives in Italy, but her dream is to move out of her country and live either in a thatched cottage in the Irish countryside or in a country house with a swing on the back porch, somewhere in the United States, where she would love to spend her days writing novels as a full-time job, and maybe one day even get as far as writing a screenplay for a movie.
“Damn!”
Sean stood up and slammed his rubber gloves hard on the floor. Alyssa gave a start, and instinctively took a step back.
“What’s wrong?” she dared to ask, hoping it wasn’t something she’d said or done.
“Rosie’s ready to deliver and my parents will be gone all day. Even if I called them now they wouldn’t be back in time and I just can’t do this alone.”
He removed his cowboy hat and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. A second later, he started pacing nervously back and forth, scratching the back of his neck as if he wanted to peel the skin off. It was weird to see him like this, totally out of control.
“You’ve never done it before?” she asked, immediately regretting her surprised tone which would probably upset him even more. She braced herself for his reaction but instead he hung his head, and shook it in resignation.
“I’ve seen my father doing it a hundred times, but all I did was assist him. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“I’m sure you’ll know what to do once you start. I can try to help, if you want.”
He stopped pacing and looked at her with a smirk on his face.
“Help? Ha! Wouldn’t you ruin your manicure?”
The way he cocked his left eyebrow and his ironic tone made blood rush straight to her head. Her cheeks flushed; she had never wanted to slap someone so much as she did now, not even Julian back in court.
“You know, if you don’t want people to treat you like a stupid countryman, maybe you should stop acting like one!”
This guy always managed to make her lose her mind; he seemed to bring out the most irrational and instinctive part of her. It scared her more than it annoyed her. She’d always considered herself a good-mannered girl who knew how to behave at dinners amongst upper-class people, but ever since she came here she’d become a different person—somebody she didn’t know and was afraid of.
He shrugged, totally unfazed by her words. “I thought you said you were a lawyer: what would you know about it? How could you possibly help? I didn’t know lawyers in New York had cows in their backyards.”
“You’re just a stupid, childish, pigheaded man with a smaller brain than that of a country rat,” she spat out, unable and unwilling to control herself any longer. She’d had enough of his harshness. She’d done nothing to deserve it. “I’ve grown so tired of your stupid prejudices. I don’t know what’s so wrong with me, apart from belonging to a wealthy family. I didn’t ask for it, and I’m sorry if it bothers you, but that’s the way it is.”
She turned around, meaning to leave, but she realized that if she did it would be just like admitting he was right, and that she was only a posh city girl who didn’t want to ruin her designer clothes and manicure. She turned back and glared at him.
“I wish I could just walk out and leave you to it, but I’m sorry for Rosie and I want to do something to help, even if it only means fetching a bucket of water or bringing some more hay.”
She folded her arms across her chest and shot him a look of defiance, as if to challenge him to say one more nasty word to her now. If only one of them could play the part of the adult then she knew she’d have to be it.
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