Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 49
November 4, 2014
Furious Fire…Grimm #8 releases in ONE week
How about a snippet?
“Don’t touch…”
Even as Finn caught her hands, she twisted away and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
“You always say that.” She bit him on the ear and from behind, she pressed her breasts to him. “But then you look at me and you want me to touch you. I want to touch you…what’s the harm?”
Fire licked at his flesh, and he wasn’t just talking about the lust.
Built in controls kicked in, because even in his dreams—and Finn knew he was dreaming—Finn could never lose control of that fire. He gripped her wrists, squeezed, squeezed, squeezed until he felt bones grind together. “There’s lots of harm.”
His voice was coldly practical and when he pulled away, she didn’t try to draw him back to her.
He turned, look at her.
Sanity splintered, try to fall to pieces around him as he stared at her. A quiet beauty—that had been Becky, the woman he’d loved, the only woman. She looked at him now, but she hadn’t been the woman nibbling on his ear a moment ago.
Not Becky…and worse, he knew her. Granted, the last time he’d seen her—the only time he’d seen her, she’d worn a mask of blood and there been still more blood spilling from the gutwound in her stomach. Now, though, she wore a chemise and pantaloons, a corset that was clearly meant to be seen the only other piece of clothing. It was entirely likely she’d been wearing the same garments the day she’d died—the day he’d failed to save her.
Just like he’d failed to save Becky.
“How is your touch ever going to harm me, Finn?” she asked as she came close to him. Her nipples pressed against the thin cloth of her chemise and through the almost sheer pantaloons, he saw the dark shadow between her thighs.
But that wasn’t what made his throat go dry, or what had his heart slam against his chest with an intensity he hadn’t known since before his death.
She’d spoken to him…in Becky’s voice.
But Becky was dead, and unlike Finn, when she’d died, she hadn’t been brought back through Death’s door.
“Stop,” he growled, uncertain what trick his brain was playing on him. Dreaming. He had to be. He’d never much cared to dream, but this had to be the worst—
She smiled at him and as the smile curved her lips, her face wavered, reformed. Now she was growing taller, her skin darkening from pale cream to a warm, toffee brown. “Stop what?”
“This…this game. Just stop it, sweetheart, stop it now.”
Something cold flooded the room.
“Sweetheart,” she hissed. The word was cold, almost ugly and he swung his head back to look at her. The change was complete and he froze, because once, more, he recognized her.
A woman he’d known, only briefly, in Quebec, a century ago, give or take. Although could he say he knew her? She’d died while he watched and he hadn’t been able to stop it, hadn’t been able to help, except to see that she didn’t die alone.
She snarled at him, oblivious to his shock as she yellowed at him, enraged. The words were in French and he had to struggle to translate them. The most he could come up with a mangled version of “I told you never to call me sweetheart!”
A chill raced down his spine.
Not Becky…but again, it was Becky’s voice, in a language she didn’t know…and worse, those were her words.
She lunged for him
He caught her hand just before she would have struck him and then she changed.
Again. He could even feel the shift and change of her skin, the very texture of it changing, from soft and smooth, to skin that rougher, dryer, and pale, freckled. “Son of a…” The words caught in his throat and he stopped, mid-sentence as her finished forming.
Unwittingly, he reached up and cupped her face.
“Why?” he whispered. The question wasn’t directed at her. But at himself, or God, or whatever puppetmaster was directing this dream. “Why are you doing this?”
The fire inside him leaked free at that moment and he jerked back as flames licked at her.
She didn’t even notice.
She reached for him, her fingers touching his cheek.
She reached up, her features melting back into Becky’s face. But when she spoke, it was in German.
“”Finn…erkennst du mich nicht?”
He tore back, tore himself away, out of the dream, just as the fire threatened to break past his control.
He found himself on the floor of the little house where he lived, perched on the edge where the Ohio and the Mississippi met, miles from the place where he’d once called home. His skin burned and itched, a weird red rolling underneath it as the fire tried to escape him.
He banished it.
But he couldn’t banish the dream.
Or that question.
“Finn…don’t you know me?”
Spoken in Becky’s voice, but in a language she’d never spoken.
That fire gave one more slow roll under his skin as he rubbed at his face.
“Son of a bitch.”
ALSO!
The Grimm Books are still just .99 cents… except Candy Houses, which is free. Dunno how much longer it will last. Check out the Grimm page for links to each book.
Kindle
October 27, 2014
Hot Alphas
So the first secrets & shadows novella will be going into print…
BURN FOR ME will be in print in the spring, along with stories from Lora Leigh, Laurelin McGee and Kate Douglass.
Kindle
October 24, 2014
#bloggeryes
If you frequent twitter or any number of romance blogs, you might have heard about the Kathleen Hale Fiasco. Yes, it’s such a Fiasco that it must be capped. Bolded. Underlined and italicized. I’m not linking to it, or her, because frankly SHE isn’t worth the attention.
I’m going to keep this short and sweet, cuz I need to be writing, but since Nicole challenged the readers of the LE blog to post bloggers (and authors) who’ve made a difference in their lives. So, yeah… I can do that.
My bloggers…
Nicole with Literary Escapism, aka my keep and administrator and all around awesome friend. We need a wine date.
Tori with Smexy Books…she makes me laugh and she ‘gets’ me. Trust me, people, that’s not an easy task. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody who seemed to ‘get’ me quite as well as she did, right off the bat. Unless it’s Wicked Lil Pix aka Natasha.
Meka with Bookpushers…we only started talking much within the past year or so, but she’s an exceptional woman and is always there to lend an ear if you just need to talk. (and I don’t consider it cheating to mention the entire bookpushers team, especially E & Minn…one of the funnest weekends of my life was when the guy and I hit Tucson and were lucky enough to hand with these ladies.)
Ridley with Love in the Margins. Ridley will do a lot of things, if you let her. She will challenge the way you view racism, privilege, ableism and sexism. She’s a fantastic person to talk to, although if you’re comfortable with your world view…beware.
Jane/the Janes at Dear Author. This one is twisty…now Jane, Janet, Janine (etc!) are wonderful, this is more about the blogging platform itself at DA and how they welcome so many differing opinions, people who can challenge you, make you think (piss you off).
Also, because I cheat, I’m adding another…Limecello of Limecello Reads. Another fantastic friend.
And now my authors…
Monica Jackson. She’s been gone a few years now, but she was another woman who challenged me, how I thought, how I acted. She left a mark on the world–and she left that world too soon.
Lynn Viehl, aka PBW. She’s a rare creature–the kind of friend who will honestly tell you what you NEED to know, not what you want. She listens and makes you laugh.
Helenkay Dimon – another friend who will tell you what you need to know, will make you laugh and will just hang out and bullshit.
Nora Roberts, not because I can say, hey, we are buddies!, but because without works like hers, I wouldn’t be a romance writer.
Michelle Monkou – we don’t talk much. We’ve met each other a couple of times. But, as many of you know, I’m rather ‘opinionated’, although I try to objective. Sometimes, when there are problems, I wonder if I’m talking to a wall and we met, really, because of one of those times when I was talking to a wall, or so I thought. It turns out that people were listening…and some even appreciated it. Her kindness still lingers.
And there’s a challenge thing if you want to do it…name five bloggers and authors who made a difference in your life.
Kindle
Dinner…soon…ummmm
I’m currently in this weird EAT ALL TEH SOUPS mode and I found this one
Pumpkin soup! And it’s easy. (click on the pic to go to the website for recipe)
Fall always makes me crave soups and stuff. You got any good ones?
Kindle
October 22, 2014
You Own Me… Amazon’s Romance Daily Deal 0.99
Fuck, he thought miserably. Rising from the couch, he lifted a hand only to let it fall uselessly to his side. “Lizzie, I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“I don’t want to hear it!” she shouted, cutting him off.
He had to duck to avoid the little potted orchid she sent flying his way. And damn, she still had a good throwing arm.
“Do you hear me?” she said, her voice starting to shake. “I don’t want to hear. I get it, okay? Nobody wants me. No fucking body. I’m fine as a doormat for Noel as long as I let him treat me like shit, but he doesn’t want me. Neither do you. I get it. Okay?”
Stunned shock rippled through him as she shoved her tumbled hair back from her flushed face. Her eyes shot sparks as their gazes clashed. “I get the point. You’re a fucking hound dog and I know that. But I’m not good en—”
He caught the rest of her words with his mouth and when she went to shove him back, he caught her wrists, too. Sinking his teeth into her lower lip, he backed her up against her desk. “Not want you?” he muttered against her mouth. “Are you blind?”
YOU OWN ME is 0.99 today on Amazon…one day only!
Kindle
October 20, 2014
BUSTED… and oh wow, is this cover awesome…
Man, oh, man…is this cover amazing or what?
Here. A snippet. FYI, this is unedited and may change during edits.
The first time Trey Barnes saw her it caught him by surprise.
Not because he knew her.
Not because of anything she did.
But because it had been six years since a woman had caused this kind of reaction in him.
Six years.
So it was a punch in the gut when he walked into the Norfolk library for the kid’s reading program and saw her. His tongue all but glued itself to his mouth and his brain threatened to do a slow meltdown.
The woman was kneeling down in the middle of a circle of kids, a smile on her mouth. A mouth slicked wine red and he suddenly found himself dying of thirst.
It had also been six years since he’d touched a drop of alcohol, but in that moment, he found himself imagining a glass of wine. Wine…wine-red lips, wine-red sheets and the two of them stretched out on a bed as he ran his hands over that warm, lovely brown skin.
“Come on, Daddy!” Clayton jerked on his hand. “Let’s go! I want to go play.”
His son’s voice dragged him out of the fantasy, rich and lush as it was, and he shook his head a little to clear it. A heavy fullness lingered in his loins and he was glad he’d gotten used to look like a bum. The untucked shirt had fit him well enough when he bought it years ago, but the weight he’d lost after Aliesha’s death had stayed off so the shirt hung loose on his rangy frame. Loose enough that he figured it would hide the hard-on that yet to subside.
A few minutes surrounded by chattering preschoolers ought to do it, he thought.
Clayton let go of his hand as he got closer and he reached up, nudged his sunglasses down. As he’d retreated farther and farther into hermit mode, fewer people recognized him, but he rarely went anywhere without something hide his face. Between the hair he rarely remembered to cut and the sunglasses, people didn’t often recognize him these days.
A shrill shriek split the air as two kids started to fight over a book.
That’s going to do it, he mused. Blood that had burned so hot a minute before dropped back in the normal zone.
Only to jump right back up into the danger zone.
Miz Sexy Librarian was standing in front of the two kids.
And fuck… her voice was a wet dream.
“Now I know you two weren’t raised to treat books that way. Do you do that at home?”
Two pint-sized little blond heads tipped back to stare up at her. Trey barely noticed them, because his gaze was riveted on the plump, round curve of her ass. How could he not notice that ass? She wore a long, skinny skirt that went down a few inches below her knees and her stockings were the kind with a seam that ran up the back of her legs.
He passed a hand over his mouth.
Hell of a way to realize he could still get aroused—in the middle of the children’s section of the very public, very busy Norfolk library. Gritting his teeth, he focused on the ceiling. Would counting sheep help?
“Hello.”
That whiskey-smooth drawl was like a silken hand stroking down his back…or other things. He cleared his throat. Speak, dumb-ass.
“Hi!”
Saved by the Clayton-meister.
Mentally blowing out a breath, he watched as his son rocked back and forth on his heels, smiling up at the woman.
“Are you here for the program?” she asked.
“I am!” Clayton stuck out his hand. “I’m Clay. I love books. My dad tells me stories. All the time. Sometimes he even makes them up. He gets paid to do that, too.”
Due out in May 2015. Read WRECKED and RAZED.
Kindle
October 16, 2014
Signing in New Jersey!
If you live in or around the area, I’d love to see you!
Kindle
October 13, 2014
Furious Fire… Grimm #8…
It’s showing up for pre-order.
“Finn, why don’t you let our…guest…come inside?”
Finn fought the urge to grab the orin, grab it, loose the fire inside him and listen as its screams flooded the night around him.
Burn.
He just wanted to let the thing—and his own rage—burn.
But he stepped aside and let the demon see Will.
If he hadn’t been watching, he wouldn’t have seen the tiny flicker of lashes, the minute tightening of facial muscles. Such a small betrayal of emotion, but it was like a neon sign.
Fear…
Demons fed on it, as long as it wasn’t their own.
And while one lone Grimm wasn’t necessarily enough to make one of the orin quake, all bets were off if the Grimm was the one who wore white.
Kindle
October 9, 2014
October 7, 2014
So… the next Barnes Brothers’ book…
After Zane, that is.
Busted
From the national bestselling author of Wrecked and Razed comes an emotionally charged story of undeniable passion and life-affirming love…
Like his brothers Zach and Zane, Trey Barnes thought he had found the love of his life. But fate had other plans. A widower who’s had to raise his five-year-old son on his own, Trey has not allowed himself to be with another woman. Until he meets Ressa Bliss at—of all places—a children’s library program. The beautiful librarian is wonderful with his son, Clay, but every time Trey even considers asking her out, he is tortured by guilt.
Fate is indeed fickle. When the two meet again at a conference, this time the attraction is too powerful to resist. But is their connection and passion strong enough to survive Trey’s deep inner torment?
Coming in May 2015
Kindle
