Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 72

Can’t Fight This Feeling… (and some winners)

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Tying this up all nice & neat… cuz this was a double-trope book, even.  It was a secret baby with friends to lovers, which is this week’s Saturday Snippet.  I’ll post the winners from last week at the end.

The snippet!

“Lauren, how come you and I have never gone out?”

“We go out all the time, Dale. We went to the mall just last weekend.”

Keeping his eyes fastened on the ceiling, he said, “That isn’t what I meant. I mean like on a date.”

If he had been looking at her, Dale would have had the rare pleasure of seeing Lauren totally shocked. Her eyes widened, her mouth fell open and she just stared at him. Finally, she managed to close her mouth. “Ex…excuse me?” she stammered out, sitting up straighter, her feet settling on the floor.

He swung his legs over, now looking her in the face. She looked perfectly normal to his eyes, that creamy complexion the same, those clear gray eyes the same.

That mouth…Nope. Better off not thinking about the mouth, he decided. “I meant like on a date. I buy you dinner, take you to a movie, a play, a concert. How come we’ve never done that?”

Calmly, she smoothed her hands over her legs, a faint, mocking smile on her mouth. His eyes dropped to those lean legs as she crossed them elegantly at the knee, then his gaze slowly rose until he was staring at that amused little smile as she said, “Dale, I’m not exactly your type. I’m only a few inches shorter than you, I don’t have red hair, and I’m not about to let you pretend I’m a substitute for a woman you can’t have.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, started to open his mouth to say something pithy, only to snap it shut. How many of the women he had dated fit exactly that description? The vast majority. Granted, Lauren was tall for a woman, but he rarely dated anybody taller than five foot six. And so he was attracted to red heads. Lately, that midnight black hair of hers looked mighty tempting. He was tempted to tug it down from its knot and bury his face in it.

But he was mildly insulted at the last part of her statement. Whether it was because it was the truth or because it wasn’t, he didn’t know.

So he took a deep breath and said, somewhat cautiously, “Maybe I’ve decided it’s time I changed my type.”

“I don’t want to be your guinea pig, Dale. If you’re ready to start looking for a real relationship, fine. I’m happy for you. But you’re not going to use me as a test drive,” she stated, flatly, her eyes expressionless.

Now he was more than mildly insulted. “Is that what you think of me? That I’d use my best friend just to find out if I’m ready to get back in the swing of things?”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

“No,” he snapped, shooting to his feet. “I was trying to work up enough nerve to ask you on a date, but now that I realize what your opinion of me is, I think I’ll just forget that idea. I’m going home.” He barely made it three feet before she was standing next to him, her hand reaching out to him.

“Dale, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Or imply anything.” She sighed and closed her eyes briefly before continuing. “Dale, you’ve lived next door to me for five years now. Why in the world are you asking me out now?”

“I wasn’t aware I was required to explain myself, “Dale said coldly, looking over her shoulder to the door.

“Under the circumstances, Dale, I think maybe I’m entitled to a little explaining. I’m three months pregnant. This isn’t exactly the time for me to start dating, “Lauren said drolly, continuing to block his way. “Is that what this is about? Is it because I’m safe? Because you don’t have to worry about me getting serious?”

Read more

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Others on feelings…

Lauren Dane

Caris Roane

Eliza Gayle

Lissa Matthews

McKenna Jeffries

Taige Crenshaw

Delilah Devlin

HelenKay Dimon

My new RS series…

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This is going be another small town sorta thing.  Hopefully it will appeal to those who liked the Ash books.

It’s going to be have more stories, though.

There are going be a couple of e-novellas before the three full-length books are released in print.  Those books are:

Burn For Me

Break For Me

Long For Me

They’ll release in the spring.

The first book, Deeper than Need, will release in late summer, if I recall correctly.

Here’s a snippet from the first novella.

~*~

She wanted that purse.

Jennie Holmes didn’t covet a lot of things, but as she told stood behind the counter of The Madison Pizza Company, she decided she was going to let herself covet that purse.

It was a safe obsession. Vivid, murder red, butter soft-leather. It cost almost as much as she made in a week—it would have to.  It was a Coach purse.  She had an eye for those things, mostly because she obsessed over them.  Drooled. Coveted.

Sometimes when she went shopping in Louisville or Lexington, she’d even let herself pet them.

But she wouldn’t ever buy one. How in the hell could she buy a purse like that when she could barely afford to put food on the table?

Still, it was a safe enough obsession, because she knew she wouldn’t ever go and waste money she couldn’t afford to waste on something like a purse, not when her two boys needed shoes, not when she needed to figure out how to fix the roof, and not when she was still scrambling to pay the bills over the appendectomy she had to have last winter.

The owner of that gorgeous red purse stood in the doorway, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dim light after being out in the bright sunny afternoon.

Jennie gave herself another second to lust as she gathered up a couple of menus and tried to not to notice the way somebody was grinning at her.

“If you keep staring at the purse, she’s going to think you plan on mugging her.”

Just the sound of that voice was enough to make her heart skip, and maybe it made her knees a little weak, although she managed not to let it show as she turned her head and looked into the dark brown eyes of one Tate Bell, her other obsession.

He wasn’t so safe.

And lately, she was starting to think she might have to give him up.

He was like too much chocolate, too much wine.  She wanted to gorge on him, but he was oh, so very bad for her.  If she could keep herself to just lusting after him, it wouldn’t be an issue.  Lust was nice. Lust was healthy.  But she’d let herself get lost in him.  Lost herself to him.

Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, if he could do the same.

But Tate had…commitment issues.

Hell, screw that. Tate had emotional issues.

With a lazy shrug, she said, “Nothing wrong with looking, sugar, right?”

A smile curved his lips.

That smile…damn it, that smile was what started it.  That was why she’d given into him in the first place, and all he had to do was flash her that smile at any given time and it made her want to forget herself all over again.

Forget the promises she’d made herself late last night, as she lay in her bed, with the scent of him still on her skin, while her heart split just a little more.

He might share her bed, but he wanted no part of her heart and she knew that.

She knew she needed to pull away from him.

What she didn’t know was if she could.

“You’re doing a lot more than looking at that purse, Jennie-girl,” he drawled, lifting his sweet tea to his mouth and drinking.  His throat worked and she had to look away before she started thinking about pressing her mouth to that strong, tanned lined.  Before she started thinking about how they’d ended up in the shower last night—he’d been all hot and sweaty from hours spent in his studio and she’d been the same from hours spent hustling pizzas back and forth here at the restaurant.

“Oh?”  She cocked a brow.  “And just what am I doing?”

“You’re practically drooling.”  He dropped his gaze to her mouth.

Out of reflex, she swiped the back of her hand over her mouth.  “I am…” Then she rolled her eyes.  “You need to finish your lunch and get out of my place, Tate.  I’ve got work to do.”

“That was a subtle change of subject.  Go on, go back to lusting over pretty purses.  I’ll pretend not to notice.”  He winked at her.

~*~

The Protected…just about a month

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FYI, some bookstores haven’t been stocking my books as much lately, so if you want this one, please, please, please have them pre-order it. It will make it a lot easier when release day rolls around.

 

I kinda loved the hero in this one.  He’s a gruff, sexy bastard.  I adored him. As with the rest of the books in this series, it totally works fine as a standalone.

~*~

“Figured it would be better if you had him a little stuck,” Tucker said as Vaughnne stared at the unmoving truck.  “Away from the house and all.”

“This isn’t going to help his frame of mind any,” she said sourly as she threw the car into drive. “Deal with the others. Hold them. As long as you can.”

He canted his head to the side. “Well, that might be problematic. If I’m here, I can hold them forever and that won’t happen. I’ll give you a headstart though.”

As she gunned the engine, Tucker eased back into the shadows. For a big, red-haired bastard, he actually did a better job at avoiding notice than she would have expected.

She slammed on the brakes just as Gus had managed to shove up the hood of his truck, glaring at it like that would magically fix it.

She pulled out her ID and slammed it down next to him. “Now if I had to pick a movie to go with this moment, I’d go with Terminator,” she said as his gaze flicked to the ID and then up to her face. She saw him bracing, preparing to move. “The line would be…Come with me if you want to live.”

He backed away and she saw the gun in his hands. Double-handed grip, braced and ready, like he could stand there forever. So fast. He was so damn fast. Yet again, she had to wonder, just who in the hell was he…and what in the hell had he done before he gave up that life to go on the run with that kid?  A kid he’d die to protect. Always so ready to fight, she thought. To defend.

“I don’t care who you are,” he said quietly. “Get away. Give me your keys, or I’m going to shoot.”

“You can shoot me.” She held his gaze. “But it won’t stop the ones who are chasing you. You know that. And if you shoot me, instead of just running from them, you’re running from the FBI, too.”

“Unless I kill you, they won’t be too worried about me,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t need to kill you, just slow you down.”

She smiled at him. “Gus, unless you kill me, you won’t stop me. I’ll track you down again.”

Somebody shouted and she slid a look past him, watched as the two men who’d broken into his house came boiling out on the porch. Gus swung around, shifting his attention between her and the house, his grip on that weapon all too competent, all too ready.

“They broke into your house ten minutes ago. I don’t think they are here to talk about baseball or discuss Alex’s homeschooling life.”

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Just a heads’ up

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Sometime soon, I’ll be posting calls for bookclub reads on the Kit books.

If you’re not familiar with my bookclub, the info is here.  I won’t announce this – it will be for current members of the mailing list only.  Book clubs must be established book clubs, with a minimum of five members.

Please note, there is already a lot of interest and the purpose of the bookclub is to help spread the word about my books, so I do tend to go with the bookclubs who seem to be the most willing to do that.  Having an online presence is helpful-blogs, twitter, etc. Plus, members need to be willing to post reviews to sites like Amazon &/or BN.

If you are in a bookclub and might be interested, check out the link above… it’s also in the sidebar. Info on how to join is via that link.

Just an FYI, this isn’t a giveaway… there are no odds of winning, etc.

There will be giveaways.  Just later.

It ain’t over ’til it’s over…

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So… this is my only secret baby book.  You’ve been warned, cuz I know a lot of people hate them.

 

Dale was thoroughly shaken as he escorted Lauren from the doctor’s office. He had never, never, in his life wanted anything the way he wanted the baby Lauren was carrying. When he heard the heartbeat, he thought his own heart was going to explode. It was pure instinct, but everything in him shouted, Mine!

As he opened the car door for Lauren, a different type of instinct was shouting the same thing. He crouched down beside her and spoke her name. She turned her head to look at him, her shiny black hair swinging with the movement before settling around her shoulders. He reached up with one hand, threading it through that dense thick hair, pulling her face to his.

Dale kissed her gently, sucking at her lower lip before seeking entrance to her mouth. The taste of her, something innocent and sweet, touched lightly with the dark heady taste of sex. It was the same as her scent, a complete contradiction in every way. He craved more of it.

He wanted her.

And he was realizing that it wasn’t just some temporary need. He wanted her always. He wanted the baby that was growing inside her. He wanted to see her face in the morning when he woke up and wanted to lay down next to her at night. He wanted to make love to her, with her. He wanted to have a family with her and grow old with her.

Gradually, he ended the kiss, pulling back to study her face. She looked at him out of confused eyes, her mouth wet, her cheeks flushed. He decided it was best that the baby’s father wasn’t interested. Dale Stoner had every intention of taking his place, in both Lauren’s life, and in her baby’s.

Also, it’s dawned on me that this book has now been out ten years.  I’ve been published for ten years.

So I’m going to give away some copies of this.  Up to 10 copies, depending on how many comments I get.  So, comment away…

Other people doing the snippet thing…

Lauren Dane

Caris Roane

Eliza Gayle

Lissa Matthews

McKenna Jeffries

Taige Crenshaw

Delilah Devlin

HelenKay Dimon

TJ Michaels

Myla Jackson

Felicity Heaton

Addressing a few Qs about the FBI books

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I’ve mentioned a few times that The Unwanted is currently only available in ebook.

Back in May, I discussed the fact that I was going to try something new with the FBI books…trying some shorter stories with Samhain, which is a digital first publisher.  The books will be shorter, the prices will be lower.  I’m trying to pick up some new readers for the series and generate some interest…which I need to do, otherwise, the series is going to be put to bed.

So far, it looks like The Unwanted is doing okay, and that’s awesome.

But it will be a while before it hits print.

I’ve mentioned a few times, here, on twitter, on facebook, etc that it’s too short to go into print on its own.  Some stories just aren’t intended to be full length books and this was one of them.

For shorter books, digital first publishers will pair books together to put them into print.  That’s what will happen here.

My editor does want another shorter story that I wrote, The Innocent, that’s not yet on the schedule.  Once that one is released, the print release will be scheduled, roughly 6 months or so down the road from the ebook release of the second book.

I realize it’s a wait… I’m sorry.  I hope my print readers will understand.

The Unwanted…other news…

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So far, it looks like people are enjoying a shortened format of The Unwanted.  Which is cool.

If by chance you have read it, those who are willing to do reviews, reviews posted to Amazon & BN help a great deal.  The more reviews a book has, the more ‘discoverable’ it is…which means it is easier for new readers to find me.  For me, that means it’s easier for me to keep writing books.  That’s good for you all, too, right?  An honest opinion, your thoughts on the book, that’s all I ask, if you are willing.  It helps more than you can possibly know and it’s very appreciated.

Now…on to the good news.

The Innocent… another shorter FBI spinoff.

This one was kind of fun.  The heroine, Jay, is a powerful psychometric…she picks up feelings, vibrations, from what she touches…including people around her.  Which made…intimacy interesting. Until she met a man from Hell, Georgia.

My editor at Samhain told me she wants this book, too, and once it’s out, they’ll start doing the prep to get these two in print together.  It will take a while, but it’s coming.

Here’s a snippet.  No idea on the release date yet.

~*~

The very last person he’d expected to see in Hell was Jay Roberts.

As she turned around and gave him a slow smile, he was hard-pressed to do anything but stare for almost a minute.  Her hair, a pale, almost white blonde, was colored in streaks of blue and pink here and there.  It might have looked silly on some, but it just suited her.

Half-way down her neck, he could see where her tattoos started and just like the first time when he’d see her—only in a picture, of course—he wanted to peel her clothes away and learned each and every one of those tattoos, each and every curve.  Killer curves, deadly attitude.

And the attitude he’d sensed in their online communication, and picked up on even more in their phone and skype sessions was every bit as sharp as he’d suspected.

A slow smile curved her lips and he wanted to cross the floor, grab her and cover her mouth with his.  Taste her, like he’d wanted for almost a year.

He’d waited that long to finally meet her.

And now he’d life was in shambles and Lloyd Pritchard was threatening to put his hands on her.

Lloyd was an idiot.

But then again, he always had been.

He just might an idiot without arms or legs if he touched Jay.

His heart, so bitter and broken over the past few months, gave a slow, ragged beat in his chest.  Part of him wanted to go to his knees in front of her and wrap his arms around her waist, press his face to her belly.  She would listen.  She would talk him through this and he wouldn’t hear any of the false sympathy, the false hopes—there was no hope.  He was a cop. He knew what was going on.

The other part of him just wanted to tell her to get her ass back in the car and go back to her nice, safe little job in Dallas.

He had no place for her in his world now.

Although he had to admit, she didn’t exactly fit into the safe little picture he’d had in mind.  She’d sent him a few pictures, and although the blonde hair was right, it was done through with stripes of pink and blue.  Her face was the same, heart-shaped with the most fuckable mouth ever and he wanted to grab her up against him, lose himself in her.

But the look in her eyes, somehow both wary and challenging, had him keeping his distance.

She was trouble in a pair of combat boots.  He’d figured that out even as he’d caught his first glimpse of her through the plate glass window.  He hadn’t recognized her from outside.

The soft, throaty voice, a little too rough, a little too raspy, stroked against his senses like a caress and he wanted to kick everybody out of the gas station and ask her why she was here.

Instead, he forced his mind away from the skin-skimming clothes and shifted his attention to Lloyd and his pack of ass-kissing hyenas.

She’d been about five seconds away from a whole world of trouble and he suspected she knew it.

The Unwanted

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It’s out today…

They’d been like a complete unit, the two of them. He calmed her thoughts and let her see beyond what her gift wanted to show her. And she let him use his unusual ability in a way he wouldn’t have been able to use it otherwise. His odd gifts and weird insights would have just been annoyances in any other job, never complete enough to serve any true function.

It was like they’d been designed to complete each other.

“It went deeper than it should have sometimes,” he said.

His face was blank. But a muscle jerked in his jaw as he said it.

That knot in her gut tightened. “I don’t want to hear this, Caleb. I was never hurt the way you think,” she snapped. Memories of that horrid dream tried to creep out of the depths of her mind, but she shoved them back.

“It’s not just about that,” he said gently. “It’s everything. I’d be working with another agent and I’d get glimmers from you. I could be on the other side of the country and I’d know when you were picking up on a perp, Destin. It went too deep.”

That knot was painful now.

He’d told her that. Time and again, when he’d tried to get her to use some bit of control.

Averting her gaze, she stared out the window at the clear blue sky. “It’s not going to be a problem anymore,” she said quietly. “I can control it now. You’re not picking up like that anymore, right?”

“No, I’m not. And just as much of that was my failing. I should have worked harder to lock things down—I could have built better walls. I’m not blaming you for what was going on with us. We couldn’t have been prepared for how tight we connected.”

“Okay.” She nodded slowly and then looked back at him. “So why are we having this talk?”

“Do you understand what I’m saying now?” he asked. “I tried to explain this before and you never listened.”

“I couldn’t,” she said flatly. “Listening would have required I look past how I did things, how I lived my life, and I wasn’t able to do that until I destroyed things. People. Myself. An innocent life.”

Compassionate eyes watched her. “You couldn’t have known that was going to happen.”

“Oh, bullshit,” she snapped, shoving back from the table. “I should have known it could happen. You warned me all the time that jumping feet first was going to cause me problems.”

“And if it had caused you problems, you would have been fine with it,” he interjected. “You didn’t expect somebody else to pay for it.”

“Somebody did. Somebody paid with their life,” she said quietly. “Now I have to live with that.” She covered her face with her hands, remembered that day. “I have to live with that every day.”

Silence filled the air. How could silence be so loud? It crowded the room until she wanted to scream, just to end it.

Swallowing, she lowered her hands and met his gaze. “If this little chat is to see if I’ve gotten my head on straight, I have. I don’t know where you’re going with this, if you think we should try again or what. We can’t think about that now, though. There’s a job—”

Caleb reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it off.

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The Comedy of Errors

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That is what vacation was this year.

The good parts… the sidetrip to Atlanta, getting my award… we also swung by Savannah and I got to see Bonaventure Cemetery.  See the pretty picture? Yes, I took it… that’s a filter/edit thing I did with an app.

 

It wasn’t until we left that things started to swing south.  The rain, I could have handled.

I had a whole list of everything else that went wrong, but in keeping with all the things that went wrong, my computer ate it.  I’m too tired to rewrite.  Just take it for me… it was awful.

So this happened…

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I decided to make a last minute pitstop before we headed onto vacation.

There was an awards show and somebody told me I should really, really go.

I’m really, really glad I did.

The Unwilling won the National Readers Choice Award in the Novella category.  I entered Hunter’s Rise, The Departed and Stolen as well. All finaled.  This one won.

It’s so pretty.