Bool Blitz & GIveaway: City Boy by A.E. Wasp

City Boy - Hot Off The Ice 1

By A.E. Wasp

BLURB

Follow the money or follow your heart?

All Bryce Lowery knows how to do is play hockey. He’s been playing professionally since he was fifteen. Twenty years later, he’s rich, famous, tired, and alone. And possibly gay according to his ex-wife.

When a blown tire leads directly to mind-blowing sex with a motorcycle-riding white knight named Dakota, Bryce discovers he is most definitely gay. When his white knight turns out to be the manager of the apple orchard he inherited from some distant relative, he discovers that everything he thought he knew about himself was wrong.

Now Bryce has a tough choice to make, follow the money to a new multimillion dollar contract, or follow his heart into the unknown?

All Dakota Ryan knows how to do is grow apples. Now at twenty-four, he faces losing both his home and his livelihood in one cruel twist of fate.

Then Bryce Lowery crashes into his life like the answer to all Dakota’s prayers. Not only does the gorgeous, older professional athlete have the money to save the orchard, but he’s whispering promises to make all of Dakota’s wildest dreams come true. But Dakota knows better than to give his heart to someone who could leave, and if life has taught him anything, it’s that everyone leaves.

Dakota has a choice, sit back and wait for Bryce to decide his fate, or for the first time in his life, chose what he wants his future to be?

City Boy is a first time gay, fish out of water, May/December love story with a HEA.

Buy on Amazon!

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Snippet #1

Dakota sighed, head dropping down onto Bryce’s chest. “So, how was it for you?” He tilted his head up so he could see Bryce’s face. From this angle, his beard looked fluffy, and Dakota had the urge to scratch him under his chin like a big cat.

He could see Bryce searching for the right words, so he didn’t push. The silence stretched comfortably. Seemed like neither of them was in a hurry to leave this unexpected sanctuary and get back to the real world.

“Well, it’s funny,” Bryce said, running his fingers through Dakota’s hair and cupping the back of Dakota’s head in the palm of his hand. “I’ve never liked this after part before with women. I did it because it’s the right thing to do, but I would always make an excuse to get up as soon as possible. But I really want to keep touching you.”

“And that’s good?” Dakota asked.

Bryce smiled down at him, laugh lines crinkling at the edge of his dark brown eyes. “I always wanted it to feel like this.”

Dakota’s heart thudded in his chest. The way Bryce had Dakota tucked up against him felt really good. Scarily good. A part of Dakota’s mind beat its terrified wings against his skull, telling him to get up and leave now. How did this happen? Dakota had a hard time letting his friends get close to him. He certainly didn’t cuddle with strangers.

Dakota had worried that Bryce would somehow imprint on him. Now Dakota wasn’t sure he wanted to let the man go. Not only was Bryce smoking hot, but he was also sweet, considerate, and kind. And, Dakota suspected, had the potential to be fantastic in bed.  

SNIPPET #2

What did Dakota see in Bryce’s eyes? His brows lowered as he seemed to be searching for something. Bryce tried to open up and let his emotions show in his eyes, hoping that one of the was what Dakota needed.

Who had he become in these too-short weeks?

This moment seemed separate from any that come before in Bryce’s life. His universe had narrowed to a rundown VW bus at the backend of an orchard in the shadow of the Rocky Mountain where he sat poised on the edge of understanding something he had no name for.

The energy between them built, the lights and the heady smell of the incense swirling around the air. A slight buzz from the brownie made every movement syrupy-slow and fanned Bryce’s desire.

Somewhere inside Bryce, a damn broke. Everything he had ever wanted to feel, everything he had held back or assumed he lacked, crashed over him, and, with a small ooh he closed his eyes, breaking the connection.

Dakota surged forward, pulling Bryce’s shirt off as he lowered him gently to the mattress. Somehow despite being unwilling to stop kissing each other, they managed to get undressed.

SNIPPET #3

“I’ve never seen the ocean.” Dakota said his voice flat. “I’ve never been anywhere.”

Bryce scratched his fingers through Dakota curls, pulling them and letting them bounce back. “I’ve been to so many amazing places.”

“Yeah. I know.” Dakota yanked his head away with frown.

Bryce didn’t let him go, pulling him back against his side. “No, let me finish. All these places were amazing, but I was always kind of sad. I’ve never been with somebody I—someone who is special to me.”

“What about with Nikki?”

“Except for our honeymoon, I never went anyplace romantic alone with Nikki,” he confessed. “Even the honeymoon was awkward.”

Dakota turned on his side and slid his leg over Bryce’s leg. “How? Were you a virgin?” Dakota asked lightly.

Bryce brushed off the joking tone in his voice and answered seriously. “No. Worse. All the things that were supposed to be romantic? I just wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t feel lost in her eyes in the candlelight or anything. I didn’t want to spend hours in bed.”

He ran his hand up and down Dakota’s arm, enjoying the soft tickle of his hair and the firmness of the muscle. “I convinced myself that nobody felt that way; that everyone was faking it because that’s how we were told it’s supposed to feel when you’re in love.”

“And now?” Dakota tensed in his arms.

Bryce pushed up and rolled until he hovered over Dakota, looking him right in his eyes. Dakota was going to listen to him whether he wanted to or not.

“Now, I want to take you down to Mexico, get a cabana on a private beach, one with a giant bed and an outdoor shower. The I’d drag you inside and not come out for two weeks. I want people to bring us coconuts and fresh fish and tequila and leave it at our door.”

Dakota stared back at him, hands on Bryce’s hips. His fingers adding more bruises to the marks he’d already left on Bryce’s skin. “You could do that, couldn’t you?”

“In a heartbeat.” And he wanted to, so badly. Badly enough to give up hockey? If he only had himself to worry about? In a heartbeat.

Author Bio:

After time spent raising children, earning several college degrees, and traveling the world with the U.S. State Department, she is returning to her first love - writing.

A dreamer and an idealist, Amy writes about people finding connection in a world that can seem lonely and magic in a world that can seem all too mundane. She invites readers into her characters’ lives and worlds when they are their most vulnerable, their most human, living with the same hopes and fears we all have. An avid traveler who has lived in big cities and small towns in four different continents, Amy has found that time and distance are no barriers to love. She invites her readers to reach out and share how her characters have touched their lives or how the found families they have gathered around them have shaped their worlds.

Born on Long Island, NY, Amy has lived in Los Angeles, London, and Bangkok. She currently lives in Colorado in a town suspiciously like the ones in her books.

Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AEWasp/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyWasp

Website:  http://aewasp.com

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Review: Home For Summer by Holly Chamberlin

In bestselling author Holly Chamberlin s poignant new novel, a mother and daughter escape to a beautiful coastal town in Maine to find healing in the wake of heartbreaking loss.
The journey to Yorktide, Maine, was always a happy one for Frieda and Aaron Braithwaite and their two daughters. Frieda loves her mother s old farmhouse, and the girls have grown closer there, sharing a bedroom and spinning stories into the night. But that was before when tragedy was something that happened to other families.
Since the car crash that claimed the lives of her husband, and their younger daughter, Frieda has struggled emotionally and financially. Bella, now seventeen, is withdrawn and wary, and Frieda fears losing her too.
At her mother s urging, Frieda decides to return to Yorktide with Bella for the summer. Bella gets a job in a local shop, and little by little edges her way back into the world. But it s the unexpected connections they make with a former schoolmate, a troubled teenage girl, and Frieda s estranged father that will spur them to find healing amid bittersweet memories, and discover if their bond is strong enough to guide them back to hope once more.

Paperback

Expected publication: June 27th 2017 by Kensington Publishing Corporation

Terri's Thoughts

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!  This story was just released.

Full Disclosure:  Life got in the way between the time that I finished this story and now when I am finally sitting down to write my thoughts.  As I had many swirling around in my head when I completed it, some of those thoughts may now be lost with the passage of time.  I apologize in advance if my words are not eloquent or if all of my thoughts do not make it to "paper as I had planned them.  Hopefully I will not do any disservice as a result.

I am going to try not to rehash the plot of the book.  The synopsis captures it well and the rest can be discovered by reading the story for yourself.

My first thought upon completion of this story is that this would make a great book club read.  The reason?  It covers many topics which there are a wide variety of views and differing opinions on.  I can just visualize the heated debates that could take place from some of the themes touched on.

First, how long is appropriate to grieve the death of a spouse before beginning a new relationship?  I myself have not opinion on the matter however I can see how there could be two distinctive camps on this one.  The ones that think Frieda moved on too soon while the others who think that love should be captured whenever it is presented to itself.

The second would be Frieda's relationship with her father, and I say the word father very loosely.  As you can tell, I do have a strong opinion on this one.  I felt that he did not deserve any acknowledgement from Frieda.  I can argue this one until I am blue in the face.  I don't care about the good memories that occurred up until he left when Frieda was eleven (hopefully I remembered the age correctly, as mentioned I finished the book a few days ago).  The fact that her left without contact until she was an adult is unforgiveable in my books.  I know the story angles it as a story of forgiveness and unconventional family dynamics however it would never fly in my world.  I would have that door shut, locked with a deadbolt, and the key thrown away.  AND....when he did call, I would have reamed him a new one, told him where to go and how he can get there.  Family is not about DNA but about those who love and support you through their actions.  As mentioned, book clubs could have a field day with this one.

Another topic would be how Bella was dealing with her grief and the dysfunctional friendship she struck up while spending the summer with her grandmother.  Talk about a friendship that has train wreck written all over it from the start.

So, if I were to recommend something, it would be to read this story however have at least one ther person you know also read it.  Trust me, you are going to want to discuss it with someone.  While it is not necessarily a fast moving story and its main focus is on dealing with the grief after the loss of a loved one (in this case loved ones), it is a story that will make you think.

About the Author

      Holly Chamberlin is a native New Yorker, but she now lives in Portland, Maine - the aftermath of stumbling across Mr. Right at the one moment she wasn't watching the terrain. She's been writing and editing - poetry, children's fantasies, a romance novel or two, among many other genres and projects - her entire life. She has two cats, Betty and Cyrus, and when she's not writing her hobbies include reading, shopping, and cocktails at six.

Website

Release Blast & Giveaway: Beware the Ranger by Debra Holt

Will they be able to lay the past to rest and rekindle their love from the ashes?

BEWARE THE RANGER

In the Long Arms of the Lawman #1

Debra Holt

Releasing June 28, 2017

Tule Publishing

Twelve years ago, Kaitlyn Russell had a dream: living happily ever after with Clay Morgan. Except her grandmother had bigger plans for her beloved granddaughter and they didn’t include life in the small town of McKenna Springs as the wife of a young, poor deputy. Kaitlyn’s heart was broken when Clay and her grandmother convinced her to pursue her second love, Broadway stardom.

Texas Ranger Clay Morgan is a widower with a young son to raise. A dozen years before, he had to make the most difficult decision of his life when he agreed to let go of the only woman he’d ever loved so that she could pursue her dreams.

Now, fate and an old woman’s guilty conscience conspire to bring Clay and Kaitlyn back together once more. Will they be able to lay the past to rest and rekindle their love from the ashes?

“Miss Russell,” he said as he handed back her license. “Can you step out of the car, please?”
“What is the problem, Deputy…Trooper, I mean?” Angie asked as she leaned across the center console to look up at the man who turned his officious smile in her direction.
“There’s someone on his way that will let you know what it’s all about. Miss Russell, if you would please…?” His hand went to the door handle.
Popping the door’s release, Kaitlyn opened it and stood. Her patience was beginning to grow thin.
Not one to leave her friend without support, Angie exited her own side and watched the scene from there, lending her friend her support.
“How long is this going to take? I really would like to know what this is about.” Kaitlyn fought to keep her voice controlled. She never liked guessing games.
“Well, ma’am, I think you’re about to get some answers.” As he spoke the words, he nodded over her shoulder.
They all turned to look. What the—? She was surprised to see a sleek, dark blue helicopter moving swiftly toward them. Kaitlyn raised her hand above her eyes to block the glare of the sun. She tried to make out the markings on the craft, but to no avail. What on earth was going on?
“This day is finally getting interesting again,” Angie spoke up. “Do you think they could give us a lift to New Mexico?”
“I’m glad you’re finding this amusing because I’m not.”
“That’s because you always like to be the one in control,” Angie responded with a slight toss of her head and a knowing grin.
“Yes, I do. I admit it. This person better have a quick explanation so we can be back on our way.”
The helicopter made a pass overhead then descended and swung back in a wide arc. In a few brief minutes, the pilot had easily set it down a few hundred yards distant on the side of roadway.
As the blades began to slow, the passenger side door opened. Another trooper stepped down from the craft. She moved toward them, the other trooper acknowledging her arrival with a slight nod of the head.
She nodded to both Kaitlyn and Angie before moving to stand beside her male counterpart. Obviously, this was not the person with the answers for them.
“Well, well…hellooo, handsome!”
Angie’s comment, spoken in a low voice, made Kaitlyn swing her attention back to see what Angie was talking about or, more precisely, who had elicited such a breathless compliment                                 from her friend.
In that moment, the world imploded. Everything she had trusted to not change was shattered. Time came to a screeching halt. She literally froze in place. It would be sometime later when she tried to remember if she even managed a breath of air. Everything waited…waited on the tall male figure who had stepped out of the pilot’s side door and was advancing slowly toward her.

Born and raised in the Lone Star state of Texas, Debra Holt grew up among horses, cowboys, wide open spaces, and real Texas Rangers. Pride in her state and ancestry knows no bounds and it is these heroes and heroines she loves to write about the most. She also draws upon a variety of life experiences including working with abused children, caring for baby animals at a major zoo, and planning high-end weddings (ah, romance!).

Debra's real pride and joys, however, are her son, an aspiring film actor, and a daughter with aspirations to join the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (more story ideas!) When she isn't busy writing about tall Texans and feisty heroines, she can be found cheering on her Texas Tech Red Raiders, or heading off on another cruise adventure. She read her first romance...Janet Dailey's Fiesta San Antonio, over thirty years ago and became hooked on the genre. Writing contemporary western romances, is both her passion and dream come true, and she hopes her books will bring smiles...and sighs... to all who believe in happily-ever-after's.

Debra invites you to visit her website. She loves to hear from other aspiring authors or readers via her email.

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Release Blast & Giveaway: Rock Star by Stacey Kennedy

A high school reunion is about to get down and dirty 
and a whole lot more complicated!

ROCK STAR

A Bad Boy Homecoming Novel

Stacey Kennedy

Releasing June 27, 2017

A high school reunion is about to get down and dirty and a whole lot more complicated in this new erotic romance from USA Today bestselling author Stacey Kennedy.

Veterinarian, Rae Evans expects to attend a dreadful ten-year high school reunion. Instead, she’s confronted by a past she’s never gotten over. The love of her life, Travis Walker, has returned to Catfish Creek, and the now-famous rock star wants only three things: Her. Naked. And screaming his name.

Fresh off his last world tour, Travis has returned to town to get a dose of reality. With fame casting a superficial cloud over Travis’s life, he’s scrambling to stay afloat. He needs an anchor, and Rae is that for him. But as he finds himself, he’s determined to remind Rae of the heat that once burned between them.

Before they know it, their one hot night is three, and soon, just like ten years ago, Travis holds the strings to Rae’s heart. But Rae’s not that young girl who watched her high school sweetheart race off to become famous. She’s a woman who knows what she wants and realizes when a man needs her. She just has to decide if she should put the past on repeat, or walk away from it forever.

Travis Walker made women’s panties disappear.
On most nights, anyway.
Tonight, sitting on a wooden stool set upon the stage at Catfish Creek High School’s conference center, only one woman was on his mind. His fingers strummed over the strings of the guitar, mouth rested near the microphone, and after he sang the final two lines of the chorus—I wanna kiss you under the moonlight. And love you ‘til the sun comes up—the applause from the crowd reopened his eyes.
Sparkling string lights and masquerade masks hung from the ceiling above him, reminding him that he wasn’t surrounded by thousands of his typical screaming and wild fans. In his Texas hometown, he stared out at teachers, old friends, and classmates, all dressed in formal wear and masquerade masks.
From his seat in the spotlight, he recalled playing for smaller crowds on this very stage back in high school. Those had been some of the happiest days of his life. Now, fresh off his last world tour, he realized he loved that scene, too. The energy of a smaller crowd, who knew him personally, and a larger crowd, who thought they were in love with him, was so different he couldn’t compare the two, but admittedly, he missed the intimacy that came from a smaller venue.
Done with his song, and with the crowd quieting, he slid the guitar strap over his head and handed the instrument back to a member of the band that’d been hired to play at Catfish Creek High School’s ten-year reunion. When he jumped off the stage, he sighed in relief, finding that all the cell phones pointed in his direction were now put away, and the flashing lights were gone.
That’s when he set his focus on what mattered tonight: finding her. Rae Evans—the muse behind the song he sang tonight, Moonlight.
He scanned the crowd overtop the decorated tables with their gold chairs, but the beauty had escaped him somehow. He recognized Annie Flowers, the librarian, who gave him a little wave, and Christopher Christianson, the principal, who was grabbing a drink from the bar. Travis could have sworn he spotted Rae entering the masquerade ball when he began his song. Desperation now clawed at his chest.
Determined to find her, he moved farther into the crowd, just as his cell vibrated in his pocket. Knowing exactly who it’d be, and that he couldn’t ignore the call, he reached for his phone and then frowned at the text from his manager, Scott Price.
Awesome job. The video is already up on YouTube. Fans are loving it. The mask was a nice touch. Don’t miss your flight in the a.m.
Travis shifted the black masquerade mask around his eyes, and the muscles along his shoulders tightened with the reminder of the weight they carried; of the need for him to always be on point, and the fact that nothing, not even his high school reunion, was sacred anymore.
Life had changed dramatically since the last time Travis stepped foot in the conference center. But he didn’t want to think about the shit weighing on him, so he fired off a response—I’ll be on it—then tucked his cell phone back into his pocket.
He had tonight to fix everything that was wrong with his life, and he wouldn’t waste it.
In the eyes of his manager, Travis had come to the reunion to put on a show and to look real to his fans. But Travis hadn’t come for the publicity; he had come for one very good reason: to find his anchor—the woman who stopped his world from spinning wildly out of control.
Lately, in a sea of chaos, he’d finally stopped drowning and saw a way back to the happiness he once had. That happiness had started with Rae, and surely, she was his way to find himself again.
One touch. One taste. He wanted to remember what that happiness felt like.
Again, he searched the crowd, ignoring the way some men glowered at him, and some women batted their lashes. Rae. That’s whom he’d come here to see tonight. Only her.
The band behind him started playing another ballad, and that’s when he found her, staring right at him from across the room. She wore a sleek, black, strapless gown around her slender figure with matching long, black gloves.
His muscles surged with adrenaline, and he went to move toward her when a hard voice came from behind him.
“Karly wants you to play another song.”
Travis slowly glanced over his shoulder to find the biggest asshole in Catfish Creek High School history, Jason, a blond-haired, slender, one-time big shot. Rae was best friends with Kate, and Kate had loved—and later married and divorced—the dipshit behind him.
Times had changed.
Travis didn’t owe Jason anything now, and he certainly didn’t owe the reunion’s event planner, Karly, shit. “You can tell Karly that I told her I’d play one song, and that’s exactly what I did. Bother me again, and we’ll have a problem.” 
Jason didn’t make a move or say a word in rebuttal. Once a coward, always a coward.
Refocused on the only person who mattered tonight, and pulled by the energy only Rae conjured, Travis stretched out his fingers, shedding his frustrations as he moved with purpose through the crowd. Her pretty, hazel eyes surrounded by dark makeup followed his every move, and she yanked him forward with a simple look.
She’d always been a pretty girl, but she’d grown into a blindingly beautiful and stunning woman. Her gown fit her like a glove. A gold filigree mask somehow made the creaminess of her skin appear richer. She wore her shoulder-length, brown hair in big waves framing her round face.
Tonight, she didn’t look so fresh-faced and innocent. She looked sexy as hell, and just the sight of her again caused Travis’s cock to swell eagerly.  
While he’d talked to her through email, text, and the occasional late-night, drunk phone call every birthday and Christmas over the last ten years, he hadn’t seen her. Not since that day on his parents’ porch. Sure, he’d kept an eye on her through the Catfish Creek Chronicle when they featured her for her charity work, and also on the website for the vet clinic she owned. But after he’d walked the path that led away from her, he’d never found his way back. Life got busy. New friends were found. Fame overtook him. 
Now, he was…home.
When he finally reached her, the air between them felt charged. “Rae,” he said.
Her eyes warmed. Dark, red-painted lips curved. “Travis.”
Christ, he remembered how those lips tasted. How she tasted—every goddamn inch of her.
Beneath her mask, those pretty eyes now turned a little suspicious. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to the reunion?”
Perhaps he should have called, but… “I wanted to surprise you.” Because there were important reasons he returned to his hometown, ones that he didn’t want her to know about. Yet. 
It all began with an article in the Catfish Creek Chronicle.
Dr. Rae Evans feels she’s done what was needed to help the animals in Catfish Creek, and she’s ready to begin a new journey. She’s looking to open another clinic in one of the neighboring towns.
At twenty-eight years old, she’d achieved what she hoped to do by thirty, and that article reminded him of the guy he used to be when she’d first made those plans. He wasn’t the same man who left Catfish Creek all those years ago, and he didn’t know when exactly he lost himself. While Rae had likely found all the happiness she wanted in her success, he simply wanted to find his way back to the carefree guy he once was. 
To do that, he had to come back to the place where he was the happiest. He had to come back to her. “But to tell you why I wanted to surprise you, I need to tell you a story.” He offered his hand. “How about we dance, and I’ll share it.”
For a second, he thought she might refuse him. She simply stared at his hand.
When her eyes met his again, and she slowly slid her palm into his, the tightening in his chest eased. He closed his fingers around hers and sensed her soften, making him smile.
Reliving that infectious energy she carried, he led her into the middle of the dance floor, then he spun her around and pulled her to him, nice and close, sliding his hand across her lower back.
 She laughed softly, eyes twinkling behind her mask. “You’ve still got the moves, I see.”
“My moves will never fail me.” He grinned.
The band played the perfect song. Something a little sexy and slow, keeping her hips swaying perfectly with his. He did nothing to shield his erection, but one look into her eyes told him that was all right. With her breasts pressed against his chest, her cheeks a little pink now, he noticed the heat in the depths of her gaze. He’d recognize it anywhere. That fire felt like it belonged to him—always had, always would. Yet in the past, she’d shy away from that desire. Now, he noted how she firmly held his gaze, telling him she wasn’t the young lover he once had.
“How long are you staying in town?” she asked, in an obvious attempt to divert their attention away from his cock.
“Just tonight.” He stroked his thumb over the back of her hand, keeping her as close as he could, inhaling her flowery scent that had faded from his memory. “I fly out bright and early in the morning.”
“Only tonight?” She shot him a questioning glance. “You came all the way here from New York just for the reunion?”
“You seem surprised.”
She shrugged, seemingly unaffected when another couple bumped into her, her interest obviously centered on him. “Seems like a long way to come for only a few hours.”
A very good point, indeed. “Well, you see, that brings us to my story.” He sent her out, twirling her around before bringing her in close again and returning the smile she gave him. “But I think we need to go back even further for you to truly understand.”
“Go on,” she said, watching him closely.
He paused, collecting his thoughts, then he began. “You’ll never hear me complain about my life. I have far more than I probably deserve.”
“That’s a good thing,” she said firmly, even as a playful grin teased her lips. “You have a pretty amazing life, and you’d better not complain to me about all the fabulous trips you get to take around the world, or you might lose a tooth.”
He chuckled but leaned in, calling her out. “And how do you know so much about my life? Reading up on me?”
“A little,” she admitted.
That’s what he liked most about Rae. She was honest, through and through. The fact that she followed his life could bite him in the ass later, but at this point, there was no going back, so he pushed the conversation along. “So, then you know that I have a very good life. I travel. I stay in fancy hotels. I eat at amazing restaurants. I never have to lift a finger. I have everything that anyone should want.”
Her eyes searched his. “But it’s not the life you want?”
Of course, she caught on. He didn’t expect otherwise. That’s why he’d come to the reunion—to be with someone who truly knew him. “It’s not that I don’t want the life I live,” he explained gently. “It’s that something is missing. Something very important.”
“Which is?”
“The guy I used to be.”
She began nibbling her lip like she used to do in high school when she became confused. “What do you mean?”
“I can have anything I want, Rae. There is nothing that’s not available to me.” He slid his hand along her spine, pulling her in closer, leaving no room between them. “But the guy I was when we were together…I don’t know him anymore.”
Her eyes softened, and her voice grew quiet. “That’s really kinda sad, Travis.”
“It is what it is.” He shrugged, not wanting to get stuck on the things he couldn’t change. “My manager told me that I’d been invited to the reunion and saw it as a business opportunity. But I saw it as a personal one.”
The song shifted to something faster, and the crowd began to fill the dance floor, bumping into his back. He refused to let her go, holding her tightly against him. “Do you want to know the real reason I came to the reunion tonight?”
“Yes,” she said, a little breathlessly.
“I came to relive the past, Rae.” He released her hand, wrapping his other arm around her and bringing his mouth close to hers. “That’s the only reason I’m here. I want to remember what it’s like to be with a woman who knows the real me.” He was encouraged by her shiver. An involuntary movement that spoke of her willingness to give him all that he wanted and more.
Hot and hard, he dropped his head into her neck, inhaled the subtle hints of her flowery perfume, and said into her ear, “We have a chance that many people don’t get. To go back and feel what we felt before.” He dragged his nose across her neck in the way he knew she liked, feeling her quiver under his hands. “Tomorrow, our lives will return to normal. Nothing will have changed. You’ll live here, entirely focused on your clinic and your life, and I’ll live mine in New York. Tonight’s our one free pass to dip into the past, and I want to take it. Because tonight, Rae”—he brushed his lips across her neck, and a soft moan escaped her mouth as he murmured—“I want one more taste of you.”
She gasped and stepped back, blinking rapidly. “I…sorry, excuse me. I need to get some air.” Then those pretty pink cheeks and wide, excited eyes were gone, her dress trailing behind her as she ran for the door.
Travis shoved his hands into the pockets of his suit and grinned. He didn’t mind hunting her, it sweetened his reward.

STACEY KENNEDY is the USA Today bestselling author of the Dirty Little Secrets and Club Sin series. She writes deeply emotional romances about powerful men and the wild women who tame them. When she’s not writing sensual stories, she spends her time in southwestern Ontario with her real life hero, her husband, their two young children, and her other babies: a mini labradoodle named Jax and a chocolate labrador named Murphy. Stacey is a proud chocolate, television show, Urban Barn, and wine addict. She likes her heroes in her books like she likes her coffee . . . strong and hot!

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Release Blitz & Giveaway: Church by Michelle Hughes

Church

By Michelle Hughes

Blurb:

Sebastian Church is a heartless, egotistical bastard and those are his positive qualities.  He’s ruthless in business, using the leverage in his multi-billion-dollar company to crush anyone who gets in his way. People are stepping stones, and mercy isn’t a word he’s familiar with.  Sex is a pastime hobby and Church isn’t against using it to his advantage.

Ashley Mulder is a recent graduate from college eager to get her foot in the business world.  When her best friend gets her an interview with Church Industries it’s a dream come true.  Until it’s not.  Meeting Church she discovers the fear people have of him is well-founded and she’s no match for the merciless CEO with no compassion.  What Church wants he gets.  He wants her. She’ll have to decide.  Is selling her soul to the devil to save a friend worth the chance of being destroyed?

Innocence meets sinful corruption.  Darkness meets light.  Temptation has never been so terrifying.  In Church’s own words. “I’m the only religion you’ll ever need.”

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2t84RFO

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2qeaQU0

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/church-9

Books2Read Links: books2read.com/u/47koDL

iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1239130379

Nook: http://bit.ly/2rNkQ8h

Google Play:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Michelle_Hughes_Church?id=f6olDwAAQBAJ

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35116001-church

Snippet One:
“You make me sick.” Her words were still softly spoken, even as she insulted.
“You’ll learn to want me more than any man.” It wasn’t ego talking, I knew how skilled I was in bed. Shrugging, I let her words roll of me, because they didn’t matter. The bottom line did. “Are you agree-ing?”
“I’m a virgin.” Did she think that would save her? I didn’t mind setting her straight.
“You won’t be for long, if you say yes.” It was rude, but I wasn’t known for my flowery words.
“God! Yes, okay. Just promise me that Deshawn is no longer indebted to you.” The tears made me an-gry, and I wanted to demand she stop them.
“I’m the only religion you’ll ever need. Leave your precious God out of this. Now, get yourself together woman.” Standing up, I walked over to the bar and poured her two fingers of scotch and brought it back. “Weakness is something you should never

Snippet Two: “Invite me in.” I wasn’t taking a step inside until she did. Ashley had to want me more than that pa-thetic little man she’d kissed earlier!
Her gaze was still confused as her lips spoke the words that gave me every right I needed, “Come in.” I pushed the window open feeling like some teenager as I propelled my body through the opening. “This is a dream.” She shook her head, looking at me, tears filling those gorgeous eyes.
“This is not a dream, Ashley.” Walking over to her bed, I ripped her nightgown down the middle, exposing that beautiful body I’d craved to possess. She pulled the tattered pieces together in front and sat up quickly. Her hands trembled as she attempted to cover herself.

Author Bio:

Michelle Hughes is an American author who writes sensual romance and paranormal fiction. Hughes was formerly a country singer/songwriter and toured with a national satellite talent showcase. Recently, she was awarded a Kindle Press contract for her western romance, Cowboy Sanctuary. Other books in her library are: Fantasyís Bar & Grill series, Tears of Crimson series, Sin, Rude, and the You Donít Know Jack series. Hughes lives in Alabama with her husband and five children.

Find out more by visiting www.tearsofcrimson.com or www.authormichellehughes.com

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