Midweek Tease

Howdy! I do NaNoWriMo every year and for the past five years, I’ve won the darned thing, typing over 50,000 words in less than a month. This year was extra special because I wrote two short stories and have already secured publishing contracts for both of them! What fantastic fortune. One will be released under my other pen name in Evernight’s Uniform Fetish anthology and is of the hotter variety. My short story is a sweet romance and will be included in Roane Publishing’s Valentine’s day anthology, Accidental Valentine.

My story is called “Guiding Hearts” and is about:

Is a lonely woman’s GPS sentient or is her subconscious taking her by the hand to help heal a scarred heart?

When Jemma Ernst’s GPS malfunctions and sends her to the home of handsome and engaging Gabriel Nash, she writes it off as a fluke. But she can’t seem to reprogram him out of her thoughts nor her GPS

Now, here’s a little snippet from it:

She rang his bell. A man’s muttered oath and “Move, cat!” bled through. Good old Betty.

He threw open the door and lounged against the doorjamb. “I knew you’d be back.”

Jemma blinked, openmouthed, but no words filled the void. “You did? Why?”

Gabriel shoulders lifted. “I dunno. Sometimes you just know. Plus I think, maybe,” he wagged a finger at her, “just maybe, you’ve been stewing on my kiss and are back for more, whether you realize it or not.”

Jemma pressed her lips together and frowned. She had thought about his kiss, when she had trouble sleeping at night, when thoughts of a woman she never met and the cemetery plot she filled, with a new date chiseled in the stone, made her consider all she was missing. Death had a way of underscoring the brilliance of life. “I’m sorry about your Aunt Teddy.”

His smile faltered for the briefest of flickers. “Thanks. She’s in a better place now, with her husband and son. I can’t mourn that part of it.”

“I never got to meet her. I didn’t get to give her your pie.”

A half smile curled his lips. “So you brought it back?”

Jemma bobbed her head side to side. “Sort of.” She handed him the plastic grocery bag containing his possessions. “The pie was excellent.”

Gabriel took the bag and flashed a grin made of sex and sin. “You liked it?”

She drank in his lanky form—his messy mop hair, a dark t-shirt dusted with some kind of white powder and a pair of low slung baggy jeans weathered in all the right places. He crossed his arms, causing his biceps to bulge. Dark whiskers covered his lower face. He needed a shave, but the roughened look seduced her hormones into an uncomfortable state of unrest. She recalled the scrape of his beard when he kissed her. Her hormones perked up. Down, girl. “I…” God, her voice squeaked. “I loved it. Best pie I ever had.”

Watch for Accidental Valentine around Valentine’s Day!

Now, head over to the other Mid-week teasers:

http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=247511

P.S. Thank you to all who voted for Boss Overboard. I managed a very respectable Runner Up in the Humor category!

Hi all, after a bit of a hiatus, I’m back with a teaser from my recent release Boss Overboard.

In this scene, our hero, Paul, is being very persistent in his attempts to lure the heroine, Lydia, into more than just a working relationship. Lydia has been stubbornly resisting, so Paul, who is a gambling man, is trying a new tack.

Paul shifted his body closer, not quite touching but almost. A thud on the floor told him she dropped her bag. It wasn’t enough to warn him she would reach out to his waist, eliciting a shiver when she made contact with his bare skin. Her soft fingers curled around his side abdominal muscles, her thumb tracing the vertical groove between muscle and hipbone.

“And when I finally make my way to this spot right behind your other ear, I’ll tell you how much you’re affecting me, because I’m probably going to be hard as a diamond by then. You’ll be ready for me, too, only we aren’t nearly there yet, not by a mile. Maybe I’ll hint at what I’m going to do to you, how I’m going to soon have you begging me to take you, to make love to you. You’ll reach down and touch me, to feel for yourself the truth of what I tell you. Want to know what you’ll say?”

“No” she said breathlessly, the little liar.

“You won’t say anything but ‘mais oui’. Just two tiny syllables from your lips, with your voice, but in those two words, you’ll give yourself to me, entrust all your pleasure, all the secrets of your body, soul and mind to me.” He shifted closer, aligning his lips to hers but not touching. The only part of his body in contact with hers was his chest against her breasts, barely grazing. “Your body, however, will say more than ‘yes’.”

Lydia’s body seemed to be agreeing because he could feel her nipples straining against the fabric of her bikini top, against him, the only points of contact. She swayed forward and pressed her lips to his, and placed her other hand on the flat of his belly. She could deny she wanted him all she liked, but the physical evidence gave her away.

With the last shreds of his willpower, he played his riskiest card. Abruptly, he broke contact and stepped back. “I’ll see you at eight.” He took but a brief second to memorize the expression on her face—yearning, shock, and he hoped, disappointment—before turning his back to return to his suite, praying he’d not bet unwisely.

If you liked that and think contemporary cruise ship romance might be your thing, I hope you’ll consider picking up a copy of Boss Overboard, available at most booksellers.