Affliction by Jenika Snow….Release Day Blitz

 

 

 

It wasn’t until Cameron that I knew what real darkness was…or that I’d crave it so much.

I’ve let the world weigh down on me; pull me under until nothing makes sense anymore. Maybe that’s how I let myself get into the mess I’m currently in? Maybe that’s how I’m in my current situation with a man I knew could save me from a fate worse than death. Even if being with Cameron, giving him the very part of me, the only part that’s worth anything—my body—might very well ruin me, I have to survive.

Drug lord. Crime Boss. Murderer. I should fear him, be horrified by what he wants from me, by who he is. But instead, I find myself wanting to please him, wanting to give myself over completely.

Because I know that gives me control over him.

Cameron Ashton reins over the gritty underworld, the danger and violence of depravity, from his throne. A pistol is his sword, and apathy is his second-in-command. I know he’s dangerous, know he’ll break me and not think twice. But he’s my only chance, the only way I’ll survive.

        He’s possessive and controlling. And he does own me, every part of me. The darkness in him runs stronger, deeper than it ever had in me. Maybe we’re not so different? Maybe giving up my control to Cameron, giving him my very soul, makes me the powerful one?

Maybe, in the end, I’ll be the one who owns him.



Warning: This is a filthy, dark romance. There may be subject matter and triggers that are sensitive to some readers. In the end, this IS a romance, albeit a twisted one. If you’re looking for a story that gives you the warm and fuzzies, this is not the book for you.

“You want to be free of this pain, of this nightmare?”

Still I couldn’t speak. I glanced at Ricky. He watched me, one eye swollen shut, blood covering his face. He didn’t seem strong now. He knew his number had been pulled and he’d be dead before the night was over. I knew that, too. I also didn’t give a shit. He deserved this. Ricky knew who and what he was up against, and he knew this was the end of the road for him.

Maybe that makes me a monster, too, because I don’t care. I want him to suffer, to be afraid.

“Sofia,” Cameron said my name softly, urging me in that deep, commanding voice of his.

“Yes,” I whispered, my voice empty, just like my soul. I turned and faced the man who’d ridden in like the very devil himself. But then again, wasn’t I the match to this gasoline-saturated scene?

“Say it. Ask me for it.” Cameron’s voice was eerily strong, collected.

I looked at Ricky again, a man who would have done horrible things to me, trying to push my humanity down.

“Ask me to take your problem away.” Cameron’s voice was low, a little seductive. I glanced at him again, feeling like I was lost at sea.

Cameron was powerful and wanted to exert that, wanted me to be on my knees as he showed me what he could do—figuratively and literally—what he could solve. I was at his mercy, the same as Ricky. And a part of me knew that once I said the words, everything would change. I told Cameron what I wanted, that I wanted Ricky gone, dead, the life I once knew, albeit shitty, would become something else.

 

I’d be the epitome of darkness, embracing it because I’d taken a life in my hands and extinguished it.

“I want my problem to go away.” The words that came from me were cold, detached…just like my soul in that exact moment. I saw the way Cameron’s lip lifted, this sardonic, sadistic smirk coming into play. He would have killed Ricky without my prompt, without me begging. But here, now, making me ask, that was him showing me the control he had over me.

It was the promise of what he’d show me once we were alone and I had to pay my dues.

“Say it,” Cameron said again, harder this time.

I swallowed, squeezed my hands into fists, and said the words that would change the very person I thought I was. “I want him dead.”

It happened in slow motion, the world rewinding, the air being sucked out of the room. Cameron lifted his hand, his hold steady on the gun, his body seeming corded, tighter. Ricky begged, pleaded. He cried and shook uncontrollably. It didn’t matter, because his fate had already been sealed.

He knew what it felt like for me, how his life was now in someone else’s hands. Good.

And then the sound of the gun going off filled me, surrounded me. It was an echoing in my head, rocking me to my core, shaking everything inside of me. Warmth seeped over me, seemed to seep into me.

Blood. Hot, viscous, life-sustaining fluid covered my face and chest. I was frozen in place, my body numb, the feeling of that liquid dripping from my chin, from the very ends of my hair and onto the floor, stunned as much as it disgusted and pleased me.   

 

 

 

 

 

Jenika Snow is a USA Today Bestselling Author that lives in the northwest with her husband and their two daughters. Before she started writing full-time she worked as a nurse.

Author Links

 

 

 

More to Me by B.L. Mooney…Release Day Blitz

Author: B.L. Mooney
Title: More to Me
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 4, 2017

Raelyn Clarke is the woman of my dreams, but she’s way out of my league. I’m a starving artist with a deranged mutt. She’s an attorney saving children from deranged parents. I’m not exactly the type of man she’s looking for.

She thinks she’s found the one, but she doesn’t know his name. A stranger who rocked her world one night and showed her a connection she thought was impossible. A connection she’s desperate to feel again.

She’s settling for someone she does know, but he’s only perfect on paper. An attorney who matches her for education, career, and money, but doesn’t have a chance in hell of showing her the passion the other man showed her.

How do I know? Let’s just say there’s more to me than Hudson Kelley, the goofy neighbor across the hall. I have to tell her the truth soon. Right now, it’s better to keep her in the dark.

 
  

“Why are you making these cookies, anyway?”

She looked at the burnt ones and back to me. “They were supposed to be a peace offering, but the more I thought about what I was going to say to you when I took them to you, the more hyped I got to say it.” She reached across the island and held my hand. “I really missed you.”

I took the hand she placed in mine and held it with both of my hands. I wanted to say so much. I wanted to show her how much I’d missed her even though I was angry with her. I wanted to show her how much I cared. I was afraid.

“I missed you, too.” I couldn’t look at her. I was afraid she’d see everything I was feeling with that one look.

She tugged on my hands and I opened mine, thinking she wanted to let go. She grabbed my hands again and pulled me around the island to hug me. “I’m so sorry I ever made you feel that way.”

I hugged her back and tried to not crush her. I didn’t want to let her go, but I knew I had to. It was too soon to make a move or to tell her how I felt, but having her in my arms made it impossible to stay quiet. “You’ve made me feel a lot more than that.”

She pulled back and looked at me. She didn’t let go, but she wanted to see into my eyes. It was as if she was searching to see what I was feeling, but I wasn’t sure she was ready for the answer. I didn’t say anything, but I returned her gaze. She looked down to my lips, and I pulled her hips closer. I wanted her to kiss me. I wanted her to make that first move.

The door opened, but we didn’t break our stance. I was sorry for the interruption, but I was glad it was Jamie and not Darrin. That would’ve been even more awkward.

“Wow.” Jamie walked in and turned the timer off on the oven. We hadn’t heard it. “Are you two deaf?”

Raelyn’s hands slid down my arms as she stepped away. It was as if she didn’t want to let go, either. I wondered what would’ve happened if Jamie hadn’t walked in. Whatever did happen was enough to give me hope that she would see me as more than the guy next door some day.

She cleared her throat and turned to Jamie. “We’re making ice cream cookies.”

“Looks like you’re burning the poor things to me.”

Raelyn glanced my way a couple of times. She looked confused, but that only gave me more hope. She was feeling something. I’d wait as long as it took for her figure it out.

B.L. Mooney started writing when the voices and storylines in her head ran out of room. They were getting too cramped and neither B.L. nor the characters could take it anymore, so she did the only thing she could do—she made room. She always knew she wanted to write, but vowed to make time for it later. Now that she’s made time for writing, most everything else falls to the wayside. That seems to suit the characters that keep popping up in her head just fine.

B.L. lives in the Midwest, and her other talents include in-demand cookies, a very dry sense of humor, and stealth eavesdropping. Some mannerisms, attitudes, or twists come from random sentences picked up while passing by strangers. So speak up the next time you have something to gossip about. You never know, it may just end up on the pages of the next book you read.

  

Ends Here by M. Robinson….Release Day Blitz

RELEASE DAY BLITZ
ENDS HERE (Road to Nowhere Book 2)
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 4TH
COVER MODEL MARSHALL PERRIN
COVER DESIGN THE FINAL WRAP
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY WANDER

 

 

Ashes to ashes.
Dust to dust.
And all that fucking shit.
I had killed.
I had sacrificed.
The innocent and the corrupt. I knew blood and I knew
violence.
Never imagining I could know love too.
Mia Ryder was a woman to love. To cherish. To fucking claim.
Now, forever, and every day in between.
If there was anyone I’d go to Hell and back for, it was her.
Even if meant, going to war with…
My fucking brother.

 

 

“Don’t fuck with me, Noah. I gotta enough fuckin’ bullshit
to deal with. Don’t need your shit, too.”
“Tell me, Creed… she’s yours right?” he questioned, narrowing his eyes at me. “Then what’s her favorite color?”
I jerked back like he had hit me. Knowing exactly where he was going with this.
“Time’s up. It’s pink. How about her middle name? Don’t
remember?” he mocked, cocking his head to the side. “They wanted to name her Savannah after her grandmother who died of cancer. She never even got to meet
her. But instead it’s Alexandra, after her momma. Why don’t you tell me her favorite thing to eat? Or drink? Favorite book? Or movie? How about you tell me anythin’ that doesn’t include what she sounds like when she’s fuckin’ gettin’
off?”
“You little shit! Congrats, Noah, on knowin’ some trivial bullshit. I know what shes’s feelin’ by just lookin’ at her. I know what she’s thinkin’ without her sayin’ one goddamn word to me. And fuck yeah, I know how she likes to be touched, kissed, fucked and I’d rather be the man who knows all that, plus how to fuckin’ get her off,” I snarled, stepping up to him again. He
didn’t cower, if anything he stood taller. “Who the fuck you think you are, Noah?”
“The right man for her, that’s who.”
“Is that right? So what, you tellin’ me you love her? You love Mia?”
There was no hesitation with his response, when he clearly
replied with, “Yeah, Creed. I fuckin’ do.”
“Don’t start a war you can’t fuckin’ win, baby brother.”
“Consider this my breach.”
I nodded slowly, backing away. Taking everything in while
battling the urge to lay him the fuck out.
The lines were drawn now. Each of us on the opposite side for the first time in all our lives but if there was anyone I would go to hell and back for it was Mia Ryder. Even if it meant going to war with…
My fucking brother.

 

PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY



          Amazon Nook / Kobo / I-Tunes
HAVEN’T READ BOOK ONE?! FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED!
ROAD TO NOWHERE 
 

AMAZON 

USA Today Bestselling Author of Keeping Her Wet, Road to Nowhere, EL Diablo, The
Good Ol’ Boys Standalone Series, The VIP Trilogy, Tempting Bad, and Two Sides.
 
M. Robinson loves to read. She favors anything that has
angst, romance, triangles, cheating, love, and of course sex! She has been
reading since the Babysitters Club and R.L. Stein. 
She was born in New Jersey but was raised in Tampa Fl. 
She is married to an amazing man who she loves to pieces.
They have two German Shepherd mixes and a Wheaten and a Tabby cat. 


 

$20 Amazon or I-Tunes Card your choice 

 

Easy Magic by Kristen Proby….Release Blitz

EM Release 2

 

From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Proby, comes the next sexy and captivating standalone title in the Boudreaux Series, EASY MAGIC. Take a trip to the Big Easy and fall in love with Beau and Mallory’s story in this passionate and magical contemporary romance. Grab your copy today!

 

EasyMagic BN Kobo

ABOUT EASY MAGIC:

The Boudreaux Series. Sexy. Intriguing. Easy.

Family. Responsibility. Stability.

As the co-CEO of Bayou Enterprises, and the eldest of the Boudreaux clan, Beau is the epitome of these. Now that his baby sister Gabby is happily settled down, Beau has moved into the company loft in the heart of the French Quarter to be closer to his office while his own home is built. He doesn’t have time for anything but the family he adores and the company that drives him.

If only the bewitching owner of the herb shop downstairs from Beau’s loft wasn’t so damn tempting.

Mallory Adams is living the life. The good life. The best life for her. After years of hiding who she is, and the gifts she’s been cursed with, Mallory opened her little shop in the French Quarter, offering herbs and lotions for anything from soothing a sunburn to chasing those pesky ghosts New Orleans is known for out of a client’s home. Some call her eccentric, and some say she’s simply odd, and that’s okay with her. She is a bit odd, but in her experience, all of the best people are.

When an old pipe bursts in the loft above her store, flooding her storeroom, Mallory comes face to face with Beau Boudreaux, and she doesn’t need the clairvoyant abilities that have been passed down through generations to know that she’ll never be the same. Beau is her exact opposite; serious, straitlaced. He wears suits for Pete’s sake and probably wouldn’t know the difference between arnica and flaxseed if his life depended on it. But when he touches her, the electricity is through the roof and she’s smart enough to know that a chemistry like theirs doesn’t happen every day.

Can two people so very different possibly find their way to happily ever after?

Grab your copy of EASY MAGIC today!

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2nuV6Pp

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/2nuCPlq

iBooks: http://apple.co/2nuL9kU

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2n8uD9b

EM Teaser 4

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

EXCERPT

 

“I’ve always had a knack for knowing what people need,” she says softly, as if she’s choosing her words very carefully. I don’t know why that bothers me. I want her to speak her mind, to not have to censor what she says.

But this is a good start.

“In what way?”

“Maybe someone has headaches, or their feet hurt. I have essential oils and herbs that can help with those things.”

I nod.

“My grandmother taught me all about alternative medicine from the time I was a child. She wasn’t crazy with it,” she says quickly, “she still believed in western medicine as well, but why take a pain reliever full of chemicals if you can just put a drop of oil on the back of your neck to get the same result?”

She shrugs and reaches for the dessert, smiles when she opens the box, and digs in with enthusiasm.

“I thought it would be fun to open a store full of those things,” she continues. “I wanted the bottles to be pretty, and everything to be tied with a bow. I wanted a place where people enjoyed coming in, even if only to browse. It smells good, the energy is calming.”

And I realize that that’s exactly how I feel whenever I’ve been in her store.

“I’d say you’ve accomplished those things.”

“Thank you.” Her smile is huge and genuine. “That’s really the best compliment I could ever get.”

“Really?” I cock a brow and watch her lashes flutter. “I’d also say you’re stunning. I want to bury my fingers in that amazing curly hair of yours.”

There must be something in the food that’s making me speak so freely. But Mallory seems to bring out my flirty side.

I’d forgotten that I had a flirty side.

Her smile slips just a bit, and her cheeks flush, and I know she’d look just like that when I’m buried balls deep inside her.

“That’s very nice of you.”

“But not what you want to hear.”

“Well, don’t get me wrong, every woman wants to be told she’s pretty.”

“I didn’t say pretty,” I reply and lean in, resting my elbows on her desk. “’Pretty’ is too dull of a word to describe you.”

“You’re an interesting man,” she says, tilting her head to the side and studying my face with narrowed violet eyes. “You just say whatever you’re feeling.”

“Not always,” I reach out to tuck her hair behind her ear and she stiffens. I pause, keeping my eyes pinned to hers before I slowly brush just the pads of my fingertips over the outline of her ear, tucking that soft curly hair, then lowering my hand back to the desk. “But I see no reason to not be honest with you.”

“I opened this shop because I love it,” she says, her voice still soft but firm. She’s not weak in any way, and that pulls at me like a siren’s song. “I want to help people if I can, even if it’s just to moisturize their hands. And I like this building.”

“There are other streets with more foot traffic.”

“And I like where I am,” she says again. “I do well here.”

“I’m glad you do.” I nod and without giving it much thought, reach out to pull my fingertips over her hand. My eyes are watching hers as I do, and I can see the hesitation just before I touch her, and then the relief when my skin rests on hers.

She doesn’t like to be touched.

“Tell me more,” I say softly.

“That’s all there is about the store.”

“Tell me about you.”

She pulls her hand out from under mine and sits back in her chair. “I think you’d better go, before I tell you more than I want to.”

I cock a brow. “I’m a fan of honesty.”

“Good.” She nods once and begins loading the empty boxes in the trash. “I’m in favor of being honest, and in that same spirit, I’m exhausted, Beau.”

“I know. I am, too.”

But I’m not ready to say goodbye to her yet. I’m afraid that we’ll go our separate ways, and I won’t see her again.

“What are you thinking?” she asks.

“That I want to see you again.”

“You live upstairs from my shop,” she reminds me. “I don’t see how we could avoid it.”

“We avoided it for a damn long time,” I say and stand, shoving my hands in my pockets. “But I won’t make that mistake again.”

EM Banner 2

And don’t forget to grab the first four books in

The Boudreaux Series!

EASY LOVE

EASY CHARM

EASY MELODY

EASY KISSES

 

EM Teaser 1

 

 

Kristen Proby_AuthorPic1ABOUT KRISTEN PROBY:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kristen Proby is the author of the bestselling With Me In Seattle and Love Under the Big Sky series. She has a passion for a good love story and strong, humorous characters with a strong sense of loyalty and family. Her men are the alpha type; fiercely protective and a bit bossy, and her ladies are fun, strong, and not afraid to stand up for themselves.

Kristen lives in Montana, where she enjoys coffee, chocolate and sunshine. And naps.

 

 

Website**Facebook**Twitter**Newsletter Sign Up

Author Goodreads**Novel Goodreads

InkSlinger-Blogger banner-New

Hate 2 Lovers by K. Webster & J.D. Hollyfield…..Release Day Blitz

Hate 2 Lovers

by K. Webster and J.D. Hollyfield
2 Lovers Series #2 (May be read as standalone)
Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romantic Comedy

Purchase: Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo

She hates him and his big head.
He likes her and her big t*ts.

She hates him because she somehow ends up naked every time she sees him.
He likes her because she somehow ends up naked every time he sees her.

She hates him because the big oaf knocked her up with his kid.
He likes her because she’s carrying his child.

She hates the way he gets inside her head.
He likes the way she lets him see glimpses of her heart.

Andie: I hate you.
Roman: I know…but I’m going to change that.

***This is book two in the series. It is best if you read book one first to fully understand this couple’s story.***

It’s the start of nothing good.
I fired off a storm of raunchy text messages…to the wrong number.
And he replied.
Him: Show me a picture.
Him: Tell me your name.
Why does the lure of anonymity have me craving to indulge a stranger?

It’s the start of everything right.
I received a slew of text messages…when everything in my life was wrong.
And she made me laugh again.
Her: You’re probably a creeper.
Her: Possibly a stalker.
Why do I have the overwhelming need to find this stranger who saved me and make her mine?

Him: Take a chance with me.
Her: This is crazy.
Him: I need to see you.
Her: What are we doing?
Him: We’re about to find out.

Her: PHOTO ATTACHED
Him: PHOTO ATTACHED

About K. Webster

K Webster2

K Webster is the author of dozens romance books in many different genres including contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, and erotic romance. When not spending time with her husband of twelve years and two adorable children, she’s active on social media connecting with her readers.

Her other passions besides writing include reading and graphic design. K can always be found in front of her computer chasing her next idea and taking action. She looks forward to the day when she will see one of her titles on the big screen.

You can easily find K Webster on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads!

Website: www.authorkwebster.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bllgoP

About J.D. Hollyfield

Author JD Hollyfield

Creative designer, mother, wife, writer, part time superhero…

J.D. Hollyfield is a creative designer by day and superhero by night. When she is not trying to save the world one happy ending at a time, she enjoys the snuggles of her husband, son and three doxies. With her love for romance, and head full of book boyfriends, she was inspired to test her creative abilities and bring her own story to life.

Life in a Rut, Love not Included is her Debut Novel. J.D. Hollyfield lives in the Midwest, and is currently at work on blowing the minds of readers, with the additions of her new books and series, along with her charm, humor and HEA’s.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter | Pinterest | Instagram

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal….Revelry by Kandi Steiner

Title: Revelry
Author: Kandi Steiner
Release Date: April 20, 2017

From the bestselling author of Weightless and A Love Letter to Whiskey

Wren Ballard is trying to find herself.

She never expected to be divorced at twenty-seven, but now that the court date has passed, it’s official. The paperwork is final. Her feelings on it aren’t.

Spending the summer in a small mountain town outside Seattle is exactly what she needs. The peaceful scenery is a given, the cat with the croaky meow is a surprise, but the real kicker? A broody neighbor with nice arms, a strange reputation, and absolutely no interest in her.

Anderson Black is perfectly fine being lost.

He doesn’t care about the town’s new resident — he’s too busy fighting his own demons. But when he’s brought face to face with Wren, he can see her still-fresh wounds from a mile away. What he doesn’t see coming is his need to know who put them there — or his desperation to mend them.

Sometimes getting lost is the way to find yourself. Sometimes healing only adds a new scar. And sometimes the last place you expected to be is exactly where you find home.

I stared at the piles of bags, debating which to tackle first before slowly loading them onto each arm one by one. Once I was red-faced and struggling and decided there was, in fact, no way I’d get them all in one trip, I turned to make my way inside the cabin. But I stopped short.

There was a man at the end of my driveway.

He was just standing there, staring at me, a large, rusted toolbox in one hand and rolled up sheet of paper in the other. Everything about him was hard — the bend in his brows, the edge of his jaw, the line of scruff that framed it. And because I was me, of course I noticed what he was wearing, and it was the first time in a long time that I’d seen someone who dressed for efficiency, not for style. His jeans were worn, but not dirty, with plenty of pockets that I could tell were each used in their own way. He donned a simple, deep red thermal with sleeves pushed up to his elbows and slight stains that ran down his chest and abdomen, and a charcoal gray hat sat low over his eyes, shielding them from the sun.

He was tan, and even from the distance his eyes sparked against the warm hue of his skin. They were bright — blue, maybe? Or green? I couldn’t be sure, and I let his potent appearance mesmerize me for just a moment more before I shifted, hoisting the bags in my right hand up enough for me to attempt a half wave.

If possible, his brow lowered further, and he simply stalked off, clearing the view of my driveway in seconds.

I frowned.

“Well, hello to you, too.”

Kandi Steiner is a bestselling author and whiskey connoisseur living in Tampa, FL. Best known for writing “emotional rollercoaster” stories, she loves bringing flawed characters to life and writing about real, raw romance — in all its forms. No two Kandi Steiner books are the same, and if you’re a lover of angsty, emotional, and inspirational reads, she’s your gal.

An alumna of the University of Central Florida, Kandi graduated with a double major in Creative Writing and Advertising/PR with a minor in Women’s Studies. She started writing back in the 4th grade after reading the first Harry Potter installment. In 6th grade, she wrote and edited her own newspaper and distributed to her classmates. Eventually, the principal caught on and the newspaper was quickly halted, though Kandi tried fighting for her “freedom of press.” She took particular interest in writing romance after college, as she has always been a die hard hopeless romantic, and likes to highlight all the challenges of love as well as the triumphs.

When Kandi isn’t writing, you can find her reading books of all kinds, talking with her extremely vocal cat, and spending time with her friends and family. She enjoys live music, traveling, anything heavy in carbs, beach days, movie marathons, craft beer and sweet wine — not necessarily in that order.

 

SALE! SALE! SALE! Tattered Gloves by J.L. Berg

USA Today Bestselling Author J.L. Berg’s first YA title, THE TATTERED GLOVES, is on sale now for just .99c for a very limited time! Make sure to grab it now at this price!

 

JLBTheTatteredGlovesBookCover6x6_BW_HIGHAbout THE TATTERED GLOVES

Head down.
Don’t look up.
Never make eye contact.

Those were the words I lived by growing up, the words that protected me in an unsafe home. But words are only letters and eventually even they couldn’t keep his hands off me.

Hoping to leave behind the shattered life of my past, I find myself in a boring, small town, with an aunt I’ve never met and at a school I loathe.

But soon I learn, not everything in this world is as black and white as I’ve determined. Sometimes those we are so quick to judge often need a second, third or even fourth time to make a first impression.

And often, there are friendships and even love waiting just around the corner, if we are brave enough to take the first step.

Am I brave? Or will I hide behind these tattered gloves of mine forever?

Add THE TATTERED GLOVES to your to be read shelf on Goodreads!

Get your hands on THE TATTERED GLOVES: Amazon | iBooks | Google Play | Kobo

Read a Sneak Peek:

My normally quiet nature seemed to take a backseat when it came to this guy. He made me angry, flustered, and… something else I couldn’t put my finger on.

Annoyed maybe?

No, that wasn’t it.

“What is your problem?” I blurted out, chasing behind him.

“My problem?” he asked, spinning around to face me.

Suddenly, he was too close. I could feel his breath on my face, his presence looming over me.

I took a step back.

He seemed to notice the unease settle around me, and a bit of the edge he carried chipped away.

His next words were said with a slightly softer quality. “Look, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but if the store doesn’t do well, it’s on me. My dad thinks it’s a waste of time.”

“And you don’t?”

I didn’t know what a rich, popular kid wanted with an old bookstore, but I kept my mouth shut.

He shrugged. “We have nothing in this crummy town, not even a movie theater. Last month, I wanted to see the new Marvel movie, and my friends and I had to drive thirty minutes away just to see it.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of Netflix?” I asked.

“It’s not the same as seeing it on the big screen.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I replied.

“What?” He grinned. “You’ve never been to a movie?”

The way he said it was meant as a joke, but all laughter died when I shook my head.

“Seriously?”

“I mean, I’ve watched several on TV but never at a theater,” I answered, not able to meet his stare.

“I thought you were from the city.”

My eyes flew up to his.

“Oh, so you really did think you were invisible. That doesn’t work around here, Mittens.”

My brows furrowed as I tried to figure out what he meant until he pointed to my gloves.

Mittens.

Cute.

“My name is Willow,” I corrected.

Sam just kept smiling.

“Word of advice, Mittens. The less you try to be invisible, the less interested people will be.”

I let out a heavy sigh, snatching the remainder of the books from the counter.

As he’d reminded me earlier, I wasn’t being paid to mess around.

And I sure as hell didn’t need life lessons from an over privileged daddy’s boy.

I hated this place.

 

Watch the Trailer:

About J.L. Berg

J.L. Berg is the USA Today bestselling author of the Ready Series, The Walls Duet, and the Lost & Found Duet. She is a California native living in the beautiful state of historic Virginia. Married to her high school sweetheart, they have two beautiful girls that drive them batty on a daily basis. When she’s not writing, you will find her with her nose stuck in a romance novel, in a yoga studio or devouring anything chocolate. J.L. Berg is represented by Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, LLC.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Newsletter

Cover Reveal…Checkmate Boxed Set by Kennedy Fox

Title: Checkmate Boxed Set
Series: Checkmate Duet (Travis & Viola)
Titles Included: Checkmate: This is War & Checkmate: This is Lover
Author: Kennedy Fox
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Trope: Enemies to Lovers
Photographer & Designer: Sara Eirew
Release Date: April 5, 2017

Synopsis

Travis King is the worst kind of asshole with good looks and enough confidence to last two lifetimes.
Viola Fisher is a goodie two shoes know-it-all who prefers fictional love stories over her own.
The only thing they have in common is their mutual hatred for each other.

She’s had a secret crush on him since she was ten but Travis has always made it very clear the feelings aren’t mutual. He’s cruel, crass and takes every opportunity to get under Viola’s skin. She’s smart, beautiful, and too good to be true. Hating him is her religion but needing her is his.

Although Viola loathes his very existence, against her better judgment she let him into her bed. Her sexy curves and filthy smart mouth make Travis want her even more and although she’s succumbed to his manwhore ways, she’s determined to not let that change a thing.

Too bad he has other plans.

Viola’s always been off-limits, but Travis is determined to keep crossing that line. She can try to push him away, but he always gets what he wants and he’ll do anything to prove he’s done playing games.

Until then, they’ll play by their own rules to see who will win the biggest battle yet—love or hate?

Checkmate.

*Recommend for ages 18+ due to sexual content and adult language.*

 

Excerpt

Watching Viola’s cheeks turn bright red gives me a thrill every time. She’s easy to rile up, even easier to embarrass. She pretends to hate me, but let’s be honest, there’s hardly anything about me worth hating. Even when she was just ten years old and we’d just met, I could make her blush without even speaking.
I work out every chance I get, eat right, and work my ass off both in and out of the gym. When I’m not working out or at my job, I enjoy other types of recreation.
Currently her name is Rachel and she’s basically salivating at the mouth as she waits for me to give her what she’s begging for.
I give in, of course.
I’m a guy after all.
When we’re both sated and panting next to each other, I clean up and pull my boxer shorts back up. She curls her body around mine and places a quick kiss on my shoulder. “Are you kicking me out now?” I look over my shoulder and give her a sympathetic grin. “Sorry, babe. No sleepovers.”
That’s not entirely a rule set in stone, but I prefer to sleep alone. Especially if there’s no chance of morning sex the next day. I get up at five a.m. and head to the gym before I have to be to work at eight.
“All right.” She gets up and searches for her clothes. Once she’s dressed, she grabs her purse and walks over for a goodbye kiss. “Call me later.”
“Sure.” I escort her out of the house and kiss her once more before shutting the door. I spin around and nearly run over Viola as she passes in the hall.
“Aw…another victim released. How sweet of you.”
“They aren’t victims if they’re willing,” I retort matter-of-factly.
“Well, they’re airheads if they are.” She continues walking to the kitchen and reluctantly I follow.
“You sure sound pretty envious.”
“It’s not. It’s pity. There’s a difference.” She opens the fridge and reaches for a bottle of water.
“Trust me…she’s not feeling any amount of pity right about now.” I lean up against the doorframe and watch her take a long drink.
“If not pity, then definitely regret. Or perhaps she’s wondering where the nearest clinic is so she can get tested.” She takes another pull of her water and ignores my glare.
“Just because a woman likes sex, doesn’t make her an airhead. But you wouldn’t know that would you? Not when you keep your V-card hostage like it’s a million-dollar diamond.”
“For the hundredth time, I’m not a virgin!” she retorts sharply. “Just because I don’t spread my legs as much as a gymnast, doesn’t mean I’m a prude.”
“Well it sure as hell doesn’t make you a delight.”
She tosses the bottle out and steps toward me, shoving her shoulder against me as she walks past. “Knowing how to use your dick doesn’t make you a god, Travis.”
I spin around and face her as she walks away. “You speak as if you know from experience.”
“Trust me. The walls are thin. The entire neighborhood knows from experience,” she calls over her shoulder. “So are you saying I should be sorry for knowing how to use my dick?”
She freezes and turns toward me. “No, you should be sorry for anyone that falls for your shit that gets them into your bed in the first place.” She presses her lips together in a fake smile and walks down the hall and back to where Drew is still playing his game.
I don’t know what her problem is, but I’m determined to find out.

It’s already ten o’clock, and I have a long day at the office tomorrow, but I can’t get Viola off my mind long enough to fall asleep.
This never happens by the way.
Okay, well, maybe it does. Only when she gets under my skin, which happens to be all the damn time.
But you can’t blame me. She’s always perfect and proper, never wrong and always knows the answer to everything. She’s that annoying smart kid in class that always fucks up the grading curve for everyone else. The one that wears modest clothes but somehow always ends up looking sexy as fuck.
On the outside, Viola Fisher is the poster child of innocence and purity. But I know better.
Viola Fisher has tattoos and a right hook that could make any grown man cry.

 

Buy Links

To get a one time notification when the boxed set is live, please sign up here!

Giveaway

Giveaway short link: http://bit.ly/2nP3g5t

 

About the Author

A secret duo of romance authors team up under the USA Today Bestselling pseudonym, Kennedy Fox who share a love of You’ve Got Mail and The Holiday. When they aren’t bonding over romantic comedies, they like to brainstorm new book ideas. One day, they decided to collaborate and have some fun creating new characters that’ll make your lady bits tingle and your heart melt. If you enjoy romance stories with sexy, tattooed alpha males and smart, independent women, then a Kennedy Fox book is for you!

Instagram: instagram.com/kennedyfoxbooks
Twitter: twitter.com/kennedyfoxbooks @kennedyfoxbooks
Facebook: facebook.com/kennedyfoxbooks/
Website: www.kennedyfoxbooks.com
Email: kennedyfoxbooks@gmail.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cngqYT

Crazy For You by Rachel Lacey…Release Day Blitz

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: CRAZY FOR YOU

Author: Rachel Lacey

Series: Risking It All, #2

On Sale: March 28, 2017

Publisher: Forever

Mass Market: $7.99 USD

eBook: $6.99 USD

Add to Goodreads

 

The second book in Rachel Lacey’s irresistible contemporary romance series about three foster brothers who return to their hometown to open an extreme sports business, perfect for fans of Kristan Higgins, Rachel Gibson, and Jill Shalvis!

SHE’S TAKING A WALK ON HIS WILD SIDE

 

Emma Rush can’t remember a time when she didn’t have a thing for Ryan Blake. Haven’s resident bad boy is just so freakin’ hot-with tattoos, a motorcycle, and enough rough-around-the-edges sexiness to melt all her self-control. Now that Emma’s over being a “good girl,” she needs a little help being naughty . . . and she knows just where to start.

Before Emma’s brother enlisted in the military, he made Ryan promise that he would protect her from everything–including himself. When her brother doesn’t come home, Ryan needs to turn his screwed-up life around to honor his pledge. But he knows he’s still not the right kind of guy for someone as sweet as Emma. Only he can’t stop wanting to be with her. Wanting her. Falling in love with a good girl may be the craziest risk this bad boy can take . . .

Excerpt 

Ryan Blake held a bottle of Maker’s 46 in his right hand, a tumbler in his left. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the bottle. It flipped once before landing back in his grip, top down, ready to pour. He filled the tumbler, set a napkin on

the bar, and placed it in front of the brunette on the other side. “Bourbon, neat.”

“You’re good.” She picked up the glass and tipped it in his direction. “Not what I was expecting in this little bar in the middle of nowhere.”

“I try,” he said with the friendly, semi-flirtatious smile he always used on single ladies seated at his bar. She wasn’t wrong. The usual clientele at The Drunken Bear had little use for fancy liquor or bartending tricks, but the trio in front of him were tourists looking for a good time, and he’d see that they had one.

“You were just about to tell me about this tattoo.” She placed her hand on his biceps, fingering the eagle he’d had inked there after he flew this coop ten years ago.

“That’s right.” He shifted backward so that her hand slipped to the countertop. He encouraged flirting—it led to better tips and made the night more interesting—but this chick was getting a bit too friendly, considering the diamond band on her left ring finger. “This one was for spreading my wings. Thought I’d fly far away, and yet, here I am back in Haven.”

“You’re from here then?” one of the other women asked, shamelessly ogling the tattoos on his arms while giving him an eyeful of cleavage.

“Born and raised. Moved around a lot, but I can’t seem to shake this place. It’s in my blood.” Once upon a time, he’d been hell bent on getting as far away from this sleepy North Carolina mountain town as possible. Spent the better part of a decade drifting from place to place, taking with him only what he could carry on his bike. Funny how things came full circle. He picked up an empty pilsner glass another patron had left behind.

“Ryan?”

He turned at the familiar voice to find Emma Rush stand- ing there, one hip propped against the bar, and he damn near dropped the glass. Emma’s trademark ponytail and jog- ging pants were nowhere in sight. Tonight, her blond hair cascaded over her shoulders in shiny waves, her blue eyes sparkled at him from behind a tasteful—yet sexy—amount of makeup, and her red top was tucked into a pair of jeans that fit her like a glove. He swallowed past the sudden dry- ness in his throat. “Hey, Em. What brings you out tonight?” “Girls’ night,” she said with a smile, gesturing to her friend Mandy, who stood by the door talking on her cell phone. Emma slid onto an empty barstool. “I wasn’t expect-

ing to see you.”

“I’m still here a few nights a week.” His new business

venture—Off-the-Grid Adventures, an extreme outdoor sporting facility he’d opened with his good buddies Ethan Hunter and Mark Dalton six months ago—was finally bring- ing in enough income that he soon wouldn’t need to bartend to pay his rent. “What can I get you?”

“Untapped amber ale, please.” She watched while he filled a frosted mug. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure.”

She lifted the mug to her lips and took a long drink. “Damn, that’s good,” she said with a happy sigh, setting it on the bar.

“Always been more of a pilsner guy myself.” He tried not to stare as she licked froth from her upper lip.

“Hi, Ryan.” Mandy stepped up to the bar beside Emma. He leaned back, tearing his gaze from Emma’s lips. “Hi.”

Emma turned to her friend with a smile. “Ready to get a table?”

“Yep,” Mandy said. “Have fun, ladies.”

“We will.” With a wave, Emma walked off after her friend, and damn, those jeans cupped her ass like perfection. No doubt about it, Emma looked hot tonight. And his thoughts were way out of line. He’d promised Derek he’d look out for his little sister, not drool all over her.

“Your girlfriend?” the brunette at the bar asked, eyebrows raised as she sipped her bourbon.

Ryan cleared his throat and dragged his eyes away from Emma. “Just a friend.”

“Mm-hmm.” The brunette gave him a look that said she didn’t believe him.

He turned to check on his patrons at the other end of the bar, but his attention was once again diverted by Emma— or rather, the preppy-looking businessman she was talking to now. Ryan couldn’t make out their conversation, but the guy wore an irritatingly smug smile, and Emma didn’t look at all happy to have bumped into him.

Ryan moved down the bar, chatting and pouring drinks as he went, all the while keeping an eye on Emma. She was deep in conversation with the businessman, although the guy seemed to be doing most of the talking. Emma smiled and nodded. She glanced up and met Ryan’s gaze, rolling her eyes at him with a smile while her companion kept on talk- ing.

Next thing Ryan knew, the guy had slung an arm around her shoulders, gesturing wildly with his free hand while Emma subtly edged away from him.

Ryan was around the bar and across the room before he’d even realized what he was doing. “Everything okay over here?”

Emma shrugged out from under the guy’s arm, but her smile wasn’t nearly as warm or genuine as the one she’d given Ryan a few moments ago. “Yep.”

“We’re fine,” Obnoxious Dude answered. “Who are you?”

“Ryan Blake. And you are?” “Tristan Farrell.”

“Tristan and I are . . . old friends,” Emma said.

By old friends, Ryan assumed she meant former flames. And since she clearly wasn’t enjoying his company, it was time for Tristan to leave. Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and stared him down, waiting for the loser to get the message. It didn’t take long.

Tristan backed up, his eyes darting toward the front door. “Well, it was great seeing you, Emma. Take care.”

“You, too.” She watched as Tristan left the bar then turned to Ryan. “Forgot how much I dislike that guy.”

“He hassling you?”

Her eyes rounded. “No! Just talking my ear off, really.

Sorry to distract you from your duties at the bar.”

“No problem.” Keeping an eye on his patrons was part of the job, although he was probably feeling more protective of Emma right now than the situation called for.

“Right, well . . . looks like my table is ready.” She waved over her shoulder as she walked away.

Ryan headed back behind the bar, turning his attention to the trio of tourists and their mostly empty cocktails. “Any of you ladies ready for a fresh drink?”

As it turned out, they all were. While he mixed their cock- tails, he allowed his gaze to roam over to Emma’s table. She was deep in conversation with her friends Gabby, Carly, and Mandy, all of whom he knew, none of whom made his gut tighten the way it did every time he looked at Emma tonight.

He had no idea where this had come from, but he had to get over it, pronto. Emma wasn’t interested in a player like him, and even if she were, she was off limits. He’d made a promise to her brother when Derek went off to war, and Ryan had no intention of breaking it.

BUY THE BOOK HERE

 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Google Play

iBooks

Kobo

Target

Walmart

 

THE RISKING IT ALL SERIES

ROCK WITH YOU, #.5

RUN TO YOU, #1

CRAZY FOR YOU, #2

CAN’T FORGET YOU, #3

 

Series Page on Goodreads

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Lacey is a contemporary romance author and semi-reformed travel junkie. She’s been climbed by a monkey on a mountain in Japan, gone scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and camped out overnight in New York City for a chance to be an extra in a movie. These days, the majority of her adventures take place on the pages of the books she writes. She lives in warm and sunny North Carolina with her husband, son, and a variety of rescue pets.

 

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Goodreads

 

 

FOLLOW FOREVER ONLINE

 

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Pinterest

 

 

RAFFLECOPTER

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/26635ce2433/?

 

 

 

Stripped Bare by Heidi McLaughlin…Release Blitz

 
Author: Heidi McLaughlin
Title: Stripped Bare
Release
Date:

March 28th 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Number
of Pages:

eBook
Publisher: Love Swept
 
 
 
 
 
 
What
readers are saying about STRIPPED BARE:
 
Stripped Bare is one of those stories that you
know is going to be great from the first page. It’s funny, extremely sexy,
emotional and heartbreaking which all combine for a sensational second-chance
romance read.
 
This is a modern day Pretty Woman but so much
better! Richard Gere has nothing on Finn McCormick!!
 
Oh wow. I have been in love with McLaughlin’s
writing since the start but this one could very much be my favorite book now by
her.
 
 
 
 
They don’t call it
the Strip for nothing. . . .
 
In this sinfully sexy Las Vegas
romance from bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin, a man who has it all reunites
with a woman who takes it all off.
 
Living in Sin City, Finn McCormick is
no stranger to one-night stands, but the last person he expects to find losing
big on the casino floor is a former high school fling. Even though Macey
Webster’s clearly down on her luck, she’s still a knockout, and she’s dressed
like a stripper—because she is one. Drunk off an unfamiliar cocktail
of lust, pity,
and compassion, Finn offers to pay
Macey’s debts if she cuddles up to him around town . . . and does whatever he
wants between the sheets.
 
Macey came to Vegas for one reason
only: money. She’s got a young daughter to support, and the tips
really are bigger in Vegas. But when she blows her earnings on
blackjack, her guardian angel is the rich boy who once stole her heart and
never called her back. Although Macey would love to turn the tables on Finn,
she can’t afford to refuse his proposition—and soon she’s enjoying herself much
more than she cares to admit. Macey’s used to baring her flesh, but baring her
soul will take far more courage.
 
 
Stripped Bare
Text Copyright © 2017
Heidi McLaughlin
All Rights Reserved
 
Chapter 1
Macey
The stench of
deep fry emanates from my clothes. I hate the smell and I know the other girls
can smell it, but I ignore the looks they’re giving me and hustle through the
dressing room to my locker. The older women and the ones that have been
stripping here longer always look down on the younger girls and the newbies.
I’m somewhere in the middle. I stripped here when I was younger, during my
first trimester with my daughter, and then again after she was born when I had
my figure back. Actually, stripping helped me tone as a result of all the pole
work that I had to do. I took some time off after that, but I always come back
because the money is fast and somewhat decent. Each time I leave, though, I say
that it’s for good and that was the last time and yet a few months later, I
always find myself back again, knocking on Lew’s door, and asking for my spot
in the rotation back. Girls come and go around here and in this business you
can’t expect to make a lasting connection with anyone.
I strip down and throw my dress, apron and nylons into my bag as
quickly as possible before the stench of grease becomes any more noticeable. I
change into a thong and bootie shorts, add tassels to my nipples and cover them
with a bra before slipping a tank top over my head and stepping into an old
pair of cowboy boots that I picked up
at the secondhand store. I have an array of costumes meant to hit
the mark on every fantasy a man can have. Cowboys, librarian, naughty
schoolgirl . . . you name it I’m doing it. I need the money. More so now than
ever. My kid is getting older and she’s seeing things she shouldn’t, like her
grandmother being so drunk that she can’t get up to answer the door, or strange
men in the house. She’s ten and shouldn’t have to babysit an adult. Nor should
she
have to live in the slums, but that’s on me.
Seventeen and pregnant isn’t how I saw my life. I had had enough
of living with barely any food, no new clothes and the strange looks, so I
swore that I was getting out. I was smart, got good grades in high school, but
none of that mattered once I found out I was knocked up and the baby daddy had
already left town. I tried to tell his mother, but she took one look at me and
shut the door. Back then I didn’t, but I do now. I’d take that money and run
right across the tracks, under the bridge and through the fucking blueberry
bushes if it meant my kid wasn’t going to be a victim of a drug deal gone wrong
or end up with a drinking problem by the time she’s a teen.
 
Morgan though, she’s a good kid who loves to read and is a whiz at
math. She’s all I have in this world and I’ll do anything I have to, to make
sure she has food and clothes.
So I strip at night and wait tables during the day. Depending on
the day or night, one pays better than the other, but they’re jobs that I need.
I have a goal. I want to move Morgan and I into a better neighborhood. One
where kids want to play and not sell drugs. I want her to live in a place where
she feels safe and doesn’t need to hide in the closet of our bedroom because my
mother invited one of her friends over.
My dreams for Morgan are unreachable, I know this, but I try every
day to make them happen. I want such a different life for her that sometimes
when I look out the window of the city bus I’m on and I see other kids her age
walking along the street without a care in the world, I imagine her being one
of those kids. If only . . .
 
Stripped Bare is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.
 
 
Heidi is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author.
Originally from Portland, Oregon and raised in the Pacific Northwest, she now
lives in picturesque Vermont, with
her husband and two daughters. Also renting space in their home
is an over-hyper Beagle/Jack Russell, Buttercup and a Highland Westie/Mini Schnauzer,
JiLL and her brother, Racicot.
When she isn’t writing one of the many stories planned for release, you’ll find
her sitting courtside during either daughter’s basketball games.
Heidi’s first novel, Forever My Girl, is currently in production for a major
motion picture.

 

Chapter Reveal….Tortured by Nicole Williams

 

 

 

Coming April 9th
Pre-order exclusively via iBooks HERE

 

goodreads-badge.png

 

AP new - synopsis.jpg

 

When he left for a twelve-month deployment, she knew it would feel like forever before they saw each other again. She didn’t realize how right she was.

When Lance Corporal Brecken Connolly gets taken as a POW, Camryn hopes for the best but steels herself for the worst. In the end, steel was what she needed to survive when he didn’t. She moves on the only way she knows how—gilding herself in more steel.

Years go by.

She builds a new life.

She leaves the old one behind.

Until one day, she sees the face of a ghost on the news. Brecken seems to have risen from the dead, but she knows she can’t perform the same miracle for herself. While Brecken was held in a torture camp for the past five years, she’s been trapped in her own kind of prison. One she can’t be freed from.  

The man she mourned comes back to join the living, but the girl he wanted to spend his life with isn’t the same woman he comes back for. Brecken isn’t the same person either. The past five years have changed them both. While he’s determined to put the pieces back together, she’s resolved to let hers rot where they shattered.

 

Broken or not, Brecken wants her back. He’ll do anything to achieve that. Even if it means going against the warden of Camryn’s personal prison—her husband.
PROLOGUE


Whenever he had to leave, it was torture. You’d think I’d get used to it, but I didn’t—each time got harder. This one might have felt especially brutal because of how long he’d be gone. A year. We’d done weeks, we’d done months, but we’d never done the full year.
​Being with someone in the military, I knew I’d have to get used to it. The separation. The worry. The loneliness. The feeling that I was trying to catch my breath for however long he was gone.
​It was a way of life. And he was my life. So I’d just have to figure it out.
​“I’m never going to look at dog tags the same way again.” Brecken’s mouth turned up as his eyes roamed over me splayed across the backseat as he tucked in his T-shirt. He twisted his wrist, his gaze moving to his watch. A crease folded into his forehead. “But I’m going to need those back before I climb onto that bus. Something about military regulations. Not wandering around enemy territory without them. Those marines are sticklers for the rules.”
​He was trying to make me feel better—trying to get me to smile—but little could lift my spirits other than finding out he didn’t have to leave for the Middle East for twelve long months.
​“You don’t need them. Not really.”
​“Why’s that?”
​“Because you only need them if you’re planning on dying, and so help me god, I’m not taking these off my neck if you have plans for some kind of a hero’s death.” My hand curled almost defensively around the metal tags hanging against my bare skin as I focused on the way the cool metal warmed in my hand. The way it seemed to come to life in my hold.
​“I’m not planning on dying over there. I’m not going to die,” he corrected the moment my eyebrow started to lift. “But I do have plans of scoring some gnarly war wound so I have a story to tell our grandkids one day and can hang one of those Purple Hearts off my chest.”
​I flattened my face as best as I could, even though it was kind of impossible with the way he was grinning at me as he wrestled his jeans back into place. “Not funny.”
​“Come on. It’ll make me look tough.”
​“You already look tough. Too tough,” I added as I scanned him for the millionth time since he’d arrived back in Medford for a week-long vacation before shipping out. Whenever I looked at him, I didn’t just see the good-looking guy others did—I saw every good memory from my past. I saw every good memory that would be formed in the future. Brecken had been a part of my life since I was eight, and he was as much a part of me as I was.
​“Nah, I need one of those big, angry-looking scars running across my chest. Or one of those bullet hole scars on my thigh. Something real tough like that.”
​“And why do you need your dog tags for that?” My fingers tightened around the thin metal ovals, refusing to let them go as if I hoped in doing so, he couldn’t go either.
​“Blood transfusion. Medics are going to need to know my blood type when they’re trying to patch up my unconscious body.”
​“Unconscious body?”
​He nodded all solemn-like. “I can’t be one of those guys who earns his Purple Heart by getting a scratch on some barbed wire. I need to lose a quart or two of blood, maybe even code on the operating table. Something worthy of that medal.”
​The thought of Brecken marching through a hostile country with a rifle in his hands, with god only knew what aimed his way, made me feel weak with worry. The thought of him fighting for his life in some marine medical tent about took whatever was left of my sanity.
​I must not have been doing a good job hiding my emotions, because his face broke when he saw my eyes, his arms opening toward me. “It’s going to be okay, Camryn. I’m going to be okay. We’re going to be okay. The year will fly by, and before we know it, we’ll be getting married and buying a little house as close to the beach as we can afford. Okay?”
His arms wound around me, swallowing my body, and I let him tuck me close to him. I’d never known the feeling of being safe until Brecken Connolly’s arms had shown me the meaning.
​My hand planted in the middle of his chest, feeling his heartbeat vibrate against my palm. “Why can’t we just get married now? Why can’t I join the marines and go with you, wherever that is, so we can be together?”
​His laugh was muffled from his mouth being pressed against my temple. “Well, you can’t join the marines and my unit because the military’s under this impression that us marines of the male species become distracted and one-track minded when the women we love are marching beside us. They’re convinced the only things on our minds are protecting you, flirting with you, or screwing you.”
​Quietly, I counted off on my fingers, “Protecting, flirting, screwing . . .” Then I nodded. “Damn, they sure have you pegged.”
​Brecken’s fingers brushed up and down the bend of my waist. “And we can’t get married right now because you’ve got two more months of high school to finish before you earn that nifty diploma thing.” He kept going, undeterred by my grumble. “And I need to save some money to give you a proper ring and wedding. I’m not doing the courthouse thing with cheap silver bands. Not for you. You deserve the best.”
​My head tucked beneath his chin as I let him hold me in the backseat of his aunt’s old Corsica. The only good thing I could say about the car—which was a coin toss if it would start any given day—was that it had a decent-sized backseat that Brecken and I had made more than ample use of. Growing up in a strict household with my dad as Brecken grew up in the packed household a few houses down, privacy had been in short supply for both of us. Thankfully, his aunt was willing to lend Brecken her car whenever she could, like today, when I’d just made love to the only boy I’d ever loved for the last time for the next year.
My fingers curled into his chest as I willed time to freeze. “I have the best.”
Brecken grunted like he doubted that, his head lifting to check out the windshield. We were parked way back in the bus depot lot. His bus would be leaving for the long drive back to Camp Pendleton in a few short minutes.
“Besides, you already got me a ring.” I raised my left hand in front of him, rolling my fingers so he could see the adjustable birthstone ring on my finger.
He shook his head. “I won that for you at an arcade when we were ten.”
“It cost you twelve hundred tickets too. You saved up all summer to get that many tickets.”
His fingers touched the ring, twisting it around with a small smile on his face. “And it probably has the street value of a nickel. Not exactly the kind of wedding ring I want my wife to have.”
I found myself staring at the ring with him. The gold paint had started chipping off the thin band years ago, but the small pink birthstone still sparkled when the light hit it just right. “Well, it’s priceless to me. I don’t care what the street value is. Or how many tickets it cost.”
“Even so, I’m getting you a nice ring. With all of the hazard pay I’ll earn this year, you’d better start working that left ring finger out so it can bear the weight of the diamond I’ll be dropping on it.”
I was glad he couldn’t see my face, because he hated knowing how worried I was about him. He said hazard pay like a sales rep mentioned a bonus, but I heard it for what it really was—the government giving you a little more money for the likelihood of losing your life increasing.
“One more year. That’s it. Then we’ll be able to be together like we’ve always planned. Away from here.” Brecken’s arms loosened around me. We didn’t have much longer. “Away from these people.”
An uneven exhale came from him, the muscles in his arms twitching. I knew who he was talking about without him going into detail. Neither of our lives had been charmed or particularly easy, but mine had been worse. Being raised by a single dad who was so strict he made a monk’s life seem carefree, I’d had an unusual upbringing. Brecken only knew what I let him know about it, which was barely half of the reality.
“I don’t like leaving you alone with him,” he said, his voice a note lower. “If things get hard again, just leave. Move in with my insane family or a hotel or anywhere. Don’t let him hurt you. Words or fists. He does it again”—Brecken’s hands curled into balls as his back stiffened—“I’ll kill him. I swear I will.”
“He won’t,” I said instantly, in my most convincing voice. “He’s working on all that. Not drinking as much.” I made sure to hold his stare to sell as much conviction as I was capable.
My dad wasn’t just a strict man. He was a sad one, a lonely one. After my mom left, he’d turned into someone else, almost like she’d taken everything that had been good about him and stuffed it in that small suitcase too. Since I was the only one around and bore a striking resemblance to my mom, I’d taken the brunt of my dad’s grief. In the form of cutting words and, occasionally, outstretched palms.
Brecken had been walking down the sidewalk one day when he saw my dad strike me across the cheek for attempting to leave the house in a skirt he described as “fitting for a whore.” Brecken had only been thirteen, but he’d taken my dad down, managing to land a few punches before I could pull him off.
My dad stopped hitting me after that. At least where anyone passing by could see.
Not that I needed to tell Brecken that now. Though I guessed it would get him to stay a while longer . . . if only to be charged with murder and thrown into prison for the next twenty to thirty years.
Suddenly, that year didn’t seem so bad.
“He won’t,” I reiterated, when Brecken continued to give me that penetrating stare, like he was capable of finding a lie if I was hiding one.
Both of his brows lifted. “He better not.”
“If anything happens, I’ll crash at your family’s place, I swear.”
Sitting up, he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. “With fourteen people sharing twelve hundred square feet of space, good luck finding a quiet spot to do your homework.” He pulled every bill out of his wallet. Even the last crumbled dollar. “Take this, hide it from your dad, and use it if you need to. That’s enough to get you a week or so at a hotel that isn’t a dump, and as soon as I get my next paycheck, I’ll send more.”
My head was shaking as I tried to stuff the money back into his wallet. He’d already closed it and was sliding it back into his pocket though. “I’ll be fine.”
Brecken’s gaze dropped to the money in my hand. “Yeah, I know.”
“Brecken.”
“Camryn,” he mimicked.
“I’m not taking the last dollar in your wallet.”
“Why not?” he asked, making a face. “I’d give you the shirt off my back, the air in my lungs, the last drop of blood in my veins. The last dollar’s a cakewalk compared to, you know, dying of suffocation or bleeding out.” He winked as he folded my fingers around the wad of money in my hand, then he leaned down to pull on his boots. He was moving quickly, glancing in the direction of the buses like he was making sure his wasn’t pulling away from the curb yet.
“Do you want to walk with me to the bus?” His focus stayed on cinching up his last boot as he waited for my answer.
He already knew it though. Good-byes weren’t my forte. Especially not the kind where I had to wave good-bye to the man I loved as he prepared to head into the middle of a war zone for the next year. Good-bye came with a whole different context when you said it to a marine.
“I know, Blue Bird. I know.” He sighed, his eyes narrowing at the weathered floorboards before he reached for the dog tags still hanging around my neck.
I didn’t make any move to lift my head or slide my hair aside to make it easier for him. As long as those tags were on my neck instead of his, he was safe. He was alive.
“I’m not going to die over there,” he whispered, pulling the tags over his head. They clinked together as they fell against his chest. “I’m coming back to you.”
My throat was burning from trying to keep myself from crying. “You can’t promise that.”
He reached for the blanket that had fallen on the floor and gently tucked it around my still-naked body. It was strange how I’d forgotten I was naked until he’d taken his tags off of me. Now though, I felt bare. Exposed. Vulnerable. My dress was somewhere around, even though I didn’t see it. We’d barely managed to make it to the parking lot before falling into the backseat together.
“Yes I can,” he said, his thumb tracing my collarbone before tucking the other corner around my shoulder. “Have I ever broken a promise to you?” He angled himself so he was in front of me, so I was forced to look him in the eyes.
“This is different. You can’t know for sure.”
“I’m going to enjoy watching you eat those words when I’m standing in front of that pretty face in twelve months, Blue Bird.”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me. “You know I don’t like it when you call me that when I’m mad at you.”
“You’re mad? At me?” He blinked. “Why?”
“You know why.” My eyes automatically moved toward the line of buses.
“To set the record straight, it’s the marine corps sending me to Iraq. Not me by personal choice.”
“No, but you made the personal choice to join the marine corps.”
“Yeah, because I didn’t want to spend the next twenty years pumping gas at the Qwik Mart.” His hand curled around the back of the front seat. “We’ve talked about this, Camryn. I’m not cut out for college, and I sure as shit am not going to spend my life working a minimum-wage part-time job and stuck in Medford. The marines is a chance at a real life. A career where I can be promoted and provide for a family and get a chance to kick a little ass every once in a while.” He leaned forward to kiss my forehead. Then my lips. “This is the ticket to that life we’ve been talking about for years. But it comes with a price.” His mouth covered mine again, this time a bit longer. “I’ll be okay. I’ll make it back.”
My eyes closed so I could focus on the taste of him left behind on my mouth. “You’re always the first to charge into anything. You don’t hang back. You don’t like the shadows. You like being the one who cast those shadows.”
When my eyes finally opened, I found his dark blue ones inches away from mine. His light hair, buzzed short so he was all ready for deployment, the few freckles scattered across the bridge of his nose, the way his jaw tightened when he stared at me, those were the things I’d remember when I’d lay awake at night, wondering where he was. If he was safe. If he was thinking about me. As long as I held on to a part of him, he could never really leave me.
“I’m coming home to you,” he said like a solemn vow. “It might be in more than one piece, but I’m coming home to you.”
I tucked his tags inside his shirt. They’d become cold again. “A thousand pieces, I don’t care. Just come home.”
His smile was almost as forced as mine as he leaned in, pulling me into his arms one last time. He held me for a minute, one hand secured around my neck, the other around my back, rocking me against him. Then he kissed me one last time. “Gotta go, Blue Bird. The Middle East isn’t going to settle itself down.”
As he threw open the back door to go around to the trunk to grab his bag, I leaned across the seat. He was leaving. For what felt like forever. “Yeah, don’t think you’re single-handedly responsible for tackling that agenda either.”
Throwing the bag over his shoulder, he crouched beside me. This smile wasn’t contrived. It was real. Perfect. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Soon?”
His hand formed around my cheek as his thumb traced the seam of my lips. “Sounds better than see you in a year, right?” Tucking his thumb into his mouth, tasting my lips on it, he gave me a wicked smirk before shoving to a stand and starting toward the buses. “I’m coming back for you, Camryn Blue Gardner, so you’d better be waiting for me, or I’ll just have to come find you and remind you why you fell crazy in love with me.”
Tucking the blanket around myself, I slid out of the car, leaning over the open door. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be waiting.”
He’d started to jog backward. “Waiting as in a few days until some other guy makes his play?”
My eyes rolled as I gave him a look. Brecken and I’d been together since I was fifteen and he was seventeen. Even before that, we’d been inseparable, no one able to come between us.
I cupped my hand around my mouth. “Waiting as in forever.”
“I won’t keep you waiting that long. Just long enough.” He was shouting now, the rumbling buses muffling his voice.
“Long enough for what?” I yelled back.
Even with this much distance between us, I didn’t miss it. The look in his eyes. The tip of his smile. “For you to agree to marry me the moment I get back.”
The breeze played with my hair, sending it away from him, like forces out of our control were already pulling us apart. “I will!”
He paused just below the bus steps, his eyes consuming me from a hundred yards away. “It’s, I do, Blue Bird. I do.” He grinned and handed his bag off to the person stuffing them into one of the outside compartments. Then his hands cupped around his mouth, and he dropped his head back. “I do, too!”
His voice echoed across the parking lot, earning the attention of more than just me.
That was it. He climbed the stairs, turned the corner, and disappeared inside the bus. I wouldn’t see him for a year. I might not see him ever . . .
My jaw tensed as I put a stop to that train of thought. Wedding vows and rings were the last things on my mind as his bus lurched away from the curb.
“Just come back to me,” I whispered to no one. “Just come back.”

 

AP new -about the author.jpg

 

Nicole Williams is the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of contemporary and young adult romance, including the Crash and Lost & Found series. Her books have been published by HarperTeen and Simon & Schuster in both domestic and foreign markets, while she continues to self-publish additional titles. She is working on a new YA series with Crown Books (a division of Random House) as well. She loves romance, from the sweet to the steamy, and writes stories about characters in search of their happily even after. She grew up surrounded by books and plans on writing until the day she dies, even if it’s just for her own personal enjoyment. She still buys paperbacks because she’s all nostalgic like that, but her kindle never goes neglected for too long. When not writing, she spends her time with her husband and daughter, and whatever time’s left over she’s forced to fit too many hobbies into too little time.
Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.

 

ArdentProse_LogoMain.jpg