Wednesday, March 31, 2021

FALLING FOR THE OPPOSITION by Lola West

 




Title: Falling for the Opposition
Author: Lola West
Genre: Contemporary New Adult Romance
Release Date: March 31, 2021


BLURB

Talk about strange bedfellows…

Son of a conservative senator, Drew Scott doesn’t trust anyone and he’s certainly never known love, not even a shred. As long as the press perceives him as clean cut and on the up and up, his parents leave him to his own devices. His hollow existence is enough, until his eyes land on the swirling hips of a woman unlike any he’s ever known.

Liberal, lovable, Lua Stienbeck grew up on a commune, and probably has an FBI file. She’s smart, curvy, caring and on a mission to make the world a more just place. Despite all her lofty goals, Lua’s led a fairly sheltered life, protected by the community where she grew up. One act of kindness - helping a sexy stranger who is passed out and being tortured by hooligans - thrusts her into the limelight.

Lua and Drew should be on opposite sides but they just can’t seem to stop drifting across the aisle.

Check out this Contemporary New Adult Enemies to Lovers - With a dark brooding hero and tons of laughs.







PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited






EXCERPT

Gelato was a bad idea. There was nothing innocent about ice cream. I have no idea how I ever thought that ice cream was friendly. Watching a woman you desperately want to devour circle her tongue through sweet sticky cream is fucking torturous. I almost couldn't talk the entire time we were eating. She circled. She licked. She stuck her tongue out and salivated, leaning toward my cone. She sighed and groaned. At one point she got gelato on her index finger and rather than wipe it on a napkin, she sucked it into her mouth and made one of those little delectable sounds. I was dying. My balls were crying, sobbing like little fucking helpless babies.
I was so caught up in watching her that I kept pausing mid-bite and letting melted gelato dribble on my chin. We were sitting on a bench just outside the gelato shop, and we were close. Lua’s thigh rested against mine. It was closer than I would have liked, considering my waning sense of control.
Lua made fun of me. “You are the worst ice cream eater I have ever met.”
I nodded and then dropped my head, feigning embarrassment. She giggled. I loved how much she laughed, how easy it was for me to make her laugh.
“You have chocolate…” She pointed to my chin. “… right there.”
I wiped my napkin where I thought she pointed.
“Nope. Closer to your mouth.”
I tried again.
Before I could stop her, she was holding my face in her hand and swiping her thumb softly across my bottom lip. It took everything I had to stay still. In my mind, I wandered to the places I would go from this moment if Lua was mine for the taking. I thought about drawing her thumb into my mouth, sucking on it and hearing her breath catch. I thought about moving so that my hand supported her neck, gently tucking her thick hair behind her ear and whispering all the things I wanted to do to her, telling her how I wanted to slide my hand between her thighs, feel her warm and wet, shuddering and bucking against my fingers, right there on that bench.
When she moved her hand away, I stood up—quick. I had to. I couldn't be touching her any longer. She followed my lead.
“Are we done?” she asked oddly, like I was the leader of our journey, and it only then occurred to me that everything we had done had been decided by me. I didn’t want that. I wanted the night to be about us.
“I don’t know, are we?”
“Um…” She was standing right in front of me, so she had to tilt up her chin to look me in the eye. “I’m gonna say no.”
“No, huh? Well then, fearless leader, where to?”
She bit the left side of her lip and her eyes drifted up and to the left. I’d once read somewhere that we look up at the different sides of our brain when we are creating or processing stuff, and that FBI guys and other law enforcement specialists were trained to tell if someone was lying by watching how they look up while they’re talking, but in this case, I knew Lua was just searching the recesses of her mind for a plan.
“Have you ever gone to the Empire State Building?”
“Really?” I was not expecting that.
“Well, have you? I mean, I know you’ve ridden the subway, but not everyone does all that New York touristy stuff.”
I would never admit that my first time on the subway was with her. Never. But I would give her this one. “No, I’ve never gone, but is it even open now? It’s almost eleven o’clock.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Of course, it’s open now. Do you honestly think that they’d miss the opportunity to make money off the New York City skyline at night?”
“Who’s they?”
She turned, looped her elbow around mine like I’d done earlier in the evening at the hotel, and said, “Don’t give me a hard time, Drew. Just come with me to see the pretty lights, okay?”
I conceded. Not a problem.






PRAISE FOR FALLING FOR
THE OPPOSITION

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Truly amazing from start to finish. I LOVED the message and the push-pull, and there were so many good points and insights. This was an intelligent romance with one epic love story. 10 stars!” - Mama Bee, Goodreads

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Everything about this book is a solid gold star. If you have never read a Lola West book, this is a beautiful place to begin. This is no fairytale. There are no damsels to be found here. There won’t be macho men riding in on white horses. This is not your mother- or grandmother's- story. This is so much bigger than that. Sit down, buckle up, and prepare to fall head over heels for the opposition.” - KKEC READS, Goodreads

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Holy moly cannoli!” Definitely couldn’t have said it better myself! This book was everything Lola said it was going to be and more. It was a beyond empowering love story that brings two people together against all odds. Lola’s writing in this book is so empowering and eye opening. 100% recommend! Love, love, LOVE!” - Denise Reynolds, Goodreads






AUTHOR BIO


Lola West writes short, sweet, smart, silly, sexy romance. With a PhD in women's studies and a flair for the dramatic, Lola likes to keep it real. Her loves are cotton candy, astronomy, kitten heels and small-town hunks. Lola’s heroes make you swoon and her heroines that talk back. Also, she believes that consent is always sexy, even in books.


AUTHOR LINKS





BROKEN PRINCE by R.G. Angel - NEW RELEASE & GIVEAWAY!

 




Title: Broken Prince
Series: Cosa Nostra #1
Author: R.G. Angel
Genre: Standalone Mafia Romance
Release Date: March 31, 2021


BLURB

Cassie

Being the daughter of the Riverside monsters is a heavy cross to bear, one that twenty-one-year-old Cassie West can’t escape. But first she needs to get her ten-year-old brother out of social care.
Social pariahs can’t be choosy and she finds a job as a live-in housekeeper at Hartfield Manor—a cursed job that no one wants.
But as the days pass, she is intrigued and determined to figure out who is the man in the shadows. The mysterious owner of the manor whose obvious pain resonates with hers.

Luca

How the mighty have fallen.
Luca Montanari turned from an adulated powerful mafia underboss to a recluse, clinically alcoholic beast with a death wish in the blink of an eye.
All he wants is to be left alone, to soak in his pain and guilt—in his own version of purgatory—until Cassie West enters his life. She is everything he doesn't want and everything he needs. The fiery redhead starts to bring back to life parts of him he wanted dead. The closer she gets, the harder it is to remain the ghost he’d become.

Who better than the daughter of monsters to love a beast?







PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited





EXCERPT

I slid closer to him and removed my gardening gloves. I brought my hand up and brushed the soil from his bearded cheek.
He tensed as if he was made of stone under my touch.
I brought my other hand up and brushed my fingertips across his scarred cheek softly, barely a touch, and despite his frozen state, I saw his pupils dilate. He liked that I touched him.
His small reaction made me bolder somehow and I traced the scars with my forefinger. I traced the one going down in an almost straight line from the side to his forehead, down the corner of his eyes, the corner of his mouth to his chin. It tipped the corner of his mouth in a small pout.
“The scars are not ugly,” I whispered softly, worried that I’d break the spell and he would pull away—retreating in his shell of self-hatred. “You’re handsome. I like both sides of you.” I kept my eyes locked on his—showing him that my words were nothing but the truth. It was not pity talking; it was the attraction I felt for him despite knowing how wrong and hopeless it was to feel something for a man like him.
“You don’t have to say that,” he whispered but remained immobile, letting me trace all the scars.
“I know I don’t. But I mean it, every word. Please don’t hide your face from me.”
I didn’t realize he had moved until he gently brushed his fingers along the seam of my bottom lip. He had removed his gloves while I was engrossed with his face and he seemed as mesmerized as I was.






AUTHOR BIO


R.G Angel is a trained lawyer, world traveler, coffee addict, cheese aficionado, avid book reviewer and blogger.

She considers herself as an ‘Eclectic romantic’ and wants to write romance in every sub-genre she can think of.

When she is not busy doing all her lawyerly mayhem, and because she is living in rainy Britain, she mostly enjoys indoor activities such as reading, watching TV, playing with her crazy puppies and writing stories she hopes will make you dream.


AUTHOR LINKS





GIVEAWAY






WHAT WE DESERVE by Lizzie Stanley - RELEASE BLITZ

 




Title: What We Deserve
Series: Wishbone Tattoos #1
Author: Lizzie Stanley
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 31, 2021


BLURB

I’m used to being alone, until she changed everything...

When my ex-wife left, she said the cruelest words she could think of, and I took them to heart.

Now I work at my loveable bastard cousin’s tattoo parlor and keep most people at arm’s length. I have the occasional one night stand to take the edge off, but there can never be anything more than that for me.

I don’t let myself think about how lonely I am. At least I’m not ruining anyone’s life, right?

Then Emily walks into Wishbone Tattoos, asking about the receptionist job. And this shy, smiling, kind-hearted woman is everything I’ve ever wanted.

I can’t help falling for her. But I don’t want to be selfish, or torture myself with small tastes of a life that can never be mine.

But there’s something about Emily I don’t know. Something that will make her the exception to my rule...

She’s battle scarred herself, and running from a dark past which snaps at her heels, but I’m not going to let anyone hurt her ever again, I swear to god.

And maybe, if we’re lucky and we both want it hard enough, the two of us will finally get what we deserve.








PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited






AUTHOR BIO


Lizzie Stanley realised the other day how long it had been since she graduated from university, and resolved never to think about it again. She has a demanding but satisfying day job, and still manages to find pockets of time here and there to write. She lives in the UK with her Very Sexy Husband and her Doc Martens collection, and enjoys binge reading, watching true crime documentaries on Netflix, playing Dungeons and Dragons, singing the music of the eighties very badly in the shower, and tormenting her friends with puns.

Lizzie loves to hear from her readers, so if you’d like to make her day by dropping her a line, her email address is lizziestanleyauthor@gmail.com. You can also hit her up on Instagram: @lizziestanleyauthor. She is still getting the hang of Twitter, bear with her. Please also feel free to join her Facebook group, Lizzie Stanley’s Wishbone Readers, where she will post info on the upcoming titles in the series. And photos of hot guys.


AUTHOR LINKS







REPARATION OF SIN by Natasha Knight & A. Zavarelli - COVER REVEAL

 




Title: Reparation of Sin
Series: The Society Trilogy #2
Authors: Natasha Knight & A. Zavarelli
Genre: Arranged Marriage Dark Romance
Cover Design: Coverluv
Release Date: April 20, 2021


BLURB

My husband hates me. But he’s also the only man who can save me.

Taken by a stranger, Santiago is my only hope. Except that I don’t know if he’s dead or alive. And for as cruel as he can be, the thought he might be gone is unbearable.

But he has nine lives, my monster.

He’s not finished with me yet. And soon I’m back at The Manor. Locked in my room. At his mercy.

I know I am despised.

I know I have become the face of his vengeance.

But there’s something else too. Something between us. It’s a dark and gnarled thing. And it has its claws around my heart.







PRE-ORDER LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU






AVAILABLE NOW


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU






COMING SOON


Releasing May 18

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU






NATASHA KNIGHT


Natasha Knight is the USA Today Bestselling author of Romantic Suspense and Dark Romance Novels. She has sold over half a million books and is translated into six languages. She currently lives in The Netherlands with her husband and two daughters and when she’s not writing, she’s walking in the woods listening to a book, sitting in a corner reading or off exploring the world as often as she can get away.


A. ZAVARELLI


A. Zavarelli is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of dark and contemporary romance.

When she’s not putting her characters through hell, she can usually be found watching bizarre and twisted documentaries in the name of research.

She currently lives in the Northwest with her lumberjack and an entire brood of fur babies.






HIS by Fiona Murphy - RELEASE BLITZ

 




Title: HIS: Tony
Series: Sabatini Family #2
Author: Fiona Murphy
Genre: Contemporary Mafia Romance
Release Date: March 31, 2021


BLURB

A Sabatini may be a lot of things: an asshole, rude, ruthless, even a killer. But one thing we never are is sloppy, not with our money, not our business, and especially not with our bodies.

Until the moment I got sloppy with the most dangerous thing I could: a woman. I’m third generation in the Outfit. I’ve killed more than my share of men, have had more than a few guns held to my head. Christy wasn’t the first person who tried to kill me, she wasn’t the last, and I’m sure there will be more in the future.
I knew how we started was messed up. I’m old enough to be her father. She was thirty to my fifty. I should have spanked her ass, taken the gun away from her, and killed her the way I planned. She wanted me dead to pay for her childhood trauma. The way I saw it, I’ve done a lot of messed up things, but I wasn’t to blame for what she went through. If she wanted me dead, there was only one thing for me to do, kill her before she could kill me. Only the moment I laid eyes on her, everything changed: the plan, me, her.
When I put the ring on her finger and she promised forever, I believed we had a future. There was no hint I would wake up the next morning and find her gone. I tried to let her go, I can’t. She promised forever, I’m holding her to it. It doesn’t matter how far she’s gone. I will find her.

Christy belongs to me, and a Sabatini keeps what is his.


***Despite what you may have read in Dominic's story. This is not safe-on Tony's side. After she leaves he loses it for a little while. Once he calms down yes it becomes safe but I know this is an issue for some readers.
Safe from her side.***







PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Coming soon to other retailers





EXCERPT

“Five hundred dollars.” The words rumble out of him as he uses the hand in my hair to pull my face up to him. “Is a pittance of your value. It’s not nearly enough, piccolina. I am denying your request. You are mine.”
The arm around me tightens to the verge of pain, only I welcome it, want more, want his naked body against all of me. My hands fist into the silk of his suit. Even though I want him, recognize the truth—I’m his. My head is shaking in denial, in fear of what it all means. A whimper escapes me.
His mouth is agonizingly close to mine, his hot breath against my lips, I breathe him in. I fight not to exhale, desperate to keep a part of him inside me. Why isn’t he kissing me is all my mind is screaming. The hand in my hair tightens, I can’t look away from fire blue eyes. “You belong to me. Do you understand me?”
I can only nod, words are too hard to form.
“Say it.” He growls at me.
“I belong to you.” The words escape me in a whisper. I don’t dare deny him. I can’t.






ALSO AVAILABLE


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU






COMING SOON


Releasing June 1

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Coming soon to other retailers






AUTHOR BIO

Due to commitment issues I have lived in many different cities and my favorite is Chicago but I have managed to settle into Austin and perhaps my commitment issues are behind me. 

I have enjoyed reading from a very young age and it wasn't long before the children books bored me and I read the books my mother enjoyed Stephen King and Dean Koontz and I didn't sleep without the light on until I was about ten. 

I came across my first Harlequin by accident and it was love at first read, no one died and happy endings? It was a whole new world and I loved it. 

I wrote my first story at eight and everyone died, of course. Since then I would like to think I've gotten better and now I'm writing the happily ever afters I first fell in love with, with some hot sex thrown in along the way. 

As a plus size woman myself, I have started writing the stories I always wanted to see myself in but never did. And now I’m ecstatic to give BBWs the happily ever afters with hot Alphas I want to read.


AUTHOR LINKS





REBEL ROCK by Ren Alexander - RELEASE BOOST & GIVEAWAY!

 




Title: Rebel Rook
An Everyday Heroes World Novel
Author: Ren Alexander
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: March 25, 2021


BLURB

Dylan McGrath, a rookie cop with something to prove and everything to lose.

Dumped. There, I said it. The day after my twenty-first birthday, my girlfriend of two years ditched me in front of an audience. Drowning my sorrows in a park, a cop throws me into the back of a cruiser. It’s not my first ride or my greatest achievement, angering legendary law enforcement swarming my family tree, but who cares? Smelling fresh blood, self-righteous, law-abiding family and friends gang up on me, drawing a line in the sand. Doing the unthinkable yet inevitable, we strike a deal, but not without a fight.

Graduating from the police academy, I clash with field training officers who hand me off faster than a live grenade. Though my job is to enforce laws, I love to break the rules and refuse to follow any leader. On the verge of embarrassing the revered Malones again, I’m reassigned to a tough sergeant who hates me for existing on her dime.

Vowing to nail training, a gorgeous waitress blows that notion to smithereens. Distrusting the police, Natalia Welch wants nothing to do with me. Because of her horrific past, I'm told to steer clear or fail training. But I can't, and Natalia and I grow closer until she freaks out about our slight age difference. However, the more she avoids me, the more we crave each other, leading to a passionate explosion that could end my career or her life.

Ren Alexander’s Rebel Rook is a provocative, riveting, and poignant contemporary romance written in K. Bromberg’s Everyday Heroes Worlds project.







PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited





PLAYLIST



EXCERPT

I’ve been field-training for three months and have nine months to go. But like Taggart said, I might not make it past this week. And now I want to stab people in a place called Joy Springs. This can’t be my damn life.
Following her, I walk, noting stares, smiles, and some frowns as we approach the front door. It’s both a morale boost and a ball-buster with nothing in between most of the time. I’m still getting used to wearing this blue uniform and carrying a gun—it’s who I am now.
But I’m also the same man mourning a breakup a fucking year later, having no other distraction than the rigors of this job I’m learning, albeit rocking the boat. Audrey has texted me twice, and I’ve had to hand my phone to my police officer roommate, Tristan, to delete them and her number. It was harder to do than getting through the academy.
Taggart holds the door open for me until I’m in reaching distance before she lets it close in my face. “Goddamn it,” I mutter as I yank it open and go to stand beside her at the podium.
A gray-haired, pasty hostess smiles at Taggart and then glances at me. “Is this your new apprentice, Lynn?”
She looks up at me and rolls her eyes before turning back to Doris, or so says her name tag. “For now, at least.” Why does she have to criticize me in front of people? Doesn’t that undermine any authority I might have as long as she says I do? Fuck me.
Doris’s eyes suddenly open like she just saw a ghost. “Wait a minute. I heard a new Malone is here. You’re Chief Malone and Lieutenant Malone’s nephew, and Grant, Grayson, and Grady Malone’s cousin, aren’t you?”
“That’s the rumor.”
She bobs her head, her limp gray curls bouncing to a sad tune. “Do you know them?”
Waiting for her to laugh or elaborate on the idiotic question, I narrow my eyes and slowly answer, “Yeah?”
She smiles at Taggart. “They’re so honorable in their vocations.” Her beady eyes assess me as if I’m the garbage family member no one talks about. She then checks out my nameplate. “Dylan? You do know Grady married a Dylan?”
“You don’t say? Not the same, though. Right?” I laugh while Doris and Taggart do not. Fucking shit, I might as well be citing someone for pissing on a wall.
“I would assume not,” she answers with a huff, and I bite my lip to avoid full-on laughing in her face. “Chief Malone is your uncle,” she states like it’s an unknown fact to me, and she’s the one to break the news of this twist. Doris and Taggart both stare at me like I’m supposed to comment. It’s confirmed when Taggart clears her throat, prompting me.
“Yeah. My mother is his younger sister, and Colin Malone was their uncle and my great-uncle.” I again answer slow enough, so Doris won’t misunderstand my fuck you.
“Well, you have enormous shoes to fill, mister,” Doris mutters, shaking her head and clicking her tongue like she caught me with my pants unbuttoned at all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast.
“I’m not here to fill their shoes. No competition there.”
Doris purses her thin lips, and her watery eyes make a loop over me. “You got that right.” What the hell, lady? “Your table is ready. Have a seat.”
Taggart smiles at Doris but turns to me with a glare. Then she leads the way to a corner booth, with her yanking on my leash. She slides into the furthest bench seat, and I reluctantly sit across from her, turning down the radio on my shoulder. I’m not hungry. Doris comes to our table, saying, “I figured the kid might need a menu. Maybe some crayons and a booster seat, too.” She laughs with Taggart, and I grin, taking it in stride since she’s an old woman. Still, I struggle not to pull my fucking gun, if just to jumpstart her decrepit heart.
“Be courteous, officer. They give us a complimentary lunch every day.”
I nod. “That’s nice of them.” I return to my menu, still not hungry.
Taggart says, “Good afternoon, Natalia.”
I continue to study the menu as a voice next to me asks, “Coffee and a Rueben, Lynn?”
“You know me so well.” Taggart loudly clears her throat, and I look up. “Are you going to be rude?”
“Not at the moment,” I reply, aiming to get her to laugh at one joke before training is over, now or later.
Taggart sharply but silently rebukes me as she again glances away. I follow to see a woman with her mahogany hair in a ponytail, holding a notepad. Her skin is deep, luminous copper, but her sparkling brown eyes grab my attention more than anything. However, the warmth in them ices over, and she stiffly asks, “Your order?”
I grin, not only because I’m on the clock, but because she’s hot as hell. “Uh, I don’t know yet.”
Taggart says, “He may need a children’s menu or a few minutes.”
She smiles at Taggart. “Of course. I’ll be back with your coffee.”
I watch her walk away, fascinated by her grace and her perfect ass. Several zings fly through me, a reminder I haven’t had sex or touched a woman in over a non-fucking year, not that I’ve handled more than one. I’ve found zero balance or desire for anyone other than Audrey. Until now.
Again, Taggart clears her throat, and I whip my attention to her. “What is so fascinating, Officer McGrath?”
“N-nothing. Why?”
She taps her index finger onto the table. “Let me tell you something. That young woman right there? Natalia? She’s a big no for you.”
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“You think you’re the first police officer to lust after her?” Her creepy smile returns. “She’s not interested.”
“Uh, okay. Neither am I.” Taggart doesn’t need a status update on the happenings in the crotch of my pants.
Taggart frowns. “Yeah. We’ll see. You might just have to put your hand in the cage and get bitten before you learn that lesson. And I will warn you again…your career hangs on whether or not you successfully complete field training. So, as I have advised my previous recruits, keep your hormones in check. Being a police officer is extremely difficult, and your focus needs to be on learning and becoming a better officer, not finding your next fly-by-night fling. Your storied law enforcement family is counting on you. Understood?” I know what I have to prove and what’s at stake. I can’t fuck this up. She doesn’t need to remind me every five minutes.
Reluctantly, I nod when I’d rather tell her to go to hell. Taggart pulls her phone out of her pocket and says, “I need to make a call. Order your food. I won’t wait around all day for you to eat it.”
Taggart leaves the booth, but I shoot daggers at her skull as I observe our surroundings, always on alert now. A body obscures my vision as a coffee cup lands at our table. “Have you decided?”
Instead of ordering, I ask, “What’s the name of this place? I couldn’t make it out on the sign.”
“Dinah’s.”
“Dinah’s Diner. It’s a mouthful. Did they not think that through?”
“She was the cook’s grandmother and the owner. Your sandwich?”
I stall. “Do you know Sergeant Taggart well?”
Natalia’s gorgeous face rumples as if I asked for her bra size. “Since I was born. She eats lunch here every day and sits in my section. So, yes. Do you want to order?”
“Is she always so abrupt?”
“She’s blunt, yes. Do you need more time?”
“She’s my field training officer.”
“Cool,” she says, clearly bored as she taps her pen against the notepad. But inexplicably, I’m determined for a turnaround.
Natalia? That’s a name I don’t hear often. Do you go by anything else?”
“Natalia. I can come back.”
“No, wait. I’m Dylan McGrath. Do you have a last name, or do you just go by one like Kesha?”
“Why do you need to know my last name, Officer McGrath?”
“Just curious since I’ll see you pretty much every day.”
“And you’ll probably eat the same thing every day, so I’ll get to know your usual, not your name, rank, and serial number.”
“Okay. I gave you my name. My rank is an officer, and I only have a badge number, 22506.”
I grin as she purses her lips and moves her gaze from me as she fidgets with her pen. “I have other tables, so…”
The nearly empty diner’s silence squeals as I look around. “Sure. Okay. I’ll take a club with a sweet tea.”
“Fine.” She offers a quick, courteous smile and takes my menu, leaving without so much as a fuck off.
Taggart returns, compounding the female loathing piling upon me. Taking a chance, I ask, “Natalia said she’s known you since she was a kid?”
Taggart radiates more sourness. “I told you to leave her alone.”
“I am. She offered.” Maybe I interrogated.
“I knew her father.”
“Knew? Oh, well…” I don’t know what to say to that.
“He’s not dead, for crying out loud. Let’s just leave it there.”
“Here you go…Doug, wasn’t it?” Natalia sets down a glass of iced tea in front of me.
“Dylan.”
“Right. Sorry.” She smiles, but it’s not for my benefit. Regardless, real or not, her smile is the best thing I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying more than I want to admit.
Natalia tucks stray hair behind her ear, and her silver nail polish glitters. “Lynn, your Reuben will be out in a few minutes.”
“Thank you, honey.” Honey? I didn’t know affection was possible from Taggart.
When Talia leaves, her body again draws me in as she walks. Her ass is flawless. My hands could cup her tits completely. Audrey’s tits are small, but I didn’t think much of it until now.
“And that was a time I was an Iron Chef.”
I look at Taggart. “I’m sorry?”
“You’re not listening to a word I said regarding needing to pass your field training. Natalia. You’re drooling.”
I send her an acidic frown of my own. “I’m positive I wasn’t drooling.” Maybe I was. I didn’t realize how much I need to get laid.
“She doesn’t need you to jerk her around.” But hell, she could jerk me.
“I’m not.”
“Lynn, your sandwich.” She sets a plate in front of Taggart and then turns to me. “Please excuse me. What was your name again?”
“Dylan.”
“Oh, yes. Here’s yours. Enjoy.”
I hear laughing, and I look to see Taggart, entertained. “She does not like you.”
“What did I do? I don’t even know her.”
“I told you to leave her alone.” She shakes her head, and I try to eat but steal glances, watching Natalia bending over tables, her uniform skirt sliding up her leg, and my once-dormant dick has so many thoughts about it.
“Ready? Let’s catch speeders.” Sure. She’ll sit there, judging me while I do all the fucking work.
I mumble, “Can’t wait,” which earns me a glare.
“Thin ice, McGrath.”
I wish I were falling through some.






AUTHOR BIO


Ren Alexander writes steamy contemporary romance, including the Wild Sparks Series, and contributes to K. Bromberg’s Everyday Heroes Series from her desk in Motown—Detroit, Michigan. Yes, part of her state is shaped like a mitten, 8 Mile Road really exists, and Eminem is her neighbor and carpool buddy. Unfortunately, she and Slim Shady don’t ride in the same car. She’s still working on that part.

Writing her romance novels with a big dose of reality, the good and bad, Ren embraces the gritty and raw with a side of funny and crazy. No matter what, there is always an explosion. You never know what you'll get in her mixed bag. That's personal, anyway.

Ren lives in Detroit, Michigan, with her husband, two daughters, and two cats.


GIVEAWAY