Secret Designs

 

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When Ari Mitchell had an unexpected one-night stand with her best friend's future brother-in-law, she had full intentions of moving on from it without any dramas. But Dylan Summers was someone she couldn't stop thinking about -- and wanting again. Problem was, he didn't do relationships.
Dylan Summers only allowed himself one-night stands for reasons only he and his two best friends knew about. But after his night with Ari Mitchell, he admitted to himself he had to be with her again, even if it meant making things very complicated.
Their mutual attraction was simply too strong for them to ignore. But how could Ari find a future with a man who avoided commitment? And how could Dylan open up to the woman who could heal his heart, when he feared her true motives for being with him?
*****
This is a stand-alone novel that would give you enjoyment on its own. However, to enhance your experience of this series, the author recommends reading them in order.
Secret Designs is the second of four steamy and sweet books from the Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance series.
Book 1: Secret Words (The love story of Jasmine Allen and Kane Summers)

Review

****The author provided me with a copy of this book for my honest review****

Ari and Dylan had a one-night stand neither one of them expected to have problems moving on. Now both of them can't stop thinking about the other one, Dylan doesn't do relationships for a good reason but now he finds himself wanting more with Ari. Ari finds herself wanting more with Dylan can he get over his past? Can Ari make Dylan see why she is really with him? This is the second book in the Secret Dreams series you won't be lost if you don't read the first book in the series they are stand alone books, but you do get to see what is happening with characters from the first book and it gives more background if you do read the first one. Secret Design starts out after the one-night stand between Ari and Dylan, so you get to see the fallout from what happened between but them not the deed so to speak. They can't avoid each other because Ari is best friends with Dylans brothers fiancee. I really liked Ari she was a strong woman, she was a clothing designer when she lost her job she tried everything she could to make things work. She didn't pity herself or say why me and she didn't want or need Dylan to save her, she worked hard and put everything she had into doing things herself. Dylan was a charmer without even trying; he just had this natural ability to flirt with women and everyone loved him. I understand why he had issues with trusting women, his inability to recognize what his feelings for Ari whether it was denial or self preservation were at times frustrating, sad and down right funny. I liked both of Dylans friends; they acted like jerks and treated Ari pretty bad but in all fairness they were trying to protect their friend, it's excusable. This was a great read with two adorable main characters and some naughty scenes thrown in to steam up the pages; I'm looking forward to getting my hands on book 3.

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Program 13

Program 13 by Nicole Sobon
316 pages; published August 15th, 2012
Young Adult, Sci-fi

Two identities. One Body.17-year-old Emile Reed, may have died, but she isn't dead. Her body now belongs to Program Thirteen, where her every thought, every movement, is controlled. Until Emile begins to find her way back inside of Thirteen's core, where she manages to fend off Thirteen’s programming to reclaim the life that she lost. But Charles McVeigh, the owner of Vesta Corp, isn’t willing to let Thirteen go. And he will stop at nothing to reclaim control of Thirteen's programming. Because without her, McVeigh has nothing.
What makes you human?

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The leather straps constricted my wrists forcing me to endure the electric current soaring through my body. With each jolt of energy, the wires beneath my skin buzzed, sending a shrill throughout my core. Programmed to respond to pain, my body flung forward involuntarily.

“Pain is a natural reaction,” they told us. “It’s a part of being human. It is something you will better understand once your human identity is finally installed.”

But no matter how much I might look human, I was not.

I was a Program, a machine built to appear human.

The straps dug into my skin, tearing it slightly. I could feel the cold brushing against the metal surrounding the wires beneath the break. The tearing didn’t hurt, but my Program reacted as though it did. The scientists wanted to see how we react to pain. They wanted to believe we were capable of acting human.

This body, this skin, it was a cover for what I truly was.

“They do not have enough experience with your kind,” the White Coats said. “We just want to make sure you are safe out there. This is your world, too.”

At least, that was what they told me.

“Program Thirteen,” a harsh voice called from behind the glass. I could faintly make out a shadow of the man as he held his clipboard in his hand, carefully checking each box indicating I’d passed my daily inspection. I was making excellent progress, or so I’d heard.

“Your Program is coming along quite nicely,” McVeigh had told me. “I can only imagine how well you will do once your human identity is programmed into your core.”

I knew that McVeigh was happy with my progress here at Vesta Corp, but I did not comprehend much of what he said. What I did know was that as long as my treatments continued to work, I’d remain activated. I’d retain a purpose. That was all that mattered.

Looking down, I could see that the leather straps were hanging down, no longer constricting my wrists. Even without the straps to hold me down, I did not move. I remained seated, waiting for a White Coat to come strolling in through the door. As I waited, I noticed that my skin where it had been torn from the pressure of the restraints was flapping around. I’d have to pay a visit to the doctor again so that she could tend to the tear.

“You must find a way to fight the pain, Thirteen,” she’d tell me, just like she always did.

And then I’d nod, because that was what I was expected to do.

The truth was that I had no control over how my Program reacted to pain. Everything I did, everything I was – it was all controlled by the scientists. I didn’t choose to react. My Program, the one which they’d built, did. I twisted my wrist so that my palm was facing up, and I gazed down at the open skin. No blood. No bone. Only exposed metal.

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Nicole Sobon is the author of The Emile Reed Chronicles (Young Adult Science Fiction), the Outbreak duology (Young Adult Dystopian), and various short stories.

Her novel, Program 13, was quoted on an episode of Criminal Minds (season 8, episode 13, "Magnum Opus"). 

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The Art of Forgiving

The Art of Forgiving by Anna Bloom
The Uni Files - Christmas short
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Published December 11th, 2013

Benjamin Chambers found the girl, won the girl, and then lost the girl all in two months. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t that girl. The one that had already got away once.

Left to his own devices, wallowing in self-pity, drinking whiskey and killing ballads on his guitar Ben is looking forward to the worst Christmas in history. That is until an unexpected offer of help arrives.

Given the best Christmas gift he could ever wish for, the chance to spend one more day with the girl that got away. Ben knows he just has one day to convince Lilah that they are meant to be together, before he has to make some big decisions about his own future. Just one day to set right the mistakes that he has made, but will it be enough?

Ben may end up finding out that The Art of Forgiving isn't something you can teach, it is something that you have to earn.

“Thanks for saving Christmas dinner, Ben.” Lilah swirls last dregs of wine around her glass and drains it down.

“You’re very welcome.”

She bites her lower lip a little and then pushes back from the table, rising unsteadily to her feet. “Uh, my god I need to go to bed.” She makes some awful groaning noise and reaches one hand for the table to steady herself.

Her eyes catch mine and I shift uncomfortably. Come on Ben. . . This is what you have been waiting for. . . You complete arse.

“Can I grab the couch?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Smooth Dick of the Year Award goes to me.

“Nah, it’s cool you can share with me,” she says. I stare open mouthed but she avoids all eye contact and zig zags to her bedroom.

“Night guys.” I say to the others and then chase after her.

“Keep it down hey?” Tristan calls after me.

I wave my hand at him, and as I shut Lilah’s door behind me I can hear them both shouting “Aaaah.” Luckily she does not hear. She is just standing in the middle of the room. It’s the first time I have ever been in here and I take a moment to pivot on my heel and look about, whistling as I do. It’s massive with just a bed. Nothing else. Just a giant bed.

My brain is instantly bombarded by about a million dirty thoughts all at once. “Minimalist huh?” I manage to say around a smile which I hope does not look leery.

“Yeah, I am a no fuss kind of girl,” she says turning to face me.

She so is. I take my eyes off the room and focus on her. It might be the unnecessary bottle of wine but the air seems so heavy it feels like I can’t fill my lungs with it. “I know,” I say eventually.

The next moment happens in slow motion because I swear I am not expecting it at all, but Lilah just hikes her T-shirt up over her head and slides her jeans down her legs revealing a mind-blowing hot pink underwear set.

What the fuck? Did I miss something?

She dives under the duvet and for a moment I stand there wondering what it is she wants me to do. She says nothing, so in lieu of instructions I strip off my own jeans and unbutton my shirt, leaving on just my boxers and T-shirt. Then with the stealthy motions of a jungle cat I slide myself onto the bed before she can change her mind and tell me to sod off.

She doesn’t. “You can come under if you want.”

Two seconds later I’m under the duvet and I physically can’t stop myself from sliding my body alongside hers. The warmth of her skin seeps into mine and I wonder just how long it has been since I last felt warm. She stretches herself a little and we fit into all the little grooves that are unique just to us. I take a deep breath and the smell of her skin fills my head, it is far more intoxicating than the wine. “You know that song,” I whisper into the darkness.

“Yes.”

My fingers sting with the need to reach out and touch her, but for once I try and use words to talk to her, not actions. “It’s all I can think about, it is all I can play. I just don’t know how to move on from this.” The whole truth would be that I don’t want to move on from this and I definitely don’t want to make a move that does not involve her, but I keep that to myself.

Instead I kiss my favourite spot on the back of her neck.

Her body freezes after my kiss, but before I can apologise she relaxes back against me and says. “Neither do I.”

I close my eyes and wait for her to add something else. Shame I can’t close my ears along with my eyes.

“I don’t know how to be with you now,” she says. I hold my breath for her to finish whatever it is she is battling to say. “But I also don’t know how to not be with you.”

I somehow manage not to grab her and pull her into me, to try and convince her to be with me again. I don’t have to. She turns to face me, her body so close to mine it hurts. I make a resolution, a promise in the dark, which I plan to keep for the rest of my life. “I will do whatever it takes to make you want to be with me.”

I lean forward ever so slightly and kiss her on the lips. I wait for her to tilt her mouth up to mine but she doesn’t. Instead I move my hand around her back and start to trail my fingers up and down her spine.

What the hell am I going to do? Lilah McCannon does not know how to be with me anymore, and I don’t know how to be without her. How will this ever work?  What can I do to make her understand that she is literally the only girl that I have ever been interested in? Ever. I thought I’d made her understand. I thought she knew how I felt, but now I’m beginning to realise that I never convinced her of my feelings. Not enough for her to realise that she is the one that I put above all others.

Anna Bloom is a contemporary romance writer who writes about life as it happens. Combining a busy schedule of looking after two small children whilst working in a local school and completing The Uni Files series she also spends a lot of time imagining kissing hot guys – all in the name of her art.

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The Busy Moms have been well, really busy lately, the holidays are upon us and our schedules are more hectic than usual, so we have suspended our usual author of the week features, don't worry they will be back after the new year, and we have some big ones for you. We wanted to help out a great program, and what better way to do that than to get more people involved and have a giveaway. We are giving away a Kindle Paperwhite Touch Screen, to enter the giveaway drop off a new unwrapped toy at your local Toys for Tots Toy Drop Off Location or make a Donation to Toys for Tots. For every toy you donate you earn ten entries!!
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Fearsome

 

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Jessica Channing’s big city life should be more exciting than sixty-hour work weeks and popcorn nights with her girlfriends, but it’s not. She has worked hard fulfilling her role as a child prodigy and graduating college years before her peers. She’s the good girl, the brilliant girl. Unfortunately, she’s also the dateless young woman. That all changes with one phone call. Jess’s rigid, predictable life upends when she must visit a small, obscure town to deal with a relative’s death. This isn’t just any little speck of a town, though. Long lost memories come crashing down on Jess’s world when two men, the Blackard brothers, seem to lure her in. Dylan is cover model handsome, and pursues Jess the minute she comes to town. Then there is tall, dark and gorgeous Carson, who hides his own secrets behind his hardened reserve. For someone who has been governed by her own obsessive behaviors and fears, Jess lets her guard down and jumps at the opportunity to have an affair with a man she actually finds attractive for a change. There’s just one problem. Jess discovers that she can’t have a simple romantic fling because true passion does indeed come with some very big strings attached to it. She will have to own up to her own truths about love and face the two extraordinary men; both troubled in their own ways and both determined to have her.

Excerpt

Dylan’s reaction is evident. I’m at the end of the hall in the kitchen doorway when Carson answers the door and Dylan’s face drops. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Hi, brother,” Carson greets him with a smugness in his voice. “I was working on the kitchen and thought I’d stay for dinner. I see you’re making your eggplant parm. Wouldn’t want to miss that.” He holds the door open for Dylan who storms through with two bottles of wine in each hand.
“Oh, fuck you,” Dylan snaps and head towards me. He kisses me on the cheek. “Hi. So we’ve got company.” He shakes his head at me.
“Here, let me open the wine.” Carson squeezes between Dylan and me, grabbing the bottles. “You cook. Jess and I will drink this fine vino you’ve brought us.”
“I didn’t bring it for you,” Dylan counters.
Carson studies the wine label and raises his eyebrows. “You’ve dropped an impressive little bundle on these two gems. Can’t wait to drink it.”
Dylan ignores him and makes his way into the kitchen where he begins to pull items out of the fridge along with pots and pans from the cupboards. I’m caught in the middle of some brotherly group dynamic that is foreign to me, so I stay out of it and keep quiet.
Carson uncorks a bottle of wine with a switchblade he pulls out of his pocket. I don’t know whether to be unnerved or impressed that he carries a knife and knows how to open a bottle of wine with it. He makes one slice around the seal, thuds the base of the bottle against one of the vertical beams along the wall and then pulls the cork out with his teeth. I’ve never seen anything like it. He looks even sexier merely by doing that little move. His hands are full with the bottle in one hand and the knife and cork in the other, so he pulls a kitchen chair out with his foot.
“Have a seat, milady, and join me in a glass of the grape,” he mimics a thick Scottish brogue.
“Oh, please,” Dylan says over his shoulder as he slams pans on the range.
I laugh and sit down. Carson smiles at me and pours a tiny amount of the wine into a juice glass for me. I take a little sip and nod approvingly. I know nothing about wine.

   

S.A. Wolfe
S. A. Wolfe lives with her wonderfully loud, opinionated children and husband. She is a voracious reader and passionate about writing, and when those two activities don’t keep her locked away in her room, she loves hiking mountains as much as she adores all the thrills New York City has to offer.
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Close to You ( A Downside Ghosts Holiday Story)

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Churchwitch Chess Putnam has seen, and banished, her share of ghosts, but not of the Christmas Past variety—the holiday has been illegal since the Church of Real Truth defeated the undead and took control of the world in 1997.
Yet when she and her boyfriend, Terrible, make a trip to an abandoned auto junkyard, they find more than the rusted auto parts and spare tires they’d bargained for. They also run across a creepy Miss Havisham-type hell-bent on reuniting with her long-dead husband just in time for Christmas—even if it means taking Chess and Terrible down with her into the City of Eternity…
If Chess and Terrible don't manage to keep these ghosts in the past, they won't have a future...

Review

****I received this arc from Netgalley for my honest review****
Does it get any better than Chess and Terrible? I think they are my favourite couple ever. They are stand out, one of a kind just the fricken best there is.
Close to you is just a short journey into Stacia Kane's brilliant, dystopian, urban fantasy series.
We get a crazy bride, a junk yard and almost like a sick and twisted Christmas horror at one point....with a twisted ghostly Santa and a Carpenters song that will stay stuck in your head for the rest of the day.. And of course we get some steamy moments where we get to be a fly on the wall with Chess and Terrible (go the mutton chops). For a short this really packed a punch for me, I always want more of this world almost immediately after finishing a book, its just an amazing series.

Have you read any of the previous? No? Then I advise you get on it!!
This world is dark and unlike anything you have ever read, and if you haven't read the previous books you are going to be a little lost reading this novella.
5 stars from me. 

 

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Ward Against Death (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer #2)

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The last thing Ward de'Ath wants is more trouble. On the run from both the law and the criminal underworld, Ward and Celia flee Brawenal City only to stumble into the mansion of a powerful evil necromancer. And when Ward discovers the man possesses a dangerous grimoire, his duty leaves him no choice. He can't allow the necromancer to keep the grimoire. But the mansion is filled with monsters--human and undead--and Ward has no way of telling who's friend or foe. The only person he can trust is Celia who dominates more of his thoughts and feelings everyday. But there are still laws in the way of anything but friendship. She's still dead and he's still alive . . . for now

Review

****Entangled Publishing, LLC, via NetGalley provided me with a copy of this book for my honest review *
This is the second book in the Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer series. In this follow up, we pick up as Cecilia and Ward are running for their lives. Ward's finally beginning to understand he's not the under talented necromancer he once viewed himself as. They find themselves emerged further and further into a world of power hunger, dark magic, and a new slue of characters that bring a whole new set of issues and challenged with them.
I did read book 2 and this was a great addition to the series. This series isn't about the romance even though there is tension, you find yourself begging the characters just to get it over with, but that's not the theme of this series. The theme of this series is the adventure, the mystery, and the magic. The pace was fast and kept you completely entranced in the storyline. We meet new enemies and a new world as our characters fight for survival. Let's hope we don't have to wait another 2 years for the third! 

 

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Ghosts of Kingston Cottage

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She believes in ghosts.
Medium and paranormal investigator Arabella Pierce is sent with her crew to Kingston Cottage, a haunted Maine seafarer’s cottage on an isolated island, but for this investigation, her boss has stuck them with skeptical reporter Lucas Brown. Though he’s hot as they come, Arabella can’t trust a man whose sole job is to discredit her and the work she does. Not after what happened with the last few skeptics...
He believes in evidence.
But Lucas isn’t as skeptical as he seems—he wants the truth, no matter what that is. When the ghosts appear, he and Arabella must work together—in tight quarters—to convince the resident ghosts to move on before a storm strands the entire crew on the island. If Arabella can put aside her prejudices, she and Lucas just might have a shot at a lifetime.

Review

****Entangled Publishing, LLC via NetGalley provided me with an ARC copy of this book for my honest review *
Arabella Pierce has trust issues. Not that she's always been that way but after several painful break ups, the last one revealing that the man she was in love with was not who he said he was, she's hesitant to take the leap again. Oh yeah, and she's a medium working for Revenant Investigations as a paranormal investigator.
Lucas Brown is a skeptic. It's worked to his advantage, landing him a job investigating and reporting for Debunker Media. The job puts him in close contact with paranormal investigators and anyone claiming to have a gift pertaining to the dead. However his task isn't to find the paranormal, it's to protect the public and make sure the investigators are genuine.
First, I want to say that this was a fun story, an easy read that kept you interested. That being said I'm going to state that "instant love" drives me nuts! Unfortunately that was the theme between our two main characters. "Instant love" for me feels cheesy, it cheapens the story line and any real emotion you can read on the lines. Had this been a full length novel where we could really get thorough with our hauntings and the people investigating them I have no doubt this book would have been a 4 star rating if not more. Being only 70 or so pages there was a lot to cover in that short amount of time. It kept the pace fast but not horrible as can sometimes be the case with novellas. I could have done with less details and attention to the sex scene. Not because I'm a prude, but because it really just felt unnecessary. It wasn't vulgar or over detailed but just something I noticed. I really wanted more of these characters. They were interesting and there's so much potential to turn this into other stories with other investigations. As for the actual investigation, it was a very romantic story of why the cottage was haunted and had a great HEA for everyone involved. I just would have loved more length! 

  

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About the series...

Welcome to Balmorie Estate, owned and run by the MacLaren brothers, retired US soldiers turned Innkeepers. To keep their family legacy going, they've moved to Scotland. They're farming the land, restoring and renting out cottages, and converting the west wing of the five hundred year old Balmorie castle into a guest house. The last thing on their mind is love. But tell that to their first three visitors...

Mad About Plaid - Add to GoodReads
"He’s a sexy Innkeeper out for a good review. She’s a travel writer with a secret."

A Scot Like You - Add to GoodReads
"Skinny-dipping in the loch had seemed like a good idea. Until she got caught..."

The Trouble With Kilts - Add to GoodReads
"He’s a wounded Highlander with an attitude. She can’t resist a challenge."

You can read the full blurb for each novella on Kam McKellar's website HERE. 

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Kam McKellar writes fun, sexy, romantic novellas. She has a thing for sweets, accents, kilts, and men in uniform. She hopes to one day inherit her very own castle from a long lost, previously unbeknownst to her, relative. Nothing wrong with dreaming big! :D

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Skipping Stones

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Blurb:

They say there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Not everyone will grieve in this order, nor will everyone go through every stage. It’s during the stage of denial when Alex Hart meets Andrew Foster. He takes her one-step closer to acceptance: the stage when new, meaningful relationships are formed. The stage when the realization occurs that this is now the new state of normal.

Just when Alex thinks she is on her way to healing, she enters the bargaining phase. That’s the phase where you wonder what you could have done differently. You wonder “what if?” Specifically, what if the ones you loved hadn’t left you?

Leaving…this is what makes heading off to war so difficult and frightening for Alex. She knows all too well what it’s like to be the one on the losing end of life, which is why she’s made it her personal mission in life to save as many lives as possible. The extreme high she gets from treating trauma victims turns into Alex’s own form of therapy, or so she thinks.

When faced with her world being turned upside down, Alex may just find that her true therapy is in the one who has always saved her.

Author Links

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A Note from J.B. McGee 

Bio:

J.B. McGee was born and raised in Aiken, South Carolina. After graduating from South Aiken High School, she toured Europe as a member of the 1999 International Bands of America Tour, playing the clarinet. While attending Converse College, an all-girls school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she visited Charleston often. It quickly became one of her favorite vacation spots. She met her husband, Chad, during Christmas break her freshman year, and they married in 2001 and she moved back to her home town. 

In 2005, the couple welcomed their first son, Noah. J.B. finished her Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of South Carolina-Aiken in 2006. During her time studying children's literature, a professor had encouraged her to become a writer.

In 2007, she welcomed their second child, Jonah, and she became a stay at home mom/entrepreneur. In 2009, the found out their two children and J.B. have Mitochondrial Disease. In 2011, a diagnosis also was given to Chad. Please take a moment and learn more about Mitochondrial Disease. Awareness is key to this disease that has no cure or treatments.

J.B. McGee and her family now reside in Buford, Georgia, to be closer to their children's medical team. After a passion for reading had been re-ignited, J.B. decided to finally give writing a shot. Broken (This Series), is her first book and first series. 

J.B. is represented by Stacey Donaghy with Donaghy Literary Group.

Drowning

Title: Drowning
Author: Rachel Firasek
Series: Tears of Sin (#1)
Pages: 263
Published: October 26th, 2013 by Naedge Publishing

*Drowning is a New Adult Contemporary Romance suited for 18+ due to some violence, language, and sexual content* 

"I dare you."

Those words would change adrenaline junkie, Alice Harrison's life forever. She's a party girl that doesn't believe in love until she meets a man that only writes about it.

Seth James escaped his overbearing father and moved into one of the James family's vacant condos, hoping to create the music he loves in peace. But the fragile calm he's envisioned shatters when a tiny woman with a world full of energy bounces out of the elevator and nearly takes him out.

With the patience of a saint, Seth seeks the dark that keeps Alice from enjoying life. He challenges her to exorcise the demons in her past in order to discover the true meaning of love. But when the walls fall down, the hidden deceptions will bare the ugly truth about a woman drowning in sorrow and a man who may not know how to be her hero.

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In the hall, arms laden with musical equipment, four large and totally hot guys fill the space—Seth James leading the pack. He stops, drops the cymbal dangling from an index finger, and stares. His too bright gaze travels down my scantily, and very sweaty, clad body and back up. When our eyes meet, he grins. “Come to help?”
“No.” I have no idea what makes me do it, but I snatch his cymbal off the floor and carry it into his apartment. I’m asking for trouble, but can’t seem to stop myself. They follow me inside, jaws still slack. Okay, so I’m cute, but not worthy of jaws dropping. I plop it down on his couch and rush back to the door. Taking on Seth doesn’t scare me, but a crew of hotties is a little much.
His strong fingers wrap around my shoulder before I make it through the walkway. It’s not controlling or holding me back. His hand is simply resting on me. “Hey, thanks. I’m sorry if we…uh…interrupted your day.”
His words sound sincere and slightly slurred, and I can’t find it in my heart to be bitchy to the first guy in a long time that has only shown me kindness. I sigh and pivot to face him. “It’s not me I’m worried about. My sister is asleep.”
He glances at his watch and frowns.
“She’s recovering from an accident. So, if you don’t mind, keep it down in the halls.”
He leans forward. “Will do and I’m sorry.”
When he enters my personal space, my heart speeds up. His eyes stare into mine. I feel this incredible connection, like he knows my pain. Like he can see my guilt.
The distance between us seems to be shrinking, and I’m not sure if it’s me shuffling closer or him.
He snags the zipper on my jacket and runs it up and down. “Is she going to be okay?”
I pluck at a button on his shirt and glance up. “Eventually.”
His friends form a half-moon circle around him and gape at me. I flick a glance at each of them. They all have a very different style of dress, which only raises more questions about the man in front of me. “Am I the first girl they’ve ever seen?”
Blondie, with the coal lined eyes, on the left snickers. “In Seth’s apartment? Hell, yes.”
Seth elbows him, but grins.
The tall guy in a kind of hot-nerd ensemble leans over and shakes my hand. “Deacon. Would you like a beer?”
I eye the leering men again. “It looks like you started without me, and I’m not into gang-bangs.” I disengage the overlong hand play with the nerd and back away from the group. “G., I’ll catch you later.”
“Hey, wait. I’ll walk you back over.”
The hotties chuckle, high-five, and rib Seth as we walk toward the hall. He shuts the door to their gazes and catches my hand before I can cross back to my apartment. “Hey, are you going to tell me your name?”
“Nah, this is more fun.”
“Why?”
“I think you’re used to having your way.”
He smiles. “Maybe.” He leans against his door and crosses his arms. His smile slips into a smug grin I’d seen on so many rich boys in this city. He thinks he has me. “I’d like to have my way with you.”
He’s quite the talker when he’s sauced. Good to know. It’s nice to see his thoughts. “That’s the beer talking.” I step close, arch up on tip-toe, and tap a finger to his slightly parted lips. “A few hours ago, you didn’t have much to say. I’m okay with keeping this awkward tension between us. It’s all we’ll ever have.”
He scowls at that and twists the knob back to his apartment. “Whatever.”
Mission accomplished. I’d succeeded in pissing him off. If he stayed mad at me, then we could squash this weird attraction that we obviously both feel.
I grin. “Bye, G.”
His brows dip low, and I shove the door behind me, sagging against it. My breath swooshes out from between my clenched teeth. Damn, he is going to be trouble. I feel it all the way to my pinky toe.
A soft knock against my back drives home the point. I twirl and open the door before he disturbs Molly—or maybe because I’m not ready to share him with her yet. “What?”
He tucks a hand into the waistband of my shorts and hauls me into the hall, pulling my door shut behind me. “Where did you get that?” His gaze lingers on the small bump decorating my forehead.
I reach up and touch the sore knot. “Oh, I fell.”
“How?” He raises his free hand and traces the swelling.
I don’t even feel the careful prodding. No, my concentration is solely focused on the fingers tucked inside my shorts and only inches away from becoming way too familiar with me. “Um…I was doing yoga when you guys came down the hall.”
“And?” He tugs me closer. His thumb rakes a small path below my belly button.
Oh my. “Uh…I fell out of…of…my pose and banged my head on the floor.”
His eyes darken and those beautiful lips part. I want to snake my tongue across the bottom one to find out if it is as soft as it looks.
He winces and lowers his eyes to mine. “So this is my fault?”
I grab onto his wandering hand and pull it free of my shorts. If I didn’t, I’d be asking him for a wall orgasm in less than two minutes and random teasing and fleeing was a no go for me now. “No. It was an accident. Lighten up, G.”
“I don’t want to cause you pain.”
Wow, that feels like a loaded proclamation. “Okay. Well, keep the noise down, and we should be good.”
He drops the hand that had been rubbing away my bruise. Funny, I’d totally forgotten it. “I don’t want to cause you pain. It’s a personal thing.” A deep shudder races over him, and for some reason, I don’t think he is with me anymore.
“You didn’t. I’m fine.” I lift a hand and cup the side of his face, bringing his gaze to mine. It is the gentlest moment I’ve ever had with a man, and we’ve just met. “I’m not sure what this is, but I think I should go inside.”
He glances down the corridor, takes a deep breath, and nods. “Yes, you should.”
“Go play with your friends. Be men or whatever that means, and I’ll go back to my yoga.” I was going to need it after this.
He groans and drops his head back, his hint of an Adam’s Apple bobbing down the column of his neck, begging for my tongue to taste him there. “Did you have to bring that back to mind?”
I grin. “What? Me all hot and sweaty in contorted positions? Do you like that?”
He groans, and one side of his mouth slants up. “I have things to do and don’t need no-named neighbors distracting me.”

Rachel Firasek spends her days daydreaming of stories and her nights putting the ideas to ink. She has spent a dull life following the rules, meeting deadlines, and toeing the line, but in her made up worlds, she can let the wild side loose. Her wonderful husband and three children support her love of the written word and only ask for the occasional American Idol or Swamp People quality hour.

She has a philosophy about love. It must devastate or it isn’t truly worth loving. She hopes that you all find your devastating love and cling to it with all your heart! 

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