Saturday 30 April 2016

#Release!!! The Heart (The Reluctant Romantics, Book 2) By Kate Stewart

The Heart Banner The Heart Goodreads 
  Synopsis
Jack
For the last ten years, I've roamed the globe, captivated by the world around me. I've seen the seven wonders and admired sunsets from every continent. I'd lived and loved and that was enough for me. It would have to be.
I was content, satisfied with my collection of experiences . . . until a phone call led me down a road less traveled.
If I'd known my fascination would pique and be forever quenched only a few hundred miles from where my curiosity had been born, I may have never set sail.
Rose
Stripped of the future I'd planned with the love of my life, my family and my career were now all that mattered. I'd lived and loved and that was enough. It would have to be.
I struggled to move forward, to discard the part of me that held out hope for my obliterated heart. But I was bred a romantic, so it was easier said than done.
The chances of being struck by lightning are 1 in 960,000.
The odds of being struck twice are 1 in 9 million.
I risked those odds every minute, often cursing the dark sky, praying for static and a rumble of thunder, but it never came.
No, that second bolt hit me on a clear day.
The Heart can be read as a stand alone but it is HIGHLY recommended you read the first two books in the series first.
The Reluctant Romantics Series
The Fall
The Mind 1.5
The Heart
Books that compliment the series (Room 212, Never Me.)
Explicit Sex and Strong Language

The Heart Teaser
The Heart Teaser 2

The Series
The Fall

The Mind

Buy Links

AMAZON * B&N * KOBO * iBOOKS

The Heart Teaser 3

About the Author
Kate
A native of Dallas, Kate Stewart now resides in beautiful Charleston, S.C. She lives with her husband of 9 years, Nick, and her naughty beagle, Sadie.
Kate moved to Charleston three weeks after her first visit, dropping her career of 8 years, and declaring the city her creative muse. Since the move in 2010, Kate has written and published four novels including Room 212, Never Me, Loving the White Liar and The Fall.
Kate writes messy, sexy, angst filled romance books with 'hard to get' happy endings because it's what she loves as a reader. She has a scary addiction to chocolate milk and a deep love for rap music specifically the genius known as Marshall Mathers.
In addition to her addiction to romance, Kate also lets her alter ego take over on occasion and writes erotic suspense under the pen Angelica Chase.
Check out Kate's works as Angelica


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Friday 29 April 2016

#CoverReveal!!!! Hit The Spot (Dirty Deeds #2) By J. Daniels Release Date: December 6, 2016




Title: Hit the Spot
Series: Dirty Deeds #2
Author: J. Daniels
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing/Forever Romance
Genre: Contemporary Romance
 Release Date: December 6, 2016



Hit the Spot

"Love! That's the four letter word to describe how I felt about this unique, sexy story. J. Daniels' hottest book to date."---Penelope Ward, New York Times bestselling author on Four Letter Word

New York Times bestselling author J. Daniels brings us the second book in her Dirty Deeds series. Hit the Spot features Jamie and Tori's story.

This book can be read as a stand-alone.





Pre-order Links

AMAZON US / UK / AU
B&N / KOBO US / UK
iBOOKS US / UK / AU 






Also Available


Pre-order for October 4, 2016

AMAZON US / UK / AU
B&N / KOBO US / UK
iBOOKS US / UK / AU 






Author Bio

J. Daniels is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Sweet Addiction series, the Alabama Summer series, and the upcoming Dirty Deeds series.

She would rather bake than cook, she listens to music entirely too loud, and loves writing stories her children will never read. Her husband and children are her greatest loves, with cupcakes coming in at a close second.

J grew up in Baltimore and resides in Maryland with her family.



Author Links

Giveaway

#Release!!!! So Into You: leighton's Story (The Girlfriend series #2 - Standalone) By Maggie Kaye




Title: So Into You: Leighton's Story
Series: The Girlfriend Series #2 (Standalone)
Author: Maggie Kaye
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 29, 2016



Blurb

Leighton McCall has a great job as a corporate lawyer, a terrific apartment, the perfect parents, and the best friends any woman could want. Up until now she has led a seemingly charmed life.

Having it all though has come at a price. Her ideal job isn't so ideal. They only like to promote men. Being Senator Andrew McCall's daughter has never been easy. She has learned to live her life under her father's shadow and in the spotlight. Not to mention, the loss of her older brother has left an irreparable rip in her family. Her perfect family is really a sham, created for her father’s political aspirations. The only thing perfect in her life are her girlfriends. But even they don't know she is keeping a secret.

She had a vacation fling with a less than perfect candidate, Owen Foster, a construction worker from "Down Under" who has left her with a slight complication. What's a girl to do when everything she worked for isn't working? And the one man who holds the key to her heart, she can never picture fitting into her world, even if he is so into her.






Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK






Trailer




Excerpt

 “You understand. You’re mine. Say it.”

“I’m yours.”

He moved down to a spot above the swell of her breast, nipped it and then licked it.

“More.” She rubbed herself against his thigh. His erection swelled.

“Hold still.”

She relaxed into the sheets and closed her eyes briefly, trying to obey him.

“You like that, don’t you?” He squeezed her breast as his mouth latched onto her nipple and sucked. He scraped his teeth along the tip.

“Yes. Now, shut up and do me,” she snapped back.

It’s what he liked about her. She was spunky and smart. She never would take any guff from anyone, including him.

“I told you. I’m in control.”

“Sure, Aussie. You’re in control.”

“Do you want this to end?” He clutched her ass and pressed his erection against her clit.

“Hell no.” She sounded breathy and mutinous.

“Then behave.” To change it up, he reached down to see how wet she was and took her other nipple into his mouth. He used his other hand to apply pressure, as he sucked on her breast. Releasing it, he continued his downward movement, licking into her belly button before descending to her center. He took a moment to admire her sweetness. “Have you ever been kissed here?”

“Ah. No.”

“Good. I promise you, you’re going to like it.”

He licked through her lips and then sucked her clit. She moaned and moved her hips up to press closer to his mouth. She reached down and held his head tight between her legs. “You’re right. I like it.”

He increased the tempo and added his fingers to increase her pleasure, first one then another.

She was moaning and writhing in the sheets. “I’m going to come.”

“Then come.”

He watched as she let herself go. She was so gorgeous. He rose up to lie next to her, kissing her so she could taste herself, as he had. “Now sleep, Tex.”

“Aren’t we going to?” She yawned sleepily.

“No, Legs. This was just for you.”





Also Available


In the work place, we all know there are boundaries. One of those boundaries is Never Date Your Boss, especially if he is a playboy and you just had your heart broken. When Chloe Lambert finds herself down on her luck, none other than her hunky CEO boss, Garrett Nolan, steps in to rescue her, offering her temporary shelter at his ranch. Now, her boss is looking more appealing, and her friends can’t agree on whether she should sleep with him or not. Don’t even mention the fact she just learned he has a soft spot for kids and is using the ranch to help sick kids. What is a girl to do when it feels so right?


99c Sale

AMAZON US / UK



Trailer







Author Bio


When Maggie Kaye was in college, she and a friend attempted to write their first romance book. They actually never reached the writing part. Mostly, they lay in the sun, brainstormed, laughed, and snacked, typical behavior for young college students with short attention spans.

Maggie went on to earn a teaching credential in special education and a career in teaching. Although they never completed that first book, the desire to tell stories remained with her. Eventually, she took out a writing pen or in her case a notebook computer her hero (husband) bought her to pursue her dreams and wrote the end.

Today, Maggie lives in the Southern California with her husband, two children, and three cats that sometimes share the keyboard with her. She enjoys writing stories with plenty of heart, humor and a bit of steaminess.



Author Links
WEBSITE





Giveaway

#Release!!!! Predator By Michelle Horst Release Date: April 29, 2016




Title: Predator
Author: Michelle Horst
Genre: Romantic Suspense
 Release Date: April 29, 2016



Blurb

All my life I’ve been hiding, until there is no corner on this god-forsaken earth left for me to hide. I have to pay for the sins of my father. No one with Ellison blood in their veins is allowed to live, and I am the last of my bloodline.

I am kept in a container waiting for my death sentence to be carried out, when he comes. He is only known as ‘Predator’. No one knows who he works for, only that he leaves no one alive.

His every breath is filled with the last gasp of his dying prey.

But for some reason he doesn’t kill me.

I don’t know which is worse, the death sentence hanging over my head, or being at his mercy.






Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK






Excerpt

“Look at me, Cara,” and he waits until I do, “love is such a flawed thing. You can love someone but still leave them. What I feel for you goes way beyond that one word. I’m addicted to you. I feel protective of you. I breathe for you.” His eyes caress my face and follow the tears into my hair. “Love is really such a flawed word for what I feel. I live for you.”





Author Bio

Michelle Horst is from a small town in South Africa.

She's been in love with reading from an early age. She has a passion for books, quotes and animals.

She first tried her hand at writing in early 2009 and as the first words started to form into a book, she knew she was hooked. 

Dreams spilled onto pages, and that was the beginning of a wonderful journey. A journey filled with joy, passion and heart stopping moments. Most of all, it's filled with such pride and peace as a story comes to life, and characters fill your life, living in the very walls of your mind, living in the minds of your readers.

Thank you to each and every reader and for choosing to escape in one of my books.

Michelle ;) 



Author Links


#Release!!!! Everlasting By Annette Blair

A Humorous Contemporary Romantic Fantasy
Some people call it Heaven. The residents know it as Everlasting. When you arrive, adjustments have to be made, especially if you were meant to live and the person you saved . . . slated to die.
...What kind of guardian angel gets knocked back to earth? The kind who falls in love with one of his wards.
Chance Godricson is heaven-sent. He's Kenya Kilmartin’s guardian, and when, on arrival, he's hired to get her through a difficult time in her life, he just might fall prey to earthly temptation.

Excerpt 


Chance Godricson did not understand why he survived. If he survived. 
The next tremor or aftershock might give him his answer.
After walking the mall, searching the rubble, and shouting for anyone to answer, he faced facts. Some kind of structural collapse above the exclusive underground shopping center blocked all exits, paralyzed elevators, and cut the lights. 
While lingering in the Yellow Brick Mall shortly after the stores closed, to await his appointment in the office building above, he had, for all intents and purposes, been buried alive. But not for long. He would find a way out or die trying. 
A gold and yellow scarf floated across the mall floor like tumbleweed to land at his feet. He grabbed it to bandage the gash in his right hand while seeking the airflow that propelled it. 
Ah. A hole in the ceiling near a wall. A structurally sound place to end up.
He began gathering and rolling heavy chunks of broken concrete to build a makeshift stairway. Good enough, he hoped, for one risky climb. Hours later, he thought—examining his work and flexing his aching hand—the unwieldy monster just might get him out.
Yes, those steps could collapse . . . hopefully behind him . . . if he moved fast enough.
“Are you lost, too?” The voice shocked him. Chance shouted as he faced it. 
Not a ghost. An angel. Small, breakable looking, but evidently not.
He had not heard her approach. The young woman appeared to have been dipped in honey, and rolled in a thick layer of concrete dust. He probably looked the same. Tear trails marked her cheeks that bore a few small cuts, and still she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “What have you been doing all this time?” he asked.
“Hiding. Expecting another explosion? Waiting to die?” She shrugged. “Except, I didn’t.” 
“Why didn’t you answer when I called?” he asked.
“Hands over my ears.” She shuddered and eyed his creation. “Is that supposed to be a stairway?”
“Yes.” It gave him hope, her recognizing it.
She tilted her head. “Why?”
“For our escape.”
She moved the dirt on her face as she swiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands. “From now on, I’m only shopping online.”
“Well, let’s get you home so you can,” he said. “The ‘stairs’ can only take one of us at a time. No hesitating, no looking down or back. Once you take that first step, it’s a sprint. Pretend you have wings and can’t stop. Promise.”
She threw her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. “I’m not good at leading the way. Not at all good. You go first.”
“I can’t. I’m heavier. I might wreck it. You’re light as a cloud. You go.” With difficulty, he pried her off him. “Go. Now.”
She hesitated, shuddered, and swallowed hard three times. “Once I get there, you’ll follow?”
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Kenya,” she said.
“So are you ready to live, Kenya?”
“Now, there’s a question.” She kissed his filthy cheek. 
He didn’t remember ever feeling both honored and unworthy.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Nobody,” he said. “Just an unremarkable lawyer.”
“See you at the top, Mr. Nobody.” 
“Go.”
She whined as she started but followed his instructions to the letter, a sprint like no other . . . and still, she proved the weakness in his creation. Her inner strength put him to shame as he held the beam nearest the wall, below the highest point of the makeshift stairs. He couldn’t let go until she made it. 
“Please let her make it,” he whispered.
He borrowed some of her strength when the beam beneath his hands began to shudder.
As Kenya left the stairs behind her, the last one seeming to disappear from beneath her shoe, she crouched, cradled by crossed steel beams in the darkness between floors, her heart racing as another tremor seemed to wreak havoc in the mall below.
Panic filled her with worry for the man who shared his stairs, until a hand wrapped in a yellow and gold scarf reached for her.
“Hey?” she called, taking that hand with both of hers. “How did you get here before me?”
He pulled her through the darkness to the safety of the outdoors and the dim light of dusk, somehow telling her to live for both of them.
When she thanked him, he was gone.
People surrounded her and wrapped her in blankets, gave her a bottle of water, brought her to the medics.
She never spotted her rescuer among them.
Some people called it Heaven.
The residents knew it as Everlasting.
When you arrived, adjustments needed to be made; it’s not always an easy task, especially when you were meant to live and the person you saved . . . slated to die.
Chance became Kenya’s guardian angel. 
A reward? 
Or a punishment?

Purchase Links 
Kindle myBook.to/Everlast
iBooks http://apple.co/22s139f...
Kobo Link soon
About The Author

Annette Blair, NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author
***LOVE, LAUGHTER & HAPPILY EVER AFTER***
Three Days on a Train, Contemporary Romantic Comedy
Everlasting, Paranormal Contemporary Romantic Comedy
Rogues & Scoundrels, Eight Regency Historicals
Jacob's Return & Butterfly Garden, Sensual Amish Historicals
Scandalous Brides, Historical Box Set
Fabulous Firsts, Historical Box Set
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/annetteblairfans/?fref=ts

Website:http://www.annetteblair.com
Bio:

An adventurer and storyteller at heart, Annette Blair has explored nineteenth-century Amish America and Regency England. She's fallen for madcap, modern Salem Mass, where bold women follow the Celtic faith with heart. There, she fought dragons, and fell in love with an angel. More recently, she’s taken to solving mysteries beside Connecticut’s Mystic River. And with her newest series, she's be revisiting her "roots" in Salem in a small town north of the Witch City that you won't find on any map. Welcome to Wishing Well, where there's something Magic in the water... 

She topped the NY Times and USA Today Bestseller Lists concurrently last month (ranking at #4 & #12 respectively) with Scandalous Brides, a joint venture box set of four full-length Regency Historicals by Annette, Lucinda Brant, Brenda Hiatt & Cheryl Bolen. Annette is honored to have shared the career-changing event with such amazing and multi-talented writers. The four are all members of the Jewels of Historical Romance, a group of 12 top flight authors who have banded together to better serve their careers, their readers, and each other through this new publishing paradigm.

Earlier in her career, Annette's work garnered multiple Romantic Times TOP PICKS, Reviewers’ Choice Awards, and HOLT Medallion nominations. A triple Golden Heart Finalist, she's also finaled in the Golden Leaf, the Lauries, the Golden Quill, and National Readers' Choice Awards. She’s won multiple Booksellers Best Awards, LORIES Awards, Laurel Wreath, Blue Boa, Aspen Gold, RIO, Southern Magic, More than Magic, Orange Rose, Winter Rose, PRISM, Beacon, Colorado Awards of Excellence, Write Touch Readers' Choice Awards and an Orange County Book Buyer's Best Award. With Sex and the Psychic Witch, Annette took home three Anne-Bonney Readers’ Choice Awards out of four. Cloaked in Malice her 5th Vintage Magic Mystery, became her first NY Times Bestseller. Jacob's Return, a rule-breaking Amish Historical became her first USA Today Bestseller. 

Her E-books include The Rogues Club & Scoundrels Series, four full Regency Historicals each. Her Sexy Amish Historical E-books are Jacob's Return, Butterfly Garden, and A Winter Heart. Anthologies include Sisters of Spirit, the Jewels of Historical Romance, Fabulous Firsts, and Scandalous Brides NY Times #4 & USA Today #12.





Her websites is very detailed. The only thing I need to get from her is a blurb/excerpt.
Let me know if there is anything else.
Author Note 

Dear Reader:
A Romantic Times TOP PICK [as Bedeviled Angel] EVERLASTING has a first ever prologue, new scenes and characters, and I took your reviews to heart to make the story even better.

#BookTour!!! The Manny (Locked & Loaded Book #1) By Susan Ward

The Manny Banner The Manny Synopsis
The Locked & Loaded Series is a spinoff of the Amazon Bestselling Sand & Fog Series. Six Bodyguards telling their own stories and keeping it real. Each book is a standalone and can be read in any order.
I never understood when people said someday you would love someone enough to want it all. All? I didn’t even know what they meant by “all.” I’d spent most of my life in the military in the Special Forces and, since taking that career-ending bullet in Kandahar, as personal security for the most famous rock star on the planet. My life worked for me. I didn’t need more and I sure as hell didn’t need to have the heterosexual fantasy.
Straight life for a gay man?
Married instead of lovers?
Physical fidelity in addition to emotional fidelity?
Children?
Hell no. I was living life full-throttle in every man’s dream—in the center of a sexual orgy that spanned the globe, without limits or judgment. Why would any man want to change that?
But the minute I saw him, it all changed. I knew he was the one for me. The one the term all was invented for.
I never expected to fall so completely for a one-night stand. I thought this kind of love was something I was incapable of feeling, but then Leland Jensen was not my usual type of hookup. He was my age when I’d always been careful to stick with partners too young to hold my interest. He was smart and humorous. And he was my match in bed.
That he wasn’t like my other sexual partners should have warned me away that first night. Instead, it drew me to him like a moth to a flame. And there was no way to escape my desire for Leland since he was my employer.
I didn’t want a job guarding a child.
I didn’t want to fall in love with her father.
I did both.

The Manny Teaser

Excerpt
Chapter One
“Graham Carson”
I stood against the far side of the elevator, posture erect and with my muscled arms crossed at my chest in a universally understood command to stay the fuck away as we chugged floor by floor down from the penthouse to my room seven levels below.
I needed some quiet time to have any hope of closing out the last thirty-six hours of this contract semicoherent. There wasn’t much work left. A party. Hopefully a hookup for my private after-party. The flight home with my employer and his family. Then downtime in California with my longtime lover, Zac, until my next assignment.
Final day of the tour. Fuck, it had been one hell of a twelve-hour shift, but it shouldn’t have surprised me because the chaos of the past four months surpassed anything I’d come to know on the road with the British hard rock band Blackpoll or any other band I’d worked security for.
Being a bodyguard wasn’t all fun. It was grueling hours of long work, no matter what you read in those chick-lit romance novels—it definitely wasn’t all fun this road trip—and even acknowledging that, I felt surprisingly melancholy knowing this was the last tour I’d ever work for Alan Manzone. He’d been my employer for seven years, we were good friends, and I genuinely liked the man.
A stellar human being.
A thrill a second to be around.
Wild. Impulsive. Flamboyant. Brilliant and sexy as hell on stage—no man had a right to be that sexy when he sang—and twice as alluring in his downtime during those brief moments when he was really him. A sincerely kind man, intelligent, elegant, and dick-hardeningly handsome.
Regrettably, immovably heterosexual. Married with children. Still, Alan was my favorite fantasy more nights than I’d ever admit. Well, on those nights I couldn’t get something young and hot, eager to indulge my real-life fantasies.
Oh, and let me clear up another misconception—probably read in a supermarket paperback as well—being on a rock tour wasn’t just a heterosexual guy’s wet dream. It was a fucking gay paradise 24/7. Especially for a guy like me.
Single.
Gorgeous—
What? Was I not supposed to say that? I worked hard for this body. Ten years in the military Special Forces. Two hours every morning three hundred sixty-five days a year in the gym keeping myself lethal and combat fit. I was not just for show, sweetheart. I could pump one into you in more ways than one.
I was thirty-six and unattached and free to prowl—when I wasn’t home in California with my lover—though there hadn’t been much prowling this final leg of the tour.
Those kids see and watch everything.
I felt the beginnings of a headache, and pressed hard with two fingers on my right temple.
Jesus Christ. Who would have thought Alan’s final farewell to the road would have ended in a rattle and not a bang?
I sure as hell didn’t. I thought the partying would be off the hook this final leg, but it’d been more like Romper Room instead of a swingers’ private club.
I guess the saying was true regardless of who the man was: kids change everything. That thought immediately brought to mind another saying I’d heard more than once this tour: British rockers never die; they become fathers and fade away.
And that’s pretty much what we’d done the final leg of this final tour. Slowly faded away. No parties. No craziness. No wildness—hell, I could count on the digits of a single hand my hookups across the last four months hopping the globe—the ending of an era, an epic two-year world tour, the finale of the reign of the ultimate rock god, Alan Manzone, coming to a close with a rattle not a bang.
Rattle.
I started to laugh, in spite of the fact that was pretty corny, a lousy pun at best, and certainly less clever than I would have managed if I wasn’t practically sleeping on my feet. Shit, those children can kick my butt some days. Still, it was kind of funny. Life changed unpredictably for all men at times.
My head throbbed more incessantly and the light was making my eyes hurt even though it was muted in that Muzak ambience way and I hadn’t taken off my shades.
Jesus Christ, I’m exhausted and ready to be off the road for a while. Why is it taking fucking forever to get to my floor?
“What’s so funny?”
Behind my sunglasses, I shifted my gaze to find the new hire standing against the far wall. Oh crap. I’d forgotten the cherry was in the elevator with me. What the hell is his name? I hadn’t said a single word to him since he joined the tour last month.
And damn it, had I just laughed out loud?
Had he taken that as an invitation to speak to me?
I shrugged and ignored the question, since my arms were crossed which everyone on tour except Skyler Mathews—I remembered out of nowhere—knew was my code for don’t fucking speak to me.
“Long shift?” he asked.
Christ, he’s talking again. “Twelve hours. No longer than any other while on tour.”
He exhaled slowly as though he’d been nervous as hell until I’d answered him, and then he smiled. It occurred to me that I shouldn’t be such a hardnose with the guy. The tour was over tomorrow. There was always a chance I’d have to work with him in the future. He was a new member of the security team, one I hadn’t bothered to get to know, and it had been almost painful to watch the weeks of him struggling to fit in.
I was chiding myself to lighten up when he spoke again. “This tour wasn’t anything like I expected when I got hired on. I’m glad it’s over. Glad I won’t be working for Alan a second time. Every shift my team was up, I’m the one he dumps the kids on. Left me seven hours alone with the twins yesterday while he was doing a sound check. I don’t know where he gets off thinking he has a right to make me take care of his sons or that that fits my job description. Are all the celebrities we work for going to be like him? I felt more like a nanny with a gun than a bodyguard this tour.”
Oh no, he didn’t.
Had Skyler just bashed Alan to me? No wonder none of the security guys liked him. Fuck, where had Jared found this putz? I made a mental note to talk to my boss at Black Star Security about the company’s hiring practices since the term “scraping the bottom of the barrel” wasn’t that far off of the mark for this guy and, shit, a weak link endangered the entire team, not to mention the people we protected.
My gaze ran him slowly, taking note of his positive attributes. He was somewhere around twenty-five and he had a pretty nice package, there was no denying that. Tall, lean, cut physique and pretty-guy blond hair complementing bright blue eyes set off by that tan of his. Most of our clients liked their bodyguards to be attractive men. It made them look good having hot men standing beside them in the tabloid glossies. But they also wanted a skill set, and instinct told me Skyler didn’t have the background we normally held out for.
Military training? No fucking way. I’d bet my last dollar this guy had spent every day of his life in civvies and had gone to an Ivy League university. It made it all the more baffling that he didn’t manage better during his off-shift hours with the crew. Attractive, educated college men usually had better people skills.
He’d been like a duck out of water with the guys from day one. No social skills at all, and judging by the last two minutes, no conversational skills either.
This poor loser didn’t fit in anywhere and was always skulking around watching me, almost like he wanted me to take him under my wing, maybe hoping to get the team to back off on the shit they’d been giving him. And yes, I’d heard the shit and ignored it, just like I’d noticed his silent calls for help tossed my way.
Wrong plan, Sherlock, because here every man has to sink or swim on his own, and the faster this guy sank was just fine with me because Mathews didn’t know the first fucking thing about professional security.
Why the fuck had Jared hired him? And why the fuck did the newbie decide now to speak to me, pretty much sealing the deal that I couldn’t ignore him for another day?
The tic in my cheek started to twitch. I lifted my chin and squared my shoulders. “First rule, expect nothing and be prepared for anything. The personal security profession is a serious business regardless of the client or the task. You’re here to do a job. Nothing more. Nothing less. I don’t really give a fuck what you’re glad about. And if you want to keep your job you won’t ever talk shit about Alan to me. Or doesn’t that NDA you signed mean anything to you? Talk crap about Alan again and I will personally kick your ass back to wherever you came from. Are we clear, Mathews?”
There was a heavy silence between us as Mathews turned ten shades of red as though he was about to lose his shit. Oh yeah, asshole, you picked the wrong day to talk to me and definitely the wrong subject to lead with, since fuck, was that baby vomit on my lapel again?
“Hey, I didn’t mean anything against Alan,” Mathews said quickly. “I’m just tired of the guys giving me shit for always being the one on kid patrol. It must bug you, too, war hero and all, Alan demoting you the final leg of the tour to baby duty. First you get stuck 24/7 guarding his teenage daughter, and now the other girl and the baby. It must piss you off, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and everything. I’m not squat here so maybe I should shut up and not complain about me, but you’re a living legend. I don’t care who Alan Manzone is, he shouldn’t disrespect and dump on you that way.”
Yep, keep digging.
I’d had about all I could take of Skyler Mathews in this one and only dose of him, and in spite of the fact that he was worried and rapidly ass-kissing—rather well, I might add, because really, who doesn’t like being reminded they’re a decorated war hero—neither my temper nor my want to stomp on this jerk-off lessened.
The elevator did that bounce it does before stopping, and a ding followed before the doors opened. Saved by the bell. I stepped out into the hallway.
“Are we fucking cool, man?”
Oh fuck. I might have continued onto my room leaving matters as they were if he hadn’t said that. And damn, I felt those fucking eyes locked on me.
I turned slowly, extending an arm to keep the metal doors open between us. I slowly lowered my sunglasses on my nose so we would be eye to eye, hopefully negating any possibility of him misreading this.
“Cool?” I repeated, my eyes never leaving his. “We are the farthest thing there is from fucking cool. You don’t know shit about people and you know even less about what working security is all about. Duty. Loyalty. Serving and protecting. Those aren’t words we toss around in a classroom for dramatic affect. They mean something here.”
I paused, since I wasn’t sure if it was my words or my tone that caused his eyes to widen and his breaths to turn into shallow pants.
“Do you think any man here would disrespect me?” I continued, since it was obvious Mathews wasn’t going to find his voice anytime soon. “Do you have any idea how many ways I could kill you if I wanted to right now?”
I waited imperatively and Mathews finally managed to shake his head. I lost his eye contact with that. Yep, you better be terrified, asshole. He made such a pathetic image I should have probably left then. But I just wasn’t that guy. Not when someone threw down a thoroughly fucked-up theory about me or impugned the people I cared about.
I made another half step toward him into the elevator and he eased backward as if he wanted to disappear into the wall.
“You are the only person ever to disrespect me the seven years I’ve worked for Alan,” I pointed out succinctly. “Do you have shit for brains, a death wish, or are you clueless? There is no greater responsibility this tour than providing security for those children. That Alan trusts me with all of them is not only an enormous compliment, but a responsibility I assume wholeheartedly. That teenage girl, those boys, the little girl and the baby are the number one security issues on this tour. The safety of each one of them more important than anyone else we protect here. Completely vulnerable, soft targets worth over a billion, each and every one of them. The most vulnerable and important people we are protecting and you, you worthless jerk, think Alan is disrespecting me by entrusting me with their safety. You don’t know shit about anything.”
We squared off with our eyes as I waited for him to respond to the tongue-lashing.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a barely discernable whisper. “I guess I’ve got a lot to learn about the security business.”
My brows hitched up. “You think? Where the fuck did Jared find you? And don’t lie. I know it wasn’t the military.”
For some reason that question made the burn on his face turn from blood red to something almost like a flush of embarrassment.
“You going to tell me or not, Mathews?”
He lifted his gaze back to mine, that time, sheepishly. “I’m his cousin. I dropped out of law school and Jared hooked me up with the job here.”
For a half second, I didn’t know whether to groan, laugh, or cry bingo. It was a hard fight not to give in to any reaction. Shit, Mathews had no business working security on mine or any other detail. There was nothing funny about any of this and no reason to gloat over having been right in my assessment of him.
“Have you ever fired a weapon at a live target before?” I asked.
Mathews grew even more uncomfortable. “No. Jared said stick close to you. You’d teach me what I needed to know.”
He did, did he?
My temper spiked, unable to believe my fucking ears, and it suddenly was crystal clear why the newbie kept trying to cozy up with me from afar. Fucking Jared was going to hear a thing or two from me once I’d finished with his cousin. How the hell could he have sent out such an inexperienced bodyguard and not given me the heads-up?
Fuck you, Jared. Your ass is mine when I hit LA.
“It’s a good thing this tour is over,” I said. “One thing for sure, you are never going out on a contract with me again. Learn how to do your job or find a different line of work, will you?”
Nervously, he raked a hand through his hair. “Hey, I’m sorry. I just needed the check.”
I shoved my glasses back up on my nose. “This isn’t the kind of gig you do for money and it sure as hell isn’t a place for on-the-job training.”
I stepped back. It was time to let him go.
The door started to close, then Matthews’s arm blocked it and he held it open as he took a slow step toward me.
“You off shift now?” he asked tentatively.
Oh shit.
A part of me warned that if I answered this the wrong way I’d have him latched onto me for the remainder of the night, but he was staring at me with those blue eyes, obviously hoping to figure out a way to set things right between us.
“I’m off until 1100 tomorrow,” I admitted reluctantly. “I fly back to California with Alan and the family.”
His eyes widened hopefully. “Can I buy you a drink?” As if he sensed my dismissal of the offer even before I voiced it, he added quickly. “I…just thought…you know…maybe—”
He broke off and his gaze grew heated and more intent. I studied him for a moment—oh fuck—those eyes weren’t staring at me with let’s get a drink and be friends; they were staring at me with let’s go to bed until morning.
Jesus. H. Christ.
Both Jared and God had been fucking with me this trip. How the hell had I missed that the newbie was gay? Gay, hungry, into me, and making the first move.
A potent elixir for the too much denied of late needs of my dick. Crap, instinct warned this guy had a lot to learn about a lot of things.
I let the line of my lips soften just a little. “I’m doing four hours of shut-eye, then the rooftop wrap party. I should be back in my room at 0200. If I haven’t got anything going, we might see about that drink then.”
Before he could speak, I turned and headed for my hotel room.
Yep, I could feel him watching.
I had my after-party lined up if I wanted him.
Four hours sleep?
Hell, it might be wise to do seven.
I waved my key card across the reader and opened the door. Fuck, it had been a hell of a tour and I was for sure more exhausted than I had thought before the elevator incident. Laughing in disbelief, I shook my head as I moved around my suite. Mathews had been trying to hit on me for weeks and somehow I’d missed the signals.
Motherfucking Jared. He was an asshole to send his fucking gay cousin with no skills to me to deal with.
Frowning, I removed my shoulder holster and then the backup piece strapped to my leg. I dumped the contents of my pockets on the coffee table before I sank down on a sofa, unbuttoning my shirt.
How the fuck could I have missed that Skyler Mathews was gay? Sure, I hadn’t spent much time with him since he joined the tour. I hadn’t wanted to. Which was strange since I always made it a point to spend time with the new guys on the crew.
Kids: they are the ruin of even gay men.
I stretched back onto the couch.
But I wasn’t going to let the kids get in the way tonight.
I had the next eighteen hours off the clock to fill any way I wanted. A night of possibilities, and hopefully, a few Trojans as well.

The Manny Teaser 2

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About the Author
Susan Ward is a #1 Amazon bestselling author in LGBT Erotica, #2 Amazon bestselling author in the Rock genre, and an Amazon bestselling author in Erotica Humorous, Coming-of-age, Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Women’s Fiction, and Romance Sagas.
She is a native of Santa Barbara, California, where she currently lives in a house on the side of a mountain, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Her hometown is the inspiration for the Parker Saga which includes the Half Shell Series, Affair without End Series, the Sand & Fog Series, and the soon to be released Locked & Loaded Series.
She attended the University of California Santa Barbara and earned a degree in Business Administration from California State University Sacramento. She works as a Government Relations Consultant, focusing on issues of air quality and global warming. The mother of grown daughters, she lives a quiet life with her husband and her dog, Emma. She can be found most often walking at Hendry’s Beach, where she writes most of her storylines in her head while watching Emma play in the surf. She has 16 romance releases available on Amazon and all her books are free in Kindle Unlimited.
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