July 28th – Winter in July Blog Hop
Today is our final stop on our Winter in July Blog Hop! We want to thank
Happily Ever After Thoughts and all our other sponsors for hosting us and
allowing us to share our winter stories with you. Thank YOU as well for following
along with us and for all the comments you’ve left!
For our final day, we decided to share a small snippet of each of our
stories. We hope you like them as much as we loved writing them! We’ve also
added a buy link just in case you’re so intrigued you just HAVE to have one of
the books now!
Lisa Fox- Santa’s Sleeping Beauty-
Finally,
thankfully, after an eternity, Jordan had her coffee. She turned from the
counter and sighed heavily, seeing nothing but a rolling sea of people and nary
an empty seat in the place.
“The
fun never ends,” she grumbled as she tread through the tables, trying not to
hear the screaming children, the frustrated grunts, the whining complaints, the
sappy Christmas Muzak.
And
then she saw it. Off in a far corner, an empty seat. Jordan could almost hear
the heavenly choir sing as she traversed the distance, entirely focused on that
plastic vision of sublime relief.
The
chair appeared to belong to a table where a man sat with his head bowed over a
steaming cup of coffee. He wore the lower half of a Santa costume and a white
t-shirt. His hat, beard and jacket rested off to the side. A bright red
shopping bag sat at his feet. She wondered for an instant if he was the Macy’s
Santa, but quickly realized there was no way they’d let him sit half-dressed in
the cafe if he were.
“Excuse
me?” she asked, hovering over him. “Is that seat taken?”
His
head came up at the sound of her voice, and Jordan involuntarily gasped. He was
gorgeous! Like unbelievably, seen-only-in-magazines gorgeous. Messy dark-brown
hair framed his handsome face, and a spark of good-natured humor shone from the
depths of his ice-blue eyes. The barest shadow of a beard highlighted the sharp
angle of his jaw and outlined his very luscious lips. The t-shirt hugged his arms
and fit snugly against the hard contours of his chest. She knew that Santa
Claus should not be inspiring the wicked, wicked thoughts that instantly popped
into her head, and yet she couldn’t help but gaze at his full lower lip and
wonder what his kiss might taste like.
Catherine Peace’s This Time Next Year
A
rustling to her left alarmed her. The door to the bedroom opened, revealing the
most beautiful man she’d ever seen. A pang of remembrance speared her heart,
but she didn’t know him. Maybe a foot taller than she, he had a slender build,
broad shoulders, lean legs, strong arms. He possessed an old Hollywood appeal,
like someone had ripped him from the 1920s and crow-barred him into a dark pair
of jeans and fitted black T-shirt. He wore his dark hair slicked back from his
sculpted square-shaped face; stubble lined a strong jaw that could probably cut
diamonds. But his eyes, deep-set and lined with dark lashes, demanded her
attention. Despite the dimness of the room, they almost…glowed.
She
licked her lips. Heat spread through her and pooled uncomfortably between her
thighs. Christ, how long had it been since she’d even been aroused?
He
stepped into the full light of the candles, the shadows dancing across his
face, providing a kiss of warmth to his fair skin.
No,
not fair. Pale.
Deathly
pale.
Alexa Bourne’s Simple Treasures
The
announcer spoke on, but the words jumbled together in Joanna’s ears. Her heartbeat
thumped against her ribs. The teacup rattled on its saucer.
Staring
at her from the television screen was a picture of the victim on the train.
“Colin!”
Joanna’s heart pounded faster. She set the saucer on the bedside table and
scrambled to the foot of the bed, as if sitting closer to the television would
give her more insight. Listening to the announcer list details and stats of the
missing man, she prayed she remembered them correctly.
When
the water turned off in the bathroom, she hurried to the door, and knocked.
“Hey, we’ve got something!”
No
response.
Too
keyed up to sit, she paced across the room. Finally, she’d be able to do
something for the missing man. She had more proof she wasn’t crazy. Soon, she
could enjoy the holiday as she’d planned.
The
bathroom door flew open. “What is it?”
When
she pivoted by the round table, she jolted to a stop. Her jaw dropped. Colin
stood in the hallway with only a white towel wrapped around his trim waist.
She’d
expected him to be fit since he was a professional bodyguard, but all the
visions in her head could not compare to the real sight. Not quite a six-pack
of abs, but damn close. A thin layer of hair coated his chest, with the
majority of it under his belly button and leading to—
“Joanna.”
She
blinked her way back to the present. “On TV. It’s the victim from the train.
He’s missing.” As she scrambled across the mattress to grab the remote, he
walked toward the foot of the bed. She focused on switching the channel to
another news show.
He
propped his hands on his hips—which loosened the towel.
Taryn Kincaid’s Frost
“I’m
Maxwell Raines.”
Yeah. No kidding. Who else could a guy so hot, so studly, possibly be?
She
told herself not to swoon. Ordered herself not to swoon. But, Goddess, that
rumbling voice. More potent than a train barreling over the tracks. And he
smelled so good. Sinfully masculine. A bit of musk, a bite of pine, an essence
of dark, smoky nights. Sexy scents. Reminiscent of tangled satin sheets that
had been given a good work-out.
Her
legs turned to rubber, and she doubted they’d support her on their own. She’d
be mortified if he’d have to scrape her puddled body up again. But he hadn’t
yet relaxed his grip. Could she bullshit her way through the meeting without
collapsing? “You’re late,” she said.
“I’m
never late.”
Taryn Kincaid’s Blizzard
Mandy
glanced up, startled by the deep, rumbling baritone that echoed loudly in the
fairly quiet building. And even more startled by the tall, gorgeous hunk of
manhood bundled into a down parka standing next to her table.
I
could totally jump him. Right here. Right now.
From
nowhere, steamy erotic images of what she wanted to do with the man leaped
unbidden into her head. Beneath her sweater, her breasts swelled, her nipples
hardening with need. She’d never felt such instant attraction to anyone, such a
frantic desire to get naked and get fucked.
Eva Lefoy’s Steal My Heart
The
figure reclined in the tub was a woman. A naked
woman. His balls contracted automatically. His gaze took in her long blonde
hair, the wine bottle, and the pile of black clothes. He couldn’t see her feet,
but he’d bet money those skis were her size. She appeared to have fallen
asleep. He ventured onto the patio and cleared his throat. “Excuse me.”
She
thrashed awake, sending water over the tub’s lip. “Wha-what?” She caught sight
of him and blanched. “Who are you?”
He
shrugged a shoulder. “Just the owner. I live here.”
Her
jaw fell open. “You do?” She seemed to look him over anew. “I mean, you do? Wow.” She shook her head. “That
doesn’t make sense.”
He
walked a few steps forward and grabbed the wine bottle off the deck. “It helps
if you read the name on the mailbox.”
Her
eyes flashed fear and she jumped out. “Don’t come any closer. I’m armed. I’ll …
I’ll…”
He
watched her glance desperately around looking for a weapon. “Hit me with a ski
pole?” He smiled and pointed at the scar on his head she probably couldn’t see.
“Already happened. And besides, you left them in the mudroom.” He took a look
at the bottle in his hand. Woods Riesling 2008. A tasty vintage. She had good
taste as well as good sense. Except for the breaking and entering. Because she
was now standing on the edge of his hot tub completely naked, steam rising off
her moist skin, trying to cover her breasts with her arms and crossing her legs
in an attempt to conceal her pussy. His cock went harder than a frozen steak…
Emily Cale’s Two is Twice as Nice
"Why are you
sitting so far away from me?" He patted the space on the couch between
them. "I know you have a wonderfully large couch, but I was kind of hoping
you would at least sit close enough for me to put my arm around you."
The lump in her throat
kept her from speaking; instead, she slid down the couch to his open arm. As
soon as she was near him, he pulled her toward him. The heat from his body
engulfed her, running through her veins until every inch of her skin tingled.
Between his fingers
dancing over her knee and the sensation of his hip pressing against hers, it
took every bit of effort she could muster to pretend to be watching the movie,
let alone actually know what was going on. Leaning forward, she placed her mug
down on the coffee table. The alcohol in it had sufficiently warmed her
insides, and she was afraid if she kept drinking, her judgment might be
compromised. Of course, one look at his dimples and her sanity would leave her,
and a little impaired reaction would lead to a morning of regret.
All right! So, are you
interested in finding out more about any of these hot, hot books? Or all of
them? Leave us a comment (with your email address) and you’ll be in the running
for one of our awesome SIX prizes! We will be choosing 1 winner from each day
of the blog hop and the person who comments the most during the blog hop will
also win a prize! AND….if you want to see what else we’re up to or to leave
comments on other days, here’s the list of our locations for this blog hop:
Winners
will be announced in the comment section after midnight EST on Sunday 7/28.
Well,
folks, today’s the day. I finally have
my first full-length novel out on Amazon.com, for sale in paperback format and
I am happy dancing across the pasture!
For those of you who have electronic readers, I will be working on making
it available in the electronic formats and will let you know as soon as those
are available. It will probably be mid
to late August for those, as I am scheduled to be out of town for a conference
in early August and I am frantically trying to get ready for that. I’m hoping for another photo-op with a cover
model. Oh yeah! (Did I say that out loud?)
That’s
my story, fantastic and fantabulous, and I’m stickin’ to it. Hang on tight now ‘cuz we’re gonna go real,
real fast!
