My love affair with California began at the tender age of fifteen and continues today, three decades later. So it should come as no surprise that the book of my heart, which somehow turned into a trilogy, is set there.
Maybe it was the indescribable thrill of a Midwestern girl seeing the ocean for the first time (we have a lake in Chicago, but it's not the same). Or the sight of unapologetically bronzed coeds with movie-star teeth driving silver metallic convertibles and playing volleyball in the sand. Perhaps the towering palm trees swaying against the impossibly blue sky? But that was in Southern Cal; my Chances trilogy takes place in Lake Tahoe and San Francisco, hundreds of miles north.
I was an unassuming only child of the 70's, growing up in a place where a short, precious summer turned into a long, cold winter seemingly overnight. What else was I to do but read (thanks, Carolyn Keene)?
In high school, I often opted for the city bus because it stopped in front of the library. Just a branch, mind you, but they had loads of paperback books. And no matter the inventory du jour, I was drawn to the revolving wire rack of romance novels. Harlequin Presents, Danielle Steel and later on, Nora Roberts.
The books took me to places all over the world where effortlessly beautiful, long-suffering heroines were swept off their feet by irresistible, chivalrous heroes. I preferred the books to the afternoon soaps because I could imagine the characters in my mind’s eye. And if I found the ending disappointing or abrupt, I would simply continue the story in my head.
Writing such ideas down, however, took another thirty years.
In the interim, I went to college and met my own prince charming. And he took me to San Francisco on our honeymoon.
And, as cliché as it sounds, that’s where I left my heart. Well, part of it anyway. Because eight years and two babies later, he took me to Lake Tahoe for the very first time.
And my frisson with California moved even farther north.
I hope my books will take you there. And you’ll leave a little piece of yours behind too.
EXCERPT
They exchanged a look of
portentous understanding. Then Brian rolled on top of her, seamlessly moving his
body into hers. Positioning himself between her legs, he framed her face with
his arms and in a voice as thick as honey, confided, “I’ve waited sixteen
months to make love to you again. I can’t wait much longer,” he
gallanted.
Second Chance
Available from Red Sage Publishing
Lindsay Foster has convinced herself that marrying
Paul Webster is the right thing to do. But she and Brian Rembrandt have some
unfinished business. And Brian never met a rule, or a woman, that couldn't be
broken. So when Lindsay won't come to him, he goes to her. But even he is no
match for what happens next.
EXCERPT
“You missed your flight.”
Lindsay’s
hand froze on the brushed nickel door handle and after counting to five to
collect herself, she remarked neatly, “I left you a message.”
The hand
attached to the voice gripped her arm and swung her around. “Your message
thanked me for the flowers. It said nothing about the flight. Or the
weekend.”
The steel
blue eyes staring back at her were as cold as the choppy gray peaks pummeling
the shore. “I thought you understood. I couldn’t come.”
“You said
you’d think about it.”
“And I
did,” she attested, lifting her chin. “I decided it wasn’t a good
idea.”
“I
disagree.” Brian braced his hands on the door jam, trapping her between his
arms, and spoke in a low growl. “Do you know how hard it was for me to get a
flight to Reno on a Friday afternoon in July?”
She
sucked a breath. “No.”
“I had to
buy my way on or wait until morning. Luckily, I found an entrepreneurial minded
college kid who likes to drive.” Hedging her in, he paused for a moment and then
asked, “Do you know why I did that?”
Knowing
he didn’t expect an answer, Lindsay merely gulped.
“Because
I was already at the airport,” he continued satirically “And,” he slanted
his
mouth over hers, “I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to
do this.”
Breath
hitching, he crushed his lips to hers. They were white-hot. Burning as intensely
as the fire he’d stirred within her. Resisting glimmered, dulled, then
dissipated in her mind. Instead her arms linked his neck and she melted into the
heat. He tasted rugged, felt rough, like the end of a long day. Their mouths
collided, parted, rejoined, until they found that familiar crescendo and began
the climb. The flame caught, flickered, combusted, as Brian’s tongue snarled
with hers and his hands combed her back. And then a flare began to kindle in
another chasm, deep within her.
Even
through the denim, Brian was rising to meet it, fill it. Rigid against her, he
released her mouth and buried his face in her hair. “When I told you I wasn’t
giving up so easily this time, I meant it.” He stepped out of her embrace and
taking her hands in his, demanded, “Should I leave?”
His eyes
had softened to make room for his heart, she realized. And she could deny hers
no longer. Throat swelling, she shook her head from side to side.
The
corners of Brian’s mouth curved, but his expression remained tight. “Then we
need to get something straight. If I come in, I’m going to stay,” he informed
her in a disturbingly reasonable tone of voice. “And if I stay, I’m going to
make love to you all night long.”
She
should tell him to go. Ignore the ripples in her stomach, the way her heart
was
chasing them. Instead she surrendered to them.
“Promise?”
He pushed
away the windblown tendrils that had fallen into her face. “Promise.”
Pine
cones screeched across the asphalt and winter’s forgotten leaves danced on the
grass as he opened the door and led her up the stairs. No words were necessary;
he knew the way. To her bed, her heart, her soul.
Telling
rain began beating against the roof as he laid her on the soft down. Sitting
next to her, he swept his fingertips across her lips. “I’ve never wanted anyone
the way I want you,” he avowed with a kiss. “Even you.”
Pulse
leaping to join his, she ordered in a husky voice, “Show
me.”
She lifted her
arms to his neck and skimmed her lips across his. “Who’s asking you
to?” She’d
lain in bed many a night dreaming about this. Remembering the way her head bowed
back as Brian kneaded her breasts with his sure hands. The way her gut coiled
into a spool of yen when his tongue did laps down her abdomen to her bellybutton
and back again. The way the euphoric swooning in her head became a creamy deluge
between her thighs.
He
reacquainted himself with her curves as he inched her jeans down. Holding their
weighted stare, he knelt above her, unbuttoning his tailored shirt from the top
as she worked from the bottom. When their hands met, he stilled hers on this
virility.
“Ooh,”
she growled blissfully. He was as hard as she was wet. And she couldn’t wait
until his billowing cock was between her legs.
Unbuckling his belt, he kicked off his
jeans. Fully aroused, he glided all that separated them over her hips and
crawled back to her. His seeping erection nudged at her as he scooped her dewy
triangle. Every cell in her body was on high alert now, in anticipation of what
was to come. She spread her legs in wholehearted invitation.
She
whimpered when he found her moist creases. His fingers knew each tuck, each
fold, each pleat of her center. His thumb settled on the fleshy nub at her core
and he began to coddle her. She trembled, purred, pleaded, until finally he
plunged into her saturated reservoir. His fingers thrust in and out as she
squirmed beneath him, digging her nails into his back as her sharp, short gasps
of baiting pleasure filled the air.
But that
was nothing compared to the drone that escaped Brian’s throat when he entered
her. She tightened around him, dripping as he grew inside her, grinding against
him as he rode her. She lifted her buttocks and brought him deeper still,
raising her hips to increase the friction, pushing him farther into her as his
abdomen sailed over hers. Lindsay could count her stable of lovers on one hand,
and Brian was by far the best of the bunch, she recalled as the tip of him
pounded the remotest part of her. The orgasm built, retreated, then roared back
in full force. It ripped through her with such wielding power that she howled
once, then again and begged for more.
And just
before Brian filled her, he obliged.
My e-book trilogy of contemporary, erotic romances releases on September 1 (Second Chance), October 1 (Chance Encounter) and November 1 (Last Chance) from Red Sage Publishing. Second Chance, the trilogy opener, is a reunion/love triangle romance that keeps the shores of Lake Tahoe blazing hot long after the summer sun has set. Chance Encounter, the trilogy's second installment, heats up San Francisco’s chilly autumn days with white-hot passion and pulse-pounding suspense. And in Last Chance, the conclusion of the trilogy, the snow-packed Sierras melt into lust-fueled puddles despite the single-digit temperatures of the Northern California winter. Please visit at my web site for excerpts, reviews and more.
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