Welcome to the Romance and Erotica Reader Appreciation Giveaway!
We’re so glad you stopped by! A lot of great authors are giving away a HUGE Amazon Gift Card to one lucky Romance and/or Erotica reading fan! (Yes, we check, and only true romance book worms qualify to win! But there WILL be a winner, which will be publicly announced in the Facebook Party
HERE on December 2nd!
Here are a couple of sneak peeks from the EPIC Romance and Erotica Group with Rebecca Hamilton!
Tempt Me Too - by Stacy Eaton
I stared into the eyes that had haunted my memories for years and
pulled away before we made a spectacle of ourselves. There was no doubt
in my mind that Sara was feeling everything as strongly as I was.
“Dance with me, Sara.” I threaded my fingers through hers and pulled her onto the empty dance floor.
A few moments after we began to dance, two more couples joined us, but I
only had eyes for Sara as I moved her slowly around the room, fighting
every second not to pull her body fully against mine.
“I can’t believe after all this time, we meet again,” I murmured.
“It seems like a dream, doesn’t it?” she said lightly, and a whisper of her breath fanned over my ear.
“A dream that has been reoccurring for way too many years.” I glanced
away for a second before I said something I shouldn’t. “I’m so sorry
about your husband, Sara.”
Her smile was sad, but her eyes
remained bright. “Thank you.” She glanced around the room, “He did an
amazing job here. If I hadn’t known who did the design, I would have
been able to guess.”
I scanned around us. “Why is that? Do all his designs look like this?”
She chuckled delicately, “No, but the design and the colors are so
similar to our house. It was like he built this to reflect our home.”
I pursed my lips and examined the space again. “Really? That’s interesting that he would do that.”
She shrugged her small shoulders, “Maybe he felt they would give the business the feel of family and security.”
“That’s kind of what I felt when I first saw it. He was a very talented man.”
She dropped her chin, “Yes, he was.” She stiffened in my arms for a
moment before her head popped back up. “Max, I need to ask you a
question.”
“Sure, anything,” I replied, interested to know what would make her tense and become so serious so quickly.
“Are you married?” she blurted.
I
choked out a brief laugh. “Well, legally, yes, but we have been
separated for almost a year, living apart, and she’s been refusing to
sign the divorce papers.” She chewed on her bottom lip as I answered.
“Is that a problem?”
“What? No, I just didn’t want,” she paused
and looked around the room as if searching for something, “I don’t know.
I guess I just needed to know if you were single.”
“Because,” I tipped her chin up with two fingers under the soft skin, “you want me to be single?”
Her eyes went to my lips for a moment, and I knew she wanted to kiss me
as much as I wanted her to kiss me, but this was not the place.
Before she could answer, her daughter ran up to her and pulled her arm.
“Mom, Alexis has been in an accident! She’s at the hospital."
Conflicted by Abbie St. Clair
“I’m not an idiot, Chelsie. I was outside in the hallway and heard
the nurse order a pregnancy test on room number nineteen. You’re in room
nineteen.” He paused and pointed to the board where it said “HCG HOLD”
in big red letters. “This means they need to confirm you’re not pregnant
before they’ll do a surgery. Why didn’t you tell me? I have every right
to know.”
Everyone in the surgery wing had a right to know, I supposed, by the way his voice was so angry and loud. My body vibrated.
I
sat up straight in bed. “Because I’m not pregnant. I haven’t had a
period in a couple of months, but we were careful, and my tests were
negative. You’ll see you’re overreacting.”
The color had drained
from his tanned skin. If he hadn’t taken a seat quickly, I felt certain
he would’ve fainted. He rolled over to me on the small medical stool.
His reaction told me he wasn’t happy about the possibilities. It was a
bit unsettling to me, but I wasn’t going to publicly deal with his
emotions—I had my own.
I watched as one-by-one he chewed the
cuticles on his nails. It was something I’d never seen him do before.
Right then, I realized he wasn’t ready for what we’d been doing.
His actions diminished the way I felt about him.
While
a baby would’ve meant a miracle in my life, I already had one child
who’s father rarely offered to complete the circle of life with our son
and be the mentor he needed. I didn’t want that for another child,
regardless of my private longing to fill my empty wound and heal the
hole in my heart.
His nostrils flared. “How could you let this happen?”
He was putting the blame on me?
“Wow, you’re commitment to me lasted all of five minutes.”
He refused to make eye contact.
“Ian,
you’re a doctor and you’re asking me that question? You know, I don’t
need this right now. I crave a man that’s willing to stand tall with me
and be on the same page about us and life and—embrace everything. Since
you’re obviously not capable of doing that, you need to get out. Please,
just get out of my room and get out of my life.” My arms flung about in
the air like a peacock frilling her feathers, almost ripping the IV
needle from my vein. “I need someone who supports me in all endeavors,
not blames me the minute the first hiccup comes along. All you’ve done
is turn my world upside down.”
He didn’t move.
“I said, GET. OUT.” I left no question about the rest of the department hearing my command.
Ian’s shoulders dropped, but he offered up not a single defense for himself.
When he left, I couldn’t decide if his departure made me feel better or worse, but I was grateful
Shawna was still by my side.
Sweetest Mistake by Amy Olle
Luke bared his teeth. “You don’t like me.”
Emily
shrugged her dainty shoulders and took a diminutive sip of her drink. A
kiss of moisture remained on her small mouth when she returned the
glass to the table.
“Everyone likes me,” he felt compelled to point out.
Her snort of disbelief rankled. “Because y-you’re so modest, no doubt.”
That
was it. Time to hit the reset button on this debacle and return things
to the way they were before she showed him every delicious inch of her
naked body.
He eased back in the booth and folded his arms over
his abdomen. “Ah, I get it. There’s something wrong with you, isn’t
there? A personality disorder, maybe?”
A lick of fire flared in her eyes.
An answering spark shot to his groin.
“It
is odd, I’ll admit,” she said. “I mean, w-why w-would I dislike the cop
who, w-with zero evidence and even less reason to be suspicious, has
accused me of an array of grievous crimes ranging from distracted
driving to frowning?”
“Are you still mad about that? I apologized, didn’t I?”
“I’m sure you were just doing your job to the best of y-your abilities.”
“That’s right,” he said. “It’s hard, thankless work keeping the streets of Thief Island free from thugs and hoodlums.”
“Is it hard work keeping track of all the w-women you accuse of felony frowning?”
He wanted to kiss her.
“Don’t be silly. Lack of respect shown to a public servant isn’t a felony. Tactless and repugnant, maybe, but not a felony.”
She sighed. “Experienced as y-you are with moral corruption, I trust you’re right.”
From
across the table, his brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law watched the
exchange with wide eyes, their heads volleying like spectators at a
sporting event.
Luke tilted his pint and downed the last drop of
Guinness. He pushed to his feet. “Speaking of moral corruption, I need
to talk to our brother about his children.”
Noah straightened. “What about them?”
“Their obsession with My Little Pony has gotten out of hand. It’s time for an intervention.”
Noah
laughed and Luke clapped him on the shoulder. “Congratulations again,
you two. Let me know the details when you have them.” Then, with an
exaggerated snap of his fingers, he swiveled toward Emily. “Oh, I almost
forgot.”
She regarded him with dark mistrust. Smart girl.
He
let loose with the smile that whipped color into her cheeks. “I have
your panties with me. Would you like them back now or shall I hold on to
them for later?”
She choked on the chip she’d just popped into her kissable mouth.
“You were in such a hurry to get dressed, you must’ve forgotten all about them.”
Her mouth moved with little pinches and odd twitches while she struggled to find and form words. Insults she wished to hurl at him, most likely.
Except she didn’t.
In
a flash of movement, she bounded from the booth. He shifted his weight
to block her retreat and startled Tootsie Pop-brown eyes flew to his
face.
He braced for her retribution. Would it be a cool dressing-down or a fiery tongue-lashing? He hoped the latter.
Instead, her expression crumpled and she shoved her way past him.
Disappointment sliced through him. He turned in the direction she fled.
“Hey.”
Luke looked down at Noah’s hand clamped on his arm.
“Are you two going to be able to play nice?” Worry shimmered in Noah’s dark eyes.
“No worries, brother.” A smile twisted Luke’s lips. “I always play nice.”
