Title: Reddest Black
Series: In the Shadows #7
Author: P.T. Michelle
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 24, 2017
Passion, betrayal, and heartache collide in an emotionally charged and dangerous chain of events that could unravel everything Sebastian and Talia have worked to overcome.
While looking forward to a bright future with the upcoming birth of their child, and navigating the often humorous and overbearingly protective aspects of approaching parenthood, Mister Black and Little Red manage to strengthen their passionate connection.
But connections can be severed in the most insidious ways, and the power couple must learn to trust each otherâs instincts if they hope to uncover the threat determined to destroy their family.
Authorâs Note: REDDEST BLACK can be read as a standalone story, but for the richest reading experience you can always start with the first book, MISTER BLACK, to see how Sebastian and Taliaâs epic love story began.
Books in the IN THE SHADOWS series: Mister Black (1) (Sebastian & Talia Part 1, Novella) Scarlett Red (2) (Sebastian & Talia Part 2, Novel) Blackest Red (3) (Sebastian & Talia Part 3, Novel) Gold Shimmer (4) (Cass & Calder Part 1, Novel) Steel Rush (5) (Cass & Calder Part 2, Novel) Black Platinum (6) (Sebastian & Talia, Novel) Reddest Black (7) (Sebastian & Talia, Novel)
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Author Bio
P.T. Michelle is the NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and International Bestselling author of the contemporary romance series IN THE SHADOWS (aka MISTER BLACK), the YA/New Adult crossover series BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS, and the romance series: BAD IN BOOTS, KENDRIAN VAMPIRES and SCIONS (listed under Patrice Michelle). She keeps a spiral notepad with her at all times, even on her nightstand. When P.T. isnât writing, she can usually be found reading or taking pictures of landscapes, sunsets and anything beautiful or odd in nature.
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Title: The Vault: Volume One
A Sinfully Sexy Collection
Authors: Various
Genre: Romance Anthology
Release Date: October 17, 2017
Alpha males. Dirty talkers. Bad boys. Bikers. Detectives. Mobsters. Dominant. Billionaires. Irresistible men next door. Whatever kind of man makes your pulse pound and panties wet, heâs waiting inside.
This collection of twenty-two new romance novellas is sure to heat up your days and steam up your nights. When you venture inside The Vault, you never know what you'll find. Come inside ... if you dare.
Sweet.
Devilish.
Dangerous.
Romantic.
Raw.
Funny.
Dark.
Powerful.
Unforgettable.
See what awaits you inside The Vault. Titles A.D. Justice - Warning A.M. Hargrove - For The Love of My Sexy Geek Aleatha Romig - Unconventional C.A. Harms - Raw Gina Whitney - Stilettos and Broken Bottles Hilary Storm - Ridinâ Dirty Kate Benson - Redemption
Katherine Rhodes - Innuendo
Kathy Coopmans - Parole Katie Ashley - The Plan Liv Morris - Sweet Seconds M.C. Cerny - Declan's Demand M. Stratton - In His Arms Michelle Dare - Uncuffed MJ Fields - Terzetto Nina Levine - Risk S. Moose - Adjusting the Deal S.D. Hildreth - Mister Prick T.K. Leigh - Inferno Terri E. Laine - Honey Tia Louise - Sundown Toni Aleo - Not The One Purchase Links $2.99 for a limited time AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU B&N / KOBO / iBOOKS HARDBACK AMAZON / B&N Contributing Authors A.D. Justice A.M. Hargrove Aleatha Romig C.A. Harms Gina Whitney Hilary Storm Kate Benson Katherine Rhodes Kathy Coopmans Katie Ashley Liv Morris M.C. Cerny M. Stratton Michelle Dare MJ Fields Nina Levine S. Moose S.D. Hildreth T.K. Leigh Terri E. Laine Tia Louise Toni Aleo The Vault Links WEBSITE FACEBOOK PAGE FACEBOOK GROUP
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Title: Finding Our Course
Author: Ahren Sanders
Genre: New Adult/Military/Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 23, 2017
I fell in love with my brother's best friend the first time I laid eyes on him. He walked through the door, flashing me a crooked smile with his blue eyes shining bright. I knew in that instant, he was the man of my dreams. As the years went on, my feelings grew stronger, waiting for the day he'd see me as more. "Devon Harris, when you turn eighteen, I hope to God you still feel this way." Bryce whispered sweetly, hugging me close. "I will." I vowed, knowing this was a promise I'd keep. Then the unthinkable happened. Bryce shattered my heart into a million pieces, leaving me devastated beyond repair. I took the only choice I had, leaving behind my dreams of him and any chance at a future together. Time and distance did little to heal my heartache, but I forced myself to move on. Right when my life starts to make sense, Bryce returns. I tell him it's too late, but he's determined to prove me wrong. Together, we're thrust into a world of undying passion, unrelenting devotion, and promises of a future worth fighting for. But life has a way of threatening even the most solid foundation and our bonds are tested. We find ourselves facing obstacles and decisions that change the course of our lives-forever. Can we really have it all? For the first time ever you can read the epic love story of Bryce and Devon in one edition. Finding Our Course, the Collision Course Duet was previously published in two separate books, Finding our Way and Staying on Course.
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Author Bio
Ahren spent her formative years living in an active volcano. There her family made collectible lava art. She studied rock collecting at the Sorbonne in France. There she met the love of her life-her pet pig Sybil. She returned to the states and started writing. She is happily married to a guy who used to live under a bridge and she met while pole-dancing.
Now, meet the real me. I grew up in the south and consider myself a true âSouthernerâ. Most of the special locations mentioned in my books are reflections of my favorite places. Living on the Florida coast, my family spends a lot time at the beach which is where I usually can be found with a book in my hand.
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Title: Fervent
Author: Claudia Burgoa
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 27, 2017
As a former Army Ranger who works for a high intelligence, private security company, Iâve seen my fair share of death, betrayal, and pain.
Iâve lived them.
I trust no one, only my brothers, and my best friend.
I wasnât always like that. Everything changed the day my parents died and my nation was attacked.
Since then, family comes first. Work is my mistress.
Nothing else matters.
That is, until she walked into my life.
Short dress, long, tanned legs, and honey eyes that make me weak.
Sheâs chaos.
Sheâs sunshine and daffodils.
Sheâs loud.
Sheâs a fighter.
Sheâs a dreamer.
Sheâs everything I hate.
Why is it so hard to walk away from her?
$1.99 for a limited time AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU B&N / KOBO / iBOOKS
Excerpt
Stretched t-shirt, dry blood and badass attitude looked good on him. Thatâs nothing compared to Harrison Everhart wearing a suit. His tall, broad, body wrapped in a dark gray is a site I want to photograph, frame and stare at it forever. Heâs the type of man who behaves differently depending on the place and time. For the past five hours, we chatted pleasantly about our families. Nothing too superficial but nothing too intimate, either. If I had time to date, heâd be the kind of man Iâd choose. Easy to talk to, funny, and a gentleman.
A refreshing touch from the guys who I hook up with when I have time to go out with my friends. Which lately itâs been never. Maybe I have time, but I donât want to waste it by doing the same thing over and over again. Meeting a guy who has little social skills, only talks about himself, and by the end of the date is the only one who is satisfied isnât great. I have my little friendly toys that to do a better job and I donât have to listen to nonsense.
This would be a great subject for a sociology class; the interactions between humans, and how out of touch they are with one another that dating has become a joke. What happened to love letters? The chase is so much different now than it was back when my parents dated. I should quit the Bureau and go back to school. Finish my psychology degree, go into anthropology or sociology. I would enjoy doing that more than having to jump through hoops to show that Iâm capable of more things than my superiors like to acknowledge. If anything, I can write a book with Momâs letters and notes.
A manual on how itâs done.
âEverything okay?â Harrison asks when the service car stops, and the driver opens my door. âYouâve been quiet since we left the party.â
Define okay? My skin tingles every time you touch me. Your deep voice makes me shiver, and dancing in your arms was a bit torturous because everything inside me wanted you to touch more than my bare shoulders and my waist. But yeah, Iâm cool.
âYour brother and Hazel never arrived at the party,â I comment, not disclosing that Iâd like to find out how my fake future boyfriend kisses. âGia wasnât there either.â
âIâm sorry about that. If you want, I can try to find out her whereabouts. My people can hack her phone and track her daily activities. He smirks and winks. âWe can start stalking her.â
âStalking?â I boom, laughing and covering my mouth when a couple walking close to us turns to glare at me.
âYeah, thatâs the word and you know what they say, âcouples that stalk together stay together.ââ He grins, his blue-crystal eyes shining with the post light.
That grin is addictive. I shouldnât mind pretending to be with him while Iâm working. A little fun on the side, some sexy times. Sex. I havenât had that in a long time. So long that I can only remember what my toys can do for me. But I care. Heâs a distraction. Each time he smirks, touches me or talks with the low-bedroom voice I want to jump him. Thatâs not only unprofessional but also illogical.
âAnything for the sake of the case, right?â My voice comes out a little throaty, needy.
He clears his throat, looking around and poking the elevator. âWe should do this again,â he says, leaning closer to me.
âTechnically, we have to do it again.â
Have I mentioned this is the best case Iâve ever worked on in my entire life.â He leans forward, kissing my cheek. His lips lingering close to my ear for one too many seconds. His musk-wood scent making my stomach flutter.
âThank you,â I swallow hard, turning around and stepping into the elevator. âWe can discuss our next move tomorrow.â
I poke the elevator, looking at the doors that start closing his gaze locks with mine. His eyes darken, the intensity of that gaze makes me feel vulnerable, bare. I imagine my skin searing with the touch of his big hands. As the doors close, my phone rings. An incoming message. Unknown number reads the screen.
Unknown: This was the best first date Iâve had in a long time. Thank you.
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Author Bio
Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a caffeine-injected soap opera.
She lives in Colorado working for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, her geek husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks heâs the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.
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When Dawn Breaks Life is hard. I’ve gotten used to it over the years—come to expect it really. So when fate hands me yet another big f*ck you, I’m not even a little bit surprised. Why should I be? I mean, after everything I’ve been through, why not throw my best friend’s ex-boyfriend into the mix and see how royally I can screw this up too. It doesn’t matter that he loved her first. When Dawn Breaks is a standalone Contemporary Romance. Author Bio: Melissa Toppen is a Reader's Choice Award Winning and Bestselling Romance Author of New Adult, Contemporary, Erotic and Romantic Suspense. She is a lover of books and enjoys nothing more than losing herself in a good novel. She has a soft spot for Romance and focuses her writing in that direction; writing what she loves to read.
Title: Craving Sugar
Author: Elena M. Reyes
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic Romance
Release Date: October 27, 2017
Earn extra cash by becoming a high-class companion.
Travel, eat, and have your every expense taken care of.
The catch: Iâll be someoneâs sugar baby for a year. Paid to be a private escort.
Beau Carter is young and beautiful with a bright future ahead of her. Her dreams of becoming the first woman in her family to graduate from college are just within her grasp, when the financial aid runs out. Up to her eyeballs in debt, she works night and day to make ends meet, but even that can only last for so long.
Hendrix Parker lost it all four years ago. Angry at the world, heâs become an assholeâa bitter shell of the man his family once loved. A recluse, he is now forced to leave his sanctuary in the Florida Keys and become an active member of the real estate developer community he now dominates.
Problem isâheâs all alone and needs a buffer. Someone to draw attention away from him.
âI bought you to be my whore.â
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Excerpt
ONE
Hendrix âIâm not hiring a whore,â I all but snarled, pissed at the idiot in front of me. I was tired and stressed; lacked the basic urge to be an understanding individual,
much less give the asshole in front of me the benefit of doubt.
Jax, my closest friend since college, had caught me off guardâsomething that never happened these days.
Nothing surprised me anymore, not since that night four years ago. The night my entire world stopped.
Fuck. Focus on the here and now.
âWhy?â he asked, bringing me away from that dark path filled with memoriesâmoments frozen in time that never failed to haunt me. âAnswer me.â
The jerk sounded amusedâa pit bull with a bone. He wasnât going to let it go.
Rubbing a hand down my face, I bit back a tired groan. âNo.â
Of all the moronic crap he could have spewed, I had not been expecting this; for me to hire someone to play the role of my girlfriend for the next few months.
âThink about it, Hendrix. Itâs legal, safe...â he ticked each reason off with his fingers â...and, she must sign an NDA to enter into this kind of an agreement. No one will know.â
Slamming back the shot of whiskey in my glass, I leveled him with a glare. âGet the fuck out.â
âSpeak up, man. Your staff went home.â Holding his now-empty tumbler out in front of him, he twirled the glass atop my desk. âThereâs no one here to judge you. That prim and proper act you put on can be turned off.â
âIs all this a joke to you?â I hissed out from between clenched teeth. âAm I your amusement for the evening?â
âCome off it, Parker. I came here to see the asshole I know, my friend, not this...â he waved his hand absentmindedly in my direction. âTo be honest, I donât even know who you are anymore.â
âThen leave.â
âNo. Enough with the hiding. Emptinessââ
I slammed my hand down; the cup of pens close to me tipped over from the impact. âDonât go there, Jax. Just get up and walk out. Quit pushing.â
âJesus, man, what the hell is holding you back? A memory? Ghost?â
âEnough.â
âDammit, Hendrix.â He pushed his chair back and stood to pace the length of my office. Ran a hand roughly through his blonde hair in agitation. âThis...â he pointed a finger between us â... is an intervention. Youâre young, successful, richâown the real estate game in South Florida. Known as an asshole, a shark in the business arena, and thatâs gained you quite a desired reputation.â Stopping by the window on the far right, Jax turned and glared. âYou have that whole tall, dark, and handsome shit going on with your over six-foot-two stature and brooding charm. People respect you, but fuck, man, thatâs not enough when youâve forgotten what itâs like to live.â
âIâm content enough.â
Jax scoffed at my response, his hands placed on the window ledge in front of him. âContent is the equivalent of blah. My friend, you need to rediscover the feel of a woman beneath you. The passion. The heat between her legs.â
Ignoring his spiel, I shut my laptop off and stored it. âStill a no on hiring someone just to appease you.â
No matter how desperate I was to pull the pressure off my persona.
No matter how long itâd been since I dipped my dick into something tight...wet.
Smirk firmly in place, he walked back over and grabbed the bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label on my desk. âPrude much, Parker?â He poured himself another fifth and then sipped slowly, all the while studying me with a cocked brow. âAnd I never once mentioned hiring a whore.â
Pushing my glass toward him, I sat back. âWhatâs the difference? Both are paid to keep you company.â
âSugar babies are where itâs at, my friend. A mutual exchange of benefits.â
âAnswer me this...â Jax nodded â...is money exchanged?â
âIt can be ifââ
Holding a hand up, I halted his pathetic excuse. âAnd you donât call that prostitution?â
âWould you say my girlfriend Crystal is a prostitute?â What would the young woman I met on his boat a few weeks back have to do with anything? âThat sheâs easy and out to make a quick buck?â
The hell?
âSheâs...?â I asked, because Jesus. Was this man really sitting here in my office telling me he had a live-in play toy? That he bought her? âWhat kind of barbaric shit is this? How could you do that? What if word gets out, you idiot.â
âAnd if it did, so what? Iâm not ashamed of her or us.â His jaw was set tight, and his blue eyes dared me to say anything negative about her. Jax, my easygoing friend, was pissed. Fuming, if the way his hands were clenched was anything to go by.
âI meant no offense to her, but couldnât you meet someone through a more traditional route? Someone who cares about more than just the zeros that decorate your bank balance?â This entire conversation was giving me a headache, and I rubbed my temples. I was too tired to continue trying to make sense of this confession.
âAnd Iâll counter that question with one of my own.â My mouth opened to protest, but he shook his head before taking another sip of whiskey. His eyes were on mine, unwavering. Looking for something. âWouldnât you rather meet someone and know their intentions up front? No games or playing pretend. A mutual and even exchange.â
Headache now pounding, I pushed back my seat as if I were standing to leave. âStill not interestedââ
Not taking the bait, Jax leaned over the table, a mischievous look in his eye. âThen let me paint a better picture for you, Parker.â He was about to drop some knowledge on me, and I knew it. Shouldâve seen it coming for miles. âYou have two months to find a date for the few events honoring your pompous ass this fall. And before you say that youâll decline and hide away on your boat in the Keys, itâs not going to happen. The mayor will not take no for an answer...he and his wife live for these events. To mingle with the rich and arrogant.â
âWould you stop worrying about my life? Iâll be fine.â Absentmindedly, I ran my fingers across my short beard. My mind still reeled from his admission.
Iâd spoken to Crystal that day and was impressed. In school, and working toward her masterâs in psychology, she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.
Didnât hurt one bit that the body attached to the head was downright sexy.
His laughter pulled my attention away from the memory of the tiny auburn-haired beauty in a bikini. âAdmit it, Hendrix, youâre curious.â Tone smug, he had a gloating gleam in his eye.
âNot in the least.â
âSo, if I informed you that the account was already made and you have some hits, you wouldnât care? I should just shut everything down?â
My fists clenched in anger. âAre you serious? Do you have any idea what that could do to my reputationââ
âLet me stop you right there.â Holding out a hand toward me, Jax dug into his laptop bag on the chair beside him. From inside he pulled out a plain manila folder and pushed it across toward me. âThis is all the information youâll need: contract, company NDA that I signed for you, health screening information, and what youâll need to submit. Read it. Sleep on it. Check out the website and the girlsâ files available for possible match.â
âI donât have time for this.â
âToo late. Itâs already done.â
Elena M. Reyes was born and raised in Miami Florida. She is the epitome of a Floridian and if she could live in her beloved flip-flops, she would.
As a small child, she was always intrigued with all forms of artâwhether it was dancing to island rhythms, or painting with any medium she could get her hands on. Her first taste of writing came to her during her fifth grade year when her class was prompted to participate in the D. A. R. E. Program and write an essay on what theyâd learned.
Her passion for reading over the years has amassed her with hours of pleasure. It wasn't until she stumbled upon fanfiction that her thirst to write overtook her world. She now resides in Central Florida with her husband and son, spending all her down time letting her creativity flow and letting her characters grow.
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Title: Author, May I
Author: Aden Lowe Genre: Romance Release: August 29, 2017 Cover Designer: Ashley Wheels Buy Links: (Kindle Unlimited) Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2xxCnoi Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2vJxPJu Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2yon2qH Amazon CA: http://a.co/dWU8AZK
Blurb:
I'm an author. You know, the kind no one ever sees. I never leave my home in the woods. You'll never know who I really am. When a dickhead cover model steps over the line with my assistant, I have no choice. I always protect what's mine, no matter what lines it crosses. So, I cross the biggest line of them all. I bring Johnny Quick to life. He's the ultimate bad boy. He'll stick a knife in your ribs, fuck your wife, and blow your wad at the track, all in the same day. Every woman wants him. Nothing can touch him. Not even the law. He's unstoppable. And he's fiction. Johnny's the star of my bestselling Romance series. Now I need him to do a real job. That's where it all goes to hell. Fiction collides with reality… *Based on real experiences with the book world. **This is a stand alone story, built around depictions of true accounts of happenings within the Indie Author community. It contains violence, crude language, sexual situations, a few cliches, and some stereotypes thrown in for good measure.***
Excerpt
Soft fingers trailed over my arm and down to my hand, where her fingers laced into mine, and held my full attention. "Let's go, baby." Shocked, I didn't resist in the slightest, and followed her right on out of the bar, all thoughts of the waitress gone. Who the fuck knew why a gorgeous chick like her would grab a perfect stranger and lead him out of the bar like that, but hell, I wasn't fighting it. "You know, sugar, all you had to do was ask." She led me into the elevator and waited for the door to close.
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAdenLowe Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/crAlFT Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adenlowe/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8305829.Aden_Lowe Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Aden-Lowe/e/B00MPJCOTO
Title: Hurricane
Series: Heaven Hill Generations #1
Author: Laramie Briscoe
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: October 21, 2017
The Prospect and the President's daughter finally get their HEA.....
Remington "Remy" Sawyer For most of my life I've been the person who lived with the hand he was dealt. Not much in my life have I had a say in. Birthed by parents I don't talk to, I was raised by the only person who ever cared for me - my brother, Cash. Under his guidance, I've become the person I am today. Productive member of society, and patched brother in the Heaven Hill MC. I don't want for anything, other than Tatum Walker. We had a shot, and we both screwed it up......massively. Tatum "Tate" Walker Being the daughter of the President of the Heaven Hill MC is a burden, but one I'll face every day with pride. It's hard for me to know what people like me for. Is it my personality, my looks, or are they trying to get close to the Club? There's one person I've never doubted. Remington Sawyer. A year ago we had one night of almost passion - that ended with me walking away in tears - and him walking away in anger. Some time away from each other has given us perspective. Now, instead of the storm of chaos that was our one attempt at a relationship, we're both ready for calm. And nothing, they say, is as calm - as the eye of a Hurricane.
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Author Bio
Laramie Briscoe is the best-selling author of the Heaven Hill Series & the Rockin' Country Series.
Since self-publishing her first book in May of 2013, Laramie Briscoe has published over 10 books. She's appeared on the Top 100 Bestselling E-books Lists on iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. She's been called "a very young Maya Banks" (Amazon reviewer) and her books have been accused of being "sexy, family-oriented, romances with heart". When she's not writing alpha males who seriously love their women, she loves spending time with friends, reading, and marathoning shows on her DVR. Married to her high school sweetheart, Laramie lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband (the Travel Coordinator) and a sometimes crazy cat named Beau.
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Title: Bad Idea
Series: Bad Idea Series #1
Author: Nicole French
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Raglan Designs
Release Date: November 8, 2017
From the second she saw him, Layla Barros knew Nico Soltero was all wrong. Wrong age. Wrong education. Wrong job. Wrong everything. She had a hard enough time convincing her parents that New York really is the right place for their nineteen-year-old daughter without telling them she's got a thing for the FedEx guy at her new part-time job. Too bad the second she saw him, Layla Barros no longer cared about right and wrong.
Raised with three siblings in Hell's Kitchen by a single-mom, half Puerto-Rican, half Italian Nico Soltero is a quintessential New York mutt who's always had to shoulder the burdens of his family. Burdens which have cost him almost all of his dreams, like going to college or becoming an FDNY firefighter. Now, at twenty-six, he's finally getting the chance to leave the place that's always felt more like a dead weight than the center of the universe. Too bad the city of his birth has one last hard knock to deal: the girl of his dreams, sitting right in the middle of his delivery route, three months before his plane is supposed to take off. As Layla and Nico find out, love isn't always convenient, and it never happens how they planned. The choices that Nico and Layla make now will affect their lives forever. Will they make them together or apart?
Excerpt
Would it be weird if I just kissed her? Yeah, it would be weird. But all of sudden, that's all I can think about doing after this shitty, shitty day.
She gives me a little scowl as she wipes water off her chin, but I can tell she's glad I'm here. She knows it, and I know it. The excitement is written all over both our faces.
âLook what you made me do,â she says in a tone that's more teasing than mad. âA menace, thatâs what you are.â
âAw, Iâm sorry, sweetie. You need some help?â
I don't even wait for her to say yes. I just want to be near her, that's all. Nothing inappropriate. Nothing "improper." Today, I just need to be next to this girl who fucking lights up whenever she see me.
So I drop the dolly and walk around the desk so I'm squatting next to her. I grab another napkin off the desktop, and she stares, mouth slightly open, as I dab at the water drops on her collarbone. There's barely anything, really.
And what a total sham. Nothing improper? This is the definition of improper. But I can't stop dabbing, can't stop pressing the napkin over her dewy skin, wishing to God that it was my fingers or my mouth instead.
The donut-shaped desk encircles us, forces us close together, and now that I'm near enough to smell her, I realize this was a really bad idea. She smells like coconuts and flowers, some exotic mix that goes straight to my head and other parts lower down.
I'm not much for fancy shit. I shower at night after I've been out all day, and I slap on whatever deodorant I bought on sale last time I was at the drugstore. All of a sudden, I glance down, conscious of the way Layla's nipples have hardened through her thin black sweater, conscious of the way my pants are suddenly very tight. She inhales sharply, and I'm extremely aware of the fact that I have been heaving boxes around this city all damn day.
Fuck, I think. She must think I absolutely reek.
Quickly, I stand up and shuffle to the other side of the desk to start unloading and scanning packages. This day. This god damn day. If I just ruined my chances with this girl, I'm going to break my own arm off.
And that's when I realize I actually want a chance with NYU. Layla. I want to go on a date with her. I want to take her out to dinner and hold her hand while we walk around the city. I want to know what kinds of sounds she makes when I kiss her, or maybe even when I do other things to her too.
Fuck. The timing seriously could not be worse. No. I can't do this right now.
âSo, Nico,â she says, pulling me out of my hurricane of doubt. âGot big plans this weekend?â
She's hopeful, all big blue eyes as she leans over on the desk. I exhale. No, I really can't do this with her. So even though I'm dying to make her laugh again, I just shrug and set one of the packages down with a thump.
âNot really," I say. "Working at AJâs, you know. Take it easy on Sunday, maybe go see some art or something.â
âYou like art? Really?â
I look up, no longer needing to pretend I'm annoyed with her. These rich girlsââall the goddamn same. They only see the uniform, the scuffed shoes, the brown skin. They see me and think the only thing I'm good for is watching sports and drinking beer. Don't get me wrong, I like sports and I like beer. But can't I have other interests too?
âI could like art,â I say casually as I scan another package. âWhy does that surprise you? You think the FedEx means Philistine?â
Her rosebud mouth drops open, and I can't quite hide my smirk. That's right, baby. I can use big words too.
Author Bio
Nicole French is an East Coast/West Coast hybrid creature, Springsteen fanatic, hopeless romantic, and complete and total bookworm. When not writing or teaching about writing, she is hanging out with her family, playing soccer with the rest of the thirty-plus crowd in Seattle, or going on dates with her husband. In her spare time, she likes to go running with her dog, Greta, or practice the piano, but never seems to do either one of these things as much as she should.
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Title: Clandestine
Series: The Lancaster Series #1
Author: Ava Harrison
Genre: Contemporary Romance Cover Design: Hang Le Release Date: August 24, 2017
One night.
No names. No commitment. That was our agreement. But Spencer Lancaster was addictive. And I was high. High off his taste, starved for his kiss, and desperate for his touch. So when he asked me to stay, to enjoy his company for more nights than I knew I should, I wasnât in the right mind to say no. Everything was perfect. A dream come true. But half a world away there were secrets. Lies. Insecurities. All of the truths that could tear us apart.
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Title: Sordid
Series: The Lancaster Series #2
Author: Ava Harrison
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Hang Le
Release Date: Winter 2018
Falling for your boss is never a good idea . . .
Especially when he's a Lancaster.
Title: Explicit
Series: The Lancaster Series #3
Author: Ava Harrison
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Hang Le
Release Date: Spring 2018
For a reformed bad girl, there's only one thing worse than a drug . . .
A Lancaster.
Author Bio
Ava Harrison is a New Yorker, born and bred.
When sheâs not journaling her life, you can find her window shopping, cooking dinner for her family, or curled up on her couch reading a book.
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