“I’ll tell you in exchange for something,” I bargain.
Rue squints at me warily.
“What?”
“I’ll tell you where we’re going and what we’re doing, if you give me a kiss.”
I hear Rue’s heartbeat speed up at these words. She might say she wants the omega as her mate, but her body is finely tuned to mine. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips, and I nearly groan at the sight. Her eyes are heavy-lidded, and she’s sending out all the right signals. She just needs to turn off her brain. I see her body war with her mind, and I know the moment her flesh wins. Her lithe frame becomes soft, and she leans in towards me.
“One kiss—that’s all.”
“One kiss,” I promise, leaning over.
“Well, not now!” Rue shrieks. “You’re driving!”
I chuckle at her outrage.
“Okay, when we get there, then.”
Exactly thirty seconds later, I stop the car.
“What are you doing?” she demands.
“We’re here—and I want my kiss.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Backup, buddy! You’re not getting that smooch for free. You tell me where we are right now.”
Rue peers out her window into the night. She hasn’t admitted it, but I know she can’t see anything. I wish she would tell me more about why she’s not like a normal wolf, but trust will come with time. If I want her to confide in me, I need to respect Rue’s boundaries.
“We’re at my grandma’s house,” I finally confess, making her gasp.
“Your grandma’s house?!”
“I told you I was going to feed you homemade tortillas and margaritas. What better place than at my grandma’s where you can meet my family, too.”
“But—but—but—” she splutters, “we could’ve done this back at the mansion!”
“Nah. I only make tortillas and margaritas at my abuela’s. Do you not want to meet them?”
“It’s not that—it’s just this is like tenth date shit, ya know?”
“I’m working with only three and a half days, so I’m speeding things up,” I remind with a wink.
Rue snorts.
“I’d say. Well, don’t think you can just skip all the bases and go to home plate, mister!” she admonishes severely.
“I know that’s a sports analogy, but I don’t get it,” I admit.
Rue’s tinkling laugh dances around us, and I can sense her irritation at my date plan fading away.
“Not a human saying you know, huh? It means that first base is kissing, second base is er, feeling one another up… third base is—shit. You know what? I don’t even know what the bases really are anymore except for first and home. Everyone changes them, but first is always kissing and home plate is when you finally bump uglies. You know—”
“Yes, I know,” I cut in. “Humans make sports analogies for sex?”
“Yep.”
“Strange. If I promise not to shoot it in your hoop before you dribble my balls, can we just try a kiss?”
Rue clutches her stomach as she bends, giggling hysterically.
“That’s not a saying!” she wheezes.
“Well, how am I supposed to know which sports analogies work and don’t work?”
I get out of the car and walk over to her side. Smoothly, I open her door and pull her out to me.
Bestselling author M.J. Marstens mixes romance, suspense, comedy, and sassy characters who can say whatever they are thinking because it is just a story. When she is not creating steamy scenes or laugh-out-loud fiascos, she is refereeing her three children that she homeschools. In her free time, she loves to eat, sleep, and pray that her children do not turn out like the characters she writes about in her books. To read more about MJ, please visit her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/M.J.Marstens/.
Title: A Place to Belong Author: Alexa Rivers Genre: Contemporary Romance
Horror author Felicity Bell moves to the charming town of Oak Bend after being shunned from the last place she called home. When she walks in the door of her new rental, she doesn’t expect to find a half-naked man standing in her kitchen. There’s just one problem: Wyatt Dawson seems to think it’s his kitchen. Misunderstandings aside, her new neighbor is lumberjack hot, and his grumpiness only makes her more determined to bring a little joy to his life, even if he’d rather be left alone.
Burned by his past, Wyatt isn’t about to let the cheerful free spirit next door into his heart only for her to crush him when she flits out of town again. But with his well-meaning, matchmaking, mother on the case, these two end up spending far too much time together and things between the unlikely pair quickly heat up. It may be true what they say—opposites do attract, but only if their relationship can survive Wyatt’s interfering ex-girlfriend and Felicity’s fear of history repeating itself. Welcome to Oak Bend, where blue-collar hotties work hard and love even harder, especially when it comes to landing their happily ever after.
Alexa Rivers is the author of steamy and heartfelt small town romances.
She lives in a small town herself, complete with nosy neighbors and quirky traditions.
She shares a house with a neurotic dog and a husband who thinks he’s hilarious.
When she’s not writing, she enjoys travelling, baking and decorating cakes, eating those cakes, cuddling fluffy animals, drinking excessive amounts of tea, and absorbing herself in fictional worlds.
College sweethearts, Sam and Isla, were crazy in love and looked forward to a life together. That was until his father died suddenly in a tragic accident.
The news sent Sam into a tailspin causing him to spiral out of control. After telling Isla, the woman he hoped to marry, he never wanted to see her again, he hit rock bottom.
Pulling his life together more than a year later, he realizes nothing will ever be the same without his one true love…Isla. Finally locating where she moved to for Vet school, he shows up to beg her forgiveness only to find her kissing her soon to be husband.
Twelve years later, Sergeant Sam Wolfe’s police K-9, Blue, was shot on-duty and suffers from PTSD. Unbeknownst to Sam, his Lieutenant arranged for Isla, the best trauma Vet in Florida, to take over Blue’s care while Sam is on vacation with his son in Bliss Cay.
When they see each other again, neither are prepared for what the summer holds. As Isla helps Blue through his physical and emotional traumas, her and Sam’s worlds collide as skeletons are unearthed changing their lives forever.
When I release the radio button, more shots ring out and the thud of someone falling to the ground near the perp’s house follows.
Seconds feel like hours while I wait for my fellow officer to answer me. All I hear is silence—never ending radio silence. My respirations grow faster as my heart tries bursting through my bulletproof vest.
Still listening, my K-9 partner gasps for air on the groundnext to me. Cutting my eyes at him, the faint glimmer of light from the street lamp reveals something red on Blue’s upper body. After that, everything happens in slow motion—like I’ve entered an alternate reality where my worst nightmare has come true.
“K-9 down, K-9 down!”
“Noooo!” Finding myself in the middle of the bedroom crying and shaking, I feel my dog’s nose in the palm of my hand as he licks it, whining.
I drop to the floor when I realize I had another flashback of that horrible night I can’t seem to forget. Blue climbs on my legs and leans against me.
Still sobbing, I throw my arms around his torso and tell him, “I’m so sorry, Blue, it’s all my fault, I should’ve seen it coming.”
“What happened, dad? Are you okay?”
Swallowing back the sobs and wiping my eyes, I turn to see my son standing in the doorway. “I’m fine, just had a bad dream.”
“Do you wanna talk about it? You used to tell me it helps when you share it with someone.”
Of all times for my kid to be so wise, it has to be now when the last thing I want to do is rehash what I’ve tried for weeks to forget. “Have I told you you’re too smart for your own good?”
“Yeah, once or twice.”
“It helps most of the time, but in this case I think it’s best not to—, at least not at this hour. I uh, think I’ll go downstairs and make some hot tea before going back to bed.”
“I can go with you if you want.”
“I appreciate it, son, but—” With the hall light shining on him, I see the concern on his face. “—actually, I’d like that. Let’s go, come on Blue.”
Freda was born in southern New Jersey but grew up in Florida. She has loved writing her entire life. After retiring from a career in law enforcement, she knew it was time to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a published author.
She’s the author of The Hawaii Series, proudly named from her love of the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. It’s a three-book series with all of them written as standalone books.
Freda loves her large family, horses, dogs, cat, and close friends. She hosts monthly family dinners at her home in the country, which she shares with her husband.
She loves baking (she owned and operated a cupcake business for years), cooking, yoga, crocheting, nature and traveling with the love of her life.
What helps her write? Music makes her happy! If music doesn’t give her the right motivation, she puts on a romantic movie, usually from the Hallmark Channel, which she can’t get enough of!
Freda speaks her mind and pushes perfection to its limit. She strives to be her best, most positive self she can be in life. With time, determination, and practice, she believes anything is possible.
