As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure for more details.
About Lightning Crashes by Marla Holt
Title: Lightning Crashes
Author: Marla Holt
Genre: Contemporary Romance
The Tower Card: Upheaval, Crumbling Foundations, Chaos, Awakening
The Sun Card: Enlightenment, Joy, Success, Vitality
Rachel Ferrer fled the church when she was eighteen, burying her trauma to chase her dreams, only to have them thwarted when her husband died shortly after their son was born. Now she and her tarot-reading roommate do their best to get by.
Nicolas Rivera should be happy. He answered his call to the ministry and has held a position in the church he grew up in for more than a decade. He’s married and he loves his kids, but something in him has shifted and the life he thought he wanted doesn’t feel like it fits anymore. When his childhood best friend’s widow reappears in his life, Nicolas tells himself that his desire to be near Rachel is altruistic.
Until it isn’t.
Rachel and Nicolas have been on the periphery of each other’s lives for years, but when their worlds collide, attraction sparks, lightning crashes and the walls they have been hiding behind begin to crumble.
Lightning Crashes is an exvangelical romance that examines what happens when we build our lives on faulty foundations and what can happen when we leave that behind and step into the sun. Follow Rachel and Nicolas down the path of temptation, through their yearning slow-burn, and into their happily ever after.
Excerpt from Lightning Crashes
© 2022
Marla Holt
Rachel had been chatting with Nicolas so long in the hotel’s lounge that when he stood to head back to his room after yawning for the fifteenth time, it only seemed natural to follow him. She’d meant to break off at the stairwell and head to her room, which was three floors up, but he was so busy telling her about how they’d had to move a felled tree to get a generator out to a clinic on the outskirts of town and how that was why he couldn’t wait for sleep, that when he opened his door, she just sort of followed him inside without thinking. He didn’t seem to have thought about it either until he shut the door behind her, and they were shrouded in darkness.
His voice trailed off and Rachel noticed how close he stood. She took a step away, but her back hit the door. Nicolas craned his neck and leaned backward; Rachel wondered if he could see anything in the dark room. She could only make out his outline from the faint glow of the emergency night light in the bathroom to her right.
“Roommate’s not back yet, no worries about waking him up.”
“Oh, that’s good,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
Rachel meant to apologize for invading his space, but suddenly he was invading hers as his hands traveled up her arms to grip her shoulders.
“Please, don’t apologize. I’ve missed you. Missed seeing you, talking to you, texting you.”
Rachel felt tears ping at the corners of her eyes, even as heat and excitement sparked through her as Nicolas pressed into her space, trapping her against the door in a swirling vortex of potential. “Then why?”
She couldn’t even form the rest of the words in the sentence, but Nicolas didn’t need them. One finger traced a path of flame up her neck and tipped her chin up to where his eyes shone in the dim light. “I was afraid,” he said. “Hell, I’m still terrified, but when I saw you so happy, so free, that night, while I was still working through my anger and my pain . . .” He shook his head. “I still wanted you just as bad as I had before, I didn’t want to bring you down. So I ran, and I have regretted not kissing you and telling you how much I want you in my life every day since.”
“Oh” was all Rachel could say as tears did fall. She’d spent those first few days after the night at Paradox in a state of nervous anticipation. Should she text him again? Should she wait? Should she move on? What had she done to scare him off? Why didn’t he want her? Had Naomi missed a knot on her stupid string? Had she remembered to burn it on the full moon?
But here he was, pressing her against the door with his full body in a dark hotel room, kissing away her tears, and it hadn’t been anything to do with her or with Naomi’s spell after all. He’d been afraid he would bring her down. How did he not know that he was the only one she’d ever wanted?
“Rachel?” His voice was low, like a soft rumbling of thunder in the distance, even as she could feel his breath on her neck.
“Yeah?” She could barely choke out the word around her surprise. Her hope.
“Can I kiss you?” The rumble was closer this time. Deeper. Longer. More dangerous.
“You don’t have to ask,” she said, even though she knew she was playing with fire.
Sure enough, the second Nicolas’s lips met hers, her whole body ignited all at once as if she’d been struck by lightning. Rachel welcomed the burn as she surged up onto her toes to throw her arms around Nicolas’s shoulders so she could reach his lips more easily. They were plump and firm and sweet, and he still tasted so much like the cookies, Rachel thought she might be able to devour him whole.
Pick Up Your Copy Today
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
About Marla Holt
Marla Holt believes in second chances, romance, and the radical notion that everyone deserves a happily every after. She’s living her own fairy tale, writing contemporary romance novels in her Kansas farmhouse with her husband, three boys, three cats, and flock of imaginary sheep. Follow her at marlaholt.com or on Instagram as @marlaholtauthor
Connect with Marla Holt Online
Website | Instagram |Goodreads | Amazon
