by Cari Quinn
I didn’t want to hurt Mia, my older sister. My hero. She’s the strongest, bravest, sweetest person I know. And she’s been suffocating me for years, trying to ensure that I never have to endure what she did.
Now she’d become part of a set. Her boyfriend, Fox, was almost as bad as she was when it came to being protective of me. I love him like he’s my own brother, and I’m so happy he’s in Mia’s life, but my father is dead and buried. I threw the roses on his casket years ago and I never signed up for another one. My sister smothers me enough. She doesn’t need any help.
We’re so different, Mia and me. Night and day. I used to think she was the night and I was the day. Not anymore. She’s fought her dark with every ounce of who she is. I chase mine.
I also have a big fat chip on my shoulder about making my mark. Wherever and however I can.
Hey world, Carly Fucking Anderson is on this planet too, and she’s not here just to be the walk-on in someone else’s show.
I want my own. My own existence. Even my own tragedy, if it comes to that.
If Mia knew part of me wanted to be in the spotlight, no matter the cost, she’d never understand. She lived through a trauma. Survived it. But that’s the thing. As horrible as that experience was, she lived. She didn’t cling to the walls of her world like a paper doll, as thin and insubstantial as the wind.
People passed by me and through me and few of them ever realized I’d suffered too. I was the one who had to pick up the pieces after my sister’s kidnapping. I took care of my dad as best as I could and I went through the motions. Even at eleven, I learned how to put on the mask. I was normal. I was okay. Nothing or no one would ever harm me because I was too strong.
Not anymore. Now I wasn’t hiding from trouble. I was seeking it, eyes wide open. Hoping like hell it could find me where no one else ever had.
That unnaturally warm October night at The Pyramid Club, it did.
The club was slamming on a Thursday night in the city, as it always was. At eighteen, I lived the usual college girl’s life. I went to school all day at the International Culinary Institute, and I worked part-time three days a week at a salad shop in midtown. And two nights of the week, I danced nearly nude in a cage at a club.
Okay, so maybe not quite so usual.
I’ll give you a clue which of my two jobs paid more—and it wasn’t the one where I was adding up neat rows of figures for my two-hundred-year-old boss.
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SHADOWBOXER
Tapped Out Book 1
The story of Mia Anderson and Tray “Fox” Knox.
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She's in for the fight of her life...with the man who only wants to be her lover.
Fighter Mia Anderson has faced the dark side of life and survived. But just getting by is no longer enough. To fund her new life with her baby sister, she’s determined to beat the reigning king of the male fighters in New York’s underground MMA circuit, Tray “Fox” Knox.
Tray refuses to fight a woman, until he learns Mia’s tougher than anyone he has ever known. He soon realizes he wants more from her than blows and blood, and he’s willing to hit below the belt to get it. He’ll fight her, but if he wins, she spends the night in his bed. All night long, his rules. No tapping out.
Mia agrees, certain that he’ll lose. What she doesn’t realize is that Tray loves to fight dirty…and that this match may end up being the most important one of their lives.
Warning: please be advised this book contains content some may find triggering (past sexual trauma) and also contains graphic sex and language.
BODY SHOT
Tapped Out Book 1.2
A free teaser novella featuring Carly Anderson and Giovanni Costas.
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She wouldn’t take no for an answer. Until he said yes.
Carly Anderson is tired of playing it safe, and a big, brooding MMA fighter seems like the perfect cure for her tendency to stay on the straight and narrow. But Giovanni Costas is battling demons she’ll never understand and has needs she’s never been confronted with before. Maybe just one night will be enough to change her life—change her—for good.
Unless he gives her no choice but to run right back to the security she’s always known…
This teaser novella in the Tapped Out series occurs shortly after the end of SHADOWBOXER and hints at the events to come for Carly and Giovanni in ON THE ROPES, coming July 1st, 2015 and up for preorder now. If cliffhangers and short teaser novellas aren’t your thing, check out ON THE ROPES for the rest of the Carly and Giovanni’s story (including a Happily Ever After!)
TAKEDOWN
Tapped Out Book 1.5
The novella length story of Slater’s brother Liam Walsh and Abby Sinclair.
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He won’t stop until she’s his, forever…
When former SEAL Liam Walsh walked away from Abby Sinclair over two years ago, he thought he knew how much he was leaving behind. After a combat injury forces him into medical retirement, he begins to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. First stop: to try reconnect with his estranged younger brother, Slater. He just never imagined the person who would open Slater’s door would be Abby.
Though her relationship with Slater is now strictly platonic, Abby knows how things must look to Liam. In spite of still being hurt by the way he dumped her, she can’t fight her feelings for him, especially when he pulls out the stops to seduce her. Giving him her body is one thing, but that doesn’t mean she’s convinced that he has changed enough for her to risk her heart again.
Time is running out and Liam only has one weekend to prove to Abby that he’s ready to be the man she needs. If only they can stop getting horizontal—and vertical—long enough to talk…
Also by Cari Quinn
Lost in Oblivion: Destroyed (with Taryn Elliott)
Lost in Oblivion: Untwisted (with Taryn Elliott)
Lost in Oblivion: Twisted (with Taryn Elliott)
Lost in Oblivion: Rock, Rattle and Roll (with Taryn Elliott)
Lost in Oblivion: Rocked (with Taryn Elliott)
Lost in Oblivion: Seduced (with Taryn Elliott)
Tapped Out: On The Ropes
Tapped Out: Body Shot
Tapped Out: Takedown
Tapped Out: Shadowboxer
Boys of Fall: Going Long
If You Dare (KindleWorlds)
Afternoon Delight: Drawn Deep
Love Required: No Promises Required
Deuces Wild: Proving His Worth
Deuces Wild: Guarding His Heart
Deuces Wild: Protecting His Assets
More The Merrier: Jingle Ball
Tempted By His Best Friend
Love Required: No Romance Required
Nailing His Target
Afternoon Delight: Dirty Distractions
Love Bites
Melt
Unveiled: Need Me
Hot Shots: Test Shot
Love Required: No Flowers Required
Virgin Territory
Heart Signs
Love Required: No Dress Required
Unwrapped
Hot Text
Bad Kitty
Unveiled: Provoke Me
Insatiable
Unveiled: Reveal Me
Personal Research
Virtual Lust: Ex Appeal
Virtual Lust: Full Disclosure
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Cari Quinn wrote her first story—a bible parable—in 2nd grade, much to the delight of the nuns at her Catholic school. Once she saw the warm reception that first tale garnered, she was hooked. Now she gets to pen sexy romances for a living and routinely counts her lucky stars. When she’s not scribbling furiously, she can usually be found watching men’s college basketball, playing her music way too loud or causing trouble. Sometimes simultaneously.
If you like Facebook groups please try Word Wenches, her fun, sexy reader group with Taryn Elliott!
Visit Cari at
@cariquinn
CariQuinnAuthor
cariquinn.com
[email protected]