by Candi Wall
As the new president of InterCorp, Mr. Harrison worked closely with E.I. and the government to preserve natural resources and sustain the native way of life. He’d gone so far as to set aside a percentage of profits to replenish the resources utilized by the company.
Myla shifted against the seat, trying to alleviate the dull ache in her back. She was looking forward to stopping by Damon’s tribe for a visit. Seiret and Cuklho were expecting them, though by the looks of the setting sun, they were much later than they had planned. She was certain their friends wouldn’t mind.
Actually, she hoped they could stay for a couple nights. She missed everyone, and it was good for Damon to have some time with them as well. He had adapted to their new life with more ease than she’d expected. It was a difficult transition for both of them, and she enjoyed watching him return to his tribe and revert to the native that was so much a part of him.
Michelle had also recently returned from her visit to Oklahoma. She’d been very nervous about finding her extended family, or what remained of it. She even planned a future trip back to England some day. The letters they’d received in the months she’d been gone had been full of happiness and undisguised pride for the half brother she’d found and the numerous nieces and nephews, including grand nieces and nephews she now had. She’d even been given a sweet name by the little critters—as she lovingly called them.
Grand Auntie Tarzana.
A soft rustle in the trees alerted her to a presence. The whistle of a maliki bird told her it was Damon. It was a sound that would always bring her peace.
He stepped from the trees and smiled.
Her breath caught. He was so handsome.
In his tribal clothes, he looked very much like the man who had walked out of the jungle that first night so many months ago. She never would have guessed he would capture her heart. The love they shared, steady and strong, made her life complete. Settled in their home, locked between the two worlds they had connected, she found a contentment most people could only dream about.
“What makes you smile?”
Myla shaded her eyes and looked up at her husband. “You do.”
He settled in the canoe and with a quick wave toward the trees, he pushed them away from the shore. Broad strokes moved them through the water.
She scanned the beach and the trees beyond. As always, it seemed nothing was there. “Are they watching?”
He nodded. “Look what I found.”
He slipped a hand into the small pouch slung over his shoulder. The bright white petals of the bochinii flower caught her attention. “Oh, Damon. It’s beautiful.”
“This flower blooms for us.” He tucked the fragrant flower behind her ear.
Turning her cheek into his hand, she sighed. “It scares me sometimes that I can love you so much.”
A slight frown slanted his eyebrows. “Do not be scared.”
She arched her back again, then settled back. “It’s an expression.”
He nodded. “Are you well?”
“I’m fine, a little stiff.”
Pulling the paddle into the boat, he slid closer and placed a hand over her belly. “My child grows quickly.”
Myla closed her eyes. That was an understatement. Her belly protruded as if she carried a watermelon. And there were still several months to go. “Yes. He will have your strength if his kicks are any indication.” She slid him a quick glance. “Or maybe he’ll have legs like the chunchabe.”
He chuckled. “He would look rather odd. Besides, I thought you had forgiven me that small falsehood.”
“Oh, I did.” She laughed as well. “Huge spiders. It wasn’t very nice of you to scare me like that.”
“You needed quieting.”
“You are terrible.”
“Only with you.”
“Let’s hope your son doesn’t get that from you.”
“No.” His warm lips brushed over hers. “But it would be wonderful if our daughter inherited the beautiful eyes of her mother. The eyes—of my alogu.”
About the Author
Candi Wall is probably the only person whose real name is more epic than any pseudonym she could have come up with—even as an author! She writes because the voices in her head have to come out somehow. Animal rescue-ess, mother of four and soccer mom by day, she spends her free time writing—often on napkins at kids’ games because she never knows when a juicy story will reveal its delicious self. She once wrote a sex scene at a wrestling meet. Shhhhhh!
You can find her on Musetracks, Twitter, Facebook, www.CandiWallBooks.com, and via e-mail.
A second chance at love is worth fighting for.
Afternoon Rhapsody
© 2012 Jess Dee
Bandicoot Cove: The Wedding, Book 1
Bianca Rogers is one signature away from finalizing her divorce. And she will finalize it just as soon as she gets home. But for this weekend, she’s putting her troubles aside and enjoying the gorgeous, sunlit luxury of Bandicoot Cove, the resort where her brother is getting married. The last thing she expects is to be knocked off her feet—literally—by gorgeous Brody Evans.
The fireworks are instantaneous. Brody is just her type: sexy, warm, friendly, and in the same boat as her: in the process of getting a divorce.
Spending time together is a mutual no-brainer. Attraction quickly grows to full-blown lust. But flying sparks come with increasingly personal conversations, and soon neither of them can ignore their past mistakes or the circumstances that have led them to the island.
Now it’s time to determine whether old hurts and sudden doubts will prevent love from leading them to a whole new happily ever after.
Warning: If you don’t believe in second chances, never thought it was possible to fall in love again and aren’t interested in scrumptious, hot love scenes, then this story probably isn’t for you. You’d be missing out—big time—but yeah…it’s probably not for you.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Afternoon Rhapsody:
“A pool?” He looked from her to the water and back again in disbelief. “This is your idea of exciting and stimulating?”
She grinned at him. “A cool dip on a hot day. Stimulating, for sure.”
He held up his hands in defeat and gave a soft snort. “Okay. I’ll admit it. You got me good with that one. A swim was the last thing on my mind.”
She gazed at him with wide-eyed innocence. “You thought I was referring to something else?”
He didn’t gaze back, exactly. No, she’d never describe the smoldering, sensual look he shot her as a gaze. Devastating, perhaps. A jumpstart to her libido, maybe, but not a gaze.
“Not thought. Hoped.”
“Brody…” Without realizing it, she’d placed her hand on his chest. Suddenly her palm was smoking, burning against his firm pecs and smooth skin.
Sheesh, what was it with her and touching him? She just couldn’t seem to help herself. But then his chest did feel incredible beneath her palm. Hot. Strong. Appealing.
So very, very appealing.
“Yeah?” He placed his hand over hers, holding it close to that warm, strong and appealing chest of his. His heart beat a steady rhythm beneath her hand, reminding her again of how alive she’d felt since barreling into him.
Bianca shook her head. “I have no idea what I wanted to say.” His eyes were so blue and so green and so beautiful, she found herself getting lost in them.
The air between them crackled. Well, not really, but it sure felt like it did to Bianca. Felt as if something electric zipped between them, from his chest into her hand. An awareness, a connection.
She liked the feeling. It heated her blood. Made her breasts perk up with interest and her belly flutter with anticipation.
It was Brody who broke the connection, but only to let his gaze wander away from her eyes, down past her neck and breasts…although it settled there for a few brief seconds before continuing on.
He might as well have run his hands over her skin, the way his gaze bur
ned wherever it landed. It gave her both goose bumps and shivers at the same time, and she knew he’d see the telltale signs of her arousal in the millions of fine hairs standing to attention all the way down her arms.
What would he make of them?
His gaze landed on her left hip, and he did a double-take. “You have a tattoo?”
Bianca’s hand found it an instant after his gaze did. She yanked her fingers from his chest and traced them lightly over the stem of the tiny red rose, lying just below the strap of her bikini bottom.
“I do.”
She’d had it done a few months back, after she’d been living alone for a while. She’d wanted to do something crazy, impulsive. Something to show her life was changing, show she was moving on. She’d gone and done the last thing she’d ever have thought she’d do, the last thing Rick would ever have thought she’d do. “It’s new. I’m still not used to having it.”
Brody kept staring. “Is that a…bee on the petals?”
She smiled. “It is.” Her symbolic bee, with its wings spread while it stood steadily on the rose. Free to fly, yet happy to have found its feet in a safe place. “I was never into tattoos before, and the idea of getting one always scared the bejeepers out of me, but now that it’s there, well, I kinda like it.” She stroked the petals.
Brody’s face filled with appreciation. “I kinda like it too.”
“You do?” His expression made her mouth water.
He nodded. “It’s sexy.” His voice dropped about six tones. “Bloody sexy.” When he looked back into her eyes, his were the color of a polished aquamarine. They took her breath away. Or maybe the way he looked at her did. As though he’d like to get to know her tattoo a little better. A whole lot better. Quite intimately, in fact.
She couldn’t help it. She pictured him on his knees, his face by her hip, his mouth nuzzling the rose, tracing the outline of every petal.
“Brody.” His name was a whisper.
“Did it hurt?”
“What?”
“The tat. The needle.”
“A little.” More than that. But pain was not topmost on her mind right now. Desire was. Her belly was a swirling mass of lust. Wet heat pooled between her legs. More than anything she wanted Brody’s tongue on her hip. Wanted to feel the scrape of his beard against her bare skin as he explored the bee.
“I would have kissed it better.” Now his voice was a whisper.
“You still could.”
“It still hurts?”
“Oh, yeah,” she lied. “Heaps.”
He reached out, brushing his fingers over the tattoo, over her fingers. “I’d kiss it here.” He traced the lone leaf on the stem. “And here.” She almost shuddered in ecstasy as he drew his finger along the tiny stem. “And perhaps I’d lick it, just…here.” He stopped at the part were petals met stem.
“Y-you’d have to concentrate real hard. The rose is small. You m-might miss the spot.”
“I’d give it my full attention. I promise.” He stepped closer, caressed the bee and rose from top to bottom. And maybe caressed a little bit of her hip as well.
“It would…” She cleared her throat. “It would require your full attention.”
Desire, red-hot and lightning-quick flooded her body. It swept her away on a tide of passion, clouding her thoughts, fogging her brain. Brody stood so close his scent drifted through her nose, his aftershave sinfully seductive: mellow notes of the outdoors and subtle suggestions of man and musk. If she could bottle his scent she would. She’d keep it beside her bed to sniff at night. And in the morning. And perhaps once or twice during the day, as well.
Then she heard it. The booming, familiar laughter. The unmistakable sound of a man’s mirth, followed by a higher-pitched feminine chuckle.
Panic hit her full in the chest.
If you can’t beat ’em…seduce ’em.
The Virgin’s Revenge
© 2012 Dee Tenorio
Amanda Jackman’s love life is the stuff dreams are made of...which is fitting, because it’s all in her head. Thanks to six oversized, overbearing brothers who treat her like the family jewel, she’s lived in a padded little box.
Determined to get a life before she needs a padded little cell, she sets out to throw off the yoke and live on her own terms. Except she seriously underestimates the lengths to which her brothers will go to keep her safe and sound.
Cole Engstrom’s life might just be at an end. Cornered by all six of the massive Jackmans—men he normally considers his friends—he learns he’s their choice to marry their sister...or else. Make that first choice, but not the last.
Rather than watch Amanda’s brothers club their way through potential mates, Cole figures it’s best to just play along for a while and buy her some time to find a man of her own. It’s a good plan. Until Amanda figures it out—and decides he’s the one to relieve her of her “sheltered little virgin” status. One seduction at a time...
Warning: This sexy romp of a book contains a virgin, a man and a plan. Game. On.
Enjoy the following excerpt for The Virgin’s Revenge:
“We want you to marry Mandy.”
Cole Engstrom never knew you could reverse-snort up a French fry, but there you have it. Someone call Guinness.
A few solid thwacks on the back later from one of the notorious six Jackman brothers, and he was breathing marginally well again. That didn’t mean, of course, his hearing was any better.
“What?”
“We—” Locke Jackman leaned forward in his diner seat, bracing more of his weight on his oversized hunks of arm and nailing Cole in place with a vivid blue glare, “—want you to marry Mandy.”
When Locke said we, he spoke for all six of the brothers. Probably their deceased parents, grandparents and all the generations that traveled over the Atlantic more than two centuries ago. He was more than big enough to pull something like that off.
Cole risked a glance at the elder twins—as Daniel and Dean were typically called—who sat on his left, their bulk swallowing most of the curving diner bench in the darkest corner of Shaky Jake’s bar. He should have known they were out to get him when they’d invited him here for lunch and dragged him to this spot. Not only were they cheap, they were scared of the dark. Yet both of them nodded and grinned at him like they’d done him a favor. He smelled a set-up. He also had the suspicion they were stealing his fries.
“Why?”
Locke smiled. Sort of. When you have a face that big and that closely resembling a brick wall, it’s probably harder to be convincing about joy. “We like you.”
Wasn’t that reassuring?
“Does Amanda?”
Locke shrugged. “She will.”
“So, she doesn’t know anything about this?” Adding two and two while surrounded by two trios of human mountains with zero common sense was slow going.
“Why tell Mandy? She’d just argue with us. But she needs to get married. It’s time. Mom and Dad would have had her married off years ago, and since they aren’t here, it’s up to us.”
Cole didn’t want to remind Locke that the main reason Amanda wasn’t married off was because their parents had died, and no man who wanted to retain his moving parts was going to attempt to so much as look Amanda’s way with the mini-hulks blocking his path.
“And you picked me because…”
“The elder twins said you were nice to her.” Locke nodded to the two boys who’d been Cole’s friends since junior year in high school. He’d been a skinny, chain-smoking computer nerd in their weight-training class. They’d openly seen him as a project.
By the end of the year, he’d quit smoking, at least, but he was still slim and never destined to bench much more than his own weight. They kept him anyway—he had a car. There were times he wondered if that was why they’d adopted him in the first place. Times like now, he wondered why he’d adopted them back.
The elder twins grinned at him, still nodding, both chewing. Bastards.
; “Didn’t they tell you I’ve planned to never get married?” Because Daniel and Dean knew damn well he was never getting married. Ever. They even knew why. Hell, Locke knew why. It wasn’t a secret.
“Plans can change.” Locke’s unfaltering gaze bored into Cole, placidly threatening. Threatening what, Cole wasn’t sure, but it didn’t take a lot of imagination to guess it would be painful.
Still. Some things Locke couldn’t force, no matter how he tried.
“Not these ones.”
He felt the tension suddenly ratchet up in the shoulders on either side of him. And though Locke didn’t move even a muscle, Cole swore he grew impossibly more hulking.
“Look, Amanda’s a nice girl.” She was too. Very nice. Nice to talk to, nice to spend time with, nice to look at. All right, more than nice to look at. More like stunning, with that silky white-blonde hair and blue-gray eyes, curves he’d give his right nut to stop thinking about, and good God, legs for miles. Tall, like her brothers, but delicate and quiet in comparison. Sweet too.
But if she believed for one second that he’d gone along with this ridiculous plan, he had no doubt whatsoever she’d rip his throat out. No self-respecting girl wouldn’t, and Cole made it a special rule never to piss off the quiet ones. Usually, they’d already had lots of time to think about body disposal.
“But?” Locke was no idiot. Not like the others, who followed his orders like good pets.
“But she and I aren’t…involved.” And he’d taken great pains to make sure that they would never be involved. He enjoyed her company way too much to risk ever dating her. That was a surefire way to make her think him an asshole.
“Of course you aren’t. Yet.” There it was, Locke’s scary smile again. The one that was a cross between a pit bull growl and a hungry tiger attack. Either one would eat you alive, so Cole was sure to stay perfectly still and not tempt either. “You’ll ask her out. Date for a while. But not too long—I won’t have Mandy embarrassed because her boyfriend won’t settle down.”