by Karin Shah
There was a knock on the door and she answered, finding to her surprise a room service waiter with a laden cart.
She directed him into the sitting room. He parked the cart next to the table by the window overlooking the scintillating lights of Times Square. She scraped up a tip and saw him out.
Walking toward the bathroom, she called out, “You ordered room service?”
“Yes.” Hearing his voice from the sitting area, she spun around.
Roan stood there, dressed in a suit. In his arms were what looked like several dozen red roses. “Lu told me you don’t like Valentine’s Day. I thought we could fix that,” he said, extending the roses to her. Unable to speak past the ache of happy tears in her throat, she took them.
He uncovered the rest of their feast, filet mignon with fluffy potatoes and tender asparagus, a basket of buttery dinner rolls, and a chilled plate of chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert. He pulled out her chair and moved to his own, uncorking some sparkling cider.
When every last scrap had been demolished and they reclined together on the bed after making love, Roan wrapped his arm around her and kissed her, the sweetness of chocolate and strawberries still on his lips. “How’d I do? Is Valentine’s Day back on your good side?”
Sofia breathed in their mingled scents. Her body felt lighter than the bubbles in their cider. She returned the embrace. “I can’t imagine a better evening. But you know what this means?”
He retreated to search her face, his eyes crinkled at the corners as he awaited her response. “What?”
“What the hell are you going to do next year? And the year after that? I don’t think you can top this.”
He grinned and moved a curl off her shoulder to nibble on her neck. “Don’t worry. I promise, from here on out, all our Valentine’s Days are going to be epic.”
She pressed closer into his arms, her body immediately coming to life, and sighed into his mouth. “I don’t doubt it for a second.”
Also from Soul Mate Publishing and Karin Shah:
BLOOD AND KISSES
It isn’t easy being the Witches’ Champion, especially when it’s a hereditary position and you’re hardly the most powerful witch of your line. Thalia Kent has managed to cope so far with wit and nerve and every ounce of magical ability she possesses, but now her cousin, who wasn’t a witch, is dead -- murdered by a rogue vampire -- and if she’s going to hunt him down and survive, she’s going to need all the help she can get. She needs Gideon Damek, immortal vampire, but vampires shun witches for good reason, witch blood is poisonous.
Gideon Damek has fought his predatory nature for thousands of years and the last thing he wants is to team up with anyone, least of all a beautiful young witch. Still, something about Thalia compels him to agree.
Soon, Thalia must deal with a reluctant partner, a rebellious witch community, interfering police, a healthy dose of self-doubt, a raging passion for the forbidden Mr. Damek and an enemy who’s following an ancient prophecy that requires both their deaths, all without losing her neck, or her heart.
Available now on Amazon: BLOOD AND KISSES
IN LIKE A LION
(The Chimera Chronicles Book 1)
Research scientist Dr. Anjali Mehta lost her beloved family in an earthquake. Only her work cuts through the paralyzing grief, but when she finds her new research subject, reputed mass murderer Jake Finn, maddeningly uncooperative and inexplicably sexy she's tempted to run away. How can she burn to touch a man behind bars—a killer?
What she doesn't know is that Jake is a chimera, a shapeshifter who can change into a lion or a dragon with all the strengths of both even in human form, who believes his ability to shape shift is nothing but a terrifying hallucination and his overpowering attraction to his new doctor proof positive he’s finally gone over the edge.
And the employer she trusts has an agenda all his own. If she can't believe the impossible, neither she nor Jake may make it out alive.
Available now on Amazon: IN LIKE A LION
ENTITY MINE
(The Chimera Chronicles Book 2)
Never fall in love with a man in a photo. Especially, if he's dead . . .
Balanced on the knife-edge edge of going feral, chimera Ethan Wade has no idea what he is. All the former Navy SEAL turned maritime treasure hunter knows is his explosive temper has destroyed his life, driving him to an isolated rental house in Western, NY, to lick his wounds. When a molotov cocktail of rage and alcohol triggers an uncontrolled shift, he is caught between shapes.
Disembodied, he can only come to one conclusion: He's died and become a ghost.
Blowing the whistle lost lawyer Devon Daughtry her boyfriend, (not too much of a loss), her job, (a bit worse) and with the rents in Manhattan, a primo apartment (the straw that broke the camel's back).
Now she's run home to Cassadaga determined to re-build her life by hanging out her shingle as a psychic medium.
When she discovers a photograph of Ethan while moving in, she's crushed to discover the man whose lonely eyes strike a chord deep within her soul is missing and presumed dead. Soon, she begins having passionate dreams about him. Dreams that Ethan shares.
But Ethan isn't the only being in the house. A demonic presence has followed her home and it has diabolical plans for both of them.
Available now on Amazon: ENTITY MINE
THE LION’S SHARE
(The Chimera Chronicles Book 3)
Former Army Ranger, and Chimera-shifter, Connor Gunn is fighting a losing battle against his lion side. Just released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, the last thing he needs is to be blackmailed into a bank robbery, along with his twin brother Tyler. Worse, the lovely FBI agent already in the bank affects him like no other woman ever has, awakening his body and compelling his lion to the brink of taking full control. FBI agent Embry Lane has learned a few things over the course of her six years with the Bureau: 1.The FBI is more than a career. 2.Men are nice for a distraction, but eventually they leave. 3.No real man can top the dream lover who comes to her at night. When Embry runs into Connor on the street, their instant connection makes her doubt what she knows-until she meets him in a tactical mask at the bank with a rifle in his hands. Trapped in the bank, Connor and Embry must combat their mutual attraction and protect the hostages, because with SWAT outside and deadly enemies within, one wrong move could see them all dead.
Available now on Amazon: THE LION’S SHARE
LION’S PREY
(The Chimera Chronicles Book 4)
On the run . . .
Attempting to flee from a bank robbery he was blackmailed into, Chimera-shifter and former Army Ranger Tyler Gunn is a desperate man. Reeling from what he believes is the death of his twin, he knows he can’t control his lion if he’s arrested and he fears killing innocent people. His only hope is to get somewhere far away, where he can safely surrender to the feral side that has gnawed away at his humanity and is now a whisker away from locking him in his lion, forever.
Reporter Zara Coventry is having a bad day. Her feet hurt, her mom is pressuring her to move back to California, her co-worker has snaked a story out from under her, and worst of all, she hasn’t had a date in so long, the mere picture of one of the escaped twins from the bank gets her all hot and bothered. What the hell is that all about? Then a tall stranger shields her from an explosion and things go completely downhill.
When Zara recognizes Ty, he has no choice. He must take her hostage. Too many lives are at stake. The plan is to release her as soon as it’s safe, but his lion is revealed and despite her fear, Zara smells the story of a lifetime. Their fates are not their own, however. A major snowstorm strands them in a tiny conservative village in the Ozarks and they are forced to pretend to be husband and wife.
Trapped together, Zara has to remind hers
elf pretty much every time she looks at him that the sexy shapeshifter is a criminal. And though Ty knows she’s his mate, he believes he's too unstable to give in to the burning desire he feels when she’s near.
But forbidden longing and the FBI are not the only threats. The cartel has lost an airplane in the storm and they’ll do anything to get their product back. Even kill.
Available now on Amazon: LION’S PREY
THE DRAGON’S FLAME
(The Chimera Chronicles Book 5)
For her crime there can be no forgiveness …
Billionaire chimera-shifter Kyle Mara’s hold on his humanity is slipping away. Fortunately, his mate has at last been revealed. Unfortunately, she’s the wicked witch who almost killed one of his brothers.
Backed into a corner by her father, CJ Bansbach had one job to do: bring back chimera genetic material for cloning and kill the donor. Her failure resulted in a year of imprisonment and torture. Being broken out by a chimera on the verge of going feral, even if he kills her or turns her over to the Ethereal council for judgement, seems like a change for the better. Until he tells her she’s his mate.
Plunged into a treasure hunt to break the bond, they must race to find the pieces of a mythical sword while pursued by CJ’s former employers and fighting the pure sexual heat that sparks every time they touch, because forgiveness isn't Kyle’s to grant and his family's happiness is everything to him.
Available now on Amazon: THE DRAGON’S FLAME
HALFLING:
A Young Adult Romantic Fantasy
The crippled reject of a scorned people, seventeen-year-old Valayan wanderer Deyna has never eaten, owned, or used anything she didn't scrounge or steal. She's used to life at rock bottom, but when her father sells her to be the annual Sacrifice to their enemies, the winged darklings, she discovers a new low.
Marked for death at the hands of the darkling king, only the discovery that she's half darkling saves her life.
As a servant in the darkling palace, Deyna thinks she's landed on her feet. She has fresh, clean food, a real bed, and people, like young Lord Ahran, the handsome captain of the king's guard, who might actually care if she lives or dies. But all is not well in the darkling lands.
The mysterious Jackal-Wolf is stealing grain shipments and raiding armories. A civil war is brewing, the gods have plans for her, and Ahran may not be exactly what he seems. Will the girl who's spent her whole life running take a stand—even at the cost of her own life?
Available now on Amazon: HALFLING