Saturday 16 May 2015

Paytons Pursuit





Payton Winters is thrust into the position of CEO of The Winters Corporation after the sudden death of her parents. Confronted with the knowledge she was born with special abilities, she finds herself in the dilemma of being a grounding force to people who possess psychic powers. She has unwillingly become the mental anchor to the one man she wants no part of, Collin McBain. While on a routine mission, Collin is drugged, tortured, and injected with wolf DNA. Now believed dead, he is secretly assigned to the Winters Campus. 

Faced with the reality that her life is based on half-truths, Payton is on a pursuit to uncover her mother’s scientific research. She desperately needs to understand why she and her two sisters were genetically altered before birth. Payton’s path to discovery is littered with danger as she finds herself embroiled in a world of secrets, lies, kidnapping, and murder. She struggles to understand the events of the past in order to cope with her future. Will Payton’s pursuit for the truth be her last?














(Insert your Review here)



Joanne was born and raised in Sherburne, New York, a quaint village surrounded by dairy farms and rolling hills. From the moment she could read she wanted to explore the world. During her college years she slowly crept across the country, stopping along the way in Oklahoma, California, and finally Washington State, which she now proudly calls home. She lives with her husband and Dobermans, in their home located on the Kitsap Peninsula with a panoramic view of the Olympic Mountains.

Joanne writes paranormal, romantic suspense, and contemporary romance. She loves writing about the twists and turns of her character’s lives along with the trouble they find themselves involved in. She enjoys a wide variety of books including paranormal, suspense, thriller, and of course romance.

Joanne is a member of Romance Writers of America, and past President of Peninsula Romance Writers, which was Debbie Macomber’s home chapter.








May 16th

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
JB's Book Obsession
Abbey's 1-Click Book Blog
Love or Lust Book Blog
Back Off My Book Boyfriend
The Naughty Librarians Playground
ByoBook Club
Romantic Ramblings
obsessed by books
Cheeky Chicks Book Hangover
One Last Page Book Blog
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Trinas Tantilising Tidbits
Promoting Authors, Books & Reviews
Promoting Authors with Read Along Sue

May 17th


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May 23rd

Sheila Kell Blog Tour @Sheila_Kell


Will the choice he makes mean certain death to the woman he promised to protect?

HIS Choice is book #2 in the H.I.S. series and is a standalone.
On sale for 99c - release week only!
BLURB
AJ Hamilton never expected his life to spiral so low. Tangled up with Baltimore's largest crime boss, The Magician, he is ordered to threaten a bothersome reporter. His attraction to Megan Rogers was as unexpected as was their heated encounter. AJ tries to warn her off. When she doesn't heed his advice, he's forced to protect her from herself. After witnessing something that puts their lives in danger, he kidnaps her.

When AJ saves Megan from the clutches of certain death, they must go on the run to stay alive. Tensions are high and their passions flare as they fight to stay one step ahead of The Magician. As they put their plan to expose him into action, AJ is forced to make a choice. But no matter the option he chooses, he may not be able to protect her or their hearts.

*Due to the sexual content, this book is recommended for mature audiences only*

The Eden Trilogy by Georgia Le Carr @GeorgiaLeCarre

Title: Crystal Jake, The Bestselling Eden Series Box Set By: Georgia Le Carre Genre: Erotic Romance Host: DRC Promotions

Synopsis

Book 1 Haunted by memories of her brother's death, and searching for answers,Lily Hart embarks on a career that takes her into a seedy underworld, where she is exposed to wealth, greed, lust and the reign of gorgeous, powerful, and dangerous men--one man in particular wreaks havoc on her emotions.
At thirty Jake Eden has everything: looks to die for, money, power and a never-ending line of twisted, fucked-up women willing to do anything to get with him. Love? Love was for pussies...until a woman with the stage name of 'Jewel' arrives on the scene. She alone is different from all the others.
Oozing pure, unadulterated sex, strong, intelligent and independent, she is everything he should stay away from, but she makes him itch to tame her and keep her for himself.
Her lure is addictive and undeniable and soon he is hooked.
But when the line between betrayal and loyalty is put to test...
Will love be stronger than revenge?

Review by Nadia Chief Obsessive Pimpette

Where do I begin...this reads like a beautifully orchestrated opera, the opening prologue full of darkness with tentative deep notes to draw the audience in. From the first few words I'm hooked and drawn in to a mysterious story of off kilter love. Death is ugly yet beautiful and slightly salty.

"It is the beginning of my descent into unfamiliar territory. A place you might call madness.
I'm afraid my stay was excruciatingly long."

Jake Eden is the boss of a criminal enterprise having worked his way up from the age of 15 to pay off his family's debts, he is a ruthless man. Indoctrinated into the life in a horrific way Jake is a monster, fearless and violent but still that fragile and broken 15 year old inside. Owner of Eden, a high class strip club he is a walking thunderstorm of power and raw emotion. Women flock to him, falling at his feet for just one night with him. His physical attributes enchanced by the sheer enigma that he is.

Jewel/Lily. A stripper. A lost girl. Happy to be your ultimate fantasy for the night as long as you can afford her. Trying to find her way and pay the rent leads her to Eden. After a disastrous audition she somehow lands the job. With her exotic looks and beautiful body she is a perfect addition to the team of girls at Eden. She makes a big impression not only on Jake but his brother Shane too. Finding their relationship easier and more natural she agrees to accompany him on a date, a party at Jake's. Hmmmm...the sparks fly and jealousy rears it's head and forces Jake to reveal how he really feels. Never one to hide from what he really wants he takes mercilessly believing he is saving his brother from heart break but really driven by his own needs. The pace is unrelenting as the sexual tension builds between them. I feared my kindle may melt!

"Gangsters and strippers go together like toast and marmalade."

Jake feels something other than just pure lust for the first time and it sends him over the edge. The need to protect and ensure she is his causes him to meddle in her life. Changing her job and her address. They fall under the spell of one another and believe me the heat these two generate is nuclear. And yet something sinister is lurking...who is Lily? Why did her path steer her to Jake? Who is the girl cloaked underneath Jewel's persona?

Woven into the story of attraction, lust and need is the suspicions of the gypsy culture and the significance of Jake's tattoos are powerful. His mother regrets that her child died at 15 to be born again as a weapon of brutality and responsibility. The mysticism is haunting and adds a further quality to the writing.

"Beware the woman who is wounded, beautiful and ruthless. She has soot and death in her mouth."

And boom my mind exploded with the revelation and twist that I did not see coming! I was blown away. The writing style is flowing and melodic, the tension and drama builds with sinuous undercurrents that weave throughout the story...I loved it. It's breathtakingly different and the emotion is raw. The sexual tension is palatable but it's more than a mummy porn type book. It's clever. It's dark...and I can't wait for the next part. Georgia is wickedly talented. I love your stories, keep them coming.

Five gushingly twisted stars! Yup I'm a sick puppy ;)
 

Review by Ally Obsessive One Clicker

 5 of 5 stars  ·
Wow what a great new start on a new series by Georgia Le Carre. Eden is the first book in the Eden Triology there are 3 books in the series. Georgia did not disappoint in the series. I really loved the story of Jake and Lily. Both Jake and Lily come with secrets of their own and try to overcome them. Lily has a hard time after loosing her brother. She becomes a cop for the police force and is hired to go undercover. Lily decides to go to club Eden and see about drugs being dealt with at the club. There she meets the sexy bad boy gypsy gangster named Jake Eden.

I couldn't put Eden down it was so good and I was hooked on the first page. Can't wait to see what is in store for Jake and Lily in book 2.

*** Review copy provided by Obsessed by Books for an honest review ***
Book 2 Lily: It wasn't supposed to be like this- I came ready, determined, but nothing could have prepared me for Jake Eden.
Engulfed in his power, his lust and his primal need for me, I've become ever more helpless in his hands. I love the way he touches me, holds me, protects me. I feel alive in ways I cannot explain. I know I am giving my body to a criminal...week after week, but I can't stop.
I'm addicted.
He has no idea.
It's all wrong, but I'll stay with my plan until I figure out a way around the conflict I'm facing...
Jake: I never knew that looks could blindside a man the way Lily Hart's beauty did me. When our eyes collided that first time, the connection was instant, I knew, that she was like no other. She was something special, uniquely different.
But I've discovered since then that there is a secretive side to her, and now I fear deception stalks her eyes.
I know I must keep my distance, but she keeps persisting that I have her heart, so how can I push her away when all I want to do is tie her down and make her mine?

Review by Nadia Chief Obsessive Pimpette

~*~ copy given in exchange for an honest review ~*~

"In the glass I see his face gleaming dimly, as insubstantial as a ghost. It is a moment so simple, but so heightened because of that very simplicity. Life rarely offers such moments of profound clarity."

I was breathlessly waiting for this as the first part ended on such a high note and I was not disappointed. This is the second part in a trilogy and I strongly recommend they are read in order. Told from a dual perspective, we read the story from both Jake and Lily's point of view. Part two opens with a trip down memory lane and my second guessing and hunches are soon exposed in the plot line. Let me warn you chapter one had big fat tears slowly travelling down my cheek, I was unaware until one hit my kindle. The deep sense of loss, mourning and sheer grief is interlaced in every word. Lily feels adrift. She is a broken soul. Everything she does from discovering her brother's corpse is born from anguish and misery. Her motivation is so pure and yet naive in her simplicity. she steadfastly adheres to her chosen path no matter what is thrown ar her. I loved her a little more with each revelation she bestows, the scenes unravel like a present on Christmas morning. Pretty, tempting and full of promise on the outside...

Jake our sensuous bad boy, king pin, head of the family is drowning in the pleasure of Lily, he holds his cards tightly to his chest and maintains control at all times. He whisks Lily away to escape from the darker side of his family business after a long standing family feud is re ignited by an incident at Eden. Through their trips away to Ibiza and Las Vegas we see another side to Jake, the man behind the gangster. He is one amazing alpha male and the love he has for his family is evident in the choices he makes. The visit with his mother reminds us that this traveller family has not forgotten it's roots no matter how successful they have become.

The passion and attraction between Jake and Lily continues to sizzle...they can't keep their hands off each other, fueling the cycle of need. Never have they felt this way towards any one else and for Lily this puts her in a moral dilemma. Unable to reconcile her head and her heart, her past and her future, Lily struggles to know which is the way forward.

Once again Georgia is wicked...building us up and leaving us hanging! As the book ended I was equal parts elated as the plot is twisty, thought inducing and seriously steamy and gutted that it was over...for now. I read this super quick as I love the imagery of the wording and the poetic feel the the novel. Again I felt the music in the script, the beat and rhythm in each scene as the drama, tension and utter despair builds mercilessly. Georgia crafts a beautiful make believe world that I become immersed in from start to finish. Bring on part three.

A twisting yet beautifully not all that glitters is gold 5 star read

Review by Ally Obsessive One Clicker

Another great book in the Eden series by Georgia Le Carre. Eden book 2 takes place right after the first book. I really enjoyed reading this series it is a great series to read and follow the characters and how they both become more involved with each other. In the second book we learn more about Lily's past and how she became a cop in the first place. Lily is still struggling with her brother's death. She is more involved with Jake and they become an item. Lily and Jake's feelings are becoming more of a crazy love affair. He is falling in love with her and can't wait to see her again. Lily tries to hide her feelings toward Jake and why she is undercover as well.

This series will hook you up and won't let you go. Its a fantastic series to read and enjoy. If you like sexy ganster and a hot dancer then you should try Georgia Le Carre's series you won't be disappointed.

*** Review copy provided by Obsessed by Books for an honest review ***
 

Book 3 Lily: I've been such a fool. Such a fool. He saw me coming and tied me up in knots. And I let him. After Vegas, my heart and mind have been thrown into complete disarray. Is it really possible that what we had-- all that blazing, unquenchable passion--was just an illusion?
I know I've lost his trust, but somehow I must find a way to repair the damage I have caused and find my way back to his heart.
I have to make it right... whatever it takes.
Jake: She is my wife now, but I know she's not mine. Not really. Not properly. Not the way I want. You see, I want it all. Every last bit of her: heart, mind, body and soul.
And I'm prepared to move heaven and earth to make that happen.
This is my mission and my promise.
Watch me make her mine or die trying...

Review by Nadia Chief Obsessive Pimpette

"I wanted to call you Lotus because I looked into your big blue eyes and I felt the sheer strength and purity of your personality. Like the Lotus she can remain in filth and mire all her life but she will rise out of it clean and pure."

Can Lily really leave the grime of her past, move on through the pain of her double life and be a wife to Jake? After the cliffhanger ending of book two I could not wait to see where this enigmatic couple would take us next...from a stripper pole to the glowing lights of Vegas life with Jake Eden is certainly never dull.

Jake is man who has clawed his way out of the gutter he found himself in as a boy; forged in the pits of hell, washed in the blood of men that owed the organisation, he has through sheer determination and strength of mind become the king pin of his family. Falling for Lily could be his downfall, she could be the weakness that brings his empire to his knees but he alreadys knows...

Lily runs, runs from her guilt and her choices needing time to deal with the conflicting thoughts and feelings that Jale has stirred in her. Can he really be the man she thought he was, is he as guilty as she first thought? Her conclusions are clouded by her love but her instincts are true. Can she redeem herself, is she worthy of his love? Reconciling her past, her motivations, her grief with her new found live for Jake will be the greatest battle she has fought, can she win?

This final part to the Eden trilogy is once again beautifully crafted; with strong imagery, a hint mysticism, of something more than the eye can see, fate, destiny and lady luck...just a roll of the dice deciding who wins and who dies. I loved every page and was privileged to receive an arc. I am desperately trying not to give the plot away...suffice to say this is an amazing series, the ending does not disappoint!

An Irishman, a Scotsman and an Englishman walk into a bar...Five star read :)
 



Review by Ally Obsessive One Clicker


Eden book 3 picks ups right after the 2nd book and it didn't disappoint. I really loved this series by Georgia Le Carre. I loved the story of Jake and Lily and the struggle that these two went through. After getting married in Las Vegas things start out a little bumpy. Jake finds out that Lily is an undercover cop and is trying to arrest him for drug charges. Lily is in shock when Jake found out that she was a cop and she fights for her man Jake. She realizes that she is truly madly deeply in love Jake and his gangster ways. She will do everything in her power to win him back.

What a great series this was will be reading more of Georgia's other books. I highly recommend this series it is hot and steamy mixed with alpha gypsy gangster and a strong undercover cop.

*** Review copy provided by Obsessed by Books for an honest review ***
 

Buy The Box Set

Eden, Book 1 Excerpt

Nooooooo,’ I howl, but there is gravel or grave soil in my throat, and nothing other than an ugly, dried-up rasp travels out of my mouth. My head shakes back and forth like a mindless wind-up toy. Even my body is denying the horror before my eyes. Without warning my knees buckle under me, and I find myself in a heap at the doorway of his flat. Frantically, I begin to crawl toward him, screaming, babbling.
I can’t lose him! Not him! Oh God, not him. Please. Not him.
Two feet away from his body and it occurs to me: this is just a nightmare. Of course it is. It has to be. Any moment now I’ll wake up. And the first thing I’ll do? Call him and tell him how much I have missed him, how much I love him.
I feel the floor scrape against my bare knees. It isn’t a nightmare. It is real.
We haven’t spoken for two weeks. I had exams and when I called his mobile, it went straight to voicemail… Shit excuse. I should have called again, I should have emailed. Why hadn’t I? I should have known.
I hunker down over his body, my pose ungainly, heavy, that of a suffering beast. My buttocks hit the floor and my legs fold up and cross under me. I press my fingers against my open mouth and stare at him. His lips and fingers are blue and the rest of him is ashen and still. He can’t be dead.
It can’t be real!
The stillness of a dead body is impossible to describe. And yet when you see it you refuse to believe it. You always think it is a trick. A mistake. A ploy… But a needle is embedded in his arm, which is blackened with the skin stretched and unreal. It looks as if it belongs elsewhere. That is not my brother’s arm. I know my brother’s arm as intimately as I know my own.
My breathing is shallow and trembling. I suck a huge burst of air into my lungs and pull the offending needle out. My stomach twists. It should never have entered his body in the first place. I throw the syringe away. It hits something and rolls on the wooden floor. It also leaves a tiny hole in my brother’s flesh that does not bleed. I swallow hard. My hands are shaking badly.
That means he didn’t suffer, a voice whispers in my head. He did not even have time to pull it out before he was gone to wherever it is he went to.
Oh God! He is nineteen. He can’t be gone.
CPR. I should give him CPR. There must be something I can still do. I grab his shoulders and try to drag him across my thighs, but his body is so heavy, so cold, and so stiff and foreign that my shocked hands fly away from his shoulders as if they have touched fire. I gaze at him as he lies unmoving. The blood that ran without rest during his short life has stilled within his veins. Everything has cooled and hardened. He is like a piece of wood.
With a sob of intolerable, indescribable anguish I reach for him and with every ounce of my might I drag his cold, dead weight toward me and lift it onto my lap. I touch the soft brown hair that flops across his forehead and it feels different. His scalp has hardened and changed the lie of his hair. I caress his hair, his face, his hands. Holding his head pressed against my stomach I close my eyes and begin to rock him the way a mother would comfort her distressed baby.
But there is no comfort—his head is a hard, unfamiliar weight and the action produces an odd thud made by his stiff hand repeatedly hitting the floor. I stop. In a daze I look down on his face.
His mouth is open, the tongue—a strange, dull color—is pushed against his teeth. Without the healthy sheen of saliva it looks gross. I try to close his mouth, but it is locked open. His eyes are not fully shut and through the slits I see the whites. I try to lift a lid to see once more the beautiful blue eyes I have known all my life.
If I could at least see that.
But his eyelids are glued shut. They will not budge. Tremors shoot through my hand as I still the gruesome desire to force his eyelid open. When we were young we used to lick the salt from each other’s skin. I am suddenly filled with the strange desire to lick his skin.
I put one hand under his head and the other under his neck and I put his head on the floor. Then I scoot backwards until I am on my hands and knees and my face is hovering inches away from his. My head moves downwards. My tongue comes out. Inches away a voice in my head urgently cries, ‘No.’
I stop and listen to peculiar silence around us. It is quieter than falling snow. On the table top I notice his fingerprints in the light layer of dust, and then something weird happens. For a second I clearly perceive myself not from inside my body but from outside, crouched over my dead brother, more animal than human. I recoil from the sight. And then the moment is gone and I lower my head and lick the last salt on the corpse’s skin.
It is the beginning of my descent into an unfamiliar territory. A place you might call madness.
I’m afraid my stay was excruciatingly long.

Eden, Book 2 Excerpt

‘Come here.’
I go to him and climb into his lap. His hands come around me, the palms hot. I nuzzle him like a cat, my hand stroking his thick hair, straightening it. It is ruffled. He has been running his hands through it. He takes my shoes off and lets them drop with a thud on the floor. I sigh with pleasure when his big hands start massaging my foot.
‘I didn’t know where you were. If you had simply run away. I know so little about you.’ His voice is a deep, honeyed rumble. It has a song in it. I could listen to it all my life. But I won’t. I was fooling myself before.
‘I didn’t run away. I’m here.’
The hardness between his legs pushes into my hip. I look up into his eyes. There is only one word for what is in them: hunger. I have never seen such extreme desire, such ravenous craving. The air trembles with it. A voice inside my head cries, ‘What have you done? What have you done?’ I ignore it. My body loses its tiredness and responds to that yearning. My lips part, my nipples swell and pebble tightly, my sex opens like a night flower.
‘Would it be really horrible if we had sex right now?’ he murmurs.
‘Yes, that would be utterly, utterly horrible.’
He carries me to the bedroom and kicks the door open. The large chandelier is not lit. Instead only the narrow bronze lamps over the paintings on the walls are on, creating their own individual pools of yellow light, making the paint look thick and oily. I glance at the bed and my mouth opens with astonishment. I turn back to look at his face. ‘What the—?’
‘Indulge me,’ he says languidly.

About The Author

 
Georgia Le Carre lives in England, in an old 19th century romantic cottage surrounded by a magical garden filled with fruit and walnut trees.
When she is not feeding words into her laptop, she is either curled up in bed with a box of chocolates and a good read, or lost in a long walk in the woods. Especially on moonlit nights. And often with the man of her dreams.
 

Connect with Georgia

Touch Screen by L.B. Dunbar Character Tour @lbdunbarwrites




Touch Screen
by L.B. Dunbar
Character Tour



 Add to Goodreads

 Synopsis

The prodigal son. A second chance. The long kept secret. 

Home?

I had returned. I hadn't been here for seven years. I was angry that last summer, and once I got away, I didn't want to come back. The irony was the career I sought to escape this small town was the very reason I was here. My first movie was a featured film at the Traverse City Film Festival. As an independent film director, my premiere brought me back home. Home. A place I didn't recognize.

Or maybe home didn't recognize me? 

I had it all in California: a girlfriend who was the daughter of a movie financier, a job that led to connections in the film industry, and a condo overlooking the ocean in Malibu. What I didn't have was family. I had left them all behind. I was the prodigal son.
The last person I expected to see was her. Britton McKay. She had been my summer love as a teenager. Not just once, but over several summers; until the last one. That was seven years ago. Now, she looked more beautiful than I remembered. Seeing her again flooded me with memories long suppressed. She reminded me of everything I once had and left behind. 

Now, she had returned too.

Can lost romance be rekindled? 
Can unanswered questions be revealed? 
Can I make this place my home again?
++++++
L.B. Dunbar reunites you with the Carter and Scott families as all are gathered home. 

Your favorite families await with flashbacks, celebration, and heartbreak.

Welcome back to Elk Rapids



Touch Screen Character Interview

Britton McKay sits next to me. She’s writing an article for the bookstore where she works about the upcoming film festival. The Traverse City Film Festival in Michigan is a big deal to independent film directors, like myself, and Britton’s been collecting reviews on books that cover the film industry in the state.

She’s decided to interview me as a local celebrity who was previously featured at the festival. I was here last summer. That’s where we were reunited.

Britton: So tell me how you got into film?

Me: (laughing). You already know this answer.

Britton gives me a look, and then says my name in a way I can’t resist.

Me: Fine. My grandparents gave me their old camcorder when I was a kid and I liked to play around with it. See what stories I could tell through the camera lens.

Britton: What was it like growing up in the area?

Me: (Groaning). You know I wasn't happy here. I always felt trapped. Don’t get me wrong. I had a good childhood and crazy teen years, but I didn't want to inherit my father’s cherry farm. I wanted to do something...different...with my life.

Britton looks at me with sympathy. She knows my father and I did not see eye-to-eye on my going to California, or my pursuing film direction as a future. He didn't understand that his inheritance wasn't my dream.

Britton: So...your film was called Under the Moonlight. Was there anything particular from your life that inspired you or you used within the film?

I've been watching her as she types. She’s concentrating as she works, and I know that she knows the answer to this question, too. She pauses to push a piece of her long blonde hair behind an ear, and I can’t help myself. I need to touch her. I repeat the motion even though the hair is in place. She looks up and turns to smile at me. She’s waiting for my answer.

Me: The inspiration came from a book I read about a boy who wanted something and his father said he could get it, if he worked on the family’s farm to earn the money. You know there is a love interest in the story and it was reflective of my experience as a teenager with some girl I met. Whenever we had to separate, she told me if I was under the moonlight, she might be looking at it too. In that moment, we would be together although we were apart.

Britton stops typing and turns to look at me again.

Britton: Sounds like a smart girl.

Me: (distracted by her hair slipping through my fingers) Hmmm...she was. She still is, actually.

Britton: She’s not a girl any longer. (She smiles slowly).

Me: No, she’s not. Now she’s a beautiful woman.

Britton: Good answer.

Me: Was there a question in there?

Britton laughs. She is still looking at me when she asks: Whatever happened to this girl?

Me: I was an idiot, and I let her go. Lucky me, I found her again.

I kiss her shoulder and she shivers. I kiss the juncture between her shoulder and her neck. She’s tilted her head, so I have better access and she groans my name in that way that drives me crazy.

Me: I have a question (mumbling into her ear).

Britton: I bet you do. Only a few more.

She’s pushing me off. I sit back and run my hands through my wavy hair. Sighing deeply, I let her ask me another.

Britton: You said you couldn't wait to get away from here, yet you returned. Tell me a little more about this.

Me: (serious for a moment) I was honored to be invited to the festival. It was what I had been working toward my whole life. I wanted to make my own film on my own terms. I did it, and it seemed ironic that the place to prove it happened was right here where I was trying to get away from. (slowly smiling) Of course, little did I know what awaited me.

Britton: (smiles too, but she looks weary) I was waiting a long time.

Her voice is low and it’s still a sensitive issue for us. We had a long way to go after I first returned home. Not only was I overwhelmed by seeing her again, but meeting her son, the illness of my mother, and the wedding of Jess and Emily was a lot to tackle all at once. I hadn't been home in seven years and I had missed so much. More than I even realized. She worries that I won’t forgive her. I worry that she won’t ever forgive me. Somehow we must be letting the past go, because we sit here, in her uncle’s old house. Now, it’s our home.

Me: (slipping my hand around her neck) You know I’m sorry.

Britton: I do.

I sigh. Those are the words I long to hear from her some day. Some day very soon.

Me: Enough questions, yet?

Britton: Yes.

She claps the laptop closed and I pull it from her lap. Then I wrap an arm around her waist and drag her to straddle me.

Britton: Gavin, Gee and Ben will be back soon.

I’m nuzzling her neck at this point and she moans softly. We have an hour. We’re hardly alone and it means we have to be creative with each other sometimes. Gee is only seven, but Ben is almost sixteen. He’s onto us sometimes.

Me: I. Won’t. Need. Long. (between kisses)

Britton whispers my name in that certain way. It’s either to stop a fight or encourage my intention. In less than a second, I have her up in the air. Her legs wrap around my waist and I’m walking us to our room. She’s kissing me eagerly, always worried that if we don’t hurry, we won’t finish. We've had a few moments like that as well. It’s a frustration I've never known before. A frustration I don’t mind, truthfully, when I know it’s Gee interrupting us. We have time ahead of us, and we always make up for it later.

We hit the bed and clothes are frantically be tugged off each other. It’s a race to see who can get naked first sometimes.

Britton: Wait, I have one more question.

Me: (groaning). It can wait.

Britton: What made you decide to return to Michigan?

She knows the answer to this question. I think she just likes to hear my answer.

Me: Because I knew I couldn't live without you any longer. I had wasted too much time. There was something always missing from me, and little did I know it had returned here to wait for me.

Britton stares at me. Her blue eyes pierce me to the core just like they did when we were younger. I loved her at sixteen. I love her more at twenty-seven. We’re silent for a moment as our bodies come together. We were always good at this. I craved her touch from the first time I saw her.


In answer to her question, I wish to clarify that it was more than returning to Michigan. It was coming home that I needed. No, it was her that I needed. She filled a void I didn't know I had until I saw her again. I didn't have to tell her all this now, though. I let my body prove to her that she was my home. And I was here to stay.

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Teasers



Sensations Series
Sound Advice (Book One)
Buy Now: Amazon

Taste Test (Book Two)
 
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Fragrance Free (Book Three)
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Newest Series
The Legend of Arturo King
(Legendary Rock Stars Book One)
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Out Now:
The Story of Lansing Lotte
(Legendary Rock Stars Book Two)
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About L.B. Dunbar



I’d like to say I was always a writer. I’d also like to say that I wrote every day of my life since a child. That I took the teaching advice I give my former students because writing every day improves your writing. I’d like to say I have my ten-thousand hours that makes me a proficient writer. But I can’t say any of those things. I did dream of writing the “Great American Novel” until one day a friend said: Why does it have to be great? Why can’t it just be good and tell a story?
  
As a teenager, I wrote your typical love-angst poetry that did occasionally win me an award and honor me with addressing my senior high school class at our Baccalaureate Mass. I didn't keep a journal because I was too afraid my mom would find it in the mattress where I kept my copy of Judy Blume’s Forever that I wasn't allowed to read as a twelve year old.
  
I can say that books have been my life. I’m a reader. I loved to read the day I discovered “The Three Bears” as a first grader, and ever since then, the written word has been my friend. Books were an escape for me. An adventure to the unknown. A love affair I’d never know. I could be lost for hours in a book.
  
So why writing now? I had a story to tell. It haunted me from the moment I decided if I just wrote it down it would go away. But it didn't. Three years after writing the first draft, a sign (yes, I believe in them) told me to fix up that draft and work the process to have it published. That’s what I did. But one story let to another, and another, and another. Then a new idea came into my head and a new story line was created. 

I was accused (that’s the correct word) of having an overactive imagination as a child, as if that was a bad thing. I've also been accused of having the personality of a Jack Russell terrier, full of energy, unable to relax, and always one step ahead. What can I say other than I have stories to tell and I think you’ll like them. If you don’t, that’s okay. We all have our book boyfriends. We all have our favorites. Whatever you do, though, take time for yourself and read a book.

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