EXCERPT REVEAL: The Debt by Karina Halle

 

Her life changed in an instant.

And he's the only one who could have prevented it.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Pact and The Lie comes a new standalone contemporary romance about those McGregor men. 

Jessica Charles shouldn't have even been in London when the unthinkable happened.

She should have been back at home in Edinburgh, perhaps hanging with her boyfriend, having drinks with her sister or doing yoga with her group of friends. She should have been going on in her normal, dependable life as always.

But on that fateful day in August, when a mentally-ill ex-soldier opened fire in public, Jessica's world changed forever.

Now single and crippled from the gunshot wounds, Jessica finds herself scared and alone, losing faith in herself and humanity with each agonizing moment that passes.

That is until a stranger enters her life. A stranger who makes her live again.

Keir McGregor has always been the strong, silent type. Throw in tall, dark, and handsome and you've got pretty much the perfect Scotsman.

Except Keir is anything but perfect. He's got a past he's running away from and a guilty conscience he can't seem to shed. But the more time he spends with Jessica, the more he falls in love with her.

And the more his secret threatens to tear them apart.

He may have been a stranger to her.

But she’s never been a stranger to him.

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EXCERPT 

“You’re not going anywhere,” he says. “Sit. I’ll get you another drink.”

“It’s getting late,” I say feebly but I sit down anyway, my leg giving a protest of pain.

“You need something for that?” he says, noticing my wince.

“The scotch will do fine,” I tell him quickly, not wanting him to make a fuss. “But really, I should go.”

“Why?” he asks from the kitchen. I hear the top pop off the bottle, the slosh of liquid in the glass. “Where do you have to be?”

I have to think about that for a moment. He comes over and holds out the glass. “I won’t keep you here if you don’t want to be here. But if you do want to be here, you don’t need to make any excuses.”

I take the glass from him, holding it delicately in my fingers. He stands over me, a massive wall, waiting for some kind of response.

“I just…” I begin. “I…” I take a sip for bravery. Swallow. “I’m not very good at this.”

“Good at what?”

“At…this. Being with a man.”

When he doesn’t say anything to that, I look up at him. He’s got a peculiar smile on his face, his brows raised. “You call this being with a man?”

I clear my throat, feeling my cheeks grow hot. “I mean. I’ve told you before –”

“Yes, how you don’t do relationships, how you don’t do sex.”

“I never said I don’t do sex,” I remind him quickly.

His eyes never stop searching my face. “Then what is it? What are you afraid to say?”

I have the sudden urge to flee and I know it must show because he suddenly points at me and says, “Don’t you dare say you have to go again. I want you to go back to what you said, that you’re not good at this. What is this? Us? You and me? There’s nothing mystifying about you and me, Jessica. You know quite well how I feel.”

I stare at him in shock. I do? “How?”

He looks off with an air of impatience. “I invited you to dinner, you turned me down.”

“But then you said just as friends.”

“And I meant it. But there are different types of friends. It’s up to you to decide what kind we are.”

I put my drink down with a clunk. “Holy pressure.” And now it’s not just my face going hot but my entire body, flushed from head to toe.

“You’re on fire, little red,” he says, his gaze skirting over my limbs in such a hungry way I can almost feel them on my skin. “I have to say, I like this look on you. Hot and bothered.”

“Back with the innuendos again,” I comment but my voice is weak.

“No, no innuendos this time. You came looking for me tonight not because you wanted to confess but because you want something from me. What is it? What do you want from me? What do you think I can give you?”

Jesus. This is so utterly unnerving. His words slice right through me, his eyes still peeling under the layers, trying to get at something I’m not even sure of myself.

If I lie, he’ll know. I can only be honest with him.

“I want…” I take in a deep breath, my eyes breaking away. “I want…company.”

“Company?” He sounds surprised.

I nod. “That’s the truth. I’m lonely. And I’m afraid. And I’m tired of being both those things. I want to be with someone who makes me forget who I am. You make me feel fearless in a way I didn’t think possible.”

There. That’s the truth. Most of it. It hangs in the air, thickening the tension like flour to stock.

He sits down next to me, has a mouthful of Scotch. “Wow,” he says, running his hand over the beard on his jaw. “And here I was thinking you wanted my cock.”

I burst out laughing. So does he, a big wonderful bellow. The tension in the room eases up a notch.

“Sorry,” I tell him when I catch my breath. “I guess they can both mean the same thing.”

He sucks in his lip briefly, his eyes taking a lustful turn. “If you want it to.” We stare at each other for a few heavy beats. Then his focus trails back to my gaze and he says, “Why don’t you stay over?”

And there I have it. The chance to know what those full lips would feel like on mine, what his skin would taste like. I swallow hard.

Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Racing the Sun, Sins & Needles and over 25 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books. 

Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK. 

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. 

You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more. 

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Review: 30 Lays in 30 Days (The List #1) by Kate J. Squires

The world's sexiest bucket list.

After emerging from a loveless marriage, Cat realizes hers is a life half-lived. What's a recently-single woman in the prime of her life to do? Have her first ever one night stand. But her experience leads her to more than just an evening of pleasure. Cat has a revelation: she's sick of being a good girl. It's time for this Cat to take a walk on the wild side.

Cat pledges to try 30 different sexual experiences in the next 30 days, before she turns 30. Her list sends her on a journey that will lead to indescribable pleasures and some risky situations, and Cat will learn more about herself than she ever thought possible. Most unexpected of all, she may even find love.

Do you dare take a peek at her list? Read on …

My Review

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

As the title suggests, there is a lot of sex in this book. The sex is funny, sexy, sweet, great, not so great and even a bit cringe worthy at times. But this book isn't only about sex. There is actually a lovely (and very sexy) love story as well.  

We first meet Cat when she is out looking for a one night stand. That's when she meets Jackson. They go home together and an amazing night. It's when she and Jackson are talking afterward that she gets an idea: 30 days to get laid 30 times before her 30th birthday. She is newly divorced and ready to take her life back and Cat makes a list of all the different types of sex she has never had and wants to have. She and Jackson part ways, and she thinks that she probably won't see him again. Spoiler alert: she does.

I LOVED Jackson. He was not only great in bed, but he was a sweetheart with a great sense of humor. He knew when he met Cat that she was something special. Luckily for him, the two keep running into each other and they form a friendship. It's not ideal, but he will take it. It's after Cat has a particularly horrible night and goes running to Jackson for comfort, that he offers up his services. If Cat wants to finish her list, she can do it with him. I applauded that because these two always brought the heat when they were together.

He wrapped his long arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. I felt myself tense slightly, being so close to him, but as he threaded his fingers through mine, I leaned into the intimacy of being his couch buddy.

The movie began and, as conscious as I was of Jackson’s presence, I surprised myself by laughing out loud –a lot. When Ryan said, “Hey, I’d do her. Hell, I’d probably even pay,” I rolled giggling toward Jackson’s chest, breathing in the scent of his skin.

What are you doing? He’s not your boyfriend! But whatever logic my brain tried to toss at me, being beside Jackson, watching a movie and dipping chips in guacamole just felt right.

We downed the bottle of wine between us, with the balance just slightly in my favor. I hadn’t eaten since Thai the night before, and the alcohol seeped into every cell of my body, loosening my wound-up state.

As the movie rolled past the hour mark, Jackson’s fingers began to explore my skin. He ran his hands along the back of my shoulders, my flesh exploding in goose bumps wherever he touched. I let my own fingers fall on his leg, scraping my nails across the grain of his jeans.

When he slid his hand inside my shirt, I moaned quietly, aching for him to touch me in the places that count. He cupped the side of my breast, lifting the weight, stroking the underside with delicate caresses. I responded by working my hand higher, brushing against the firm rod now pressing tightly against the denim.

We didn’t look at each other, or acknowledge what our respective hands were up to; it was somehow hotter to simply stare at the screen and let our bodies communicate on their own.

When Jackson’s fingers finally closed over my nipple, I sucked in a fast lungful of air, my chest rising to meet his hand. With an expert technique, he rolled the tender bud around, squeezing it in short bursts until it thrummed and hardened. Pleasure and heat began to radiate from my tortured left breast down to my core, which was damp and growing damper.

Just when I thought I couldn’t handle any more, Jackson switched hands and nipples, lavishing attention on the other breast, which had been screaming for its turn. I closed my eyes, the movie forgotten as the credits rolled.

With a sharp yank on both nipples, Jackson brought me back to myself. I squeaked, coming upright on the couch.

“Ready for bed?”he asked, his eyes cloudy with desire.

“Yes,”I breathed. I was ready for anything he asked. I’m not exaggerating –if Jackson had produced a cucumber or a webcam or the entire Queensland State of Origin team, I would still have said yes.

The more time Cat and Jackson spend together, the more they realize that they are actually an amazing couple. Jackson helps her with the items on her list and they both start to develop feelings that go way beyond friendship. But just when Cat thinks that she could actually have a real relationship with Jackson, her ex-husband shows up to ruin things. While I wasn't a big fan of this storyline I understand why it had to happen. Her ex-husband showing up was what she needed to completely take back her life. 

The next book in this series is about Ari, who meet in this book. Ari is a key player when Cat completes one of the items on her list. For me, it was definitely one of the most intimate and sexy things that Cat did. And it was one of the items she did with Jackson, which made it even better. I found Ari fascinating and I can't wait to read his story. 

Amazon buy link: http://amzn.com/B00WSAZ3EI