Release Day Launch + Excerpt & Giveaway: The Rocker Who Cherishes Me by Terri Anne Browning

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Happy Release Day to Terri Anne Browning! The Rocker Who Cherishes Me is LIVE!

The Rocker Who Cherishes Me by Terri Anne Browning

The Rocker Who Cherishes Me by Terri Anne Browning
Series: The Rocker #8 (full reading order below)
Release Date: November 1st 2014
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Wroth

The marines took me from a Tennessee farm boy and turned me into a hard man. Between the things I’d seen during my tour of duty and the things I’d done during my years as a member of OtherWorld, nothing could faze me. Nothing.

Except for HER.

She’s everything that is good in the world. At least, my world. Everything I’ve ever done has been for her. Always for her. I feel as if I need her to breathe, to feel alive. But I can’t have Marissa. She’s to innocent, to damn perfect. And me? I’m not good enough for that girl. She deserves better, someone who would spend their life CHERISHING her. Not breaking her heart.

Marissa

Between my brother and Wroth Niall I’d been protected from the world for most of my life. You would think I was still a little girl the way they treated me. But I wasn’t made out of glass. It would take a lot to break this girl. Because if a childhood cancer hadn’t kicked my butt, nothing would. Right?

Wrong.

All I’ve ever wanted was for him to look at me. Really look at me and see that I wasn’t a fragile piece of porcelain that would break if he touched me. What I got was a lot more…but nowhere close to enough. Once I touched heaven—at least heaven for me—and now I didn’t know how to go back to what Wroth and I had had before. I can’t go back to the life I was living before my short time with Wroth. It would destroy me to stay that close, when I know that I’m not what he really wants. So when my brother asks me to go on tour with him yet again, I decide to jump on that tour bus without a backwards glance.

Only I wasn’t prepared to be stuck on HIS bus.

Purchase:
Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CA • Amazon AU

Now here’s an excerpt from The Rocker Who Cherishes Me! ❤

excerpt

Wroth
Unedited. Subjected to Changes
Mature Language

She was out on the dance floor with a glass of something fruity in one hand and her other hand wrapped around Rhett’s arm as she danced between him, Natalie and Linc. I slammed my now empty bottle of beer down onto the bar top, making Emmie who had been standing close by jump. But I didn’t think to apologize. My mind was cloudy but focused on only one mission.

Kiss Marissa.

“Fuck, why am I the only sober one when he is suddenly shit faced?” I thought I heard Axton whine behind me.

Was I shitfaced? Maybe, but I didn’t care.

As I strode toward my girl someone stepped in front of me, but I pushed past him, not caring if I knocked the man on his ass or not. As I drew closer Natalie and Linc stopped dancing and Natalie took a few steps back, pulling Linc with her. After a small hesitation she reached for Rhett and tugged him back with her and the muscle head. Marissa, oblivious to her friends’ desertion and my approach continued to sway to the soft music with her eyes nearly closed.

My buzzed mind decided to take advantage of her like that and I wrapped my arms around her from behind. My hands folded around her waist and I lowered my head even as she stiffened in my arms. Burying my nose in her neck I inhaled like a man deprived of oxygen would take in lungful after lungful of fresh air. Dallas had been right earlier. Marissa’s shampoo did smell good. It was something different from what she had once used, but it smelled delicious and made her hair soft and shiny.

Marissa tried to turn in my arms but I tightened my hold around her waist, locking her in place against me. As if it had developed a mind of its own, my tongue snuck out and tasted the soft skin under her ear, rewarding me instantly with a shiver that she was unable to contain. Around us everyone else disappeared and I swayed to the music with her. I didn’t dance, but if it meant I got to have her in my arms then I would do the fucking Macarena.

Reading Order: The Rocker series

The Rocker Who Holds Me by Terri Anne Browning The Rocker Who Savors Me by Terri Anne Browning The Rocker Who Needs Me by Terri Anne Browning The Rocker Who Loves Me by Terri Anne Browning
The Rocker Who Holds Her by Terri Anne Browning The Rockers' Babies by Terri Anne Browning The Rocker Who Wants Me by Terri Anne Browning The Rocker Who Cherishes Me by Terri Anne Browning

#1 ~ The Rocker Who Holds Me: Ebook • Goodreads
#2 ~ The Rocker Who Savors Me: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ The Rocker Who Needs Me: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#4 ~ The Rocker Who Loves Me: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#5 ~ The Rocker Who Holds Her: Ebook • Goodreads
#6 ~ The Rockers’ Babies: Ebook • Goodreads
#7 ~ The Rocker Who Wants Me: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#8 ~ The Rocker Who Cherishes Me: Ebook • Goodreads

about the author

Having had a passion for reading from the time my aunt first handed me my first romance, I slowly grew bored with just reading. I wanted to control the characters, make them into who I wanted them to be and that way I was never disappointed with the endings. I soon learned that it isn’t always that easy. The characters control the author. But that is all part of the fun when creating a new story. Seeing where these people take you on their journey to find their soul-mate has become my new passion and getting to incorporate my love of music–Rock music in particular–has been a dream come true. Thanks for taking this crazy ride with me, and I can’t wait to see where we go next!

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2 Signed Paperbacks and 2 eBooks of The Rocker Who Cherishes Me

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Release Day Launch + Excerpt & Giveaway: All Broke Down by Cora Carmack

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Yowza! We are extremely excited to bring you the Release Day Launch for Cora Carmack’s ALL BROKE DOWN!! ALL BROKE DOWN is a New Adult Contemporary Romance novel being published by HarperCollins, and it is the 2nd book in The Rusk University Series.

All Broke Down by Cora Carmack

All Broke Down by Cora Carmack
Series: Rusk University #2 (full reading order below)
Release date: October 28th 2014
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In this second book in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cora Carmack’s New Adult, Texas-set Rusk University series, which began with All Lined Up, a young woman discovers that you can’t only fight for what you believe in . . . sometimes you have to fight for what you love

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, corrupt corporations, and politicians—you name it, she’s probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail overnight, she meets Silas Moore. He’s in for a different kind of fighting. And though he’s arrogant and infuriating, she can’t help being fascinated with him. Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it’s trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He’s met girls like her before—fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn’t think he’s broken, and he definitely doesn’t need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about, his spot on the Rusk University football team. Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all.

Buy Links:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes

All Broke Down teaser

Now here’s an excerpt from All Broke Down! ❤

excerpt

I think I get it then. That decision I saw in her eyes back in the kitchen. That’s what this, what I’m about for her, too. I’m just another part of whatever rebellion she started earlier today. About doing what she wants, not what’s expected of her.

“We’re not talking about me, though,” she says. “So you went to meet your friend, and then what happened?”

She keeps her eyes down as she picks up the gauze and begins winding it snugly around the knuckles of one hand, and then the other.

“He said the wrong thing.”

“Which was?”

“Dylan.” Now it’s her that’s pushing too hard. I didn’t want to talk about things with my friends, and I won’t talk about them with her, either, no matter how gorgeous she is.

“I’ll guess. You were mad about what he did, and he wasn’t sorry.”

“This isn’t middle school, Pickle. He didn’t hurt my feelings. He said some shit he had no business saying, and it pissed me off. The end.”

“But you don’t think some of that anger stems from what you feel is a betrayal of your friendship?”

She finishes taping down the last of the gauze, but doesn’t let go of my hand.

“I think you’re analyzing me again. Making things more complicated than they are.”

“And I think you’re just a guy who doesn’t like to admit he has feelings.” She drags out the word, teasing me with some goofy smile on her face. I turn my hand over so I can clutch her wrist. I curlmy other bandaged hand around her waist and pull her closer.

“I feel plenty of things.”

The teasing stops. She swallows.

“I wasn’t talking about that kind of feeling.”

With her standing and me sitting, I’m eye level with her chest. I see the sharp rise and fall as she sucks in a breath. I want her in my lap again, straddling me this time.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t talk about that kind of feeling. Or experiment with it.”

“Is that Stella girl an ex?”

I cough, surprised. My throat twists uncomfortably, and it takes me a couple of solid breaths to get a hold on myself.

“Ah, no. Stella and I have never dated.”

“Have you—”

“Do you ever run out of questions?”

“Not ever.” She turns playful again, and I’m done doing this the careful way. If she wants a rebellion, I’ll be the one to give it to her. I want her against me, and I’m tired of waiting.

I pull her forward, insinuating my knees between hers, and her body naturally follows, settling across my thighs. Her lips part, but she catches herself before she gasps this time. I keep her steady with my hands at her waist and say, “I’ll make you a deal. A question for a kiss.”

Tentatively, she lays her palms against my shoulders. They rest there, her grip light and casual. She ponders my offer for a moment, and it drives me mad that she can do that while our hips are inches away from alignment.

“Okay then. Are you—”

I cut her off. “Not so fast, Dylan Brenner. I’ve already answered one question. We’ve got to settle up first.”

I wrap her braid around my hand like I’ve been waiting to do all night, and I use it to pull her head back just enough that I can crush my mouth against hers.

Reading Order: Rusk University series

All Lined Up by Cora Carmack All Broke Down by Cora Carmack

#1 ~ All Lined Up: My Review • EbookPaperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ All Broke Down: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ All Played Out: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads (May 12, 2015)

about the author

Cora CarmackCora Carmack is a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. She’s done a multitude of things in her life– boring jobs (like working retail), Fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). She enjoys placing her characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. Her first book, LOSING IT, is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads

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 Signed set of ALL LINED UP and ALL BROKE DOWN for 1 winner
$25 gift card to Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) for 1 winner

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Release Day Launch + Excerpt: Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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We are thrilled to bring you the Release Day Launch for Jennifer L. Armentrout’s STONE COLD TOUCH! STONE COLD TOUCH is the second full-length novel in Jennifer’s The Dark Elements Series, a young adult paranormal romance being published by Harlequin Teen!!

Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Series: The Dark Elements #2 (full reading order below)
Release Date: October 21st 2014
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Every touch has its price

Layla Shaw is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life—no easy task for a seventeen-year-old who’s pretty sure things can’t get worse. Her impossibly gorgeous best friend, Zayne, is forever off-limits thanks to the mysterious powers of her soul-stealing kiss. The Warden clan that has always protected her is suddenly keeping dangerous secrets. And she can barely think about Roth, the wickedly hot demon prince who understood her in ways no one else could.

But sometimes rock bottom is only the beginning. Because suddenly Layla’s powers begin to evolve, and she’s offered a tantalizing taste of what has always been forbidden.  Then, when she least expects it, Roth returns, bringing news that could change her world forever. She’s finally getting what she always wanted, but with hell literally breaking loose and the body count adding up, the price may be higher than Layla is willing to pay…

Buy Links:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Kobo • iTunes

Now here’s an excerpt from Stone Cold Touch! ❤

excerpt

I’d remained in bed after that, trying to sort through the odd tingling in my chest. There was a slight smile on my lips, because Zayne…well, he’d made my day, but then I’d remember what Roth had said to me the night before and the smile would wash away as if it had never been there.

I probably needed to get used to the whiplash mood swings.

It wasn’t until after dinner that I decided to scrub a day’s worth of gunk off myself.Gingerly, I peeled the bandage off, happy to find that the cut in my arm was healing as expected. I didn’t need to cover it anymore. The arm was still tender, but the Warden blood in me was quickly undoing the damage from the iron.

After changing into fresh pj’s, like a total hermit, I padded over to my desk, where I’d left my cell phone. It had been on silent all day and when I tapped the screen, I wasn’t surprised to see a slew of texts from Stacey.

Where r u?

R u skipping, u ho?

A minute later: Your locker misses u. Guess u sick with the herp?

Oh my God. I laughed out loud, grinning as I thumbed through her texts. Our bio sub is still hot. U r missing this.

Bio is lonely.

My boobs miss u. How weird is that?

That was notably weird and yet not surprising.

If I get my cell taken from me, it’s ur fault.

Holy shit, Layla, where r u?!?

Air punched out of my lungs as I read the next text and the several following them.

U have no idea who just walked into bio!!!

Roth is here!

Holy Canola oil, why aren’t u here to witness this?

Ok. He says he had mono. Srlsy? Do people still get mono? And who in the duck was he kissing? A second later—Duck? I didn’t mean duck. That’s SO not what I meant, autocorrect.

Another text had come in about fifteen minutes after the last one. He asked where u were. I told him u joined a cult. I laughed. He didn’t.

Finally, the last text was to call her if I wasn’t dead.

“What in the Hell?” I tossed my cell onto the bed, mouth hanging open.

Stone Cold Touch - You Decide

Roth vs. Zayne:

And don’t forget! The choice is yours…

Beginning today you’ll have 3 weeks to visit the series website, www.thedarkelementsseries.com, to take a poll and decide which guy Layla should ultimately choose in the final book in the trilogy, Every Last Breath.

At the end of 3 weeks, we will tally all the votes, and that’s when Jennifer L. Armentrout will start writing Every Last Breath. The guy who gets the most votes is the one Layla will pick.

To prevent early spoilers, we’re not going to reveal who won the poll in advance…you’ll have to wait until Every Last Breath goes on sale on July 28th, 2015 to find out whether Zayne or Roth wins Layla in the end. We promise the book will be epic and definitely worth the wait!

Who do you want Layla to end up with? Go to www.thedarkelementsseries.com and vote for your choice!

Reading Order: The Dark Elements series

Bitter Sweet Love by Jennifer L. Armentrout White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout

#0.5 ~ Bitter Sweet Love: My Review • Ebook • Goodreads
#1~ White Hot Kiss: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ Stone Cold Touch: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ Every Last Breath: Paperback • Goodreads (July 28, 2015)

about the author

Jennifer L. Armentrout

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV.

She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

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Release Day Launch + Excerpt & Giveaway: Rowdy by Jay Crownover

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We are over the moon excited to bring you the Release Day Launch for ROWDY by Jay Crownover!! ROWDY is the fifth novel in her Marked Men Series published by William Morrow, and imprint of HarperCollins and you do NOT want to miss it!

Rowdy by Jay Crownover

Rowdy by Jay Crownover
Series: Marked Men #5 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: October 21st 2014
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The New York Times and USA Today bestselling Marked Men series continues with this sizzling, sexy story of love, heartbreak, fate, and second chances.

After the only girl he ever loved told him that he would never be enough, Rowdy St. James knocked the Texas dust off his boots and set out to live up to his nickname. A good ol’ boy looking for good times and good friends, Rowdy refuses to take anything too seriously, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. Burned by love once, he isn’t going to let himself trust a woman again. But that’s before his new co-worker arrives, a ghost from the past who’s suddenly making him question every lesson he ever learned.

Salem Cruz grew up in house with too many rules and too little fun—a world of unhappiness she couldn’t wait to forget. But one nice thing from childhood has stayed with her; the memory of the sweet, blue-eyed boy next door who’d been head over heels in love with her little sister.

Now, fate and an old friend have brought her and Rowdy together, and Salem is determined to show him that once upon a time he picked the wrong sister. A mission that is working perfectly—until the one person that ties them together appears, threatening to tear them apart for good.

Buy Links:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iBooks • Kobo • IndieBound • Other

Sensual portrait of beautiful girl with tattoo lying on bed.

Now here’s an excerpt from Rowdy! ❤

excerpt

WHEN I PUT THE key he had given me in the door to his apartment it felt like the end of a long journey. Really it was only a little over twelve hours and I had stopped to nap once along the way, but it still felt like too long since I had seen his face or been able to touch all that toned and tattooed skin. Jimbo greeted me at the door when I pushed it open. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he jumped up and put his paws on my legs. He was going to be huge when he finally grew into his fuzzy body and I was overwhelmed at how happy I was to see him. I dropped to my knees and rubbed my face in his neck as he licked me all over my face. I was obviously missed and I had to say it was just one more reason I knew I was finally where I was supposed to be. It was late, so the apartment was dark.

I checked the dog’s food and water, trying to be quiet in case Rowdy was already asleep. I was winding my way toward his bedroom when a haphazardly discarded sketch pad lying on the couch caught my eye in the dim light. I paused for a minute to pick it up and felt my heart stop and then start to race as I flipped through the first few pages. There were a couple of drawings that were obviously for clients, tattoos that hadn’t made it from paper to skin yet, but most of the pristine white pages were covered with images wearing my face. There was mermaid me, and naughty-sailor-girl me. There was sassy Indian girl me with long Pocahontas braids and there was sexy devil me standing next to angelic me. There were dozens of them all in different shapes and sizes, but every single image was undoubtedly modeled after my distinct look. I wasn’t sure if he had drawn them all over this last week while I had been gone or over the months we had been chasing each other in circles.

Either way it made my heart swell and the full certainty that I was it for him settle deep inside my bones. I set the pad down and tiptoed through the hall. Jimbo took one look at where I was going and huffed out a disgusted-sounding snort. The poor guy had learned early on that he wanted no part of what happened between his humans when they were together in the bedroom. The light was off and Rowdy was sprawled on his stomach across the covers. His blond hair was sticking up everywhere and he hand one arm bent up under his head. The only thing that could have made the sight better would have been if he hadn’t bothered with the black boxers before crashing out.

Even with them obscuring the view, I couldn’t complain. I let out a breathless sigh and crept closer so that I could lean over and touch my lips to that anchor on the side of his neck. I felt his pulse leap and tasted the salt on his skin as he murmured sleepily and rolled over onto his back. Those infinitely blue eyes glowed at me in the dark as a grin pulled up the corner of his mouth.

“Hey.”

Reading Order: Marked Men series

Rule by Jay Crownover Jet by Jay Crownover Rome by jay Crownover
Nash by Jay Crownover Rowdy by Jay Crownover

#1 ~ Rule: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#2 ~ Jet: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#3 ~ Rome: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#4 ~ Nash: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#5 ~ Rowdy: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
#6 ~ Asa: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads (April 14, 2015)

about the author

Jay Crownover

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men series. She also introduced the dark and sexy world of The Point in a new series this last summer starting with BETTER WHEN HE’s BAD. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she’ll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.

Facebook • Twitter • Website • Goodreads

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Set of Signed Marked Men books with swag for 1 winner

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Release Day Launch + Excerpt & Giveaway: Mr. Beautiful by R.K. Lilley

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Happy Release Day to R.K. Lilley! MR. BEAUTIFUL is LIVE!

Mr. Beautiful by R.K. Lilley

Mr. Beautiful by R.K. Lilley
Series: Up in the Air #4 (full reading order below)
Release Date: October 15th 2014
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I’ve been remade four times in my life.

It is a distinct feeling. Impossible to mistake. The very marked sensation of being unraveled and reknit into a new thing, a new person. It can be good or bad, helpful or harmful, but above all, it is unstoppable.

I was remade when my parents died, went from a happy childhood, into navigating a very dark world, with endless responsibilities, surrounded by enemies, and despairingly alone.

It happened again at the hands of a cowardly predator. I’d become angrier with that one, more cynical, and it undoubtedly turned me into the kinky f**k I was today.

The third happened swiftly. One day I looked up into a pair of pale blue eyes and saw the other half of my soul. Checkmate. I went from a completely controlled existence, a life where I made every decision with cold calculation, to a man overcome with feelings and emotions that were foreign but somehow wonderful.

And all too soon after that cataclysmic change was this fourth one, this one where I begged a God I’d never entertained to spare the life of a woman that I could not live without.

Follow all of the characters from the Up in the Air universe in the years after the trilogy, with POVs from James, Stephan, Frankie, Tristan, and Akira.

This book is intended for readers 18 and up.

Purchase:
AmazonAmazon UK • iBooks

Now here’s an excerpt from Mr. Beautiful! ❤

excerpt

JAMES

MY RAVENOUS SELF

It was some endless span of time later, after the shooting.

Weeks that felt like ages. Time I’d spent agonizing and worrying.

I’d adjusted almost completely to working from home, as I wouldn’t even consider leaving her side while she recovered. My businesses suffered through some minor hiccups for this, but nothing catastrophic. All of it had become rather relative, besides.

So what if a few other people helped me run things, and I lost control over some of the minute details that used to consume me? I couldn’t even recall why it was so important to manage it all myself anymore.

What was the worst that could be happen? I’d become slightly less filthy rich?

We were dining privately, and Bianca was being very quiet. Too quiet. She was up in her own head again, though her worries were always the polar opposite of mine.

She worried about me. My stress levels, my lack of sleep, my unmet needs.

It was a difficult thing to grow accustomed to, as I couldn’t remember the last time, pre-Bianca, that someone fretted over me.

Not since my mother, I supposed.

She cleared her throat and brought her level stare to meet my troubled one.

“I heard you talking on the phone earlier, to your Detroit manager. It sounded as though the situation would best be handled if you went there in person. I think you should do it. You can’t stay home with me forever. I’m perfectly self-sufficient now, and even if I wasn’t, I have Stephan and Javier next door, not to mention all of the staff.”

I didn’t even consider it. She may have been ready for that, but I was not.

“Maybe in a week or two,” I told her, not meaning it, but using it as a subject ender.

I went back to my food, feeling her presence acutely to my left. I was a focused man, but I could not be in a room with Bianca without at least half of my attention on her at all times.

Her presence was a great gaping void in my concentration—my ultimate distraction.

I caught her sigh out of the corner of my eye and turned my attention on her fully.

She set down her utensils, sitting back in her chair.

“Was it not to your liking?” I asked her, eyeing up her barely touched dinner. She’d finished only about a third of her filet and less than half of her vegetables.

“It was very good. I just wasn’t that hungry. I think you actually need to expend energy to work up an appetite.”

The words hungry and appetite coming out of her succulent mouth with that soft voice of hers was enough to make me hard, though it was a fact that it didn’t take much these days.

I looked at her, keeping my eyes squarely on her face.

I’d taken one look at the little dress she was wearing earlier and decided wisely not to look at it again.

My control was hanging on by the thinnest thread, and that dress, or more specifically, the body it revealed more than clothed, was more provocative than I could stand.

It was overkill, really.

Inflammatory, when I was already on fire.

Still, if I let my mind wander for even a second, I could picture it perfectly—her body in that dress.

It was palest peach, a lovely color on her, feminine and loose, with ruffles at the neck and hem, and so minuscule that it could have been a shirt. I had to force my mind away from any thoughts about her long, bare legs in it.

It also exposed nearly her entire back, just one T shaped strap all that covered her from her shoulder to the little dimples above her ass, which was torment for all kinds of reasons, one being that her back drove me mindless, the other being that it meant she was braless, and that drove me from mindless to madness incarnate.

The neckline was decent enough, but the sides of the dress were cut severely, on account of the back, leaving the sides of both breasts exposed, so much so that the wrong movement could slip her clean out of it.

I took a few deep, grounding breaths for control.

I allowed myself one brief glance at her bare neck. Her choker was locked away, since the injury.

The sight of her neck without it always made my fingers twitch restlessly.

This also brought my mind to other things she’d lost during her long hospital stay.

Like both of her nipple piercings, which brought my mind to her breasts, the absolute last place it needed to go.

In spite of myself, I glanced at the white skin of one rounded tit where it nearly spilled out of the side of that damned dress.

And felt myself begin to shake.

I looked away, setting down my fork and knife, attempting to hide the fine tremor that ran through the entire length of me, and seemed to be most apparent in my hands.

“James,” she said, voice quiet and solemn, almost chiding, like she knew what afflicted me.

Like she held the cure if only I’d reach for it.

She did, of course, but I wouldn’t let myself reach. Not yet.

It was too soon.

She’d nearly died and needed time to recover, time unsullied by my selfish, unquenchable need.

I didn’t look at her directly, but needless to say, I was still hyper aware of it when she stood and moved to stand at my side.

I took in a deep breath, then let it out, calming myself and taking her in all at once.

She touched the top of my head lightly with her elegant fingers. “Oh, James,” she sighed, tone gentle enough to make me ache.

She stroked her hand into my hair, gripped it lightly, and started to pull.

She leaned forward, pressing my tense head to her soft bosom.

I shut my eyes tight.

The image of me putting my ravenous self on her wounded self was a crystal clear picture in my head.

Obsessively, repetitively, day and night, asleep or awake, I pictured this.

It was very nearly too much to bear; this voracious, prodigious need of mine.

I’d not gone through a celibate stage like this since I’d become sexually active, back in my teens. In the beginning of our relationship, when Bianca had left me, I’d come close, but this spell had since outlasted that one.

It was an ordeal.

I jerked off at least five times a day, to cope with the readjustment, but it was about as satisfactory as eating cardboard instead of steak.

My traitorous hands moved to grip the bare backs of her thighs, keeping her leaning against me.

After one inflamed, torturous moment, I tore myself away.

She let me go, moving back to her seat.

I looked at her, making my gaze go to the bandaged side of her face, which I usually avoided, but not now, because I needed that reminder of why I had to put her needs before my own.

Her injury was still dressed from the latest round of reconstructive surgery, covering one side of her face from cheekbone to jaw.

It was a sobering sight, not because it was grisly, in fact I couldn’t even see the actual wound, it was covered so thoroughly, but because it was a stark and clear reminder of what had almost happened.

That reminder was dampening, which was what I needed at the moment.

I finished eating, and Bianca quietly excused herself.

I knew where she was going, and I forced myself to move in the opposite direction.

If I followed her to her painting studio, watched her work on and around a canvas in that fucking dress, I’d surely snap, and lose all restraint.

She was not recovered enough for my unrestrained self.

I tried not to follow her, to hover, as that was not what she wanted, but it was a constant struggle against myself not to check in on her.

Instead, I took up residence in my home office and attempted to work.

That lasted all of thirty seconds.

That fast and my mind was wandering back to her, and back to the image of my ravenous self on her recovering self, and I recalled rather urgently that I was do for another jerk off session.

I had just pulled my erection from the oppressive confines of my pants when my office door opened with no preamble.

This was unusual. Bianca never came to my office.

She stepped inside, then shut the door behind her, not looking even slightly surprised at what I’d been up to, while I found myself flushing in embarrassment.

Her eyes were unflinching on mine as she approached.

I’d pushed my chair back from the desk in preparation for my after dinner jerk session. There was enough space between for her to fit.

She did, facing me and leaning back until her ass was perched right on the edge.

I raised my desperate eyes to her devastating ones.

Our gazes never wavered as, at the bottom of my vision, she lifted her wispy little dress up to bare herself.

With a sigh of defeat, I let myself look, but only for the briefest moment.

No panties, as I’d suspected.

My eyes, as they returned to hers, were pleading now.

I couldn’t fight her and myself.

Myself was bad enough, but I’d never been any match for her.

Not for one lovesick second since the first time I’d set eyes on her.

“You need more recovery time, Love,” I told her, voice desperate, heart pounding.

“Shh,” she soothed, holding her arms out for me, her skirt falling back down to barely cover the essentials.

With a shudder, I moved into her, sliding my chair close between her legs. I rested my cheek on her soft, bare thigh and attempted and failed to hold onto any vague shred of my once dependable control.

She stroked her fingers through my hair.

It wasn’t long before I raised my head to take her in again. “Grip the edge of the desk with your hands,” I told her roughly, unsteady hands lifting her skirt, letting myself look my fill at last.

“I’m off the painkillers,” she told me.

My eyes jerked to hers, nostrils flaring as I caught what she meant me to. We both knew I wouldn’t touch her impaired.

“Why?” I asked, just to be sure.

“I don’t like them, and the pain is manageable.”

“You can’t do that. You can’t make yourself suffer on my account.”

“Don’t put this on yourself. This is how I’ve always been. I never could stand to take pain medication, no matter the reason, so as soon as it becomes bearable, I stop.”

I shut my eyes tight and took a deep breath, so torn I was doubting myself.

“Please, Mr. Cavendish,” she breathed.

She was ruthless.

I was lost.

I turned my head, burrowing my face between her legs, tasting her.

My moan was almost loud enough to drown out hers.

A taste turned into a feast and I lapped at her, one hand pinching the tip of my cock to hold off on coming as my other hand delved between her thighs to finger her.

She came undone fast, thank God, as I jammed two fingers into her and pushed my tongue repeatedly against the swollen nub of her clit.

I pulled my face away to look at her as my hands went still, stopping her on the brink.

I didn’t have to tell her. She knew what to do.

She begged.

Reading Order: Up in the Air series

In Flight by R.K. Lilley Mile High by R.K. Lilley Grounded by R.K. Lilley Mr. Beautiful by R.K. Lilley

#1 ~ In Flight: EbookPaperbackGoodreads
#2 ~ Mile High: EbookPaperbackGoodreads
#3 ~ Grounded: EbookPaperbackGoodreads
#4 ~ Mr. Beautiful: Ebook • Goodreads

about the author

R.K. LilleyR.K. Lilley lives in Colorado with her husband and their two beautiful sons. She’s had a lot of interesting jobs, from being a first class flight attendant, to being a stablehand, but swears she never knew what hard work was until she had children. She’s been addicted to both reading and writing fiction since she can remember. She loves to travel, read, hike, paint, game, watch anime, and make the most of every single day. She is the author of the erotic romance novels In Flight, Mile High, Grounded, and the novella, Lana.

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