One Last Romantic Xmas Gasp on Epiphany

I grew up putting away all things Christmas on New Year's Day, during the Rose Bowl game. My husband, however, is a firm believer in the holiday season lasting through today - Epiphany. So on this, the last day of Christmas, I thought I'd share with you six sentences from the last page of my Christmas novella, Ask Her At Christmas. Spoiler alert, did I mention it is a romance novella? Which means a guaranteed happy ending? Trust me, the fun is in the journey to the three-hanky ending. Go on, take one more day to enjoy the season. Don't people always say you should keep the spirit of Christmas in your heart all year long? This way, you can keep it on your bookshelf, easily retrievable.

He slid the ring to her first knuckle. “Give me a merry Christmas. Give me your love.”

      Caitlin slid her finger the rest of the way through the ring. Even through her tears of joy she could see the large, shining diamond flanked by two emeralds. “I don’t know, Kyle. If you give me this ring now, how on earth will you top it on Christmas morning?”

6 Sentences of Unrequited Christmas Longing

In addition to the carols and decorations and cookies, there's another tradition - the Christmas romance. And this is my first year participating! I'm excited to share my holiday novella, Ask Her At Christmas, with the world. Especially because it's part of an anthology with stories by Jaci Burton and Helen Kay Dimon. Here's a sneak peak. I don't think I'm disclosing to much if I let you know that these two end up together (after all, it is Christmas - you need a happy ending)!

Kyle was yummy from head to toe, and Caitlin had wanted him almost her entire life.

 

Of course, he didn’t know about her massive crush. She’d never hinted, never let her hands linger for an extra second on his abs when they shared sunscreen at the tiny strip of sand along Lake Michigan they called a beach. She’d never leaned over after splitting a bottle of wine and trailed a finger across the lips she would kill to have touch hers. No, Caitlin played the part of the best-friend-and-nothing-more-than-a-friend to the hilt. Because it would absolutely devastate her if she revealed her longing and he didn’t feel the same way.

Every Romance Needs a Good Bromance

Secondary characters can make or break a book. Since bromances are one of my favorite things to read, I make sure to always incorporate them in my novels. Planning for Love introduces the hero, Ben, to Gib, a British ex-pat hotel manager. They meet in the gym, where Ben's running his way straight to a heart attack on the treadmill until Gib coaxes him into a break.

“Then why, if you don’t mind me asking a personal question, were you just running as if pursued by an angry mob out for blood?”

“Nice imagery.”

“Thank you.” Gib handed over an icy bottle. “I wanted to spin something about an enraged, shotgun-wielding father and a recently defiled virgin, but I didn’t want to cast any aspersions.”

“Well, you British are famous for your restraint.”

A Second Chance At A Hero - #6 Sentence Sunday

Welcome to another Six Sentence Sunday! Everyone knows that romance novels are full of ups and downs. In today's six, my heroine, Ivy, gets a second chance at being with her hero - even though she really doesn't want it:

Taking a deep breath, Ivy turned around. And immediately felt as though a thousand-pound hippo stomped all that air right back out of her. The one man she’d spent weeks trying to banish from her thoughts currently leaned, ankles crossed, on the entrance wall to the Oceanarium, devilishly debonair in a tux. And why did her first reaction have to be noticing how damn handsome he looked? Because Ben Westcott—whether clothed or stark naked—was nothing if not drop-dead good looking.

“Uh oh,” whispered Daphne. “Isn’t that—”

Six Sentences That Lead To Sex

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday! There's one heck of a storm barrelling up the East Coast. So I'm going to do my part to raise your temperature a little bit. Planning for Love, the first book in my Chicago wedding Aisle Bound series starts with a hook-up pretty early on in the story. My hero, Ben attempts to talk Ivy into coming up to his hotel room. Read this--and see if you think he was successful....

“Sweet talker.”

“Tell me you’re not interested. Tell me you don’t want to slide between the sheets, skin to skin with me, and I’ll order you that drink. We’ll chat about whatever you want, and go our separate ways.” Her mouth opened slowly, but before she could form words, he continued in the same, matter of fact tone. “Or I could make your panties—which I’m betting match your dress—damp in less than five minutes.”

Six Sentence Sunday!

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday!  Today's excerpt comes straight from a big, Greek rehearsal dinner, where things heat up between the best man and the maid of honor - neither of which can stand the other.  Here's bit of Chapter Three of Cruising Toward Love:

Slowly, he dragged his finger down, down the straight line of her sternum to trace along the top of her neckline. First one side, then the other, finishing by dipping into the hollow between her breasts.

“The way you look in that dress—especially since most of your good parts are on display out of the dress—standing next to me is the last place I think you should be. I’m picturing more of a horizontal position. With me on top. At least for starters.”