I'm so excited about the new Mercenary Heat Series and in particular release day for Tempting Marcus. I hope you enjoy the short snippet of the book found below and something on the page tempts you into grabbing a copy of the book for yourself.
Blurb
A mission is underway, and in the mercenary game, timing is
everything.
Beth has spent the last four years trying to tempt Marcus
into her bed so why decide now that it’s make or break with him? The excuses
have faded. She’s no longer too young, too innocent, or too naïve about the
job. She’s lead on their current assignment, success and failure rests with
her. Maybe that’s why she’s decided it’s also time to make one last ditched
attempt to secure the man she wants in her life. Marcus Delany, her boss and a
mercenary who claims to have no heart.
Not wanting Bethany isn’t the problem. Marcus wants her with
every fiber of his being, he just won’t allow himself to give into temptation
and have her. For Marcus it’s not about her age or experience, it’s not even
about his ability or desire to make Bethany his own. It’s about loss. If he
refuses to have her then he can’t lose her. His first life lesson as a
mercenary was a harsh one. Loving with all your heart makes you vulnerable.
That’s not what he wants to be. He’s been there, done that, and the T-shirt
wore out long ago.
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Excerpt
Beth didn’t move as he came closer, remaining propped
against the door jamb, now hedged in by Marcus’ much larger frame. He towered
over her when she wasn’t in platforms, and, for some reason, tonight she felt
especially slight while standing this close to him. Bethany’s annoyance with
him remained even as he stroked the outer side of his fingers down the side of
her face so tenderly, she never wanted it to end.
“It doesn’t matter, I was wrong to say it. I know you
think I’m too young.” Beth tried to remain composed as she replied, despite the
urge to unfold her arms and run her hands down his tightly muscled chest. “I’m
happy to do as you’ve asked. I’ll try to ignore my feelings for you. I’ll stop
the flirting and just be the diligent operative you want me to be. No more
bratty or cheeky Beth.”
“That’s not what I want, you’ve misunderstood.” Marcus
stepped closer, bracing one arm on the door jamb, forcing her to move over, her
back now pressed against the wall.
“Then what do you want, Marcus?” Bethany stared up at
him, her irritation quickly dissipating. “I don’t think the situation is that
difficult to figure out, either you want me, or you don’t.”
Four years of not knowing, of making all kinds of
excuses for why Marcus didn’t take her up on any of the flirtatious advances
she’d made. Beth knew her actions tempted
him. It was evident in the rare times he let his guard slip. His face softened,
his gaze became heated, roving over her body like a predator assessing his
prey. Beth knew he wanted her. She simply hadn’t hit on the right formula to
make him act.
“It’s just that…” Another pause from the man who
usually articulated himself so well. “Jesus, Beth, I’m tired of attempting to
conceal how hard you make me with all this teasing. I swear, I lose
concentration as the blood rushes from my brain to relocate itself in my cock.”
Suddenly confused, Beth tried to process what he’d
just said. Was she hearing him correctly? Was that an admission that she turned
him on?
“I make you hard?” Beth tried not to sound surprised
by his admission, her question more for clarification purposes than anything
else. In response, Marcus stepped
forward, eliminating any space between them.
“You know you do.” Beth felt his warm breath on the
side of her throat as he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I’m constantly
hard around you.”
The raspy, guttural tone of his voice should have been
all the proof needed to indicate he was telling the truth, Marcus reinforced
the evidence by pressing his groin against her. Hard wasn’t an exaggeration.
“Don’t tease me with something I’ll never have,
Marcus.” Beth placed her hands on his chest with every intention of pushing him
away. “You don’t want me… remember? Never
going to happen, you said.”
Intent failed. Beth wanted to throw his words back at
him, resume her anger, push against his hard chest, and free herself from the
cage of his frame. Instead, her voice
sounded as horny as his, her fingers massaged his pecs adoringly, not an ounce
of ire toward him remained.
“I want you, Beth,” Marcus stated. “I just don’t know
how to have you.”
“You can have me any way you want me, all you have to
do is say the word.” Beth slipped her hand between them and stroked the
erection beneath his jeans, eliciting a hiss from him, which made her smile.
In all the time they’d known
each other, Beth had never seen him appear as vulnerable as he did right
now—his heart opening to her, his body visibly aching for hers.
“I don’t know how to make this work,” he groaned,
making no attempt to sever their intimate connection.
When his face brushed her cheek, he feathered tiny
kisses along her collarbone, up the column of her neck and toward her mouth.
Beth pressed her body against his in response as he closed in on her mouth.
Could this really be happening? His lips met hers, the softest of kisses at
first, firming as his tongue entered her mouth. Beth moaned, looping her arms
around his shoulders as he forced her against the wall, his knee slipping
between her thighs, driving her legs apart. Marcus’ erection pressed into her
hip, the movement of their bodies making the hardness more distinct.
Every cell in Beth’s body responded to his desire. Her
cunt throbbed, moisture dampening the tiny G-string she wore. Her breasts ached
as hardened nipples rasped against her bra with the movement of their embrace.
He broke their kiss, gazing down at her with lust filled eyes.
“Tell me to stop.” His gaze drifted down her face, her
neck, stopping at her cleavage. “Please girl, tell me to stop.”
He looked torn. Need warring with some inner agony
clearly expressed on his face. What was keeping him from her? Why the hell
would he ask her to push him away when this was exactly what she wanted from
the moment she’d laid eyes on him? Bethany gave the only reply she was capable
of articulating.
“Never.”
In 2012, when everyone was coming down off the high of reading the Fifty Shades series, I stumbled across a blog post about a soon to be released series and learned that one of the authors was a native of my home state, Pennsylvania, and also a man. I was intrigued and couldn’t wait to see what a male writer could give readers in a predominantly female dominated industry. I was not disappointed, and shared his work on my personal FB page. Of course, once you’ve purchased books on Amazon, they make suggestions for other authors/books you might also like. I came across a series by a western romance writer who included historical facts about her home state of Texas in her books and they greatly appealed to the history geek in me. And, because I wanted others to hear about her work, I shared on FB. Well, some friends and family weren’t appreciating some of the things I was sharing, and I can understand that, so in May of 2013 I set up my own page, Shirley’s Bookshelf, where I could share whatever I wanted and people who liked what they saw could follow me and my family and friends didn’t have “suggestive” images showing up in their newsfeed. Initially I simply shared what I was reading at the time, and cover reveals, releases and sales for authors I followed.
