Virtual Book Tour with Giveaway ~ What Happens in Summer (At the Shore #2) by Caridad Pineiro

What Happens in Summer

(At the Shore #2)

By Caridad Pineiro

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"One Summer Night is the perfect escape! It's tender, funny and sexy, with wonderful characters you'll fall in love with. You can't go wrong with Caridad Pineiro."—RAEANNE THAYNE, USA Today bestselling author

She knows the kind of man he is;

The kind who breaks hearts.

But a hot summer at the Jersey Shore

Might be just what they need to light up their lives…

As the only daughter of a single mom, Connie Reyes swore she would never put herself or her child in a similar position. But when she runs into oh so tempting Jonathan Pierce at a wedding, she knows she must stay away. She'll fall for him—hard. And he's not the type to stick around.

Ever since he left town after their teenaged fling, Jonathan hasn't been able to forget about Connie. He can't wait for the wedding—to show her the man he's become. And when the night finally comes, their mutual desire will lead to unexpected consequences neither of them were prepared for…

Sea Kiss, New Jersey

Playing it safe was far worse than taking a risk on what you wanted.

Jonathan Pierce knew just what he wanted.

He grabbed hold of the gnarly branch of the decades-old wisteria vine that climbed the side of the Sinclair mansion and boosted himself up. He’d made the journey so many times this past summer, he could do it blindfolded.

He scrambled up the vine, finding the familiar foot and handholds until he vaulted up and over the second floor railing, and landed silently as a cat burglar on the balcony. It ran the length of the immense oceanfront mansion, with elegant french doors offering views of the sea.

The first darkened doorway was Maggie Sinclair’s room. He rushed past it quietly; Maggie belonged to his older brother, Owen. Not that Owen had acted on it yet, but Jonathan had known for years that the two were meant to be together, family feud be damned.

The next doorway was usually Maggie’s dad’s, but the old man had stopped coming down to the Shore as often as he once had, so it was a good bet that room was unoccupied.

Reaching the third room, he saw the curtains wafting in the summer breeze and the dim light from behind the partially closed french doors. He smiled and his heart raced with pleasure.

Connie was waiting for him. Ever-responsible, ever-loyal Connie had broken her own rules to fall in love with him. Or at least he thought it was love. It definitely was on his part. With barely a week left before the girls all went back to school, he intended to let her know just how he felt.

He slipped carefully through the open doors and shut them behind him. He’d gone no more than a step when she launched herself at him, laughing and kissing him as she said, “What took you so long?”

“I missed you, too,” he said, knowing it was more about the separation to come in a week and not about the long hours since last night.

He bent his head and kissed her, his touch tender and caring, and she answered in kind, her lips soft and coaxing.

Although Maggie had been bringing her friends to the Jersey Shore every summer since they’d met freshman year in college, he’d never really paid much attention to Connie at first. He’d had his share of girls from his high school class fawning over him.

But when Maggie and her friends had come back the next year, he had finally, gratefully, noticed what a real woman should be. Like Connie: all luscious curves; also proud, smart, and independent,

As impatient as he might be to make love to her tonight, he wanted her to know how much this meant to him. How this wasn’t only a summer romance for him.

He leaned over her, his gaze locked on her face. He wanted to say the words—Lord, how he wanted to—but they stuck in his throat and so he let every kiss and touch tell her what he couldn’t voice.

***

Connie’s heart thudded almost painfully in her chest as she wondered how, in a week’s time, she could leave him. The ache deepened beneath her breastbone and she put her hand there and rubbed to assuage the hurt.

What had started as a summer fling with a funny, smart, and beautiful boy had turned into something so much more, with an incredibly amazing man. Falling in love with Jonathan hadn’t been in her game plan, but he was just too hard to resist.

She should have resisted. He was a Pierce. She wasn’t a Sinclair, but Maggie was like a sister and that stupid family feud was still going strong, as far as she knew.

He was going back to Villanova in a week and she’d be returning to Princeton. The colleges were not all that far apart, but if she was to execute her game plan, she had to stay in the game, which meant studying and more studying. Not nights spent in bed making love and days spent daydreaming about the nights. But like Adam with Eve, now that she’d had a bite of such delicious forbidden fruit, she didn’t know how she could go on a Jonathan-free diet.

At the moment, she could just admire his sun-streaked light brown hair waving wildly around a masculine face with chiseled features. A sexy dimpled grin was on his lips and his eyes glittered with a blue as enchanting as a Sea Kiss summer sea.

That ache in her heart rocketed to life again together with an almost unbearable lightness in her soul. For so much of her life she’d been driven to accomplish more and more, but with Jonathan, she could just be herself. No goals or responsibilities. Just…happy.

And so, in the blink of an eye, her game plan altered. She could see it all so clearly, only now Jonathan was there beside her at each step. Finish college. Head to law school. Pass the bar. Get a job in a big New York City law firm so she could help her family financially, as well as others who had legal problems and couldn’t afford representation. Become a partner. Marry Jonathan. Or maybe marry Jonathan and then become a partner. She didn’t want to wait too long to be with him forever.

Not that she’d ever pictured getting married to anyone before, since her home life hadn’t been anything great. But for Jonathan, she’d make an exception.

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Virtual Book Tour with Giveaway ~ The One You Can’t Forget (The Ones Who Got Away #2) By Roni Loren

The One You Can’t Forget

The Ones Who Got Away #2

By Roni Loren

“Absolutely unputdownable, delivers all of the feels! Roni Loren is a new favorite. Loved this.”

—COLLEEN HOOVER, #1 New York Times bestseller

Most days Rebecca Lindt feels like an imposter…

The world admires her as a survivor. But that impression would crumble if people knew her secret. She didn’t deserve to be the one who got away. But nothing can change the past, so she’s thrown herself into her work. She can’t dwell if she never slows down.

Wes Garrett is trying to get back on his feet after losing his dream restaurant, his money, and half his damn mind in a vicious divorce. But when he intervenes in a mugging and saves Rebecca—the attorney who helped his ex ruin him—his simple life gets complicated.

Their attraction is inconvenient and neither wants more than a fling. But when Rebecca’s secret is put at risk, both discover they could lose everything, including what they never realized they needed: each other

She laughed and kissed him. This morning she'd melted down. But somehow this man had her laughing and turned on only a few hours later. Everything inside her felt buoyed.

She felt…light.

She'd forgotten what that felt like.

Wes parked the van in front of the house and cut the engine. “Well, I’ll take it as a good sign that your car is still here. If those guys showed up with your keys, they would’ve taken your ride.”

Rebecca frowned. “No. I didn’t have my car keys with me since I walked today, but at least everything looks the same as how I left it. Plus, my car keys are hanging on a peg in the kitchen. They wouldn’t be hard to find.”

Wesley eyed her. Her voice was confident, but she kept smoothing the leg of her scrubs, her hands like nervous birds not knowing where to settle. He had the weirdest urge to hug her and tell her it was going to be all right, to take that fear from her. But a sure way to freak her out even further would be for some strange dude she’d just met to hug her. He was freaked out enough for both of them that he even had that urge. “Hey, why don’t you tell me where your spare key is hidden, and I’ll go in and check the house for you first.”

There. That was a reasonable, not weird way to help.

She glanced his way, frowning. “If the alarm’s on, I need to turn it off, and I don’t want to sit out here. That’ll stress me out more than going in with you. I’m the only one who will be able to tell if anything’s been moved anyway.”

“Fair enough. Whatever makes you feel most comfortable is fine. But the minute something seems off or out of place, we bail and call the cops. Pinch my arm or something to signal me.”

Her frown deepened, a little line appearing between her brows, as if she couldn’t quite figure him out.

He couldn’t stop his smile. “What’s wrong? You look like you’re trying to figure out a really hard math problem.”

“I wouldn’t make this face for math. I’m good at math.” She let out a breath. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out why you’re being so nice to me. You don’t…know me.”

“Does that matter? If I knew you, would I not want to help you out?”

She stiffened. “What?”

He tilted his head. “I mean, are you secretly some evil comic-book villain who’s about to take over the city? Or do you have plans to kill me and store my body in your basement when we get inside?”

Her pinched expression flattened into something droll. “Austin houses don’t have basements.”

“Whew.” He wiped his brow. “I’m safe.”

She snorted and then covered her nose and mouth like she was surprised the sound had escaped. “You’re kind of strange, Wesley Garrett.”

He shrugged. “I get that a lot.” And that was a helluva lot better than what most people probably called him these days. “Now, are we going to bravely search your house like two TV detectives? Because I am so down for that right now. I need to bang open doors and yell, ‘Clear!’”

She laughed, the soft, husky sound filling the space between them and sending a pleasant ripple through him. The feeling was so unfamiliar that it stalled his breath for a second. How long had it been since he’d been around someone he could simply joke with and relax around? Someone who wasn’t looking at him like he was damaged goods? Or who wasn’t checking him for signs of a backslide?

He didn’t get clean-slate conversations like this anymore. Not with his family. Not with friends. Not even with himself. Rebecca felt like a gulp of clean, fresh air. He wanted to close his eyes and inhale. In this moment, he could be a man with no past. He could be whoever he wanted to be. And right now, he wanted to be the guy who was making this woman laugh.

She cocked her head. “You say that like you’ve been planning to do this TV detective routine for a while.”

“It’s a life goal,” he said solemnly. “I mean, I’ve done it at home alone, but that really isn’t as fun. Plus, it pisses off the neighbors. All those banging doors.”

She laughed again, and he felt like he’d won some kind of prize. She seemed like someone who didn’t give those laughs away easily.

“Now all we need are weapons,” he declared.

She reached into the bag of takeout and pulled out the eco-friendly cornstarch forks Dev used in place of plastic cutlery. “How’s this?”

“Perfect. We can go for the eyes.” He took his fork and grabbed the keys. “Let’s do this.”

“I’m ready.” Some of their playing around must’ve distracted her from her nerves because when Rebecca got out of the van, her shoulders seemed looser and there was a tentative smile on her face. She nodded toward the house and set her fork on the hood. He followed suit, since if he really had to take action, he’d need his hands free. “My extra key is by the back door.”

They headed around the house and into the small backyard. She hunched near an overgrown herb garden and fished around, finally coming up with one of those fake rocks. She flipped it over and keyed in a three-digit code on a spinner combination lock.

Wes snapped a leaf off one of her plants and inhaled the scent. “Mmm, lemon thyme. You’ve got quite a collection out here. Cilantro. Oregano. Italian parsley. I’m a little jealous.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “I honestly have no idea what most of them are or what to do with all of them. I had the house landscaped when I moved in, and I guess the gardeners picked the perfect spot because they grow like crazy. Except the basil, which was the one I actually knew how to use. That one was a goner during the first hundred-degree day of summer.”

“Basil is a sensitive soul.” It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her he could show her how to use the herbs, but he held the offer back. His brother had been right. Making her laugh was like some weird sort of drug to his starved system, but she didn’t need a guy flirting with her right now. It couldn’t go anywhere anyway. He didn’t date, for one. And even if he was doing the casual hookup thing these days, she didn’t strike him as the type who’d be down for that, especially with someone like him. He had nothing to offer her besides garden-care tips.

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Virtual Book Tour with Giveaway ~Cowboy SEAL Redemption (Navy Seal Cowboys #2) by Nicole Helm

 Cowboy SEAL Redemption

Navy Seal Cowboys #2

By Nicole Helm

Three former Navy SEALs

Injured in the line of duty

Desperate for a new beginning…

Searching for a place to call their own.

Jack Armstrong’s been slowly piecing his life back together after a career-ending injury bounced him from the SEALs. The only trouble is, his family’s on their way to his new haven in Montana...and Jack refuses to let them know he’s still hurting. Desperate, he makes a deal with local bad girl Rose Rogers: in exchange for some extra security, she’ll play the perfect loving girlfriend.

Rose doesn’t trust any man, much less some tough-as-nails former SEAL. But the more they settle into their ruse, the more things start to feel real, and the more Rose’s true fear surfaces—that she’ll never be good enough for love. But Jack isn’t about to lose Rose. He’s done running when things get tough, and he’s determined to prove—once and for all—that even the most troubled hearts can find their way to redemption.

“Come inside.”

“Remember when you said you weren’t any country I swore to protect? Well, I’m not some sob story you need to soothe your conscience with,” Jack said.

“That’s not what I’m doing,” Rose returned through gritted teeth, because maybe he wasn’t too far off the mark. She didn’t exactly see him as a sob story, but there might have been a flash of truth she recognized in the whole soothe your conscience bit.

“Then what are you doing?”

“I don’t know,” she threw back at him, frustration and guilt and some other thing that felt a whole lot like panic fluttering in her chest. What was there to panic over? What did she care if Jack took off? They were maybe friends at best, and he’d just made it clear he was coming back. Panic was nonsensical. Frustration was pointless. Guilt was…

Well, inevitable.

“Seems to be a theme,” he murmured, his voice suddenly soft. “Not used to that, are you?”

She wanted to tell him he didn’t know her, but she couldn’t form the words, couldn’t push them out of her mouth.

“Me neither,” he said, as if she’d agreed instead of remained silent and still. She felt his fingertips on her cheek, hot and rough against the cool of her skin. A gentle caress.

He was touching her like something delicate and precious, and her breath got all tangled in her lungs. She swallowed, trying to find some sense of power, some sense of her usual cool detachment.

“W-what are you doing?” Had she just stuttered that question? Unacceptable. Rose Rogers didn’t stutter.

“I thought we established I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, so it might as well be this,” Jack returned, his voice a dark rumble.

And in the dark night, like so many of her dreams lately, Jack’s mouth was on hers. Hot and somehow demanding. None of the timid, only-been-with-one-girl stuff she might have imagined.

His beard was a rough scrape against her chin and his tongue a velvet whisper across her lips, and no matter the little voice in her head telling her to stop this before it hurt them both, she opened her mouth for him.

His tongue swept in, and everything inside her shut up and hummed with a pulsing life. It might have been dark around her, but she felt like a beacon of light, like the center of something. And when Jack’s warm hand slid behind her neck, cupping it firmly, as if she was somehow his to cherish and protect, everything inside her simply loosened and relaxed in a way it never, ever had.

That was quickly followed by a bolt of panic so hard and so potent, she pushed him away. It was only then she realized she was shaking, maybe shaking apart, against the brick wall of her bar.

Her bar. Her power. She was in charge. She was…

Broken, just like me.

She pushed away her father’s voice, pushed away everything except the feel of the cool, rough brick behind her back. This was her center, this rough-and-tumble, hole-in-the-wall bar she’d worked her ass off for the past few years.

She took a deep breath in and a deep breath out, almost able to laugh at the fact that she could hear Jack doing exactly the same thing.

Calming himself. Finding center.

“I’m not going to pretend I didn’t… Well, that was a hell of a kiss, Jack.”

“Okay,” he replied, his voice frustratingly devoid of any readable emotion.

“I imagine sex would be great too.”

“I would imagine,” he replied blandly.

“I need you to understand something, okay? You’re not disposable, but I’m not…good guy material. I’m attracted to you, God knows, and I’d even break a few personal rules and sleep with you, but that’s all it would be.”

“Did you think that kiss was me asking for a pity fuck?” And there was a hint at some emotion—rage or wounded pride or both.

“No. No, that’s not what… Look, guys like you do not have relationships with foul-mouthed, tattooed bar owners.”

“Guys like me.”

“Yes. Good, upstanding—for heaven’s sake, you were a Navy SEAL, engaged to the girl next door that your family expected you to marry. You’re like an American fairy tale. Let me tell you, a princess gets that guy. Not me.”

“Did you mistake me kissing you for a marriage proposal?”

She blew out a breath and something almost like a laugh. “No. But… One woman. You’ve had one lifelong relationship, and I just need to be clear that this ain’t going to be that. This can be something temporary and fun, but nothing like a relationship. That’s not what I’m after.”

“I see.”

“So you can take it or leave it.”

He was quiet for the longest time, and it was stupid to hold her breath or worry. Of course he would take it. It was sex without strings. It was the modern American Dream.

But Jack never seemed to do the expected thing.

“Leave it,” he replied, a firm, commanding response that brooked no argument. 

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