Excerpt: Kill't Dead or Worse by Richard Hacker

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About the Book

After a murdered partner, a cheating wife and a lost job in Houston, Nick Sibelius sets up a private investigation business in a small Texas town hoping to find some peace and maybe, himself. When two lovers disappear and a fisherman turns up dead, he finds himself drawn into a web of crime and deceit involving MaryLou, a beautiful woman with a mysterious past; Junior, a failed farmer whose best intentions seem to always result in a dead body; and Barry, a sociopathic dentist turned illegal toxic waste entrepreneur with a violent right wing agenda. When the felon who killed Nick’s partner in Houston joins forces with Barry, Nick must not only stop the toxic waste dumping while finding his client’s missing daughter, but keep from being killed in the process. In the end, MaryLou’s dark secret will either save him or kill him -- whichever comes first.

Excerpt

A banging startled him awake. Nick lifted his head off a stale, damp pillow case, the bed creaking as he sat up. Three fifteen. He slipped on some shorts and checked the safety on his Glock. The banging continued, which in his trailer sounded like Thor hammering on his head.

He shouted, "Who's there?"

"Reverend Anderson."

Nick didn't know a Reverend Anderson since he had no desire to step through the transom of a church anytime soon. This had to be the same guy who called. Why would a minister go to this much trouble to wake me up? He held the gun behind his back, opening the door to a large black man, six foot four, dressed in tan slacks, a green polo shirt and shoes with a shine that reflected the light from inside Nick's trailer.

"Did you call earlier?"

"Yes, that was me. I need to speak with you urgently."

Nick slipped the gun behind a cushion of the built-in seat by the door. "As I told you..." He searched for the man's name.

"Reverend Anderson. I'm the paster of Victory Church in town."

"Yes, mister...Reverend Anderson. Like I said, we can talk during normal business hours."

Nick reached to close the door.

"You shut that door and you're condemning my little girl to God only knows what." 

"Trust me, Reverend. It can wait until the morning." Nick pushed the door closed, but Anderson stiff armed the door open. "You don't want to go down this path, Reverend."

"I've heard what people say about you."

"So I'm the talk of the town, eh?"

"They say you're rude, arrogant and a drunk."

"Well you can tell them to kiss—"

"And that you get it done." Anderson took a step forward, placing his large frame in the doorway. "Is that correct, Mr. Sibelius. Do you get it done?"

"It's Nick. And yeah, I suppose I do." He breathed a weary sigh. "Do we really need to talk about this right now?"

The Reverend stared at him. Nick eased away from the door, nodding toward the trailer's interior. Anderson took the two steps through the opening of the trailer, ducking to avoid banging his head against the doorway. 

Nick said, "I take it I'm not going to get rid of you until you tell me what's crawling up your ass, right?"

"Yeah, that's right, Nick. I need your help." 

Nick looked to the right at dishes piled in the sink, empty bottles on the counter and the remains of last night's dinner still sitting on the table, and then left, to a pile of dirty clothes and towels. He grabbed a barbecue stained paper plate off the table, folding it up and placing it in the trash under the sink. "So what's this burning issue?"

"It's my daughter. She's missing."

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About the Author

Richard Hacker has been writing most of his life, and professionally, in support of his work in management consulting, public speaking and training in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. In 2009 he moved, along with his wife, from Austin to Seattle, shifting his professional focus from business consulting to writing fiction full time. Wanted by authorities for smuggling Texas BBQ across state lines, he now writes and lives in Seattle. His writing has been recognized by the Writer's League of Texas and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. As a judge in literary contests such as PNWA and ChicLit, he enjoys the opportunity to give writers honest critique to move their craft forward. In addition, he is the science fiction and fantasy editor for the Del Sol Review, an online literary magazine.

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Excerpt: The Stubborn Billionaire by Lexxie Couper

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Publication Date: January 23, 2017
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Erotic, Romance

He had a plan for her. Her getting under his skin wasn’t it.
I’ll stop at nothing to get what I want. It’s the Dyson way.
Ruthless? Maybe. But it’s what’s put me on top. And it’s what’s going to help me get revenge on the woman who put my family through hell.

I’m going to ruin Sienna Roberts.
My plan has been in play for months. She has no idea I’m the mysterious benefactor commissioning her artwork, or that the downfall in store for her will be the end of her career.

But there’s something I didn’t plan for—the way her smile and touch starts to make me forget all I blame her for…

Excerpt

Someone knocked on her studio door. She shot a quick glance at her watch.

Since when had Carrie ever been early? Especially for an afternoon of chocolate-biscuits therapy? She wasn’t due for another half an hour.

Another more-insistent knock came. “Okay, okay.” She glared at the empty canvas one more time before crossing the room, grabbing the doorknob, and pulling the door open. “Keep your pants…”

Icy shock froze Sienna. Her words died in her throat. Her mouth turned to dust.

Oh God.

The tall man with impossibly broad shoulders and thick black hair on her doorstep smiled, eyes sharp. “On?”

“What are you doing here?”

James Dyson, ruthless billionaire, media mogul, Time Australia’s Businessman of the Year, and the last man Sienna ever wanted to see again, slid his hands into his hip pockets. The firm muscles in his arms and shoulders flexed under his tailored designer suit, and Sienna’s pulse leaped away on a little excited masochistic trip at the sight. Stupid pulse. “I’m here to see you, Ms. Roberts.”

She raised her eyebrows, ignoring her gallivanting pulse. Getting excited over James Dyson was foolish. Getting excited over him again was just plain idiocy. “Is that right?” She crossed her arms over her breasts, staring him down. “If I remember correctly, only six months ago you told me never to come near or speak to a member of the Dyson family again. You seem to be breaking your own commandment.”

Dark, dark brown eyes studied her, and then James shrugged. “A man can change his mind.”

“The Dyson men don’t change their minds.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re famous for it.”

An evil dimple appeared in his left cheek. “There are other…things…we’re famous for, Sienna. Don’t you want to find out what they are?”

His voice played with her senses, smooth and tantalizing like whiskey and honey. Swallowing a sudden flush of hot excitement, she met his dark stare.

The first time they’d been this close, he’d offered to buy her a drink. They’d flirted—her with an unschooled hesitancy, him with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Only when he’d found out who she was—twenty minutes into their playful and very mutual romantic advances—did their flirtation end.

The last time they’d been this close, he’d refused her entry to his brother’s funeral, his eyes unreadable, his jaw clenched, his words cutting and cruel.

He was the embodiment of everything she despised—money, power, greed. Getting excited in his presence was not only insane, it was admitting to the Devil her soul was up for grabs. “What I want, Mr. Dyson, is for you to leave. I’m expecting someone.”

A thick black eyebrow cocked. “Is he running late?”

“No. She isn’t.”

He ran his gaze over her body from head to toe in a languid inspection, taking in her old cropped tank top, paint-splattered boy-leg panties, and bare feet. Heat flushed through her cheeks at the realization she’d answered the door in her underwear, thinking the person on the other side was Carrie. It didn’t help that she remembered without any problem the compliment he’d paid her about her free-spirited nature to clothing during that first meeting. “I see,” he said. “Kinky.”

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About the Author

Lexxie Couper started writing when she was six and hasn’t stopped since. She’s not a deviant, but she does have a deviant’s imagination and a desire to entertain readers with her words. Add the two together and you get erotic romances that can make you laugh, cry, shake with fear or tremble with desire. Sometimes all at once.

When she’s not submerged in the worlds she creates, Lexxie’s life revolves around her family, a husband who thinks she’s insane, a indoor cat who likes to stalk shadows, and her daughters, who both utterly captured her heart and changed her life forever.

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Excerpt: Not in Her Wildest Dreams by Dani Collins

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Series: Secret Dreams, Book 1
Book Type: Fiction
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Indie
Publication Date: January 1, 2017

Synopsis

Paige Fogarty never believed Liebe Falls’ golden boy, Sterling Roy, could want a No Good Fogarty, but one magical night, they kissed—ruining her already murky reputation. Fifteen years later, she’s still shunned, now as a professional accountant auditing Roy Furnishings. It’s a daunting task even before she’s forced to work with him.
 
Sterling made a fool of himself over Paige once. Never again. He only returns to the factory his mother calls his ‘legacy’ to ensure Paige doesn’t pull a fast one. When their chemistry blazes hotter than ever, he wonders if he misjudged her, but secrets come to light, including an embezzler she tries to protect, proving she’s still the wrong girl. So why does holding onto her feel so right?

Excerpt

SET UP:

When they were teenagers, Sterling came by to ask Paige on a date. They wound up kissing in the driveway, in his car. Her father caught them and beat up Sterling. Sterling left town shortly after, leaving Paige with a sketchy reputation. Fifteen years later, they’re stuck working together, trying to ignore the history and leftover sexual attraction. It’s a little worse today since Paige had to ask him for help last night. Her house was broken into and she cut her foot. That’s why she’s on crutches. He just stopped by and asked her to visit his grandmother’s house with him. It’s behind hers and she really doesn’t want him living so close.

“You know, the only reason it’s on my mind every time we’re together is because it’s so obviously on your mind.”

She didn’t know which way to turn, said, “Nothing’s on my mind.”

“Then why are you so jumpy around me?”

Because he was good-looking and funny and he had held her hand last night in a way that made her start believing in fairy tales. “I just don’t want people to think things.”

He snorted. “You can’t control what people think. Who cares what they think?”

“So says the man who has never had anyone think badly of him.”

“I don’t know. Half the time you seem to think I’m something that needs hosing off the bottom of your shoe.”

“I don’t think badly of you. You’re perfect, which is annoying, but—” Shut up, Paige. She leaned on the crutches, looked toward the door, glanced back to see if he was angry and saw he was suppressing a smile.

“Question is,” he murmured, “do you also think about that night?”

Her breath stopped in her throat, until she finally forced out, “Since I’m not anxious to relive my most humiliating rejection, no. I never think about it.”

In the silence that followed, she heard her own heartbeat pulsing in her ears. Okay, really. It was time to go. She moved the end of one crutch.

“Are we talking about what happened in my car before your dad grabbed me—”

“I’m not talking about anything,” she insisted. “It was horrible.”

“It was not.” After a beat, he said, “Did you really think it was awful, Paige?” He sounded concerned. Shocked. “I thought it was...” She heard him swallow and he was very careful as he said, “Consensual.”

Oh God. Why did every conversation with this man have to peel away every single layer of defenses she had?

“It was,” she mumbled, ducking her head so her hair would cover her hot cheeks, embarrassed by remembered passion. Need. One kiss was all it was supposed to be, a light thank you for asking her on a date. The next minute their clothing had been askew and she’d been trying to crawl inside his skin. He’d felt so good!

Her body was burning. She wanted to leave, but was pinned by mortification.

“I liked you, Sterling. And when you kissed me, I thought it meant you liked me back.” She sounded adolescent all over again. “But when you realized your good time was happening with a Fogarty, you got mad at me and acted like—”

“I wasn’t mad.” He had his hands in his pockets and slouched against the wall, his face still in shadow while she felt spotlighted by the light from the window and open door. A breeze through that door would be nice. “Not until after, when I thought you’d set me up. When I stopped, I was frustrated. Looks like anger, but it’s different.”

She thought back to a skinnier, big-handed, intense Sterling pushing her away, saying, What the hell? as if she’d been doing it all wrong. We’re not having sex. Like the thought of it revolted him.

The black and white tiles had gold sparkles in them. She’d never noticed that before.

“I was hard as an uncut diamond, Paige. You can’t seriously think I wasn’t into you.”

She remembered the hard as a diamond part, but from talk among her brother’s friends, she’d been under the impression guys were pretty much permanently in that state so she hadn’t taken credit for Sterling’s arousal.

She shrugged, forcing herself to lift her face and look at him even though it made her feel very vulnerable. “You always acted like you didn’t even know I existed.”

“So did you.”

And then they had finally spoken to each other, looked right at each other from across the width of a car and promptly collided like a pair of fusion atoms.

They were kind of looking at each other the same way now— Whew. Could they get some air in here? Please?

“I, um, didn’t know how to handle attention from boys,” she explained. Still didn’t. “So I just pretended they weren’t there.” It wasn’t working today.

His mouth twitched, the indent at one corner of his mouth deepening. Not laughing at her, laughing at the two of them. Dumb kids.

She still didn’t get it, though. “Why did you push me away and say you didn’t want to have sex then?”

“Because we were in the driveway?”

“Oh. Right.” She dried her damp palms on her hips, fumbled to keep hold of her crutches, felt too aware of her unpolished appearance and the fact that her Fogarty-ness hadn’t turned him off back then. She wondered what he thought of her now.

Oh, don’t be such a girl.

He stood unmoving, all of his attention focused on her in a way that made the bottom of her stomach drop away.

Oh, dear. She needed some distance, stat.

“So you thought Lyle and I set you up? Because—”

“Your brother’s a prick. If I think about it, I want to kick his ass, so let’s never speak of him again. And be serious. All this time you’ve thought I drove to your house, asked you out, made the first move, then rejected you?”

She shrugged. “You wouldn’t talk to me. Everything after was so awful I tried to forget the whole thing. Didn’t you?”

“No.” His tone scoffed at her for the notion. “Not all of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“In my version we finish,” he said with the kind of shrug men gave when they were acting like men. “So I think about it. Sometimes.”

He had a version. She didn’t know they were allowed to have versions. And he thought about it when he... Oh dear God.

“You’re thinking about it now, aren’t you?” he accused, an intimate teasing entering his voice. “Revising as we speak.”

“I am not!” She was. Her palms were hot and slippery on the handles of her crutches. If she took out the part where he pushed her away and remembered the part where his hand shook when he touched her breast....

Her foot protested and she realized she had her feet mashed together, that she was pressing her thighs together. Oh, God.

He made a subtle adjustment against the front of his jeans.

Could this house get any more stifling? She had a feeling he was watching her mouth. He did that a lot. Last night, at the hospital, he’d seemed fixated on it. It made her self-conscious. She licked her lips, then pressed them together because she was making it worse.

“I’m leaving,” she told him. “And we’re adding this conversation to the list of things we never mention again.” She arranged the crutches so she pointed toward the door.

“If we don’t talk about it, how will we trade notes on our edits?”

She would have to drop a crutch to show him her middle finger, so she refrained, getting away from his laughter as fast as her hobbled gait could carry her.

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About the Author

USA Today Bestseller Dani Collins is the author of thirty romances for Harlequin Presents, Montana Born and herself. Dani lives in Canada with her high school sweetheart. Join Dani's newsletter and receive Cruel Summer, a short ebook romance, as a welcome gift: http://danicollins.com/free-book/

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Giveaway
 
Date: January 16 - 30, 2017
 
Prize:
1 Winner: $10 Amazon Gift Card + FREE eBook of Only In His Sweetest Dreams (Secret Dreams, Book 2)
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Spotlight: It Started with a Kiss by Melanie Moreland

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About the Book

It started with a kiss.
Then it became so much more.
Love at first sight.
Avery Connor doesn’t believe in it.
But what about love at first kiss?
A favor for a friend. Kiss a stranger and walk away.
But what if that favor, and that stranger, prove to be the turning point of her life?
What if that kiss leads to something more?
Dr. Daniel Stewart is certain it will.
He is determined to make her see him. To feel what he feels.
To have the effects of that kiss last forever.

A story about taking a chance, opening your heart to the moment, and falling in love

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About the Author

New York Times/USA Today bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of twenty-seven-plus years and their rescue cat Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them. 

While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys travelling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip. 

Melanie delights in a good romance story with some bumps along the way, but is a true believer in happily ever after. When her head isn’t buried in a book, it is bent over a keyboard, furiously typing away as her characters dictate their creative storylines to her, often with a large glass of wine keeping her company.

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Spotlight: The Devil's Daughter by Katee Robert

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FBI agent, Eden Collins is going home... to catch a killer.  Fans of Audey Harte’s It Takes One and Kendra Elliott's Bone Secrets series, will devour The Devil’s Daughter, the fast-paced and suspenseful first book, in the Hidden Sins series by NYT and USA Today Bestselling Author Katee Robert.

Series: Hidden Sins #1
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: January 24, 2017
Publisher: Montlake Romance

Synopsis

Growing up in a small town isn’t easy, especially when you’re the daughter of a local cult leader. Ten years ago, Eden Collins left Clear Springs, Montana, and never once looked back. But when the bodies of murdered young women surface, their corpses violated and marked with tattoos worn by her mother’s followers, Eden, now an FBI agent, can’t turn a blind eye. To catch the killer, she’s going to have to return to the fold.

Sheriff Zach Owens isn’t comfortable putting Eden in danger, even if she is an elite agent. And he certainly wasn’t expecting to be so attracted to her. As calm and cool as she appears, he knows this can’t be a happy homecoming. Zach wants to protect her—from her mother, the cult, and the evil that lurks behind its locked gates. But Eden is his only key to the tight-lipped group, and she may just be closer to the killer than either one of them suspects… 

Excerpt

By the time she made it back to the courtyard, it was empty, everyone having gone off to their varying duties. Martha might be a monster of a particular variety, but she had a well-run establishment. But then, she would. Keep her people too busy to stop and wonder about some of the insane shit she preaches. That saying about idle hands didn’t originate with the Greeks, but her mother had never been shy about incorporating whatever dogma she found most useful. No one questioned it.

No one but Eden.

And she’d paid for every question she’d asked.

She stopped next to her car, slowing her movements, because if she didn’t exert total control, she was going to fling herself into the driver’s seat and tear out of here as fast as the car could go. She wouldn’t stop in Clear Springs. She’d just keep driving until she put a few states between her and Elysia.

Not an option. You made damn sure of that.

She noticed the door was unlocked and frowned. Had she locked it when she got here? Eden couldn’t be sure. She’d been so rattled and practically bursting with adrenaline and dread that it was entirely possible she’d headed for her mother’s house without pausing to lock the door.

But she didn’t think so.

She opened the driver’s door cautiously, half expecting something to explode. She only had cursory bomb training, so even if she swept the vehicle, she couldn’t be sure she’d find something. If there was even something to find. Hello, paranoia, my old friend. She turned a slow circle, trying to figure out if someone would have had enough time to plant something. If a person had the know-how, setting up a bomb in a half hour was cake.

Way to be reassuring.

She leaned back into the car, a flash of white and yellow catching her eye. Frowning, she leaned in farther and used the pen in her cup holder to hook the circular wreath of daisies lying on the floorboard of the passenger side. It looked like the kind of thing she’d made when she was a kid and bored out of her ever-loving mind during the summer. She’d weave together the flowers that grew in the fields of Elysia into something very similar to this and wear it while she pretended she was Persephone, just waiting for her Hades to appear and whisk her away to be his queen. Eden dropped it like it’d caught fire. She’d completely forgotten about playing that game. Hell, no one knew she’d done it. She’d always been alone out there.

Or so she’d thought.

She wanted to throw the flowers away, to rip the wreath apart and grind it beneath her boots. But it was most definitely some kind of evidence. Even if there was no trace on there to find whoever had left it, it was proof that someone had been watching her when she got here.

Apparently my instincts aren’t as ravaged as I thought.

She wasn’t sure if that was comforting or terrifying.

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About the Author

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. She found romance novels at age twelve and it changed her life. When not writing sexy contemporary and speculative fiction romance novels, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her wee ones, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.  

Connect with Katee at: Website | Facebook | Twitter| GoodReads | Instagram

Spotlight: Blood Money by Tee O’Fallon

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About the Book

NYPD Detective Gray Yates has major trust issues. Protecting a serenely beautiful woman hiding enough secrets to take down an entire city wasn’t something he bargained for. She’s a loving single mother, hot as hell, and protecting her will test every ounce of his resolve.

Alex Romano is being blackmailed by the Pyramid—an elusive international organization of assassins every cop in the world is after. When Alex tries severing ties with them they refuse to let her go. The darkly dangerous detective she’s irresistibly drawn to is her only hope of staying out of jail. He just might be her savior…or her downfall.

Despite efforts to maintain his professionalism, Gray can’t deny the fiery passion Alex ignites in him. In an explosive confrontation, Alex’s lies are revealed and Gray is faced with the most important decision of his life: trust the woman he’s falling in love with, or arrest her.

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About the Author

Tee O'Fallon has been a federal agent for twenty-two years, giving her hands-on experience in the field of law enforcement that she combines with her love of romantic suspense. Tee's job affords her the unique opportunity to work with the heroic and sexy men in law enforcement on a daily basis. For Tee, research is the easy part!

Besides reading and writing, Tee loves cooking, gardening, chocolate, lychee martinis, and her Belgian sheepdog.

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