Spotlight: Seducing Her Brother's Best Friend by Noelle Adams

Fifteen years ago, three girls were thrown together because their brothers were best friends. Now they're all grown up, and their brothers are grown up too. The Tea for Two series tells their stories. Fans of New York Times Bestselling Author, Noelle Adams, will love this newest playful friends become lovers story featuring Carol and Patrick, releasing January 10, 2017.

After too many years being overlooked by men, Carol is ready to take action. She wants a man, and she knows which man she wants. Her brother’s best friend, Patrick Stevenson.

Patrick is funny and brainy and the sexiest man she’s ever known, but he has never looked at her as anything except his friend’s little sister. That’s going to change.

Carol isn’t good at flirting. Or seduction. Or anything that requires putting herself out there. But she’s going to make sure Patrick sees her as a desirable woman—and one he wants for more than one night—even if it turns her whole world upside down. He already likes her a lot. He just needs to open his eyes to how good they’d be together.

After all, how stubborn can he be?

Excerpt

She narrowed her eyes even more and gave him a cool glare. “You might as well just admit it. I know exactly what happened.”

He groaned softly. “All right. Fine. I couldn’t believe you’d be acting like… like that.”

“Like what?”

She was making this as hard as possible for him, and he couldn’t even blame her. “Like you… liked me.” It sounded ridiculous, immature, but he couldn’t think of any other way to put it.

“And you really can’t believe that I do?”

He wanted to be anywhere but here, put on the spot like this. He wanted to get up and leave, somehow escape everything he was feeling.

But, if he did, that would be it. He’d never have Carol in his life again. He might have messed this up completely, but he wasn’t prepared to lose her for good. So he told her the truth. “No. I really can’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

Carol almost never used to rough language—even something as mild as “hell.” It seemed to emphasize how upset she really was.

“I… I don’t even know.”

She stared at him for a full minute. He could see her chest rise and fall with her heaving breathing. Then she finally got up, muttering, “You’re a real idiot sometimes. You know that, right?” She went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

He hauled himself to his feet and followed her. “I know I’m an idiot. I know that. But I’m still here, trying to fix things.”

She was staring into her open refrigerator, like she’d forgotten what she’d come here for.

“Carol,” he said, touching her shoulder gently. She looked so hurt and wounded. He couldn’t believe he was important enough to her to make her feel this way.

She whirled around to face him. “Why shouldn’t I like you?” she demanded.

He blinked. “Because… because it seems pretty obvious that it’s just because the others have gotten together.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I mean Emma and Noah got together, and then Ginny and Ryan got together. So now we’re the only two left. I get it. I do. It would make sense for us to get paired up in the same way. But that doesn’t mean it’s… it’s real.”

She made a loud, throaty sound of naked frustration.

Patrick contorted his face as he was washed with self-consciousness and confusion. “I’m trying to be honest here.”

“I know you are. I know you are!”

She closed the refrigerator, having taken nothing out. “Why wouldn’t we be good together?”

“We’re totally different. If I wasn’t the last guy left in our little group, you’d choose someone totally different.” He knew this much for sure. He’d been rehearsing it over and over again—for months now—reminding himself that any soft looks she’d given him had been based on something other than real attraction.

“How do you know that?”

“Carol, please. I know I act stupid sometimes, but I do have a functioning mind. And neither one of us deserves to be stuck with… whoever happens to be left.”

She gaped at him. Literally gaped. Then her cheeks paled even more. “You think I’m… just whoever happens to be left.”

“Not you,” he gasped, shocked that she’d ever even imagine he felt that way. “Not you. Me. I’m whoever is left.”

“You… you… you…” She was panting, couldn’t even get the words out.

“Me what?”

“You idiot!”

He was processing her uncontrolled outburst and so he wasn’t prepared for what she did next.

What she did was launch herself at him, grabbing his head and pulling it down into a kiss.

Since he wasn’t prepared, he couldn’t control his response. And he’d been wanting her too much, for too long, and not letting himself act on that desire.

So he didn’t stop it, even though he knew he should.

He didn’t push her away gently and explain that it couldn’t happen.

He kissed her back.

Copyright © 2018 Seducing Her Brother’s Best Friend by Noelle Adams

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About the Author

Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she reads any book she can get her hands on and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances.

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Read an exclusive excerpt from Deadly Summer by Denise Grover Swank

Ten years ago, Summer Butler was television’s most popular teenage sleuth. Since then, she’s hit—what gossip sites just love to call—the gutter. Nearly bankrupt, betrayed, estranged from her greedy mother, and just about unemployable, she’s coaxed into that desperate haven for has-beens: reality TV.

Winging it as a faux PI, she’ll solve off-the-cuff mysteries in her hometown of Sweet Briar, Alabama. For added drama, there’s police chief Luke Montgomery, inconveniently Summer’s first and only love.

It’s when Summer stumbles upon a very real corpse that Darling Investigations takes an unexpected twist. The growing list of suspects is a big draw to viewers, but the reality is that Summer doesn’t know whom she can trust. Someone has written this killer new scene especially for her, and unless Summer gives the role everything she’s got, it could be her last…

Exclusive Excerpt

“We have every right to be here!” a woman shouted, raising her sign. A Lab-mix dog sat at her feet, and each time she lifted up her sign, she yanked his leash tight. “And just because you don’t want them here doesn’t mean you can make us leave!” 

“That’s right!” another woman yelled. “It’s our God-given right to assemble.” 

“You’re blocking the sidewalk, Sonya,” the police officer said with strained patience. “You can assemble, but Hugo’s pissed because people can’t get around you to the barbershop.” 

Sonya’s righteous anger faded some. “Oh.” 

He made a sideways motion with his hand. “Now if you’d just clear a path for the passersby, you would make my life a hell of a lot easier.” 

His voice was familiar, and horror washed through me when I realized why. It just figured that the first person I’d run into was my old boyfriend. 

This was not how I wanted him to see me again . . . in yoga pants and a T-shirt stained with coffee from when the plane had hit a pocket of turbulence. My hair wasn’t so bad, but I wasn’t sure my breath was ready to be up close and personal. Not that we would be getting up close and personal, of course. 

The women had noticed I was standing to the side. Letting out squeals of excitement, they rushed at me, signs raised like they were going into battle. Luke spun around to face me, surprise filling his eyes, and the women pushed him toward me in their eagerness to greet me.

The dog had burst forward in excitement the second his owner joined the surge, and he ran around our legs, wrapping the leash line around them and pulling us closer together. 

I started to lose balance and fall forward—straight into Luke’s broad chest. He was losing balance too, and it became painfully evident we were going to crash into the brick building. Wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer, he twisted and slammed into the wall, taking the brunt of the impact on his right shoulder and side. He’d gripped me tightly enough that I only crashed into the muscles on his arms. 

I stared up at him in disbelief, unable to breathe. 

In all the ways I’d imagined seeing him again, this particular scenario had never come to mind. 

I would have recognized him anywhere . . . same dark-brown hair, same dark-brown eyes. He seemed taller now. His shoulders were broader, his arms thicker. He’d had a commanding presence when we were teens, but now he demanded attention, and damned if I didn’t comply. 

“You okay?” he asked, concern in his eyes. 

“Yeah,” I said, caught up in nostalgia. 

Luke Montgomery had been my first love. My only love. I’d known losing him would hurt, but I hadn’t expected it to hurt for so long. Seeing him face-to-face, it was impossible not to think about those lazy summer nights wrapped up in his arms, staring into those eyes . . . 

My body responded to him the way it always had—a combination of comfort and passion I’d never found with anyone else. The way he was holding me close suggested he felt the same way. 

“I heard you were still in Sweet Briar,” I said softly. 

But then a slight hardness crept into his eyes, layered with something even worse: disappointment. “I always told you I wanted to become a cop and stay in Sweet Briar.” 

A sad smile lifted my lips. “Sometimes we say things when we’re kids . . . but then reality sets in.” 

“That’s you, Summer, not me. When I say something, I mean it.” 

There was nothing I could say to that. I’d been young and naive and stupid. Maybe I deserved his contempt. 

“Summer!” the women shouted, shoving papers and pens in my face. “Will you sign this for us?” 

I’d completely tuned out the fact we’d been surrounded by a mob of about ten women, but they’d all watched our reintroduction with keen interest, as if my life had already become an episode of reality TV. 

“How about I get untangled first,” Luke said, trying to bend down to unwrap us. “Fredericka. This is your doin’! Take care of it.” 

Fredericka was still gawking at us, but she finally had the sense to make her dog stop running around, and between her and the other women, they worked us free from the leash line. 

“Jesus Christ, Tony!” Lauren shouted from the doorway of the office. “Are you seriously telling me you didn’t get a single minute of that on film?”

I could see her through a gap in the women, along with a glimpse of a man holding a camera. 

“Ladies!” Lauren shouted like a PE teacher in a dodgeball game gone awry. “While I’m sure Summer is eager to see you all again, I really need her to get to work.” She waved her hands in a shooing motion. “Go on, now. Go on.” 

The women sent her scathing looks, but they didn’t seem to hold Lauren’s bitchiness against me as they dispersed. 

“Stay strong, Summer!” one woman said. 

“Welcome home, Summer!” another woman shouted. 

I thanked them as they wandered off. 

Fredericka left with a wave after getting the last of the dog leash free, and as soon as Luke was no longer forcibly attached to me, he took off down the street. He didn’t once look back. 

I wasn’t going to think about him either. Right. 

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About the Author

Denise Grover Swank is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Rose Gardner Mystery Series, the Magnolia Steele Mystery Series, The Wedding Pact Series, The Curse Keepers Series, and others. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and lived in the area until she was nineteen. Then she became a nomad, living in five cities, four states, and ten houses over the course of ten years before moving back to her roots. Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in her own mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children (quite badly, if you believe her offspring). Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity—or so she leads you to believe. For more information about Denise, please visit her at www.denisegroverswank.com.

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Audio Excerpt: Flight of Hope by H.J. Bellus and Narrator Lacy Laurel

A tragic accident. A mother in mourning. Can a second chance rise from the wreckage?

 Marlee Foster’s life was just getting started. She couldn’t wait for the return of her husband from deployment. After all, he’d be there just in time for the birth of their daughter. The welcome home party is full of joy, but on the way home, tragedy strikes…

When Marlee loses her husband and daughter, her friends and family do their best to heal her broken heart. But painful reminders of a future she’ll never see haunt her every day in the small town. Her only hope at a second chance is to leave it all behind…

As she sets out on a soul-searching adventure, the mourning widow wonders if the wilderness will give her hope for a brighter future or if she’ll forever be chained to a devastating past. During her journey, Marlee is about to learn that love has a funny way of coming back to those who need it the most…

The Flight of Hope is a heart-wrenching contemporary romance in the vein of Nicholas Sparks. If you like emotional journeys, strong-willed heroines, and second chance romances, then you’ll love HJ Bellus’ touching tale.

Excerpt

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About the Author: H.J. Bellus

HJ Bellus is a small town girl who loves the art of storytelling. When not making readers laugh or cry, she's a part-time livestock wrangler that can be found in the middle of Idaho, shotgunning a beer while listening to some Miranda Lambert on her Beats and rocking out in her boots.

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About the Narrator: Lacy Laurel

Lacy lives the life of a full time wife, mother and household manager. Needing a temporary escape from time to time Lacy returned back to her first love - reading! After devouring everything she could get her hands on she thought, -what if she could mix her love of performance and literature in a professional capacity? Once getting involved in the world of book narration she quickly became hooked and when not with her family you can find her in her studio working hard to grow in her own storytelling abilities.

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Spotlight: You Won't Know I'm Gone by Kristen Orlando

You Won’t Know I’m Gone
Kristen Orlando
(The Black Angel Chronicles #2)
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: January 16th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Thriller, Young Adult

Reagan has to prove herself to an elite group of special agents—and avenge her mother’s death—in the second book in the Black Angel Chronicles from the author of You Don’t Know My Name.

Going rogue in an effort to rescue her kidnapped parents has cost Reagan Hillis her automatic ticket to the Training Academy. But becoming a Black Angel is the only way Reagan will be able to exact revenge on her mother’s merciless killer, Santino Torres.

When Reagan is given a chance to prove that she’s worthy of training to be a Black Angel, she also gets the first chance she’s ever had to be her true self. No aliases. No disguises.

But when her friend Luke joins her at the Black Angels training compound, Reagan finds herself once again torn between the person she was and the person she wants to be. Reagan has to prove that she’s as good as her parents trained her to be, because she’ll never find Torres without the Black Angels’ help.

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Author Bio:

Writing is one of the great loves of Kristen Orlando’s life and she has been lucky enough to make it her living, first as a television producer, then as a marketer and now as a novelist. Kristen graduated with a B.A. in English literature from Kenyon College. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with the other great love of her life, Michael. You Don’t Know My Name is her debut novel.

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Read an excerpt from Say You'll Remember Me by Katie McGarry

Doesn’t matter who did it. Not anymore. I did the time. It’s over.”

When Drix was convicted of a crime—one he didn’t commit—he thought his life was over. But opportunity came with the Second Chance Program, the governor’s newest pet project to get delinquents off the streets, rehabilitated and back into society. Drix knows this is his chance to get his life back on track, even if it means being paraded in front of reporters for a while.

Elle knows she lives a life of privilege. As the governor’s daughter, she can open doors with her name alone. But the expectations and pressure to be someone she isn’t may be too much to handle. She wants to follow her own path, whatever that means.

When Drix and Elle meet, their connection is immediate, but so are their problems. Drix is not the type of boy Elle’s parents have in mind for her, and Elle is not the kind of girl who can understand Drix’s messy life.

But sometimes love can breach all barriers.

Fighting against a society that can’t imagine them together, Drix and Elle must push themselves—Drix to confront the truth of the robbery, and Elle to assert her independence—and each other to finally get what they deserve.

Excerpt

First Teen in Governor’s “Second Chance”

Program Chosen; Pleads Guilty for

Robbery and Attempted Assault

By: Jane Trident, Associated Press

The Lexington teen who was arrested for robbing a neighborhood convenience store at gunpoint and possessing an illegal firearm has pled guilty and is the first teen selected for Governor Monroe’s Second Chance Program.

The program, which is currently under heavy fire from critics, has promised to end the “school-to-prison pipeline.” This pipeline is defined by the American Civil Liberties Union as “policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.”

In an effort to help slow the rising crime rate among teens and the number of these teens funneling into the adult prison system, Governor Monroe kept his campaign promise and has created the Second Chance Program. This program is focused on therapy, specialized educational programs geared toward the individual needs of the teens while incarcerated, and a leadership program that will help prepare the teens for when they return to their homes.

Critics point out that the money used for this program is needed to fund other programs in the state. One high-level source, who remained anonymous, stated that the people of Kentucky don’t want to see their tax dollars used on teens who can’t be helped, and instead prefer for their tax dollars to be used on students who are driven and want to succeed.

Many eyes will be on this program, and many feel that the Governor’s political future will be tied with the program’s success or failure.

hendrix

“Everyone says you have a blank slate.” My brother Axle sits beside me on the ground, arms resting on his bent knees, and he stares at the bonfire I built with my own two hands with only flint and sticks. It’s one of the many tricks I learned over the last three months. That and how to survive on my own in the middle of nowhere.

Trees and bears I can handle. It’s not knowing who I can trust, now that I’m home, that’s the problem. Axle knows this. It’s why he’s next to me as our friends and family walk around the backyard for the impromptu “Welcome Home” party I told Axle I didn’t want.

Someone in this yard is the reason why I spent a year away from home for a crime I didn’t commit.

My neck tenses, and I roll it in an attempt to release the anger. It took me close to eight months to find some Zen, and it has taken less than thirty minutes for some of the old underlying rage that followed me around like a black thunderhead to return.

Across from us, two girls I used to go to school with are roasting marshmallows. They’re waiting for me to talk to them. That’s who I was before: the smooth talker, the guy who made girls laugh and caused them to light up with a few specially chosen words. The right smile dropped at the right time, and panties would be shed. But I don’t feel up for conversation and I don’t feel like manipulating anyone anymore.

Crazy—I used to thrive when surrounded by people. The more, the better. But after being in juvenile detention for seven months and spending three in the wilderness taking part in an Outward Bound program for troubled teens, I’m more at ease by myself in front of a fire.

“They’ve all confirmed you’re walking out of all this with sealed records,” Axle continues.

He’s leaving out the part of how those records only remain sealed if I uphold my end of the plea deal—the agreement I made with the district attorney after I was arrested. I agreed to plead guilty, and the DA didn’t charge me as an adult and send me to hard-core prison. Considering we had no money for a lawyer to help prove my innocence, the deal sounded like the better of two bad options.

“You’re getting a massive second chance,” Axle says.

It was rotten luck that got me into this mess, but it happened at the right time. Our governor was searching for screwed-up teens to use for his pilot program. Someone high up in the world thought I stood a chance at turning my life around, but that second chance comes with a price. A price my brother is currently breaking down for me.

“This is a good thing. A blank slate. Not many people get one of those.”

Blank slate. That’s what I’m scared of. I may not have liked parts of the person I was before I was arrested, but at least I knew who I was. This blank slate, this chance to create someone new, scares me. This is a new type of pressure. At least I had a good excuse for being a delinquent before. Now, if I mess up, it’s because I’m truly broke.

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About the Author

Katie was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

She is the author of the Pushing the Limits and Thunder Road series. Say You’ll Remember Me will be released in 2018.

Katie loves to hear from her readers.

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Spotlight: Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy

Beautiful. Perfect. Dead.

In the peaceful seaside town of Cape Bonita, wicked secrets and lies are hidden just beneath the surface. But all it takes is one tragedy for them to be exposed.

The most popular girls in school are turning up dead, and Penelope Malone is terrified she's next. All the victims so far have been linked to Penelope—and to a boy from her physics class. The one she's never really noticed before, with the rumored dark past and a brooding stare that cuts right through her.

There's something he isn't telling her. But there's something she's not telling him, either.

Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.

Excerpt

Sitting with Cass like this, being so close to him, makes me hyper aware of everything about him. His clean tinged-with-fabric-softener scent. The sound of his breathing, the beat of his heart. His hair is soft, so are his clothes, and he has angsty taste in music. His shoulders are broad, his thigh is hard beneath my butt, and his chest is firm.

I like him. Despite being angry with him earlier, I can admit that I’m attracted to him. And I think he’s attracted to me.

“I’m pretty sure the only person Brogan wants to get off is himself,” I mutter under my breath, ducking my head.

Cass chuckles, the warm, deep sound making me shiver. “Most guys are selfish assholes.”

“Even you?” I look up to find he’s already watching me.

He nods slowly, his gaze dropping to my lips again. “Even me.”

“I bet you’re not that selfish,” I whisper. I am totally flirting with him.

“Oh, I definitely am. Watch me.”

And then he does the craziest thing.

Cass leans in, his mouth drawing close. So close, I can feel his breath tickle my lips. I part them, ready to say something, anything to break the sudden tension that’s crackling between us, but his mouth lands on mine in an instant.

I suck in a breath, shocked by the jolt of electricity that rushes through my blood when his lips touch mine. We're already completely wrapped up in each other. It feels…natural to kiss him.

His arms tighten around my waist, pulling me into him. I circle my arms around his neck, my fingers sliding into his hair. It’s thick and soft, the ends curling around my fingers, and I tunnel my hands deeper into it, savoring the hitch in his breath when I do so.

Our mouths are still connected. We kiss and kiss. Soft, innocent kisses at first, and then I part my lips, and he does too. Our lips linger, the kisses last longer as our breaths accelerate, and then his tongue is there, tracing my lips, circling mine…

It’s the hottest kiss I’ve ever experienced, the both of us trying to be quiet as we secretly make out while hiding in Courtney’s closet. His hands go to my waist and he readjusts me so I’m straddling him, and I wrap my legs around his hips. We’re chest to chest, his bulky sweatshirt is totally in my way, and I wish I could tear it off him so I can get closer.

But I settle for this. We’re kissing for kissing’s sake. There’s no end game, no trying to get into each other’s pants or get each other off, as Courtney so eloquently put it. And it feels so good, to get lost in Cass’s arms and lips for a while, to forget about my troubles, to concentrate on the delicious slide of his tongue against mine, his hands in my hair, the race of his heart and the heat of his skin.

Plus, it’s Cass. We’re giving in to the chemistry that seems to simmer between us every time we’re together. There’s something between us I’d like to explore, despite all the extra baggage that seems to come with this boy. His dead dad and his murdering mom and his weird grandma with the cluttered house and the cats. His mysterious ways and addiction problem—all of this adds up to a guy I should avoid at all costs.

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About the Author

Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is a traditionally published author with Bantam/Random House and Harper Collins/Avon, as well as an independently published author. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance. She is also USA Today bestselling romance author Karen Erickson. She is a wife and a mother of three who lives with her family in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere, along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through many angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.

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