Series: Oak Harbor #2 Author: Melody Grace Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: June 27, 2016
Blurb
“When you’re ready for a real man to show you what it feels like, you just let me know.” It should be the offer of a lifetime: sexy craftsman Will Montgomery wants to rock my world, and boy, does he know what to do with his hands – and that filthy, delicious mouth of his… Only problem is, I don’t believe in relationships. And Will has ‘boyfriend material’ written all over his chiseled, hunky abs. He was supposed to be an impulse fling, but now he’s shown up in Oak Harbor, NC, to put down roots, and he’s determined to make me com…mit. I’ve been hurt before. Love always ends in tears and tequila, but Will seems different. He’s charming and funny, and did I mention that miraculous mouth of his? Despite all my better judgment, I’m falling. Hard. But can something this good turn out to be true? Or will old scars keep us from building a future together? For the first time ever, maybe I want to be proven wrong... A sexy, heart-felt stand-alone with a guaranteed happy ending from New York Times bestselling author, Melody Grace!
Melody Grace is the New York Times bestselling author of the
Beachwood Bay series. A small-town girl turned SoCal beach lover, after
spending her life with her nose in a book, she decided it was time she wrote
one herself. She loves steamy romance novels, happily-ever-afters, and lusting
after fictional menfolk. She lives in LA with her two kittens, Bucky Barnes and
Steve Rogers.
“Deep down, we all want a no-matter-what kind of love.”
Dancing is like magic. It makes me disappear. When I dance I’m not a sister or a daughter, not a lover or a friend. I exist in the moment, onstage, where I turn pain into art and pretend the illusion is real. My past is an abomination and my future is unwritten, but my present is pure, fluid, and focused. I’m content, or at least I think I am, until the night I meet a man who makes me want more.
He’s broken, just like me, but in different ways. He’s older and nothing like the men I’m used to. Compared to him, they’re all boys, immature and insipid, while he’s a force of nature, confident and virile. Virile is a word I’ve never used before, and I only use it now because he embodies it so completely.
At first, he fights the attraction between us almost as hard as I do. But when words like destiny and soulmate whisper through my thoughts, how can I ignore them? He can have any girl he wants, but he looks at me as if I’m the girl he’s waited for his whole life. How can I tell him I’m not that girl?
I wish I were enough for him, wish I were whole. But beneath my facade, I’ve been falling to pieces for a long time, and I don’t know if I’m strong enough to resist the downward momentum.
“What can I do to help?” he asks. “You can kiss me.” Cole goes still. Wide-eyed, I gaze up at him. I can’t believe I just said that. God knows I want to kiss him. “It doesn’t have to be anything more,” I say when he doesn’t move. “Just a simple kiss to relieve the tension, because we want to, because it will feel good. It doesn’t have to be a complication.” Surprise flickers in his eyes as they search mine. He licks his lips but still he hesitates, and I want to scream in frustration. Where’s the Cole I met two years ago, the one who homed in on me like a laser at Blackburn’s? The one who in his own quiet way made it impossible to refuse him. Before I can think better of it, I push up onto my toes and wrap my arms around Cole’s neck, pushing my body flush against his. “Please,” I whisper, ashamed that I have to beg but willing to do it anyway. His jaw flexes and thoughts war behind his eyes, but finally his arms come around me as his lips slant over mine. He pulls me closer, and when his hand fists in my hair and gently tugs my head back to deepen the kiss, I’m lost to him. Cole takes control and there’s no slow buildup, no gradual descent. Passion consumes us, and it wouldn’t matter if a tornado came tearing through the yard. I wouldn’t notice. But somehow Cole keeps his wits about him. He drags his mouth from mine. “Langley,” he says, his gaze focused above my head toward the slider into the kitchen. Thinking quickly, he moves us to the side, out of view. “Did she see?” My heartbeat is frantic, my body strung tight. “I don’t think so.” We stand there and catch our breaths together. He rests his chin on my head because neither of us have relaxed our arms. We still have them wrapped around each other. “A kiss between us is complicated, Nikki. Let’s not fool ourselves.” Slowly, I unwind my arms from his neck. “Why? Because of Renee?” He leans back to look at me. “Because of us. Because of how this feels.” This feels incredible, but I can already sense him pulling away. He’s shutting down again, and my racing heart beats even faster because I’m going to ask the question that hangs between us. The one reason I’m most afraid is the source of his hesitation.
Author Bio
Debra Doxer was born in Boston, and other than a few lost years in the California sunshine, she has always resided in the Boston area. She writes fiction, technical software documents, illegible scribbles on sticky notes, and texts that get mangled by AutoCorrect. She writes for a living, and she writes for fun. When her daughter asks when she’ll run out of words, her response always is, “When I run out of time.”
Dean has always been Liv's white knight. Not once has he retreated from battle. Not once has he failed to keep his wife safe. Not once has he broken his promise to slay monsters for her.
Then Dean encounters a monster he can’t destroy. A monster he can’t even face. And for the first time ever, there is nothing he can do to protect the woman who owns his heart.
The love story of Liv and Dean West that started with AROUSE and continued in ALLURE, AWAKEN, and ADORE now comes to a breathtaking conclusion as the professor and his beauty fight the battle of their lives.
I'm one very happy and satisfied reader. I've just finished Always,
the final book in the
Spiral of Bliss series,
and the conclusion was and had everything I could've asked for.
Ever since I read Arouse I've been obsessed and addicted
to Dean and Liv.
These two hold a very
special place in my heart.
I feel I've been right along with them on their journey.
From when they first met at the University where Dean was teaching and Liv was studying up till now
at the end of this story, Always.
It has been a beautiful, emotional and at times difficult journey for them both. But one thing that has always prevailed was their love for one another.
Always was in some way
nostalgic for me.
There were so many beautiful and emotional moments from Dean and Liv's time together.
I could easily remember certain moments, that were mentioned, that happened in
Arouse, Allure, Awaken and Adore.
It was like going down memory lane with them but, Always certainly had its serious and dark moments too when something happened to Liv, that also affected Dean and the kids as well.
It almost felt too real and all the emotions and helplessness
Dean and Liv felt was emotional and tough for me to experience.
Dean once again proved he would do anything to protect his Beauty even when this was a monster
he couldn't slay.
Liv tried to be strong
and fight the best she could.
For her family and her love,
she proved to be the always loving
and loyal wife, mother and friend.
I really enjoyed the other
characters as well.
It's one huge family in Mirror Lake.
My love for Archer intensified, so did it for Kelsey and Allie.
I loved the relationship Dean and Archer ended up with.
Brothers at last!!!
Their scenes were heartwarming and I enjoyed them immensely.
The two epilogues
were icing on the cake.
They captured and showed how much Dean and Liv had grown and yet what will always remain.
Their undying love for one another and their children.
This was the perfect ending to a phenomenal series.
I love Dean and Liv!
They are the definition
of true love and
soul mates.
5 BadAssProfessor&BeautyStars
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About Nina Lane
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Nina Lane writes hot, sexy romances and spicy erotica. Originally from California, she holds a PhD in Art History and an MA in Library and Information Studies, which means she loves both research and organization. She also enjoys traveling and thinks St. Petersburg, Russia is a city everyone should visit at least once. Although Nina would go back to college for another degree because she's that much of a bookworm and a perpetual student, she now lives the happy life of a full-time writer.
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When Khloe Devaro’s best friend and fiancé is lost to the war in Iraq, she’s beyond distraught. Her intentions of joining him in the afterlife are thwarted by a Cerberus Motorcycle club member. Too young to do anything on her own, the only alternative she has now is to take Kid up on his offer to stay at the MC Clubhouse. As if that’s not a disaster waiting to happen, but anything is better than returning to the foster home she’s been forced to live in the last three years.
"Kid"
Dustin “Kid” Andrews spent four years as a Marine; training, fighting, and learning how to survive the most horrendous of conditions. He never imagined that holding a BBQ fundraiser for a local fallen soldier would end up as the catalyst that turns his world upside down. Resisting his attraction for a girl he’s not even certain is of legal age was easy, until he’s forced to intervene when her intentions become clear. All his training is wasted as far as he’s concerned, since none of that will help him when it comes to Khloe.
Will the self-proclaimed man-whore sleep with a woman in every country he visits as planned, or will the beautiful, yet feisty girl living down the hall throw a wrench in his plan?
I take in every inch of him, noticing first his muscular arms and wide shoulders. I see part of a tattoo peeking out from the arm of his t-shirt. The tiny hint makes me want to see it all. I’ve always been partial to inked bodies, loving how a story can be told in ink rather than words.
His dark, brown beard is ridiculously neat, trimmed to perfection. It surrounds pouty, kissable lips. I can’t help but wonder if he has chest hair. I’ve always been attracted to very masculine men. I realize how much of a freak I am, staring at this stranger, itching to see the rest of his tattoos and wondering what he’d look like naked, how my fingers would feel caressing his skin.
Soothing brown eyes look back at me, almost pleading with me to change my views of the world. His hair is longer on top than on the sides, tousled and messy as if he’s been running his hands through it for hours. Sexy, this man is incredibly sexy. He has an edge of danger to him, but at the same time, he seems completely approachable. He’s a wash of contradictions.
“I’m sorry about your fiancé,” he says reaching his hand out to take mine.
I pull away immediately, unable to hide the quiver in my lip at the mention of Alec.
“Don’t,” I say unsure of what the word is in reference to. Don’t touch me. Don’t mention the death of my best friend. Don’t walk out of here and leave me alone.
A few minutes of peace are all I’ve gotten since Alec’s death. A handful of times over the last couple of weeks my mind would shut down, and I forget, briefly, just how much I’ve lost. I got that reprieve looking at Kid until he ruined it by opening his mouth.
Why do people always feel the need to speak? Why verbalize the pain others are feeling? Sometimes just sitting, being available if needed is the best thing you can do.
“He’s my best friend,” I say on a choked sob. I have no idea why I’m telling him this. I don’t know why I feel the need to ease the hurt I saw in his eyes when I pulled my hand away from his touch. “Was. I lost my best friend.”
“Yeah,” he says, his voice full of sorrow. “I know what that feels like.”
I pull my eyes from looking at my own hands and look back at him. For the first time, I notice dog tags hanging around his neck. Small pieces of metal, unassuming for the most part, but I know they tell a story. Every soldier who wears them has one. It seems in a time of war, those stories get harder to tell.
Kid is young. I know he’s older than me. Even with an unmarred face and bright young eyes, he’s got an air about him that lets you know he’s seen more than most. He’s suffered more than most.
I immediately feel some sort of kindred-ship with him. I begin to shut the little part of myself down that he somehow forced me to open. He’s so young; there’s a good chance he’s still a soldier, and there’s no guarantee that any of them are safe. It’s best to just keep every one of them at a distance.
“You’re in the Army?” I finally manage to ask, angling my head at the tags around his neck.
I watch as he reaches his hand up and touches them as if he’s worn them so long he’s forgotten that they’re even there.
“I was in the Marines,” he answers quickly. “I’ve been out for a couple years now.”
“How old are you?” Was a soldier? No longer in the service? He doesn’t look old enough.
“Twenty-four.”
Six years older than me. I shake my head, knowing he sees nothing but a child sitting here in this bed. Not that I expect anything different, but I’m tired of being viewed as a child.
Marie James: I’m a full-time, working mother of two boys and wife of 11 years. I've spent almost my entire lifetime living in central Texas, with only short stays in South Carolina, Alabama, and Florida. I've always wanted to write novels and just recently had the gumption to sit down and start one. My passions include reading everything under the sun and plotting out new books to write in the future.
Kincaid is my 7th book. I’ve also written the Hale Series, Love ME Like That, and a FanFiction named Psychosis, featuring up and coming cover model, Matthew Hosea, as the main character. This book was done for fun and all of the proceeds are going to charity. All of my books are currently available on Amazon.
