Snippet Saturday – I Need A Hero
Mar
16
2013

So the next Delicious Novel is out in just a few weeks now – LUSH features Mary Whaley, one of Gillian’s best friends, a caterer and artist in the kitchen and Damien Hurley, a drummer in the band Sweet Hollow Ranch. I figured it might be nice to get a look at him the first time Mary meets him.

Lush

New York Times bestselling author Lauren Dane delivers a second serving of sexy in her new Delicious novel, in which taste and temptation make up a sweet recipe…

Mary Whaley has her hands full running a successful catering company and overseeing her supper club. She has everything she ever wanted—or so she thought. When she meets ridiculously hot and very dirty rock star Damien Hurley at her friend’s engagement party, the attraction she feels is overpowering—and she isn’t about to deny herself.

Damien is used to a hard and fast life. He and two of his brothers started a band when they were fresh out of high school—then they hit the big time and stayed there. He’s also a legendary madman on the stage and in the bedroom. But when he meets Mary, something clicks, and the bad boy starts thinking he may have finally found something good.

What begins as a series of fleeting trysts soon gets much more complicated. Damien can’t figure out why Mary doesn’t want more from him. And before long, it’s Damien who wants more from Mary. But it turns out Mary is no stranger to celebrity news, and he’s got a very big job ahead of him: proving that he’s worth more than a one-night stand…

Delicious: LUSH by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2013, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, The Berkley Publishing Group
Releasing April 2

So, yeah, she knew Gillian would only tolerate her fussing with the food for so long before she nagged her to stop and come enjoy the party. But to up her game with this?

Damien Hurley sat across the table from her, drinking champagne and laughing with Miles, Adrian and Gillian’s son, before Miles grabbed his plate and ambled off with his friends.

He was a thousand times more arresting in person than he was on the television screen. Long and tall—and she had a weakness for long and lanky—he seemed to take up the air in the room when she’d looked up to find him standing in the kitchen with Adrian.

He had dark hair, a bit too long so it flopped down over his eye every once in a while so he’d have to push it back. A casual gesture that worked wonders with the muscles in his biceps. Drumming muscles.

A rogue’s eyes, her mother would say. Big, fringed with lashes as dark as the hair on his head. Intelligent with the light of humor in them. His lips were framed by a neatly trimmed mustache and beard. She knew too that he had lots of great ink on his body, though most of it was hidden by the clothes he wore.

He had energy. Even as he relaxed he seemed to hum with it. She tended to like that, as she was the same sort. And he kissed her knuckles. Who kissed knuckles?

“Are you thinking dirty things?” Daisy slid into the chair next to Mary. “And if so, fess up.”

Daisy was Mary’s closest, dearest friend. She had few filters, a heart bigger than Texas, was an incredibly talented artist and dancer and was absolutely gorgeous. If it weren’t for all the other stuff, it would be easy not to like her at all.

Damien swiveled to catch her eye. “Dirty, huh? We all need to hear.”

Mary, admittedly, was surprised he didn’t seem to give Daisy a second glance. Daisy was, well, the aforementioned gorgeous.

“Pay no attention to her. She’s trying to start trouble.” Mary waved a hand in Daisy’s direction.

Daisy laughed. “True. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know that look on your face.”

“Don’t you have a handsome man to poke at?” Mary looked around for Levi, Daisy’s boyfriend. Man friend. Lover. Whatever. They’d found something powerful together and Mary liked Levi a great deal. Very few people would be good enough for her friend. He managed to be.

“He’s off with Brody talking tattoos. And who are you then?” Daisy smiled up at Damien.

“This is Damien, he’s a friend of Adrian’s. Damien, this is Daisy.” Gillian made the introductions.

“Nice to meet you.” Daisy grabbed a server as he passed with a tray. “What’s this? I haven’t had this one yet.”

“Figs with cheese and prosciutto. You had these just a few days ago.”

“Oh, yes. Then I need several because they are fabulous.” True to her word, Mary watched as Daisy grabbed three little plates and put them down on the table. “I got one for you, Damien because you didn’t have any and you should.” She pushed one his way and then dug into hers.

Damien took a bite obediently and Mary got sort of sweaty when he closed his eyes for a moment and sighed happily. Normally she liked it when people enjoyed her food, but this, well, he was delicious.
“This.” He nodded solemnly.

Warmth flooded her. “Thank you. People often miss how good simple food can be. Fresh makes a difference too.”

Mary tried to rein it in because she loved talking about food and ingredients and she could go on and on.

“She’s an artist. You have music, she’s got food.”

Mary blushed. “Thank you, Adrian.”

“She’s doing the food for the wedding too. Next time you’re in town we’ll have to be sure to go to her supper club. Insanely good food.”

“I’ll be back for the wedding next month.”

Her heart sped for a few moments. It would be fun to flirt with him again.

Adrian looked back and forth between them and leaned to say something to Gillian, who nodded. Mary knew that look on Gillian’s face.

“Damien and his brothers are going on tour with us.”

“Really? Awesome. I saw you guys. Twice actually. Once at Lollapalooza over at the Gorge. Another time Daisy and I drove down to see you in San Francisco.”

Daisy mock-slapped her forehead. “I knew you looked familiar! Sweet Hollow Ranch, right?”

“That’s us.”

6 comments to “Snippet Saturday – I Need A Hero”

  1. Kathleen Kibler
    March 16th, 2013 at 5:49 am · Link

    MMMMM another hot sexy man. As always cannot wait for this to come out, and will be reading it the day it is out. Love your stories!



  2. Christine
    March 16th, 2013 at 8:58 am · Link

    Just a small taste. Can’t wait to read more.



  3. Alex
    March 16th, 2013 at 10:50 am · Link

    Torture! I can’t wait.



  4. Robbye
    March 16th, 2013 at 5:07 pm · Link

    Damien sounds very interesting. Hopefully we’ll learn a bit more about Mary. This snippet makes me thinks this is going to be the reason behind a conversation with my eyes that starts with “No you will not close” and ends with “til I’m done with this book”.



  5. Aurore
    March 17th, 2013 at 8:11 am · Link

    I love this excerpt. I can’t wait to read Lush. Damien and Mary sound like a marvelous couple!



  6. food for muscle
    March 23rd, 2013 at 2:40 am · Link

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