Jun
21 2010 |
Ann Aguirre writes with several names and each one of them is a book I’d highly recommend. Her sexy paranormal romances she writes as Ava Gray and I absolutely adore these books. Ann has graciously offered up a copy of SKIN TIGHT, her latest release from Berkley Sensation…
Blurb
Uncovering the truth is her specialty
As a forensic accountant, Mia Sauter could usually tell when people had something to hide. She made her living exposing secrets while concealing her own. Then, in Vegas, she met a clever, ruthless man who called himself Addison Foster. One year later, she’s still haunted by his betrayal.
He’s a natural born liar
The truth of him had long ago been buried. Foster was only one name of many; he’d been so many men, he’d lost count. Reinvented as Thomas Strong and hell-bent on revenge, his mission is about to be compromised by the one woman capable of exposing him…
Reunited, they confront the explosive chemistry still crackling between them. But their chance meeting will have consequences, for a ruthless madman has his own deadly agenda. The question is—if they survive the fallout, will he choose love over vengeance?
Uncovering the truth is her specialty
As a forensic accountant, Mia Sauter could usually tell when people had something to hide. She made her living exposing secrets while concealing her own. Then, in Vegas, she met a clever, ruthless man who called himself Addison Foster. One year later, she’s still haunted by his betrayal.
Check out the excerpt after the “more” tag (along with today’s question)
From her concealed position on the stairs that led to his apartment, Mia Sauter watched Foster’s gold Nissan pull into the assigned space. He drove as he did everything else: cautiously. She noticed how he surveyed the parking lot before he committed to exiting the vehicle. If need be, he could use the door as a shield. She wondered where he’d learned such self-protective behavior and why he needed it.
Oh, it made a certain amount of sense, given that he worked in security. Maybe he had a background in law enforcement or the military; he had that bearing. Though he stood no more than average height, his body held a dangerous edge, as if hard, lean muscle lay beneath his urbane exterior.
There was a precision about him. Some women wouldn’t find him attractive; his features were craggy rather than regular. He had an unruly thatch of light brown hair that looked as if it might wave if he didn’t keep it cut so short. But his eyes were unforgettable—an eerie glacier blue, ringed in silver. When the light hit them just right, they almost seemed to glow. His intensity proved a lure she’d been unable to resist a few days ago.
How humiliating. Still, she had nowhere else to turn.
The apartment complex gave her no clue as to his personality, whether he was, in fact, a man she could trust with her life. Tan stucco and adobe buildings were surrounded by palm trees. If it were daylight, she could have seen the glint of blue water from the community pool. At night, however, there was only the black velvet sky overhead and the glimmer of distant city lights.
Mia knew the moment he spotted her. Foster stiffened and then slammed the door, stalking toward her with a lethal grace that got her blood pumping. Another woman might miss how thin the veneer of civilization ran with him, but she saw the conqueror in the angry, sensual lines of his mouth.
She pushed to her feet, trying not to think of the brutal way he’d rebuffed her. In that moment, she’d felt like the awkward, geeky girl she’d outgrown years ago: one too smart for anyone to look at her twice, who preferred books to boys and had an unfortunate habit of pointing out other people’s faults. Feeling sick, she shoved the awful sensation aside. She wasn’t that person anymore—she’d learned some tact and sensitivity to balance her intellect—and she wouldn’t let him do this to her.
Her friend was in trouble, and she’d do anything she had to in order to help Kyra. No friendship had ever meant so much to her. Not to mention, she had her own safety to consider, so she couldn’t permit personal issues to cloud the situation.
“You told me not to come to the casino again.” Mia was pleased to hear the conversational tone, despite agitation from several sources.
“Right.” He bit the word off. “That would be a bad idea. Have you been here long?”
She could tell he didn’t want her here. His body language made that obvious, but being in trouble in a strange city limited her options. Mia tried to pretend everything was normal: that her best friend hadn’t disappeared and she didn’t have men watching her every move.
“No, the cabbie dropped me off five minutes ago. I’m sorry for dropping by like this, but I wasn’t sure you’d take my call. Can I come up?”
In the dim light, close up, he looked weary and conflicted, as if he didn’t know what to do with her. He’d made it clear how he felt about her, and she hated the necessity of asking his help. But Kyra’s life hung in the balance, and Mia had no pride where her friend was concerned.
“That depends on what you want.”
“Protection,” she said baldly. “I think someone’s after me, and I didn’t know where else to go.”
That news rocked him visibly. His eyes shone silver in the headlights of a passing SUV. He tensed until it went around the bend to park at a different building. Mia tracked the movement as well, his tension sparking a like reaction in her. When the red taillights faded from view, she glanced back at him. He was studying her as if she might bite him.
Well, it was an idea, one she’d entertained a few days ago, before he made his antipathy crystal clear. Maybe she wasn’t a femme fatale, but she’d never had a man react as if her touch carried a contaminant from which he’d never get clean. Generally men’s response ran toward indifference.
Foster seemed to reach a decision. “Let’s go for a ride.”
“Isn’t that what the mafia says to people right before they disappear?” she joked.
Without answering, he led the way back to his car. He had a hardness you didn’t usually see in white-collar workers. She could see him on the deck of a ship or giving commands on a battlefield, not overseeing the day-to-day business at the Silver Lady. When she’d first spotted him in the casino, a shiver of pure attraction had surprised her. He’d worn his dark suit with elegance, but she’d sensed the raw power of him from the first. She wasn’t the type of woman who took one look at a man and wanted him, especially when she needed to focus on finding her friend.
Mia got in the Nissan without urging. She figured he’d know what to do. He had more information about Kyra than he’d shared; she would stake her life on it. Now that she’d gotten in the middle of things, she had to trust him.
He made a call before he joined her. Since he was turned away, voice low, she couldn’t make out what he was saying. That made her a little uneasy; what did she know about him, after all? Eventually, he hopped in and started the car.
The radio kicked in, playing a song from the eighties. She didn’t know where they were going, and he didn’t say. She studied his profile, admiring the clean, strong line of his jaw. He wasn’t handsome, but he had something better: a sharp but solid appeal that said he could weather anything. She liked his eyes. Mostly, they were like cool mountain water, steady and calm in a crisis. Right now, she was glad of that.
“I wish you hadn’t gotten involved in this,” he said, after ten minutes of driving.
The neighborhood had become suburban, and her nerves were prickling. But maybe he’d asked a friend to shelter her for the night. She obviously couldn’t stay at his place. Based on past precedent, she could only surmise that they were watching him as well.
“Me, too. Where are we going?”
In answer, he pulled into the driveway of an ordinary house. The windows were dark, and she saw no sign of welcome within. Her misgivi
ngs flared to life.
“I’m sorry.” The regret in his storm cloud eyes puzzled her. “But there’s nothing else I can do.” He leaned over as if to touch her cheek, but he pulled his fingers away at the last moment, contact aborted. “I wanted that kiss, by the way. More than you know.”
Her cheeks fired, and his words confused her enough that she spent precious seconds weighing the wrong comment. “Nothing you can do about what?”
“They won’t hurt you. Just keep calm, do as they ask, and everything will be fine.”
“They, who?” she demanded, her voice gone shrill.
But he turned away, hands firmly on the wheel. Whatever came next, Foster made it clear he wouldn’t help her.
Someone jerked the passenger door open, and then a masked man pulled her from the car.
Today’s question: To win a copy of Skin Tight – What event do you do every single summer? A picnic on the 4th? A trip to the mountains or ocean?
I’ll choose a winner via random.org and announce it tomorrow, June 22nd at Tracy Wolff’s blog!
June 21st, 2010 at 5:06 am · Link
Our family heads up the Pennsylvania for a week visiting family and the Renaissance Faire. Lots of fun!
June 21st, 2010 at 5:20 am · Link
The only event that we do every year without a doubt is 4th of July. I live in Boston, so the POPS come out and play a great concert and they shut down the roads that border the Charles. Great time for kids and just to have fun.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:21 am · Link
We have a 4th of July party every year. My18 yearoldbrother shots off fireworks with his buddies. We invite the whole neighborhood, eat, watch the kids play, a fun time. My mom, who just passed away this past April, started this when I was little, and I sort of took it over a few years ago.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:30 am · Link
The whole family gathers for Canada Day celebrations on July 1st. we have BBQ and fireworks.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:50 am · Link
We do an annual block party for the 4th of July! For the last 15 years most of the neighbors on our cul de sac get together for a potluck/bbq. We also celebrate several birthdays that happen to be around that time, including my daughter’s birthday which is July 5th. The kids fill a bazillion water balloons up for their big water balloon fight and then we sit and watch fireworks.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:55 am · Link
Do not enter me, i already have it.
Every summer we go to church camp that my hubby runs a week of. The kids love it and have a blast and i have no responsibilities except for watching/playing with the kids (they feed us and provide a house for us to stay in) so I get alot of reading done.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:55 am · Link
Celebrating my mom’s Birthday and my lil sister’s birthday. With having a family big lunch somewhere in a seafood restaurant near the sea !
June 21st, 2010 at 7:29 am · Link
Our block has a block party every year. We invite friends over and bbq. They have a dj, play games, have a ice truck give ice cream to the kids, the kids skate board and ride bike in the street. It’s just a fun relaxing day.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:39 am · Link
Usually try to go to Cedar Point every summer its an amusement park that has some of the best coasters!
June 21st, 2010 at 7:52 am · Link
We have an annual camping trip at the end of summer with a bunch of our friends. 😀 It’s always a great weekend…except that one time…. *snicker*
June 21st, 2010 at 8:20 am · Link
We have a picnic on the 4th and we go fishing with friends often.
June 21st, 2010 at 8:23 am · Link
The Lake Champlain Music Festival every August! I look forward to it all year!
June 21st, 2010 at 8:58 am · Link
A trip over Memorial Day weekend. Usually a short trip (the beach, close big city), but it’s always fun to get away.
Thanks for the excerpt!!
June 21st, 2010 at 9:38 am · Link
Every July 4th holiday we spend at a cabin on a lake about an hour from our house. We gather with our friends and their kids, spend the day or for some of us days, on the water skiing, boarding, and tubing then we grill chicken, burger, brats and hotdogs, and on the 4th we load up the pontoon boat and watch the fireworks over the water with patriotic music on the radio. Good times with great friends!
June 21st, 2010 at 9:42 am · Link
Every summer I do not work! I am a teacher so I get summers off. I spend that time catching up on all the things I don’t get time to do during the school year.
June 21st, 2010 at 9:48 am · Link
Every 4th of July we have a BBQ and watch the fireworks.
June 21st, 2010 at 10:13 am · Link
Every summer we visit the public festival and we love it 😀
June 21st, 2010 at 11:05 am · Link
The one summer event I really look forward to is Lori Foster’s and Dianne Castell’s Get Together. I love it!!
June 21st, 2010 at 11:19 am · Link
The only event that I can think of that we do every summer, without fail, is Dragon Con on Labor Day weekend. And by we, I mean my husband and I. No kids for that! 😆
June 21st, 2010 at 11:30 am · Link
I guess that is the sad thing… there is nothing I really do every year. Every year is different with us.
I am trying to continue the Heather Graham event on Labor Day weekend. I went last year… I am going this year…. So, I guess you can say that I do that every year, lol!
Thanks for having this great giveaway!
alliwantandmorebooks@gmail.com
June 21st, 2010 at 11:46 am · Link
My sister and I rent a shore house for a week that is a free for all for friends to come down and pop in for the week. I love seeing everyone and chilling with them.
usignolc(at)yahooDOTcom
June 21st, 2010 at 12:25 pm · Link
My mother, brother, and I and our families head to Gulf Shores every year for a week. It’s great spending so much time with each other that we get snippy by the end of the week…
We are going to do it this year too to help out people and businesses down there.
June 21st, 2010 at 12:32 pm · Link
We spend every 4th of July in Tahoe with my aunt and uncle. They live right on the lake and we always take the boat out to watch the fireworks. BBQ’s and lots of laughter, it’s always a fun family time.
June 21st, 2010 at 12:33 pm · Link
both my sister and I have birthday in summer and we always have a huge party 🙂
Skin Tight is already on my wishlist and I can’t wait to read it!
June 21st, 2010 at 12:53 pm · Link
I love to go to the park by the Rideau River and feed the ducks.
*hugs*
Anna
June 21st, 2010 at 1:01 pm · Link
Having loved the first Skin book, I’d love a copy of this. As to what we do every year….Every 4th of July we have a cookout at my parents and then watch fireworks from a hill above the city where we can see the light show from miles around.
June 21st, 2010 at 1:27 pm · Link
I don’t know if it’s something I can claim to do every single summer, but it’s becoming a tradition that one day during the summer my cousin’s family and I visit the cottage on the lake and we have a lazy day of swimming, grilling, berry/mushroom picking and whatever else strikes our fancy. Activities and people may vary but there’s always that small core group that makes the day what it is.
June 21st, 2010 at 1:31 pm · Link
Since my boys have gotten older we go camping at least once a summer.
June 21st, 2010 at 1:59 pm · Link
Always take vacation 2nd week of July, we celebrate my husbands birthday, then he leaves for Moparfest in Carlysle, PA and I get a few days of quiet to myself.
June 21st, 2010 at 2:12 pm · Link
Every year on Father’s Day our family goes to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.
June 21st, 2010 at 2:59 pm · Link
Every Summer my best friend comes back home (without her hubby and kids) for a long weekend. We have a blast! We hit our local state park and swim, paddle-boat, and just relax in the sun. We always see at least one movie, which would not be complete without a giant tub of “buttered” popcorn and a super-sized soda for each of us. We also have to eat at the Pizza Hut, which is the same one we ate at in high school : ) Girls just wanna have fun!!!
June 21st, 2010 at 3:11 pm · Link
I attend the Macy’s July 4th fireworks display every years.
June 21st, 2010 at 3:15 pm · Link
We shoot fire works on the 4th of July in our front yard with a bunch of our neighbors. Other then that, our days in the sun are kinda up in the air 🙂
June 21st, 2010 at 3:33 pm · Link
My husband bbq’s and we invite over family or friends and have a movie marathon because its always so hot here!
June 21st, 2010 at 3:37 pm · Link
We have a family barbecue on July 4th.
June 21st, 2010 at 4:25 pm · Link
What event do you do every single summer? A picnic on the 4th? A trip to the mountains or ocean?
Usually we visited my mother-in-law who lived about 7.30 hours away from us, but she passed away earlier this year; we also visit my Dad ad he’s 3 hours away in the opposite direction. We’ll be going to spend more time with my Dad this year, he’s now 87 years old and does’;t go far from home anymore.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:44 pm · Link
Every year we have a picnic on the 4th of July and we set off fireworks that night. Sometimes we go to the city fireworks display later in the evening. It’s always a lot of fun.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:48 pm · Link
Every summer, my friends and I always go to the beach to play beach volleyball and monopoly. :]
June 21st, 2010 at 7:00 pm · Link
On July 4th, my family cooks out and then watches fireworks.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:02 pm · Link
Don’t enter me for this, but this is an incredible story–good luck, all!
As for July 4th, we tend to be pretty mellow–we mostly hang out at home as a family, and either watch fireworks nearby or on TV 🙂
June 21st, 2010 at 7:35 pm · Link
Early June every year we attend the National Bowling Tournament, wherever it is held. This year it was Reno, NV.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:37 pm · Link
Every summer I try to spend a day at the beach alone, no distractions, just me, the waves & the sun.
June 21st, 2010 at 7:59 pm · Link
Heh total cop out but… something I do every single summer? Celebrate my birthday. And… my sister’s (hers is a week before mine. In fact, it’s today.) Usually the summer solstice is thrown in there since it’s usually the 21st, and father’s day is sometimes as well. She’s a popular girl 😛 Otherwise, there’s no real constant.
This summer (and it looks like the next one as well) will be wedding season galore, however.
June 21st, 2010 at 8:03 pm · Link
I go to my brothers house and watch the Fireworks on the 4Th of Yuly.you can see them from the back of his apartments and the hole apartment has a big party. 😀
sasluvbooks(at)yahoo.com
June 21st, 2010 at 8:13 pm · Link
We spend some time at the beach My sons love the beach.
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:15 am · Link
We have a yard sale every year to clear out the old things.
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:37 am · Link
Can’t think of a single event that I do every year. No vacations, parties or gatherings are specific to the summer months. May have to creat a tradition for the future.