I
am so honored and excited to announce that my paperback copy of Nova Swoons
2026 – an anthology by Nova Scotia romance authors about Nova Scotians –
arrived today.
It
has 13 Nova Scotian romance authors featured, including myself, and my friend
Cathryn Fox, who is a best selling romance author known for her sports
romances.
The
excerpt from Stricken (Feathered Tartan 1) is on Page 6, and is two pages long.
It’s an interaction between Marti and Ewan not long before their reconciliation,
and shows the sexual tension building between them, and their bond growing
again.
If
you live in Nova Scotia, you can get a paperback copy for the price of
shipping.
If
you want to purchase a copy of Stricken (Feathered Tartan 1), you can find it
at your favorite store via Books2Read: https://books2read.com/b/3n8Qr9
Many
thanks to Andy Verboom, the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS), Association
of Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada for their hard work and creating this
amazing anthology, and Tina at Extasy Books for allowing me to submit an
excerpt from Stricken in the debut edition of Nova Swoons.
Set in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Stricken is the second chance romance for Ewan Campbell and Marti Marlowe.
Cover art by Syneca Featherstone.
Stricken
(Feathered Tartan 1)
Love deserves a
second chance.
Ewan
Campbell once thought he had it all – he was a rising star in the real estate
field, popular with his peers, and engaged to his employer’s cousin, the shy
and quiet little Marti Marlowe.
A
heartbeat later, he was alone—shattered, confused and suicidal. Why had Marti
walked away from him?
Years
later, in another place and a new chapter of Ewan's life, fate brings them face
to face again.
They
start building a friendship, but Ewan wants more. He wants Marti as his wife,
while she seems to prefer their current status as friends.
Can
he convince her that taking another chance at their failed future will be the
start of the best part of their lives?
Have
an amazing weekend everyone!
I leave you with another love song… “After All” by
Cher and Peter Cetera. It reminds me a lot of Ewan and Marti, and how they
found their way back to each other after so long being apart. Enjoy!
The family he
didn't know he wanted might be the only thing worth dying for.
Baby ConSEALed
SEAL & Shelter Book 1
by Leah Miles
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Baby ConSEALed won
the 2024 Georgia Romance Writers' "Maggie Award"
Rissa Parker struggles to support herself and her daughter
by working overnights as a home health nurse. After witnessing her employer's
murder, she has no choice but to grab her two-year-old and run toward the one
person strong enough to protect them, the Navy SEAL who fathered her child
during a one-night stand.
Navy SEAL Bernard "Burn" Cruz is a straight arrow,
approaching work and play in equal parts. He doesn't regret much in life,
except for one woman he's never forgotten. Nearly three years after their
initial encounter, she shows up in San Diego at the bar his team likes to
frequent, and he believes Forever might have knocked on his door. Until a child
cries, and all hell breaks loose.
As bullets fly and bodies drop, Rissa must outrun a killer
whose connection to her past threatens to destroy any chance at a future with
the father of her child, and Burn discovers the family he didn't know he wanted
might be the only thing worth dying for.
Baby ConSEALed, an award-winning contemporary
romantic suspense novel, is fast-paced, steamy and suspenseful. Pick up your
copy today!
“A tightly
plotted, fast-paced whirlwind of a ride fraught with secrets, danger, and an
emotional love story that focuses on family—the kind you choose.” —Lena Diaz, Publishers
Weekly best-selling author
“A Cosmopolitan, please.” After this, she’d
call it a night. Get a cab back to Liesel’s place. Maybe read a few chapters of
a book. Wild and crazy. That’s me.
She took a sip of the
drink the bartender delivered, letting the tart cranberry linger on her tongue
as she watched the television mounted above the bar. A bowling tournament
played, of all things, the announcer droning on about a perfect strike. A man
slid between her stool and the next one, close enough that the heat of his body
radiated toward her.
“Sorry to crowd you.” His voice was deep, smooth, and impossibly
calm despite the chaos of the crowd around them.
She turned—and nearly forgot how to breathe.
He was tall and
built like he actually used his gym membership. His dark skin contrasted
against the crisp blue of his button-down, and when he tilted his head, the
light caught his short black curls. But it was his eyes that stole her
attention, a golden shade, piercing yet unreadable.
For a moment, she
thought he might be about to hit on her, but he only raised a hand, signaling
to the bartender. Of course, he wasn’t interested in her. She needed to finish
her drink and go back to the apartment. Rissa gulped down a large swallow and barely
managed not to cough.
“Patrick. Beer for
me and one of those for the lady.”
She blinked.
“You’re buying me a drink?”
Amusement flickered
in those striking eyes. “Only if you want it.” He wedged himself farther into
the space, turning sideways to fit, with one elbow propped on the bar and his
free hand tucked in his pocket.
She absently swirled a finger through the condensation on her
mostly empty glass. One more drink might be too much. “I think I want a soda,”
she said.
He gave a slight
nod of approval and called out the order to the bartender. While he did, she
took the chance to study him more closely. The sharp angles of his face, the
short-cropped hair, and the faintest hint of a scar cutting through his left
eyebrow.
“The golden color of your eyes reminds
me of a stray cat I sometimes feed near my apartment. I mean, they’re nice,”
she added quickly, when she realized that may have sounded a little weird. “Not
that I’m calling you a cat.”
He chuckled, a
low, rich sound. “I’ve been called worse.”
She glanced down
at her glass, unsure what to say next.
“You here alone?”
he asked.
“No. My friend is
over there.” She motioned toward Liesel, who was dancing with a guy who looked
like he belonged on a recruitment poster.
His gaze followed
hers, and something flickered in his expression. “The guy she’s dancing with is
from my SEAL team.”
Rissa’s stomach dropped at his words. “You’re a Navy SEAL?” He
was so far out of her league.
“Nine years.” His eyes locked on her, and he seemed to be
waiting for her to comment.
She didn’t know much about military ranks, but the way he
carried himself suggested he wasn’t just some guy on weekend leave. “I’ve seen
that TV show, Navy SEAL, but I don’t know anyone in the military.”
His eyes crinkled
at the corners. “You do now.”
Leah Miles writes romance and paranormal fiction from her
small-town in South Georgia, where she lives with her husband and cocker
spaniel while running an insurance agency and Airbnb business.
After a dozen
years in news production at CNN, Leah Miles now manages an insurance agency and
an Airbnb business in rural Georgia, while writing romantic suspense and
paranormal romance featuring take-charge heroes and fierce heroines.
Welcome to Pinecrest—where the werebears are hot, the forest
is dangerous, and falling in love could cost you everything.
Hard to Bear
Law of the Wild Book 1
by J. Ashburn
Genre: M/M Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Sheriff. Tribesman. Werebear.
Everything Ben knows about love and life is about to change.
His name’s Ben Kodiak. He’s a werebear but not your typical one. First off,
he’s into dudes and loves to hang with other bears, of the big and burly kind.
Deal with it. Second, he has a job to do, and doesn’t have time for twinks or
players. He’s the guy who makes sure no werebear hurts a human in the wild and
vice versa. He enforces the law of his tribes and investigates any
transgressions. If a shifter gets a little rowdy they get to deal with him.
It was business as usual until the attack happened. This time on one of Ben’s
own kind. Not the kind of thing he’s used to. Who in their right mind would
mess with a werebear? It was his job to find out and that was going to be
really hard, because the new human ranger assigned to the forest is a complete
distraction and he has set Ben’s heart on fire.
But something just isn’t right. There’s something off about this murder and the
timing of Garret, the new ranger, is just a bit coincidental. Does he trust
this man with his shifter secret and his affections or should he keep him on
his list of suspects?
Find out in Hard to Bear. The Law of the Wild book 1. The new series by J.
Ashburn!
Sheriff Ben Kodiak stared outside of his office window and
longed to frolic among the great pines and the thick underbrush or wade in the
mountain streams and run through fields of wildflowers.
He sighed and pulled himself back to his paperwork. No one
ever said it would be easy to be the law keeper between werebears and humans.
Luckily for him it never really got too out of hand… a drunk werebear once in a
while or a love triangle between bears and humans that should never have
started in the first place. But those were stories for another time.
Most of the humans that lived up in the Pinecrest Mountains
had no idea there was a population of werebears living among them…or that there
were several clans of them. And as long as Ben was on the job they never would.
Most of the werebears were mistaken for Sasquatch sightings and he got more
than a few reports, even some fuzzy photos, of a bear in mid-transformation,
ducking into the thick forest trees. That was fine with Ben. He even had a hand
in letting those reports flourish… it took the attention off the real tribes
that roamed the forest.
As the unofficial peacekeeper between humans and werebears
and between each of the bear clans, Ben had his hands, or paws quite full. He
was a werebear himself, from one of the oldest tribes on the mountains. The
Village of Briar River was the home of his people and where his office was
located, on the outskirts between town lines. Most human inhabitants thought of
the werebear villages or towns as Native American reservations and that was
fine with him. That way they would normally just visit or pass through instead
of trying to buy property in Briar River or Bramble Point, and instead made
their homes in the human town of Coldbrook further down the
mountains.
Still, the Pinecrest Mountains were a very popular hiking
and camping destination for everyone, outsiders included, and it was tough work
keeping everything balanced. Luckily the forest rangers worked closely with Ben
and had become close friends. He just saw one of them ride by in a Jeep through
his window on their way to the trailheads. That’s what Ben wished he was doing,
heading for a hike in the many trails, but duty called.
There had been a small fight, a slight altercation really,
in the werebear bar in Briar River’s town center last night. A human stranger
had a little too much and picked a fight with one of the local werebears.
Luckily for the stranger, Buck Halberd kept his cool and didn’t put him through
a wall. Still, the drunken human stumbled out of the bar and fled down the road
just before closing time.
Ben needed to head over to the bar and get a statement and
description. If the human was still in the area he could be in some trouble or
causing some trouble. Either way, those were two scenarios Ben would rather not
see play out. Time to get his ass into gear.
Bear With Me
Law of the Wild Book 2
The romance and adventure continue in Book 2 of J. Ashburn's
Law of the Wild Series.
Winter in the Forest
Mountains.
Sheriff Ben Kodiak and his new love, Garrett, hunker down to
enjoy a long, enchanting winter nestled in the warmth of each other until their
bliss is once again interrupted by mysterious new murders.
Ben's people, his werebear tribe, sleep in hibernation
except for Lily, the new shaman. Visions and dreams wake and haunt her: danger,
killings--something monstrous is coming and the only person she can turn to is
Ben.
After the events of the previous spring, Ben thought things
would return to normal in the quiet forest towns of the mountaintops. He was
wrong. He will need all of his shifter powers and resourcefulness to brace for
what's coming, for not only does it threaten the love of his life, his people
and his town but the entire world.
J. Ashburn is your source for exciting, sensual gay
paranormal fiction featuring unique stories, magical characters and wild
settings. Werewolves, witches, polymorphs, psychic warriors, phantoms,
creatures of the night and more dominate the worlds of J. Ashburn. Follow the
paths of romance and the supernatural entwined with hearts and minds of men who
love men.
You won’t want to miss a single moment of the secret lives
of handsome, smoldering characters and the writer who weaves their tales. Pull
back the veil and gaze upon the men of J. Ashburn!
I
promised everyone an update on how things are going health wise.
February
20, I had my iron infusion. It wasn’t bad. I think the worst part of it was the
length of time it took to get it, and getting the IV inserted. It took half an
hour to get my veins ready for the infusion. They give you saline as a starter,
then the actual infusion takes about an hour. Then you get another half hour
flush of saline while they monitor you to be sure you’re not having any ill
effects.
So
far so good. I was exhausted from not having enough iron stores to produce
enough hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the body via the red blood cells,
but other than that, it went well. Hubby and Son were in the room with me
during the infusion and kept me laughing. My anxiety was ultra-high and Hubby
knew it so he did his best to keep me relaxed and happy while we were in there.
Many
thanks to Nurse Melodie, EMT Nick, and everyone else at Dartmouth General
Hospital for taking great care of me, and allowing Hubby and Son to be with me
during the transfusion.
I
go get my ferritin levels checked in about 5 weeks. If they’re not up high
enough, I’ll have to go back for another one. Uggg….
Normal
for a woman is about 15, ideally 70. Mine was 7.6 the last time it was checked.
Not good. I was borderline anemic too, which can be dangerous for anyone. For a
diabetic like myself, it’s worse. Thankfully our family doctor watches me like
a hawk and if something goes even a hint out of whack, she’s on it. I’m so
grateful for her!
I’m
better mentally but still exhausted. I won’t be seeing any improvement for a
week or so, then I will start feeling better gradually over a few weeks.
Hopefully by the time April rolls around, I’ll be back to somewhat normal, and
back to my regular routine. Fingers crossed!
The IV in my left hand. The solution containing the ferritin was a reddish brown, almost molasses color.
I'm exhausted and cold, but glad it was getting done!
Halfway done. It looks black in the bag.
Empty! The flushing process begins.
Writing
Not
much is happening in the writing world at the moment. My brain keeps fizzing
out each time I open Word. Hopefully in a few weeks, once the brain fog from my
iron stores bottoming out goes away.
Amethyst Rose
As
all of you know, I am back to creating covers with human generated items,
including my own original paintings and so much more. I’ve also been advocating
boycotting Generative AI even more, due to the amount of damage it’s doing to
the environment as well as it using original art and photos by myself, and so
many others.
If
you want some really beautiful photos for your next cover, I have a few
recommendations for you, photographers and models wise.
FuriousFotog: Golden Czermak
is a talented gent, behind the camera as well as in front of it. He is a huge
advocate for human produced creativity, from photographs to writing, music and
so much more. Plus he’s a really nice guy. I wish I could afford one of his
photos for a cover. He’s damn good at his craft. Some day!
CJC Photography: Chris
is another amazing photographer and model. Another creative that advocates
human produced creativity, he’s another uber-talented. Another one I’d love to
purchase a cover photo from!
Kevin R. Davis: Model
and one hell of a sweet gent. Like Golden and Chris, he advocates for human
generated art, writing and more. One of these days, I’m going to get a cover
with him on it, whether it’s for one of my own books or a client’s. He has
great chemistry with a lot of male and female models, and has the “silver fox”
look down to a science. He only has two accounts, Instagram and Facebook, so if
you see anything without the checkmark verifying it, it’s not him. I’ve
included his Instagram link if you want to check out his work.
Tony Brettman:
Another amazing, sweet gentleman. I’ve talked to him several times and he’s so
polite and kind to everyone. My pal Elise even purchased one of his photographs
for one of her covers, and I am so jealous. Another one I want to purchase a
cover photo of, for either myself or another client. The link goes to his
Instagram, where he has all of his other links.
There
are so many more, but it would take forever to list them! These four gents are
the main ones I talk to on a daily basis. Don’t forget to check them out. They
are such great fellows, and I am honored to know all of them.
Nor’Easter Feb 23,
2026
I
hope all of you who were clobbered with the snowstorm yesterday are safe and
sound. We lost power for a while yesterday, but Nova Scotia Power was on the
ball and restored it in about four hours. Other spots around the province were
out longer, and I think some areas are still without it, but that’s the norm
after a nasty storm like we had. We got about 40 cm, or 16 inches in American,
which is a lot for us, but it could have been worse. I understand parts of
Rhode Island got hit with over 100 cm (1 metre) or 34 inches of snow. That was
reported last night, so it could be a lot more.
Many
thanks to the Department of Transportation for getting us plowed out so
quickly, NS Power for restoring our power 6 hours earlier than stated, and to
all emergency professionals like the Mounties, EMTs, health care workers and so
much more for everything. Y’all rock.
I
leave you with another amazing track from the 1980s, one my fellow GenXers will
recognize… “After All” by the talented Peter Cetera, lead singer and bassist of
the band Chicago, and the amazing and beautiful Cher.
Estri battles to regain her identity after being denied her
memories by her captor.
Will love find a way?
The Golden Sword
The Silistra Quartet Book 2
by Janet Morris
Genre: Dystopian Epic SciFi Fantasy Romance
Dystopia. Biology shapes reality. The further adventures of
the most beautiful courtesan in the galaxies of tomorrow.
She had the power to create planets. The sixty carved bones
of the Yris-tera foretold her ancient fate. Her heritage of power took her
beyond time and space and stole from her the one man she loved.
Enslaved on the planet Silistra tomorrow's most beautiful
courtesan unleashes the powers of the gods.
What readers
are saying:
“Pure
excellence…. A heroic quest of the highest calibre.” - Goodreads
“This is a book which makes one’s blood sing and one’s
mind ponder. I loved the first in the series and enjoyed this as much, perhaps
more. The ending leaves the reader desperate to know what happens to Estri next
– courtesan, slave, warrior, lover, rebel. What is next for our heroine?” –
Goodreads
“Call it what you like: science fiction, space opera,
sword and planet or erotic fantasy . . . The Golden Sword is all these things,
and so much more. A highly intelligent and sensual novel filled with ideas and
revelations, this is a gripping story that explores human sexuality and the
role it plays in politics. Although the memorable characters are bisexual, toss
away all your preconceived notions, for there is a humanity, a strength of will
and determination, a realism and depth of emotion to these characters that will
have you thinking twice about all you know and all you think you know. This is
a book for mature and discerning readers who like some meat on the bones of the
books they read. Janet Morris led the way for all the science fiction authors,
both male and female, who came after. “ – Joe Bonadonna, Goodreads
Iwonderedwhatitmeant,tobea“ten,”asthecrellkeep
chose a spot apparently like any other upon one chain and fastenedmetoitbymeansofheavymetalankletsthatwere spaced along its
length.
“I put you next to Aje. You will sleep
through the nights,” he informed me, as if I should be grateful for some
thoughtful service. Seeing me safely bound, the two jiasks turned and left the
chamber.
“Whatisyourname?”thecrellkeep asked.
I almost told him, but caught myself.
It took me a moment to remember the crell name Chayin had given me.
“Miheja,”Isaidfinally.
“Meh-he-ya,” the crellkeep corrected
me gently. “The Eastmost Star’s Daughter. Suits you. So you have the dharener
entranced, do you? A ten, indeed. Crell life is no burden to one so highly
numbered.” He stood up, rubbing his back, “I go to get Aje. You will like him.
They all do,” he said and patted my naked shoulder. Moments later I was aloneinthedesertedever-duskofthecrellpits.Asingletorch burnedatthechamber’sentry,throwinglifeintothefeature-
less rock walls.
Icrawledthelengthofmytether,andbylyingstretched out
could just get my fingers upon the central ring. I tested itsstrength,ashadcountlesscrellsbeforeme.Therewasno weakness in it. I had expected none. I
then examined each link of my chains with my fingers, to see if perhaps
somewheretherewasoneunsolderedamongthem.Therewasno error among the 387
links that bound me firmly to the centralring.Itstwinwassunkwherethecoldstonefloormetthe wall behind me. Perhaps there was a
weakness in that area, butIhadnotenoughtethertoexploreit.Ilaydownuponmy
left side and curled my knees against my chest. I could not think. I merely lay
there.
High Couch of
Silistra
The Silistra Quartet Book 1
Biology shapes reality...
One woman's mythic search for self-realization in a distant tomorrow...
Her sensuality was at the core of her world, her quest beyond the civilized
stars.
Aristocrat. Outcast. Picara. Slave. Ruler.
"Engrossing characters in a marvelous adventure." - Charles N. Brown,
Locus Magazine
"The amazing and erotic adventures of the most beautiful courtesan in
tomorrow's universe" - Frederik Pohl
"The best single example of prostitution used in fantasy is Janet Morris'
Silistra series... Estri's character is most like that of Ishtar who describes
herself as "'a prostitute compassionate am I'" because she
"symbolizes the creative submission to the demands of instinct, to the
chaos of nature ...the free woman, as opposed to the domesticated woman".
Linking Estri with these lunar and water symbols is not difficult because of
the moon's eternal virginity (the strength of integrity) links with her changeability
(the prostitute's switching of lovers). [...]
Morris strengthens the moon imagery by having Estri as a
well-keepress because wells, fountains, and the moon as the orb which controls
water have long been associated with fertility, [...] In a sense, she is like
the moon because she is apparently eternal, never waxing or waning except in
her pursuit of the quest; she is the prototypical wanderer like the moon and
Ishtar. She is the eternal night symbol of the moon in opposition to the
Day-Keepers [...]
At her majority (her
three hundredth birthday), she is given a silver-cubed hologram letter from her
mother, containing a videotape of her conception by the savage bronzed
barbarian god from another world. [...] If Estri's mother then acts as a bawd,
willing her lineage as Well-Keepress to her daughter, then Estri's
great-grandmother Astria as foundress of the Well becomes a further mother-bawd
figure when she offers her prophetic advice in her letter: "Guard Astria
for you may lose it, and more. Beware of one who is not as he seems. Stray not
in the port city of Baniev ...look well about you, for your father's daughter's
brother seeks you". Having no brother that she knows of does not stay
Estri from undertaking the heroic quest of finding her father."
- Anne K. Kaler, The
Picara: From Hera to Fantasy Heroine
I
am Estri Hadrath diet Estrazi, former Well-Keepress of Astria on the planet
Silistra. I have begun three times to tell this story, and three times I have
been interrupted. This, then, the fourth attempt, will surely prove successful.
Perhaps
you have heard of Silistra, the planet that was catalyst to the sexual
revolution in the year twenty-two thousand, seven hundred and four Bipedal
Federate Standard Time, or of the Silistran serums that lengthen life and
restore vitality in virtually any bipedal life form, or perhaps you have at
some time contracted the services of a Silistran telepath, or a precognitive,
or a deep reader. It is possible that you have in your own home the
scintillating, indestructible web-cloth woven by our domestic arachnids, or
have seen holograms of our golachits, those intelligent builder-beetles who
exude from their mouths a translucent, superhard substance called gol and
create from this gol, under the guidance of the chit-guards, the formidable and
resplendent structures in which we live and work.
And
perhaps you have seen no web-cloth, no gol, never been ill, and are not
interested in sex. If so, you may never have heard of Silistra.
I
carry Silistra in my mind’s eye, here under this alien sun. In my mind alone
can I look out the east window of my beloved exercise hall in Well Astria and
see the sun’s rising burst upon the jewel-like towers and keeps of the Inner
Well and a thousand rainbows arc and dance in the greening sky.
Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and
published more than 30 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris
or others. She contributed short fiction to the shared universe fantasy series
Thieves World, in which she created the Sacred Band of Stepsons, a mythical
unit of ancient fighters modeled on the Sacred Band of Thebes. She created,
orchestrated, and edited the Bangsian fantasy series Heroes in Hell, writing
stories for the series as well as co-writing the related novel, The Little
Helliad, with Chris Morris. She wrote the bestselling Silistra Quartet in the
1970s, including High Couch of Silistra, The Golden Sword, Wind from the Abyss,
and The Carnelian Throne. This quartet had more than four million copies in
Bantam print alone, and was translated into German, French, Italian, Russian
and other languages. In the 1980s, Baen Books released a second edition of this
landmark series. The third edition is the Author's Cut edition, newly revised
by the author for Perseid Press. Most of her fiction work has been in the
fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written historical
and other novels. Morris has written, contributed to, or edited several
book-length works of non-fiction, as well as papers and articles on nonlethal
weapons, developmental military technology and other defense and national
security topics.
Janet said: 'People often ask what book to read first. I
recommend "I, the Sun" if you like ancient history; "The Sacred
Band," a novel, if you like heroic fantasy; "Lawyers in Hell" if
you like historical fantasy set in hell; "Outpassage" if you like
hard science fiction; "High Couch of Silistra" if you like far-future
dystopian or philosophical novels. I am most enthusiastic about the definitive
Perseid Press Author's Cut editions, which I revised and expanded.'
The secret is out.
Shifters exist and live among humans.
Humans fall into two camps: Those who consider shifters monsters but manage to
co-exist with them, and those who want to get close to them, relishing their
power.
Tessa Cooper, a single mother devoted to her three-year-old daughter, is firmly
in the first camp, doing her best to keep her biases to herself. But one look
at Dario Kingston Renzetti, a wealthy lion shifter, and she senses her life
will never be the same.
The moment Dario sees Tessa in his bar, he knows he’s found his fated mate –
age difference be damned. Learning she wants nothing to do with shifters –
especially romantically – is another matter altogether. But nobody said he
wasn't determined.
Can Dario’s persistence convince Tessa he’s not hiding dark secrets that would
reinforce her opinion of shifters, or will she deny them their primal destiny?
Pick up this steamy, age gap,
rejected mate paranormal romance today and find out.
Tessa was impressed by
Dario’s and Fabrizio’s generosity. She now understood why Emelia had sung
Dario’s praises since she’d started at the magazine two years ago.
Over
delicious and filling appetizers, they helped Emelia calm down and organize
what needed to be done in the next couple of hours before she and Fabrizio flew
to Boston.
“I
hate leaving you in the lurch for so many weeks though, Dario,” Emelia
lamented. Then she glanced at Tessa with excitement in her eyes. “I know! Tessa
should fill in for me while I’m gone. The idiots she worked for laid her off
two days ago. That job was beneath her anyway. It would be perfect.”
Tessa’s
head was spinning. In a matter of minutes, she had all of Emelia’s magazine
system login credentials, had hugged her goodbye, and was now alone with Dario.
Who
had removed his costume cape and was now gloriously shirtless.
She
bolted out of her chair, needing to put some distance between them, and leaned
against his desk. “Surely you can find someone else to fill in for Emelia.
Someone already at the magazine? I appreciate her confidence in me, but I can’t
work for you.”
Dario
raised a brow from his seat at the conference table. Hunger flared in his
hypnotic blue eyes. “Because of your shifter bias, as Emelia put it?”
A
flush crept across Tessa’s cheeks as he called her out on her shifter issues.
“I… I’ll admit shifters make me uncomfortable. I mean no offense to you and
yours personally.”
Dario
regarded her compassionately before he stood and walked toward her. He stopped
in front of her, leaving some much-needed space between them. Still, she felt
his body heat and her pulse ratcheted up.
“I
appreciate that. Think of the practicalities, though. You’d be helping your
friend when she needs you and finally getting work experience worthy of your
Columbia MBA.”
Dario
was right of course, but he did strange things to her emotions. Tessa felt out
of control around him and that scared the shit out of her. “I could get that
work experience anywhere. I don’t need to get it from your magazine. Why are
you so insistent?” He stealthily got closer, making her tremble against her
will, his unique scent driving her insane with desire.
He
twirled a lock of her hair around his fingers, and Tessa’s body lit up with
awareness. How did he do that?
“Because
you, per sempre mio, are my mate.”
Tessa
couldn’t bring herself to resist when Dario captured her lips in a hungry kiss.
Their tongues tangled greedily, and her head swam. Their connection was
electric. He tasted like heaven and sin, and she was hopelessly hooked.
They
were both panting when they broke apart. “No. I can’t be your mate.” She
whispered, but in her heart, she believed Dario was probably right.
“I
know it doesn’t fit with your shifter bias narrative, but I and my lion
knew the moment we saw you; the moment we smelled your delectable scent that
you were our destiny. Our primal destiny.” Dario didn’t stop her when she moved
away from him and rubbed her arms, nearly in a panic.
“You
might be mistaken.”
“I’m
absolutely certain and I think you are too. You feel the mating bond just as I
do, don’t you?
If
that’s what she felt toward him was called, she did. “No, I don’t. I’ll help
Emelia out because she needs me, but we can’t ever kiss again. I mean it.”
The
deep timbre of Dario’s laugh sent chills down Tessa’s spine.
“Oh,
my sweet mate, but we will. Many more times. Because you’ll want to. You can
count on it,” Dario declared as a wicked grin spread across his face.
Int’l bestseller and award-winning author Dania Voss writes compelling, sexy
romance with personality, heat, and heart. Born in Rome, Italy and raised in
Chicagoland, she creates stories with authentic, engaging characters. She loves
anything pink and is a huge fan of 80s hair bands.
A favorite with romance
readers, her debut novel “On the Ropes,” the first in her Windy City Nights
series, became an international bestseller. Dania’s books have won multiple
awards, and her work has been highlighted on NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. She has been
featured in the Chicago Tribune, Southern Writers Magazine, and Chicago
Entrepreneurs Magazine (selected as the #8 Top Chicago Author in 2021).
When she’s not writing, you
can find Dania at a sporting event, a rock concert, or the movies (preferably a
comedy).
