Have you heard of Kindle Worlds? I admit, it was pretty much new to me, but when I found out what it was, I got excited. Especially since one of my favorite authors had a world, and I was invited to play in it.
So, KW, in case you don’t know, is basically when authors get to play in other authors’ worlds. In this case, I got to write a short novella set in the world of Carly Phillips’ Dare To Love series. The funny thing? I had no trouble knowing which character I wanted to write. He made an impression on me when he was only mentioned by first name one time in one story. I chose Garrett, Gabriel Dare’s bodyguard. He’s only mentioned in Dare To Surrender, (Book 3 in the series) at one time, when the heroine Isabelle asks Gabe to promise he won’t hurt her ex. Gabe’s reply is something along the lines of. “I won’t , but I can’t make any promises where Garrett’s concerned.” She asks who Garret is, and the reply is “My Bodyguard, he’s a former SEAL.” or something along those lines (read the book yourself to find out for sure…I promise, it’s enjoyable for more than the mention of Garrett)
Anyway, I knew I wanted to write Garrett. I’ve never written a SEAL, (although Adam from Overwatch is a former Green Beret, and Simon, and some others are ex-Army). So, the first question was: Why is he no longer a SEAL? And, how did he become the bodyguard to a billionaire?
Then came the who’s his mate question. *ggg*
Here’s what I came up with, because I like to have fun when I write.
What happens when a man who’s lost his passion meets up with a lusty woman who knows what she wants…and what she wants is him.
Bodyguard Garrett Ross likes his quiet life in his quiet building, so when the sexy girl next door hits on him, he passes. After all, this former Navy SEAL knows better than to shoot holes in his own boat, no matter how bold she is in her naughty ways. But then he gets a glimpse of the woman behind the daring facade, and he can’t help but be intrigued.
Tasha Howard prides herself on being fearless. Growing up in foster-care she learned quick that she could only depend on herself, and if she wanted something, she had to go after it. So when she moves into her new apartment and gets a good look at her mouthwatering neighbor, she decides it’s time to go hard, and go home with him.
If only her inner shy girl would quit getting in the way.
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Excerpt 1:
“Hold, please!” Natasha Howard hefted her duffle bag higher on her shoulder and dashed forward to catch the elevator doors before they closed. It had been a crazy busy day, and she was not in the mood to stand and wait for the thing to come back down. And she certainly wasn’t going to climb the stairs to the sixth floor hauling her gear. With the luck she’d been having, she’d likely trip and break an ankle or something.
A muscled arm shot out between the elevator doors, halting their progress, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thanks,” she huffed as she strode into the car.
“No problem.”
Instantly, her mood improved. It was him, the stud from 6B who had been fueling her fantasies ever since she moved into the building three weeks earlier. She’d only caught sight of him a couple of times, when he drove past her in the parking lot, or from her balcony as he exited the building, but he’d made an impression.
G. Ross. Yeah, she’d checked the intercom listings for a name after noting what parking stall he used. She didn’t know for sure what the G stood for, but it didn’t stop her from thinking about him. She leaned back as the doors slid shut, trying not to stare, but she couldn’t help herself. Her eyes were beyond her control, and they just stayed glued to him.
Geez, she’d thought he was good looking from afar, but there, in close quarters, he was devastating. Dark rumpled hair, five o’clock shadow shading his firm jaw and framing his full lips. Lips almost too full for a man. They should look out of place, but instead, they made her mind boggle with thoughts of how they would feel pressed against hers, or any other part of her body. Ohh, she wanted to bite and suck at them and thrust her tongue between them as she rubbed against his hard body like a cat in heat.
She bit back a hungry growl, blushing hotly when he glanced her way. Their gazes met for a brief second before he went back to staring straight ahead. Heat swamped her body and suddenly she was back in high school with butterflies fluttering low in her stomach while she struggled not to stutter and stammer when a boy she thought was cute spoke to her.
But he hadn’t said anything. And she wasn’t in high school anymore.
Before she could analyze what was happening, her mouth was running off without her brain.
“Hey, 6B, I’m your new neighbor in 6A,” she said, holding her hand out to him. “Tasha Howard.”
He pulled his gaze from the elevator buttons and looked at her with piercing dark eyes. “Garrett Ross,” he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze and shake that sent tingles up her arm, and straight to her core.
Freedom is being bold, she reminded herself.
“You don’t talk much, hmm? More of the strong silent type?” Ignoring the heat crawling up her neck she eyed his wide shoulders appreciatively.
The doors slid open and, like a gentleman, he gestured for her to precede him out of the elevator. “You looked like you had a rough day, so I thought it best to leave you alone. That’s all.”
“I look that rough?”
A heavy brow arched over those sharp dark eyes. “There’s really no good way for me to answer that, is there?”
“Sure, there is,” she said as they moved down the hallway, side by side. “You tell me I look gorgeous, and that since I’ve obviously had a frustrating — not rough, because that can be misconstrued — day, that you’d like to make me feel better by inviting me over for a welcome-to-the-building drink.”
Her door was closest to the elevator, and she slowed when they reached it. He didn’t.
“You are gorgeous, but I’m not much for drinking.” He reached his own door, less than twenty feet from hers, and unlocked it. He turned her way and said “But I hope you have a good night, and welcome to the building.”
Then he was gone, and she was left standing in the hallway with her keys in her hand and a racing heart.
She stood there like an idiot for a solid thirty seconds before clicking her deadbolt open and heading in. Damn, she’d known he was good looking from the glimpses she’d seen in the past couple of weeks, but nothing had prepared her for the impact of Garrett Ross up close…and boy howdy did she want to get personal with him. So very very personal.
And how weird was that? She never wanted to get personal with people. Tasha prided herself on being bright, bold, and shiny on the outside but never letting anyone past that hard-won shell of an exterior.
Sexual, yes. She was a normal healthy twenty-seven-year-old female and she enjoyed her body and the pleasure it provided. People seemed to forget that it was human nature to crave physical closeness. Science had proven time and time again that the human touch had healing properties. She knew it could do a shitload of damage as well, but she’d learned long ago that it was easier to heal physical damage than emotional, which meant she was a lot braver with her body than her heart.
Sadly, it seemed her hot neighbor wasn’t interested in the getting personal in any way, shape, or form.
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Contest
So…what do you think? You like it? Let me know what you think in the comments, and be entered to win a Download of Lush, Unfettered, or Primal.
Winner will be notified on Friday morning!
Be sure to check it out on Amazon. Sorry to non Amazon readers, but this is a Kindle World, and it;s exclusive to Amazon. But remember you can read Kindle stories on you laptop, desktop, tablet or smart phone as well with the kindle app. 🙂
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Excerpt 2 :
Garrett took her to dinner at a small Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, not far from the club where Steven’s— Stephanie’s show was going to be. It was a noisy place because it was packed busy on a Saturday night, but each table had an intimate vibe. Or at least theirs did as they ate and talked family. She told Garrett about losing her parents when she was seven then living in foster-care.
“Is that why you have trust issues?” he asked.
Startled, she stared at him over her veal Marsala. “I don’t have trust issues.”
He just raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. One day, she was going to get something by him. “Okay, maybe a little bit. It’s not so much that I don’t trust, it’s more that …I don’t have to have friends to be happy. I mean, I’m friendly with co-workers, and people I meet, and—“
“Everybody,” he said wryly.
She shrugged daintily. “I’m a friendly gal, but, yeah, just because I’m friendly with them doesn’t make them my friends. If that makes sense?”
“It makes perfect sense. You might not have many people you call friends or family, but the ones you do, you’ll do anything for. The rest are just background noise.”
Stunned, she stared at him. “That’s a bit callous, but, yeah, you pretty much summed it up.”
“Gavin, my younger brother, is like you. He’s a bit of a wildman, doing anything and everything to get a laugh and get along. But the people he actually cares for are few and far between.”
“Are you guys close?” she asked, taking a sip of the red wine he’d ordered for her and trying to imagine what a younger, wild version of Garrett would be like. Holy hell on the hormones, that’s what he’d be like.
“Yeah. Our dad was army; both of us went into the Navy. That should tell you a few things.”
“It was always the two of you against the world?”
He nodded, and even though he didn’t say anything more, she saw something happening with him. A flicker of sadness in his eyes that tugged at her heart. Here sat a man who grew up in a military family, became a Navy SEAL himself, the top echelon of alpha badass dudes, had his brother, and closest friend still in the Navy, and was forced to retire while still in his prime.
It explained a lot, especially the way his smile had never really reached his eyes when she first met him. In the past twenty-four hours, though, she’d seen those same eyes gleam with intelligence, laughter, and lust.
Wanting that again, she leaned forward and said, “How do you feel about anal sex?”
His gaze snapped to hers, and his jaw dropped open a little. Shaking his head, he chuckled. “You are a handful, aren’t you?”
She gave him a flirty look from under her lashes. “What can I say? I realized that you never did tell me what your favorite sexual position was, and we are trying to get to know each other better.” And now his mind was back in the present and not thinking about all he’d given up.
He licked his lips and gave her a look hot enough to melt her panties. “I’d have to say that, as of last night, my favorite position is balls deep in your tight, wet, pussy with your whimpers and cries echoing through the room.”
Oh.
Oh, Lord. Her panties hadn’t melted, but they were on fire. On no, that was her pussy, not her panties. Oh shit. She stared at him, lust pounding through her veins, and struggled to get her brain online again.
“Is everything okay here?”
“Everything’s perfect,” he told the waiter without looking away from her. “I think we’ll just take the bill now, though.”
