Monday, July 18, 2016

Release Day is Upon Us! Woot!

Unexpected Gifts comes out tomorrow from Decadent Publishing.  See your favorite ebook retailer Tuesday, July 19, 2016.  Check out a bit of the new novella below.

 


Such a colossal waste of time. That was the real bitch about all this. Iris had, of course, checked out the company website, and that whole “perfect match” crap was just that. Crap. Despite all the hearts and flowers floating around Aaron and Ramón these days, she knew better. There’s no such thing. Goddess only knew she’d known enough guys to figure that out.
     Aaron had one thing right—she did like men. She liked hard, muscular bodies, rough hairy chests, and the hot spicy scent of a sweaty man. For a minute. the image of Mike Connolly the last time they all went swimming in the creek behind the farm popped into her head. Whoa! Where the hell did that come from? Having that picture show up was a little disconcerting, but she had to smile. They all called him Brother Bear for a reason. The guy’d had a thick brown pelt since they were sixteen. So much more appealing than the manscaped pretty boy barflies she’d get if she walked into that fancy lounge in this getup. Give me a real man any day.

Too bad men like him didn’t really go for strong women. Guys got off on the whole Lara Croft fantasy of a hot warrior babe, but they didn’t want to bring one home to Mama. No, the few times she’d thought there might be a point in trying to get serious about a guy, they always got pissed when she had to be gone for long stretches doing security work, or when she came home bloody if a job went south. They all wanted to wrap her up in Bubble Wrap and turn her into something she wasn’t and wouldn’t want to be. Even Mike, one of the few guys she could stand being around for any length of time, went back and forth between treating her like one of the boys and someone in need of a padded room.
     Iris picked her way between icy puddles on the wet cobblestone walk in front of the hotel. Behind her, a car jerked to a sudden stop at the valet station and the resulting splash kissed the back of her bare leg with a tongue of freezing water. Shit! Always aware of her surroundings, she had expected the car, but the cold water sent a jolt through her body and her keys slipped out of her chilly fingers. She made a grab for them but wasn’t fast enough, and she cursed again as they slid into the small storm drain on the edge of the walkway.

That’s just perfect. Now I get to choose between flashing my ass to the valet boys while I crawl on the ground in this ridiculous dress or play damsel in distress and ask one of them to dig for them. Not cool at all. Iris stood next to the small iron grate. She could see a flash of silver where water tumbled over the pile of keys, a few inches below the walkway level. She pretended to dig through her useless little evening bag. The tiny thing was barely big enough for condoms, cash, and her smallest tactical knife but matched the dress so she’d made do.
     A few yards away, valets and hotel guests went about their business. No one seemed to be paying much attention to her, even in the siren red outfit. Perfect. She reached out with her Gift, keeping her eyes on the people around her. She felt the cold steel of the grate. Icy water rolled past, and she felt the freezing cold as if was touching her skin. Her talent slid over metal pipe rough with ice and dirt. A little farther…got it. She smiled absently at a passing businessman as her braided keychain slithered up the side of the storm drain and laid itself obediently on the grate next to her shoe.

She crouched quickly and picked up her keys before sauntering into the hotel. She headed for the elevator according to Madame Eve’s instructions, making sure no one had noticed her application of telekinesis. Yet another reason why the old happily-ever-after wasn’t for her. If her being a trained mercenary wasn’t enough to send any normal guy running off with his tail between his legs, being Gifted would surely finish the job. No matter what Mr. Romantic Ramón wanted to think, hoping for more than a quick bang was pointless. She’d have to make that clear to her blind date at the start. Happily-ever-after is a fairy tale for children, and there’s no such thing as true love.


 

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