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I didn’t want this life.

But sometimes you’re forced to make the best of the crappy hand you’ve been dealt. I wanted to teach my daughter that. No matter what happens you face your problems head-on.

Never cower. Never give up.

Then someone took her and I had to put my faith in a system that had failed me, and my hope in a man I didn’t know.

Serve. Honor. Protect, are the only things I’ve ever cared about until her case was dropped on my desk. As we searched for her missing daughter, the last woman I thought I’d fall in love with became my reason for living.

Then the world came crashing down around us.

One secret would change everything, but I had one more hand to be dealt. And if I played my cards right, maybe, just maybe we’d get our piece of heaven.

 Check out our 5 smooches review HERE.

Chapter Fourteen
Mick

I stand back and watch Marissa do her thing. As soon as we got back to her place, she went straight into Lori’s room. She walked around, inspecting things, checking to see if anything was out of place. I can see how much she hopes for this search to be different, for things to be out of place. Her shoulders droop in disappointment when she realizes that everything is exactly as it was the last time she checked. Watching that hope in her eyes quickly fade back to sorrow guts me.
Looking up at me with tears brimming in her eyes, she quietly says, “She hasn’t come back yet.”

“I’m going to get her back to you.” It’s not like we haven’t been trying, it’s just been one dead end after another. One minute we think we have something, only for it to turn out to be nothing. She nods her head.

“I’m going to change and then we can go,” she says as she walks past me, leaving me in the room by myself.
I walk around, taking in all the little ‘booby traps’ that she set up. The scotch tape on the drawers, the picture frames with strings attached to them, all in the hopes that she’ll come home and realize that Lori had been there. I can’t even imagine what that constant level of worry and devastation would do to me. I never really thought that I would be the kind of man who cared so much about children, but Lilah changed that for me. She really is the perfect kid.

Walking the room once more, I notice that her clothes haven’t been washed. She doesn’t want to touch anything. I’m about to sit on the bed and see if maybe there is something here that we’ve missed when she walks into the room.

“I’m ready,” she tells me, and I take in her outfit. Gone is the skirt she wore to work, and in its place are tight blue jeans that mold to her body with a bulky sweater that gathers at her waist. The look is finished with a pair of black Chucks. Her hair is tied high on her head in a ponytail, and her makeup free face makes her look like she’s a teenager herself.

“Can I say something before we leave?” I ask her, waiting for her nod. “We get out there, the minute I feel something isn’t safe, I’m stepping in. I don’t want you to get all huffy and puffy. I need you to trust me, trust my instincts and my experience. I want to find something that leads us to Lori just as much as you do, but I’ll do it without compromising your safety.” The minute I say that, her head cocks to the side, and she crosses her arms over her chest. I don’t give her a chance to give me attitude before I continue. “You get me?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I have no doubt that you can, Marissa, but now you have me to help with that. So just give me this, yeah?” The question hangs in the air for a couple of minutes before she finally gives in.
“Fine, I’ll give you this,” she says. “But you can’t scare these people off. If you go into cop mode with them, they won’t talk.”

I walk to her, grabbing her face in my hands. “We are going to get her back. I promise you.”
She nods her head as I lean down and kiss her lips. I was going for a soft kiss, but the minute she leans into me, my body takes over. One arm wraps around her waist as my mouth opens to tangle her tongue with mine. Our tongues dance together, both of us trying to get the upper hand over the other.
She pulls back from me and breathlessly says, “We should go.” She licks her lips before walking to her purse and pulling out two pictures along with her keys.
“Ready.” I follow her out the door, watching as she locks it.

We walk out of her building, and I guide her to my car with a hand on her lower back as I take in our surroundings, making sure that no one is watching us. I hate that she lives here, but I know that she isn’t going anywhere till Lori comes back. I don’t even have to ask her to know that if Lori never came back, she would stay there her whole life waiting, just in case. But I make a mental note to discuss it with her when I bring Lori back.

“Where to first?” I ask her while starting the car and merging into traffic.

“I usually start at the soup kitchen down on 5th Street. If there aren’t that many people there, I go to the homeless shelter down the street before doubling back to the soup kitchen. After that, I go to the alley behind the bodega on 7th Avenue—”
The second she says it, I lose my shit.

“Are you fucking telling me that you’ve been down to pier warehouse next to the alley near the bodega? By yourself? AT NIGHT?” The thought of her down there at night by herself sends chills down my spine. Homeless men, women, and junkies gather there, many of them getting drunk or high. It’s fucking dangerous down there, even for me, and I’m a fucking cop with a weapon and experience. I get that she’s worried and feels like she has to do something, anything, to help bring her daughter home, but I am furious that she is so reckless with her safety. I need to take a few calming breaths so I don’t lash out at her.

“What if one of them saw her? What if she was there? I have to do what I have to do. If you have an issue with this, maybe you should just drop me off so I can get what I need to do done.” She continues, “You think this is the first time I’ve done this? I’ve been on these streets every day since she left. I don’t have enough energy left in me to argue with you right now. So are you driving me or not?”

I don’t answer her. I’m still deep breathing. Instead, I start making a list in my head. Change the lock on her front door, follow up on Lori’s Facebook page, and investigate all of her friends, turn her ass pink before fucking her raw. My mind lingers on that last item on my to-do list. Thoughts of her lying across my lap, her ass in the air, pink from my hand, and her drenched pussy ready and waiting for me has my cock springing to life and throbbing in my pants.

“Okay, Mick, just spit it out. What’s on your mind right now?” she asks as she turns her body in her seat toward me.

“Honestly?” I ask her, not sure she really wants to know. She glares at me, her eyes practically shooting daggers at me. “I was thinking a couple of things. First, I need to change the lock on your door. It can be picked open easily with a spoon, that’s how weak it is. Then I was thinking about digging deeper into Lori’s Facebook friends. Finally, I was thinking about how pink I’m going to turn your ass if you ever go back down there without me again.” I pin her with my own glare before I turn my eyes back to the road.

“Turn my ass pink?”

“Turn your ass pink. With you laid across my lap, I’ll use my hand to turn that perfect little ass a pretty shade of pink.” I stop at a red light and assess her. A second more and I would have missed the pink of her cheeks, the hitch of her breath, the way she pressed her legs together tight. “Right before I fuck you,” I say, and even I can hear the huskiness in my voice.

“I haven’t had sex since Lori’s dad left,” she says without meeting my eyes. My mouth hangs open as she continues, “Which was a long, long time ago.”
I don’t say anything because I hear a honk behind me. Looking up, I see that the light has changed to green.
“Just so you know, if you thought that I slept around, I don’t.” The last part is whispered softly as she turns in her seat again to stare out the window.

I pull over into an empty parking lot, reach over to unbuckle her seat belt, and pull her into my lap. “Look at me, Marissa, and hear what I’m saying. I was a dick when I first met you.”
She places her hands on my chest, her thumbs stroking it gently.
“I can’t take that back, but what I can promise is that I will always treat you with respect. I will treat you like a queen, my queen, because that is what you deserve. You deserve that and so much more.” I kiss her on the tip of her nose. “Let me in, Marissa,” I ask her quietly, holding my breath as my heart pounds so loudly, I’m certain she can hear it. “Let me in, baby, so I can do all of that for you and more.”

“Lori is my life. The reason I never dated was because I didn’t want her to see a revolving door of men. I wanted her to know that love is special and something worth waiting for. Something that should be cherished if you’ve been lucky enough to find it. But mostly I wanted her to know that she came first, always. She’s my baby even though she’s almost an adult. So I can only tell you that I will try, but I can’t make you promises till she comes home. Till I hold her in my arms again. I can’t let you into my heart because it’s shattered. It’s in pieces and the longer I’m without her, the harder it will be to put the pieces back together. Because you, Mick, you deserve my whole heart, and I can’t give that to you yet.”

“Let me be there for you, Marissa. Let me hold your hand, let me hold you, let me guard the pieces of your heart till she comes back. I’ll take them, one piece at a time, until I have the whole thing.”

She doesn’t say anything else to me, just rests her cheek on my chest and nods. She pulls back and kisses me on the nose. “Can we please go and see what we can find out about my girl?” She climbs back into her seat and buckles her seat belt. “Chop chop! Let’s go, Moro!”

I let out a laugh, feeling lighter than I have in a long fucking time. I buckle my seat belt and put my car into drive, heading straight to the first stop on her list, hoping and praying that tonight is the night we get a lead.

When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…

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Synopsis 

 

  

5 Smooches

Synopsis

Lucas Thatcher has always been my enemy.

It’s been a decade since I’ve seen him, but our years on opposite coasts were less of a lasting peace and more of a temporary cease-fire. Now that we’re both back in our small town, I know Lucas expects the same old war, but I’ve changed since high school—and from the looks of it, so has he.

The arrogant boy who was my teenage rival is now a chiseled doctor armed with intimidating good looks. He is Lucas Thatcher 2.0, the new and improved version I’ll be competing with in the workplace instead of the schoolyard.

I’m not worried; I’m a doctor now too, board-certified and sexy in a white coat. It almost feels like winning will be too easy—until Lucas unveils a tactic neither of us has ever used before: sexual warfare.

The day he pushes me up against the wall and presses his lips to mine, I can’t help but wonder if he’s filling me with passion or poison. Every fleeting touch is perfect torture. With every stolen kiss, my walls crumble a little more. After all this time, Lucas knows exactly how to strip me of my defenses, but I’m in no hurry to surrender.

Knowing thy enemy has never felt so good.

Review

At this point I know going into an R.S. Grey book that I am going to enjoy it. I love her wit, her characters and her style of writing. She has yet to really let me down and for that I will forever read anything she puts out. And boy am I glad that I took this book. Anything You Can Do is a fun enemies to lovers story with a dash of angst and a whole lot of love. I laughed at the fun antics and the pull that Lucas and Daisy.

“Can you kill someone with a kiss? I think that’s what he’s doing–slaying me with his mouth.”

Lucas and Daisy have a long standing rivalry and haven’t seen or talked to each other in eleven years. But now they have both returned to their hometown as doctors fighting to take over the local practice. They are forced to work closely together and the line between love and hate is easily blurred.

‘Beds and candles and stripteases are for people with time and boredom. What we have is hunger.’

There was so much to love in this book. The banter. The sex. The town. The hijinks. I loved it all. At times Daisy read a bit immature but then I remembered that I am a thirty four year old mom of three and I am often childish, so who am I to judge. The story pulled me in and I was quickly lost to the art that RS Grey gave us. I cannot wait to see what she delivers next.

~miranda

The Do-Over, an all-new emotional, second chance STANDALONE romance by Julie A. Richman is now LIVE!!

~ Sometimes, one degree is all that separates you from the one you were meant to be with. ~

Wes Bergman was sex on a stick.

We’d been circling one another our entire lives, mingling at the same clubs… attending the same events…sharing mutual acquaintances…yet we’d never actually met.

Until . . .  we both boarded a Windjammer Cruise in the Caribbean. And it was like meeting my long, lost best friend for the first time. I hadn’t ever connected with a guy that way before.

But Wes had a girlfriend. So, when the week was over, he walked off the ship, unknowingly taking a piece of my heart with him.

Now, over a decade later, newly divorced, I’m the proverbial fish out of water. Dating has totally changed. Apps. Swipe left. Swipe right. Catfishing. Men my age want two things: twenty-five-year-olds—like my ex’s new child bride of a wife—or just a quick hook-up.

After a string of bad dates, I finally did something I never thought I’d do. I had a hot one-night stand with a really handsome guy I met online who didn’t even know my real name.

Turned out Mr. Fling is a big shot for my company’s newest client. And just my

 luck, that client’s CEO is none other than . . . Wes Bergman.

Now I’m separated by one degree again from the man who stole my heart.

And Mr. Fling could destroy my chance of what I want most –

A Do-Over with Wes.

Check out our 4 smooches review

Excerpt:

His hand slowly stroking up and down the outside of my thigh is what roused me from my dream state. It was so soft and tender that I was getting more and more turned on with every movement. With my eyes still closed, I enjoyed the sensation.  It wasn’t until his lips started brushing my shoulder, that I was unable to stifle a moan, revealing that I was awake.

“Good morning,” his whisper was hoarse.

“Mmm, good morning.” I stretched my body against his and turned my head to see his face hovering over mine, before our lips met.

“Sleep good?”

“Surprisingly, I did. I was so exhausted. Sorry for passing out on you last night,” I apologized.

“I think we both passed out the moment our heads hit the pillows.” Wes’ hand had migrated from my thigh to my stomach, where he softly drew circles with his fingertips.

Rolling over to face him, I pushed my hair out of the way, silently praying my humidity enhanced curls didn’t make me look like a deranged housewife, scaring the erection right out of the man. Slinging a leg over his thigh, I instantly got my answer. The crazy morning coif was not a cock killer. Thank God!

“You’re a morning person, I see.” Hiding my smile was not a possibility.

“Yeah, I am,” Wes laughed, moving closer to me, his eyes filled with the unmistakable desire to become lovers, something I’d dreamed about on the deck of a windjammer long ago.

“You can wake me up like this anytime.” I needed to let him know it was okay. He’d said he’d take it as slow as I wanted it and what I wanted right now was a slow rhythm of him plowing into me. Hard.

“Are you hard to wake up?” He was pressed up against me.

“I think you’ll figure out the secrets to rousing me.”

“You’ve already figured out the secrets to arousing me.” His voice still had that sexy edge of morning roughness to it, making me want to skip all foreplay and have him inside me.

“I’ll bet you have a few more secrets I can discover,” I said against his lips, as I shifted the leg I had slung over him, pressing my heat and wetness against his already throbbing cock.

Wes groaned and I could feel his smile against my lips. “You know you’re going to make it impossible to make slow, sweet love to you.”

“Good, because I don’t want it slow and sweet.”

Wes flipped me onto my back, “I can easily accommodate your wishes. Are you on anything or do I need to…”

“We’re good,” I assured him.

“Yes, we are.” He kissed my neck, then swiftly pulled my tank top over my head tossing it to the floor. “We’re going to be really good together. Of that, I have no doubt.”

And I knew he was right. Being with this man had been so perfect from the night we met. We meshed with ease and the result was pure joy.

The warmth in his eyes and smile made my breath catch, and in that moment, I was flooded with overwhelming emotion at how much I wanted him. How much I’d always wanted him. It was more than lust, beyond the heat of the moment. Wes Bergman was the man I had always wanted, from the night we met. That was clear to me now.

“I vote we skip the foreplay.” I wriggled out of my underwear.

“You’re on.” His smile told me he was taking on the challenge.

“You’re in,” I gasped, my breath catching in my throat, surprised at the swiftness with which he filled my request.

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About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author Julie A. Richman is a native New Yorker living deep in the heart of Texas. A creative writing major in college, reading and writing fiction has always been a passion. Julie began her corporate career in publishing in NYC and writing played a major role throughout her career as she created and wrote marketing, advertising, direct mail and fundraising materials for Fortune 500 corporations, advertising agencies and non-profit organizations. She is an award winning nature photographer plagued with insatiable wanderlust. Julie and her husband have one son and a white German Shepherd named Juneau.

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Little Black Dress Anthology – Blog Tour

NEW!!! Only 99 cents and available on Kindle Unlimited!!

There’s something about the little black dress. The go-to wisp of material that’s perfect for any occasion. The quintessential LBD hugs, stretches, and moves with the female form. Every woman needs one at some point, and sometimes that means borrowing from a friend.

Starting with Abby, this lucky LBD makes its way into the stories of Lucy, Katie, and Winnie right when they need it most. Four women, four stories, and four happily ever afters…And it all started with one little black dress.

Warning: Keep your hands off our Little Black Dress if you’re not 18.

All net proceeds will be donated to Gilda’s Club, Rochester. With over 1,200 FREE programs offered to men, women, teens, and children, they offer much-needed social and emotional support to those living with cancer, their friends, and family.

Only 99 cents and all proceeds go to charity!

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Sarah O’Rourke

Sarah Curtis

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Layla Frost

Presented by Sarah O’Rourke Publications

Little Black Dress – Anthology

All net proceeds donated to Gilda’s Club – Rochester charity

Only 99 cents and available on Kindle Unlimited!!

There’s something about the little black dress. The go-to wisp of material that’s perfect for any occasion. The quintessential LBD hugs, stretches, and moves with the female form. Every woman needs one at some point, and sometimes that means borrowing from a friend.

Starting with Abby, this lucky LBD makes its way into the stories of Lucy, Katie, and Winnie right when they need it most.
Four women, four stories, and four happily ever afters…
And it all started with one little black dress.

Warning: Keep your hands off our Little Black Dress if you’re not 18.

All net proceeds will be donated to Gilda’s Club, Rochester. With over 1,200 FREE programs offered to men, women, teens, and children, they offer much-needed social and emotional support to those living with cancer, their friends, and family.

Buy Little Black Dress on Amazon.com for only 99 cents or read for free on Kindle Unlimited!

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Check out our 5 smooches review HERE.

 

 

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