Candy Hearts – ALL MINE by Tamrie Foxtail

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Charlotte Copper

I hope you have been enjoying all the CANDY HEARTS excerpts, blurbs & posts. Today is the final release. Thank you for spending time with all of us and for supporting this great group of Wild Rose Press authors.

Blurb:
For nearly a decade, Maggie has put the needs of her younger siblings ahead of her own. Now she’s willing to accept a marriage without passion in order to protect her brother, but fate has a wicked sense of humor. On the eve of her wedding, Maggie meets the man of her dreams.
When Shamus loses a bet, the penalty is a blind date. Shamus is prepared to endure a long, boring night; the last thing he expects is to find the woman who can bring his heart back to life.
But Maggie is keeping secrets–and her engagement is only one of them.

Excerpt:
“And we are thirty seconds from the New Year,” the TV announced.

Shamus stood in front of Maggie, drawing her to her feet.

“Twenty seconds!”

His dark blue eyes appeared almost indigo in the soft light of the bar.

“Ten seconds!”

“Nine…eight…”

He cupped her face in his hands.

“Five…four…”

I can’t kiss him. I’m engaged.

As the old year closed and the new one began, Shamus touched his lips to hers. The noise surrounding them faded.

The warmth of his callused hands framed her face. His rum and coke flavored kiss began with a tenderness that stole the breath from her lungs. As his kiss grew in intensity, the warm swirls that had danced in her blood all night grew as well, reaching a lava hot stage within seconds.

When Maggie was fifteen, her mother told her about the first time she kissed Maggie’s father. “Once in your life,” her mother said, “there’s a kiss that shatters everything you thought you knew and changes the direction of your life.”

She understood now. Maggie pressed her fingers to her lips in a fruitless attempt to hold onto the sweetest kiss of her life. Tears strangled her heart at the realization that it was also the most bitter, since it could only mean farewell.

BUY LINK:
THE WILD ROSE PRESS

Enter here for your chance to win a Kindle Fire from THE WILD ROSE PRESS
a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Candy Hearts – I’M SURE by Beverly Breton

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Charlotte Copper

Blurb
During the day, Megan surrounds herself with water lilies and goldfish in the ponds she creates. At night, memories of her lying ex-boyfriend are a reminder she can never again trust a man.
Jason embraces his career as paramedic firefighter, even though ugly experience declares his profession a greedy mistress. During quiet nights at the station, he wonders if this bachelor existence is all he’ll ever know.
Then Jason meets Megan and sparks fly, chased by flashes of anger when Jason, battling a raging apartment fire, stands up Megan on their first date. Is St. Valentine powerful enough to bring these two strong-willed people together?

Excerpt
Jason reaches over the table and takes my hand in his.

Much as I try scrubbing at the dirt, my nails are almost never 100% clean, and I’ve got a long scratch across my knuckles. And anyhow, in the middle of a work day, that’s part of who I am.

He turns my hand palm up and runs his finger across the calluses.

My heart skitters a beat at the feel of his hands cradling mine. His touch exudes caring. Imagining him tending a person in distress is easy.

Need I say it? I like the feel of him touching me. The world is charmingly in order right here, right now. But what is he doing? “Is something wrong with my hand?”

“Every time I see you, you’re in the water. And you’re the odd duck. I was just seeing”—he turns his head to examine my palm, his carved cheeks in profile, “if there’s a web between your fingers…”

Bemusement laces his tone. “Like a Labrador retriever?” I retort, stifling the urge to flex my fingers; I don’t want him to let my hand go.

He laughs and releases my hand. “My favorite animal. But a dog? No. That’s not what you bring to mind.”

His grin is so open, so easy, I decide to divulge something I’ve never told anyone. “I did wish for scales when I was younger. I thought it would be cool to be a mermaid.” He takes me in for a beat, his gaze deep.

“I can see that.”

His voice is low and velvety. I draw in a ragged breath.

Buy Links:
AMAZON
THE WILD ROSE PRESS

About the Author:
Beverly Breton is an eternal fan of the happy ending, and a sucker for any book that grabs the reader through characterization and emotion. A career non-fiction writer and editor, Beverly has written articles and personal essays for newspapers and magazines across the country, and has taught college writing at the undergraduate and graduate level. She now writes romantic short stories, and has garnered such awards as Night Owl Reviews Top Pick and You Gotta Read Reviews highest rating You Gotta ReadFive Stars. She is also a professional floral designer, and her garden nursery experience and love of plants is fondly woven into her latest short story I’m Sure featuring a pond garden designer and the emergency responder who falls for this fiery-haired near-mermaid when he discovers her up to her thighs in water one February morning.

http://www.beverlybreton.com

Enter here for your chance to win a Kindle Fire from THE WILD ROSE PRESS
a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Candy Hearts – FOR KEEPS by Veronica Lynch

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Charlotte Copper

Blurb:
Meghan Muldoon is at a crossroads: struggling to balance the demands of a high stress vocation as an advocate for victims of violence and her feelings for Keenan Rossi, a man who wants to make their relationship permanent.

On Valentine’s Day, a series of routine crises force Meg to question staying in a profession which fulfills her both professionally and spiritually–or devoting the rest of her life to the one person who completes her.

Which one is For Keeps?

Excerpt:

He quirked one heavy brow and grinned. “There’s a half bottle of wine left from dinner the other night. Would you like a glass?”

Meg loved the cool sensation of crisp sheets against her skin as much as the feel of him naked and ready between her thighs. “Better not. I’m on first call tonight.”

That response cast an unfortunate pall over the festivities.

“You take call too damn often,” he muttered. “If you’d quit that job and marry me, like I’ve asked at least a million times, we could—”

Here we go again. She resisted the urge to yawn as he recited from the first chapter of the book Whose Job is More Important, a title they’d revisited more than once after taking the next step in their once strictly professional relationship.

Ignoring the thorny topic of holy wedlock, again, Meg focused on one of the lesser conflicts that too often reared its ugly head. “I’ve told you before, Keenan. Call is taken on a rotating basis among the staff. Tonight is my turn.”

He rose up on one elbow to glower at her, using what she termed his bad cop persona. “Let me remind you of your position at that zoo known as Crime Victim Services. You are the boss. And bosses shouldn’t take call on any night of the week.”

Per usual, her significant other of little over a year insisted on having the last word. As much as she wanted an end to the discussion—so that they could get on with the entertainment portion of the evening—she wasn’t about to give in and have him think he’d won.

“You take call. On a fairly regular basis.”

“Not as regularly as you.”

That put her neck up enough to snipe back. “Two nights ago, that wasn’t me sitting alone in a darkened movie theater while Tom Cruise felt his need for speed?”

“Now, Meghan…”

Buy Link:
THE WILD ROSE PRESS

Enter here for your chance to win a Kindle Fire from THE WILD ROSE PRESS
a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js