Tag Archives: romantic suspense
Beneath Deception – Blitz
CAPTIVATED – BLURB REVEAL
CAPTIVATED
by Bethany-Kris
Publication Date: July 2018
Genres: Adult, Romantic Suspense, Organized Crime. Erotic Romance, Standalone
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SYNOPSIS REVEAL
A shadow meets the light …
When someone needs to disappear, the Chicago mob calls on Joe Rossi. A man who can move without a sound, and kill without a word, they don’t call him the Shadow for nothing.
This time, it’s a New York crime family in need of his skills, but it takes one glimpse of her to make him agree to the job.
Liliana Marcello is every inch a principessa della mafia. Her life has taught her to be wary of strangers, yet her ballet career contradicts everything by putting her on display.
It’s a man with a dark smile and a constantly changing demeanor that makes her feel safe again, but it’s the unknown that holds her back.
It takes one look …
One dance …
One word …
One smile to captivate a man.
And one second to kill a woman because of it, too.
Not all monsters hide in the shadows.
How are you supposed to see them coming?
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT
Shoving the phone back in her pocket, she headed out of the bathroom, and damn near crashed into what felt like a fucking brick wall the second she left the room.
Liliana couldn’t have caught herself from falling even if she tried. For all her balance, strength, and grace … none of it helped very much when she ran headfirst into something as unexpected as—
“Careful there,” came a dark, rich voice.
Like a bass rumbled with his words.
Like a melody colored up his chuckles.
A strong arm had caught her easily—just one, it seemed he didn’t need two—and righted Liliana to her feet probably before she even realized what had happened. Pushing her wild waves of dark blonde hair back out of her face, she blinked.
And came face to face with him.
The mysterious man from earlier in the driveway.
He was not quite the same as he had been earlier, though. Getting a closer—really up close and personal, considering how she was balancing herself by putting her palms to his chest, and was close enough to feel his warm mint-scented breath wash over her face—look at him was bad for her insides.
Bad, because he was gorgeous. More so than she realized. Bad, because her stomach clenched, and her palms felt sweaty already. For a second, she tried to make her voice work, but nothing came.
The dark lines of the man’s face were shadowed by the hall, but it only added to the appeal of his square-cut jaw, strong cheekbones, and inviting grin. He was taller than her five foot eleven by at least six inches or more. She had to wonder if he played football, or rugby, because under her fingertips, his chiseled-from-stone muscles jumped from her touch.
Jesus.
“You okay?” he asked.
Liliana nodded quickly. “Yeah, sure.”
“It’s Liliana, right?”
She blinked.
He grinned deeper.
“Right?” he pressed.
“Liliana, yeah, but if you call me Lily, I’ll probably gut you.”
Might as well get that right out in the open and over with. She expected a bit of surprise in the man’s eyes at her warning, but he actually tipped his head back and laughed. And sweet Christ, that laugh of his was dangerous.
The sound made her breath catch.
The sight made her heart race.
“Good to know,” he said.
Laughter echoed from down the hall—her cousin, sister, and friends voices followed right after. Conversation about the movie they wanted to pick, or something like that. It didn’t really matter.
“Ah, that’s what I was trying to find,” the guy said.
Liliana’s brow dipped. “Pardon?”
“I heard noise, but this place is so big that I couldn’t find out what it was or where it was coming from. I think I got lost.”
She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. “Well, the mansion is pretty big.”
Liliana had a good mind to ask him what exactly he was doing at her grandparents’ mansion, and why she had caught sight of her father and uncles waiting for him and the other man before she left with the girls. She didn’t ask any of that because if the guy was in any way connected to her father and uncles’ business in the mafia, he probably wouldn’t tell her anyway.
Besides, sometimes it was better not to know.
That’s what life as a Marcello principessa had taught Liliana. It was also pretty quick to teach her that even men who weren’t connected to the life were their own particular brand of dangerous when it came right down to it.
“I bet your friends are wondering where you are,” he said.
It was only then that Liliana realized how close and alone the two were in the dark hallway. Sure, someone might hear her shout if she needed to, but none of that had even factored in to her usual cautiousness.
In fact, the last thing she felt in that moment was unsafe.
“They probably are,” she agreed.
“Would you do me a favor first?”
“Shoot.”
He cocked a brow, and shrugged one large shoulder like it wasn’t a big deal before he said, “Give me directions to the downstairs—I don’t want to miss supper later. I hear that’s rude, and I’m going to be around for a while. I would hate to make a bad first impression and all.”
Liliana laughed, but not for the reason he probably thought. The last thing he did was make a bad first impression.
Far from it.
ABOUT BETHANY-KRIS
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to four young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time.
To keep up-to-date with new releases from Bethany-Kris, sign up to her New Release Newsletter here: https://eepurl.com/bf9lzD
Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook •
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Collateral Damage – Reveal
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by Jessica Wayne
Publication Date: July 18, 2018
Genres: Romantic Fantasy, Romantic Suspense, Urban Fantasy
Preorder: Universal Link
After a spell left him frozen in time, Timothy McGinley swore off all things magic and accepted that he was destined to walk the earth forever. But when a witch saves his life, he discovers he is facing his own mortality for the first time in two centuries.
Paislee Adams was stolen from everything she knew because she possessed what one man craved: power. After she escapes, she dedicates her life to honing her magic in an effort to destroy the man who owned her for so much of her life.
Fate brings these two together and as they race against the clock to stop the man who has a deadly obsession with them both, Timothy and Paislee are both forced to face the demons of their past in an effort to secure a future they weren’t sure they deserved.
About Jessica Wayne
Jessica Wayne was born and raised in southern California where she and her family trained horses. She grew up traveling to different competitions, as well as showing sheep and rabbits for 4-H and the FFA.
After moving to Texas with her family, Jessica joined the Army National Guard where she served for seven years.
From the moment her grandmother introduced her to Nora Roberts’ wonderful world of romance, Jessica knew she wanted to create her own stories and share them with the world.
She has been writing full time for the past four years, and is a stay at home mom. She currently resides in Texas with her husband, their two children, and their dog.
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Under the Radar – Blitz
Filed under BOOKS
COZEN – Cover Reveal
COZEN
by Bethany-Kris
Publication Date: June 4, 2018
Genres: Adult, Romantic Suspense, Organized Crime. Erotic, Heist Romance
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SYNOPSIS:
coz-en (kuz-uhn)
verb
1. trick or deceive.
• obtain by deception.
She was named most appropriately.
Cozen Taylor has more than earned her place as one of North America’s most successful thieves. Her name is whispered amongst criminal elite as the go-to thief when someone needs a heist.
She has never failed.
A call from the Miami-based Astor family could change all that with a job that seems almost impossible to complete. The mark should be simple—a stolen family heirloom, the man who has kept it hidden for over twenty years, and six months to return the piece to its rightful owners.
Nothing is ever that easy.
Three-hundred million for a successful heist. No smart thief would turn the offer down. Cozen didn’t expect a complication like him to put a kink in her plans, though. Sargon Makri—tall, dark, gorgeous, and entirely dangerous. For her life, her heart, and for the success of the heist.
The last thing Cozen needs to be thinking about is Sargon, and how she can get him into her bed … especially when he just happens to be her mark’s bodyguard. The thrill of the job has never been more addicting to Cozen, and she will risk everything to make the heist a success.
But at what cost?
***
From author Bethany-Kris comes a whole new world. A North American network full of criminals battling to stay on top, and painting the streets red in war as they dabble in the game of betrayal. Malicious, cunning, forbidden, and violent—welcome to The Empires and Badlands.
EXCERPT
Then, he held out a black velvet box. It was the size of his palm with two tiny hinges on the other side. She didn’t immediately reach out to take the box, instead letting Sargon decide what she was supposed to do with it.
“A gift,” he said.
“From Jett.”
She didn’t even pose it as a question.
Sargon tried to smile, but it just ended up looking like a half sneer. “Yes, from Jett. Open it.”
Cozen flipped the top open on the velvet box, and eyed the golden piece resting inside on crushed velvet. Two thin ropes of gold connected by dangling gold bars. It was a simple design, but still beautiful. A piece that could be layered, or worn by itself.
“He thought,” Sargon said, “that it would match the ring on your thumb.”
Instantly, Cozen withdrew her hands from the necklace in the box, and covered the ring on her thumb to hide it.
“He notices everything,” Sargon added, “and he found that you don’t take the ring off. He figured you might like something to accentuate the ring, and compliment it at the same time.”
Well …
Shit.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
That wasn’t a lie.
“Would you like me to help you put it on?” Sargon asked.
The last thing Cozen needed was this man’s hands on her body. Her stupid desire spoke up before the rational part of her brain could.
“Yes, I would,” she said.
Cozen got a nice show of Sargon’s fast reflexes as he yanked the jewelry out with one hand, snapped the lid closed on the box at the same time, and in a blink, had discarded the box to his back pocket. Never once did he take his eyes off her.
Stepping closer, he moved behind Cozen, and allowed the necklace to dangle over her throat. At the first graze of his fingertips along her skin, she sucked in a fast breath. Her best bet was to talk while he worked as to keep her libido in fucking check.
“Sargon—where does that come from?” she asked. “The name, I mean.”
“Persian, mostly, and my bloodline comes from Iran.”
“Huh. And how did you come to work for Jett?”
Talking wasn’t really helping all that much. She could still feel his fingers sliding over the side of her neck where her pulse raced in her throat.
Sargon’s fingertips pressed softly into the spot, showcasing her traitorous emotions to him. To his credit, he didn’t mention a thing.
“He stumbled upon me, you could say,” Sargon murmured in her ear. “As most of my bosses do. I am—sort of—a jack of all trades. I never settle in one place for long, and there’s always something new on the horizon. It keeps me entertained and never bored, anyway.”
Cozen closed her eyes, and briefly sucked in a deep breath. She hoped it would help to settle her. It really didn’t. She was still just as turned on and unsettled by Sargon’s close proximity has she had been seconds before.
This man was going to be a problem for her.
A big one.
“Relax,” Sargon said behind her. “Calm your heart.”
“Perhaps you should stop touching me, then.”
“Ask me to, and I will.”
Cozen didn’t.
It was Sargon’s phone ringing that sent them two of the moving feet apart, but it was the caller who sent them out of the apartment.
Jett was waiting.
Cozen nearly forgot.
Sargon was dangerous, she knew.
In more ways than one.
ABOUT BETHANY-KRIS
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to four young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time.
To keep up-to-date with new releases from Bethany-Kris, sign up to her New Release Newsletter here: https://eepurl.com/bf9lzD
Website • Blog • Twitter • Facebook •
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