NEW YEAR'S WISH by Veronica Tower

 NEW YEAR'S WISH by Veronica Tower

As the year comes to a close, Mary has taken stock of her life—and she doesn’t like what she sees. She’s too shy, too complacent, and she’s done letting life pass her by. Ready to make a new start, Mary attends her friend’s New Year’s Eve party, determined to grab some fun, embrace her sexy and usher in the New Year properly.

Handsome and flirty, Reid seems like the perfect man to aid in Mary’s reinvention. Every touch, every kiss, encourages her to toss aside her shy reservations and embrace the woman she wants to be. As the heady mix of alcohol, Reid’s delicious mouth and the holiday spirit strip away Mary’s insecurities, she’s sure of just one thing—there’s no way she’s going to be satisfied with just a kiss to ring in the New Year.

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Chapter One

“So sorry,” the woman slurred as she stumbled into Mary, spilling her drink onto the front of Mary’s New Year’s Eve dress and causing Mary’s Long Island iced tea to slosh out of her cup and over her fingers. Mary jumped back to try to avoid the spill but the crowd was so thick in Lizzie’s living room that there was nowhere for her to go.

“Hey, watch it!” a woman hissed and shoved her back with a hand between her shoulder blades, causing more Long Island iced tea to slop out of her cup and onto her hand.

Mary turned apologetically. “Sorry, some drunk just dumped her drink on me.”

“And you almost made me spill mine,” the woman snarled before turning her back on Mary as if she weren’t worth the time it would take to argue. Not that Mary wanted to fight, but really, did the woman have to be so dismissive? Her natural instinct was to shrink away, but she hesitated. She’d come to this New Year’s Eve party determined to break with her past and become the new, bold, assertive, fun woman she’d always wanted to be. She wanted to be someone who was comfortable in crowds—the natural life of the party. Would that person let this woman dismiss her out of hand like this?

Mary reluctantly decided she would. The new her might be willing to get into fights, but she wasn’t looking for one. She decided to give the woman a pass even as she worried that it was a sign she wasn’t really blossoming into her new self. Oh, well, baby steps, right? There will be plenty of other opportunities tonight to practice coming out of my shell and shining.

She looked around for the woman who had started this mess but the drunk hadn’t stopped to help clean up. Heck, she hadn’t even really looked at Mary either, not even as she was spilling her drink on her. Nobody had. Was she invisible? Why was nobody talking to her? Maybe she should just give up and go home—put off her New Year’s resolution for another year. Despite her best intentions, this wasn’t looking like the night to let down her hair, make some new friends and maybe have fun with some guy without having to envision walking down the aisle with him.

She tried to assess the damage to her new dress. Fortunately, she’d bought the black, fairly conservative one and not the slinky silver party dress with all the glitter. The silver one fit the new image she wanted to craft for herself but she just hadn’t been able to picture herself actually wearing it. It left too little to the imagination about the curve of her ass and just how much cleavage she could sport. At the time she’d worried she was letting herself down by not buying it, but in hindsight with some drunk’s drink in her lap, it was clear she’d made the better decision after all. Black would hide a stain a lot better than silver.

She bent over to get a better look at the damage. It was hard to tell for certain with people jostling her on all sides, but honestly, the stain didn’t look too bad—just a bit of a splash over her right thigh. She tried to bolster her confidence. With the people pressed as close together as they were, it probably wasn’t even noticeable. Maybe if she got a little soda water from the bar it would come right out when it dried.

She sighed. Cleaning a stain off her dress was something she did too often. The old her got overlooked all the time. She was supposed to stand out in the crowd now, be the life of the party, maybe groove to the music and get people dancing, find a guy and have some fun with him instead of simply staring from the sidelines as she always did. So why wasn’t she doing any of that?

She looked around for an opportunity to assert the new her. The party was rocking with the Black Eyed Peas blasting from the speakers and people all around her smiling, drinking and having a good time. Why couldn’t she relax enough to join in? She pictured herself catching the beat, moving with the music until her rhythm caught the attention of the room. She lifted her arms and tried to find her stride. It wasn’t easy. Even though she’d just worried that she was invisible, she now feared that every eye in the room was watching her.

But wasn’t that what she wanted?

 

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AUDIT THIS! by Anne Kane

AUDIT THIS! by Anne Kane

When government tax auditor Nick finds himself obsessed with the work of erotic romance author Khloe Matters, there's only one thing to do. Audit her! But getting a closer look at the sexy author in her own home just makes him switch his obsession from the writing to the writer.

When he accompanies her to a writers' festival, things heat up in a hurry. Neither of them is being entirely honest, and as the weekend progresses so does the hilariously tangled webs of deceit as each of them seeks to further their own agenda.

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Audit This!
Anne Kane
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2013 Anne Kane

This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

"What do you mean you're disallowing ninety percent of the expenses I claimed?" Khloe tried not to scream at the smug smile on the auditor's face. Hard to believe her libido had jumped to attention when he'd first showed up at her door. Just went to show how bad a judge of character she was. "You can't do that. They are all legitimate business deductions."

"Really?" The man raised one of those perfect brows. "Care to explain how a trip to Spain qualifies as a business expense? You're a writer. You don't have to leave the house. You don't even have to get dressed."

Khloe gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath to calm herself down before she answered. She knew his name. Nicholas Carver. She just didn't think a government auditor deserved such an impressive name. Calling him a dumb-assed bean counter probably wouldn't help her situation, though.

"Although I have not claimed any clothing expenses, I assure you I do have to get dressed. My neighbours are a conservative bunch. I do have to leave the house occasionally, and I generally make a point of putting some clothes on before I do. That trip was for research." Well, duh, what else would it be? Maybe this guy got all the looks and none of the brains. "My last mystery novel was set in Madrid during the running of the bulls. I needed to be there to get the feel of the place and understand the atmosphere, how the crowd reacted. I wouldn't stay in business long if I didn't pay attention to the little details. Readers can smell a mistake a mile away, and if I lose their trust I'll be working at the grocery store for a fraction of what I make writing."

The auditor snorted. "Quite the drama queen, aren't you? I might accept the research excuse if the tone came through in your work, assuming we're talking about a published manuscript. Do you have a copy of that alleged book?"

The sceptical tone of his voice, not to mention his use of the word "alleged," set Khloe's teeth on edge. How dare he sit there in his perfectly pressed suit and make her justify every item on her tax return? Oh right. He was the almighty tax department auditor! Maybe it would help if she curtseyed or kissed his ring or something.

She smiled sweetly. "Of course." Turning, she ran her fingers along the spines of the books on the shelf. Plucking Bullfighter's Downfall out, she handed it to him. It took quite some effort to keep her smile from turning into a snarl. "I hope you enjoy it. It spent two months on the New York Times Best Sellers list."

He took the book, his brows rising at the cover picturing a couple in a passionate embrace against a backdrop of the famous bull run. Turning the book over, he read the back cover before looking up at her. "Romantic suspense? You're one of those kinds of authors?"

Okay, he might be the big-shot auditor, and he had the ability to make her life, not to mention her finances, a living hell, but he had no right to use that tone of voice when describing the genre she loved.

"Exactly what do you mean by that?" She straightened up to her full five feet five inches and glared down at him. "If you mean one of those authors who can take two characters, introduce them to each other and make them fall passionately and fervently in love while they dodge bullets, murder, mayhem and other nasty plot points, then yes. I'm one of these kinds of authors. And in case you don't believe me, you might want to ask the thousands of readers whose buying habits have put me on the New York Times Best Sellers list time and again."

"No need to get defensive. It's hardly War and Peace but I'm sure it's a very nice story."

It took all of her willpower not to grab the heaviest book on the shelf and smack him over the head with it. War and Peace indeed! "Have you ever tried to read War and Peace?" She took a step forward, gratified at his flinch. "My books are meant to entertain people and take them away from their everyday lives, not bore them to death."

He had the grace to look uncomfortable. "Well, no, I haven't actually read it. I'm more of a John Grisham fan. Lots of war but not much peace."

She felt the tension in her gut relaxing a bit. He wasn't quite the pretentious prig he looked like. Actually, if she took an honest look at him, he resembled the cover models for some of her steamier books.

And that gave her an idea.

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HEAVEN SENT by Mahalia Levey

HEAVEN SENT by Mahalia Levey

Mia Justice counts every day as a blessing, not taking life for granted. Although she has strong faith, she finds it hard to move on in her personal life, until an accident changes her perception of really living.

Dire Sylis takes his job and the responsibility that comes with his job seriously. Saving as many lives or helping in any situation is how he pays homage to the father he lost as a young adult. However nothing prepares him the chance encounter that will change his life.

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~Excerpt~

Darkness fell early in the evening. Mia sipped a cup of hot cocoa while waiting. Time had never moved slower than waiting for Dire to show. Maybe she needed a psychologist or some heavier meds of a different type. Who worried about a man they recently met, and without an exact definition of the relationship they were heading in. She grasped his shirt in one hand, wanting to bury her face in his scent. Madness. She’d fallen head over heels into insanity. Tired of pacing and watching out the blinds for a glimpse of his truck, she sat down and flipped the television on. True to her word, she kept away from the news channels. Comedic family shows played on every channel. Not in the mood for comedy, she turned the television off and picked up a historical romance she’d found at a swap and shop months ago, but hadn’t had the time to read. She slipped the robe off and donned his shirt, wanting to feel closer to him in his absence. Using the discarded robe as blanket, she curled up on the couch and disappeared into the pages of her new book.

Lost in the world of thievery, abduction and handsome as sin highlanders, she’d toned out the world until a loud banging on the door scared her out of her wits. She dog-eared the page and tossed off the robe. The incessant pounding grew louder. “What.” She swung the door open ready to rip the balls out of the person who’d made her put down the fantastic book and probably dented her door. “Dire.”

“I rang the bell seven times.” Did he growl at her? And why did she find the sound arousing. Wait…I’m mad at him. She crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at him.

“I’m sorry for scaring you.”

Mia saw red. She clocked him with her open palm across his face, spun on her heel and stormed back into her house.

“Mia. Stop.”

“Go to hell.” She launched her body forward into a sprint up the stairs away from him. Pounding footsteps fell behind her as she heard him chase. Halfway up the stairs, a band of steel wound across her middle, halting her momentum. She kicked back and found her legs trapped by muscles as hard as tree trunks.

“Why are you mad?”

God he smelled good. Even angry with him, his energy singed her. Struggling to break his hold got her nowhere. His breath tickled her neck. His rock hard chest cradled her back.

“You didn’t text or call.”

Dire cussed under his breath. “Because I thought you’d be asleep like we discussed,” he snapped at her and spun her to face him.

She saw the angry welt on his face and dropped her gaze. Dire didn’t deserve her abuse. Ashamed of her actions, she couldn’t look him in the face.

“You should’ve anyhow.”

“I’m okay.” She frowned refusing to give into the two words she’d wanted to hear for hours.

“The team is okay too. Mia. I like to look who I’m talking to in the face.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” She pushed against him to get away and stumbled on the stairs when he let go of her. “Take this back and get out. I can’t do this.” Tears threatened to spill as she tore off his shirt and threw it at him. The T-shirt hit him in the face and fell to the floor. “I wanted to tell you that we should be friends but I can’t now because I’m in too deep.” His stunned expression, the way he held his body rigid while raking a gaze over her body caused her to shiver in reaction and start for her bedroom. “I said to leave,” she repeated when he made no move to.

“Calm down.” Instead of leaving, he followed her.

“Fuck you.”

“That’s mature.” He caught up to her, spun her around, and fisted a hand in her hair keeping her from running further. “Look at me Mia.” Her choice was to squeeze her eyes shut or to do as he bid.

“You had better be glad I’m not tender headed.” She glared at him, uncomfortable with the close proximity of his body so close to hers and her runaway emotions.

“I’m not hurt and you’re okay. Nothing bad happened.” He pressed her against the edge of her bed and dropped an arm to her lower back. Mia almost died when his lips feathered over her skin of her throat. Soft at first, until he worked a path up her neck, swept a finger along her jaw line and nipped to her lips.

Dormant need blazed to life. Mia turned aggressor, wrapping her legs around his waist and planting her lips over his mouth. Tongues tangled. Moaning into his mouth, she found the hem of his shirt and thrust her hands up his chest. Dire helped her take the T-shirt off. God, he is so sexy. To think she’d been totally naked in front of him this whole time left her feeling inhibited.

“Don’t get shy on me now. You looked damn sexy wearing my name.” He bit into the curve of her neck while palming the globes of her ass. His sparse chest hair abraded her sensitive nipples. Wetness drenched her thighs as he laid her down. Dire paused assaulting her mouth to grab a condom out of his pocket. She watched enthralled as he unbuttoned his jeans and shrugged out of them to cover his heavy cock.

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