Title: Once
Her Man, Always Her Man (Always a Marine, Book 1)
Author: Heather Long
Publisher: Decadent Publishing (1NS)
Length: 11,000 words
Genre(s): Contemporary Erotic Military Romance
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on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13596947-once-her-man-always-her-man
Blurb:
Fulfilling
a favor and executing a business plan, Luke Dexter arrived at Dallas’ Sybarite
Club for a one-night stand. He never imagined that in the darkened club with
bluesy strains of jazz playing he’d come face to face with the woman he left
behind a decade earlier.
Rebecca
Rainier fell in love with Luke Dexter in high school and was crushed when he
dumped her to join the Marines after 9/11. Now, waiting for a date her best
friend and business partner set up, she’s unprepared when Luke walks in.
Can Luke and Rebecca bridge the pain of a decade long abandonment
in one cold Texas night?
Excerpt:
Luke’s
chest hurt, but he braced himself against it. Shock wrinkled the line between
her brows, the emotion far more brutal to him than a firefight in Kandahar or
Kabul. She didn’t turn to look at him. But her reflection in the mirror didn’t
soften. The familiar, flirtatious smile fled from the cool, firm line of her
lips. Color drained from the face of the woman who shifted on the bar stool.
Movement to his right caught his attention. A man approached, intent on her,
but meeting Luke’s iron expression, the would-be interloper diverted to another
table.
Satisfied,
his attention returned to the girl—no, the woman—gazing at him, pain etching
the softness of her lips. The memory of her lips got him through Paris Island.
He’d thought about them, about her smile, every single, damn day.
“Hello,
Luke.” Her voice poured over him like warm honey.
Life doesn’t always offer second chances….
“May I
join you?” He nodded to the stool next to her.
“It’s a
free country.” And just like that, she turned her back and the warm honey chilled,
hardening over his chest.
“Thank
you, ma’am.” He tacked the ma’am on as an afterthought. But the steel wrapped
in her velvety voice jabbed his kidneys. Perching on the edge of the stool, he
motioned to the bartender. “Two more of whatever the lady is having.”
She
watched him from the mirror. Hungriness reflected in the gold flecked, tawny
brown eyes, a perfect contrast to the tight jaw and stiff fingers wrapped
around her wine glass. She tossed back a third of a glass like a shot of vodka.
A shot of
vodka sounded like a great idea. But he needed his wits about him. IEDs laced
the battlefield in front of him and patience and procedure and about
eighty-five pounds of protective gear weren’t handy. But the trick to survival
was to examine what was right in front of him and to react to it. He could do
that in the field, he could do that with her. It was what he did best.
After the
bartender served the drinks and took his credit card, Luke sat sideways,
intentionally brushing his leg against hers. She didn’t recoil—exactly—but did
shift away after a few seconds.
Definitely treading in dangerous waters.
About the
Author:
Heather
Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child,
Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny
Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that
laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the
Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at
work on her next novel.
I love the 1NS series and second chances stories. This book sounds fantastic. Can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeletee.balinski(at)att(dot)net