I very – VERY – rarely offer any of my books for free, be they reader or print copy.
BUT…
For the next 5 days 12/15-19, my bestselling and newest addition to the NYC Socialites series, INFLUENCE, will be free – yes free! ZERO MONEY – exclusively on Amazon Kindle.
Why am I doing this? It’s the season for giving, after all, and I want everyone to have an opportunity to read one of my favorite books in the series. So, if you like stories about women who had it all, lost it, then got it back on their own and found love along the way, the NYC Socialites are for you. Why not start with INFLUENCE. I mean…it’s FREE!! LOL. What have you got to lose?
Influencewill be 1 week old tomorrow – I can’t believe she’s so old already, LOL!! In honor of her 1 week birthday, I figured a Sunday Snippet was in order. Here ya go:
The place Nick chose, The Good Pig was one I’d never been to before, situated on the west side of Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th streets. I wondered at the reason for the odd name.
The moment I came into the place my focus was stolen from checking out the surroundings when I spotted Nick at the bar, his attention zeroed in on the front door. He stood, a drink sitting in front of him, an elbow leaning against the top of the bar, one hand in his trouser pockets.
He looked effortlessly elegant and supernova hot at the same time. Magazine model gorgeous looks combined with raw sexual heat.
What a combo.
I stumbled in my Paredos as I made my way to him.
And I never stumble. Not in six inch stilettoes, kitten heels, or flats.
This guy really got to me.
His smile started in one corner of his mouth and ambled toward the other, his lips parting to reveal his pleasure. His entire face smiled, causing tiny lines to fan across his temples and two twin crevices to pop up on his cheeks.
I couldn’t ever remember any man grinning at me the way he was, not even Lucky. My insides went into a free-fall like when you’re on the downslope of a rollercoaster, and I felt my clutch tremble in my hand.
He met me more than halfway, his hand extended.
“You look lovely,” he said as he slid that hand around my bare upper arm and bussed both my cheeks, European fashion.
My toes tingled in my Paredos.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as he removed his hand from my arm and slid it around to my back, stopping just above my waist as he guided me forward.
“I reserved a table in the back,” he said. “It can get loud in here at lunchtime, but the noise is buffered back there.”
He led me through the packed bar area through a connecting door and into a deceptively large dining room. A white shirted, bow-tied waiter met us and escorted us to a booth along the back wall. Once we’d slipped all the way in, he handed us menus and said he would be right back to take our drink orders.
“You were right,” I said, as I opened my menu simply for something to do with my shaking hands. “It’s much quieter back here.”
Nick ignored his menu, instead, leaning his elbows on the table and threading his fingers together. His gaze took a slow stroll over my face, the smile that sent tingles all the way down my spine focused on me.
“I’m really glad you said yes to lunch,” he told me. “I’ve been looking forward to this since last night.”
Those little tingles increased.
I smiled at him, unsure of what to say, another facet of my personality that isn’t usual. I never have trouble making small talk with anyone. Deportment lessons mixed with social graces were ground into me as a child.
Apparently, with this man, deportment went dormant.
Our waiter returned, took our drink orders – a diet soda for me, water for Nick – and then recited the specials of the day.
“What do you recommend?” I asked him.
His pleased smile told me most people never consulted him. My father and mother raised me to be respectful to everyone we interacted with be it a bus driver, garbage man, or the prince of a neighboring monarchy. I was the type who over-tipped, always said please and thank you, and tried to be gracious and courteous to everyone.
“You can’t beat our Caesar salad,” he said, pen poised above his order book. “Our chef does something to the dressing that makes it stand out in a crowd.”
“Sold. I love a good Caesar. I’ll have it with grilled salmon, please.”
He beamed at me, then took Nick’s order of a turkey club.
“You have that effect on men, you know,” he said once our waiter left us.
“What effect?” I wasn’t being coy. I really didn’t know what he meant.
“When you smile at them and give them your undivided attention they practically melt.”
Pleased and embarrassed, I shrugged. “My mother taught me it’s much easier and nicer to be polite to people than demanding and rude, which many in our position can be and are.”
He nodded. “My mother taught Charlie and me the same thing. You get more flies with a drop of honey, she always says.”
“She’s right.”
He nodded again, then unfolded his hands, slid one across to me and weaved his fingers with mine. The gesture shocked me. So much so, I didn’t pull back or give any indication I wasn’t fully on board with him touching me.
“Did I mention,” he said, one corner of his lips lifting, “how glad I am you took me up on my offer of lunch.”
I laughed. “Once or twice,” I said.
The smile broadened and I swear my ovaries popped to attention.
What. The. Actual. Hell??
The waiter returned with our drinks, and a huge smile for me.
Flattering? Sure. But I was still trying to come to grips with how my female organs were all moving to alert status simply from Nick holding my hand.
Today’s first line come from the second book in A PRIDE OF BROTHERS, this one featuring the youngest brother, AIDEN.
This little treasure won a whole passel of awards and was a RONE finalist in 2022 in the romantic suspense category. This is the review that garnered a crowned heart:
The first book in my A PRIDE OF BROTHERS series, RICK, is one of my favorite stories because it’s an enemies-to-lovers trope, something I just adore reading because it’s always fun to see who caves in first and admits their feelings!
“Maybe you want to slow down the champagne chugging, Abs,” Gemma Laine said, her tone more suggestive of a parent than a sibling, as she lowered her camera and regarded her older sister.
RICK was a Rone Finalist in the Romantic Suspense category, has been a READER RECOMMENDED book by Author Shout in 2020, and has even been made into a game by CHAPTERS Intereactive ROMANCE stories
This book won so many awards and was nominated for so many more, that it holds a special place in my heart because it validated I could write romantic suspense and people like what I wrote!
Love reading romance? You’ve come to the right place! Here you’ll find romance of all steam levels and genres. So take your time, have a little fun here on our event page, and please visit our official book fair page and enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card
My steamy romance, BALANCE, part of the NYC Socialites Series, is one of the books listed. Check it out, here: OKRWG BOOK FAIR under the STEAMY category!
She’s a wealthy socialite who survived an abusive marriage. He’s a hardworking guy raising his son and caring for his widowed father. They come from different worlds, but it’s said…opposites attract. Can they find the balance between their two lifestyles to make their love work? Or will their differences tear them apart?
Life and love are a balancing act.
BALANCE is also a 2022 Nominee in the InD’Tale Magazine RONE AWARDS. The award ceremony if set for Saturday, 10.9 at 8pm EST!
I haven’t done one of these in a while and when I woke up I remembered today was Thursday, so…
From my upcoming addition to the LAST MAN STANDING series, CHANCE, dropping on 9.12.2022. Here’s a little something between the h/h to whet your preorder appetites!
“I’m so sorry about this,” Chance told Freddie as he pulled the car into traffic. “Nothing short of coming down with the bubonic plague was going to be a good enough excuse to get out of today. And if I told her I was sick she would have come straight to my apartment to check on me. Probably would have sent her private doc to visit you if we’d said you were afflicted. I’m so sorry,” he said again.
A quick glance across the front of the rental car showed him she wasn’t showing any signs of being angry or put out. In fact, he ventured to think it was the opposite. She looked resigned to it and content.
“Don’t worry about it.” She turned to glance at her daughter who was secured in the booster seat behind them, holding an iPad and with earphones in place. “I wasn’t doing anything today buy baking for tomorrow anyway, and I already got a head start on that this morning.”
“Still, I feel, well, guilty about all this. If I’d never asked you to pretend to be my girlfriend in the first place you wouldn’t have been ambushed into coming along today. My only hope is that after this they’ll leave me, us, alone.”
He remembered saying the same thing after the anniversary party and look how that had backfired.
“It’ll all be fine,” she said. “Where’d you get the car, by the way? I thought you didn’t keep one in the city.”
“I don’t. I rented it for the weekend. It was easier than depending on car service, plus, this way we can leave as soon as we want without having to wait to be picked up.”
Freddie’s laugh filled the cab. “We haven’t even gotten there yet and already you’re planning your escape.”
“It pays to plan ahead,” he muttered.
Why wasn’t she angry? Or at least put out by the situation? He was. In spades.
But saying no to his family wasn’t something he could do. He felt obligated to abide by his aunt’s wishes no matter how much they inconvenienced him.
Freddie, though, had no obligation to his family. And yet, here she was, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, going to a dinner that was sure to be emotionally trying, her daughter in tow, and acting like it was no big deal at all.
The more he came to know the woman the more intrigued he was by her.
Traffic, unfortunately in his eyes, was sparse and they made it over the bridge to his aunt’s Brooklyn brownstone in record time.
When he found a parking spot on her street he started to feel like some cosmic force was conspiring against him, making everything easy today so he’d be forced to stay longer than he wanted.
Freddie took Dawn out of the booster seat and once the child was on the sidewalk between then, she slipped her tiny hand into his, the other in her mother’s. Something shifted in his chest when he looked down at the little redhead and she smiled up at him.
“Mommy,” she said as they made their way up the stoop steps to his aunt’s front door. “Did you make enough cupcakes for me to have two?”
“We’ll see,” Freddie said. “It depends on how many people are here and how well you do with eating your dinner.”
“I’ll be good. Promise. I just hope they don’t have carrots.” She looked back up at Chance. “I don’t like carrots. I don’t like any orange food.”
He pressed her hand and said, “Me, neither.”
“Really?”
Her wide, blue-eyed wonder, made him laugh. “Can’t stand them.”
“Wow. I thought all grownups ate carrots.”
Chance rang the doorbell. “Not this one.” He took a deep breath when the lock shifted.
“Relax,” Freddie said.
“Impossible.”
The door was thrown open wide and his aunt pulled him into her arms, then pushed him away to do the same to Freddie. When it was Dawn’s turn to receive the exuberant welcome, he felt her body press against his leg, her little hand still holding tight to his. In a heartbeat, he picked up her so she wouldn’t have to be engulfed in his aunt’s killer grip and said, “It smells great in here. When are we eating?”
He caught Freddie’s dramatic eye roll as she presented the box filled with the cupcakes she’d baked to his aunt.
As of today, the WILL COOK FOR LOVE series is still on sale from Kensington/Lyrical. If you haven’t read them yet, now is the time to add them to your summer reading list because I don’t know how much longer they’ll be discounted!
From my soon-to-be-released LAST MAN STANDING addition to the series, CHANCE.
“The trash gets picked up at midnight,” she told him, apologetically, as she led him to an ancient Volkswagen Beetle, the two front fenders different colors.
“How old is your car?” he asked when she popped the front trunk open.
“A hundred and thirty-thousand miles old.” She started placing the containers inside the spacious trunk. “But still running, isn’t a gas guzzler, and has the added benefit of being paid for.”
Chance helped her stack the remaining boxes. When they were done she slammed the hood down, turned to him and said, “Thanks,” with a smile that took his breath away.
He nodded, looked up, then down the alley. “What time do you get here in the morning?”
“Around six. It’s usually light by then. I can get everything up and running before Lindsey comes at seven and we open.”
He nodded again.
“Well, thanks for the help,” she said. “Can I drop you somewhere? I’m heading downtown, but I can reroute if you need a lift. Or do you drive to work every day?”
He glanced down at her car. He wasn’t even sure he’d be able to sit in the front seat without tilting his head to the side. “I don’t have a car in the city. It’s too stressful driving into work every day and my job’s got enough of that already attached to it.”
She cocked her head and a thought popped into the front of his head. Before he could stop himself, he said, “Let me take you to dinner.” The request surprised him and, apparently, Freddie. Even in the subdued lighting surrounding them he could see her eyes go wide, her mouth drop open.
“Wh-what? Why?”
A good question and one he’d try to answer for himself later on. For now, though, he had the uncontrollable urge to feed her. “I’m sure you didn’t get a break all day and you must be starved. I know I am.”
The quizzical quirk to her brow was followed by, “I’m not dressed to go out to dinner.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t have to be fancy. I love diner food as much as the next guy. In fact, there’s a great place one block up. Best breakfast in town and their burgers are insane.”
She didn’t look convinced.
“You don’t have to run home and fix supper for…anyone, do you?”
Way to go, Chance. You never even considered she might be married before blurting out your invitation.
She didn’t wear a wedding ring and in his experience women always did. It was the men who removed them or elected to keep their fingers naked.
“No,” she said.
“So, no husband waiting for you to get dinner on the table?” he asked because he had to be clear on the subject.
For a fleeting moment something he couldn’t get a bead on crossed in her eyes. Then it was gone. “That’s a little sexist, you know, assuming it’s the wife who has to always make dinner.”
She was right. “Sorry. That was stupid of me.”
Her left eyebrow rose as she considered his remark. He felt like a jerk asking again but he really wanted to know.
“I wouldn’t use the word stupid,” she said. “Maybe unenlightened.”
That pulled a grin from him.
“But no. No husband at home.”
He held back his sigh of relief, then wondered why she didn’t have a guy waiting at home for her. He knew asking would truly make him sound insensitive so he kept the question to himself.
“Then how do the best burgers in the city sound?”
Chance had always been good at reading body language. It was a talent that had suited him well when the words a client spoke often didn’t jive with the truth of the situation. Their bodies outted them every time.
When Freddie’s shoulders dropped from their hunched position under her ears he knew he was making headway.
“Look,” he said, pulling out a grin he usually reserved for friends and family, “I know you don’t know anything about me other than I’m a divorce lawyer and I like coffee.”
A half-smile slid up her face. “And corn muffins.”
He nodded. “But I’m not a serial murder, I don’t cheat on my taxes, and if you ask my sister she’d tell you other than the fact I tend to argue a point to death, I’m a good guy.”
A full smile graced her face from that declaration.
Progress.
“So what’d’ya say? Wanna grab something to eat before you head home?”
He held his breath waiting for her answer.
After a few moments when he wondered if he’d ever be able to breathe again, she said, “Well,” as she shifted her bag to the other shoulder. “I am hungry, that’s the truth. It was a long day and I didn’t get a break.”
“Is that a yes?”
Please let it be a yes.
With her lips pressed together and her eyes narrowed slightly she finally –finally – nodded. “I guess it is.”
He couldn’t stop the full-wattage smile that jumped across his face.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 