I'm thrilled to welcome one of my closest writing buddies to my blog today.
Natalie Anderson writes great contemporary romances for Harlequin Kiss and Entangled Publishing, and BREATHE FOR ME is her first indie release.
I was lucky enough to beta read half this book and it had me hooked!
Now, over to you Natalie...
Thanks so much Nicola for welcoming to your blog today so I can share some
details and an excerpt of my newest release.
BREATHE FOR ME, my first indie hot contemporary
romance, released this week. It’s the first in a planned series…
Here’s the blurb for Xander’s story:
The last thing Chelsea Greene wants is to
be rescued, but that’s exactly what happens when she’s caught wearing nothing
but her swimsuit during a midnight emergency evacuation drill. Turns out her
‘hero’ is a former lifeguard who has no hesitation in offering the kiss of life.
So not happening, right?
But for emotionally chastened Chelsea, one touch changes everything. She
discovers a desire to satisfy this arrogant, demanding tease. Unable to express
her own fantasies, she finds unspeakable pleasure in serving his.
Xander Lawson exudes easy charm. He likes a woman unafraid to match his
appetite for unfettered fun. He doesn’t do complicated or emotional. But the
raw need emanating from fragile Chelsea compels him closer. He can’t resist
spinning a sensual fantasy world around them.
As passion spills outside their carefully selected boundaries, Xander learns
Chelsea’s stronger than he first thought. But is she strong enough to handle
the intensity he’s always kept hidden?
In this scene, Chelsea’s been caught out in a fire drill just beyond
midnight. Her handsome-as neighbor has given her a carry down the stairs. Now
that the drill is over she and the other residents are returning to their
apartments and her ‘hero’ has oh so kindly loaned her his tee-shirt so she
doesn’t feel so exposed in only her swimsuit…
Wearing his shirt was worse than underwear. She saw a few sly looks, and
knew just what half the people in the lift were thinking, given most hadn’t
seen her in the building before. Same as what she was thinking.
That she’d come from his bed.
The elevator stopped on every floor of course, people taking a painfully
slow time to exit. She was awkwardly aware of him standing too close because of
the crowd. But even as it thinned he didn’t step away. As she was sandwiched
between him and the wall, she couldn’t back away. She grew hotter and hotter as
insanely inappropriate thoughts raced through her head. She stared straight
ahead.
Get a grip, Chelsea.
It was clear he wasn’t similarly afflicted—not with the joking words he
shared with another resident. The heat burned in her cheeks as he walked with
her out onto her floor—his hand on her back. Oh so polite. Except for
the inordinate amount of skin they were both displaying.
As soon as the elevator doors shut behind them, she stopped and turned
to face him. Oh mamma, it was damn hard to verbalize anything when confronted
by that body.
“You really don’t need to see me to my door,” she said huskily.
He merely walked around her, strolling along the corridor before turning
back to face her, right outside her apartment. His smile was shameless. “You’re
wearing my favorite tee-shirt.”
“Oh,” she glanced down and walked the last few paces to her door—where
he already waited.
Suddenly he was standing closer than he had in the elevator. She could
feel the raw denim of his jeans brushing the outside of her thigh. Wicked
laughter danced in his eyes. Too overwhelming.
She looked down at his bare chest. A sprinkling of hair. Flat brown
nipples that she could easily reach with her tongue. And a tan. And she’d
already experienced the warmth of it, and the hard strength. It was a chest for
touching, admiring, tasting. She’d have it beneath her, above her, his arms
around her. He had such sensuality emanating from him—challenging her.
A frisson of aggression rippled through her body. She’d never been
challenged this way. Never met anyone so blatantly wanting with just a look and
a smile.
She didn’t want blatant. When she got back in the scene, she’d be taking
it very, very easy. Not squaring off with some playboy. She lifted her chin and
pulled the tee-shirt off in a quick movement, letting it dangle on the end of
her finger.
“Thanks,” she said, totally feigning moxie.
With a grin he lifted the shirt from her crooked index finger and hooked
it into his belt so it hung like a rag down the side of his leg.
“My pleasure.” The polite rejoinder sounded way too intimate to be all
that polite. It sounded dangerous. And tempting. He leaned closer, bracing his
arm on her doorway—so he took up even more of her vision. Dominating.
“What are you doing?”
“Making a move.”
Oh my. How was that for blunt? “Isn’t there some code of ethics that
stops you superhero rescue guys from getting involved with the people you
save?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“There should be. Women might mistake gratitude for lu—something else.”
“You think you’re feeling ‘something else’ for me?”
“I… no.” Somehow she held eye contact. The way he was looking at her
sent flickers of heat along every nerve cell.
“Anyway, I didn’t really rescue you,” he said. “You’d have slid down the
banister or something if you’d had to. Really it was all an excuse to get my
hands on you.”
“Oh, so you’ve no ethics then.”
“Guess not.” He had that total ‘whaddaya gonna do about it’ look on his
face.
And it was obvious what he was going to do about it. The laughter
in his eyes was wicked—and mesmerizing.
It was a game. She got
that. Except the sizzle that she felt wasn’t entirely playful. It was intense.
And as she stared up at him the smile in his eyes and on his lips faded as a
predatory look hardened his expression. She raised her hand. Pressed her
fingertips on his mouth. To stop him? To touch him? She didn’t really know.
USA TODAY bestseller Natalie Anderson
writes fun, frisky, feels-good contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills &
Boon, Entangled Publishing and independently. With over twenty-five books
published, she's been a Romantic Times Award nominee & a finalist for the
R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year).
She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband, four children and what
feels like a million ducks. Find out more at her website http://www.natalie-anderson.com and
be sure to sign up for her newsletter. You can also find her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authornataliea
Wishing you mega sales, Natalie!
