Rumor

Renegades Novella

 November 4, 2014

      Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo

Former Navy SEAL Josh Marx thinks he has it all figured out. He’s living the bachelor lifestyle in southern California, running risk assessment for the Renegades, but most importantly, he’s finally gotten over the unrequited love he’s harbored for his former teammate’s ex wife. Then his buddy calls from overseas, worried because he hasn’t heard from his ex, and asks Josh to check in on her. Josh doesn’t want to get involved, but the same code that urged him to walk away in the first place is suddenly pushing him to change his Christmas plans.

Grace Ashby doesn’t appreciate the sexy SEAL trying to step in and take over. He thinks she’s hit rock bottom by working at a strip club, but she knows differently. She could set him straight, but he’s already rejected her once, and she doesn’t need one more man judging her.

She tells him to butt out of her business and her life. But Josh’s conscience won’t let him walk away this time.

Excerpt: 

She pushed to her feet and dried her face. She’d be okay. Her mom would be okay. Grace just needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Focus kept her moving forward, right up until she found Josh sitting on her hood, cross trainers propped on her bumper, elbows on knees.

Her stomach dropped. Her shoulders followed. But her heart was already shattered and numb.  “I can’t do this, Josh. I really can’t.”

He pushed from the hood, his stance relaxed, but his expression serious. “When did this happen?”

“Last year. Listen, I have to get to cheer practice—“

“When she came to see me in the hospital, she was perfectly fine.”

Grace sighed heavily. “No, she wasn’t. She hasn’t been fine for nearly ten years, she’s just been hiding it because she didn’t want to burden me.” The thought of her mother being a burden after all she’d done for Grace was ludicrous, and just pushed her anger higher and her sadness deeper. “She started taking medication two years ago, but it hasn’t helped. She was doing better before her roommate died…”

Emotion welled up in Grace’s throat and she couldn’t go on.

“Will it get better?” he asked, his voice filled with the same distress Grace has lived with for the past year.

“No.” The word came out half-rasp, half-whisper. The will to keep all her emotions stuffed away made Grace tremble.

Josh approached her in slow, thoughtful steps. She wanted to back away, but the utter emotional defeat had robbed her of the will to move. And when he wrapped her in his arms, she squeezed her eyes closed, buried her face in his T-shirt…and broke. Just started balling.

His arms tightened as he pressed kisses to her hair. Stroked her back. Rocked her gently side to side. Her second jag in ten minutes dried up as quickly as the first, but she felt completely and utterly defeated.

“I want to help,” he murmured in that low rumbling voice.

Again, too little too late. 

She knew she should let go and step back, but, God, she needed someone to lean on so badly. “There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing anyone can do. It just…is.”

His hands stroked across her shoulders, those big warm hands on her skin, sliding intimately over her Lycra tank, curving over the small of her back and traveling up her spine to the back of her neck. She wanted so badly to lift her face to his neck, to breath him in, to taste his skin, to lick his lips the way she had last night. Craved the pressure of him between her legs, the sizzle of skin on skin.

“Let me take over the expenses here,” he murmured, cupping her head and kissing her temple. “I have the money, and you can’t keep running these crazy hours, Grace. You come here, then you go to cheer practice, then you’re at the club until an ungodly hour. You’re going to make yourself sick, then where will you be?”

The heat glowing at the center of her body immediately cooled, her defenses prickled, and she pushed away. “Mom worked two jobs and raised me for over twenty years. I sure as hell can do it for as long as she needs me.”

A little about Skye Jordan:

Skye Jordan is a pseudonym for New York Times bestselling romantic suspense author Joan Swan. Skye’s novels are about enjoying that little wild streak we don’t let out often enough. About those fantasies we rarely get the opportunity to indulge. About stretching limits, checking out the dark side, and maybe even acting a little naughty. They’re about escape and fun and pleasure and romance.

And, yes, even love, because while wicked-great sex is good, happily ever after with wicked-great sex is even better. Skye (aka Joan) lives on the central coast of California in the heart of wine country with her husband and two daughters. As often as possible, she retreats to a hotel with critique partners for a power-writing week where much drinking, laughing, and yes, even working, ensues. When she’s not writing, Skye goes to breakfast with her hubby, attends her daughters’ barrel races, and spends a lot of time with her own horse, Riddle…while her two dogs, Paxton and Indie, tag along. She also loves to read, knit, craft, row, ride, and dabble in photography.

Author Links: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Pinterest / Newsletter

*****

Giveaway Time

Two sets of giveaways

 The first one is the grand prize .

What is the grand prize?

Why it is a 6” Kindle Tablet (1 winner from the entire tour – US/Canada only)

To enter for a chance to win the Grand Prize please fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The second giveaway is

1 Winner’s choice of Reckless, Rebel or Ricochet AND a $10 gift card (US/Canada only)
 AND 3 Swag Bags (3 winners at each blog stop – US/Canada only)

To enter this second giveaway please leave a comment or question for Skye.

ALONG with your email (I have to be able to contact you)

Also please use (AT) and (DOT) instead of the @ and . symbols (cuts down on spam)

Make sure to check out all the tour stops:

November 10, 2014 : 

Smut Book Club (Excerpt 1)

Same Book Different Review (Excerpt 2)

So Many Reads (Excerpt 2)

November 11, 2014

I Am A Book Addict (Excerpt 3)

Just The Write Stuff (Excerpt 4)

November 12, 2014

Cricket’s Chirps (Excerpt 5)

TBQ’s Book Palace (Excerpt 6)

November 13, 2014

 Becky on Books (Excerpt 7)

 Books-n-Kisses (Excerpt 8)

Maldivan Book Reviews (Excerpt 9)

Ms. Romantic Reads (Excerpt 9)

November 14, 2014

 Smut Book Junkie Reviews (Excerpt 10)