Moonlight — New Excerpt!!!

Hi everyone –

Well the Halloween decorations have come down.  The costumes are put away (mostly) and I’m left feeling like I don’t have a thing to wear! LOL

I’m already looking forward to donning my Evil Queen costume again next year.  Panda and I have a list of improvements so it’ll be even better, or at least more comfortable!

Someone asked me why I enjoy Disney villains so much.  I groped about for an answer, but Russell Crowe really nailed it…

I like villains because there’s something so attractive about a committed person — they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They’re motivated. — Russell Crowe – actor

That’s why I love writing a good villain too!  So often in stories the hero or heroine are “reacting” to dire situations, but a good villain is planning it out.  Even though their reasoning might seem flawed or twisted, they’re the ones making things happen.  The villains keep pushing the story, raising the stakes.

I had a lot of fun with the villain in Moonlight.  Since we made it to the second round of the Writing with the Stars contest, I thought I’d share an excerpt from the book.

If you haven’t voted yet, there’s still time…
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/content/writing-stars-vote-best-hero-and-heroine You can also leave a comment too if you’d like…

I hope you enjoy the sneak peek inside Moonlight!

Thanks for reading and commenting and voting!!!  I couldn’t have made it this far without all of you!!!

Lisa 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moonlight – By Lisa Kessler (Excerpt)

The sunlight sparkled on the deep blue surface of Lake Tahoe as we walked along the water’s edge.  A small orange fishing boat floated out in the center of the water.  A patient fisherman sat at the bow, toying with the line of his fishing pole, and all around us the breeze moaned through the pine trees.

Adam took my hand, and led me along a trail toward a large granite boulder.  I tried not to notice the electricity that sizzled up my arm the moment our skin touched.  What was it about this guy?  It wasn’t like I’d never had a boyfriend, but none of my boyfriends in high school and college made me feel so aware of their touch.

“Lana?”

The sound of Adam’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts and back into reality.  I hoped I wasn’t blushing.

“Can you jump up there?”

I looked way up at the boulder that towered over us.  It had to be eight feet high.

“Jump?  You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head.  “Not at all.”

I checked again to see if maybe I exaggerated the height of the rock.  Nope, it was still much taller than I was.

“You can’t possibly jump that high.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He leaned in with a crooked smile and kissed my cheek.  “Watch me.”

Adam walked back a few paces, and gave the area a quick look-over.  Other than the fisherman out on the lake, there didn’t appear to be anyone else around.  Without a word, he sprinted toward the rock and leapt into the air.  He turned and smiled down at me from the top of the boulder.

“Unbelievable,” I gasped under my breath.  Even though I watched it happen with my own eyes, the jump looked so effortless it was still hard to believe it was real.  “How did you do that?”

“You can do it too.  You just don’t know it yet.”

I shook my head.  “No way.”

“Last night you turned into a big bad-ass jaguar.  You can make a little eight-foot jump onto a rock.”  His smile faded as he stared down at me.  “I told you I would help you learn some of the things your family should have taught you.  Consider this your first lesson.”

The rational part of my brain was reminding me about the laws of gravity and the impossibility of a person my size making an eight-foot jump, but I wasn’t listening.  Instead I took a few steps back for a running start.

My life had spiraled so far from the reality I used to take for granted, that I caught myself thinking, Why not?

I took a deep breath, and then I ran.  My legs pumped faster, and as I reached the boulder instincts I never realized were inside of me took over.  With a swing of my arms, I pushed off the ground with my legs and launched my body into the air.  I landed crouched on top of the boulder without a sound.  I straightened up, perfectly balanced as if I’d just hopped over a jump rope.

It was impossible.  But here I was.  I gazed down at my footprints in the sandy dirt.  I really made it.  Glancing over at Adam, I felt the adrenaline burning through my veins, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

“That was amazing.”

He nodded.  “This is just the beginning.”

***

The afternoon drifted into evening.  We sat on top of the boulder, watching the sky overhead warming from bright blue, to red and orange as the sun sank toward the horizon.  I stared out at the lake while the sunset colors shimmered on the water.  A breeze brushed over us and I closed my eyes, breathing in all the scents the air offered.

I was learning to recognize my surroundings without seeing them.  When I opened my eyes, Adam was watching me with a hint of a smile.

“So?”

“So what?” I knew exactly what he wanted me to tell him, but I was getting sick of being the student.  Maybe I was a little testy.

“So, could you tell who is out on the boat?”

We’d been working on isolating scents all afternoon.  Since his parents raised him to know about the animal inside of him, Adam used his acute sense of smell all the time without consciously thinking about it.  But I was raised to put my nose in flowers to catch their beautiful scent, and to sniff spaghetti sauce to see if it needed more garlic.

I’d never noticed that my senses were enhanced at all.  It was like finding out I had muscles I’d never used, so they atrophied.  After a few hours of practice, I still needed to close my eyes and block out everything around me in order to concentrate on a scent, but I was starting to pick up clues that I couldn’t see with my eyes.

“I know it’s a man, and he’s probably older.”

Adam raised a brow.  “And how do you know that?”

“He’s wearing Old Spice.  I don’t know anyone under fifty who splashes that on after they shave.”

“Nice job.” Adam grinned and gave me a playful high five.  “There’s hope for you yet.”

I rolled my eyes and nudged him with my shoulder.  “I’ve got a good teacher.”

“Well, there is that.”  He flashed me a grin that made my heart flutter.  Leaning in closer, he whispered, “You look beautiful with the sunset in your eyes.”

He brushed my hair back over my shoulder and his fingers slid along the curve of my neck.  I watched his eyes drift down to my mouth, and realized I was biting at my lower lip again.  I relaxed my jaw and met his gaze.  Hunger burned in his green eyes, and his fingers tightened in my hair, drawing me closer until I could feel his warm breath on my lips.

Before I could remind myself of all the reasons why kissing him was a bad idea, I leaned in and bridged the tiny gap separating our lips.  His other arm slid around me, pulling me closer as we kissed long and slow, over and over.  A moan escaped my lips when his tongue tangled with mine in a seductive exploration.

Oh lord could he kiss.

When we came up for air, my pulse was racing, and my skin felt hot, aching for more attention.  Adam brought a hand up to caress my cheek and stared into my eyes until I looked away.  I could feel my face flush with color.  I’d never been kissed so thoroughly before.  My toes were curling inside my shoes.

He caught my chin and drew my attention back up to his eyes.  His smile melted my heart.

“Would you be interested in coming out to dinner with me tonight?”

“Like on a date?”

He rolled his eyes.  “Yes, like a real date.”

I sighed, staring down at my hands.  “It’s only going to make it harder when I leave.”

He shook his head.  “I already don’t want you to leave, so one night out isn’t going to make it any worse.”

“It’ll make it worse for me.”

His smile faded away as he stared out over the water.  “Sorry.  I thought when you kissed me that you felt it too.”

“I felt it, all right.”

He focused his attention on me, and the weight of his stare was staggering.  “Then why are you fighting so hard to ignore it?”

“Because no matter how amazing it feels to kiss you, I’m still a…  whatever I am.  And you’re part of a Squad that kills… things like me.  What kind of future could we possibly have that wouldn’t end badly?  Besides, we hardly know each other.  I’m only trying to save us both some pain and heartache.”

“I don’t know what the future holds, but I don’t see how enjoying the time we do have could be a bad thing.”  He took my hand laced our fingers together.  “You said you’d stay for a little while, and I want to spend all the time I can with you.  I’m not asking you to give me forever.  Just today.”

Before I realized what I was doing, I kissed him again, harder this time, and he reciprocated.  Our hands slid around one another as he laid me back on the rock.  My pulse raced when I felt his fingers moving down my body, exploring every curve until he caught the back of my knee.  Slowly he pulled my leg up, and I wrapped it around his hip pressing him even closer to me.

Through our jeans I could feel him rubbing against me, and it was obvious he wanted me every bit as badly as I wanted him.  My hand slid up under the back of his shirt and he growled into the kiss.  I shuddered, my skin tingling with raw desire.   My fingernails slid down his back until I reached the waist of his jeans.

Suddenly he drew back with a gasp.  He squinted, his jaw clenching as he scanned the water’s edge.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered.

Then I smelled it too.  Blood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading!  If you enjoyed the sneak peek, please vote and tell your friends to go vote for Moonlight too! 🙂  Every click helps…
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/content/writing-stars-vote-best-hero-and-heroine