Hi everyone!
I’m so proud of Sedona Sacrifice, and I can’t wait for you to read it! This one features my first ever single dad werewolf, Gage, and his amazing heroine, Becca! Seeing them fall in love as so much fun for me, and his little guys, Henry and Hawk, were too much fun!
Links are below and thanks again for posting reviews and telling your friends about my books! I couldn’t keep writing them without all of you!
Lisa
BLURB –
For Gage Woods, being a single dad means making sacrifices, and being a werewolf on top of it all makes secrets a must. As his pack brothers find their true mates, he yearns for his own, but dating is almost as perilous as fighting the rogue jaguar shifters who attack his pack. The moment he decides to give up and focus on his boys, fate steps in, but what if Becca is actually working with the enemy?
Becca Yates has always been a loner, and never more alone than today. When her uncle calls her with a dire warning about her boss and only real friend, her world is upended. She’s not sure who she can trust anymore, but if she doesn’t figure it out soon, it could cost her life.
With his military background Gage is ready to help Becca fight for the truth. The question is, will it set them free, or put them on a collision course with a disaster that even love can’t survive.
Excerpt –
He turned to face me. “This is all so fucked up, and those little guys never asked to be a part of any of it.” Pain lined his face. “How can I protect them from all this?”
I wrapped my arms around him, instinctively needing to ease his burden. He held me tight, molding my body to his, and unlike my earlier hug from Asher, this one had my heart racing.
We clung to each other in a stranger’s massive kitchen, and I suddenly felt like we were the only people left in the world. He drew back just enough to see my face. His gaze locked on mine, desperation in his eyes, not to mention unspoken questions. But I didn’t have the answers. All I could offer was myself.
I rose on my toes and kissed him. It was clumsy at first, but his grip on me strengthened as he parted my lips. He explored my mouth as our tongues tangled together with an urgency that made my knees weak. He walked me backward until we hit the cupboards. My fingernails raked down the back of his shirt and a growl rumbled in his chest. Fire burned low in my belly until my thighs pressed together, my body aching for his attention.
His fingers tightened in my ponytail, tugging my head back as he deepened the kiss. This was a hunger I’d never known in my life, and if I could’ve gotten him naked, I would’ve been having sex in some stranger’s kitchen. This need for him consumed me.
Dex called Gage from the other room.
He stumbled away from me, and my legs almost gave out as we stared at each other. With his heated gaze locked on mine, he slowly ran the back of his hand across his wet lips, and I practically had an orgasm right where I stood. The desire in his eyes almost physically burned me.
No one had ever looked at me like that before.
My entire body tingled. Arousal didn’t seem big enough to describe the yearning he’d kindled in me with just one kiss.
“Be right there,” Gage called without ever taking his eyes off me. He came closer and whispered in my ear, “I’m starving, but not for the chicken on the table.”
He straightened up and walked out of the room. I struggled to catch my breath. Holy shit. I went to the table to unpack the bag of food. My legs were rubbery, and my mind was buzzing with images of Gage with far fewer clothes on.
I set the take-out plates on the table and took out a box of fries and a bag of biscuits. When Gage came back in the room, all the air sucked out of my lungs.
Sadly, he wasn’t alone. Dex smiled at me. “Hey, Becca.”
I’d met Dex a few times. His twin brother was the quieter one of the two brothers, but I didn’t really know either of them. Neither one had kids so we didn’t have much reason to interact, and now that I knew Asher had built some kind of imaginary wall around me, I guess it made more sense that they rarely spoke to me.
“Hi, Dex.” I kept my attention on him for fear if I so much as looked at Gage I’d go up in flames. “I hope I got enough chicken for everyone.”
He shook his head. “Deacon took General Sloan back into town, and he’s bringing lunch for us. I just wanted to say welcome, I guess…” He shrugged as he looked over at Gage.
He must’ve told Dex I knew. I raised my eyebrows. “I’m not a werewolf.”
Dex chuckled with a nod. “I know. I just meant…it’s nice to have you around without secrets.”
Gage took his plate and came to my side of the table, putting himself between me and Dex. His voice was deep, his tone short. “I’ll get to the tile after I eat.”
I stared at Gage’s back. His shoulders seemed tense, and his feet were set wide apart, ready for a fight. Was he jealous? I blinked. What was happening here?
Dex glanced at Gage and nodded. “Yeah. Sounds good.” He peered over at me and smiled again. “See you soon, Becca.”
“Okay.”
He left the room, and Gage turned to face me. His shirt stuck to his chest in a couple places, feeding the fantasies playing through my head of how ripped his torso must be.
His gaze softened. “Maybe we can eat outside where we’ll have some…privacy.”
The way he said the final word clued me in. Dex was a werewolf like Gage. He must be able to hear everything we said, like Gage and Asher did when I was on the phone with my uncle.
“Okay.” I picked up my plate and filled it with a drumstick, a thigh, a handful of fries, and a biscuit. I grabbed a packet of honey, too, then looked up at Gage. “Lead the way.”
I followed him through the open floor plan. Much of the house was covered in plastic tarps and drywall dust. The heels of my flats clicked across the bare cement floors as we crossed to a wall of sliding glass doors. He led me out onto a back patio that had a gorgeous view of Cathedral Rock in the distance. We sat under one of the two old gnarled oak trees the patio space had been built around.
I took a bite into the chicken and stared at the valley. Spring in Sedona was beautiful. Perfect temperatures and clear days that gave way to chilly nights. A hawk circled, making his way lower in a silent descent.
Gage cleared his throat. “Are we going to pretend that didn’t happen in there?”
I glanced his way and shrugged. “I don’t know. I started it, but you definitely finished strong.”
The corners of his lips curved as he popped a fry into his mouth. “Oh, I was far from finished.”
Then my thighs were pressing together again as I shifted in my seat on the concrete bench. This high level of flirting and double entendres were out of my league.
I chuckled, meeting his eyes. “If that was just warming up, then I might be in trouble.”
He grabbed a napkin, wiping his hands and then reached for mine. His grin went from wolfish to warm, melting me in a whole new way. “You are always safe with me, okay? If I come on too strong, say something. I swear I’ll back the fuck off in a heartbeat.”
“You’re making me want to kiss you all over again,” I admitted.
He raised a brow. “Is that a promise?”
I laughed and leaned over, kissing him slowly. Funny, even though this was new between us, it didn’t feel awkward. It felt right and natural. He cupped my face in his large hand, his lips brushing mine over and over, and instead of the urgent hunger we’d unleashed in the kitchen, this time we savored the tender kisses.
He rested his forehead on mine. “You taste so sweet.”
I dangled the half-empty honey packet in my other hand.
He grinned, shaking his head. “This isn’t honey. It’s all you, Bec.”
My given name was Rebecca, but only my family used it. I’d been Becca to everyone else my entire life. But something about hearing him shorten it to Bec seemed intimate. Only for him. And I liked it.
Something shattered inside the house followed by a loud. “Fuck!”
Gage chuckled. “I better get in there before the Stewart brothers ruin the whole shipment of custom tiles.”
“Okay.” My voice was thready and unfamiliar to my ears. I wet my lips. “I guess I’ll talk to you later?”
He tilted his head a little, and as impossible as it seemed, he was even more handsome. “I was thinking maybe I’d see if the boys can have a sleepover with Bart and Ben tonight.”
We’d be alone. All night. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “This is moving at lightning speed for me. I think I need a little time to process all this.”
Hurt flashed in his eyes, but he shut it down so fast I almost thought maybe I imagined it. He nodded slowly. “Maybe tomorrow night?”
I chuckled. “I’ll check my calendar. We could watch a movie or something.”
“Great.” His eyes wandered over my face. “I don’t have any expectations, okay? I want to know your favorite color, what makes you laugh, and maybe what you like to drink.”
I raised a brow. “So you won’t be disappointed if we don’t end up naked?”
“After what happened in the kitchen, I’m pretty sure you already know where I stand with wanting you naked.” He shook his head as he lifted a hand to caress my cheek. The gentle touch sent tingles all the way down to my toes. “But I don’t have an agenda. I’d wait a hundred years for you if that’s what it takes. We have time, Bec.”
My heart wanted to leap out of my chest, but my head kept issuing warnings about werewolves and government research and my uncle being part of a collective trying to kill werewolves.
Instead of driving myself crazy, I gathered up all the trash and then leaned in to kiss his cheek as I whispered, “I guess I’ll talk to you tonight?”
His crooked smile had my heart doing backflips. “For sure.”
I was already looking forward to it.
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