Title: Romancing the Summer – ten warm summer reads
Author: Kris Pearson and nine friends
Genre: Sweet Contemporary Romance
Book Blurb:
Ten gorgeous summer-themed romances from award-winning authors all around the world. Warm and witty, diverse and dramatic, and every one outrageously romantic. Curl up with a cool drink and your favorite treats to enjoy these ten great reads. Only 99 cents US, or free on Kindle Unlimited. Pre-order NOW.
From Annie Seaton - Love at first sight…
From Susanne Bellamy - Taking a chance on love.
From Kris Pearson - Tropical Maui weaves its romantic spell.
From Sofia Grey - The language of love couldn’t be more complicated.
From Anne Kemp - Friends, fireworks and a surprise romance.
From Ebony Jean - Fake fiancé turns into real love.
From Shirley Wine - Romanced and scammed - who can she trust?
From Gudrun Frerichs - The war is over, but the fight is just beginning.
From Nicki Edwards - An adventure of the heart in the Canadian wilderness.
From Taylor Danae Colbert - Home is where his heart is.
Excerpt:
Carter gave a humorous grunt. Barely more than a puff of air, but Emmy had no trouble picturing his face. Eyes glinting, laugh-lines crinkling, lips curled up at the corners with maybe a glimpse of his amazing teeth. Then she heard him move.
A finger landed on her back and tapped on her skin several times. “You missed some. Right here.”
She breathed out, and remembered the ABC cashier’s advice about finding a man with big hands to help. “You do it, then. I did my best.” She opened one eye in what she hoped was a no-nonsense squint.
They had the small cove practically to themselves. Other guests were probably out on sightseeing trips or considered the middle of the day too hot for the beach.
Carter’s finger stilled, then smoothed partway down her spine.
Emmy felt him tug on the bow holding her bikini top secure.
“Hey!” She began to lift up to remonstrate with him and then thought better of it.
“Don’t want to get suntan lotion all over it,” he said. So easily and casually that she reached for her water and glugged some more, pretending to be not the least affected. Because, wow, the man had a great touch. He could have squirted a chilly stream straight onto her skin. Instead, he’d poured some onto one of his hands, rubbed it with the other so it absorbed his heat, and then started smoothing it over her back with both big palms.
“Hang on,” he said, straightening so he could swing one leg onto the other side of her hips. Now he was crouching above her – practically sitting on her butt – and his thighs pressed against hers as he worked. Warm and firm, with a sprinkling of dark hairs she could just see from the corner of her eye.
“This is a bit more than putting sunscreen on,” she protested. Weakly. Because the pressure of his hands slipping and sliding over her skin felt amazing. The muscles in those long thighs flexed as he rocked to and fro. And this was going to be a nice holiday memory to take home and dredge up during the long winter to follow.
“You’ve got knots all over you,” he said, pushing a finger none too gently in below her shoulder blade and making her flinch.
“Ow. Watch what you’re doing.”
He puffed out an amused breath. “I’m serious. You’re as tense as a greyhound in a starting box – and thank God they’ve just about banned those races now.”
Had they? Emmy hadn’t heard, although she knew there was a big movement at home to rehouse second-rate racing dogs instead of putting the poor things down. “Yes… well… it’s not every day a complete stranger yanks my bikini undone and attacks my back,” she grumped.
“I can help,” he insisted, pushing the pads of both thumbs into the knot and rotating them gently but firmly so they slid over her skin. “Relax. Just let go.” He prodded a little higher. “Jeepers woman – you need loosening up.” He placed both hands on her shoulders and drew his palms smoothly over her back all the way down to the start of her bikini bottoms.
That felt sinfully good. She let out a small groan of enjoyment. It was enough to make him laugh, and the delicious vibrations travelled through his arms and into her flesh.
She settled down, pillowing her face onto her folded arms. “It’s as good as a massage,” she mumbled. “You could make a fortune doing this.”
Carter slid his hands upward again. “Not me,” he said. “But my brother’s aiming to. Sports Medicine. That’s what he’s studying at Harvard. What he hopes to specialize in. Well, Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology to give it a bigger title, and there’s plenty of work for him to do yet. Your All Black players and our NBA teams and other top athletes all use their bodies hard and need them in peak condition.”
More than impressed by his casual mention of Harvard, she mumbled a noise of agreement, then raised her head far enough to say, “Did he teach you this?”
“I don’t know about ‘teach’, but I’ve been his guinea pig often enough. It’s a treat after a heavy surfing session. I never mind being practiced on.”
Emmy twisted her head sideways and tried to look at him.
“Lie down,” Carter insisted, pushing on her shoulders. “I can kick-start your holiday a heap more efficiently than a dozen Mai Tais.”
“A dozen Mai Tais would have me flat on the floor.”
“And where are you now?”
“Flat on the… sand.”
“With no hangover,” he said. “I don’t know if sunscreen lotion is ideal for this, but I’ll do my best. Damn – I’m getting it on my T-shirt.”
He sat up higher, and then his white T-shirt landed on the sand beside her. The temptation to raise her head and check him out was now very strong. Just in time to stop her from looking up, he popped the top and poured some more lotion into his cupped hand. “And even with plenty of this on, you’ll have to take things easy,” he added. “You’re super-pale being blonde, and you haven’t seen the sun in months.”
“Ow,” she protested as he started working on another knot. “That really hurts.”
“Suck it up,” he said. Emmy heard his smile.
“I’m not some muscle-bound NBA player.”
“Noooo… you’re certainly not,” he agreed, easing off on the pressure. “But I can feel you’re a mess. Just relax. Floppy as you can be.” Then his voice changed to something suitable for a cartoon character. “Put yourself een my hands, little girl. Eet vill be nothink but pleasure.”
That set her laughing, and certainly relaxed her. “You’re such a clown.”
Buy Link:
mybook.to/RomancingtheSummer
Why is your featured book a must-read?
We had great success last year with the boxset Romancing the Holidays, and as this is substantially the same group of authors, we know what our readers want again. Also it’s only 99 cents US for ten lovely and varied novellas – so that’s pretty much three books for a very small price.
Giveaway –
Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 51 books featured in the Beach Reads Bookish Event:
Open Internationally.
Runs July 17 – 22, 2020.
Winner will be drawn on July 30, 2020.
Author Biography:
Kris loves words, and uses them to make the world a happier place by creating people who are perfect for each other – although maybe they can’t see that to start with!
She began writing at her local radio station in New Zealand. After living in Italy and London she returned home and worked in TV, radio again, several advertising agencies, and then spent happy years as a retail ad manager. Totally hooked on fabrics, she followed this by surprising everyone and going into business with her husband as a curtain installer and working for some of the capital city’s top designers. Good for her body, and it freed up her brain to write fiction. In twenty years she hasn’t fallen off her ladder once through drifting into romantic dreams, but she’s certainly seen many beautiful homes and met wonderful people, and may have stolen glimpses of them for the books.
If you love contemporary romance in exotic settings, that’s what she writes. They're mostly sexy stories about couples who fall in love and into bed along the way, just like real people do. She’s the author of eighteen novels, three of which were finalists in New Zealand’s Clendon Award. Each can be read as a stand-alone, but some make up linked series.
They include sheikhs, rural romances, the South& Sexy series, billionaire beach stories , and now she’s having fun with cozy mysteries.
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