Sunday Smooch

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Death's Sweet Embrace by Tracey O'Hara, aka LoveCat Tracie Sommers, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -- Linda Henderson!


Congratulations, Linda Henderson! Can you please contact Nikki Logan at

nikki (at) nikkilogan (dot) com (dot) au

and she'll send you a copy of The Soldier's Untamed Heart.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Death's Sweet Embrace by Tracey O'Hara...


After thousands of years of secret conflict, humans and parahumans have reached an uneasy truce. But unspeakable evil now threatens to shatter the tenuous peace. Teenaged shapeshifters are being slaughtered by a twisted, sadistic serial killer who rips their still-beating hearts from their paralyzed bodies. A task force must be formed to halt the madness—a union of avengers including the vampiric Aeternus, Christian Laroque and Antoinette Petrescu, as well as Kitt Jordan and Raven Matokwe, members of enemy Animalian tribes…and forbidden lovers. A centuries-old feud has divided their shapeshifting peoples, and if their passion is discovered it will doom them both. But past hostilities must be put aside, for the killer they seek is but the first sign of a blossoming terror rising up from their long-buried pasts: the all-consuming nightmare of The Dark Brethren.

[Set-up: Kitt and Raven are past lovers. He has been running from people hunting him and seeks refuge in her apartment. It’s the first time they've been alone since he returned...]

Kitt pushed the eggs around on her plate and sipped at the juice while Raven fell on his food like a man who hadn’t eaten for weeks. Fatigue descended on her again, but the thought of bed raised other images. Images she shouldn’t be picturing. Dangerous images. Her animal lust threatened to overwhelm her, so she picked up her plate and carried it into the kitchen.

She stood at the sink, scraping the barely touched meal into the trash, when Raven came in. The room suddenly felt smaller than it did a moment before. He was watching her; she could feel his eyes burning a spot between her shoulder blades but didn’t dare turn. It would be her undoing. His breath touched her skin as he came nearer and reached around to put his empty plate on the sink.

“Here, let me.” His fingers closed over hers and he took the plate from her hands.

Her fatigue fled. She turned around. Big mistake. His wide soft mouth was close, very close. She snagged her lower lip with her teeth and pressed herself back against the sink.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “You smell so good.”

“So do you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Too good.” Her inner snow leopard growled.

He placed his hands on the counter, either side of her body, still not touching her. As he leaned in, she leaned away, keeping her eyes locked on his full sensual mouth. Memories of what those lips could do to her sent a flush across her skin.

His chin brushed the tip of her nose as he planted a kiss between her eyebrows, then he tilted his head to her neck and breathed in deep. When he raised his head again, his eyes were closed, as though he was savoring her scent. Then his lips burned the indentation at the base of her throat. Her head fell back, granting him greater access, and she clutched his shoulders for support.

Raven pressed one hand on her lower back and the other between her shoulder blades. His hands traveled down to her hips and slid up her sides, dragging over her top. She allowed him to unzip her slacks and untuck her shirt. He pinned her with his hips, and his fingertips trailed down her inner arms, tracing the ridges of her ribs through the thin shirt material. She buried her hands in his hair and crushed his lips to hers. She wanted to breathe him in, to quench her hunger and her felian lust.


Death's Sweet Embrace is out at the end of this month in bookstores across North America. Tracey has one copy to give away to a lucky commenter!

Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from Walk On The Wild Side by Natalie Anderson will be posted!