Sunday Smooch!

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!

Today we have a smooch from A Risk Worth Taking by Zana Bell, but first ...

the winners of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaways are --
Xandra, Catherine and Elle!


Congratulations, Xandra James, who has won of copy of The Return of the Stranger, as well as Catherine and Elle Fynllay, who have each won a book from Kate's backlist. Please contact Kate Walker at Kate (at) kate-walker (dot) com with your address to arrange delivery of your books. Catherine and Elle, visit Kate's website here first to select your backlist book.

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from A Risk Worth Taking by Zana Bell ...


Any red-blooded American male would be all over Cressa Curtis. She's gorgeous, she's wild and clearly she's open for a no-strings-attached adventure. But Adam Walker's been there, done that. And now he wants more for himself. Even with his history, Adam still believes in love and family and marriage and the whole white picket fence—hardly what Cressa is offering.
Besides, everything about the crazy Kiwi spells danger and distraction—two things Adam can't afford to risk with his sights set on medical school. He's only in New Zealand for a month. Surely he can resist Cressa's advances that long…




[Set up: Adam has just arrived in New Zealand from Texas to give his sister, Sass, away at her garden wedding. Though desperately jetlagged, he immediately attracted to the groom’s feisty cousin, Cressa.]



“Will you dance with me?”

“With pleasure.”

Adam put his camera down on one of the tables and swept Cressa into his arms. The band was playing Moon River and it felt good to drift like this on the grass, under the trees and stars, a pliant woman pressed against him. He hadn’t had a chance to catch up with Cressa again before now. He’d only seen her from afar, chatting animatedly to different people. At one stage he saw her in deep conversation with Jake and Sass. They’d glanced several times in his direction and he’d wondered what they’d talked about. Nothing bad, clearly, for here she was, in his arms.

Adam closed his eyes, letting his tired mind relax and his senses take over. He liked her perfume and the softness of her hair. Dreamily he wound it round and between his fingers. It had been a long while since he’d felt such a strong attraction to a woman. He loved the contrast of the cold night air and the warmth of her body which fitted so well against his, and he moved his hand down her back and up under the hem of her jacket, feeling her curves in all the right places. It would be so sweet to melt into the shadows with her and make out. Slow and easy.

Almost trancelike, he danced them to the edge of the dancers, towards the sheltering darkness of trees. He’d been so serious for so long and Cressa reminded him of what he used to be like.
Tonight he was in a foreign land, among strangers. Tomorrow she’d be gone and he’d refocus, get back to his studies. With only his mother around and nothing to distract him, he could ace the exam given the empty weeks stretching ahead.

The thought made him smile as he leaned down to rub his cheek then his lips on the top of her head. That felt so good. She raised her face to his but just as he was about to let his mouth sink down onto her beautiful lips, he saw Cressa’s mother, Deidre, only a few feet away, watching the dancers. The way she wasn’t looking at them as she sipped her wine, let him know she knew exactly what was going on. He swung around with the music so his back was to her but already Deidre had knocked some of that delicious, drugged dreaminess out of him.

Cressa smiled up at him. She looked so full of mischief and wicked promise, he couldn’t help smiling back. One night with her would be amazing.

“I’ve a surprise for you.”

“Yeah?” He could hear the husky, lustful hope in his voice and wondered if she did.

“I hope you won’t mind. Sass said you’d be delighted. Your mum knows about it and she says that it’ll be wonderful.”

Suspicion replaced lust. “Really?”

His instincts had spotted danger but his mind couldn’t seem to keep up. “What?”

“Sass has invited me to stay here. Now I’ll be around to show you the country. Won’t that be fun?”

Alarm bells going off in his head, Adam jerked backwards, tripped over the root of a tree and stumbled, knocking the glass of red wine out of Deidre’s hand and all down her cream suit.




Zana is giving away a copy of the Australian edition 2-in-1 with Abby Gaines Her Best Friend's Wedding to two lucky commenters today!

Come back next Sunday, when the winners of today's giveaways will be announced -- and a smooch from Dragon Heat by Mel Teshco will be posted!