Sunday Smooch with Anna Hackett . . . .

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Time Thief by Anna Hackett, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is Faith McInnes! Congratulations Faith, please contact Emmie at emmie (at) emmiedark (dot) com to claim your prize.


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Time Thief by Anna Hackett ...


Hunted for her ability to steal time, Bay North lives a life on the run. All she wants is to make the crime lord who slaughtered her family pay. But now he’s set the ultimate hunter on her trail and Bay will need all her skills to carry out her revenge and survive.

Ex-Navy SEAL Sean Archer saw his team killed by a time thief in Afghanistan and came back a broken man. He’s made a dark deal with a criminal to hunt down all time thieves and now Sean’s tracked the wily Bay North to Denver where he plans to rid the world of one more dangerous mutation.

But during a shootout, hunter and hunted find themselves depending on each other for survival. Joining forces to exact payback by stealing a priceless treasure, their reluctant alliance shatters both their defenses. Can Bay find the courage to trust? And can Sean convince a woman honed in revenge that she can have more than vengeance, blood and killing?

[Set-up - Sean and Bay have just survived a shootout and Sean’s learned a dark truth that’s left him reeling.]

Bay could barely breathe. Sean Archer was holding her so tight.

But she let him hold her, his big body shaking. He didn’t make a sound but she felt his pain.

She didn’t say anything. What words would make this better? She brushed a hand over his muscled back. She wasn’t sure how long they knelt there on the cool tile floor. For the first time in her life, time stood still without her having to use her ability.

When he lifted his head, his stubbled cheek brushed against her jaw. She stilled, looking down at his sun-streaked hair. His hands gripped her shirt and she felt the touch through her sweater.

He shifted until they faced each other. Only a whisper of air between them. His eyes churned like storm clouds over an angry sea.

She didn’t know how to comfort another but she recognized the agony in his eyes. She knew the guilt, anger, sorrow—they were old friends to her.

His hands loosened, his fingers grazing over her skin. “Bay.”

Just her name. Said in a way that made her shiver. This was crazy. She didn’t know this man and he’d been trying to kill her.

But she knew how he felt. Lost in a world ripped apart, and God help her, she wanted to feel something more than the urge for revenge.

For a few minutes she wanted to forget reality and be close to someone.

His lips touched her temple.

A small brush. Gentle when she’d expected a hot rush. She’d thought he’d kiss her, that they’d attack each other in a blind rush to forget their shared misery.

A skim of lips across her cheekbone.

Her eyelids fluttered closed. She couldn’t remember anyone being this…tender with her. Then his lips moved over hers.

Now she felt the strength, the urgency.

His tongue pushed into her mouth. She returned the kiss. The taste of him was like a hit of a too-strong martini. Heady, flooding all the right places.

They were chest-to-chest now. Her breasts pressed against his hard muscles, sending shivers of sensation through her.

He groaned, the kiss turning more frantic. Like he couldn’t get enough of her. Or like he was fighting to forget his memories.

He pulled away.

She gasped for air, reeling from what that impromptu kiss had left her feeling.

To be in the draw to win a download of Time Thief, just leave a comment and tell me, if you had the ability to stop time like Bay, what would you do with it?

To learn more about Anna, visit her website, www.annahackettbooks.com, follow her on Twitter or like her on Facebook.


Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from Wild Encounter by Nikki Logan will be posted!