Mar 13, 2016

Sunday Smooch - Loving the Odds

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!



Today we have a smooch from Stefanie London but first 


... the 
winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is ladiemarcie.!!


Can you please contact
annie (at) annie-west (dot) com to receive your copy of A VOW TO SECURE HIS LEGACY.


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from LOVING THE ODDS.

Risk analyst Bailey Reuben might be in Las Vegas, but the last thing on her mind is sin. She’s there to find her jerk of an ex and get her grandfather’s watch back. Instead, she finds a smoking hot stranger. A stranger with a crazy plan to help her retrieve her family heirloom and get revenge. It’s a bad idea—she calculates risks for a living, after all—but she can’t say no.

Bad boy PR guru Lance Fulton is all about helping the gorgeous, quirky Bailey. She’s in desperate need of some fun, and pretending to be her new boyfriend is the perfect way to help her see how sexy she is, get the watch, and show her ex what he’s missing. But the more they get to know each other—and the hotter their attraction burns—the higher the probability one of them will end up with a broken heart…

Set up: Bailey and Lance are sharing a hotel room after her spontaneous decision to stay in Las Vegas for the weekend. There’s a lot of instant attraction between then, but Bailey’s been burned before and she’s unsure how to deal with her attraction to Lance. Luckily for her, Lance isn’t to shy about going after what he wants.

“I’m not one of those people who uses literally when they mean figuratively,” she said.

“I’m sure you use the correct word at all times.” His lip twitched but he managed to keep a straight face.

“Oh, I try to. Grammar is very important and not enough people take care with it.” She paused. “Hang on; you’re teasing me, aren’t you?”

“Me, never.” He put a hand to his chest in mock sincerity. “I’m a total gentleman.”

The fine arch of her brows said it all. “Riiiight.”


“You wound me.”

She laughed. “Want me to kiss it better?”

It was a saying, a colloquialism…he knew that. But those six little words managed to suck all the air out of his lungs and disconnect his body from his brain. He stepped forward and her breath hitched. The blacks of her pupils ate away at the electric rim of blue around them.

“What did you say, Bailey?” His voice came out roughhewn. Edgy.

“I just meant…” She sucked in a breath and mashed her lips together.

Desperate desire rushed through him. He wanted to press his lips to her throat and see if her pulse was racing the same as his. What would it be like to drag his lips across her skin? Would she taste as clean and fresh as she smelled?

“It was a joke,” she whispered. Her tongue darted out to touch the corner of her mouth and that flash of pink totally undid him. “I think.”

The space shrunk between them as he closed in. “You think?”

“I don’t know.” She stood rooted to the ground. “What if it wasn’t?”

“Are you saying you want to kiss me, Bailey?”

Her lips parted as if in invitation and her hands came up to his chest automatically. The soft, feathery touch of her fingers through his T-shirt stoked the fire inside him. She moved her hands over his pecs and up to his shoulders. The movement was gentle, but passion flickered across her face like a flame.

“I’m still deciding.” She pressed her sweet little body against him, her bare thighs lining up with his.

The delicate swirl of her hips forced his blood south. He was hard as f**king steel. “You’re still deciding?”

“Well, I don’t usually kiss random men. Actually, I’ve never been one to kiss much and there’s a chance I may not be good at it.” Her brows creased but her hands fisted into the cotton of his T-shirt. 

“At least that’s what I’ve been told.”

“You’re giving me some very mixed signals right now.” His face hovered inches from hers, their breath mingling in the air between them.

“I want to kiss you, but…” Her lips quivered. “I’m scared.”

“Why don’t we take it slow?” Lance brushed his mouth over hers. It was more a whisper than a kiss. 

“Glacial, even.”

“Glacial,” she sighed as he slid his hands up the back of her neck to cradle her head. “I like that.”

His thumbs stroked her ears as he kissed one corner of her mouth and then the other. Slow.  Soft. Her fresh scent curled around him.

“That feels good,” she murmured, her eyes fluttering shut.

He traced his tongue along the seam of her mouth and she opened for him, her lips glistening and shiny like ripe fruit. When he leaned in again, her tongue came out to meet his and he moaned into her mouth.

I love the idea of having a crazy story about how people met their significant other. Lance and Bailey will certainly have quite the tale for their grandkids one day!

How did you meet your significant other (or anyone else important in your life, like a best friend)? Leave a comment below to be in a running to win an ebook copy of Loving the Odds.

Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced and another smooch will be posted!

24 comments:

  1. Woohoo Stefanie WOW I loved that smooch and I loved loved this story it is awesome Lance and Bailey are just made for each other the setting is fab truly this is one that will have you smiling throughout :)

    I met my Hubby at the local ice-skating rink many many moons ago he was never and ice-skater he just watched and we just started talking and still together :)

    Have Fun
    Helen

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    1. Thank you Helen, you're always so kind.

      Aww that's such a romantic place to meet someone!

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  2. Love the idea of a glacial kiss, Stefanie. Definitely glacial as in slow, not as in cold! Mr West and I met at the uni library! See, hanging around books really is worthwhile.

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    1. Yes, definitely not cold ;)

      That's pretty much he perfect place for a writer to meet their partner, isn't it?

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  3. although he knew some of my family & I knew some of his we didn't know each other until one day he was with his Mother --love the review---LynW

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  4. Ooh, love that excerpt, Stef! I can see that Bailey and Lance are going to have some fun in Vegas. :-)

    Mr Douglas and I met via an indoor soccer team. I'm so not sporty -- but that soccer team was responsible for several love affairs. ;-)

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    1. They do! Lots of Vegas shenanigans in this book ;)

      Aww that's cute. Don't worry, I am so not sporty either. Definitely not one of those girls who 'glows' when they exercise LOL

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  5. Big happy sigh with that kiss, Stef :-)

    My hubby came to my door, a friend of a friend arriving to pick her up - practically hand delivered!

    My fav cute meet story though is my friend's parents who met (this was the 60's) because they were the only 2 people at the dance who knew how to Charleston! That always makes my heart swoon!

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    1. I feel like that should be in a book. What a cool meetcute :)

      I love the hand-delivered future husband too!

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    2. I wrote a short story that was published in the Woman's Day based on it :-)

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  6. PS - LS have given you some truly fabulous covers!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, I the cover gods have been kind. I think this is my favorite so far :) It's exactly what I'd pictured for the characters...well, they had faces in my head of course haha

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    2. Faces help. Especially for the kissing :-)

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  7. Great smooch, Stef.

    I met my husband through a friend of a friend in London. He is crazy history buff and I thought he was the smartest person I'd ever met. We were each dating other people so I just thought he was a great guy...but that's was it.

    We didn't see each other for another four years (he moved back to Australia) until I walked into a party back in Brisbane (I was home on holidays and now single) and our eyes meet across a crowded room. We had five days together before I flew back to London. After three years of a long distance relationship including living in different countries as well as different Australian cities, he proposed (the night before I moved to the US for 6 months). Finally we ended up in the same city and got married. We are a testament to the fact that long distance relationships can work.

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    1. Wow, what a story!! You were meant to be :)

      I imagine that would be so tough, being apart so early on. Good on you two for sticking it out.

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  8. Husband - we met at work. Started out as friends. Been married 21 years now. Best friend, Met in Kindergarten. over 40 years later, we are still great friends.

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    1. Sounds like you have some great long term relationships there, Tammy :)

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  9. Gorgeous smooch, Stef! I met my hubby on a hospital ward (we were both working there)...real medical romance stuff!!! LOL ;-)

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    1. No wonder you're writing medical romances, Louisa!! Sounds like you've got the perfect experience for it ;)

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  10. Lovely smooch, I want to read it now. My husband and I met in a modernized way as my parents did. My parents wrote letters to each other, when he was assigned in Indonesia and my mother's cousin and friend said that her cousin was in Indonesia and he would like to have a penfriend. They began writing in 1948 and they got morried in 1952. My husband and I started calling. For some reason or another I had signed up for some interests in teak trees and teak plantation. At that moment my now husband worked there and he was assigned to do telemarketing. We began to talk, first about teak and trees, a week later he called again and we talked about a lot of things, except the trees or teak. Finally we agreed to meet each other. The first meeting was a disaster, really. He didn't call me for at least two weeks after that meeting. But, his friend said that he needed to talk to me again, and yes, the second meeting went a bit smoother, I felt butterflies... The third meeting was much better, although I managed to get him to walk 3 kilometres before entering a bar to drink some coffee (and he hates walking). But eventually half a year later we were living together and now we've been married for nearly eleven years and living together since May 2003.

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    1. Thanks Riet! Wow, what a lovely story. I especially love that you both kept at it even though the first meeting didn't really go according to plan. You were meant to be :)

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  11. Great Smooch, Stefanie! Lance and Bailey have some lovely chemistry happening!

    My DH is fond of saying that I advertised for him. And it's true but not exactly the way it sounds - he answered the advertisement that I, and a girlfriend, placed in the paper for a flatmate to share a house.

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    1. Thanks Sharon! awww flatmates to true love - sounds like a romance novel :D

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