Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!
Today we have a smooch from The Spanish Tycoon's Takeover but first
... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is K.Snow!
Can you please contact annie(at)annie-west (dot)com to receive your copy of The Desert King's Captive Bride.
And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Michelle Douglas...
The new boss...
Her family hotel has just been taken over and Wynne needs to do whatever it takes to seem bright, breezy and unflappable. Easier said than done! If she can work nicely with the charismatic Xaviar Ramos then her colleagues might just keep their jobs...
Xavier has no qualms about ruthlessly transforming a homely motel into a chic boutique hotel--only, he has a fight on his hands against the fiery Wynne! While he's busy taking over her hotel, with every battle he finds she's taking another piece of his heart...
Scene set-up: Wynne has been visiting her ill grandmother in her nursing home. She's leaving when Xavier arrives to pay a surprise visit as well. Realising how vulnerable and grief-stricken Wynne is, Xavier comforts her. But then comfort turns to desire...
‘I am not flirting, Wynne. This is not an attempt to flatter you. I mean what I say.’
His perfect lips uttered the words perfectly, and need rose up through her with a speed that made her gulp. His eyes settled on her lips and darkened before once more shifting to meet her gaze. His thumb brushed across the pulse-point of her throat as if he couldn’t help it, making her blood leap beneath his touch.
She swallowed, her mouth drying in a combination of heat and desire.
‘I think you are the most amazing woman I have ever met and I do not know what to make of it.’
Her heart hammered and her eyes filled. ‘Xavier, please don’t toy with me. Here—at this place—’ Her limbs had grown too heavy to gesture at the long, low building behind them, but she knew he understood what she meant. ‘I have no defences here. It…this place…it makes me too vulnerable and—’
His finger touched her lips and her words trembled to a halt.
‘I do not toy with you. For my own peace of mind I wish I could say that I were.’
The words rasped out of him and she realised he felt as vulnerable and at sea as she did. She didn’t have the power to put him away from her. She had no desire to do anything of the kind. And she knew the same fever gripped him.
His eyes flashed—not with anger, but with passion. ‘Tell me to let you go and I will.’
She reached up to cup his face then. ‘You create such a fire in me I fear I’m burning up.’
His head swooped down and his hands tilted her head until his lips captured hers in a kiss that burned itself onto her very soul.
Wynne clung to him to keep her balance, to keep herself together, as everything within her soared free. The insistent warmth of his lips sent heat swooping and dancing through her. She tried to kiss him back with the same slow, terrifying intensity, but his kisses made her too hungry, too greedy for patience and restraint.
Thrusting her fingers in his hair, she pulled him closer and closer, opening herself up to him until she felt the last of his resistance shatter and he swept her onto his lap, his mouth moving over hers with a fervour that left no room for thought…only feeling and relishing and wondering…
‘Dios!’ He wrenched his mouth from hers, breathing heavily. ‘I wanted to know if you would taste like lemons or caramel.’
She blinked, his words barely making any sense.
‘Your voice…the things you say…can be both tart and sweet. But you do not taste of anything so commonplace. You taste like spring sunshine in an orange grove, and the wind that flies before a summer storm, and the deep stillness of a winter’s night when the stars are at their most brilliant.’
Nobody had ever spoken to her in such a way before. Nobody had ever kissed her in such a way.
He swallowed. ‘If I do not stop this madness soon I will be in danger of forgetting that I am a gentleman.’
She didn’t want him to stop. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. He watched, his arms tightening about her, his gaze ravenous. She could still taste him there—a thrilling, illicit flavour that couldn’t be good for her.
‘Nobody has ever kissed me like that before,’ she whispered.
His eyes glittered in the darkness. ‘Then they have been fools.’
The Spanish Tycoon's Takeover is set in a little old-fashioned motel. For a chance to win a signed copy of the book tell me about your favourite motel or you most memorable motel stay.
Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced and a smooch from Helen Lacey will be posted!
Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver
Today we have a smooch from The Spanish Tycoon's Takeover but first
... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is K.Snow!
Can you please contact annie(at)annie-west (dot)com to receive your copy of The Desert King's Captive Bride.
And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Michelle Douglas...
Her family hotel has just been taken over and Wynne needs to do whatever it takes to seem bright, breezy and unflappable. Easier said than done! If she can work nicely with the charismatic Xaviar Ramos then her colleagues might just keep their jobs...
Xavier has no qualms about ruthlessly transforming a homely motel into a chic boutique hotel--only, he has a fight on his hands against the fiery Wynne! While he's busy taking over her hotel, with every battle he finds she's taking another piece of his heart...
Scene set-up: Wynne has been visiting her ill grandmother in her nursing home. She's leaving when Xavier arrives to pay a surprise visit as well. Realising how vulnerable and grief-stricken Wynne is, Xavier comforts her. But then comfort turns to desire...
‘I am not flirting, Wynne. This is not an attempt to flatter you. I mean what I say.’
His perfect lips uttered the words perfectly, and need rose up through her with a speed that made her gulp. His eyes settled on her lips and darkened before once more shifting to meet her gaze. His thumb brushed across the pulse-point of her throat as if he couldn’t help it, making her blood leap beneath his touch.
She swallowed, her mouth drying in a combination of heat and desire.
‘I think you are the most amazing woman I have ever met and I do not know what to make of it.’
Her heart hammered and her eyes filled. ‘Xavier, please don’t toy with me. Here—at this place—’ Her limbs had grown too heavy to gesture at the long, low building behind them, but she knew he understood what she meant. ‘I have no defences here. It…this place…it makes me too vulnerable and—’
His finger touched her lips and her words trembled to a halt.
‘I do not toy with you. For my own peace of mind I wish I could say that I were.’
The words rasped out of him and she realised he felt as vulnerable and at sea as she did. She didn’t have the power to put him away from her. She had no desire to do anything of the kind. And she knew the same fever gripped him.
His eyes flashed—not with anger, but with passion. ‘Tell me to let you go and I will.’
She reached up to cup his face then. ‘You create such a fire in me I fear I’m burning up.’
His head swooped down and his hands tilted her head until his lips captured hers in a kiss that burned itself onto her very soul.
Wynne clung to him to keep her balance, to keep herself together, as everything within her soared free. The insistent warmth of his lips sent heat swooping and dancing through her. She tried to kiss him back with the same slow, terrifying intensity, but his kisses made her too hungry, too greedy for patience and restraint.
Thrusting her fingers in his hair, she pulled him closer and closer, opening herself up to him until she felt the last of his resistance shatter and he swept her onto his lap, his mouth moving over hers with a fervour that left no room for thought…only feeling and relishing and wondering…
‘Dios!’ He wrenched his mouth from hers, breathing heavily. ‘I wanted to know if you would taste like lemons or caramel.’
She blinked, his words barely making any sense.
‘Your voice…the things you say…can be both tart and sweet. But you do not taste of anything so commonplace. You taste like spring sunshine in an orange grove, and the wind that flies before a summer storm, and the deep stillness of a winter’s night when the stars are at their most brilliant.’
Nobody had ever spoken to her in such a way before. Nobody had ever kissed her in such a way.
He swallowed. ‘If I do not stop this madness soon I will be in danger of forgetting that I am a gentleman.’
She didn’t want him to stop. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. He watched, his arms tightening about her, his gaze ravenous. She could still taste him there—a thrilling, illicit flavour that couldn’t be good for her.
‘Nobody has ever kissed me like that before,’ she whispered.
His eyes glittered in the darkness. ‘Then they have been fools.’
Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced and a smooch from Helen Lacey will be posted!
Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver
Hi Michelle
ReplyDeleteOMG I am reading this one now and loving it I love Wynne she is so good her humour has had me smiling so many times and she is just who Xavier needs and I would have finished by now except it is my birthday weekend and I haven't stopped.
Motels we have stayed in a few over the years on our road trips little one in out of the way places ones with such old fashioned decorations but they had a bed, we could make coffee and they were clean and the owners were always friendly like Wynne :)
Have Fun
Helen
Absolutely chuffed that you're enjoying the book, Helen. And Happy Birthday! I hope you're having a wonderful birthday weekend. :-)
DeleteI love those little out of the way motels that you just stumble across and remember fondly for years afterwards. Give me friendly proprietors, clean rooms, and tea and coffee making facilities and I'm in heaven. :-)
Then they have been fools.
ReplyDeleteSwoons. Falls into a dead faint. Happy sigh.
:-)
We stayed in a B&B in Nottingham (near the forrest) once, Michelle, that was so stuffed full of tacky stuff we spent all night laughing about it. Like stuffed badgers and suits of armour and a mannequin dressed as Friar Tuck....
"Then they were fools." :-) I had such fun with Xavier, AA. English isn't his first language, so his diction is more formal. Which allowed his romantic side to show through. ;-)
DeleteOMG! Your Nottingham B&B sounds priceless (in the best possible way). I love crazy decors. Mr D and I still fondly recall (with much mirth) the green, orange and brown bathroom in our motel room in Geneva. Happy days.
Except I now want to stay somewhere with a suit of armour!
DeleteTo start off with that scene was amazing. I must say I just loved the Hyatt Park hotel I stayed in Melbourne. It was magnificent with such class and style. Loved my stay there and enjoyed the luxury of such a hotel. My first 5 star hotel then the one in Adelaide Stamford was amazing also. Enjoying my stays in the hotels around Australia, which I never really experienced, before joining the RWAus conferences. Did stay at the Hyatt resort in Fiji many years ago and loved it there as well. I had my own Fijian looking after me named George, he was wonderful. Spear throwing came second and won two black babies (Drinks) lol I still have wooden carved turtles that were set around the table that I was allowed to keep. Loved Fiji. Have to get this book now. Dying to read it :) Swooning over Xavier. I also love Spaniards. Adiós
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it, Jan! :-)
DeleteOh, haven't there been some amazing RWAust conference hotels? They're always such a treat! Melbourne's Hyatt Park was GORGEOUS! :-) And now I want to stay at the Hyatt resort in Fiji -- it sounds amazing. :-)
I absolutely love this story... I should probably post that review soon (clearly I've been a bit behind lately). I would have loved to stay in the motel in both the beginning incarnation and the one Xavier reveals at the end.
ReplyDeleteOver the moon that you loved the story, Lyn! I loved Wynne's motel too, though perhaps I'm a little biased. I *really* loved what Xavier did with it too. :-)
DeleteWhat a smooch! Love Me those Spanish billionaires!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite motel is on Sanibel Island. I stayed there as a kid and went back with my husband quite some time afterward and it was still there!
It is nothing special but it's right on the beach and each visit has been magical. Kind of tired and can't think of a good way to describe all the delights.
Congrats on this wonderful release !
Laura, you're Sanibel Island motel sounds wonderful. Mind you, I'm of the opinion that anything that's right on the beach is simply perfect. :-) I love, though, that it has good memories for you, both as a child and adult.
DeleteOh, and, yes -- Spanish billionaires rock! :-)
Loved this Smooch, Michelle. Love anything Spanish!!
ReplyDeleteActually stayed in some pretty amazing motel/pensions in Spain. One of the most memorable was in Ronda near the huge gorge. Incredible.
Okay, so now I'm swooning in jealousy as I've not been to Spain (yet). Maybe one day. And if I go to Ronda I'll be asking for the name of that particular motel. :-)
DeleteHello Michelle, I love the extract was published. I've never been in a motel, but only in a B & B last year with my husband. He was in Liguria, Italy, at the top of the hill in a quiet place and on one side you could see the sea and the mountains on the other. Too bad we were only there a week.
ReplyDeleteHi Franca, the B&B you stayed at in Liguria sounds perfect! How wonderful that one side you could see the sea and on the other the mountains. It must've been magical. I'd have wanted to stay longer than a week too! :-)
DeleteOoh, Michelle, what a lovely kiss. What a guy!
ReplyDeleteHm, I think my favourite hotel stay might have been a night in a castle with an amazing view, and amazing, comfy bed, great food and a fascinating building!
Glad you enjoyed it, Annie!
DeleteOh, and you have me dying in envy -- a night in a castle! How utterly romantic. I bet you couldn't get the smile off your face the entire time. :-)
When we visited family in the Wisconsin Dells a many years ago, my sister in law had booked 2 adjoining rooms at the Atlantis Waterpark Motel so we could stay together with our kids and they could enjoy the water park. The rooms she booked were oversold, so they bumped her up to a 2 room suite, which turned out to be the Tropical Volcano suite, complete with a round bed, beach and volcano murals, jacuzzi and a complementary basket of adult (ahem, well you can guess) The kids all got a kick out of the round bed, but my SIL and I took advantage of the 2 queen beds in the second room!
ReplyDeleteWow! That sounds amazing, Laurie. The Tropical Volcano suite! Just...wow! I bet the kids were blown away. But I'm laughing that you and your SIL immediately grabbed the queen beds in the other room. Also laughing at the complementary adult basket -- too funny. :-)
DeleteLovely smooch, Michelle! Can't resist a Spanish hero!
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely something charismatic about a Spanish hero, Melanie! ;-)
DeleteMy first motel stay was the most memorable. I was 20 and my boyfriend was 18. Christmas Eve. Motel in next town over. 'Nuf said, LOL.
ReplyDeleteAww...that's very sweet. :-)
Delete