Announcement - Winner of Annie West's Sunday Smooch

The winner  of last Sunday's Smooch Giveaway  is KRISTINE *chaos*.

Kristine, you have won a signed copy of Annie West's new release HER FORGOTTEN LOVER'S HEIR. Please contact Annie at annie(at)annie-west.com with details of your postal address so she can send your signed book.

Gardening as Procrastination - Annie West

If you're like me you probably know that procrastination can be hard to resist. For some reason I find it particularly difficult when I have lots of things I really, really need to do. When I'm feeling swamped I do get in and work hard, but I also find myself procrastinating over the tasks that are just a little bit more complex or take extra thought.

Take this week. I'm trying to finish the draft of a book. Trying, very slowly with lots of interruptions. In addition to that my to do list included:
writing a newsletter to send out tomorrow for the launch of my new book,
updating my website with review quotes for said book (still not done - baaad Annie),
writing this blog,
reading (and paying close attention to) a copy edited version of a book to be published next year and marking necessary changes,
completing detailed art fact sheets on the book I'm currently writing (including plot detail on how the book finishes when I don't know yet),
doing an online interview,
updating my bio,
investigating how to organise print copies of my self-published ebooks (and DOING it),
learning the behind-the-scenes of a new website which hopefully won't look different to you but is to me,
plotting my next book,
etc.

That's on the writing side. Let's not mention other things. I know you understand what it's like. We're all busy, right? There always seems to be so much to think about and plan and actually do.

I can report that I'm slowly getting through my list of jobs but along the way I've diverted for some serious procrastination. I give you exhibit A:

Spring is here and everything, especially the weeds, are growing well Chez West.
And exhibit B:

More proof of spring, this time in the form of orchids which came through my family from my Great Aunt Ethel. As an aside, I love being able to say that Auntie Ethel's orchids are flowering.

So, of course, when I started to feel snowed under by what I had to do over the weekend and into this week, I found myself away from the computer, contemplating exhibit C: a newly denuded and fertilised vege garden, just waiting for some plants.

Which meant I really did need to go to the market to get some seedlings. Did you know you can get black cherry tomatoes? I love cherry tomatoes, partly for the flavour and partly because they ripen quickly so I've a chance of getting to them before the birds and possums. So here is exhibit D, all ready for the vege garden.

But not wanting to stop there, I went for E - roses,

and E, pelargoniums to put in hanging pots.

The only difficulty is that, despite my hard work in between gardening procrastination my other deadlines became really urgent. So now I'm finishing my writing work and my exciting gardening projects will have to wait. Now I fear I might be accused of procrastinating over the gardening too! :)

What's your favourite form of procrastination? Or don't you delay? Do you get in straight away and finish all your tasks before you play?

Sunday Smooch - Annie West's 'Her Forgotten Lover's Heir'

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Annie West but first 


... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is MARY PRESTON


Can you please contact Amy Andrews at amy@amyandrews.com.au
 to receive your copy of 'Tempted by Mr Off Limits'.


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from HER FORGOTTEN LOVER'S HEIR.

She’s carrying the billionaire’s child…

But he seems like a stranger!

Brooding Pietro Agosti was stunned when his sizzling fling with vibrant teacher Molly Armstrong resulted in her pregnancy. Finally, the merciless Italian would be able to continue his legacy—but then an accident left Molly with no memory of him! Pietro must help Molly remember the fierce attraction that drove them together, and the fact that the baby she’s carrying is the Agosti heir…

Scene set-up

Molly wakes in a Roman hospital and remembers nothing, not her name or how she came to be in Rome. She doesn't even speak the language! Then doctors break the news that she's pregnant... When a sexy stranger, Pietro Acardi, says he's Molly's husband, she's released into his care. Yet even after several days sharing his apartment and she still has no concrete memories of them together, despite her increasing awareness of him. The way he keeps his distance, never even touching her, is disturbing, especially when she longs for some hint, some memory of a connection between them.

Smooch  -

She drew a fortifying breath and linked her hands before her. ‘I can’t shake the feeling there’s something wrong between us.’

Did he stiffen?

‘You don’t open up about what’s on your mind. And you don’t—’

‘Don’t what?’ His brow furrowed.

‘You don’t touch me.’ She didn’t mean for it to emerge like a challenge.

His eyes rounded in genuine shock. ‘That bothers you? I thought, since you didn’t remember me…’ He lifted his shoulders in an expressive shrug.

Pietro was right. Logic said she wouldn’t welcome the touch of a man she barely knew. Except she did know him. Something within her yearned for him. Whenever he smiled at her she lit up inside.

Molly refused to feel embarrassed about being attracted to her own husband. He should be pleased she wanted him.

‘It would be nice if you didn’t treat me like a house guest.’ She sucked in a lungful of air. ‘For instance, I’d like you to kiss me.’

For a second he was utterly still, as if she’d shocked him. Then gold flared in his hooded eyes.

‘That’s what’s bothering you? That I haven’t kissed you?’

Molly’s chin rose and her hands slid to her hips. Pietro didn’t smile but she just knew he was laughing inside. She’d never been more certain of anything.

‘I don’t see the humour.’ This wasn’t funny! She was tempted to turn away and leave him to his amusement. Except she’d be back exactly where she was before.

‘It’s not just about kisses. It’s about the state of our relationship. Are you holding something back from me? There’s something not quite right. You…’

Her words ended as Pietro’s big hands wrapped round her elbows and pulled her against him. Her breath expelled in a tiny puff of air. Not from the physical force of the action, but from raw shock.

Molly had told herself she was prepared. Didn’t she crave intimacy with him? Yet the sensation of Pietro against her, of that wall of hot muscle making every nerve receptor in her body twang into overdrive, was so much more than she’d imagined.

Stunned, she looked at that firm mouth just inches away. It was intriguingly sculpted, strong yet sensual, and it curled up in a delicious invitation that made every atom of her needy body sit up and beg.

Molly swallowed hard, all her bravado swamped by the certainty that, as far as kisses went, Pietro was a consummate expert and she…

Thought atrophied as his head lowered and his mouth opened over hers. Electricity jolted through her. That was the only way she could explain the sizzle that drew her skin tight and puckered her nipples against her bra.

Pietro’s lips were softer than she expected, gentle, moving with aching slowness over hers as if taking time to relearn what must surely be familiar territory. Familiar to him. To her this caress felt shockingly new and unfamiliar. His mouth moved again, his tongue licking the seam of her lips and something drove hard and fast down through her belly straight to that achingly hollow place between her legs.

Molly trembled and grabbed Pietro’s arms. She felt the power of them, taut with restraint. He held himself utterly still but for the tantalising slide of lips and tongue.

Another caress, this time more insistent, and something inside her gave way, yielded yet at the same time blossomed into life.

Molly’s lips opened and Pietro’s tongue swept deep.

Her knees caved so abruptly it was only his hold that stopped her crashing to the floor. The effect of that deep, searching kiss was instant and overwhelming. Her blood fizzed as every neuron in her brain ignited.

This was what she wanted. What she knew and craved.

Her hands slid high, over hard shoulders and a strong neck, fingers threading through Pietro’s thick hair to clamp his skull and hold him to her.

She’d wanted memory and now she had it. Not a recollection as such but a sense memory. Her body sparked with excitement and recognition at the taste of him, the heady power of his possession, the familiarity of his hard body pressed against hers.

A sob of relief and arousal rose at the back of her throat as she pushed closer.

That’s when the kiss changed, from slow and searching, as if Pietro believed he needed to entice her into a response, to something more potent and urgent.

One large hand anchored on her buttock, drawing her up to his groin. The other cupped her waist, the splay of his fingers hot as a brand through the thin fabric of her dress. It made her wonder how his touch would feel on bare skin.

The notion notched her need higher. Molly opened her mouth wider, stroking his tongue with hers, inviting him to devour her. 

Pietro’s hand slid up from her waist, his long fingers slipping over first one rib then another till his thumb brushed the underside of her breast and she sucked in a raw gasp.

That felt so good. On tiptoe now, she tried to merge her body with his, desperate to meld with him.

When his hand closed fully over her breast a jolt of energy zapped from her nipple to her toes, setting off explosions along the way.

Molly held on tight as Pietro and her own needy body led her into a sensual world of give and take, of building ecstasy.

A tiny part of her brain screamed that she needed to be careful, to think before she gave herself so unstintingly. But she couldn’t stop or pull back. She didn’t want to. This was a rainbow of colour after a world of grey, delicious food after nothing but ashes in her mouth. It was life and sex and love after fear and pain and loneliness.

Forgetting things can be a real problem, even without amnesia! I'm more likely to forget things when I'm stressed and trying to keep on top of too many things. How about you? Do you have a habit of forgetting important things, or remembering them just in the nick of time? How do you jog your memory?

I'll giveaway a signed copy of HER FORGOTTEN LOVER'S HEIR to someone who leaves a comment to this post here or on the LoveCats FaceBook page. Come back next Sunday to find out who the winner is! Oh, and it doesn't matter where you live, the giveaway is international.

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

UK cover

Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver