Showing posts with label friends to lovers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends to lovers. Show all posts

Feb 24, 2019

Sunday Smooch - Second Chance with the Single Dad by Kandy Shepherd

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!


Today we have a smooch from Kandy Shepherd's new release SECOND CHANCE WITH THE SINGLE DAD but first


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


Can you please contact  annie@annie-west.com to receive your copy of The Greek's Forbidden Innocent.


And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Kandy Shepherd. 


From long-lost friends...
To newfound family?

Georgia and Wil were best friends until he married and disappeared from her life. Now he’s back, asking Georgia to forget the past and help him secure his future—the daughter he never knew he had! Georgia’s heart goes out to new dad Wil, but there’s an uncharted chemistry fizzing between them and she must protect her heart. Can they confront their unspoken attraction and finally become a family?





Scene set-up
Girl-next-door schoolteacher Georgia Lang and handsome self-made millionaire Wil Hudson go way back as “just friends.” They know each other so well they claim to read each other’s thoughts. But not everyone wishes the platonic friends well and the friendship ends abruptly and painfully. There was always an attraction, something deeper, but for fear of unleashing emotions they couldn’t handle, of losing the friendship, they never acted on it. Then Wil becomes a single dad to adorable baby Nina and Georgia agrees to help, staying with him for the school vacation at his beautiful house. But his visiting parents misunderstand the situation and think Wil and Georgia are engaged. The seriousness of his mother’s illness make Wil want to maintain the charade just for a few days. Georgia reluctantly agrees. But it’s still just platonic—right?




Smooch  - 
‘I’m in. I’m your fiancée until Wednesday,’ she said.
Wil stepped closer. Took both her hands in his. She looked down to their joined hands and back up to him, alarmed
‘It’s only pretend, remember,’ he said. ‘But we need to be convincing. As you reminded me, I’ve never kissed you. Engaged people should probably have some knowledge of what it’s like to kiss each other.’
Georgia looked up at him, her eyes wide and wary, but still with a trace of smile lingering at the corners of her lips. Her mouth was slicked with cherry-red gloss and it looked eminently kissable. He’d always found that slight unevenness of her top lip very appealing—now he wanted to know how it felt under his lips, how she tasted, how she felt in his arms.
‘Okay, so we kiss,’ she said.
‘Right,’ he said, taken aback by her practical approach.
‘Shall I be the first?’
‘What do you mea—?’
Before he could finish his question, Georgia had tugged on their linked hands to pull him close and pressed her mouth against his, soft and warm and, to his surprise, hesitant. For all her show of bravado, she was nervous.
Wil wasn’t the slightest bit nervous. More like exultant that he had her so close. Kissing Georgia at last.He took command of the kiss, being careful to keep his lips on hers tender and undemanding.
A shiver of surrender ran through her as she relaxed into the kiss. He tightened his grip on her hands. She parted her lips to welcome his tongue with a little murmur of what he couldn’t be sure was pleasure or trepidation. He vowed, with a fierce surge of protectiveness, he would make sure she felt only pleasure from his touch.
Her curves were soft and yielding against his chest. He slid his hands around to grasp her waist and pull her even closer. The wrap skirt of her dress had swung open to the top of her taut, toned thighs and her legs were bare against his. When her tongue met his, tentative at first and then meeting his in a sensual tangle, he was stunned by the sudden and intense shock waves of pleasure that rippled through his body—and his heart.

Her first kiss with Wil. It was so much more than Georgia could ever have imagined. She was almost overwhelmed by excitement. This isn’t real, she tried to remind herself, but she couldn’t think logically when she was so overwhelmed by sensation. This was Wil, familiar, yet, oh, so unfamiliar. His mouth, tasting of coffee and his favourite chocolate cookie. His scent, citrus shower gel with a heady touch of fresh, manly sweat. His hard, perfect male body in such intimate contact with hers.
What had started as a harmless practice kiss had flamed into something else altogether and escalated to a passionate exchange that surprised the heck out of her. Her heart hammered, her body pulsed with want. They’d always had a connection, mental, spiritual, now it was physical. The difference between friend and potential lover. 
Her heart gave a huge jolt. She broke away from the kiss to catch her breath, to find her balance. If she didn’t pull away from him, she’d be dragging him behind the house and pushing him up against the wall.
She came up for air, panting, holding on to her heart. Wil was the same, his eyes dazed and unfocused. He seemed as knocked out as she was by what they had unleashed.
‘What happened there?’ she gasped.
Wil was drawing in great gulps of air in an effort to steady his voice. ‘Eight years of wanting to kiss you? What’s your guess?’
‘Same,’ she managed to choke out. The thought struck her. ‘Or was it an act? On your part, I mean. You know, to look authentic.’
‘I sure as hell wasn’t acting. What about you?’
She shook her head. ‘No. It...it was real.’
Georgia looked up at him and, as had happened so many times before, their eyes connected and they laughed. She felt exhilarated, high almost. Her buddy Wil. The best kisser she’d ever kissed.
He planted a firm, hard kiss on her mouth. ‘Who knew?’ 



I'm a believer in platonic friendships but others think that there is often an underlying attraction - perhaps only on one side - even if it might never be acted on. What are your thoughts?

 Leave a comment here and go into the draw to win a copy of SECOND CHANCE WITH THE SINGLE DAD. 



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


Smooch Graphic by WebWeaver

Jun 19, 2017

Friends to Lovers...

The thing I love about romance novels (other than the sexy bits and swoon-worthy HEAs, of course) is the VARIETY. Seriously, there is a romance novel for all tastes.

Like your romance hot and heavy? Erotic romance has you covered. Want something with a sprinkle of faith? Read an inspirational romance. Don’t care for regular guys? Try paranormal.

Even within the subgenres there a massive choice of styles, voices and tropes. Billionaires (because millionaires are so 2014) and marriages of convenience, cowboys and secret babies, amnesia (pregnesia!), wrong bed, sleeping with the boss…if you like it, there’s a romance novel out there for you.

Today I’m going to share one of my personal favorites: friends to lovers.

There are so many reasons why I love this trope, I guess part of it is that is seems so plausible. How many people fall for their friends? It happens all the time.

Of course, friends to lovers stories can be mixed in with other tropes as well—what if that friend was a rock star? Or was the brother of the heroine’s ex-boyfriend? Yep, see what I mean. Variety!

Here are a few wonderful stories that you should definitely check out if you’re a friend to lovers fan as well:

This is a really cute story that mixes the friends to lovers trope with a fake engagement. Wes and Dani have been BFFs since college but a single awkward kiss gone wrong has put them off ever trying to take their relationship further. When Wes’s sister announces her plans to appoint none other than the ex who left him high and dry a few years ago as her bridesmaid, he decides there’s no way he wants to face that alone.  so he calls in reinforcements from his friend, Dani.

It wouldn’t be a recommendation list without a Sarah Mayberry book. This is another friends to lovers mixed with a fake engagement, but there’s also a whole lot of unrequited love. *swoon*
At the annual Valentine’s Ball Andie allows herself a moment of sheer fantasy to fill out an entry form for the Great Wedding Giveaway. Andie channels years of fantasy and yearning for Heath McGregor onto the page, but she never intends to actually enter the Giveaway. Afterall, they’re not engaged. The form, however, finds its way to into the hands of the judges and shenanigans ensue.

Get yourself a bottle of water – Rule of Three by Kelly Jamieson
Friends to lovers works equally well in erotic romance. Here you’ve got friends to lovers with a ménage twist. They totally had me at the tag line: Kassidy is a good girl who wants to be bad. Dag is a bad boy who is very, very good. And Chris? He likes to watch…
This story is filled with lots of steamy scenes but also had real heart and emotion at the core of it.  If you can get past the fact that they have a character named Dag (which means something very unappealing in Australia) then this read is a lot of fun.


Are you a fan of the friends to lover’s trope? Tell me your recommendations below.

Dec 7, 2014

Sunday smooch with...Louisa George

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!

Today we have a smooch from Louisa George, but first ...

the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is -Savannah Blaize!

Savannah, can you please contact Michelle Douglas on michelle (at) michelle-douglas (dot) com to receive your copy of Snowbound Surprise For the Billionaire!

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from Louisa George's Medical Romance, A Baby On Her Christmas List

Back cover blurb:
Nurse Georgie Taylor has just one thing on her Christmas list: a baby! But she never expected her best friend, Dr Liam MacAllister to offer to be the father. Liam keeps his heart strictly off-limits, but seeing Georgie pregnant ignites feelings he just can’t ignore…feelings that could destroy a beautiful friendship- or result in so much more!

 Kiss Scene:-  Set up: Liam and Georgie are in a dessert-only café discussing the attraction between them and what to do about it…

 ‘I’ve a feeling it’s already a little late to worry about things changing between us. Don’t you think? I’m not the only one here wondering what it would be like if we kissed again.’ Pricking some vanilla cheesecake onto her fork she offered it to him across the table. ‘Don’t you get just a little tired of being so saintly?’
‘Yes. Every single moment I’m with you.’ He leaned forward again and she was transfixed as he closed his mouth over the morsel of food. Heat shimmied through her as he very slowly chewed then swallowed, the movement of his Adam’s apple dipping up and down was strangely and compellingly sexy. Her eyes slid from his throat to his mouth, a guarded smile in a face filled with dips and curves she knew so well but had never really explored. How she wanted to trace her finger along those lips, to run her hand across his cheek and feel the rasp of his stubble against her skin. To scale the furrows of his cheekbones.
His voice was an octave dirtier when he spoke. ‘My mind is working overtime thinking of the things we could do together. But I’m sure it’s just a passing phase. All interest in the new curves and stuff. I just want to touch you. It’s a man thing- feral and protective and instinctive, we can’t help it. Nature’s a bitch sometimes. If we act on these instincts and then it doesn’t work out then that’s a lot of friendship down the drain. We need to co-parent on a platonic and sensible basis, not give in to rash lust and then have regret to deal with too.’
‘Oh, so you mean the bigger boobs are distracting you? Interesting…’ She very slightly arched her back as he lowered his gaze to her breasts. A powerful need zinged through her. She wanted him and was resorting to seduction of the clumsiest kind. But she couldn’t get him out of her head. She needed to know what it would be like to be with him. If only one time. Just to hold him as lovers, unlike the way they touched each other now as friends. She wanted to stroke him, kiss every part of him. And if she didn’t do it soon she’d go completely mad.
One day they’d look back on this and laugh- if they were still speaking to each other. ‘So it’s nature that’s making you look at me like that?’
‘Like what?’
‘Sex.’
His pupils flared at the word. ‘It’ll wear off.’
‘I sincerely hope not.’ She finished the last bit of dessert in one big almost-but-not-quite satisfying mouthful. She had a feeling there was only one thing that could satisfy her right now, and it wasn’t cheesecake. ‘We should give in to our natural urges sometimes, it’s bad for us to repress all the time, apparently.’
‘It’s even worse to break something that’s pretty solid.’
Their friendship. But that was true and lasting and proven. ‘Why would it break? It doesn’t have to break, not if we don’t want it to. We can do whatever we want. It’s our choice.’ She couldn’t resist stretching her fingers across the table towards his. For a few seconds just their fingertips touched. Then, without looking at her he slid his fingers across hers, intertwined them, stroked his hand across hers. His skin was rough but his touch was soft. His heat spread through her, up her arms, to her back, down to her belly.
After a moment of such an excrutiatingly sexy caress he turned her palm over and lifted it to his mouth. His kiss was hot. He licked a wet trail to her forefinger. She snatched her hand away before the moan erupted from her throat. Even so, her voice was filled with need, ‘We should be getting home.’
‘We? Is that an invitation?’ His face cautious and turned-on at the same time, he scraped his chair back to go.
Finding him her sexiest smile she whispered back, ‘Honestly, Macadoodle-doo, since when have you ever needed an invitation to my house?’
‘I think maybe this time I do.’

She hadn’t answered him in words, but she’d taken his hand and led him out of the cafe like a woman on a mission. Thank God she lived only a short drive away because he couldn’t have waited many moments longer. Liam didn’t know when he’d ever been so burnt up about a woman.
They by-passed the living area and made it to her bedroom without words, without kissing. He went in first, held open the door and she walked straight in and turned to face him, a question on her face. A dare. A promise. There was space between them. It would only need one step.
Just one.
He faltered. For a few moments neither moved as they stared at each other. This was happening. Really happening. The step from friends to…to whatever this was. Lovers might have been doubtful, but the trajectory from restaurant, to street, to bed was unstoppable. The air in the room seemed to still. One second. Two. With every lingering moment heat spread through his body like a raging fire, threatening to engulf him. If he touched her now there would be no going back.
This could have been a time to leave. He almost took a sideways step, his hand lingering on the door handle, but faltered again.
As she watched him a slow sexy smile appeared on Georgie’s lips; and if he’d had any flicker of doubt that she didn’t want this it fled right then. And that was when, he supposed, he should have drawn that line, the one they shouldn’t have stepped over. Or where they should have agreed what this meant. But he was too consumed by her, by this need to utter a word.
In the end he didn’t know who made the first move but suddenly she was in front of him, or he was in front of her and his mouth was hard against hers. This time there was no hesitation, no coy shaking. This was pure need and desire, an equal feasting. She tasted of chocolate and vanilla and every flavour in between, her mouth was wet and hungry and it fired a deeper, hotter want within him. Jaws clashed, tongues danced, teeth grazed. There was nothing sophisticated about the kiss, no gentle sucking or tender caress. It was messy. Dirty. Hungry.



You can find Louisa’s book at Amazon and in book stores now!

Louisa is giving away a copy of her book to one lucky commenter!  So her question to you is:

A Baby On Her Christmas List is one of my favourite romance tropes: best friends to lovers. Which is your favourite trope and why?

Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced -- and a smooch from The House at the Bottom of the Hill by Jenny Jones will be posted!