Life

Not much going on here folks. I painted my office, I’m writing, and I go back to work on Friday night to a nice brand newly renovated bar. YAY! I’m so excited about the renovated bar. LOL

My newly painted office looks great too…except in the places where the roller hit the ceiling…or a place or two where when I triesd to do the outline along the ceiling I wasn’t close enough… Yeah, I’m not a professional, but I still love it.

To tease y’all cuz I’m going to be scarce with my blogging for the next couple weeks…
I’ll be posting plenty of excerpts from everything I have.

Today..here’s a sneek peek at HIDDEN CRAVINGS, the first novella in MOST WANTED, the singel author anthology I’m working on right now…
Remember Devon and Lexy from THE CRIB? It’s them again…

HIDDEN CRAVINGS

Heart pounding and blood heating, Lexy stared at the man leaning against the red brick of her apartment building. Unmoving in the shadows just beyond the light of the entrance, he was barely visible. Yet, as she slammed the car door and moved steadily across the parking lot her insides knotted with an undeniable excitement.
Devon Kaye. It wasn’t really surprising her body recognized him before her brain did. After all, the man had worked her body in ways that, a year later, still lived on in her dreams.
Ignoring the urge to jump on him with open arms and eager lips, Lexy kept her steps slow and even, and her expression casual.
When she got close he moved out of the shadows and she stopped in front of him. Hands on hips she tilted her head to the side and took her time checking him out.
He was six feet of lean muscle covered by scuffed biker boots, faded denim jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. His midnight hair was mussed, his jaw unshaven, and his peircing grey eyes turbulent.
Lexy’s hormones settled into a holding pattern and she spoke softly. Gently. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Talking never had been thier strong point. The first night they’d met, Devon had said they were two of a kind, and it was true. They’d connected almost immediately on a very physical level. Even as they stood there the hunger for Devon’s touch was growing inside her.
Without another word Lexy turned away, unlocked the door to the building, and went in. They didn’t talk in the elevator or the hallway, but as soon as the door closed and they were inside the apartment she turned to him.
“You look like shit.” It was a lie. Despite the roughness of his appearance, he looked dangerously sexy.
Devon’s hot gaze ran over her demure slacks and simple blouse and she wanted to cringe. One side of his mouth tilted up in a crooked smile. “You look great, as always, Alexis.”
Something soft fluttered in my chest at the way he said my name and she forgot all about what she was wearing. To everyone else she was street smart and sexy Lexy Signorino, private investigator and skip tracer, unafraid to use her sex appeal to get the upper hand in a situation. But Devon had called her Alexis from day one, and the way her full name rolled off his tongue never failed to make her feel beautiful … special.
As hot as her blood was running, it was obvious the desire for an erotic fling wasn’t what had brought him to her doorstep. Something was seriously wrong. All romantic thoughts slipped away and she smiled at him. “Why don’t we go into the kitchen and you can tell me what’s up?”
“Sounds good,” he said, dropping his dufflebag on the floor and following me to the small kitchen area.
Devon settled himself into one of the cheap folding chairs set around the kitchen table and Lexy grabbed a couple of cold beers from the fridge. She handed one to him and twisted the cap off the other before settling across from him. As soon as her ass hit the chair Devon started talking, his words slow and precise, his voice calm. “My cousin Theresa called me this morning and asked me to come out and see her. She didn’t tell me why, just said she needed me.”
“And she’s family, so you dropped everything and came,” Lexy said with a nod. She understood what family meant.
“When I got here she wasn’t at the airport so I called her cell. No answer. I called her house, same thing.” He looked at her. “I called her office, and they said she didn’t made it back from her lunch.”
Lexy listened as Devon told her about going to his cousin’s house where he discovered her purse and her keys were still there. He’d waited around her place for a bit, in case she’d just gone to the store, or something, but deep down he’d known it was useless. While he was waiting he’d called a couple of her friends, but no one knew where she was. “And the cops won’t get involved yet because she’s an adult and it hasn’t been long enough. They won’t listen to me because they don’t know me, and they think I’m just overreacting.”
“Are you?” Being raised by a couple of over protective Italian men Lexy knew how they could overreact when it came to the safety and protection of women. Devon had never struck her as that type of macho man, but she’d had to ask.
He shook his head at her. “Teri called me to come out and see her, not one of her brothers, or her Dad. And I think she called me not just because I’m family, but because of what I do for a living.”
“The body guarding?” Devon’s official job title was personal security specialist. They’d met when her own over-protective Uncle had hired him to look after her, without her knowledge.
“Yeah. She didn’t say it when she was on the phone, but she was worried about something — scared almost. If I’d been here I could’ve protected her, but I didn’t get here in time to help her. Now I need to find her, and to do that I need someone who knows this city, who has ties to the police, and who is an investigator.” His piercing gray eyes pinned Lexy to her chair. “I need you, Alexis.”