It’s release day!
I'm happy to be hosting the THIRD part of the excerpt chain!
Please be sure to check the excerpt chain schedule below.
I'm happy to be hosting the THIRD part of the excerpt chain!
Please be sure to check the excerpt chain schedule below.
Series:
The Request #1
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Release Date: 6/25/14
Hosted
by: Wordsmith
Publicity
Roman Smith ~ Shopkeeper by day.
Assassin by night.
The undercover Russian contract killer has never turned down
an assignment that rids the world of scum. But this … request is the first time
his conscience gets the best of him.
Only, he has a good reason—Everly Andrews, the woman who
saved him from dying and has no clue who or what he really is. There’s nothing
Roman won’t do to keep Everly in the dark, even if it means losing her in the
process.
This
is a three-part series, releasing every month,
perfect for the summer!
Part One: The Request – Releases June 25, 2014
Part Two: The Deception – Releases July 30, 2014
Part Three: The Confession – Releases August 27, 2014
Purchase Links
The
world is a great, white light as I open my eyes. Too bright.
I
screw my eyes shut once more, listening. It seems safe, just the hum and beep
of machines. The slight echo of footsteps and voices in the hallway.
Turning
my head left and then right, I check my body. Though I’m sore as hell, I can
still move everything. Slitting my eyes open, I take in my surroundings,
startled to find Everly curled up in a chair beside my hospital bed.
She’s
sleeping, still wearing the same green dress I’d seen her in the day I got
shot. Only the hem is about a foot shorter and there are purple shadows under
eyes. How long has she been here? How long have I been here?
“Two
days,” the nurse says, walking inside. “Welcome back, Mr. Smith.”
I
find my voice. My throat is scratchy, and it burns. “Two days?”
“We
almost lost you, but that angel sleeping beside you wouldn’t give up. I’ve
never seen someone pray so fiercely for another human being. She even donated
blood—you’re a lucky man to have a fiancée like her. And she must be a lucky
woman to have you, because ain’t no man worth getting that worked up over,
unless he’s a good one.”
I
glance at Everly just in time to see her cheeks turn a rosy pink. Sleeping
angel has a bit of the devil in her.
Still, it’s… nice to wake up to a familiar face.
The
last time I was put in the hospital, no one came to see me. No one came to
check on me, to see if I was alive, or could walk, or eat, or fucking talk. I’d
lie in a stark hospital room for days it seemed, until they discharged me. Then
I collected my things and walked out, a stranger in a strange land once more.
“I
am very lucky,” I say softly.
Once
the nurse finishes checking my vitals and leaves, I count to twenty before calling
Everly’s bluff.
“Love,
I know you’re awake. No one blushes in their sleep.”
Her
eyes pop open, and a chagrinned look graces her face. “I woke up when the nurse
came in, but when she said all that… there was no way I could face you.”
I
sit up in bed, pressing the remote to allow the mattress to help me. “Sometimes
falsehoods must be told in order to protect or help others.”
“You
would have gotten medical care whether I lied or not,” she admits, turning her
pretty face away from me. “But I was afraid to let you out of my sight. I even
rode in the ambulance.”
She
had ridden in the ambulance? The vague memory of a woman weeping softly and
holding my hand stirs in my mind, but I’m not sure if it’s my mother or Everly.
My mother wept a great many nights after my father left her for the family he
always wanted.
I
flex all ten fingers, the black tattoos on my hands rippling with the movement.
“Do
those have a meaning?” she asks, sitting up and adjusting her dress.
“Yes.”
“A
secret meaning?”
Only
to you, solnyshko. “I liked
the look of them.”
Her
lips twist a little, as if she doesn’t quite believe me. “That’s too bad. I was
hoping for something with a story behind it.”
My
story would make you wish you never met me. “You read too many romance novels,” I grumble, looking
around for the container of ice or water that always seems to be on hand in
hospitals. I reach for the Styrofoam container, but Everly jumps up, gently
pushing my arm away.
“Let
me help you,” she says. She fills up a cup with water and sticks a straw in
before coming back to me. “Here, drink this.”
I’m
perfectly able to hold the cup with my uninjured arm and hand, but the selfish
part of me wants to be fussed over. Especially by her. I allow her to hold the
cup to my mouth, to take the straw between her fingers, and to gently push it
between my parted lips.
Excerpt Chain Part Two
Excerpt Chain Part Three
Excerpt Chain Part Four
Giveaway
5-
The Request, Part One (ebooks)
About
the Author
New York Times Bestselling Author, Marquita Valentine,
writes sexy heroes that make you swoon and sassy heroines that make you laugh.
She’s the author of the bestselling contemporary romance series, Holland
Springs, and the new adult romance series, Boys of the South.
Marquita met
her husband aka Hot Builder at Sonic when they were in high school. She
suggests this location to all of her single friends in search of a good man—and
if that doesn't work, they can console themselves with cheesy tatertots. She
lives in North Carolina in a very, very small town with Hot Builder and their
two children.
Website
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