I know, it's too early for Christmas! But hey, this particular anthology from Samhain Publishing releases in PRINT at the end of September!! Heck, it's already available for pre-order at Amazon.com. or you can wait until December and download each book individually in e-format :) Sooo, on that note, I thought I'd introduce you to Look What Santa Brought. Some of you may already know who the hero is. Scottie.Blurb:
Look What Santa Brought by Annmarie McKenna (c) 2007
He is looking for the love of his life, she is looking for a little refuge.
Scott Wyatt knows what he wants for Christmas and it comes in a beautiful voiced, make his heart race, more than tempting package. If only he could see her.
Tara Patrick needs a man to make her ex see the light. But when the gorgeous brother of her best friend offers himself for the job, she has to say no. How could she possibly use the blind man who makes her heart flutter and not get hurt in the process?
Staring at the opportunity of a business lifetime, Tara finds herself living as close to Scott as one can live without sharing a bed. Tara’s ex isn’t happy and he sets out to prove he won’t lose her. But when darkness falls, which man has the advantage, because Scott isn’t willing to let Tara go either.
Excerpt:
“Craaap.”
The hushed, indignant tones of Scott Wyatt’s quarry reached his ears and he wondered what she’d done. Stubbed her toe? Spilled her usual caramel latte? He smiled and sat back, relaxing into the rigid, corduroy-covered foam blocks someone decided would pass as a chair, and waited for her to join him at their little group’s usual table. He’d have to look into getting new chairs, despite his sister’s protestations that these fit the décor of his coffee shop.
He pressed a button on his watch. “Ten twenty-two,” a nasally, female voice told him. Tara Patrick was late this morning, by just over twenty minutes. She’d never been late before. A frisson of anxiety skittered across his nerves, overriding the hard-on her voice always seemed to ignite.
“Come on, come on,” she mumbled.
He nearly groaned. Her choice of words and his heightened state of libido didn’t mesh. Scott imagined her teeth grinding together with her agitation.
A muffled cartoon ring-tone grew louder as it was drawn out of whatever hidey-hole it resided in. He’d heard it before. The song Tara had programmed onto her cell phone mirrored her normal personality. Fun and carefree. Lots of laughter.
Papers shuffled, cloth moved over cloth, a joint popped.
“Ouch. Son of a booger. Unh. Hello?” she said, her voice getting closer to him, the hello much stronger than her previous whispered mutterings.
Scott pursed his lips, hiding his grin and welcoming back the rush of blood to his groin where his cock hardened further. Sounded like Tara was having a rough day. In the two months he’d known her, he’d never noticed her usual happy-go-lucky self having a bad day.
Maybe he’d talk to Brianna and find out what was bothering the woman of his dreams. His sister and Tyler, her husband in heart if not on paper, would be here any minute.
Scott envied Brianna. She’d been lucky enough to find not just one man, but two. Tyler and Cole both loved and cherished her. Their relationship might seem strange to people who didn’t know them, but the trio was what worked for them and their two children.
Scott was waiting for that one special woman in a million he could share that same sort of bond with. He more than wanted it, he needed it. Felt it was the one thing missing in his life. And somehow he had a feeling Tara might be the one, despite the fact he knew she’d been dating another man. He ground his teeth together thinking about her with someone else.
To Bean Or Not To Bean, the coffee shop Scott owned, was their regular Tuesday/Thursday meeting place. Brianna, Tyler or Cole, and Tara met him here usually without fail at ten o’clock. It had quickly become a habit and they’d all gotten to be a close group.
Scott was ready to get closer.
He squirmed in his seat and tried to adjust himself. Any harder and his dick would be imprinted with the buttons of his fly.
“What the hell? I asked you to leave three days ago.”
Scott tried to tune out her worried side of the conversation, which he easily picked out over the din of the entire cafe. Her voice attached itself to his ears like a magnet. Because of his blindness, his hearing had always been strong in his good ear. Especially having to compensate for the bad one. Now, thanks to revolutionary surgery he’d had to repair the damaged ear, his hearing was even more superior.
The door opened behind and to his left with a whoosh of cold, frosty air, tinkling the tiny overhead bell and swirling the robust aroma of freshly brewed coffee, peppermint and boughs of pine throughout the café. The espresso machine whirred, foaming up a fresh batch of frothy milk for the next customer’s order. A muted version of “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” floated around the room. Somewhere to his right, fingers clacked incessantly across a laptop keyboard as if the owner’s life depended on it. Cattycorner from him, loose change hit the floor followed by a “goddamn it”.
“He’s baaack,” a whiny, high-pitched voice sung out.
The woman did not even attempt to be discreet. Or maybe she did and his overdeveloped sense of hearing just made it seem that way. Scott hung his head at the distraction.
“Who?” a second woman asked.
“Blond Adonis, six o’clock.”
“Oh Lord, he’s hot.”
Scott snorted softly and grimaced behind his mug of café mocha. Since the two female voices emanated from his twelve o’clock and nobody sat behind him, he could only presume they were referring to him.
“Just a second,” Tara’s voice intruded. “Um, hello, you do know the blond Adonis is blind, right? Waggling your fingers at him isn’t doing you a bit of good.”
Scott nearly spewed his coffee across the room. He choked down what he could and coughed out the rest.
“Shit,” he muttered, and grabbed the napkin from its nine o’clock position on the table and wiped at his now damp shirt.
“And what makes you such an expert?” the first woman’s snotty voice retorted.
“Oh, I don’t know, the fact he’s wearing sunglasses inside? Or maybe it’s the seeing eye dog sitting next to him?” Tara nearly shouted.
Scott bit his lip.
“Or maybe it’s because I’m sleeping with him, and I can assure you, the man can’t see a thing. But damn, what he can do with those hands.” Tara made this little moaning sound and Scott nearly came in his jeans.
