Welcome to the Delos Series! HOLD ME is the novella sequel to HOLD ON, Book 5, the “big book” about Callie McKinley and Beau Gardner. It follows them after Book 5 is finished to find out “what else” has happened to them and their relationship.
So often I get emails from readers who want to know, “Well, what happened to them next?” Or “Where are they now?” Or, “What happened to them?” Well, now you have your wish! You can follow your favorite hero and heroine in additional novellas as they fall in love, continue on toward marriage, getting married and deal with life issues that we all deal with.
I’ve developed at least one novella after each of the major 55,000-100,000 word book. They will each have at least one novella, usually an epilog. But where the characters and their particular lives are at, I may well write more than one novella for them. You can kind of understand the visual of a train engine with boxcars behind it. In this case? The books are the train engine. The novella(s) that follow are boxcars. Together, they weave and add layers to the original story of the hero and heroine. I will always try to get the novella out within a year of the big book being published. And I would dearly love to hear what you think of this idea that I’ve cooked up for the Delos series. And also look for additional ideas and suggestions from you regarding it. This is new territory for me, and I’m at this juncture because you, my readers, have brought me to this point. So often, you wanted MORE on a particular hero and heroine. And I could never write it for you.
Now? I can. So I need your input, for sure! Don’t be shy about contacting me via my website, www.lindsaymckenna.com.
HOLD ME is about Army Delta Force operator, Sergeant Beau Gardner and Callie McKinley. If you read HOLD ON, then you met Callie because she was the younger sister to Dr. Dara McKinley.
Callie McKinley has had an escape and brush with death, but is now home at the Eagle Feather Ranch in Butte, Montana, with Beau Gardner. She was nearly raped by the Taliban and saved by the man who loves her. She comes home with PTSD.
Beau must return to Bagram after thirty days leave with Callie at the beautiful Montana ranch. Callie has an intuition that Beau could be killed. She tries to fight her fear. Four months into his six month deployment, her world turns upside down. Now? She must somehow pull herself together to be there for Beau. It is a hard journey for both of them as they both wrestle with their own demons brought on by war. Will their new love withstand this assault upon it? Or not?
Let me hear from you about the Culver Family and the Delos series. Happy reading!
A few months back, I got the rights back to Personal Protection, a novel I wrote back in 2008. Part of preparing to self-publish it meant I re-read the manuscript to clean up anything I wasn’t happy with, or correct any errors that might have been missed. I discovered the biggest was the technology my characters used back then compared to what they’d do now. I hadn’t realized how much technology has changed just in those 8 years.
There were still pay phones around back then – try and find one now. The iPhone had only just been released, (the iPad was still a future innovation) but most of us still carried flip phones or had phones with screens that slid up to reveal a keyboard. Back then most companies trusted their email only on BlackBerry’s proprietary system, as at the time it was supposed to be the most secure system, so that’s what I had my guys carry. Not anymore, so I changed it so my characters now carry a smart phone with no brand that could crash and burn within a few years.
Though there were phones that could link maps to a GPS in 2008, most people still used dedicated GPS devices to find their way around town. And the tracking devices all the private detectives and cops use on people’s cars nowadays? They were pretty high-tech and unavailable to most folks back then. Although I’m pretty sure Sam and the boys had access to some new James Bond-like devices. 😀
VHS had given way to DVDs, but streaming wasn’t a big thing back then. Up until October 2008, when you mentioned Netflix people thought DVD rental deliveries not the NetFlix app with its list of instantly-available shows. (Does Netflix even deliver DVDs anymore?)
Twitter and Facebook were still in their early days; there was no Pinterest or Tumblr, no Foursquare (is that still a thing?) or Instagram. The reference to YouTube is still applicable—it started in 2005.
And I don’t think my guys back then would have understood carrying your phone around to capture animated characters. Or maybe they would have been right out there on the forefront.
Although there are days when I think it might be nicer to be less “connected” to our phones…and I wonder where we’ll be in another ten years…
What modern technology do you love? Or dislike?
PERSONAL PROTECTION
Despite owning a security business, Sam Watson refuses protection for himself, even after receiving threats from a stalker. His second-in-command, however, isn’t willing to take no for an answer, and assigns Sam a security detail headed by none other than Rosalinda Ramos—Sam’s secret object of lust. As an employee, she’s strictly hands-off. Though, working so closely together, Sam isn’t sure how long he can resist.
A female in a male-dominated industry, Rosie has enough on her plate just proving her worth, so she keeps her attraction to Sam firmly in check. Until she learns he co-owns an exclusive sex club. While investigating the club as a possible source of the threat, Rosie discovers her own interest in certain sexual proclivities. Before long, it’s all bets off, and all hands-on, for Sam and Rosie.
But the couple will soon discover the real threat to Sam is much, much closer to home…and something from which Rosie may not be able to save him.
And if you haven’t already read it, don’t miss book 1 in the Hauberk Protection series, PRIVATE PROPERTY or sign up for her newsletter to learn more about future releases http://eepurl.com/bDFPRb
About the Author
Leah Braemel is the only woman in a houseful of males that includes her college-sweetheart husband, two sons, a Shih Tzu named Seamus and Turtle the cat. She loves escaping the ever-multiplying dust bunnies by opening up her laptop to write about sexy heroes and the women who challenge them.
Reviewers have awarded Leah’s books numerous Top Pick and Recommended Reads designations as well as nominated them as Best Contemporary Romance, Best Erotic Romance and Best Ménage and More. Leah has also been nominated as Favorite Author and Best Erotic Romance Author.
I know you wanted the old Spice Girls song in your head first thing this morning! In fact, the video’s at the bottom of this page in case you really, really want a quick SG-fix. 🙂
Four of my most recent stepbrother shorties have shot straight to #1 on the short read list on Amazon. But I’m not certain what the attraction is. Do readers love the short, inexpensive (just $0.99) format, the taboo stepbrother angle, or the menage theme? Or all three?
Readers have been asking me for more of Sara and Hunter’s story in With His SEAL Team, in particular. And I do plan a sequel, or maybe more, of stories featuring those two and their extended, sexy SEAL family. Sara still has to find a job she likes and that doesn’t make Hunter crazy. And what about Harley and his rehabilitation?
So, I have these questions. And because I like more than anything in the world to please my readers, I’m asking you what you really, really want. Take this poll. You can choose up to four different answers. If you don’t see an answer you like, write your preference in the comments.
Loading ...
Contest
Win a free shorty from my short story webpage by simply leaving a comment. You can either tell me the kind of story you want most or tell me which of my stepbrother stories you’ve liked the most. I’ll choose three winners!
This month started with book six releasing in my Fantasies A-Z Series! This one is Zeke’s Meeting!
The series title is based off of the characters names, Aslan and Zeke. They are a kinky couple that is doing a bit more than dipping their toes into this lifestyle called kink. And they’re exploring it one fantasy at a time. Back and forth from Aslan to Zeke to Aslan….you get the picture.
So there was a stranger fantasy, a dirty pitstop fantasy, wanting to be wanted, girl-on-girl, medical fetish and now the mile-high club. So delicious! Love getting to share these fantasies!
And right now I’m traveling around Iceland and Scotland! So what better way to celebrate than having a giveaway! To one lucky commenter I’m going to give a spanking (pun intended) new e-copy of Zeke’s Meeting!! How do you enter? Super easy! Just tell me your favorite fantasy to read about!!
The mile-high club has never seen this kind of meeting.
To secure their Moroccan contract, Zeke and Aslan finally decide they have to invest in a private jet with a full-time pilot. It was a sound business decision that they’d contemplated for years. But who is to say they can’t mix a little bit of pleasure with their business? Or a lot of pleasure…
Zeke’s ready to collect on his next fantasy. His request is wrapped together into becoming a member of the mile-high club. But he’s not looking for just a quickie in a cramped bathroom. More along the lines of an entire buffet spread out naked across their conference room table.
When Aslan learns they aren’t the only kinky couple on the plane, her idea of a business meeting takes on a whole new meaning.
This is the sixth short story in a serial release all featuring Aslan and Zeke. A married couple looking for more and finding it in the arms of each other. There will be nine stories total, with one being released every month or so. Short kinky stories meant to tantalize and excite you. May you fall in love with love and everything that word means to your fantasies…
Decadently Yours,
Jennifer Kacey
Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother, and business owner living with her miniman in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.
Biceps Boy started extra early the next morning. The compressor roared to life and her eyes flew open. Slam-bang from the hammers. To top it off, one of the geniuses brought a radio and the serenade of some country boy done wrong sent the hair up on her neck. She grabbed her bedside clock. Six freaking thirty.
Samantha leapt out of bed, pulled on cutoffs and slid a t-shirt over her head, and barely blinked the sleep out of her eyes before stumbling down the stairs.
She spotted Biceps at the table saw and marched over, her flip flops snapping against her heels. “How long are you going to make my life a living hell?” she shouted over the noise.
He looked up at her with a shocked expression. Damn, he had the most incredible green eyes. Fringed with dark lashes and set in a face worthy of the gods, his eyes slowly crinkled as he grinned and looked her up and down. “Where did you come from?”
Of course. A fucking redneck construction guy who couldn’t see past her breasts. “I live right there,” she said, jamming her thumb toward the garage apartment.
“Nobody told me,” he said mildly, looking back at the saw. He turned off the spinning blade and picked up a battered travel mug. “Sorry about the noise, but we’re going to be here a while,” he said, taking a drink.
Against her better judgement, her gaze drifted. She was helpless to stop herself. Much as she wanted to be furious with this guy, she couldn’t ignore his appeal. Under that faded navy blue t-shirt, his shoulders stretched almost wide enough to block a doorway. Sprinkled with sawdust, his tanned forearms rippled with corded muscle. As if he could pick her up. Or hold himself over her for hours…
Everything about him made her think of sex. How fucking long had it been since she thought about sex? How completely inappropriate could this be?
She stopped herself before her gaze wandered past the tool belt and brought her attention back to his face. Big grin, all white teeth and dimples. A look that said he could eat her alive and make her like it.
Worse, he didn’t hide the fact that his gaze kept wandering down the front of her t-shirt which she realized, now that she’d come half awake, did nothing to hide her failure to put on a bra. Or the fact that her nipples reacted to his stare. Her bare toes curled.
“That’s just not acceptable,” she said, planting her fists on her hips. She considered taking a swing at that jaw. “You’ll have to wait three weeks to resume work here. I have a deadline.”
He laughed. “You’re kidding.”
She huffed. “I’m not kidding. I have to finish this project. There’s no way I can work with all this noise.”
“Lady, we have a deadline too. We’ve got more work to do than we’d planned and not enough time to do it. I’ve had to hire more guys. If anything, it’s going to get a lot noisier around here.” He studied her from under the brim of his battered ball cap. “Close your windows.”
Her teeth clenched as she resisted the urge to curse out loud. “My windows are closed. I can still hear every hammer strike and every note blaring from that damn radio. There’s got to be a law or something.”
“Sorry,” he said agreeably, adjusting his hat over his short sun-bleached hair. “Not.”
How could he be so nonchalant? Her entire future was at stake. “What about common decency?”
She looked up as three men rounded the corner.
“Hey, boss, that scaffolding…” one of them said, breaking off when they saw her.
The heat of their scrutiny swept up her face in a hot flush. What the hell had she been thinking, coming out here half dressed? These cutoffs weren’t fit for public view and she never went anywhere without a bra. She hadn’t had coffee, hadn’t even brushed her teeth. She crossed her arms over her chest, trying to disguise the condition of her breasts.
“Give me a minute,” Biceps said, jerking his head sideways to send them away.
His eyes settled on her again. She didn’t like what she saw, this mixture of sympathy, curiosity, and lust. Was it just in this redneck’s DNA to make her feel helpless? She looked away.
“Go work at my house,” he said. “You’ll have the place to yourself. I promise, it’s quiet.”
She stared at him. He couldn’t be serious. “That’s absurd.”
Lizzie Ashworth lives in the wilds of the Ozark Mountains with her cats, hound dogs, and whichever child has taken up temporary residence between grad school and relocation. She’s been writing her entire life and can’t express how wonderful it is to share stories with readers like you. Every book comes from the heart in the hopes that readers will find a bit of pleasure within those pages.
Sign up for Liz’s free monthly e-newsletter, Liz’s Hot News. Free monthly newsletter with excerpts, freebies, pre-release deals, and much more. Sign up at http://eepurl.com/bHOyS9
Follow Liz for free erotic short works, hot photos, and the occasional rant on my blog at http://lizzieashworth.com/
Okay, I’m gonna have to swear you all to secrecy. Trust me. You don’t want the Secret Society coming after you. It won’t be in your best interests.
I’ll give you a minute to take the super secret oath, paper-cut your thumb, and dab the blood onto your screen, device, whatever.
Done? Let’s do this…
What is the Secrety Society, you ask? They’re the extremely hush-hush corporation at the center of my thriller, The Secret Society. It’s complicated. Here…read the blurb.
Okay, are you back? Whew, that’s a lot of info (and secrets) I divulged. I hope “LMI” isn’t listening. They have eyes and ears everywhere. Turns out, um, they’re not quite as fictional as I thought.
Still, here I am, risking it all to tell you where the idea came from…or, at least, where I thought it came from:
“The Husband Bench”
Yep. That place where suffering men sit at malls and stores, waiting for their significant others to finish Epic Shopping. Some time ago, my wife parked me amongst several other bored guys, told me it’d be just a minute. Well, it wasn’t. But I started watching the men; men from all walks of life with nothing in common but sheer boredom. I began to wonder if some of them had other reasons for being there. Running with the idea, I thought the “husband bench” might be a particularly secretive, discreet, amusing, and unusual place for a clandestine meeting.
Now all I had to do was come up with a reason for the secret meeting. Hence, The Secret Society was born.
Or so I thought. Now, someone’s watching me. My cell-phone’s tapped, my computer’s being tracked, a dark Town car keeps following me. You’re my only hope, dear reader…you must find out the truth from my book and expose the evil conspiracy. And why they’re doing it! Before it’s too late!
My life depends on your buying this book! Ahem…
A dark suspense thriller with an unhealthy vein of humor coursing through its veins, Secret Society is the first in a trilogy. A fictional trilogy…or is it? The second book you can get here: Serial Killer Thriller! Third and final book on the way.
Did you ever do something when you were younger, you thought was for the right reason, but it caused something bad to happen that you didn’t plan? Like agree to partner with an unpopular classmate for a science project, but that left your friend to get partnered with someone who didn’t pull their weight, so your friend got a bad grade?
Well, in my upcoming book, HER HELL YEAH COWBOY, my contribution to Sable Hunter’s Hell Yeah! Kindle World releasing this Thursday, August 11th, the heroine’s right reason, when she was younger, changes the course of the hero’s life. Years later they meet again, but he doesn’t know it’s her, and she’s too afraid to tell him at first, so the longer she waits, the harder it is to reveal.
Sometimes assuming someone is going to react a certain way doesn’t mean they will.
HER HELL YEAH COWBOY is part of my ongoing Harland County Series and crosses over into Sable Hunter’s Hell Yeah! Kindle World. I was so honored Sable asked me to be a part of the launch to her world, and with such wonderful authors. I’m so excited for this launch!
Her Hell Yeah Cowboy
Years ago, he unknowingly rescued his soulmate, now she’s back in Texas and about to save his guarded heart.
Unlike his twin, Texas National Guardsman Sgt. Logan McCall would rather march barefoot and blindfolded through a cow pasture than date the same woman twice. After an active duty injury during a flood washed away his promising sports career and engagement years ago, Logan guards his heart more than his life until, fresh from deployment, he runs into a friend of the McCoys…literally. Hill Country’s newest resident is hotter than the wing sauce soaking into his shirt.
Mission on.
Graphic designer and carrier of misfortune, Chloe Davis is a danger to herself and those around her, so entertaining thoughts for the sexy cowboy wearing her hot sauce should be a no-no…not a hell yeah—especially considering he’s the guardsman linked to a horrible instance in her past. But when he turns out to be one of her clients, she can no more avoid him than the attraction sizzling between them. Chloe’s back in Texas determined to make a fresh start, and she succeeds in business but fails to resist the handsome soldier’s relentless pursuit.
But when he discovers her past, will he trust his heart or lose her forever?
Cover photo by Cover Me Photography with Orestis Papapetrou
Excerpt
Casual or not at all was Logan’s motto. The last thing he wanted was a soulmate.
The thing was, he believed in Cady and her abilities. So he did what any man in his position would do. He topped off his beer and enjoyed another healthy pull.
“Did you say soulmate?” Lincoln blinked at Cady, and when she nodded, his brother turned a shit-eating grin his way. “This I’ve got to see.”
Joseph smiled. “Me, too.”
Logan laughed. “Hate to disappoint you all, but look around.” He made a sweeping motion with his hand. “The place is practically empty, and the only woman here is Cady. Not a soulmate in sight.”
“She has big brown eyes that are going to melt that guarded heart of yours, Logan McCall,” Cady remarked leaning closer. “She’s near. Can’t you feel it?”
Feel it? What he was feeling was agitated. On edge. Restless. He had for some time now. But today he could add aggravated to that list. Cady’s dark, direct, Creole gaze, and the guys’ amused ones weren’t helping. Logan set his glass down and rose to his feet. “What I feel is the need to use the bathroom. Excuse me.”
The more distance he put between himself and the two chuckleheads at the table, the better he felt. And Logan was sure, once he was home, the weird restlessness—like he had unfinished business—would disappear. Hell, he just got off deployment. It was common to come back with baggage. This shit was normal. He’d deal with it.
What wasn’t normal was for him to run away. He didn’t really need to use the bathroom, but the urge to leave the table had been too strong to ignore. Cady knew. He could see it in her eyes and slight tug to her lips, but bless her, she didn’t call him out on it, just let him go without a word. Not only had his buddy married a smart, beautiful woman, she was sweet, too.
Going on the assumption the john was in the same place as before, Logan rounded the bar and—smacked into someone rushing down the corridor, all soft and curvy.
And hot?
He felt the heat right through his T-shirt. It scorched.
Inhaling on impact, he reached out to steady the distinctly feminine form, his mind registering a light, flowery scent, mixed with the mouthwatering aroma of…chicken wings?
“I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did I burn you?” Her breathless voice had a sweet huskiness that spread awareness all the way down his spine.
He shook his head to clear it. “I’m fine,” he replied, staring at the mass of wavy brown hair obscuring the woman’s face as she tried to brush off the sauce that leaked onto him from the Styrofoam container she cradled in one hand.
“I’ve ruined your shirt.” She continued to try to clean him up but only made it worse. A second later, her palm stilled on his chest, and she drew her lower lip between her teeth.
“I’m fine,” he repeated, silently willing her to look at him.
With the initial shock of the collision wearing off, he realized the merit of the situation. Pressed against him was a soft, warm woman with an abundance of curves his body immediately wanted to get to know better. A little taller than average, she brushed his bottom lip with the top of her head, her riot of hair sticking to the chin he hadn’t shaved in two days. Logan wondered how their other body parts lined up, but most important, he wondered…what color eyes she had.
This is the list of the 11 August 11th Sable Hunter’s Hell Yeah! Kindle World release authors and their books:
Randi Alexander – Saddle and a Siren
Cynthia D’Alba – Cadillac Cowboy
Lana Dempsey – The Song of Her Sighs
Desiree Holt – Man of My Heart
Maddie James – Seducing Sarah
Donna Michaels – Her Hell Yeah Cowboy
Lexi Post – Cowboy’s Break
Jodi – Cowboy Kinky
Kandi Silvers – Boardroom Cowboy
Ciana Stone – Until There Was You
Sabrina York – – Gun Shy
Join us in the Hell Yeah! Reader room for daily news and author interaction. http://bit.ly/2asU3Hi
______________________________
About Donna Michaels:
Donna Michaels is a NYT & USAT bestselling, award-winning author who writes romance through the H’s-Hot, Humorous and Heartwarming. Her heroes are strong alpha cowboys and military men who are equally matched by their heroines. With over twenty books of various lengths and heat levels, she’s published through Entangled Publications, AmazonEncore, The Wild Rose Press, Whimsical Publications, Kindle Worlds, as well as having several self-published titles and one Japanese Manga. Donna lives in northeastern PA with her military husband of 30 years, and a house full of her now adult children, many rescued cats, and even her parents! There’s never a dull moment, which means there’s plenty to write about!
Loading ...
Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother, and business owner living with her miniman in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.
Lizzie Ashworth lives in the wilds of the Ozark Mountains with her cats, hound dogs, and whichever child has taken up temporary residence between grad school and relocation. She’s been writing her entire life and can’t express how wonderful it is to share stories with readers like you. Every book comes from the heart in the hopes that readers will find a bit of pleasure within those pages.
Ahem…
