***GIVEAWAY:Donna is giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card to one randomly drawn commenter. Be sure to leave your email address so Donna could email you should you win. Good luck!
SET UP FOR THE SCENE in Her Uniform Cowboy, voted BEST COWBOY in a Book/Reader’s Choice—LRC: Kade had just received a call to pick up his little nephew from Brandi’s. The last time he’d seen the sexy designer she’d come onto him. She’d been very hard to resist, but had just been in a car accident and wasn’t in her right mind due to a slight overdose of pain medication.
FIRST KISS from HER UNIFORM COWBOY by Donna Michaels
By the time he pulled up to the cottage, he had his emotions under control and hoped to God he could say the same about his body. A few good, solid inhales on his way to her door helped to firm his resolve. He was not, under any circumstances, going to throw her on the couch and pick up where they’d left off on Thursday. He was not.
Knocking a little louder than necessary, he stood back and waited.
The sexy designer opened the door, and her eyes widened while color rushed to her face. “Kade?”
The blush deepened the brown of her mesmerizing gaze, and his gut took an invisible blow.
“I…what…” She drew in a breath. “Why are you here?”
Apparently she didn’t get the memo. “Jen’s tied up at the hospital. She called me at drill and asked if I could fetch Cody.”
“Oh. I hope everything is okay.”
He shrugged. “More tests.”
She stepped back to let him in. “Cody’s asleep on my bed. We had a great day on the beach. He’s tuckered out. Do you want me to wake him?”
Once his brain caught up to her questions, he shook his head. “No. Unless you’d like me to leave.” He had no idea why he was acting and feeling so strange around her.
Probably because he wanted to throw her on the couch and pick up where they’d left off last Thursday.
She shook her head, the pretty blush deepening as she turned and began to pick plastic dinosaurs up off the floor. “No, of course not. Why would I want you to do that?” Dropping the toys onto the coffee table, she avoided his gaze and bent to pick up some more. “I mean, it’s not like I have anything to be embarrassed about. Oh, wait…yeah…yeah, I do.”
A strange giggle-hiccup followed her words along with inaudible mumbles and head shaking. He wondered briefly if she was having some sort of seizure until she stood and brushed past him to shove a box of crackers from the coffee table into a kitchen cupboard.
“And the award for biggest poopyhead goes to…yours truly.” She slapped a hand over her chest and laughed.
God, she was adorable. He knew he should stop her, but he honestly couldn’t get enough of the ruffled unrufflable woman.
She swiped the salt shaker from the table and cradled it to her chest with both hands. “I’d like to thank the academy, and a stupid ex-boyfriend for making me the idiot I am today.”
“Okay, enough.” He sprang into action, removing the shaker from her hand and cornering her against the fridge when she stepped back. “Hey…hey. It’s all right. Calm down.”
She shook her head and closed her eyes. “God, I’m so embarrassed, Kade. And so, so sorry for what I said…and did to you…”
“Brandi, look at me.”
She opened one eye.
“Both eyes, Brandi,” he said, a smile tugging at his mouth.
The other eye opened.
“That’s better. Now, listen to me. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
The snort that left her throat caused her head to jerk back and hit the refrigerator. “Yes, I do. A good number of things. But I am really sor—”
He pressed a finger to her lips, intending to stop her apology, but…ah hell, he hadn’t expected the instant awareness that spread through his body, heating his spine. She must’ve felt it too, because her brown eyes widened, and she trembled against him.
That’s all it took to send him to the same state he was in last Thursday on the couch. Just one touch. That was it. One miniscule touch. He had no defense. He was done. His brain shut down and need, fierce and consuming, took over.
Cupping her face, he closed the distance between them and covered her mouth with his.
Damn, he knew it.
He knew those tempting lips of hers would feel soft and supple…and hot.
When she let out a breath of acceptance and slid her hands up around his neck, he discovered heaven. There was no other word for the feeling of completeness that came over him. Everything about the woman in his arms was right. Her touch, her curves, her lips. Christ, her lips. She kissed him with a matching wild abandon, lips drinking and drinking like she’d been thirsting for him, and only him. And if they hadn’t needed air, no way in hell would he have stopped.
With a reluctance he’d never known, Kade broke the kiss and set his forehead against hers, careful not to touch the bruise on her temple. Spurts of warm air hit his neck, signaling she too was having trouble getting her breathing under control.
“Wow,” she said with a gush. “That…was…”
“Wow,” he finished for her, and she laughed.
“Yeah, like firecracker wow.”
He drew back to frown down at her. “Just firecracker?”
She smiled. “Okay, maybe an M80.”
“Unkewl Kade...” Cody appeared out of nowhere, standing next to them, rubbing his eyes. “What’s an M and M 80?”
They broke apart, and the sound of Brandi’s head smacking the refrigerator went unnoticed by his nephew who blinked up at him.
Jesus. How much had the little guy seen?
“Is it wike chocwit?”
Completely at a loss as to what the right thing was to do—ask the four-year-old if he’d seen the kiss, and if so, address the kiss, ignore the kiss…ask Brandi for another kiss. No…no…that would be bad. At least, not in front of his nephew.
“Cuz I wike chocwit.” The little boy continued to talk, apparently oblivious to the battle going on in his uncle’s thick head. Heads.
Knowing he needed to respond, Kade swooped up the sleepy child and went for the fail-safe maneuver; he tickled his tummy. “No, an M80 is like a firecracker, but bigger,” he said, looking pointedly at the silent designer.
She smiled, and his heart actually rocked in his chest. Rocked. That wasn’t good. Movement. Damn. No. That was not good. He didn’t need a woman making him feel his heart. Causing his heart to move. Life was much easier without that complication. Hell, he’d managed just fine without that complication for over thirty-two years.
Suddenly, he didn’t feel so good.
Time to go.
He transferred his gaze to the little boy in his arms. “What do you say? You ready, buddy?”
“I guess. Can we get some ice cweam? Bwandi said I could get chocwit ice cweam fwom Fostews aftewmy nap. And I napped. Isn’t that wight, Bwandi?”
“Yes, you did,” she said, stepping close to ruffle his nephew’s hair. “I’m sure your uncle will get you some ice cream.”
Two small hands grabbed his jaw and turned his face. “Can we, Unkewl Kade?”
He grinned. “Sure. Go gather your stuff,” he replied, setting the child down. “We’ll stop for it on our way home.”
“Yippee!”
He chanced a glance at the silent woman, but couldn’t tell what she was thinking or feeling. Was she sad? Mad? Relieved? He had no idea. He only knew he had to leave.
“Come on. I want chocwit.” Cody tugged his hand. When he didn’t budge, his nephew glanced up. “Come on, Unkewl Kade.”
“Don’t you have something to say to Brandi?”
Big blue eyes blinked up at him. “Oh. Yeah. I fowgot.” He turned to his babysitter. “Do you want some ice cweam, too?”
Damn. That wasn’t what he’d meant. His heart stopped for a full beat. A full beat. Shit. More movement. Once again, the sexy woman interfered with the beating of his heart. Not good.
“Awe, thanks, sweetheart, but no,” she replied, kneeling down, staring at his nephew eye-level. “You two go ahead. Enjoy.”
“We will. Thanks for pwaying with me today,” Cody said, body slamming her with a hug.
She laughed and hugged back. “Anytime.”
“Okay, Cody. Let’s go.” He set a hand on the boy’s shoulder, really needing to get out of the small cottage. Breathing was becoming a chore. “I think someone could use some alone time.”
The pretty designer’s smile turned sad. “Yeah. I think someone could.”
Now he felt like an ass. He knew she was self conscious and confused. No doubt trying to figure out what the hell just happened in her kitchen. But he had no answers. He was at a loss, too. He needed to regroup, and that wasn’t going to happen in her presence. So, rude or not, yeah, he was kissing then running.
The alternative was feeling, and hell no, he was not having any of that.
Desperate for change after a verbally abusive relationship, Brandi Wyne leaves a symphony career, her family, and the Poconos to fall back on a designing degree and a chance to renovate a restaurant/pub in Texas. Even though part of a National Guard family, she’d sworn off military men when the last one proved less than supportive of her thyroid condition and subsequent weight gain. Too bad her body seems to forget that fact whenever she’s near the very hot, very military local sheriff.
Texas Army National Guard First Sergeant Kade Dalton never planned on becoming Harland County Sheriff or the attraction to a curvy, military-hating designer from Pennsylvania. Heavy with guilt from the death of a soldier under his command during a recent deployment, and dealing with his co-owned horse ranch and a bungling young deputy, it's hard most days just to keep his sanity. But it’s the Yankee bombshell who threatens not only his sanity, but tempts his body...and his heart.
Fighting their attraction becomes a losing battle, and Kade soon finds sanctuary in the arms of the beautiful designer. Does he really have the right to saddle Brandi with his stress issues? And if so, can he take a chance on the town’s newest resident not abandoning him like others in his past?
HER UNIFORM COWBOY is available in eBook and Print at Amazon
***Don't forget the GIVEAWAY:Donna is giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card to one randomly drawn commenter. Be sure to leave your email address so Donna could email you should you win. Good luck!
Don't know what to say? How about answering this question: If you were going for ice cream with the hunky Kade, what topping would you choose? Yes, I really mean a topping for your ice cream. :)
About the author:
Donna is a multi published author of Romaginative Fiction. From short to epic, sweet to hot, she writes most romance genres for two small presses and is also self published. Classifying her indie books as Romance through the H’s—Hot, Humorous and Heartwarming, Donna loves cowboys and the military and sometimes mixes them in her stories.
Her contemporary western series, HARLAND COUNTY SERIES—Unruly cowboys and the women who tame them—has been in the Amazon Top 100 since HER FATED COWBOY released last April. Book Two: HER UNBRIDLED COWBOY ranked #12 in Predators & Editors BEST ROMANCE of 2013, and Book Three: HER UNIFORM COWBOY was just voted BEST COWBOY in a BOOK at LRC. Donna is hard at work on Book Four, HER FOREVER COWBOY due to release at the end of April, and is also finishing COWBOY PAYBACK the sequel to her very popular Wild Rose Press release COWBOY-SEXY.
The first book in her HARLAND COUNTY spin off series, CITIZEN SOLDIER SERIES set in the Poconos of Pennsylvania showcasing the National Guard, will release this July. I’m told there will be crossover characters. Donna also penned a contemporary time travel—CAPTIVE HERO (Time-shift Heroes Series-Book One)—which was a RomCon Finalist and a Finalist in the RONE Awards for best Time Travel. Her NOR Reviewer Top Pick contemporary romance SHE DOES KNOW JACK is a humorous take on the reality TV show The Bachelor. And finally, Donna also has a NOR Reviewer Top Pick humorous paranormal paring a vampire secret agent with a black panther shape-shifting agent who exhibits catlike tendencies in THE SPY WHO FANGE ME.
Her contemporary western series, HARLAND COUNTY SERIES—Unruly cowboys and the women who tame them—has been in the Amazon Top 100 since HER FATED COWBOY released last April. Book Two: HER UNBRIDLED COWBOY ranked #12 in Predators & Editors BEST ROMANCE of 2013, and Book Three: HER UNIFORM COWBOY was just voted BEST COWBOY in a BOOK at LRC. Donna is hard at work on Book Four, HER FOREVER COWBOY due to release at the end of April, and is also finishing COWBOY PAYBACK the sequel to her very popular Wild Rose Press release COWBOY-SEXY.
The first book in her HARLAND COUNTY spin off series, CITIZEN SOLDIER SERIES set in the Poconos of Pennsylvania showcasing the National Guard, will release this July. I’m told there will be crossover characters. Donna also penned a contemporary time travel—CAPTIVE HERO (Time-shift Heroes Series-Book One)—which was a RomCon Finalist and a Finalist in the RONE Awards for best Time Travel. Her NOR Reviewer Top Pick contemporary romance SHE DOES KNOW JACK is a humorous take on the reality TV show The Bachelor. And finally, Donna also has a NOR Reviewer Top Pick humorous paranormal paring a vampire secret agent with a black panther shape-shifting agent who exhibits catlike tendencies in THE SPY WHO FANGE ME.
You can keep up with Donna’s releases, news, and exclusive giveaways by signing up for her newsletter here: http://www.donnamichaelsauthor.com/
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