Welcome my fellow Rebel author Anna Kristell. She's here to chat about her latest releases and a few upcoming works too. But first, here is the description and an excerpt from Unlikely Lovers, just released by Rebel Ink Press.
When Army Major Jessica Walsh meets local factory worker,
Cody Jones, she finds herself staring straight into the eyes of the man who’s
been haunting her dreams for the past few nights. Fresh from a breakup with her
cheating ex, Jessica sets out to seduce the sexy brown-eyed man in the hopes of
a brief rebound affair. Getting more than she bargained for, she falls in love
with him, but has kept a secret about who she really is.
On the night she plans to tell him the truth, Cody
plans to propose. But before either of those things can take place, they run
into Jessica’s ex, who cruelly spills the beans. Angry and heartbroken,
Cody ends the relationship, turning to a bottle for comfort. Jessica’s hurt,
she accepts his decision. While they find they can't stay away from
each other, they can't seem to work out their differences, either. Will the
unlikely lovers be able to overcome the obstacles in their lives and find their
happy ever after?
Excerpt:
“And I’m Cody,” the sexy man with
the brown wavy hair said, flashing a smile that sent shivers up and down
Jessica’s spine. He extended his right hand.
She took it saying, “I’m Jessica and
this is Missy, nice to meet you both.” The simple touch of his hand was enough
to make her want to get closer to him, much closer. Her hand felt as though it
had been scorched as she pulled it away.
“Thanks for the beer. You two ready
to get beat by a couple of girls?” Missy looked at Andy, laughing.
“Bring it on,” he answered with a
wink.
They bowled two games, girls winning
one, and guys winning the other.
“How about a rematch to break the
tie and the losers take the other team out for pizza afterward?” Cody
challenged.
“You’re on. Right, Missy?” Jessica
looked at her friend.
“Right, let’s show ‘em what we can
do, girlfriend.”
To prove her point, Missy threw
three strikes in a row.
“I think we’re in trouble, man.”
Andy chuckled as he looked at Cody.
“We’ll see about that!” Cody threw
the next strike as the four of them burst into uncontrollable laughter.
The girls won by two pins, much to
their delight.
“We’ll let you off the hook and go
Dutch since you came so close,” Jessica said as she changed out of the ugly
shoes and back into her boots.
“Sounds like a deal,” Cody answered
with a smile that set her pulse racing again. And then she knew. His eyes. There was something about them.
They decided where to meet and as
Missy drove to the pizza parlor, Jessica turned to her and said, “Thanks for
talking me into coming out tonight. I haven’t had this much fun in ages.”
“I haven’t either. But let’s not
tell them too much about ourselves. Okay?”
“I agree.” The girls knew from
experience some men were intimidated by a female officer.
“Aren’t they hunks, both of them?”
“Oh, yeah, especially Cody,” Jessica
said dreamily.
“I prefer the blonde look, myself.”
Missy giggled as she pulled into the parking lot.
“That’s good, since I have my eye on
Cody.” The mere thought of sharing a bed with the wavy haired man was almost
more than Jessica could bear.
When they got out of Missy’s car,
the two men were already there waiting for them in the parking lot.
“After you.” Cody opened the door of
the restaurant for Jessica, following behind her.
After they’d all decided on a
supreme deluxe pizza complete with anchovies and ordered a pitcher of beer and
soft drinks for the two drivers, they began to talk.
“Why haven’t we seen you two ladies
around before?” Cody inquired as he looked at Jessica with that same sexy smile
that had first drawn her to him.
“We’ve not been bowling for a
while.” She returned the smile shyly.
“We keep pretty busy with work,”
Missy added, looking at Andy.
“I hear that. We’ve been putting in
all kinds of overtime at the plant,” Andy replied.
“So you both work at Goodyear?”
Jessica asked.
“Yeah, like most folks around here
that aren’t lucky enough to get out of town.”
“What do you girls do?” Cody asked.
“Uh, we both work on post,” Missy
answered vaguely as she took a sip of the Coke that had just arrived.
“Ah, another place a lot of folks
around here work,” Andy observed.
Jessica was incredibly intrigued by Cody.
He had the most gorgeous brown eyes she had ever seen, like huge drops of
chocolate candy...almost identical to
the man in her dream. She began to imagine his hard working hands
roaming her body, rocking her world, taking her to the ends of the earth and
back…Jessica, get a grip, she
told herself as she found herself staring into those beautiful eyes again.
The other three continued with light
banter as they enjoyed the pizza while Jessica tried to concentrate on what
they were all saying. It wasn’t easy with the brown eyed man sitting next to
her. And long before she was ready, the evening was coming to an end.
Andy and Missy had exchanged cell
phone numbers already as Cody asked Jessica for hers. She gave it to him and
watched as he put it in his phone. She did the same with his.
“I’ll call you soon. Count on it,
Jessie,” Cody said as he waved goodbye.
“That’d be great. I’ll talk to you
soon.” She flashed him her sexiest smile.
Once they were on the road, Missy
said, “Wow, Jess, that Andy is one sexy hunk of man. I’d love to see him
again.”
“And I could get real cozy with
Cody, if you know what I mean,” Jessica remarked thoughtfully. What would be
the harm in a brief fling with a sexy local factory worker?
Missy glanced at her friend. “Jess,
that doesn’t exactly sound like something you’d do. Are you really considering
it?”
“Maybe, we’ll just have to see now,
won’t we? All I can say is Cody Jones is one hell of a sexy man.”
After Missy had dropped her off at
home, she prepared for bed with a smile as she remembered what he’d said. I
wonder if he really will call. She
was just settling in between the cool sheets when her cell rang. She answered
sleepily, “Hello.”
“Hey, Jessie, it’s Cody, calling to
say goodnight.”
“Hi. When you said you’d call soon,
you weren’t kidding.” She giggled and continued, “I’m glad to hear from you so
soon.”
He chuckled. “I had a great time
tonight, just had to call and tell you. I’m looking forward to seeing you again
soon.”
“I had fun, too. We’ll definitely
get together soon. Call me.”
“You can count on that, baby. Sweet
dreams.”
“Goodnight.”
She soon fell asleep, dreaming that
a handsome, wavy haired man with huge, velvety chocolate brown eyes was sharing
her bed. He kissed her lips then moved down her body, nuzzled her neck,
stopping to whisper love words in her ear as he’d done in her dream the night
before. She awoke, alone again, more determined than ever to make this
particular dream become a reality, and the sooner the better.
***
Hi, I'm Anna and I write romance. My newest release, Unlikely
Lovers, is from Rebel Ink Press. It's the story of two people, Jessica
and Cody, who are nothing alike, have nothing in common, yet they fall
in love. They could probably get past the differences except for one
thing. Jessica has been lying to Cody since the night they met about who
she really is. And the way he finds out the truth sets off a reaction
that is totally unexpected of the character. After that, things go south
very quickly, although these two just can't seem to stay away from each
other, hard as they try. You'll want to shake them both senseless.
You'll cry with them, laugh with them, and root for them to work it
out. Will they?
A long time fan of romance, it seemed only natural that when I decided to try my hand at writing, it would be love stories.
I
have two more releases coming soon from Rebel. Sunny's Love in April
and Remember Our Promise in the summer. Remember Our Promise was my
first attempt at NaNoWriMo and was a story that basically wrote
itself....
I also am in the midst of writing a contemporary
drama romance series for Lazy Day Publishing. The first was released in
January, Crossroad to Love, and has done well so far. The second, The
Road to Her Heart, will be out in March. I have contracts signed for
four so far and am working on the fifth. There will be several before
the series is completed. It centers around the lives of four friends who
have been friends since childhood, their loves, their children, their
other friends, their jobs...like I said...drama!
Thanks so much, Kate!
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