Excerpt & Giveaway ~*~ Shatter by Joan Swan

Shatter

by Joan Swan

Genre: Romantic Suspense (with paranormal elements)

Heat Level: 3.5/5

Elements/Tags: romance, suspense, paranormal abilities, conspiracy, firefighters,

Publisher: Kensington

Publishing Date: 12/31/13

Series: Phoenix Rising, 4

Format: Print and Ebook

Words: 110k

Back Cover:

For seven years, Halina Beloi has been in hiding. But she's never forgotten Mitch Foster, the long, lean man she had to leave behind. Until, that is, Mitch shows up with a list of questions and a 9mm in his hand.

All Mitch knows is that Halina broke his heart and disappeared. But new information has surfaced implicating her as a player in the deadliest game of Mitch's life. This time, he's not letting go without answers. Now terror, danger and heat will fuse them together or shatter the future. . .

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17802744-shatter

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1hTr6TV

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Kobo: http://bit.ly/J2z1Q9

  Excerpt ~

          Jesus, she’d always been impossible to resist. And seven years later, he was still completely helpless against her will. The thought turned something inside him, giving him the strength to grip her arms and push her away.

         Abruptly, before he did something he’d regret—or at least more than he’d already done, more than he already regretted—he stood and stepped away from her. “I can’t.”

         Hurt flashed across her face, and the sight tore at Mitch. She sank back on her heels, hands clenched, that damn robe still open . . .

         “You can’t?” Anger flushed her cheeks, but hurt darkened her eyes. “You can fuck a different woman every week in San Francisco, but you can’t make love to me once?”

         Shock hit him first but slid directly into anger. Every word held judgment and censure—neither of which he deserved—and the anger he’d put on the back burner reheated.

         “No, I can’t.” He fought to hold back the confession fighting to tumble forward—because you meant everything to me, they meant nothing; because I loved you, not them. And managed a lesser, “Because you’re not them.”

         She pulled in an audible breath and jerked back as if he’d slapped her. Mitch instantly heard his words in a completely different way, but it was too late to take them back. Too complicated to explain. Her eyes burned with a combination of fury and pain.

         “Of course not.” She stood from the bed, petulant, and faced him, the robe falling open carelessly at her sides. “I should have realized I’d never be enough for you anymore.”

         His frown deepened and confusion pushed questions to his lips. Halina had always been more than he’d ever hoped to find in one woman. There was nothing enough about Halina, only heavenly excess. But this belief was for the best. If she hated him, she wouldn’t tempt him into a situation where he’d end up broken again.

         His gaze strayed down her parted robe and stopped on her nearly bare sex, hidden by only a touch of darkness, and his mouth grew restless, hungry. Starved.

         Why couldn’t he just turn off and take her, the way he did with every other woman? Surely if he concentrated hard enough . . . Or why not imagine he was with someone else, the way he sometimes found himself imagining he was with her when he was with another woman?

         “I’m not five-foot-nine,” she said, growing angrier. “I’m not a double D. I haven’t had any cosmetic surgery. I wasn’t in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.”

         Mitch’s gaze darted up, eyes narrowed. Knowing he’d had an active social life was one thing. With his high-profile dates, he often showed up in the social section of the paper. He’d occasionally had photos of himself and his date printed in magazines if the woman was remotely well known. But Halina wasn’t quoting names; she had intimate details that would have required research.

         “And just how do you know—“ he started.

         She swept past him, the robe flowing open as she walked. His mind took a U-turn and got lost.

         Standing in front of the second suitcase Mitch had brought in from the car, Halina shrugged the robe from her shoulders. She met his gaze, her eyes bright with challenge as she let the white velour slide down her arms and drop to the floor.

         The air whooshed from Mitch’s lungs in a soft breath. His body grew heavy and the strength in his thighs ebbed long enough to make his knees shake. And while he had to use every ounce of brain matter to keep himself from drooling, she just stood, wordlessly taunting him.

         She was so…gorgeous. She seemed almost ethereal with all that long dark hair flowing around her, all that smooth, perfect skin, those light aqua eyes. Even the bruised forehead couldn’t detract from her beauty. Every curve of her body was honed, shaped with training and hours of strict exercise. He knew how much work it took to create each ridge he wanted to devour now.

         “Halina . . .” His voice scraped from his throat, so thick with desire it hurt. “What . . .the hell . . .are you doing?”

         “I was never up for an Emmy.” She started back in on those stupid statistics as she bent to pull jeans and a tee shirt from the suitcase. Mitch found it difficult to swallow, watching her skin slide over sleek muscle. “I didn’t earn a law degree from Vassar or a medical degree from Brown. I wasn’t the daughter of a Silicon Valley mogul or a congressman or a major movie producer.”

         She stood with clothes in one hand and flicked her wrist in a careless gesture. “I was always just me, no matter what name I used. Too stupid to realize the Amerian dream was a myth for a second class Russian orphan.”

         Exactly. I’m just Halina.

         Her earlier comment came back to him. But in the context of her anger after what she’d done to him, it all only blurred that already fuzzy image he’d developed of who she’d become. Halina’s emotions had always taken a backseat to the scientist inside her. Rational. Logical. Practical. Sensible. Those had always been the ruling elements of her personality.

         But as a criminal attorney, Mitch knew everyone reached a breaking point. And that personalities changed when compressed in the vice of fear and stress.

         She turned and strode toward the bathroom with extra sway in her hips and every thought vanished from Mitch’s mind. He had to reach for the bedpost just to stay upright. 

         “So you’re right, Mitch. I was never one of them. I’ll never be one of them. And since your tastes have clearly changed, I’ll never be enough for you.”

         She stepped into the bathroom. Mitch’s head was storming with thoughts, his body a mess of tumultuous emotions and sensations when the door started to close. He moved fast and without thought. His hand caught the door before it shut and he curled his fingers around the edge. Frustration whirled inside him as he shoved the door open. The force knocked her back and she dropped her clothes.

  

Meet Author Joan Swan:

NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Joan Swan writes sexy romantic suspense for Kensington (Phoenix Rising Series) and independently (Covert Affairs Series).  She also works as a sonographer at a top medical facility in San Francisco and lives in magnificent wine country on the central coast of California with her husband and two daughters.

Website: http://joanswan.com/

Facebook profile:  https://www.facebook.com/JoanSwanAuthor

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joan-Swan/120027341414640

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JoanSwan

Twitter giveaways: http://www.twitter.com/JoanSwan

Tour Wide Giveaway Details:

Tour Wide Giveaway: (1) Kindle Fire HD, (1) Kindle, and (1) $25 eGC to Amazon or B&N will be gifted to three different lucky commenters from the tour. Please follow the Rafflecopter widget to enter to win at each stop. (Full Terms & Conditions located on the widgets.)

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