Decadent Publishing turns five years old today, and we’re partying hard! Go check out the Facebook party right this second to have fun with us and enter some awesome giveaways!
Me, I have two titles out with DP and one on the way. To recap, here are the covers, blurbs, and some excerpts:
Anna’s career as a high-level CIA operative is put on involuntary hiatus. When a trusted colleague passes along the information for the 1Night Stand service, Anna decides to take the plunge against her better judgment and seek some intimate company. But her CIA instincts can’t be ignored, and when she contacts Madame Eve, she uses an alias.
Brendan owns a lucrative manufacturing company, but he’s yet to achieve the goal of finding a woman with whom he can share his successes and joys. But beneath his polished, capable exterior hides the painfully shy teenager he’s never been able to escape. When his own efforts in the dating scene fall short, he turns to 1Night Stand.
It would be so easy to fall in love with Brendan, and Anna’s protective mask slides away, piece-by-piece, revealing more of herself than she should dare. Before she can slip away with the sunrise, Brendan shows their encounter in a new light. Will Anna take a chance on their future, or will she choose to return to her undercover, but lonely life?
Excerpt:
Anna stared in the steamy mirror over the vanity. Samantha Coburn’s physical appearance resembled her natural features. She’d only needed a trip to the salon at home to have honey-colored highlights added to her dark brown locks, then a layered trim that brushed her shoulders. No colored contact lenses, no glasses, no beauty marks, no wigs; the image gazing at her felt familiar. She donned the second skin of one of her alternate identities, but the mask settled comfortably around her.
After dressing in an orange sundress purchased for the trip, she slid her feet into flat gold sandals and fastened a thin chain with a butterfly pendant around her neck. As she stared into the mirror one last time while she inserted small hoop earrings, her reflection pleased her: an elegant, confident woman who still maintained an air of delicate femininity. She’d completed the transformation into Samantha, and planned to play the part with perfection.
She returned to the main foyer and Stuart directed her out to the veranda. Round tables dotted the elevated terrace, overlooking the crystal blue waters of the lake and she spotted a man at the table closest to the edge. His face angled away from her, toward the exquisite landscape.
The soles of her sandals slapped against the smooth gray stones as she approached him. Shifting in his chair, he smiled wide and extended a hand. “You must be Samantha.” His voice was a deep baritone.
Anna returned the pleased expression. “That’s me.”
have passed since April Patterson’s husband was shot and killed in the line of
duty, and she’s trapped in a haze of grief and uncertainty. Having grown
frustrated by all other efforts to engage her in activities where she could
meet new people, her cousin pays for a date via 1Night Stand. Not thrilled with
the idea, April nevertheless contacts Madame Eve and requests the impossible: a
date with her deceased husband.
software engineer Drew Monroe created his company, Elysium, to help give
closure to those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, through the use of
virtual reality. Though passionate about his work, being constantly surrounded
by heartache and death has taken a toll on his mental health. When he accepts
the case of a young widow referred to him by Madame Eve, her tragic tale
depresses him further, but he commits himself to programming April the romantic
date she desires.
at Elysium and prepares to enter Drew’s virtual realm. Will she find the solace
she seeks within? Or will she discover she doesn’t need a fantasy world to
discover happiness again?
silence. It was the first time a client had asked me so many personal
questions. On one hand, I worried about coming across as unprofessional, but on
the other, it felt good to verbalize those thoughts for a change. Putting that
aside, April hadn’t come to play psychiatrist with me. I had a job to do.
else before we get started?” I pushed off the edge of the desk and
straightened.
get up. “Do you ever go into your own virtual realities?”
don’t.” I ran a finger along the top of one of the screens. “First of all, it
needs to be monitored from the outside. I can’t do both at the same time.”
nodded. “What else?”
feeling crawled over me. “Nothing.”
‘first of all.’ That means there must be a second.”
attention, I’d give her that. I tried to backtrack. “Forget it.”
arm off the chair, she leaned forward, ginger hair spilling over her shoulders.
“I want to know what I’m getting into. Tell me.” Face upturned, she stared at
me and I struggled to breathe in a normal rhythm. “Please?”
doesn’t need to know….
Talking to her eased a little of the tension that had been twisting tighter and
tighter over time. I ignored the voices telling me not to make a confession,
but the words spilled out faster than I’d intended.
misery and heartache I see in the world, the temptation exists to disappear
into a painless fantasy.” The chill spreading through me intensified. “I’m
afraid I’d lose myself and never want to come out.”
April blinked her
long lashes and straightened in the chair. “That’s one of the reasons I’m
anxious about going in there.”