Monday Moments has something really special today! Instead of an excerpt to keep you going during your coffee break, Natalie Damschroder has got something very interesting indeed for us. You still need to get settled in, though, so that you're ready for a very enticing read!
And after that, read on for details of how to enter the draw for Natalie's ***Giveaway*** Here's a sneak peek of it...
When
Griff First Met Reese
Thank you so much to Nancy for having me
today! Below is an EXCLUSIVE prequel scene for the hero and heroine of A Kiss of Revenge. I hope you like it!
About a Year Ago
“She’s the one with the ponytail, right
over there.” The assistant pointed across the large room crowded with
rehabilitation equipment and dotted with therapists guiding people through
their exercises.
Griff zeroed in on Reese Templeton, the
woman he was here to see. She was alone on a stationary bike. He could tell the
tension on the bike wasn’t very high, but her movements were jerky, her
expression tight with concentration. Even from this far away, he could see
beads of sweat on her forehead. Red splotched her neck and chest above the
scoop of her T-shirt.
Still, something struck him low in the gut,
a pull he’d only felt a couple of times in his life. She was too skinny, obviously
due to her recovery from the plane crash, but her smooth skin and gentle curves
complemented a strength Griff sensed even at a distance.
He was about to go over to her when a
therapist approached Reese, tapping her watch. Reese climbed off the bike, not
looking any happier, and they began discussing another exercise. Griff decided
to sit on the sidelines and watch for a little while.
He sank into one of the waiting area chairs
at the side of the room. An elderly woman looked up from her knitting and
winked at him.
“Girlfriend?”
“What? No.” He put on the mask he’d
perfected as a private investigator, a little shocked that he’d allowed his
feelings to show, superficial as they were. “I’m a…friend. Of sorts.” Crap.
That sounded like confirmation of her guess. But he couldn’t tell the woman
that Reese had hired him to track down someone she thought was a killer. “My
name’s Griff.”
“Helen.” She smiled and knitted one or
perled two or whatever before setting her project in her lap and studying Reese
over the tops of her glasses. “That poor girl needs a friend.”
“Oh?” Griff slid down a little in his seat
to put himself more even with Helen. The single word was enough to launch her
into a story.
“Oh, my, yes. The poor thing was in a plane
crash, if you can believe it. Struck by lightning, barely survived. She’s all
alone, far as I can tell. No one ever comes to see her. My daughter works the
reception desk. That’s why my husband is here.” She nodded at a stately
gentleman lying on a table, a therapist raising his leg and bending his knee.
“Knee replacement,” Helen told Griff before returning to her original topic.
“She’s been here for a few months. So weak to start with, but fiercely
determined. She’s driven by something.” She eyed him sagely. “I have a feeling
you know what it is.”
“We’re all driven by something,” was all he
said.
He watched Reese get put through her paces
for half an hour. Helen was right. She pushed hard, no matter how challenging
the simplest task, her determination growing in direct proportion to her
fatigue and failure.
The room was nearly empty when everything
came to a head.
“I can’t! Do you think I’m not trying?”
Reese’s voice shook, and an odd sizzling sound followed it.
Griff frowned. That was weird. The
therapist didn’t seem to notice it, but noticing things was Griff’s job. He
stood when he spotted a wisp of smoke rising from a monitor near Reese. She
watched it, too, a look of horror taking over her expression.
“I’m done. I need to go back to my room.”
“Reese—”
“Now.” She struggled to rise from the
balance ball she sat on, but her exhausted limbs looked noodly to Griff. He got
there just in time to catch her when they buckled.
“Chair,” he barked at the therapist, who
pressed her lips together and slid a wheelchair under Reese.
“Thank you,” Reese murmured, her face
averted. “I can take it from here.”
“I’ll wheel you to your room.” Griff nodded
to the therapist and headed for the main door. “We have an appointment.”
“Oh. OH!” She straightened, then slumped.
“You saw what happened.”
“I did.” He wheeled her into the hall and
paused. “Which way?”
She pointed left and sighed. “So you might
be reluctant to take my case. It’s a little on the crazy side.”
“I’m definitely taking your case,” Griff
said.
He found himself very interested in Reese’s
kind of crazy.
Wow! That really is a curious and frazzling excerpt, Natalie!
But alluring P.I. Griffin Chase is stirring up those feelings of need again. Only this time, her desire to be in his arms has nothing to do with her fear of loneliness and everything to do with the current charging through her body every time he looks at her…touches her.
Griffin hasn’t remained at Reese’s side just because of the spark that has nothing to do with her super-human talents. He’s willing to compromise his rock-solid principles so she can find closure. But before they can move on, he must help her catch her late husband’s killer, staying on track before she has a chance to exact her revenge. Because leading Reese to jail in handcuffs may just break his heart for the final time.
Natalie’s Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+ | Everybody Needs a Little Romance To ENTER Natalie's draw click this link HERE to access the Rafflecopter for the chance to win this portable battery and flashlight to charge up anywhere you happen to be!
Best wishes with the tour, Natalie, and thank you for visiting my Monday Moments feature.
Slainthe!
Thanks so much for having me, Nancy!
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