I loved that song! I still love that song! It’s awesome. And it’s a sentiment most of us can and do relate to. We want to be wanted. We want someone to want. We want to be needed and to need. We want to be loved and to love. We read romance hoping the hero finds the woman he wants, needs, and falls in love with. We hope she finds the man worth wanting, needing, and falling in love with. We want that happily ever after for the characters in the books we read. Believe me, some readers don’t want that happy for now or happy maybe. They want FOREVER AFTER!

I’ll admit, I do too… Most of the time.

Today’s snippet comes from my latest release or rather re-release, Melting Jane…

Six zero nine was the number he was looking for and when he finally stood in front of the door, he hesitated only a moment before he knocked.

No one answered.

He knocked again, and this time was rewarded by a very irritated female voice telling him to wait a damn minute. He waited, more excited than he could ever remember feeling about a woman on the other side of an unopened door. His dick swelled, and his heart kicked.

The wood panel swung open and there she was: the woman of his dreams, wearing a thick gray sweat suit with her hair in a messy ponytail, fuzzy purple socks on her feet, and an expression that could have melted the snow outside.

He winked, and she snarled. He laughed and, she slammed the door in his face.

Jane.

* * * * *

“What are you doing here? And by the way, it’s rude to walk in without being invited.”

Her back was to him when he opened the door and walked in. She stood at the stove stirring cream in a saucepan and refused to look at him. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d get the picture and go away.

“It’s also rude to slam the door in someone’s face,” he countered. “I came to see you.”

“I knew it,” she ground out, shaking her head. “He said he hadn’t, but I knew it. This is another setup that Edward coaxed you into, isn’t it?”

“No. I came up with this one all on my own.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Aren’t you proud of me?”

She chanced a glance over her shoulder and found he was grinning at her like a loon. He was actually standing there, in her loft, looking tall and gorgeous while she looked short and frumpy. She couldn’t believe it. It didn’t help that she was in the kitchen making a batch of candy. Okay, add fat to short and frumpy. She hated thinking about herself that way. She wasn’t skinny, but she wasn’t fat either. She knew that; she just couldn’t help it sometimes. Phillip’s words kept coming back to her at the oddest moments and, coupled with the hot man now standing in her loft, the negativity glowed neon. Since the dumping, she’d taken to wearing nothing but loungewear and she rarely went out. How could she let one person affect her so? These small realizations and admissions did nothing but make her grumpy.

“All right, you’ve seen me. You can go now. I believe you know where the door is.”

“I appreciate the invitation to leave, but I was hoping we could have dinner together.”

“No, sorry. I’m not dating right now.” And she wasn’t. She’d given two years to a guy who had sweet-talked her, who wasn’t even in the same yummy ballpark as Cowboy Surfer, and look where that got her? Nowhere. She was safe like this, living vicariously through Edward’s tireless, sex-filled search for “the one”.

“Fair enough. Have you given up eating too?”

“That’s so not funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be.”

“Right. Well I’m sure you noticed I haven’t given up eating.” She turned off the stove and poured the scalded cream over chopped bittersweet chocolate. The aroma filled the immediate air around her, and she inhaled deeply. The scent of excellent chocolate never got old.

“What are you making?”

He’d stepped close, standing just behind her shoulders. She could feel the heat coming off his body and if she leaned back, she’d be touching his chest. Instead of doing just that — because she so wanted to — she pressed herself closer into the edge of the counter, picked up a wooden spoon, and slowly started to stir the cream into the chocolate. “Truffles. Like the ones you didn’t get this afternoon.”

“I smell chili peppers.”

“Mmm. Yes. We infuse the cream with them. It’s a very delicate balance of flavor, the chocolate and the chili. It’s sweet at first bite, but then a blast of heat erupts on your tongue, completely intoxicating your mouth with flavor.”

“You know they say chili peppers are an aphrodisiac, stimulating the blood and nerve endings.” He leaned closer still, his breath blowing against her hair. “Maybe we should try it out.”

“No we shouldn’t.” Go away go away go away.

“We’ll see.” His breath brushed the edge of her ear, sending a shiver up her spine. What did she have to promise the universe to get him to leave and stop tempting her? “Is this your business then?”

“It’s mine and Edward’s. We started it after he went through a hard breakup with a guy he’d been dating at work. He quit shortly after and decided the way to mend a broken heart was through chocolate.”

“I know many women who would agree with that. How did you meet? You and Edward, I mean.”

Many women? Of course there were many women in his life. Just look at him. She was nothing more to him than a blind date. It didn’t really explain what he was doing in her kitchen though. Blind dates that didn’t go right the first time usually didn’t get a second chance, and guys like him didn’t chase after women like her either. “In a candy making class a little over two years ago.”

“And? C’mon Jane, indulge me. I want the whole story.”

Jane sighed and fought against grinding her teeth in frustration. “He was taking the class to learn to make candy for Valentine’s Day for his boyfriend. When they broke up, I made these for him one day to try and cheer him up and, well, here we are.” Having Graham so near made concentrating on anything difficult. It was a wonder she could think straight at all.

“So, are these what he was talking about when he said you were sitting around eating chocolate all the time?” he asked, a grin on his face.

There was laughter in his voice. While not surprising, it stung that he was laughing at her, teasing her about it. “He said that?” Mortified, she whirled around and wished she hadn’t. He was standing right there, her nose not even an inch from his chest. He was broad and solid, and she wanted to be wrapped in his arms. Stop that. She looked up at him. Something else she wished she hadn’t done.

“Yes. It turned me on.”

“Don’t say that. Don’t say you were turned on because I eat chocolate all day while lounging around in sweats and watching trashy television. I swear I’m going to kill him. I haven’t been serious about it before, but I am now.” She struggled not to cry, but more from anger and humiliation than sadness. “He shouldn’t be telling people that! Dammit!” She began to turn away, but Graham’s hand on her arm stopped her and he held her firmly between his body and the counter. She tried to move, tried to push against his grip on her, but he wouldn’t let up. Fucking truth be told, she didn’t want him to let go. She wanted him to really, really want her.

“Jane, it’s okay. He’s worried about you and if it makes you feel better, he left out the sweats and trashy television part.”

end Snippet

Don’t forget to visit the following authors and their blogs for more snippets that will leave you wanting…

Megan Hart:Read in bed!
Rhian Cahill
Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
Mandy M Roth
Leah Braemel
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Myla Jackson
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
Shiloh Walker
Lauren Dane

Have a great Saturday!

~lissa