Welcome to Wild and Wicked Wednesday at Sassy Vixen Publishing. Today we have an extra special treat. Our friend, fellow author and editor extraordinaire has a new release tomorrow. We're helping to spread the word and get everyone geared up and ready to download Dancing Barefoot the second it goes live on all the retail sites.
Amber Lea Easton is a multi-published fiction and nonfiction
author. Smart is sexy, according to Easton, which is why she writes about
strong female characters who have their flaws and challenges but ultimately
persevere. She currently has six contemporary romance and romantic suspense
novels out in the world: Kiss Me Slowly,
Riptide, Reckless Endangerment, Anonymity, In Between, and Dancing
Barefoot. Her memoir, Free Fall,
is dedicated to suicide prevention, awareness, and helping others navigate the
dark journey of grief.
In addition, Easton works as an editor, freelance journalist,
and professional speaker. She speaks on subjects ranging from writing to
widowhood. Some of her videos on romance writing have appeared on the
international Writers & Authors television network. Current radio
appearances are linked via her author website, http://www.amberleaeaston.com.
Easton currently lives with her two teenagers in the Colorado
Rocky Mountains where she gives thanks daily for the gorgeous view outside her
window. She finds inspiration from traveling, the people she meets, nature and
life’s twists and turns. At the end of the day, as long as she's writing, she
considers herself simply to be "a lucky lady liv'n the dream."
Easton also publishes under the name Dakota Skye who has one
paranormal erotic romance, Blurred Lines,
currently available and another, Deadly
Decadence, due out in the fall of 2014
Author Contact Information:
Dancing Barefoot blurb
Jessica Moriarty appears to have it all—a
successful career as an architect, a loyal group of friends, a gorgeous
apartment, and an on-again-off-again affair with Boston's most eligible
bachelor. Behind this “perfect life” façade, Jessica hides the loss she feels
over giving up her dream career as an artist, copes with a destructive
relationship with her alcoholic mother, and struggles with heartbreak over a
lost love.
Jacques Sinclair only needs his cameras, a
backpack, and a good pair of walking shoes. A world-renowned photographer, he
is a man without boundaries. Despite fame and fortune, he still yearns for the
woman who shattered his heart when she vanished from his life five years ago.
A chance meeting brings Jacques and Jessica
back together. Reunions aren't always planned or welcomed, but chemistry has a
way of revealing what is denied. Ensnared in a web of sabotage and
conspiracy—carefully constructed by people who want to control their
lives—Jacques and Jessica struggle to trust each other, break free from the
status quo, reclaim their love, and build a life of extraordinary possibility.
Excerpt (appropriate for any
audience)
Deep inside his chest, his heart
stirred with protectiveness. He didn’t
want to hurt her. If he had had his way, she would be his wife. But he hadn’t
had his way. She had deceived him, manipulated
him into falling in love with her, treated him as a summer plaything, and
disappeared one day without saying good-bye.
But, regardless of how she had felt about him, he had loved her. That’s why her leaving had hurt so badly, why
it still hurt. Five years wasn’t that
long ago, only a heartbeat in time.
“Jacques, we really need to
leave. We have dinner with Jenkins then
our flight back to New York. We can’t—”
Kevin ended his statement with a broad gesture of frustration.
He nodded and shoved his hands into
the back pockets of his jeans. If ever he needed an escape, it was now. “Bring the car around. I’ll meet you outside.”
“Well, if you’ve got to go, I'll
get out of your way," she said.
“People are waiting for me.” He winced at the verbal acknowledgment of his
compromises.
A tentative smile curved her lips. “I
always knew you’d have your day to shine. It was inevitable.”
His gaze drifted over her again.
“Corporate America treating you well?
Let me guess…you always work late, are committed only to your career,
have given up art, have a stable boyfriend who wears suits and talks about the
stock market, are still trying to please a mother who never understood you,
have compromised to the point of losing yourself completely…am I close to the
truth?”
Her smile faded. “Five years is a long time to hold a grudge.”
“It isn’t long enough.” He wished
this rendezvous could go differently, but bitterness tainted his words. He
reminded himself of his immunity to her.
Cool. Aloof. “I never said I had a grudge against
you. Why would I? That would mean I
think about you and I haven’t in years.”
“I can see that you haven’t given me a thought
at all. You must have forgotten who this
was, then?” She held his book up to his face.
Brains and beauty, a combination he
now avoided.
“Perhaps I did forget it was you.
Hundreds of women and even more photographs…” He ripped his gaze from the cover
of his book. He had used that photograph
hoping she would see it some day and be hurt by the memory.
The cover photo had been taken the
morning after their night in Rome after he had proposed to her and foolishly
believed her when she had said yes. Questions pummeled him aching for
release—and, oh, he had fantasized about seeing her again and letting them fly
without restraint—but he hadn't expected to be blindsided with heartache.
“Why are you lying? We both know
damn well—”
“Of the two of us, you are the
expert liar.” He thrust the book back into her hands. “What do you want?”
She slid the book into her
messenger bag. Unshed tears glistened in
her eyes. When she looked away, he could
almost see the fight for control within her.
When she looked back, eyes were dry. Scary control. When had she learned that disturbing
skill? Not that he should care, he
didn't. Her life. Her choices.
“You’re good at that, aren’t you?”
he asked despite himself.
“Good at what?” Her gaze slid to his chest.
“Hiding what you’re really feeling.
What an actress you are.”
Her blue eyes hardened like a
frozen glacial lake. She stood
tall. “I almost didn’t come inside, but
now I’m glad I did. You’ve turned into a
real ass. Fame must have warped your
brain. It’ll be much easier to forget
you now.”
“You’ve had years to forget me,” he
said.
“I failed.” Her chin trembled. She shrugged in defeat. “I failed, okay? Is that what you need to hear? I haven’t forgotten Florence, Rome, our
apartment, you...any of it. I think
about it all daily.”
"Do you ever stop lying?"
Their gaze connected and held.
Irritated by her presence, his lack
of control and life in general, he strode toward the door. Time to leave.
He stopped in the doorway and
turned, unable to simply leave her behind even though he knew he should. “You were going to run away from me again
when you realized I was still here, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Guilt for his behavior settled in
his heart and sickened him. She'd
mattered to him, had been the center of his world...once upon a time not too
far in the past. “I’m sorry for treating
you badly. You took me by surprise."
She walked toward him, a hesitant
grin on her trembling lips. She looked
foreign to him in her crisp white blouse, red skirt and high heels.
“I wish we had more time, we could
talk, get a drink, catch up. That
wouldn't be so terrible, would it? I have so much I want to say to you, to
explain—"
“I need to go before Kevin has a
nervous breakdown.” Irritation snapped
through his nervous system. He wanted to
take her to dinner and force her to eat pasta, mess her hair up, make her laugh
and see...well, see what had happened to the woman he had loved, find out the
real reason she had given up on their future together. But getting involved in her life again—even
in a small way—would be detrimental to his heart health. So why did he want it
so badly? “Kevin’s like you, always worried about being late.”
“How do you stand him?” Her
tentative grin became a smile.
“I fire him daily but he refuses to
go away.” He would not meet her eyes again as they walked together onto the
street. Awkwardness stretched between them in the warm June evening.
“You don’t have a few minutes? Just to talk?
Catch up? We could have coffee or
a drink? After your dinner?” She kept his pace, stood too close, looked at
him with those big blue eyes. Damn her.
He wanted more than a drink. He wanted hours. He wanted an explanation.
When she rubbed the back of her
neck, he noticed the ring on her finger.
Hurt and anger took their rightful place in his heart. Resolve restored, he looked down the block
for any sign of Kevin and the get away car.
“We have said all there is to say,”
he said.
“We could—”
“Could what? Talk about old times over a cold drink in a
crowded bar?” He closed the space
between them. “Do you know how many
women want to have a drink with me, Jess?”
“I’m not a stranger.” She stood her ground, straightened her spine
and tilted her chin as if willing to go toe-to-toe with him. Maybe she hadn't changed so much after all.
“What do you want from me?” His gaze pierced hers looking for a glimpse
of truth beneath the facade.
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“What did you expect when you came
here? You expected something. Deny
it.” The temptation to yank the ring
from her hand boiled beneath his skin.
She had no right to wear it.
“I don’t know what I expected.”
“No? I think you expected me to be
happy to see you.”
“You’re wrong. I knew this would be hard. I—”
“And you couldn’t come during
scheduled hours, you waited to catch me off-guard, to…” he struggled for the
right word. A native French speaker, sometimes
English escaped him when he needed it most.
“I worked late. I thought I'd
missed you, hoped I had.” She stepped
within inches of him. “I was scared, is
that what you want to hear?”
He silently cursed Kevin for taking
so long with the car. “That was your problem in Italy, too. Scared little Jessica. Haven’t you grown up yet?”
Her head jerked back as if he'd
slapped her.
“I shouldn’t have come.” She stepped backward.
“No, you shouldn’t have. I’m better
for not knowing you.” He shook his head.
He had had enough. Of all the scenarios he had played out in his mind,
this conversation was all wrong. He hated himself for the words he said.
If you want a glimpse into the world of the characters of Dancing Barefoot, head on over to Amber's Blog Kisses, Caresses and Whispers in the Night for the prequel entitled In Between. It's a free read and there are twelve chapters up for you to enjoy NOW. As soon as we have the live purchase links, we'll share them with you. Until then, happy reading!
~The Vixen
UPDATE!! Buy Links now available!
