This book is…not ordinary. I think it’s powerful. And emotionally compelling. And I hope so much you give it a chance. I can tell you why I think this, and hope this. I can describe Jem to you. He’s the hero of my heart. But I’m afraid if I say too much, you’ll move on without giving him a chance. Jem’s a construction worker. Okay, yeah, he owns the business, and wears a shirt and tie to work every day. But he wears them with jeans. And he learned the business with his hands before he ever considered being the brains behind it all. He’s alpha all the way. And he’s a single dad to a four-year-old who I wish I could hug. He’s a good dad. Involved. Aware. And firm, too, when he needs to be. And…Jem is…well, I hope you’ll give him a chance. I can’t imagine a romance reader not being glad they did. Then there’s Lacey. Sometimes I wanted to just do her hair and make-up, force her into an attention getting outfit and push her out the door. But she has Kacey for that. My job was to be patient. To let her have control….

Beck Townsend, retired Marine Corps special operative, is co-owner of a historic building in downtown Tucson, Arizona. The building is two-story, with retail stores in the front of the first floor, the Red Eagle Group offices in the back on the first floor, and condos on the second floor. The building I referenced while I was writing was the real historic Hittinger Building. I haven’t been inside the building, but I fell in love with the style of the outside. Anton Hittinger owned the property where this building was erected. It was a general-use commercial building for a variety of specialty shop tenants. Its elaborate facade ornamentation in the Italianate style was characteristic of the Victorian era. This style was very popular in the United States from about 1840 to the mid-1880s. The First Hittinger Block, as this group of buildings came to be called, with its large arched windows and dual-color brickwork, is an unusual and probably late example of the style. Also part of the truth-behind-the-fiction story is Mt. Lemmon, located on the north side of Tucson. The mountains in the Southwest are called Sky Islands. (If you think about it, “regular” islands are actually mountains surrounded by…

Howdy, Fresh Fiction fans! In my latest release, the friends-to-lovers erotic romance COWBOY PLAYER, Clark MacKinnon is a cattleman who’s working hard to make his family’s ranch a success. His childhood best friend Melody Santos has moved back to town. She needs a little money, so Clark hires her to help with the business. Problem? She’s all grown up and he can’t stop thinking about her. Sparks fly between the BFFs and soon they face a conundrum: stay safely in the friend zone or give in to passion and risk losing each other forever. Clark is the third MacKinnon brother from my Cowboy Cocktail series. He’s appeared in previous books as a flirt and prankster, the one who delivers the inappropriate line and unknowingly hits on his brothers’ girls. He is so much fun to write, not only because he’s a sexy, dirty-talking goofball, but because underneath it all he is steady as a rock, and just the dependable kind of man Melody deserves. Like all red-blooded American cowboys, Clark loves a good steak. I’d like to have him share his steak recipe (which coincidentally is the recipe I use at home). Take it away, Clark… CLARK MACKINNON’S STEAK RECIPE…

He hadn’t taken it well at all when she’d told him “it’s not you, it’s me.” This had to be the tenth text she’d gotten from him since last night. Give me another chance. Just tell me what you want from me, and I’ll give it to you. Seriously. He was too freaking perfect. But not for her. She’d known almost from the beginning things weren’t going the way they should. She’d kept putting off ending it because she didn’t want to go back to being lonely. But if she was honest with herself, being with Charlie hadn’t made her feel any less alone. She’d just been alone with someone else along for the ride. Staring at the large saguaro cactus in front of the window then the mountains beyond, she sighed and clicked off the message, slipping her phone back into her handbag and picking up her plate. As usual, her record for choosing men who weren’t suitable for her, one of whom had later turned into a husband, held true. The first serious relationship with a boyfriend had gone two years and come with an engagement ring she’d given back when she found him in bed with another…

Professor Trueblood watched from the door of Wesley Hall as they hurried down the concrete stairs. Once away from him, they walked slowly side by side. They walked through the warm night in silence. Then Melanie asked, “How’s your nose?” “It’ll live.” He sniffed. “I think the bleeding’s stopped.” “I’m sorry I hurt you.” “It’s nothing.” He looked at her. “Are you going to tell me what happened?” “Oh, Bodie,” she whispered. Her arm slipped around his back, her small hand warm on his hip. “It’s something terrible.” “I know. I saw.” “Not that. I mean…what I saw.” “What you saw?” “My dad. It must’ve been Dad. Or my sister.” Her hand tightened on Bodie’s hip. “God. He…he must be dead. One of them, anyway. I…damn it.” She sobbed. “I don’t know which one. But Dad, I think. When it happened last time, it was Mom.” Bodie stopped. He turned and stared down into her glistening eyes. Her sorrow made a thickness in his throat and a tight hurt in his chest. But her words… What was she saying? He tucked the handkerchief into his pocket and gently took hold of her shoulders. Too late, he realized he had blood…