Please join us in celebrating the release of All Things Pretty, the third book in the Pretty Series, by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author M. Leighton!
What we have for you today is an excerpt. It's not just any excerpt, we want you to find the pretty in the excerpt. Your guess at what the pretty is, will be your entry for the giveaway!
Ex: My mile high Louboutin's were killing my feet.
Guess: shoes
Title: All Things Pretty (Pretty #3)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: September 30, 2014
Pretending to be something they’re not, afraid to trust anyone completely, destined to tear each other apart– this is the story of unlikely love and unbearable consequences.
Sig Locke is a cop. He was raised by a cop and all his brothers are cops. He bleeds blue, believes in right and wrong, and sees in black and white, never in shades of gray.
But that was before he met Tommi.
Tommi, with her long legs and bright green eyes, she captured Sig’s interest from the moment he saw her. Even after he discovered who she was–the girlfriend of a drug dealer, the beauty behind a criminal–he still found her utterly irresistible. What Sig doesn’t know, however, is that she has a secret even a cop can’t uncover.
Tommi Lawrence hasn’t had an easy life, and it only got more complicated the day she met Sig. She learned long ago that she can’t trust anyone. Her gut tells her that Sig is no exception, her heart tells her that he is. But that was before she found out his real identity.
Can love be forged in a fire of lies? Or will the truth destroy them both?
EXCERPT
My body aches.
Just at the thought of him.
I close my eyes, effortlessly conjuring Sig’s liquid brown
eyes, his perfectly sculpted mouth, his big, slightly rough hands. God!
Almost of their own accord, my palms drift over my breasts,
pausing to tease the throbbing nipples, just like Sig would do. Like he did. I recall the feel
of his mouth there, hot and open.
Riling my body into a flurry of want and need. My core responds to my thoughts, sending a gush of heat
southward. I move my hands down.
Farther and farther. Closer
to the place where the ache is strongest, where the emptiness is deepest.
I cup my center as my mind elicits Sig’s fingers, his lips,
his tongue, delving inside me.
Filling yet not totally, satisfying yet not completely. Teasing. Toying. Making
me crazy. He knew I needed more, craved more. He was just enjoying the rise,
the climb, until he could drive his body into mine and quench this excruciating
thirst.
But my touch isn’t Sig’s. No matter how tightly I close my
eyes, no matter how much I concentrate, no matter how much I wish it were his, it’s not. It isn’t his hands or his mouth. His kiss or his scent. His laugh or his growl. I’m in my bathroom. In my home. Alone, for all intents and purposes. Exactly what I don’t want to be right
now.
Frustrated, I pull the plug to drain the tub before stepping
out and toweling off. Standing in
the steamy room, I rub scented lotion over every inch of my hyper sensitive
skin, groaning with my want of something more.
I wipe the
moisture from the mirror and meet the wide eyes and flushed cheeks of my
reflection. I’m startled by what’s
written all over my face. Desire. Withering resistance. Increasing need.
I won’t be able to stop myself from giving in to him. I know it as sure as I’m standing
here. He’s like an addiction that
has crept up on me unawares and taken over. I’m smart enough to realize when I’m fighting a losing
battle. I’m also smart enough to realize that if I go about this wisely, we can
both put an end to the torture and move on. Just once. One
and done. It’s the way it has to
be.
Enjoy tonight.
Move on tomorrow.
But we can have tonight.
Tonight will be for us.
Sig.
And me.
And all that’s between us.
Just one night.
I stare at the same face, reflected now with subtle
changes. Eyes bright with
resolution, lips trembling with anticipation.
Once my mind is made up, I’m nearly frantic. I throw on shorts and a tee
shirt–nothing spectacular since I don’t plan to be wearing it long–stopping
only long enough to scribble Travis a note for when he gets home, telling him
not to wait up and to call if he needs me. He’ll assume that I’m with Lance.
I don’t even bother pulling my hair out of its loose
topknot. I simply grab my purse,
lock the door and run to the car.
I can’t get to his house quickly enough.
I’m out of breath when I make it to his door, knocking with
all the urgency that I suddenly feel.
When Sig finally appears in front of me, only a few short seconds (that
felt like lifetimes) later, his expression is wild, like he was expecting
something else. Trouble maybe?
His eyes meet mine, and we stand perfectly still and
silent. He frowns for a second and
then scans my face. His gaze
travels over my flushed cheeks, my parted lips, down to my heaving chest. And then, as though he can somehow read
my body and its intent, they flick suddenly back up to mine and stop.
For thirty second or so, a million unspoken things pass
between us. There is doubt, indecision, a touch of fear. All on my part. In this moment, it’s driven home what a
huge mistake I could be making.
On his face, one thing. A question. A
single query. Can I walk
away?
Can I?
With my heart beating an ancient rhythm against my ribs,
marking me with a tattoo that I will forever be left with, I bask in the
richness of his eyes, the beauty of his face and the acceptance of my choice,
whatever it is. It’s all here, right in front of me. Someone who wants only me, to please me, to be with me. Nothing else.
That is what I
can’t walk away from. Not just
yet.
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Series reading order:
All the Pretty Lies
Amazon | BN | KOBO | Smashwords | iTunes
All the Pretty Poses
Amazon | BN | KOBO | Smashwords | iTunes
All Things Pretty
About Michelle:
New York Times and
USA Today Bestselling Author, M. Leighton, is a native of Ohio. She relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she can be near the water all summer and miss the snow all winter. Possessed of an overactive imagination from early in her childhood, Michelle finally found an acceptable outlet for her fantastical visions: literary fiction. Having written over a dozen novels, these days Michelle enjoys letting her mind wander to more romantic settings with sexy Southern guys, much like the one she married and the ones you'll find in her latest books. When her thoughts aren't roaming in that direction, she'll be riding wild horses, skiing the slopes of Aspen or scuba diving with a hot rock star, all without leaving the cozy comfort of her office.
About Michelle: I love coffee and chocolate, even more so when they are combined. I'm convinced that one day they could be the basis for world peace. I also love the color red and am seriously considering dying my hair.
Michelle loves to hear from readers! You can find her (and she will chat your ear off) here:
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