New Release: Taken by the Imp (Cat’s Paw Cove Book 13) by Sharon Buchbinder

Taken by the Imp

(Cat's Paw Cove Book 13)

Can a jinni and a warlock cook up a better way to help the poor?

Dexter Graham has no trouble making money as a financial wizard—as long as he doesn’t leave his home. He finds it nearly impossible to be with other people, because he’s a telepath who gets swamped by their thoughts. Prompted by an unexpected visitor from the past who reveals shocking family secrets, he takes a risk and visits his brother in Cat’s Paw Cove. Will the trip make things better or worse?

Ynez Saghira is a gifted chef at the Feline Fine Retirement Home who yearns to be financially independent and open her own café. She has lots of talent and creative ideas but lacks the capital to start her own business. What’s a poor imp to do?

Dexter and Ynez join forces to quiet the voices in his head, build her business, and ferret out family mysteries. Will the secrets draw them closer together or push them apart

EXCERPT

Pushing the covered cart down the hallway, Ynez cursed the lush carpet yet another time. When they designed this place, they forgot about the staff, that was for sure. How did the cleaners get their carts through this undergrowth? Ah, silly me, magic. She waggled her fingers and it floated up to the newcomer’s door.

She tapped lightly. “In-room dining, Mr. Graham.”

The door opened a crack and one sky-blue eyeball stared at her. “Could you leave it out here, please?”

“No, sir.” She straightened her shoulders. “I will not allow the quality of my food to decline because you leave it out here too long.”

The door flew open.

“What did you say?”

She stared into the face of the most beautiful man she’d ever met. Like a marble statue in the Louvre, all symmetrical proportions, cheek bones to die for, a gorgeous beard and a head of golden hair that screamed for her fingers to dive into and pull his lush ruby lips to her mouth.

Oh shit. He’s staring at me. He heard my thoughts, my foolish, lustful feelings.

Mortified, her face blazing, she said, “Can I bring the food into your room and serve it properly, please. It’s temperature controlled.”

He smiled, bowed, and swept his hand inside. “Yes, please do come in. Can you stay and keep me company while I eat? Do you have time?”

What the heck?

“Um, sure, the dinner rush is over, and the cleaning crew is on the job, so I’m pretty open.” Why was he acting as if he hadn’t heard all her inappropriate thoughts? Was this a trick?

“Thank you, I really appreciate it.” He pointed to the small kitchen. “I guess we can sit in here. Mind the cat dishes. Brutus is hiding under the bed.”

“Okay,” she pushed the cart in with her fingertip, allowing it to continue to float. What the heck. He knew what kind of place this was, didn’t he?

“Whoa. Neat trick. I wish I could do that.” He pulled up a chair. “Smells wonderful.”

Setting the table, she pointed to a wine glass. “White or red?”

“White, please.” Openly staring at her now, his gaze roamed over her face, hair, and arms, stopping at her tattoos. “Those are beautiful armbands. Are they flames?”

She nodded and continued uncovering dishes. “I’m an imp and a chef. My element is fire—specifically smokeless fire.”

“Nice.” Unlike other men, his gaze never lingered on her ample breasts. “Your hair—is it changing colors as we talk? Or is it my eyes?” He laughed. “I’m sorry I’m so curious. I mostly chat with people by computer. Lots of practice with my witty repartee—online.”

“Oh, yes, I can see that.” She shook her head and chuckled as she placed salt and pepper on the table. This guy.

“My brother tells me I have zero boundaries and even fewer people skills. It’s all so new to me. And I want to know everything.”

New Release: Charlotte Redbird, Ghost Coach by Sharon Buchbinder

Charlotte Redbird, Ghost Coach (Cat’s Paw Cove Book 12)

Because sometimes the dead need a life coach, too.

Driven out of Chicago by a spiteful heiress, life coach Charly Redbird is ready for a change. She moves to Florida to be closer to her family and vows to be more selective about future clients.

With the help of Dylan Graham, a hunky real estate agent, Charly finds a perfect home across the street from a cemetery. When he shows up with a plant and two tiny balls of fluff as a housewarming present, Charly thinks she might be smitten with more than the kittens.

A new client appears at her door and asks for Charly's help, but the woman happens to be a permanent resident of the cemetery. Can Charly convince the restless spirit to move to another neighborhood—or will she take on a new role: Life Coach for the Dead?

Excerpt:

A year ago, had someone told Charly she’d be looking forward to a meal in a retirement home, she would have doubled over in laughter. Never say never. She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror on the way out. Puffy-eyes, chapped lips, hair falling out of her ponytail. Oh well, she supposed the one thing she was grateful for was that most of the residents were too old to even see her well. No one else her age would be in the room. She sighed. I can be myself.

The dining room buzzed with conversations and laughter. Grandma introduced her to a table of four gray-haired women in assorted shapes and sizes, all wearing large flowered print dresses. “The Flower Girls,” Grandma whispered. “They don’t own any clothes without floral patterns.”

Another table of women, one with long, bright red hair, was intent on a game of cards. “The Players, exceptionally serious about their games. They eat and play at the same time.”

At a table in the center of the room, three Asian women and a balding Asian man worked at a jigsaw puzzle. “The Puzzlers. Keeps the brain fit. They finish a puzzle a day and like to speak in riddles.”

A long table beneath a large window bore an assortment of holiday decorations in miniature, along with a doll’s house. When she drew closer, Charly realized it was a made to scale model of the retirement home. A group of women fussed around the decorations and the tiny Victorian model, placing wee decorations with precision. “The Decorators. I dare not interrupt them. They need to focus. This is a busy time of year for them.”

Over in the corner, a group greeted them with loud shouts of hello. “The Debaters. They can argue over the best kind of bread, peanut butter, or orange juice. You name a topic, and they’ll give you a debate.”

A rotund man with a bad toupee proffered a bright white grin. “Would you like an argument?”

“Not today, Frank, but thanks.” Her grandmother urged her along. “We could be here all night arguing with him.” She pointed her cane at a table in a cozy corner of the dining room. “Here’s our table. Darla, this is my granddaughter, Charly.”

Like a deer in the headlights, Charly froze in place. An attractive seventy-something blonde woman clung to the arm of a large man who looked to be just a tad older than herself—twenty-nine or thirty years old. He looked up at her with dark, mischievous eyes, and smiled. The dimples made the flock of butterflies take off in her stomach—that plus the fact he was movie star handsome. He looked as surprised as she felt. Face hot with embarrassment, the idea that homeless people looked better than she did kept looping through her mind. When he spoke, she knew the rumbling tenor sent shivers down to her toes. She’d spent hours on the phone with him discussing houses, listings, and prices.

Smile broadening, he rose, towering above her now, and extended his large hand. “Big D. Delighted to meet you.”

New Release: Martimus by Seelie Kay

Martimus

Feisty Lawyers Series (Book 5)

by Seelie Kay

About Martimus:  Martimus. An underwater habitat dedicated to pharmaceutical research. Martimus. A facility that staffs its vessel with inmate labor. Martimus. The place where inmates visit and never return. Agent Cate Creighton is in love. Unfortunately, as the Agency honeypot, she is knee-deep in an assignment that tests the bounds of her new relationship. It seems eight socialites have gone missing, all wealthy twenty-somethings with influential parents. No one seems to care until a former vice president’s daughter disappears. When the vice-president shares a tale of false arrest, a broken promise of deportation, an illegal diversion into a private prison, and an alleged trip to an unwater habitat called Martimus, Cate and her colleagues must find a way to follow the same path. In other words, they must enter the right prison, meet the right fixer, wind up on Martimus, and hopefully return in one piece. And it looks like Cate is the perfect bait. That doesn’t sit well with Cate’s lover, former U.S. Navy Seal Warren Hazelton. He intends to protect her until death ‘til do they part. Fortunately, another possibility appears, in the form of an MISix agent who has interfered in one too many Agency operations. Tillie Henderson owes them and they are all too willing to serve her up on a plate. It’s race against time as the Agency attempts to lure their adversary out of hiding and into their somewhat ambiguous trap. Maybe then Cate can finally focus on love. Release Date: May 29, 2019 Publisher: Extasy Books Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, four flames Buy links: Publisher: https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2862-4-martimus/ Amazon: coming June 1 Barnes and Noble: Coming June 1 Kobo: Coming June 1

Excerpt from Martimus:  Tom cocked an eyebrow. “Warren, you’re a former Navy Seal. Isn’t there some sort of limit on the amount of time you can spend under the sea before it starts to seriously impair your health?” Warren frowned. “Usually two weeks. After that, the lack of exposure to the sun and the constant high pressure oxygenated environment would begin to take a toll. There’s also a psychological impact. Think sensory deprivation. Your senses are out of whack because you’ve been dumped into a soundproof sponge. There is no normal sensory stimulation. No sunlight, no sound… Even taste and smell become compromised. Coming back to the real world would be an adjustment. “In addition, those underwater stations are small. People are right on top of each other. Things we take for granted, like privacy, hot showers, home cooked meals, are in short supply. That can create anxiety, depression, and stress. No way he served that sentence consecutively. He had to take a break in between.” Warren gazed at Tom. “That environment is more hostile than a prison. You may not be in danger from other inmates, but you are putting your life at risk. Three months sounds like way too much time to be stuck underwater though, especially if you’re not leaving the station for deep sea diving on a regular basis. They must be breaking up the time somehow, otherwise they’d have a pretty tough situation on their hands. A lot of contract workers would be headed to a rubber room. It would be extremely difficult to survive a month, much less three, down there.” “Could they be treating the inmates like guinea pigs?” Hope asked. “Testing their limits? Tracking actual survival rates?” Warren sighed. “Possibly. It’s not like they have to answer to anyone. They are located in international waters. No country in particular has legal oversight. I imagine they could be doing anything they want without recourse. Unfortunately, when the prospect of a reduced sentence is dangled in front of some people, they grab it, damn the consequences. If one or two inmates suffer some sort of harm or die along the way, they chalk it up to collateral damage.” “And who’s going to know?” Cate shook her head. “Someone dies, they probably flush them down a chute into the deep sea and they become shark chum. No evidence left behind.” Hope cringed. “God, that’s kind of evil. But that still doesn’t answer our original question. Where the hell is Fuzzy? Has he already served out his sentence? Has he been released, and if he has, where the hell is he? He’s the one we need to find. He could have a lot of the answers.” “That lack of governmental oversight is troubling,” Tom said. “If Cassie McIntyre is down there, I can’t believe the CIA isn’t all over it. At least, our government should be doing a welfare check through the Red Cross or something.” Warren grimaced. “Unless no one knows she is down there. Think about it. They are on the bottom of the ocean, more than two miles under the sea. It’s not like you can just go down there and knock on the door. Any regular monitoring would be impossible.” Cate nodded. “And we haven’t been able to confirm that she embarked on the same path as Fuzzy. All we’ve got are suspicions. Right now, she’s missing. We need to sit down with her family and get more information. And we need to find other prisoners who contracted with Martimus. “Otherwise, we’ve got nothing.”

About Seelie Kay: Seelie Kay is a nom de plume for a writer, editor, and author with more than 30 years of experience in law, journalism, marketing, and public relations. When she writes about love and lust in the legal world, something kinky is bound to happen! In possession of a wicked pen and an overly inquisitive mind, Ms. Kay is the author of multiple works of fiction, including the Kinky Briefs series, the Feisty Lawyers series, The Garage Dweller, A Touchdown to Remember, The President’s Wife, The White House Wedding, and The President’s Daughter. When not spinning her kinky tales, Ms. Kay ghostwrites nonfiction for lawyers and other professionals. She resides in a bucolic exurb outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she shares a home with her son and enjoys opera, gourmet cooking, organic gardening, and an occasional bottle of red wine. Ms. Kay is an MS warrior and ruthlessly battles the disease on a daily basis. Her message to those diagnosed with MS: Never give up. You define MS, it does not define you! Seelie's Author links: www.seeliekay.com www.seeliekay.blogspot.com Twitter: @SeelieKay https://twitter.com/SeelieKay Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seelie.kay.77 Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Seelie-Kay/e/B074RDRWNZ/

Prior Books: http://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs/ http://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs-too/ http://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs-thrice/ http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-1734-5-kinky-briefs-quatro/ http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2023-9-kinky-briefs-cinque/ http://www.extasybooks.com/the-garage-dweller/ http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-1504-4-a-touchdown-to-remember/ http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-1795-6-the-presidents-wife/ http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2263-9-snatching-diana/ http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2032-1-the-presidents-daughter https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2291-2-infamy/ https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2349-0-seizing-hope/ https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2538-8-cult/ https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2658-3-hope/ https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2796-2-the-white-house-wedding/

An Interview with Seelie Kay: Q. Why do you write romance? Because I am fascinated by the games people play to find and secure a lasting relationship, which is not always love. There’s the chase, the courtship, the falling, the surrender. That’s what I try to capture in my stories. Q. Do you prefer a certain type of romantic hero? I adore smart, dashing gentlemen who aren’t afraid to live on the edge. They can be a bad boy, a billionaire, a prince, or a secret agent. That hint of danger just hooks me! However, I they have to be paired with strong, independent women who aren’t afraid to fight for what they want, even love. Q. Why did you write “Martimus?” This is the final book in the series, so I needed a way to tie up a lot of loose ends. That meant the Feisty Lawyers needed a compelling story to accomplish that. Something in space was beyond the realm of believability, but something at the bottom of the ocean? The possibilities were endless. I went in all sorts of directions at first, but ultimately made Martimus a key step in a much broader journey. The bottom of the ocean is an unforgiving environment. Survival is never guaranteed. Divert a few socialites there to serve out a prison sentence, make then disappear, and you’ve got what I hope is an exciting story! As a former lawyer, I also developed an interest in private prisons. These are institutions that are governed by a different set of rules and not all institutions follow the same rules. In some cases, the private prison an inmate winds up in can mean the difference between survival and death. In addition, there have been several cases of prosecutors and judges who received a financial incentive to divert inmates to private prison. Some were so incentivized that people innocent of the crimes with which they where charged have been convicted just so the prosecutor or judge could get their kickback. It is an industry that requires serious regulation and monitoring. Q. How does your former profession as a lawyer impact your writing? My friends say I am obsessed with justice and I guess that’s true. After 30 years, the law and the legal world are so firmly embedded in my brain that I can’t flush them out. That has become the lens through which I view the world and that naturally guides my characters and plots. Injustice infuriates me, but it also leads me to great stories!