Summer
at the Shore
Seashell Bay # 2
Seashell Bay # 2
By: V.K. Sykes
Releasing June 30, 2015
Grand Central: Forever
Blurb
JUST
A SUMMER FLING?
Morgan
Merrifield sacrificed her teaching career to try to save her family's
bed-and-breakfast and care for her younger sister. She can't let herself get
distracted by Ryan Butler. After all, the rugged ex-Special Forces soldier is
only in Seashell Bay for the summer. But her longtime crush soon flares into
real desire-and with one irresistible kiss, she's swept away.
Ryan
values his freedom. As much as he wants Morgan, he's not ready to settle down
with anyone, much less in sleepy Seashell Bay. But his code of honor doesn't
allow him to leave a woman in distress-and she's in desperate need of help to
fix the inn. It only takes one day working under the same roof and Ryan is
already hoping for a lifetime of hot summer nights . . .
Ryan pushed his
sunglasses up on his forehead, his dark eyes studying her so intently she began
to feel nervous.
“Not boring,” he finally
said. “Nice. You deserve the right man, Morgan. And he’ll be a damn lucky guy
when he finds you.”
And maybe I’m already
right under his nose.
She strongly doubted that
he was thinking along any such lines, which meant she shouldn’t either. “It’d
probably be easier for him to discover the cure for the common cold than
unearth the love of his life in Pickle River, Maine, population ten and
falling.”
Ryan choked out a laugh.
“That bad, huh?”
She wrinkled her nose.
“Trust me, I’m barely exaggerating. So what about you, mystery man? Are you
waiting for the right woman? Because you certainly deserve to find her,” she
finished with a teasing smile. She didn’t want him to go squirrely on her now
by getting too serious.
Ryan turned away again,
gluing his gaze on the water. Her heart sinking, Morgan wondered if he was
simply ignoring the question.
She shimmied back around,
picked up a pebble from the beach, and tossed it as far as she could into the
channel. It made a barely perceptible splash. Ryan looked at her again, and she
got a jolt at the grim set to his gorgeous mouth and something that looked like
pain in his eyes.
“I don’t think of it in those terms,” he said.
“In fact, I try not to think about it much at all.”
Annoyed by his cryptic
response—and annoyed that she was annoyed—Morgan scrambled for a light
response. “More fun to keep playing the field, huh? I can see why. You must
have to fight off scads of women who’d like nothing better than a little
attention from big, strong you. You’re such a badass.” She batted her
eyelashes.
Weirdly, his gaze
narrowed with even greater intensity. It surprised her that he didn’t take the
easy out.
“I’ve learned the hard
way that it’s not a great idea to get involved,” he said. “Even if somebody
could put up with the danger and with only seeing me once in a blue moon, I’m
not into that kind of a relationship. They hardly ever work.”
The obvious conviction
behind his words took her aback. “You know there are successful military
marriages, Ryan, despite long deployments.”
His smile was grim. “You
know what the divorce rate is in Spec Ops units?”
Morgan wasn’t about to
guess.
“I’ve heard it’s around
80 percent,” Ryan said. “So your chances of success are one in five. And
believe me, it’s no better for guys who work for private military contractors.”
She stared at him.
“That’s awful. But you won’t be doing that kind of work forever. You told me
that at Diamond Cove.”
“No, but it’s where I am
now. Would it be fair to a woman to pretend we could have a relationship that
would actually last?” He picked up a pebble and launched it out into the
channel, far beyond where hers had sunk.
Boy, how could she even
respond to that kind of cynicism?
“You’ve told me that
teaching means more to you than anything else,” Ryan went on, as if challenging
her. “Would you sacrifice your career even if you thought you’d found the right
guy?”
His attitude was starting
to piss her off. “I don’t know about that, but I’ve certainly given it up now,
at least for the time being. Maybe for a long time.” She stared at him, feeling
defiant. “And I did it because my sister needs me. That’s more important than my
career.”
He grimaced. “Jesus,
Morgan, I didn’t mean—”
She held up a hand. “It’s
fine, Ryan. Really.” She flashed him a smile. “We shouldn’t be getting this
heavy anyway. We’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves.”
His smile didn’t reach
his eyes. “We can blame it on Kristi.”
“Yes, let’s. And speaking
of Mrs. Buckle, mark my words, that woman is hot for you, husband or no
husband. You’re only sleeping about twenty feet apart, so I’d advise you to
keep your door locked at night if you want to avoid a midnight visit.”
This time, the smile did
reach his eyes. He slid an arm around her waist. “If I wanted company, Kristi’s
not the woman at Golden Sunset I’d want in my room.” His arm tightened around
her waist, gently pulling her against his naked torso.
Morgan froze, staring at
him. The slowly building heat in his gaze sure didn’t look like a joke, nor did
the arm around her waist feel like just a friendly gesture—not when she was
plastered against all that warm, brawny muscle. And honest to God, she hadn’t a
clue how to react.
Link to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/03/summer-at-shore-seashell-bay-2-by-vk.html
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23341861-summer-at-the-shore?from_search=true
Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/129828-seashell-bay
Author Info
V.K. Sykes is really two people – Vanessa Kelly and Randy Sykes, a husband and wife team who write USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance and also romantic suspense. Randy excels at plot and characterization, but tends to fall down on the job when it comes to that pesky old thing called emotion. That’s where Vanessa steps in. She usually writes the sex scenes too, since Randy is a bit uncomfortable when it comes to that sort of stuff. Vanessa also writes award-winning Regency-set historical romance for Kensington Zebra under her own name. You can check out Vanessa’s bestselling historical romances at www.vanessakellyauthor.com
V.K. Sykes is really two people – Vanessa Kelly and Randy Sykes, a husband and wife team who write USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance and also romantic suspense. Randy excels at plot and characterization, but tends to fall down on the job when it comes to that pesky old thing called emotion. That’s where Vanessa steps in. She usually writes the sex scenes too, since Randy is a bit uncomfortable when it comes to that sort of stuff. Vanessa also writes award-winning Regency-set historical romance for Kensington Zebra under her own name. You can check out Vanessa’s bestselling historical romances at www.vanessakellyauthor.com
Rafflecopter Giveaway (Grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card; 4
runner-up prizes - each of those winners will receive a copy of Meet Me at the
Beach and a copy of Wedding Bells in Christmas, by Debbie Mason)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Thank you for hosting SUMMER AT THE SHORE!
Thanks so much for hosting us today!!
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