Authors: Scarlett Finn
Up next: an excerpt from the second Risqué novel:
Risk It All
Available September 1 2015
Stalking forth to see what was going on, the scuffling sounds got louder the nearer that Blaser got, and were soon joined by muffled female objections. More definition grew in the shadow man who was sprawled on top of a body, hiding its identity, all Blaser could make out were naked female arms and legs.
‘Hey!’ Blaser said, storming over to haul the shadow up from the ground by the back of his neck.
The guy swore and lashed out to loosen Blaser’s grip from his jacket, then he spun around to try and land a punch, but Blaser blocked it and got in one of his own. The shadow staggered back, giving Blaser his first real chance at interpreting a physical description. He noted blonde hair, angry eyes, and a scar intersecting the perpetrator’s brow. Bloody scratches on his neck and face joined the blood now seeping from his lip – split by Blaser’s punch.
Widening his stance, Blaser prepared to get into a brawl, but the blonde male shadow spun around and bolted off. Giving chase briefly entered Blaser’s mind, but around here you never knew what you were dealing with. Drugs were rife, prostitution and gangs too, this was a shady part of town. So even if he caught up with the guy, Blaser wasn’t going to call the cops, that just wasn’t how things went down in this neighbourhood and he wasn’t going to visit trouble on the club.
When the attacker vanished out the end of the alley, Blaser turned his attention to the woman on the ground and immediately wished that he’d done more than just split the perp’s lip. At five five, with streaks of blonde in mousy brown hair, Blaser knew just who this woman sitting on the cold asphalt outside of his club in the wee hours was. She kept her face down, giving him a view of the jagged parting in her hair. Her reluctance to lift her attention only betrayed that she recognised him too.
‘What I should really do is ask if you’re ok and then take you to the hospital,’ he said, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at the woman still sprawled on the tarmac. ‘What I’m actually going to do is ask you if you’re fucking insane.’
She twisted her legs to look at a scrape on her calf then lifted her rear from the ground to try and wriggle her skirt down. Her hand rose, indicating that she wanted help up, so he took it and pulled her onto her feet.
‘Thanks,’ she said, smoothing the skirt that barely covered her ass. The flash of her midriff carried on up to her breasts which were covered by a red halter top.
‘What are you doing here, Bri?’ he asked while reminding himself that she was no longer his to scoop up off the ground and into his arms.
‘I need your help,’ she said.
Tossing her hair back, she revealed the bruising on her cheek, the blood on her chin and the fullest, softest lips he’d ever known. She still didn’t look at him, she twisted her body to examine a cut on the back of her upper arm: doing everything she could to put off the moment that she’d have to meet his eyes.
‘You don’t need my help,’ he said. Being near her again was still surreal. He still hadn’t quite worked out how to act around her now that their relationship wasn’t sexual, as it always had been before. ‘You never need my help. Does Gary know that you’re here?’
She chose now as the time to blink long-lashed eyes at him. ‘Blaser,’ she said. ‘You know that my brother is in jail, exactly where you put him.’
‘I didn’t put anyone in jail,’ Blaser said. ‘Your brother mouthed off to an undercover cop, that’s how he got himself into the slammer this time. Let’s not kid ourselves that Gary is an upstanding member of society. He had this coming.’
‘You don’t know everything, Love. You don’t know what’s going on or why I’m here.’
‘Don’t call me that,’ he said, backing away a step and taking his hand out of hers. If she opened those floodgates and got him thinking that this was just like the old days, he didn’t trust himself to act like an ex without full privileges should. ‘And don’t do that…’ He lifted his hand toward her face then thought better of touching her again. ‘Thing.’
‘What thing?’ she asked. Her step in his direction only made him take another backwards.
He ignored the question because she already knew the answer; she knew exactly what she could do to him with a flutter of those lashes. ‘What are you doing behind my club at three in the morning, who was that fucker who had you pinned? What did he want?’
Bri took in a short breath and panted it out. ‘It’s a long story, I was waiting. I didn’t want to come in because… I didn’t know if Colt would be there. I thought I would catch you out here, and we could talk.’
‘What do you want to talk about at three in the morning?’
‘I need a job.’
‘You need a job?’
‘I need money,’ she said. ‘So yeah, I need a job.’
‘What kind of job do you think I’ve got for you?’ he asked, sorry that his first thought made his eyes fall onto her legs.
‘I don’t screw people for money,’ she said, folding her arms under those pert little tits that he remembered too well. ‘That’s your department.’
Doing what’s necessary often means that you have to…
Risk It All
Blaser Warner has worked hard to put his past behind him. Building up his businesses and mending family bridges, he’s finally got his life back on track.
Brianna Wilcox was devastated when her heart was broken by her only love going to prison. Determined to carry on, she uprooted her life and cut all ties from her past. After suffering a horrific ordeal years later she shuts herself off from the world. To recover from the horror she endured Bri knows that there’s only one place she needs to be: home.
Blaser couldn’t stay away when he heard that Brianna was back in town. But being around her again brings old feelings to the surface. When Bri’s associations bring trouble to her door, old habits die hard and Blaser rallies to protect her.
All the promises he made are in jeopardy and the life he’s built is threatened when he has to fight battles he thought he had left behind. But he knows Brianna is the only woman for whom he will risk it all.
.
Coming Sept 1 on Amazon
When all else fails…
Take A Risk
Trapper. Risqué.
Two names is all that sex therapist Doctor Lyssa Cutler has, but it’s all she needs. Those two words reveal the name of a man and the name of the strip club that she’ll find him in. She might not have expected to find the solution to her stalker problem in such a place, but she does. In fact, Trapper turns out to be far more than just the man capable of tracking down her pursuer.
Colt Warner’s better judgement tells him that he should reject the job offered to him by the inquisitive doctor because he can tell that this sassy sexpot is going to be trouble. Being attracted to a client goes against his usual ethics, but playing by the rules has never been his strong suit.
Giving in to their sparking attraction lures reality into harsh focus. The stalker that brought them together doesn’t like the picture that the new couple presents and seems prepared to do anything to tear them apart.
Questions mount up, answers are elusive, and only one thing is clear, time is running out.
Available now on Amazon
A woman walks into a bar...
Explicit Instruction
Stranded, Flick seeks salvation. Instead, she finds herself living in a nightmare, under threat of physical and sexual assault, but Flick can see no way out.
Yet, an unexpected reprieve comes in the form of a stranger; a looming silhouette more terrifying than the evil that captured her. She learns that danger has an alias, Rushe. Abrupt, crude, and domineering he becomes her only hope for survival.
Stolen away Flick has to rely on Rushe’s instincts to keep her alive. But rescuing her saviour from his own demise changes things... or does it?
Flick entrusts her life to Rushe, but he still cannot bring himself to stand down from red-alert. There’s more going on than Flick understands and Rushe does not intend to give her any of the details.
Freedom becomes a distant memory. The further into the criminal plot she is drawn, the deeper her entanglement with Rushe becomes. Without him, Flick won’t survive, but to him she is nothing more than a liability.
The adventure she started by accident threatens her life and his; then Rushe does something unexpected and Flick knows it’s not only her life she is battling for, it’s her heart as well.
Available now on Amazon
While she’s playing the rush... he’s on tilt...
Explicit Detail
Integrating Flick into his life has given Rushe a new priority, to keep his woman where he wants her – safe and in his bed. But saving women who have no hope is a part of who he is, and it doesn’t take long for the next job to seek them out.
Rushe knows the rules, but Flick has never played the game from this side of the table before. Working in parallel, our couple go undercover to expose the crucial details of an intrigue that sinks deeper than they could have predicted.
Ready to get her hands dirty, Flick wades in, relishing the challenge. Except danger closes in on her from all sides, and Rushe has his own cards to play. They have to learn to work together before the job drives them apart.
But if their union is revealed, it could cost them their lives.
Available now on Amazon
History isn’t finished with them… yet.
Explicit Memory
The past that they’d hoped to outrun has chased them down, and now it wants payback.
To appease their debtors, they must delve into Rushe’s own history. As they come face to face with the situation that brought them together in the first place, Flick learns more about the man who she’s pledged her heart, and her body, to.
When danger encroaches, Flick will resort to whatever measures are necessary to achieve their goal, but could that mean sacrificing their relationship?
Available now on Amazon
Trust can’t reason with lust…
Reluctant Suspicion
Doing his job means going undercover to get close to their latest suspect. Choker has been claiming victims and leaving no trace of evidence behind. Blake Carson has done his homework, but nothing can prepare him for what he experiences when he walks into Ashton’s bar to assume his latest role.
The bar is Molly’s life, she’s the only person left in the family and so responsibility has fallen to her to keep the business going. But with the murders taking place so close to home, her staff and customers are getting edgy. She can’t afford to lose it all, but she can’t run the place alone. When Blake appears it seems that all of her prayers have been answered.
Brought closer by a terrifying event, Molly’s trust in this stranger grows. Blake knows that she’ll discover who he really is and never forgive him for his lies. But he just can’t make himself stay away from the enticing licensee he was supposed to be here to ensnare.
Available now on Amazon
When friendship is a high stakes game...
Mistake Me Not
It might have been a simple mistake that threw Lacie and Ryder together; but another mistake nearly tears them apart.
Lacie believes in loyalty above all else, so when her best friend Sorcha needs help Lacie doesn't think twice. But, following Sorcha’s instructions leads Lacie to inadvertently hire the wrong PI. Unaware of her error Lacie is horrified by her body’s overwhelming attraction to this man she has only just met. Especially since every other man leaves her less than lukewarm. Worse still, Lacie believes he is Sorcha's ex, and she would never consider betraying her friend.
Ryder Stone wasn’t going to correct the little brunette who caught him in the middle of a little B and E; the case sounded easy enough and he wouldn’t want her to be taken advantage of – at least that was his excuse.
Except neither comprehend the danger ahead. Oblivious to what they’re walking into Ryder finds himself unconscious with only Lacie’s screams and his own imagination to torment him. Unfortunately, it’s not over for them yet.
Their one misstep leads them into a plot that extends close to home. Lacie has seen something. She’s in trouble and none of them know it until it’s too late and... she’s gone
Available now on Amazon