Spotlight on Blaire Edens - Wild About Rachel #excerpt

Book Title: Wild About Rachel

Author: Blaire Edens

Release Date: September 22, 2014

Publisher:  Entangled Select

Genre: Contemporary Romance (Select)

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Blurb

Former debutante Rachel Hansworth longs for the days when “alligator” was followed by “pumps” or “handbag.” Broke, Rachel takes the only job she can find: removing nuisance animals from Florida homes. Unfortunately, fighting the attraction to her boss proves more difficult than wrestling a gator. Army veteran Mark Winters needs help with his business, but he wants Rachel more. He must honor a promise to his dying mother and find a fiancée. A real girlfriend isn’t part of the plan—he’s been there, done that. There’s only one problem: He can’t stop kissing Rachel.
She refuses to be duped by love again, and he won’t let a few hot make-out sessions tear down the walls he’s erected. But she’s all about the big bonus she’ll receive if she helps Mark. They’ll lower their defenses enough to trust each other when a wild animal is involved, but can they pull off the fake fiancée ruse and not be bitten by love?

Excerpt

“Good thing I brought a change of clothes. I’m going to have to go into the water.”

“What if he bites you?”

He shrugged. “There’s no way around it.”

He showed no fear. Just another day on the job. He was nothing like any man she’d ever known. They all tended toward button-down Ralph Lauren oxfords and penny loafers. Fraternities and beach houses.

She’d always liked the preppie type. They were well-groomed, educated. Boring as hell, but they were familiar and comfortable and easy to introduce to her parents. She seriously doubted any of them would climb into a murky pool inhabited by a snapping turtle.

Although after the last few months, she doubted her parents would be interested in meeting anyone she was dating. To say the relationship was strained was a huge understatement. She barely talked to them these days and when she did, she came away from the conversation feeling like the worst person in the world. Even though Pete had been in the wrong, they blamed her for bringing shame to their family.

 The men she’d known would simply pick up the phone and call Mark. He made them all look like overgrown boys. Flabby and vain and weak.

Interesting observation.

Mark shucked off his shirt, revealing a well-defined six-pack. For the first time in her life, she nearly swooned. None of the men she’d ever seen naked looked like that bare-chested. Matchbox cars compared to a Ferrari. His stuff was magazine quality.

Whoa, Nelly.

His arms were bronzed and toned, a beautiful tattoo of a German Shepherd taking up part of his right bicep. She wanted to ask about it, run her fingers along the raised edges, but then he tugged his belt loose and tossed it onto the ground. “Don’t want to ruin another belt.”

Snapping turtle. Focus.

His shorts, looser now, hugged his hips at just the right spot. His abs melted into his obliques in a perfect line. She fought the urge to run her index finger along that line, slowly, just to see how he would react. A shiver ran along her spine and her body shuddered.

“Cold?” He asked. “I’ve got an extra sweatshirt in the truck.”

Rachel shook her head. “Just a shiver.”

Cold wasn’t the problem. Quite the opposite.

“What’s making you shiver?”

“Just a chill. I don’t know.”

“You sure about that?”

Focusing wasn’t any easier the second time.

Mark unlaced his boots, took off his socks, and stuffed them inside. “Here I go.” He walked to the edge of the pool, where it sloped downward. “If he’s in the shallow end, I might be able to feel around and find him with my feet. I have no idea how I’ll find him in the deep end without diving equipment. It’s too murky.”

“What if you used the end of the pole of the net to feel around the bottom?”

“Way to use your head.”

She shivered again. Trying to get her mind back on track wasn’t an easy thing to do while she was looking at Mark, half-naked and tanned.

“You must have gotten some sun in the past three minutes. Your face is a little red,” he answered.

 

Author Bio:

Blaire Edens lives in mountains of North Carolina on a farm that’s been in her family since 1790. When she’s not plotting, she’s busy knitting, running, or listening to the Blues. Blaire loves iced tea with mint, hand-stitched quilts, and yarn stores. She refuses to eat anything that mixes chocolate and peanut butter or apple and cinnamon. She’s generally nice to her mother, tries to remember not to smack her bubble gum, and only speeds when no one’s looking.