Close To The Skin by Zara West

NOTE:  This book is being offered in a Giveaway in my month long August newsletter at  http://www.constancebretes.com/news--things.html


BLURB
Never back down, never turn your back, and never fall in love. Head of a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise, Vernon Newell doesn’t let family ties or misplaced sympathy get in his way. But there is one chink in his armor—Sirena Patras, the beautiful young Greek girl he seduced and deserted eight years ago.
 
When Vernon discovers that Bella Bell, a prospering tattoo artist in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is actually Sirena, he sets out to woo and to win her. Despite her attraction to the fabulously sexy man, Bella wants nothing to do with a hard-headed, ruthless criminal.
 
But when threatening messages start arriving, and Vernon disappears, Bella must choose to abandon the man she loves, as he did her, or risk her life to save him.
 
 
EXCERPT
The man was dead.
Her brother had killed him in front of her eyes.
 
Or had it all been a lie?
 
If anyone knew what was going on it would be Vernon. She moved back into the living room and peered out the window. The sky was still dark. The street light still burned. Dare she call him? He’d think she’d capitulated. Wanted him.
 
She dropped the curtain and straightened her shoulders. She wanted him all right. She wanted answers. She wanted to know why dead men were calling her and threatening notes appeared in her mail.
 
Hands shaking, she punched in Vernon’s cell number. It rang once. Twice. She imagined him holding her, kissing her. His low, rumbling voice whispering in her ear. No, she couldn’t talk to him. Not yet. She was still addicted to the man.
 
She tapped the phone off and curled back up on the sofa. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, she’d send him an e-mail—a nicely worded formal request.
 
At that moment, the phone in her hand rang. Vernon returning her call? She hesitated. Then flicked it on.
 
A low pitched voice spoke through heavy static. “Does Vernon know what you did?” A frisson of fear crept down her spine and burrowed deep into her core. She tossed the cell phone onto the floor and buried herself under the silk shawls, struggling to breathe.
 
Forget all the reasons why Vernon was the wrong man for her. She needed him. She needed him now.
 
 
BUY LINKS
Amazon
 https://www.amazon.com/Close-Skin-Quartet-Zara-West-ebook/dp/B073NG82J8
B&N
 https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/close-to-the-skin-zara-west/1126656606
BIO
Zara West loves all things dark, scary, and heart-stopping as long as they lead to true love. Born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Zara spends winters in New York where the streets hum with life, summers in Maritimes where the sea can be cruel, and the rest of the year anywhere inspiration for tales of suspense, mystery, and romance are plentiful.
 
Swept off her feet by her own Indiana Jones, Zara has followed sheep and goats up and down mountainsides in Greece, Crete, and Italy, been stranded on the banks of the Rhine with no money and one chocolate bar, and while she has never been kidnapped, she has been abandoned on an island in the middle of a Newfoundland wilderness for longer than she wants to remember.
 
A member of RWA, Zara is a multi-published author of both fiction and non-fiction. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, and have received awards from Women on Writing, Stone Thread Publishing, Tryst Literary Magazine, and Winning Writers. Her novels have placed first in the Pages from the Heart and Romance Through the Ages contests, second in the Touch of Love contest, third in the Emma Merritt, 5th in the Fab5, and long-listed for the Mslexia Award.
 

NOTE FROM CONNIE:

Here are the line ups for the month of August. Note that if you visit each blog and leave a comment, I'll enter your name for a chance to win a $5.00 gift certificate of your choice - Amazon or Barnes & Noble. If I have 10 authors who blogged in August, and you leave a comment on all 10 blogs, I'll enter your name 10 times for a chance to win.  Check back often, as I will update and add more authors as they sign up.

August 4         Summer of Seduction Anthology
August 7          Ann Everett
August 8         Diana Rubino
August 9          Ayla Ruse
August 10       JJ Montgomery
August 11       Janice O'Hara
August 14       Barbara White-Daille
August 15       Patricia Preston
August 16       Beverly Oakley
August 17       Caris Roane
August 18        Zara West
August 21       Monique DeVere
August 23        Adrian Kraft
August 29       Izzy Szyn
August 30        Ayla Ruse

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