{"id":1931,"date":"2010-01-28T08:35:06","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T15:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alannacoca.com\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2014-08-01T02:38:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T08:38:25","slug":"start-the-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/start-the-countdown","title":{"rendered":"Start the Countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Fine Print releas\u00ades 2\/1\/2010! To cel\u00ade\u00adbrate, I\u2019m hav\u00ading a lit\u00adtle give\u00adaway. All you have to do is com\u00adment on this post. I don\u2019t care what, even just a smi\u00adley face, to get your name in the hat. I\u2019ll noti\u00adfy the win\u00adner, who will have his\/her choice of an elec\u00adtron\u00adic copy of any of my back\u00adlist books.<\/p>\n

Con\u00adtest ends on 1<\/sup>\u204431<\/sub>, and I\u2019ll announce the win\u00adner here on the first of February.<\/p>\n

Also, don\u2019t for\u00adget my Print Book Read\u00ader Appre\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion Give\u00adaway<\/a>, there is still some time to par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpate. Buy a print copy, and get an ebook free!<\/p>\n

Now, to whet your appetite, here is a short excerpt from Fine Print:<\/p>\n

She peeled off the out\u00adfit that a few hours ago was crisp, but now looked worn and wilt\u00aded. The swim\u00adming pool would feel heav\u00aden\u00adly against her over\u00adheat\u00aded skin. She stood naked for a moment, let\u00adting the air con\u00addi\u00adtion\u00ader soothe her fevered chest. She had her biki\u00adni and sheer robe on in record time.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> If she didn\u2019t get the hell out of this hotel suite, Kara Sor\u00adren\u00adto would end up doing some\u00adthing com\u00adplete\u00adly out of char\u00adac\u00adter. She bit her lip, but she could still taste him there from the kiss on the dance floor. It tast\u00aded so good, she swiped her tongue all along her lips, and her insides hummed with desire. She grabbed the first two tow\u00adels that she saw, glad to have some\u00adthing to hold with her shaky hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> He wasn\u2019t in the kitchen when she emerged. Nor was he in the liv\u00ading area, or the bal\u00adcony. \u00c2  \u00c2  \u00c2  \u00c2 \u201cDerek?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> \u201cYeah.\u201d His voice came from the direc\u00adtion of his bed\u00adroom. The door was open; she saw the light spilling into the hall\u00adway, so she walked toward it.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> \u201cI\u2019ve got some tow\u00adels, did you want to\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> She couldn\u2019t con\u00adtin\u00adue. Derek lay on the end of the wide bed, arms over his head, feet plant\u00aded on the ground. He wore his blue swim trunks, but noth\u00ading else. The posi\u00adtion of his body called atten\u00adtion to his mus\u00adcu\u00adlar frame. The white bed\u00adcov\u00ader empha\u00adsized his brown skin. The air con\u00addi\u00adtion\u00ader was blast\u00ading frigid air through the room, and it looked as though he stretched out to cool off his body, and hadn\u2019t moved since.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>His legs were the same toasty col\u00ador as the rest of him, except for the very bot\u00adtom rim of his feet. Even his toes looked per\u00adfect, the way they all lined up neat\u00adly togeth\u00ader. Her eyes trav\u00adeled back up his body, until she saw that he had now propped him\u00adself on his elbows, and gave her a curi\u00adous gaze.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cAre you okay?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>She nod\u00added, know\u00ading her eyes were wide, and her face had flushed.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>He shift\u00aded that sinewy body. \u201cI\u2019m ready when\u00adev\u00ader you are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>He\u2019s ready, Kara<\/span><\/em>. Her eyes dropped to his lap, then to the car\u00adpet by her feet. She swal\u00adlowed hard. \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll meet you in the kitchen.\u201d She took a step back.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cWait.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Wait. <\/span><\/em>That one word froze her in place, almost like he had some strange pow\u00ader over her. Her heart pound\u00aded, and she clutched the tow\u00adels against her chest to hide her mis\u00adbe\u00adhav\u00ading nipples.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cCome here.\u201d His words were husky, spo\u00adken to trav\u00adel across the room on the low\u00adest of frequencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, she fol\u00adlowed his direc\u00adtion, with\u00adout any thought to the con\u00adtrary. When she stood before him, he sat upright, took the tow\u00adels from her, and laid them aside<\/span>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fine Print releas\u00ades 2\/1\/2010! To cel\u00ade\u00adbrate, I\u2019m hav\u00ading a lit\u00adtle give\u00adaway. All you have to do is com\u00adment on this post. I don\u2019t care what, even just a smi\u00adley face, to get your [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":""},"categories":[3,6,11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3WdCY-v9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alannacoca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}