Guardian Angel releases TODAY!
You met Rory in February Stars. Now read the rest of her story.
Rory Summit should be sitting on top of the world, now that she’s set herself up for super stardom. At the moment her dream comes true, she questions if this is what she really wanted. Life implodes at the unexpected death of her sister, and soon she’s on a plane to Hope Falls to care for her orphaned niece with the help of a man whose heart she broke a year earlier.
Kevin Sanders fell in love with his brother’s new sister-in-law at the wedding. What should have been a one-night stand turned into a casual affair, whenever Rory breezed back into town. There was no denying the two of them were perfect for each other, but for six years they maintained the status quo–neither of them seeking more. That changes when one night…it all goes wrong.
Now they’re forced to put the past behind them for the good of their niece, Angel. Playing house with Rory stirs up those same desires in Kevin, but he’s been down that heartbreak road with her before. And Rory isn’t sure how to convince him that her dreams and her feelings changed the night she made the biggest mistake of her life and walked away from him.
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Guardian Angel is a Hope Falls/Wilder Irish crossover story and is part of Melanie Shawn’s Hope Falls Kindle World. As such, Guardian Angel is only available at Amazon. However, you can still get it even if you don’t have a Kindle or if you are not a US resident. Erin Nicholas has created a wonderful guide to answer all your Kindle World questions HERE.
Enjoy this excerpt from Guardian Angel:
Prologue
Rory laughed as Kevin spun her off the dance floor and back toward the bar. The bartender had seen them a few times too many, so he knew their routine and was already pouring them shots.
“Tomorrow isn’t going to feel good,” she said, even as she picked up the glass of tequila and downed it.
Kevin was right behind her, draining his as well. “It’ll be worth it. Greatest wedding in the history of weddings.”
“You think we might be biased, considering your brother’s the groom and my sister’s the bride?”
Kevin shot her a look, acting as if she were insane. “Who cares who the bride and groom were? This one is making the history books due to the incredible talents of the maid of honor and the best man. We killed it tonight.”
She laughed. “My toast was so much better than yours. Did you see everyone cracking up at my stories of Callie when we were kids?”
Kevin waved away her boasting with his hand. “Amateur hour.”
“I sang part of mine, a total parody of ‘Like a Virgin’. It was a riot.”
Kevin continued to look unimpressed. “Laughter is easy. The real trick is to make them cry. I had the whole room weeping with my heartfelt toast. Two poor boys growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Chicago. They were sobbing their hearts out.”
“Crying over how bad it was.”
He rolled his eyes with a dismissive grin, taking no offense. “Kind of hard to believe we only just met last night. Why does it feel like I’ve known you forever?”
“No idea. But I agree.”
“I’ve really had a great time getting to know you this weekend, Rory.”
The two of them had been skirting around a very definite attraction since halfway through the main course last night at the rehearsal dinner. However, given the fact they’d just met, they were there for their siblings’ wedding, and she was leaving at the ass crack of dawn on Monday to head back out on tour with her band, they’d ignored the obvious heat.
Unfortunately, the tequila wasn’t quite as circumspect.
“Do you want to get to know me better?” she asked in her best flirty voice, leaning closer to him.
Kevin never missed a beat. “Your room or mine?”
“Which one is closer?”
He grasped her hand and tugged her out of the grand ballroom of the Thompson Hotel and toward the elevator. “I’m on the eighth floor.”
“Fifth,” she replied, reaching into the pocket of her bridesmaid’s dress—she’d proclaimed the dress a winner the second she’d found the pockets—to pull out her key card.
Kevin waited approximately a tenth of a second after the elevator doors closed before twisting her toward him and kissing her.
Their first kiss.
And they were approximately another tenth of a second into it when Rory realized it was the best fucking kiss of her life.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, liking how much taller he was than her. Kevin and his brother, Keith—her new cop brother-in-law—were built the same. Tall, broad, linebacker physiques. Muscular giants.
Callie had once told Rory she liked how safe she felt in Keith’s arms. Rory had rolled her eyes at the mushy, girlie nature of the comment. Until now.
Now she got it.
They separated only briefly when the doors opened, hastily walking to her room. Mercifully, the hallway was clear, as most of the wedding guests staying in the hotel had retired earlier. She and Kevin had been some of the last diehard partiers at the reception.
She opened her door and they walked in together. Kevin turned her toward him once they were alone inside and resumed that glorious kiss.
As they kissed, they did a slow, backwards step that didn’t stop until Rory’s legs hit the bed. Kevin’s hands had been roaming up and down her back in a caress that was part seduction and part search party.
“How in the hell…” he muttered against her lips.
She laughed and lifted her right arm, twisting to show him the zipper on the side of the dress. “Looking for this?”
His reply came in the form of a hungry look and the obvious determination to get her naked.
She shivered slightly when he gripped the tab of the zipper and lowered it. Rory wasn’t so well endowed that she needed more than the built-in bra provided by the dress, so she was pretty much naked the second the silky material hit the floor. All that was left was her thong and her strappy sandals.
Kevin took a step back to grab a better view.
Rory had spent the better part of her life onstage, under the constant scrutiny of thousands of screaming fans. She was used to being looked at. But that didn’t change the impact of this more private viewing. Kevin was practically eating her alive with his eyes, and she had never felt more beautiful, sexier.
“I’d tell you to take a picture,” she joked, “but I suspect you’d take me up on the offer.”
He grinned. “My cell is right here.” He pretended to pat the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket, drawing her attention to the fact he was way too overdressed.
“Take it off,” she whispered.
“The jacket?”
“All of it.”
He shrugged out of his jacket as he toed off his shoes. She helped him by working loose the knot in his bowtie. By the time she’d slid that free from the collar and gone to work on his shirt buttons, he’d freed himself from his pants and briefs.
Her fingers stumbled a bit when she reached the last button, distracted by his erection.
She wasn’t aware she was staring until he said, “We could go tit for tat on those nudie pics if you want.”
Rory laughed, aware that was pretty much all she’d done this weekend. And equally aware she wasn’t the type of woman to laugh much. It wasn’t that she didn’t have a sense of humor or fun. She just wasn’t the giggly type. Except with Kevin, it seemed.
“How many condoms do you have with you?”
He reached down, retrieving his wallet from his pants. “Three.” As he responded, he tossed the packets on the nightstand table.
She blew out a long breath. “Not sure that’s going to be enough.”
Kevin gently pressed on her shoulders, guiding her to her back on the bed. “I have more in my room.”
She grinned. “Came prepared, huh?”
“Boy Scout training.”
“You were in the Scouts?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
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