Synopsis
THE PLAN:
* Smuggle diamonds from Liberia to Morocco
* Make the trip in three days
* Don't get caught
* Don't kill each other
* Don't have sex with each other
* Don't fall for each other
* Stick to the plan
This is the story of what happens when an unlikely bond is formed between enemies, causing tensions to rise, and igniting a chemistry that threatens to burn them both. Together, they'll learn that sometimes even the best laid plans can fail.
If this NOVEL were a MOVIE, it would have an R rating from the MPAA. Contains: Violence, Grisly Images, Strong Language, Nudity, and Graphic Sexual Content
Excerpts (please choose ONE to include with your post)
ONE:
She came back around to his front and watched him as he loaded up the rest of his gear. Thigh holsters, shoulder holster, ankle holster; pretty much anywhere he could hang a gun, there was a holster. When he glanced at her, she had her eyebrows raised in surprise.
“What?” he looked himself over, looking to see if he'd missed anything.
“That's a lot of gear,” she commented.
“Can never be too careful. I don't feel like dying tonight.”
“Why are you getting ready here, anyway? Don't you have a home?” she pointed out. He snorted.
“Sweetheart, the job starts here and ends here. I don't want anyone following me back to my place – not even these fuckers. I don't let anyone see where I sleep,” Marc stressed. She pouted her lips.
“Pity.”
“Why?”
She stepped up close to him, standing on her tiptoes so her mouth was near his ear.
“Because I'd love
to see where you sleep.”
TWO:
Is my left hand good enough? I should've trained more with it. Maybe I can get it to my right hand quick enough. Fuck. How quick is he? Fuck! Did he see me moving!?
“You back stabbing thief,” she hissed. She slid her left hand even closer to the side of the trunk.
“Keep 'em coming, sweetheart, I've got fifteen bullets here that are just itching to have a purpose in life. Maybe I'll start by putting one in your right foot, then move up to your left knee. Maybe when I get to your -”
Now!
In almost one fluid motion, she reached her hand underneath a flap of material that was hiding a pistol, while at the same time twisting her body and driving her elbow straight up. She caught him in the side of the face with a sharp crack. His hand moved off of her head and she rolled around, whipping her gun into her right hand as she snapped upright. He came around at the same time, shoving his arm straight out and pointing his gun into her face. Her own firearm was pointed right at his throat.
Shit, now what.
They glared at each other for a moment.
“You have two seconds to walk away from this situation,” she breathed, stepping back from the bumper, not lowering her gun. Marc kept his barrel trained on her forehead as he matched her step for step.
“Not gonna happen, princess. Maybe you should walk away, you're in over your head,” he cautioned her, his tone snide. She smirked at him and kept moving, trying to put some distance between them and the car.
“Really? This 'princess' just outsmarted you, twice, in less than five minutes. I think you're in over your head, so back the fuck off,” she growled through clenched teeth.
“Kitty has claws, I like it. But can she pull the trigger?” his tone was questioning as he cocked his head to the side.
That enraged her almost more than anything. More than his deceit. More than his treachery. More than his violence. The disrespect. He'd always treated her as an equal before – now he looked at her and spoke to her like she was a cockroach.
“Try me,” Lily snapped back.
He stared at her for a second longer, then did just that – he let his gun lower and he strode forward, pushing past her as he made his way back towards the vehicle. She was stunned.
“I'm taking this car!” he called out. She whirled around, keeping her gun raised.
“No, you're not! Stop right there!” she demanded. He held up his middle finger.
“Go ahead and sto-”
Lily fired a shot, right over his head. He froze in place mid-stride, then turned his head to the side so he could see her.
“I'm warning you,” she cautioned him. He chuckled, but still didn't move.
“You don't have the balls to shoot me.”
She lowered her gun a couple inches and fired again, directly between his legs. The bullet pinged into the sand at the edge of the road, right in front of him. When she sighted back on his head, he looked decidedly less confident.
“In two minutes, you won't have balls, either.”
Lily didn't want to shoot him, she really didn't. She'd never killed anyone before, and didn't want to start with Marc. She was saving that damnable act for someone very specific. She didn't want to condemn her soul to hell for some piece of shit traitor. Some liar. Some con man.
“Look,” his voice was low, his teeth clenched. “I need what's in that trunk. Whatever deal you have with Ivanov, I can make you a better one.”
“And if I let you take that car, I'm dead. Not winning me over,” she replied.
“No, you can just disappear. Drive off into the sunset, find the nearest plane to take you back to L.A., or wherever you're from. Somewhere safe,” he suggested.
“Not from L.A., and you have one more minute before I blow your nuts off.”
“How did a sweet thing like you get caught up with Ivanov?”
“'Sweet thing' just threatened to shoot you in the testicles. Thirty seconds.”
“Okay! Okay, just take it easy. Maybe we can work out a deal. I'll split them with you, half and half. Just take them out and we'll divide them up.”
“Do you really think I'm stupid enough to fall for that?”
“Was worth a shot."
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six ...," Lily began counting down.
THREE:
“Hello?” she called into an entry way. It looked like someone's home. There were a multitude of people lounging about the living room, all of them watching an old black and white television. Without looking away from the screen, an old woman got up and walked towards Lily.
“Room?” she asked, still watching TV.
“No. I'm looking for my friend, he -” Lily started.
“Third floor, third room on right. You stay longer than two hours, I charge extra,” the woman warned her.
“Sounds fair to me.”
Lily slowly made her way up to his room. She didn't want to come off as too eager. They'd been playing cat and mouse for a month under the assumption neither would get caught. Now that it was time to eat, she wasn't quite ready to be the mouse.
The door to the third room on the right wasn't locked. She was cautious as she opened the door, but the first thing she saw was the black duffle bag he'd taken off with, followed by the clothing he'd been wearing. She moved into the room and shut the door behind her.
She could hear water splashing around in the bathroom, so she took her time, looking over the space he'd been living in for the past month. It was simple. A room. A bed that was little more than a cot. A small table. One small chair. There had been electricity downstairs, but there didn't seem to be any in his room. Three mismatched, stout candles were burning on the table, and those were the only light source.
The sound of water diminished to just a gurgling drain, so she made her way back towards the bathroom. Just as she grasped the knob, she felt it turn from the other side, and the door started to pull away. She smiled.
Samesies.
She lost her smile the same moment a hand wrapped around her neck. She let out a shriek as she was yanked around and slammed against a wall. The hand was replaced by a forearm, a much more effective body part for choking someone. She gritted her teeth, slapping at the arm that was restraining her.
“It's me! It's me!”
Marc looked surprised. And angry. He backed off a little and she sucked in gasps of air. His forearm moved to her collar bone, still holding her in place against the wall. She glared right back at him, resisting the urge to plant her knee in his testicles.
“What the fuck are you doing here!? How did you find me!?” he demanded, then his eyes darted around the room as if he thought she'd brought people with her.
“You weren't exactly hard to follow, you idiot. You walked here,” she growled.
“I thought you were talking with Ivanov.”
“I was. It wasn't a very long conversation.”
“I told you, I don't let anyone know where I sleep,” he reminded her, his voice low.
“Well, I didn't come here with any intentions of sleeping, so we're still good.”
That got through to him and he finally smiled at her. The pressure from his arm let up, but he leaned more of his body against her, lining them up from the hips down.
“I told you to meet me at a bar,” he pointed out, lowering his head to brush his cheek against the side of hers, then dipping down to rub against her neck. She heard a sharp inhale, like he was smelling her.
“Sometimes I'm not very good at listening.”
“I have to be out of here in a couple hours.”
“I only need a couple hours.”
“That's it? I had such high hopes for you.”
She snorted and moved her hands to his waist, yanking his towel away.
“And I had high hopes that your mouth would be good for something other than talking. So far, it's a disappointment.”
His lips met hers in a way that made their first kiss seem like a church greeting. His tongue was present and forceful in her mouth, his hands moving to press heavily against her breasts. She moaned, reveling in the feeling of being touched. Of actually wanting to be touched.
She scratched her nails along his hips and went to dip down between them, but he was quicker, and he grabbed her wrists, slamming her arms against the wall above her head. She gasped and automatically tried to resist, but he just squeezed tighter, pushed harder. Cat and mouse was over, the roles had been established. If he didn't want her to move, then she wasn't going to be able to move.
Does that mean I'm in the mouse trap?
Character Inspirations (pictures attached to email)
Marc is very heavily based on Tom Hardy from "Mad Max: Fury Road" and Lily is Jessica Chastain. Kingsley Law's look is entirely based on Jude Law.
Who do you picture the characters like? Would love to see your dream cast!
Ready Made Guest Posts (these are optional – feel free to use what you would like!)
- This is very different from your previous work – what was your inspiration behind BLP and what kind of research went into writing this book?I love love LOVE action movies. I wanted something kind of gritty and raw, but I didn't want it to be something that's been done, I didn't want drugs or hitmen. So I went with diamond heist and mercenaries. I wanted Marc to sort of have that John McClane "Die Hard" feel, very "IDGAF and I'll say whatever I want, no matter how un-PC", and I wanted Lily to be beyond badass, almost an anti-hero in her own right.
SO MUCH research went into the book, I had no idea what I was getting into - I just started writing, and then I got to the scene where Marc was in the shower, towards the beginning, and after I wrote it I sort of had a "wait a minute ..." moment and realized there was a distinct possibility they wouldn't have running water. So I started researching Liberia. My mind was blown. So many things in the story changed after that point. I constantly had Google open in one window and Google Maps opened in another window. Virtually every place they go in the book is a real place. For example: when a hotel is described, it is based on a real hotel I found on Trip Advisor and then cross referenced on Google Earth. EVERYTHING was like that. Half of my brain lived in Africa for two months.
- A list of 5 reasons why fans/new readers should pick up this book
1. It's different and it pushes boundaries, which I think everyone could do with a bit of, now and then
2. They might learn something they never knew about a different country, and learning is good
3. It's a departure from my other works, but still has the erotica base that is my preferred genre (a.k.a. lots of steaminess haha)
4. It literally takes you on a journey
5. The summer is almost over - can't end it without one last blockbuster big action flick!
- What are you working on next? Can you give us a teaser/hint to book 2 in this series?
Book two is already written, it just needs to go through rewrites and edits and then it's beta time! Next, I'm caught between two stories that I really want to work on - one dark, kind of going back to my Kane Trilogy roots. Weird love and crazy sex and uncomfortable emotions. The other is more romantic. Still angsty, more of the love-hate, will-they-won't-they vibe. I don't want to give anything away - it'll be in a popular subgenre, but with a distinct twist, as I like to try to do with all my stories. Which will come next, I'm not sure, depends on which will speak to me the most. I hope to have something publish ready by March 2016.
Out of Plans teaser:
“You once said you would help me. Well, I need help,” Lily said.
“Of course, love. At your service,” Kingsley bowed his head.
“I want to learn everything. I want to be just as good as you. Just as good as him,” she added.
“Making you better than him will be easy, darling, but better than me? That's impossible,” he teased. She rolled her eyes.
“And no flirting. Flirting is what got me into trouble in Africa. No flirting. No relationship. No sex,” she stressed. “Deal?”
“What deal? Sounds like you're offering nothing in return,” he laughed, shaking her hand.
“Exactly. Sounds like a hell of a deal to me.”
“Dear god, you've already picked up on De Sant's awful sense of humor. We have so much un-training to do,” Kingsley sighed.
“Whatever it takes. You train me, and I'll help you in any way you want, with anything,” she offered.
“Mmmm, any way I want, huh,” his voice dropped low while his eyes wandered over her body.
“Look here, Law, I meant what I said – you touch me inappropriately even once, and I'll break your hand in ways it can't be fixed,” she warned him. He smiled and leaned close again.
“Ooohhh, I love it when you talk rough,” he hissed, sliding his bottom lip between his teeth.
“You won't love it so much when I back it up with action. Now let's get out of here.”
Playlist
Embed Code:
About the Author
Crazy woman living in an undisclosed location in Alaska (where the need for a creative mind is a necessity!), I have been writing since ..., forever? Yeah, that sounds about right. I have been told that I remind people of Lucille Ball - I also see shades of Jennifer Saunders, and Denis Leary. So basically, I laugh a lot, I'm clumsy a lot, and I say the F-word A LOT.
I like dogs more than I like most people, and I don't trust anyone who doesn't drink. No, I do not live in an igloo, and no, the sun does not set for six months out of the year, there's your Alaska lesson for the day. I have mermaid hair - both a curse and a blessing - and most of the time I talk so fast, even I can't understand me.
Yeah. I think that about sums me up.
Buy Links
On Amazon Exclusively - also available in Kindle Unlimited program for free. $0.99 release price will be good through Sept. 8th - then it goes up to $2.99.
US:
UK:
CA:
AUS:
Giveaway
The author is giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card and 2 ARC copies of Out of Plans (when the ARCs are available and ready)
No comments:
Post a Comment