RELEASE
BLITZ
Title:
Bennett
Author:
Seraphina Donavan
Series:
Bourbon & Blood #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release
Date: January 14, 2016
BLURB
Mia
Darcy plays by the rules, and her Daddy, Samuel, for better or worse has made
them all. She takes care of her ailing mother, she manages PR for the family’s
distillery, Fire Creek. And every day she quietly resents the fact that he
stepped in and kept her from being with the one man she loved… a man who still
lives there in their small town of Fontaine, Kentucky and who haunts her every
minute of the day, waking or asleep.
Bennett
Hayes has loved Mia his whole life, and for one brief moment, when they were
young and full of hope, it seemed like even the long history of bad blood
between their families wasn’t enough to keep them apart. But he’d been wrong.
Mia never showed the night they were supposed to run away together and when he
confronted her about it, she broke his heart.
But
fate and circumstance throw them together again and the fire that raged between
them at eighteen is even hotter now. The burn is inevitable. But there are
forces at play, people on the periphery of their lives whose agenda goes far
beyond just keeping them apart… they want Mia dead and will stop at nothing to
make that happen.
GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27410171-bennett
PURCHASE LINKS
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1WWsTx4
iBooks: http://apple.co/1MzDwAX
Google
Play: http://bit.ly/1MOHGjp
EXCERPT
She took a deep breath. When that
didn’t work to calm her nerves, she took a sip of the amber liquid. There was
no burn. It was smooth and sweet on her tongue.
“Did you see anyone at the scene?
Any other vehicles?” she asked.
“No. I drove up and saw the
churned up mud and broken light covers where you hit the guardrail. If it
hadn’t been for that—.” He stopped to take a sip of his own whiskey. When he
continued, his voice was deeper, gruffer. “You drive too fast, Mia. You always
have. You hit that curve like a bat out of hell. If I hadn’t come along, hadn’t
realized you’d been on that road right in front of me, you would have died
there.”
Her blood ran cold. He said it so
matter of factly. It was true. She knew that. But it didn’t change the fact
that she hadn’t been alone on that road, and her car hadn’t gone into the creek
without someone else forcing her over the edge. “I do drive too fast… but I
only swerved and lost control because of the other car, Bennett!”
“I know,” he said softly.
“It was a big black SUV… I’m not
really sure what kind. With all those bars on the front of it,” she continued
on, not quite processing that he’d agreed with her.
“The deer guard.” The words were
supplied in an even tone, no censure, not disbelief.
“Yes,” she replied adamantly. “I
rounded the bend and it was parked in a way that it blocked both lanes!”
“I believe you,” he said. “You
don’t have to convince me that it happened that way.”
She stopped then, drew a deep
breath and stared at him in stunned disbelief. “You believe me?”
“Yes. I saw the glass and plastic
where your headlights got busted in… Directly in line with where your back
wheels went over the edge. It’s not possible for you to have simultaneously
damaged the front and back end of your car in a single car accident before the
rollover.”
“It was deliberate,” she said
softly.
“Maybe they just panicked,” he
offered.
“I need another drink,” she
said.
Bennett refilled her glass.
“Someone tried to kill me,
Bennett,” she stated it emphatically. “I’m not imagining that… they waited for
me on that road!”
“Why would someone do that, Mia?
No one has any reason to hate you that badly,” he shot back before draining his
glass.
“You do,” she finished
quietly.
His eyes widened for a second in
surprise, before narrowing in anger. “You come into my fucking house and accuse
me of something like that?”
She shook her head. “No. I wasn’t
accusing you… I know you’d never do anything like that. But it’s true, Bennett…
you do have every reason to hate me.”
He settled back against the
counter, arms crossed over his chest, muscles rippling and bunching beneath the
open plaid shirt. “I don’t hate you, Mia… I’ve tried to. I’ve tried to every
damn day of my life, and I just can’t.”
She set her glass on the counter.
Her hand was trembling too much to hold on to it. “Do you need to hate me,
Bennett? Clearly whatever was between us hasn’t kept you from having a very
active love life!”
He leaned his head back against
the cabinet door and stared up at the ceiling as if praying for strength, or
possibly patience. “That’s not how it works. I was’t the one who stood you
up.”
She glanced beyond the kitchen
and into the living room, where new and decidedly feminine curtains hung over
the window behind the couch. “It looks like you’ve managed okay… You and
Lacey.”
His eyebrow shot up. “You really
wanna go there? We’ve not been together for ten years! Should I have waited,
Mia?”
“No,” she said quickly. “And I
didn’t mean it like that, Bennett! … Yes, I did, but I know I don’t have the
right. I’m jealous and not just because you’re with someone else, but
because…You’ve made a life for yourself. And… I’m still doing the same thing I
was at eighteen. Taking care of Mama, handling the distillery tours and—.” She
stopped speaking abruptly, the unfinished words hanging between them.
The silence was heavy, laden with
the anticipation of what went unsaid between them, the tension building until
it was unbearable. It was Bennett who finally snapped. “And what, Mia? For the
love of God, just say it!”
“And thinking about you. All the
time,” she replied. “At this point, I should be nothing more than a distant
memory to you, and you’re on my mind all the time.”
He smiled, but there was no humor
in it. It was a bitter and self-deprecating twist of his beautiful mouth. “Not
so distant. I see you in town. I see your car speeding up and down this road. I
hear your name whispered by every gossip in town as I walk past them… People in
this town remember everything. They remember us. And so do I.”
She had memories of her own. His
mouth on hers, his hands on her body. They’d been greedy then with the newness
of it all, just a couple of inexperienced kids with more hormones than skill.
Of course, Bennett was more experienced now, but more than that, the heat that
burned between them then was still there. Dating wasn’t a part of her life.
There was no time for it. With taking care of her mother and her job at the
distillery, it was almost like time had stopped for her that summer. He’d gone
on with his life, at least somewhat, and she was in the same rut she’d always
been in.
The mistake she’d made in coming
there was glaring. Panic hit her, sinking into her gut like a twisting knife.
Seeing him, being close enough to him to smell him, to touch him, it was an
epic error in judgement on her part. Nothing in this world could hurt her as
much as the man in front of her. The first time had been bad enough. To go
through it all again when the outcome couldn’t be any different was just more
than she could contemplate. “I should go,” she managed. “Coming here was a
mistake.”
She whirled and headed for the
door and was halfway there when he caught her. One of his large hands snaked
out and captured her undamaged wrist, closing over it and tugging her back to
him. “You’re right. I know you’re right… and I don’t fucking care.”
With her chest close to his, her
head just below his chin, his arms slid around her. It was like breathing, the
most natural thing in the world. She leaned into him, savoring the heat, the
hard press of him against her. “I cannot even count the number of ways in which
this is a bad idea… There’s no way this ends well, Bennett.”
“Never say never,” he advised
softly.
“Highly unlikely, then,” she
amended.
“Lots of things are unlikely, oh
wise one. Doesn’t mean they can’t happen.” His voice was little more than a
deep murmur, his lips brushing against her forehead as he spoke. He held her
gently, tenderly. It was something she’d missed so much it wasn’t even possible
to put into words. Even then, the heat was there, arcing between them, taking
on a life of its own.
“Like what?” she asked. Her skin
burned beneath his hand like he’d set her on fire. With nothing more than a touch,
it raged for him.
“You… standing here in my kitchen
for starters.”
“I’m blaming my lapse in
judgement on painkillers.” The statement was flippant, but the quavering of her
voice and the slight hitch to her breathing told the truth. There was nothing casual
about what was happening between them. It was life or death.
“Why is it a mistake?” he
demanded as he pulled her a little closer to him.
All the reasons fled along with
the fear. With the heat of his body against hers, his breath warm on her skin,
she couldn’t pull them to mind anymore. She could see the fine sheen of sweat
on his skin from where he’d been working. Her breath caught as she looked up.
His eyes weren’t locked on hers. Instead, they were locked on her mouth. He
looked at her lips as if he wanted to bite into her and in that moment, she
would have let him.
“Mia,” he murmured. It was the
last thing that was said between them. He descended upon her, his lips on hers
as his hands slid upward to tangle in the fall of her hair.
It was a gentle kiss. She didn’t
doubt for a moment that Bennett was aware of every injury and mindful not to
hurt her. That was just who he was. But as his mouth moved over hers in a kiss
that was achingly tender, her body burned for him. When he captured her bottom
lip between his, she melted against him. His arms closed around her pulling her
even closer, until she was firmly pressed against the hard wall of his chest.
She could feel him everywhere.
Then his hands slid downward,
cupping her behind, pressing their bodies even more tightly together. The
blatant evidence of his desire was unmistakable and her body responded to it
insistently. She wanted him. She wanted him with a desperation that she
couldn’t even articulate.
The dog whined then, butting his
large head between them and demanding to be given the lion’s share of the
attention. Breathless, aching, desperate, and more than a little embarrassed
that she’d fallen so easily into Bennett’s arms, Mia backed away from
him.
“What are we doing, Bennett?” The
question was anguished, reflecting the war that raged inside her between the
desire to have what she wanted and the need to do what was best for
everyone.
“We’re doing what we want for a
change,” he replied. “I don’t know why you bailed on me that night. I may never
know… but there’s one thing I’m sure of, Mia.”
“What’s that?”
“Whatever your reason for not
showing up,” he said firmly. “It wasn’t because you don’t want me—because you
don’t want us.”
Forcing herself to move away from
him completely, Mia disentangled herself from his arms. She couldn’t think
clearly when he touched her, obviously. “Wanting something doesn’t mean you
should have it.”
“That’s a fine rule for children… It doesn’t fly with me. I’m a
grown man, and God knows you’re a grown woman. Nobody, Mia, and I mean nobody,
ought to have a say in what happens between us except us.”
AUTHOR BIO
Seraphina Donavan is a hopeless romantic with a
wicked & occasionally dirty mind! Those things, combined with her love of
writing, prompted her to take the leap and transform those fantasies into
written words on a page. As a curvy girl herself, Seraphina has made it a point
to celebrate those women with delicious curves with her work through writing
and the hot men who love them.
She currently has 18 published books and one
anthology and is working on many more.
Living in Central Kentucky, Seraphina spends her
time rescuing stray animals, working for a non-profit agency and dreaming of
becoming a best-selling author. She lives in a home that has more character
than working parts and enjoys spending time with her fur babies. Feel free to
contact her with any questions or thoughts on your mind.. She loves connecting
with her readers & hearing from anyone!
A long time reader of historical romance, Seraphina
writes Paranormal Regency Romance as Chasity Bowlin.
AUTHOR LINKS
Website: http://www.seraphinadonavan.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MissSeraphinaD
GIVEAWAY
There is a
giveaway for a $20 Amazon gift card and a signed paperback of Bennett
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