Teaser Tuesday! Here's a teaser from DANGEROUS!

Teaser Tuesday!  Here's a little teaser from DANGEROUS, a YA contemporary romance.  (The teaser mentions vampires, but there are no vamps in the story.)  DEVIOUS, the follow-up book, will be released on Aug. 22.

Dara's POV:

     “What was that about?” I thundered at Stone.  Other than the confrontation between Chance and Stone, the day had been a smashing success.  Everyone had left except for the two of us.  It would be dark soon, and the Fourth of July parties would be gearing up for fireworks before long.
     “What?” he asked innocently as he leaned against the kitchen counter.
     I rolled my eyes.  “You know what.”
     “He’s lucky my fist didn’t connect with his face,” Stone muttered.
     “Seriously?” I asked, my hands on my hips, staring at him as if he were an unruly child.
     He closed the distance between us and hovered just above my face.  “Seriously.”
     “So your parents taught you to behave like a caveman?” I asked, angry with him for his dramatic display of testosterone earlier.
     “Better a caveman than a yellow-bellied coward.”
     “Who are you calling a coward?” I asked.
     “The guy who left notes on my motorcycle warning me to stay away from you.”
     I stared at him in disbelief.  That didn’t sound like something that Chance would do.  Of course, there had never been another guy in the picture since Chance and I had started dating, not that Stone was exactly in the picture.
     “I have the notes at home to prove it,” he continued.  “I say you can make up your own mind as to whether you want to be with me or not.”
I knew that Chance wanted to get back together, but would he have actually contacted Stone?
     “On whether I want to be with you?  Half the time you won’t even speak to me.  What makes you think I would want to be with someone like you?”
     I could see the flicker of emotions cross his face.  His crisp, blue eyes seemed to dim the instant the words tumbled from my mouth.
     He inched closer to me.  “Because I can feel it,” he whispered, his fingers splaying across my hips as he pulled me to him.  “The way your breath quickens, the way your pulse races, the way your heart beats like the wings of a hummingbird.  The way your lips softly part as if they’re waiting for me to do this.”  His lips touched mine as one hand moved to the small of my back, and he pressed his chest against me.  He kissed me gently at first, but then he nibbled at my lip and his tongue slipped into my mouth.  I wasn’t just being kissed.  I was being devoured.  My heart hammered against my ribcage, and before I knew what I was doing, my arms were wrapped around him, pulling him close, kneading his flesh.  I could feel the hard, lean muscle beneath his shirt. 
     Forgetting that I was supposed to be angry with him, I hugged him to me more tightly as if I couldn’t get close enough.  What was it about him that made all coherent thought flee from my mind?
     I pushed him away.  “You know what you feel?”  I didn’t wait for him to answer.  “You feel my astonishment that you really are as conceited as you warned me about.  You’re not as badass as you think you are…but you definitely got the conceited part right.”
     “Ouch.”  He grinned, unperturbed, rubbing his exquisite jawline with his thumb and forefinger.  “And I thought I was supposed to be the vampire.  Be careful, Dara.  Your fangs are showing.”
     I turned my back to him and retrieved my messenger bag from the hook on the wall.  “Guess you’re the one that needs the garlic necklace.”
     He walked up behind me as I was fishing my car keys out of my bag.  I didn’t hear him approach me from behind, but his fingers brushed across the nape of my neck as he swept my hair to the side and his fingertips gently caressed the exposed skin.  “What makes you think I want to ward you off?”
     I swirled around to face him, my ire rising.  “I don’t know, Stone.  Your unpredictable behavior?”
     “Most girls admire my spontaneity.”
     “Spontaneity is not necessarily a bad thing, but when you’re drooling on me one minute and ignoring me the next…I can’t deal with that, Stone.”
     “Drooling?  Seriously, Dara?  I do not drool.” 

Teaser from DEVIOUS

So DEVIOUS is expected to release on August 22.  How about a little teaser straight from the beginning of Chapter 1?

Stone's POV:

    “She didn’t come.”

Her voice was nothing more than a whisper brimming with dejection, and I glanced up from my seat on the couch as Dara knelt at my feet.

She laid her cheek against my knee, and I smoothed wisps of soft, blond hair away from her face.  I searched for the words that would ease her pain and brighten her spirits, but somehow I knew they couldn’t detract her from the betrayal and disappointment that had seeped into her soul.

Anger boiled within me, and I took a deep breath, attempting to retain my control.  Dara was my world, and as much as I wanted to think there was no way in hell I would let anyone hurt her, some things were out of my control.

She covered her face with her palm, and her slender shoulders began trembling.  I hated to see her cry, and my hands instinctively reached for her.

This was not what I had planned.

How often does a girl turn eighteen?  I had wanted Dara’s birthday to be special, and I thought I’d done a pretty good job, considering it was the first birthday party I’d ever thrown.  But now, I felt like I had failed her.

I urged her up from the floor and pulled her into my lap, tucking her face into my neck and muffling her sobs.  I said nothing, just held her, stroked her, soothed her.

When she finally quieted, I scooped her in my arms, stood, and then set her on the couch.  “I’ll be right back.”

I kicked a plump, pink balloon out of my path and went to find my mother.  In the last eight months since Dara and I had agreed to date exclusively, my mother had grown to love Dara almost as much as I did.  Mom agreed to have the party at our house, and she took it a step further by insisting that we have the whole thing catered.  I had decorated our living room in pink and white streamers with a boatload of matching balloons, some filled with helium and some drifting along the hardwood floor.

As I had watched Dara walk the last guests, Crimson and Scarlet Cruze, to the front door, I thought she was happy.  It was obvious now that she had pasted on a smile and laughed with her two best friends in an effort to hide what she was really feeling.

I rammed my hand in my hair, wishing I knew how to make her world right again.

My mother was in the kitchen, wrapping plastic around leftover food.

I briefly explained the situation.

“I’ll take care of everything here,” my mom assured me. 

I bent down and kissed her on the cheek.  “Thanks, Mom.”  I grabbed a pink mint off the plate in her hands and popped it in my mouth.  “Have I told you how awesome you are?”

“You might’ve mentioned it a time or two, but moms never get tired of hearing it.”  She finished pressing the plastic on the edge of the plate and shooed me with her hands.  “Now go take care of Dara.”

I joined Dara on the couch.  “I know what you need,” I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and hoping to lighten her mood.

“What?”

“You need a motorcycle ride with one extremely good-looking guy.”

The corners of her mouth tilted upward.  “Well, let me know when you find one, and maybe I’ll give it a try.”

I stood, pulling her to her feet.  “As luck would have it, I didn’t have to look very far.”

She glanced over her shoulder.  “Where is he?  I don’t see him.”

“Be nice, Dara Golding, or I won’t let you rev my engine.”

DEVIOUS Cover Reveal!

I'm excited to reveal the cover for DEVIOUS, the follow-up book to DANGEROUS, a young adult, contemporary romance featuring Stone Hamilton, a motorcycle-riding bad boy with a soft spot for Dara Golding.  The anticipated release date for DEVIOUS is August 22, 2013.

Add it to Goodreads.