With only 48 hours back on home soil for Christmas, United
States Army Corporal Saskia Cullen is desperate to spend every minute with her
young son. So when heavy snowfall closes JFK airport and she misses her
connecting flight to Buffalo, she’s devastated. Until Navy SEAL Luke Gray
offers to keep her company… and then personally escorts her home.
Luke is back in the US on leave, waiting to hear the details
of his next mission, and Saskia proves to be a pleasant distraction. And when
he hears that she needs to get home to see her son, he’s prepared to do
anything to help the sexy single mom. Trouble is, he hadn’t planned on falling
for anyone, let alone a beautiful soldier about to return overseas.
About the Author:
As a child, Soraya dreamed of becoming an author. Fast
forward more than a few years, and Soraya is now living her dream! Working as a
freelance writer and now a professional author too, she writes every day and loves
her job. Soraya describes being an author as "the best career in the
world", and she hopes to be writing romance for many years to come.
Soraya loves spending her days thinking up characters for
books, and her home is a constant source of inspiration. She lives with her own
real life hero and son on a small farm in New Zealand, surrounded by animals
and with an office overlooking a field where their horses graze.
For
more information about Soraya, her books and her writing life, visit
www.sorayalane.com or follow her on twitter @Soraya_Lane. She would love to
hear from you.
Excerpt:
“Luke?”
He
raised his eyebrows but didn’t look at her again, the snowflakes suddenly
falling with more insistence on the windscreen, making it hard for him to see.
“Shit,
hold on.”
She did
as she was told, obeying Luke’s command. “How the hell can you see through
that?” she asked.
He
grimaced. She could see a tightness in his face that hadn’t been there before.
“I
can’t, but I need to find somewhere safe to pull over.”
Her
heart dropped. They weren’t even half way there and the storm was coming in so
bad she was starting to think they could be snowed in for the rest of the day.
Or worse.
Luke
had slowed the vehicle to a crawl, but now they’d come to a dead stop. He
opened his door and jumped out before she could protest, disappearing into the
whiteout without a jacket on, before reappearing and leaping back into the
truck.
“Luke
you must be frozen.” She unbuckled herself and reached out to him, hand
hovering before closing over his arm.
Luke
stayed still, his body no longer shivering like it had been when he’d stepped
back in. She hesitated, stayed still, wondering if she’d done something wrong.
“I
don’t think we’ll be going anywhere for a while,” Luke told her, his voice
husky and low, turning away only to flick the hazard lights on.
Saskia
swallowed then nodded. “Okay.”
They
both stayed still, staring at one another. Until Luke reached out a hand, broke
the silence and stillness and reached for her, his palm cupping her cheek. “I
will get you home, Saskia. No matter what happens, I promise.”
She
gulped again, not able to break their gaze, staring into the depths of Luke’s
dark chocolate eyes like a spider trapped in its own web. Saskia didn’t answer
him, just slowly nodded. He still hadn’t moved his hand, and it was no longer
cool, warming up from its connection with her skin.
It
seemed like she wasn’t breathing, like she couldn’t have breathed if she tried,
as if there wasn’t enough oxygen to even make it possible. Until Luke moved
closer to her, his mouth hovering over hers, and suddenly all she could do was
suck back short, silent bursts of air.
“Saskia…”
As he murmured she leaned closer, couldn’t help herself.
But it
was Luke who kissed her. His lips grazed hers so gently, so carefully, that she
thought she’d imagined it. She reached her hands up, cupped his face with one,
mirrored his action, and clutched at his shoulder with the other. A shiver
licked its way down her spine, made her lean closer into him, and Luke didn’t
need any further encouragement.
“Hey,”
he suddenly said, pulling back slightly and looking down at her.
Saskia
knew she was blushing – her face was burning. “Hey,” she whispered back.
They
stared at one another again, like they had before. Not saying a word, but
Saskia’s mind was racing. Was she actually doing this? Making out with a guy
she’d known for less than 24 hours, and ready to rip her clothes off it meant
staying close to him?
“We
might be stuck here for awhile,” he said, voice low as he glanced out the
window. They were surrounded by white. “Maybe quite a while.”
Luke
cleared his throat, but Saskia didn’t miss what he was trying to hide. His eyes
flickered past her, only for a second, but not fast enough for her not to keep
up.
She
glanced over her shoulder, made certain there was nothing else there, that he
was actually thinking what she was. That he was struggling to look at her for
the same reasons she was struggling to look at him.
Luke’s
eyes said it all. They were inquisitive, mesmerizing… hungry. And her fingers
were itching to touch his face again, her lips tingling, ready to be covered
with his.
She was
having that problem with not enough air again. Because she wasn’t this kind of
girl. She’d never had a one-night stand, never done anything reckless with a
man before, never done anything risqué in her personal life. Not ever
.
Screw
it.
Saskia
flicked her tongue over her lips, nervously moistening them, before closing the
distance between Luke’s body and hers. She leaned in closer, kissed him full on
the mouth, and pushed back his shoulders as she landed in his lap, straddling
him.
She’d
flown halfway across the world for a 48 hour trip home, and she was damned if
she was going to waste it. She might not be able to make it to where she was
supposed to be going, but she sure as hell could make it a trip stuck in the
snow that she’d never forget.
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