Guest Blog: The Gunny and the Jazz Singer by Jane Leopold Quinn #excerpt

Thank you, Rebecca, for hosting me today.

I’ve always loved the idea of small towns.  I grew up in one but have lived in the big city for more years than I did in the small town.  I’m not sure I could re-acclimate to a small town after all these years, so I’ll write about them and about the people who live there.

Every time I get to the point of promotion, I try to remember exactly how a particular book came into being. Every book has some sort of motivation particular to that story. For quite a while I had the idea of a three part series taking place in a small town. I love birch trees, and that became the inspiration for the town name, Birchwood Falls. I even drew a map of the town – a very rough map.

My first character was a Marine home on leave after almost a decade of deployments in the Middle East. What kind of woman would be a good foil for his military persona?  Hmm…a young artistic and musical jazz singer. Marc and Phoebe have divergent goals, but their attraction is real and immediate. They’ve both lost a great deal in their pasts but find love with each other.

U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Marc Rahn, Jr. enlisted after high school graduation to escape the pain of his parents’ fatal car wreck. Now on leave after eight years and multiple Middle East deployments, he returns to his hometown to put to rest his suspicions that the “accident” might actually have been anything but.

What he doesn’t expect on move-in day from the neighbor across the street is an intriguing flash of pierced nipple. The breast’s owner, Phoebe Barnes, is a beautiful young jazz singer who has plans to make it big in the music business. Her early years in foster care made her hungry for attention and fame, and she’s out to achieve both at almost any cost.

Despite their differing goals, Marc and Phoebe quickly give in to the sizzling attraction between them. But will their passion turn deadly when the person who killed Marc’s family decides two murders might not have been enough?

Author’s Note:  This book was originally published as Lost and Found.

It now has a new title and new cover.

Apparently skittish, she made sure she kept some space between them on the walk home. No accidental shoulder-bumping. And the distance wasn’t long enough for him.

She was a little-bitty thing compared to his hulking presence. He wanted to sweep her into his arms and carry her close to his chest. Something stuck in the back of his mind. Besides flashing her naked body to him—was it just this morning?—he seemed to recall a flash of something else in the vicinity of her breast.

Sucking in a breath, his cock thickened, throbbing behind his zipper. Suddenly the most important thing to him now was to determine if her nipple was pierced.

As they reached her front porch, she was poised to hustle inside. He wouldn’t be getting any more free shows, damn it all. But as nice as it would be to spend some time with a luscious woman like Phoebe, he hadn’t come home for that.

But still it had been a long time since he’d enjoyed a woman’s body. Phoebe was such a hot little number, all sensual singer combined with an obvious sweetness with her friends. Just one kiss. What would that hurt?Reaching for her hands, he tugged them up to rest on his shoulders and wrapped his around her tiny waist, the firm curve flaring out to soft hips. He fought palming her ass and pressing it against his fully swollen cock.

Gazing down at her, she seemed calm enough as if this happened to her all the time. It probably did if he knew Butch. Cold fury roared through him at the thought of Butch putting his hands on her. Where that came from, he didn’t know. Maybe Butch really cared for her, but it hadn’t seemed like she returned the feelings.

Her mouth parted. She was waiting for him to make his move. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.

A woman’s tongue was one of the many things that triggered his arousal.

He brought his hands up to cup her face, his thumbs prodding her chin up. She pushed up on her toes until their chests touched, and her fingers slid up into his hair. It all happened so naturally, so easily. And their lips met.

Once he started he wanted to ravish her. It had been too fucking long since he’d had a woman. But he steadied his libido and softly brushed her mouth, her warm breath searing his heart.

Caressing her lips, he nibbled, sucking first her top, then her bottom lip. Re-angling his head, he held her steady and kissed her like the starving man he realized he was.

Blood beat through his ears. In his head, he could hear his own tortured breathing. She made soft little sounds in her throat that sounded like arousal to him, like encouragement. Her fingers in his hair yanking at the strands felt like encouragement too.

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Mike Banning, Marc’s childhood friend, watch

Marc and Phoebe struggle against a foe and

then are rewarded by finding love with each other.

Look for Mike’s love story in

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Two county deputies, Hank and Pete, from Parkersburg, a neighboring town,

appear briefly in this story as Phoebe’s home town friends.

These deputies have their own love stories also available now.

Hank’s story is Home to Stay http://amzn.com/B00P3AQ8WQ.

Pete’s is The Keeper http://amzn.com/B0087RW3KI.

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Sensual fantasies were locked in my mind for years until a friend said, “Why don’t you write them down?” Why not, indeed? One spiral notebook, a pen, and the unleashing of my imagination later, and here I am with nineteen books published. The craft of writing sensual romance has become my passion and my niche in life. I love every part of the creative process—developing characters, designing the plot, even drawing the layout of physical spaces from my stories. My careers have been varied—third grade school teacher, bookkeeper, secretary—none of which gave me a bit of inspiration. But now I’m lucky enough to write romance full time—the best job in the universe! And I’m fortunate enough to have found my own happily ever after husband.

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