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This past summer was crazy busy. We took an unexpected vacation thanks to a friend, had friends visiting from France, enjoyed a few weeks with my sister here from Sweden.
And suddenly it’s October????
That’s okay with me because it means an end to 95-degree days (35 C) and it brings us closer to the ebook and audiobook release of Seduction Game. It’s my first full-length book since my cancer battle, and I’m super-excited to share it with you.
Waaaaay back when Extreme Exposure was first released, my editor at Penguin told me she hoped I wasn’t planning on having a book for Holly. She just didn’t see Holly as heroine material.
I kept my thoughts to myself, because of course I planned on Holly getting her own story. I understood where my editor was coming from. Holly isn’t your typical romance heroine, that’s for sure, and 10 years ago it wasn’t common to see a heroine with a lot of sexual experience outside of erotica.
Fast forward about eight years, and my editor asked me if I planned on having a story for Holly. I most certainly did have a story for her. I reminded my editor what she’d said back when the I-Team series was new, and we laughed about it.
Seduction Game is the lightest, funniest, and, some reviewers say, sexiest, I-Team story to date. It has to be, right? This is Holly we’re talking about.
Here are some spoiler-free quotes from early reviews off Goodreads:
Sunny wrote: “Perfect romantic suspense. I had no idea where Pamela Clare was going to go with Holly’s story, but she made it BRILLIANT.”
Danielle wrote: “This is only the second book I have read from Clare and the I team and wow I seriously loved it! Clare delivers another fast paced story that kept me up until the early morning hours.”
Kame wrote: “You will LOVE Nick and Holly. Their love story is one of my ALL-TIME favorite books – and you know I read a lot of books. She is now my favorite heroine – not just ITeam heroine.”
I really love that because Holly is my favorite I-Team heroine, too.
The research for this story included interviewing a former CIA officer — Nick is a CIA paramilitary officer— as well as a forensic computer expert. I really enjoyed learning more about both fields. For example, did you know that federal agencies use Twitter and Facebook a lot? I didn’t. It enables them to communicate while hiding in plain sight. I had a lot of fun with that in the story.
The book will be out on Oct. 20 both in the US and in the UK, with the mass market paperback release slated for March. You can preorder now for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and audiobook. It’s also available for Kindle in the UK.
Also, the audiobook is being narrated by the amazing Kaleo Griffith once again. He sent me a snippet just as a treat, and I loved it.
If you haven’t tried the I-Team or haven’t stayed current with the series, that gives you almost three weeks to get caught up.
I’ve been cautioning I-Team fans against reading reviews. Apart from a couple of reviews on Goodreads, most contain serious spoilers that will take away a lot of the fun of the story.
Let’s get this final countdown underway. How better to do that than with an excerpt? Here’s snippet that includes Marcangelo — that’s Julian and Marc — meeting Nick for the first time under rather ... awkward ... circumstances.
Nick and Holly the morning after....
Nick awoke the next morning to the sound of someone pounding on his door.
“Holly, are you there?”
What the hell?
A man’s voice. More pounding.
He came fully alert, found Holly still asleep in his arms, lashes dark on her cheeks. “Wake up, honey. I think we’ve got company.”
“Holly, it’s Julian!”
Her eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright. “What time is it?”
Nick glanced at his alarm clock. “A little after nine.”
“Nine? Oh, shit!” She tried to get out of bed, but they were tangled together with the sheet, and she would have pitched headlong onto the floor if he hadn’t caught her.
“Holly! Open up!” a second male voice demanded.
Nick kicked away the sheet, stood, and went in search of a means to cover his bare ass, finding his jeans at the foot of the bed where he’d dropped them. “Don’t they know it’s Sunday morning? People sleep on Sunday morning.”
Especially people who’d been fucking all night Saturday.
“They’re taking me to the police range to teach me how to shoot my new handgun, and I forgot,” she said, darting around his room as if searching for something—her clothes. “Well, I didn’t forget, exactly, I just didn’t think I’d still be here. I was supposed to be dressed and ready to go.”
Nick ought to have remembered this himself. He knew about the 9mm Glock 19 Gen 4 she’d bought, knew her cop friends had agreed to take her to the police range this morning to teach her to shoot.
You’re slipping, Andris—in more ways than one.
He didn’t want to think about that just now.
He stepped into his jeans, found her panties, and tossed them to her.
“Where’s my bra?” she glanced around.
He tried to remember. “I think it’s back in the living room.”
“Oh. Right.” She darted out of the bedroom, putting on her panties as she went, a sight that was both amusing and arousing.
He didn’t know a person could do that while running.
She found her bra, and quickly put it on, then retrieved her dress, which was now wrinkled from a night on his floor. She drew it over her head then went in search of her shoes and purse.
He bit his lower lip. “Holly, honey, your dress is inside out.”
More pounding on the door.
“Holly, it’s Marc! Open up!”
Nick shouted back. “Shut the hell up! We’re coming!”
Poor choice of words.
They both laughed.
“It’s not funny.” Holly struggled out her dress, turned it right side out and shimmied back into it. “They’re going to know.”
“I hate to break it to you, honey, but I bet they already know, given that they’re knocking on my door and not yours.”
A look of comprehension dawned on her face, followed by one of resignation. “That’s freaking fantastic. I’m going to get lectured. You don’t know these guys.”
Actually, he knew a lot about these guys—probably more than she did.
“Hey, you’re over eighteen. It’s your life.” He walked to the door, hoping to open it before the two men beat it down with their fists. “You ready?”
She grabbed her purse, slipped her feet into her sandals, and nodded.
Nick didn’t have the heart to tell her that her hair was a tousled mess—or that she smelled like sex.
He opened the door to find Darcangelo and Hunter on his doorstep. They glared at him, their gazes softening when Holly stepped into view.
“Sorry! I—”
“I kept her up all night watching old movies,” Nick said.
He knew neither man would buy it, but if it saved Holly embarrassment and kept them from beating his face in…
“How fast can you get ready to go?” Darcangelo said. “We don’t want to lose our range time.”
“Just give me five minutes.” Holly dug in her purse for her keys then turned back to Nick, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Tonight?”
“Yeah.” He caught her and kissed her, nice and slow, just to piss off the two men.
Then Holly unlocked her door and disappeared inside her own home, and Nick found himself, alone and shirtless, facing two big guys who looked like they wanted to deck him.
“Nick Andrews.” He held out a hand, and they shook.
“Marc Hunter.”
“Julian Darcangelo.”
“So… You guys part of Holly’s security team?”
Hunter nodded yes.
Darcangelo shook his head no.
Then the two of them looked at each other.
It was Hunter who finally spoke. “We’re the guys you’ll get to know really well if you do anything to hurt her.”
(c) 2015 Pamela Clare
I am really looking forward to Holly and Nick's book. I love your books, realistic characters and with researched plots!
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you. Enjoyed the excerpt. I look forward to reading Nick and Holly's story. Oct. 20 can't come soon enough.
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