Skin Deep is out!

How amazing — to write a book and have it available for you in just a couple of weeks. It’s almost interactive because you’re reading it so soon after I’ve written it. This is my first truly self-published book. Although my first two historicals, Sweet Release and Carnal Gift, are currently self-published, they were first published by Dorchester in print. So this is the first time I’ve handled everything beginning to end on a book.

Skin Deep is the also first novella in my I-Team After Hours series. Here’s a quick description:

Broken on the inside



Megan Hunter has worked hard to get back on her feet, leaving the nightmare of her teenage years behind. The last thing she wants or needs in her life is a man. But when she is attacked by someone from her past, a scarred stranger intervenes, saving her life and that of her little girl. Looks can be deceiving, for despite the man's rough appearance, she feels safe with him. And for the first time in her life, she knows the stirrings of desire.



Broken on the outside



Nathaniel West paid a high price serving with the Marines in Afghanistan. He returned to his family's ranch in the Colorado mountains to heal — and be alone. Disfigured as he is, he has put all thoughts of sex and romance aside. But something about Megan brings him back to life, heats his blood, makes him feel like a man again. As danger pursues her, and the truth about her past is revealed, he vows to protect her — and to heal her wounded spirit. 

But confronting the past is never easy — especially when it’s carrying a gun. Megan will have to learn to trust Nate to survive and to claim a passion that is much more than ... Skin Deep. 

The story is more than 47,000 words long — that’s pretty long for a novella —and includes at the end a 5,000-word I-Team short, “Marc & Julian Make a Beer Run.” The story is a thank-you to my most hard-core I-Team fans. The title is somewhat deceptive because all the guys pile into Zach McBride’s SUV, though it’s Marc, Julian and Zach who enter the liquor store. The roles each hero play in the story and their significance were determined by the annual I-Team hero vote held in the I-Team group on Facebook. Marc has won two years in a row, followed by Julian, then Zach, then Gabe, then Reece. As a result, the story is told from Marc’s point of view, with lots of Julian, some Zach, some Nate, a bit of Gabe (an important bit, I might add) and smidgen of Reece.

For excerpts from Skin Deep, read these earlier blog posts or visit the Rock*It Reads website or my own website.

For a special treat, I thought I’d offer a tiny glimpse at the Beer Run, in part because so many hardcore I-Team addicts are reading it first. Yes, they’re going to the very back and reading about the Beer Run first!

Here’s a quick excerpt from the Beer Run — six alpha males on a mission:

How Marc’s volunteering to make a beer run with Darcangelo had turned into six men packed into McBride’s SUV—Ramirez had been called out on assignment—Marc couldn’t say. The moment the women had heard they were going into town, they’d been pelted with requests. Kat James, Rossiter’s wife, needed baby wipes. Kara McMillan, Reece’s wife, had forgotten to bring ice cream to put on top the pie. And Megan wanted something of a personal and private nature, which she had revealed only to her husband.

And their beer strike force had become an expedition.

“Here’s how we’ll do this.” Marc looked back over his shoulder. “Alpha Team—that’s me, Darcangelo, and McBride—will take the liquor store, dropping off Beta Team—that’s Sheridan, Rossiter, and you, West—”

“Whoa! Wait a minute!” Rossiter cut Marc off. “I’m not part of any beta team.”

“Yeah, me neither,” West added. “And don’t even suggest ‘Baby Wipe Patrol’ or ‘Tampon Squadron.’”

So that’s what Megan had wanted.

“Okay, fine.” Marc nodded. “Alpha Team will take the liquor store, dropping Team One off at the grocery store. We rendezvous at the vehicle in the liquor store parking lot at eighteen-hundred hours.”

They had their strategy. Each man knew what he had to do.

Marc would be back relaxing on the deck in no time.

Here are the links for downloading your own copy of the novella and short story, which are packaged together.