"HOW IT BEGAN" BLOG TOUR~ KALLYPSO MASTERS

Welcome to stop #15 in Kallypso Master’s “How it Began” two-day blog tour. Thanks for having me, Scandalous Book Blog

If you’re just joining in, you can get a list of the tour stops in order at my Ahh, Kallypso…the stories you tell blog page.

Now for the last excerpt in the “How it Began” blog tour, again from the upcoming Somebody’s Angel, to be released sometime in December.

"Marco! Marco D'Alessio!"

Angelina turned in the lobby of the condo building that adjoined the resort to watch as a curvy Italian woman approached, long black hair fluttering loose over her shoulders, her enormous boobs arriving a half-second before the rest of her. Something in the way she devoured Marc with her eyes raised Angelina’s hackles. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous, but her eyes were empty, cold, and calculating when she cast a disdainful glance Angelina's way.

Marc tensed as well, causing Angelina to turn her focus to him. His nostrils flared as he narrowed his gaze. Angelina curled her fingers around Marc's elbow before realizing she was being territorial. Not to mention more than a bit insecure. Oh, as if that's something new. Reminding herself that Marc was with her, Angelina glanced back at the woman and caught another cold glare aimed at her.

Bitch.

The word popped into Angelina's head, surprisingly accurate.

"Melissa. How are you?" Marc's cold response and stiff body told Angelina all she needed to know. He didn't like her, whatever their history might have been. Angelina's gaze went to the perfect globes protruding from the woman's chest. Definitely silicone.

Okay, now who was being the bitch?

Angelina plastered a smile on her face and squeezed Marc's elbow. As if suddenly remembering her presence, he stared down at her but didn't smile as he made the introductions.

"Angelina Giardano, meet Melissa Russo. She was Gino's fiancée."

Gino's? With the emotion sizzling between these two, something more than an engagement to his dead brother lingered between them. Would he be honest and tell her when they were alone? He'd lied to her once before to protect her feelings and keep from scaring her away, which he would have if he’d told her he’d been with her that first disastrous night at the Masters at Arms Club. She’d wanted no connection to the events of that scene again.

Wait. Did she really want to know about the women in Marc’s past?

Yes.

No! As long as they remained old flames and past tense, that is.

When the woman tried to kiss Marc, he turned his face away, and her red-slathered lips branded his cheek. Angelina released his arm and started to pull away—whether to put distance between them or deck this bitch trying to make a move on Marc, she didn’t know. But Marc wrapped his arm around Angelina’s waist and pulled her closer.

Mine.

Angelina relaxed.

"If you'll excuse us, Melissa, we have dinner plans."

Ignoring Marc, Melissa glared at Angelina again and then added, "Mama asked me to join the family for dinner tonight to welcome you home."

Marc's arm jerked reflexively against her back before he relaxed it again. Angelina wished the floor would just open up now and swallow her whole if she was going to have to sit through this meet-the-parents meal from hell with not only Marc's intimidating family but a woman who might be an old flame, too.

Ever polite, Marc held his arm out to indicate that Melissa should precede them across the lobby. Angelina got the full impact of Melissa's perfectly shaped ass and fuck-me stilettos as the woman undulated toward the elevator alcove. While Melissa didn't wobble at all on the heels, Angelina would have fallen flat on her face.

Brass-encased, filigreed mirrors on three walls of the elevator alcove made it impossible to look anywhere without seeing Melissa's absolutely stunning body. Tearing her gaze away from the woman's perfection, Angelina looked up at the floor numbers above the elevator doors, watching as one of two cars made its way slowly to the first floor.

She wished she'd gone with Damián and Savi to dinner at the lodge. She did not want to be here. The red floor numbers blurred, and she blinked away tears of frustration and trepidation. When the bell dinged and the door opened, Melissa walked into the elevator with her head held high, as if she owned the place. She turned and pushed the button for the floor she obviously knew by heart, giving Angelina a smug look that clearly stated, "I belong here. You don't."

When Angelina would have followed her into the elevator, Marc's arm around her waist held her back. Puzzled, she looked up at him as he grinned at Melissa. Angelina followed his gaze.

"Tell my mother we've been detained a bit, but we’ll be there shortly."

The doors began to close on a glaring Melissa, who realized too late she'd been outmaneuvered. Angelina smiled back at her as the doors closed.

"Come, cara. We need to talk."

Oh, Dio. Her triumphant joy was short-lived. What had this woman meant to Marc?

Leading her back toward the lobby, he guided her into a secluded corner where expensive burgundy velvet covered an empire sofa in between two matching wingback chairs. The furniture surrounded an inlaid mahogany coffee table where she could see their reflections overlapping the view of Aspen. Marc turned her toward him. Melissa's lipstick stood out against his cheek and she reached down to pluck a couple tissues from the container on the coffee table and set about wiping that woman's mark off her man's face.

Mine.

Memories of the marks he'd placed on her ass from her spanking earlier made her smile.

Marc's jaw was as hard as steel. "What questions are scurrying through that busy mind of yours, cara?" Angelina looked down, but his hand on her chin forced her to return her gaze to his face. "We have no secrets. No lies. Ask me what you want to know, and I will answer your questions."

"Who…" Angelina cleared the frog in her throat and started again. Over the past few months, Marc had insisted she tell him truthfully whatever was on her mind. He'd been equally forthcoming whenever she needed to know something, as long as she asked the right questions. She'd never needed to ask the right questions more than now.

"Who is she? What does she mean to you?" Was. She meant was, not is. Dio, please don't let the woman mean anything to him anymore.

Marc's warm fingers brushed a stray hair off her forehead. "She's nothing to me now. But there was a time when I was prepared to propose to her."

Mio Dio. Angelina didn't want to know that he was attracted to someone that perfect. That beautiful. Angelina could never have a body like that without serious reconstruction. She wouldn't do that for any man. Not even Marc.

Marc grabbed her too-plump upper arms as she struggled in vain to pull away.

"The operative word, pet, is 'was.' I found her in bed with Gino the day I had planned to propose."

She searched Marc's gaze. More relief than regret hid there, and she let herself relax a little more. "Did you love her?"

He grinned and shrugged. "I was young and horny and mistook that for love. In these past few months, you’ve shown me how stupid I was back then by exhibiting real, lasting love. Let's just say I was a young man unable to get beyond the woman's surgically enhanced body to see the phony person inside.” A glint of mischief shown in his eyes. “Besides, you know I prefer yours to plastic ones."

He reached up, and Angelina looked toward the hallway as she hissed, "Don't you dare!"

Marc ignored her discomfort and tweaked her nipples, sending heat pooling to her core. "Marc…"

He lowered his face to hers and captured her lips in a searing kiss that only left her wanting more. His teeth pulled at her lower lip, sucking it into his mouth. Her tongue entered his mouth and tangled with his before she broke away from him, drawing ragged breaths into her lungs.

He'd already left her on the edge of an orgasm once today. If she made it through this dinner without yanking him into the bathroom for a quickie, it would be a miracle. She could just imagine how swollen and well-kissed her mouth must look now.

She hoped it was obvious to Melissa when they got upstairs.

Meow.

Free and Almost Free Books Available in the Rescue Me Series

For those wanting a free glimpse into the Rescue Me world, you can get started with the FREE introduction, Masters at Arms. This book introduces six characters who will go on to have happily ever after Romances shared about them. (Adam & Karla, Damián & Savannah, Marc, and in a small part here but with more to come later, Grant.)

Better yet, because I don’t want you to stop there, I’ve just released a new combination e-book download of the first TWO books in the series—Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel—for only 99 cents! You save $3 off the cost of purchasing Nobody’s Angel as a single. Nobody’s Angel introduces you to Angelina and shows her exploration into the world of BDSM, but Marc remained so closed off still in this book, it won’t be until the December release, Somebody’s Angel, that readers will come full circle with this couple. The paperback version of Masters at Arms & Nobody’s Angel is 467 pages long, so this is a bargain at 99 cents! You’ll find buy links to all of my books, which currently are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords, at my Ahh, Kallypso…thestories you tell blog page.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kallypso Masters writes emotional, realistic Romance novels with dominant males (for the most part) and the women who can bring them to their knees. She also has brought many readers to their knees—having them experience the stories right along with her characters in the Rescue Me series. Kally knows that Happily Ever After takes maintenance, so her couples don’t solve all their problems and disappear at “the end” of their Romance, but will continue to work on real problems in their relationships in later books in the series.

Kally has been writing full-time since May 2011, having quit her “day job” the month before. Masters at Arms was her debut novel (published in August 2011), followed by Nobody’s Angel, Nobody’s Hero, and Nobody’s Perfect. A change of plans for the series will make Somebody’s Angel, the continuation of Marc and Angelina’s romance, the next in line. “These two came up in the writing of Nobody’s Perfect and threw me for a huge loop with an issue Marc and I had no idea about before. They became a major distraction from Damián and Savannah’s story, so I decided to give them their own space to reach their Happily Ever After ending at last.” The storyline and time frame for Somebody’s Angel parallels the one in Nobody’s Perfect, which is why readers saw glimpses that there were some problems for the couple. But Damián has his hands full and wasn’t privy to all that was going on.

Kally lives in rural Kentucky and has been married for almost 30 years to the man who provided her own Happily Ever After. They have two adult children, one adorable grandson, and a rescued dog and cat.

Kally enjoys meeting readers at national romance-novel conventions, book signings, and informal gatherings (restaurants, airports, bookstores, wherever!), as well as in online groups (including Facebook’s “The Rescue Me Series Open Discussion group”) and live online chats. She hopes to meet you in her future travels!

THE BOOKS OF THE SERIES

Previous stop was www.ftlobblog.blogspot.com

Giveaway Time! Free eBook in the Rescue Me Series!

At each of the 15 stops, I’ll be gifting one randomly chosen reader a copy of a book in the Rescue Me Series (a $4.99 value), chosen from Nobody’s Hero, Nobody’s Perfect, or the soon-to-be-released Somebody’s Angel. Fill out the Rafflecopter for your chance(s) to win! As with all of my giveaways, this is open internationally. And we’ll also send through the mail some cool swag items, including this red Ka-thunk! pen, hand fan, a Masters Brat button, and other cool stuff! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway