Need You Now
Cloud Bay, #1
by Emma Douglas
Publish Date: August 29th
2017
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . NEED YOU NOW
(Cloud Bay, #1) . . .
Here
we find ourselves ensconced in yet another small-island-town. A small-island-town
that has charm, beauty, and peace. Caleb is famous. Faith is a child of someone
famous. Together they know maybe just a bit too much of what fame can do to a
soul. The both find their way to the small-town of Cloud Bay for different but
the same reason. They both want to have some peace, a little fun, just some
carefree distraction.
I had
fun and this was a carefree distraction for my afternoon. I enjoyed Cloud Bay,
Caleb and Faith, the ins and outs of fame and if it is truly the life one wants
to lead. There were some good character, good interaction, sweet banter, slow
fun, laid-back entertainment. This was a start to a new community of romance.
Cloud Bay series:
Need You
Now – Cloud Bay, #1
A
Season of You – Cloud Bay, #2
No
Place Like You – Cloud Bay, #3
BLURB
Welcome to the small island town of Cloud Bay,
where it’s never the wrong time to find a love that’s oh-so-right. . .
Caleb White knows what he wants out of life—and being a star tennis player is not it. After speaking to the press about his plans to retire, Caleb decides that a trip to quaint, beautiful Cloud Bay for its legendary music festival is exactly what he needs. There will be time to figure out what to do with his life without a racket in his hand soon enough. Until then, Caleb is content to be stuck on an island with CloudFest’s gorgeous director Faith Harper. . .
The daughter of a famous rock star, Faith knows all about fame, fortune, and hot flings that aren’t meant to last longer than a few good songs. Gorgeous, built Caleb is a temptation she can’t resist, but she’s not prepared for the way he makes her feel. . .and the dreams that they both share. What begins as a carefree distraction deepens into something real. But is Caleb ready to put his celebrity behind him and give life in the slow lane with Faith a chance?
Caleb White knows what he wants out of life—and being a star tennis player is not it. After speaking to the press about his plans to retire, Caleb decides that a trip to quaint, beautiful Cloud Bay for its legendary music festival is exactly what he needs. There will be time to figure out what to do with his life without a racket in his hand soon enough. Until then, Caleb is content to be stuck on an island with CloudFest’s gorgeous director Faith Harper. . .
The daughter of a famous rock star, Faith knows all about fame, fortune, and hot flings that aren’t meant to last longer than a few good songs. Gorgeous, built Caleb is a temptation she can’t resist, but she’s not prepared for the way he makes her feel. . .and the dreams that they both share. What begins as a carefree distraction deepens into something real. But is Caleb ready to put his celebrity behind him and give life in the slow lane with Faith a chance?
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EXCERPT
So maybe that was the wrong thing to
think about.
She steered the car through the
familiar bends of the road from Salt Devil to Danny’s place, not needing to
really pay much attention to what she was doing. She could make the drive with
a bag over her head. Could probably drive all around Lansing that way and never
miss a beat.
Unlike her heart, which was bumping
just that little bit too quickly to let her fool herself into thinking she
didn’t have a rapidly developing case of, to quote Ivy, “flaming panties,” when
it came to Caleb White.
Well, her panties were just going to
have to cool it a little longer.
She let her left hand drift out the
open window, fingers spread to catch the night air rushing against her skin so
one part of her body had a chance to feel cool. “My mom would tell you that’s a
terrible habit,” Caleb said. His voice sounded lower in the darkness.
Rumblier.
Sexier.
Engine vibrations. That was it. Blame
it on the roar of whatever supercharged monster engine Will had put into the
Mustang. That was what was making his voice sound so good.
Note to self: Drive the Prius if you
ever have to share a car with this man again.
“I know this road. There’s nothing I
could possibly catch my hand on.” She turned her head slightly to look at him
for a second. He’d lowered his window too, his elbow resting on the window
frame, his fingers gripped around the top. “And hello, pot, kettle, black. You
do not have all limbs inside the vehicle, Mr. White.”
“My hand isn’t sticking out,” he said.
“And what would your mom say about that
response?” “She’d tell me not to be a smart-ass.”
“I think I like your mom. What does she
do?” “She’s a doctor. I think she’d like you too.”
Faith shook her head. Nope to him
getting any kind of wrong idea. “I’m not really the kind of girl mothers
approve of.”
“Why not?”
“Rock star dad. Tattoos. Not interested
in settling down.”
“You have tattoos?” he said, sounding
intrigued. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“That’s because so far you haven’t seen
any parts of me where they’re noticeable.”
“I see.” He sounded even more
intrigued. “But they’re somewhere a mom might see them?”
“I think it’s more the
alcoholic-rock-star–womanizing- dad thing than the tattoos. My family’s
reputation precedes me. They think I’m going to have my wicked way with their
precious boys and break their hearts.”
“Are you meeting these moms via time
travel? That all sounds very nineteen fifties to me,” he said. “And just so you
know, I am on board with wicked ways.”
She laughed at that. “In my experience,
most men are.” “Maybe the men you meet are smarter than their moms.”
“Oh no.” She pulled her hand back in
the window as the approached the turn-off to Danny’s drive. “The moms have my
number. I’m not the marrying kind, as they used to say.”
“Really?” He sounded skeptical. “Trust
me.”
“I take it this is you telling me that
if I ever get to sample your wicked ways, I should beware?”
She tried to ignore the way the rumble
underscoring “wicked ways” made her want to invent some very wicked ways on the
spot. Dammit. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” She pulled into the drive,
rolled the car to a stop outside the gate. “And, not to change the subject or
anything, but we’re here.”
Caleb blinked. “So I see. Any point in
me asking you in for a nightcap?”
As much as part of her wanted to say
“hell yes,” she shook her head. “Not tonight.”
“Rain check on that too?” “We’ll see.”
“All right,” he said. He didn’t sound
that put out. She didn’t know if that was good or whether she should be a little
insulted. Caleb undid his seatbelt and turned to face her. “Then I’ll say good
night. And I’ll tell you one more thing.” He slid a little closer along the
seat and leaned toward her. Not too close. Giving her plenty of time to tell
him to back off. To say no.
She stayed right where she was. Pinned
in place by the weight of that blue gaze and the pounding in her chest and the
heat suddenly burning through her again. She tried to sound casual. “What’s
that?”
“The same thing I tell my mom when
she’s butting into my love life. That I’m a big boy and I can take care of
myself.” He leaned in close, until his mouth was hovering only a couple of
inches from hers. “Also, that I believe that when you’ve beaten a girl at pool
and hitched a lift with her in a Mustang that it’s only polite to kiss her good
night.”
“Oh,” was all she had time to say
before he closed his mouth over hers.
She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t thought
about what it might be like to kiss him over the last few hours. What sort of
kiss it might be. Most of her first kisses had been the hot, fiery,
let’s-get-naked-fast kind.
Caleb White was undeniably hot but this
kiss was . . . different. His mouth coaxed hers, gently, his hand cup- ping the
back of her neck. Each tiny change in angle he made seemed to connect with a
different nerve. First her lips were tingling, then hot, and then the heat
spread out and down from there in a molten rush.
She opened her mouth and tasted him,
tasted whiskey and man and heat. He groaned but he held her there, suspended
with him in the dark, focused just on him and the places their bodies touched.
She wanted more. Wanted closer.
But as she swayed toward him, tried to
slide around in the seat so she could get nearer, he pulled back, leaving her
startled by his sudden absence.
“Good night, Faith Harper,” he said.
And then he was out of the car walking away from her, vanishing into the night
when he stepped beyond the reach of the head- lights, leaving her wondering
exactly what the hell had just happened.
Copyright © 2017
by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press.
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Author Bio:
Emma
Douglas would love to live in a world where professional napping was a thing.
But until then, she thinks writing books is a pretty awesome alternative. When
not writing about imaginary people, she can be found reading, doing something
crafty, binge-watching TV, playing her latest song crush on repeat, or singing
badly in her car. She lives in Melbourne, Australia in a tiny house stuffed
full of books, too many craft supplies and two cats who take up more space than
you would expect. Find out more about Emma at www.emmadouglasbooks.com.
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Social Links:
http://www.emmadouglasbooks.com/
Twitter: @Em_Douglas1 // @SMPRomance
Twitter: @Em_Douglas1 // @SMPRomance
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