COVER REVEAL for Elise Harper Today

It is with pleasure that Elise Harper is my guest today. A Marriage of Inconvenience cover is debuting today. Sounds like a good read. What say you? Let's give her a warm welcome!

Blurb:                                 

Izzy Thorton’s mother is dying.

                                         
Her best friend, Sebastian Leery, made Izzy’s mother’s dying wish come true.
                                              
Now Izzy and Sebastian are getting hitched in a quickie ceremony.

Among the myriad of problems for Izzy including her new husband’s little black book, his workaholic tendencies, and his hidden, although not so secret love of BDSM—she’s actually in love with him. Caught with the task of proving to him that his self-perceived sins hide a man only his secretly submissive best friend could accept, can she convince Bash before he pushes her away for good?

 Sebastian Leery’s mother was murdered in front of him.

To spare his best friend pain he’ll renounce his playboy ways.

Now he needs to be a man he never thought he was capable of becoming—for his wife.

But his difficulties have only begun when his demons rise to the surface and tap dance all over his new marriage—with the potential to scare away the most important woman in his life. When Izzy insists she’s in love with him, he yearns to rip off the mask of normalcy, and bare it all so she knows the monster behind the man. Torn between her vision of him and his reality, Sebastian must walk a thin line. Can he convince Izzy that she’s in love with a mirage, without destroying their relationship in the process?

Tied together for life, will they choose to tighten the ropes, or break their bonds for good?

 

 

First Excerpt:

 “Whoa, easy there, buddy.” Bash laughed. “You can’t kill me with a look, no matter how much you try.”

She came close to clawing out his trachea.

“Where in the hell are we going to find wedding dresses? Where are we going to find a ring? A tux? Someone to marry us? Huh, Einstein? Did you even think this through at all?” she spat out pushing him backward as he stumbled into the wall with a laugh that only infuriated her even more. “It’s not even close to funny!”

“It really, really is, Izzy. Why’d you agree to marry me so soon, anyway? Kind of a strange agreement for someone who’s now pissed about it, wouldn’t you say?”

“Just shut up.” Izobel thrust both hands through her hair and raked her nails down her scalp.

With a huge huff she moved to brush past him and head off to the parking lot before his hand shot out snatching around her wrist. Izobel made a small, strangled noise of surprise.

“Come. Here.”

Two seconds later, she was locked in his arms, surrounded by the inescapable warmth of his muscular, lean build. Her fingers tingled where they pressed into his well-built chest, while she was caught in the deep pools of his blueish-gray eyes. His smirk only intensified as shadows from the overhead lighting played down the to-die-for angles of his cheekbones. Her brain short-circuited as her pulse throbbed in her skull blocking out all other sounds or thoughts.

“Wha—”

“No, you shut up,” Bash whispered and kneaded his fingers into her lower back until she had two jelly doughnuts below where her knees used to be. Her eyes must have been wide and epically confused, because he licked his lips with the hint of a smile. “We’re going to do this properly.”

There was a twinge in his voice, a register she’d never heard before that made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle, and a shudder rolled down her spine. Whatever was happening between them, she hadn’t gotten the memo.

“I—”

“What did I say?” The sudden authority to his tone brooked no argument, and Izobel attempted to pull backward only for him to yank her forward until the last inch between them was history. “Don’t argue with me.”

Forced to confront the buildup of muscular man fantasy she’d been missing out on for years, she was in no way disappointed by the solid warmth pressed up against her from knee to neck. But Sebastian didn’t need to know that. Unfortunately, she was positive her face projected her feelings like the Hubbell telescope on steroids. One of his hands trailed up her back, fingers teasing her sensitive skin through her thin shirt, and she let out a small noise. When he cupped the back of her neck in a show of absolute dominance she stopped breathing.

“I’m going to kiss you. You’re going to kiss me back, do you understand?”

This was it. It was happening. Izobel squeaked, and either Bash didn’t notice or didn’t care because his mouth crushed down on hers, and nothing else mattered.

His tongue swept over her lips demanding entry, and despite her verbal jabs she went pliant in his arms. Boneless beneath his greedy, take charge attitude, Izobel allowed him to ravage her mouth while dizzying desire pooled low in her belly. He was a man used to getting what he wanted—and for a single second, Izzy really liked being what he wanted most of all. Beneath the crushing, delicious torment she became swept up in him. When his fingers tightened to bruising on the back of her neck she repaid him by biting his lower lip until she tasted pennies. But he merely growled, intensifying the kiss. She was drowning in him. Unsure what was real or fantasy as his free hand roamed over her ass and back to her waist as she curled her hands into his motorcycle jacket.

He took advantage of her mouth in every way imaginable until she could only hope to keep up, and the rest of her body screamed for release. She was at his mercy. Aware of every inch of him pressed tight, eager, and ready. Each of his movements was a claim, almost angry in his possession as he took her against him. But there was no part of her that she tried to hold back, to keep safe. Despite her mind’s knowledge that it was a bad idea, her body was all in, uncaring of what happened so long as they stayed locked together for one more second.

She didn’t pull away. Not until she was resting back on her feet and Bash’s hand eased around her hip as if to steady her, still so close she could sense his warm breath on the tip of her nose. The sharp sound of applause broke the moment into a million pieces. They both swiveled around toward the nurses’ station where the employees were clapping and wolf whistling behind the desk giving loud shouts of encouragement.

“There’s no need to stop on our account. That’s the best thing we’ve seen all day.” A passing nurse remarked, tucking back a lock of red hair with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“Shit,” Bash muttered rubbing the back of his neck.

Was he actually embarrassed? Izobel could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen him embarrassed—of course, right now she couldn’t count at all until her head stopped spinning. When she licked her lips, she tasted him. Peppermint, vanilla, and something…masculine. Spicy, maybe? His fingers dug into her hip. But when she looked back into his face, she saw no consciousness of his action.

“Well, at least we know we won’t have one problem in our marriage,” he exhaled and dropped his hand as if he’d suddenly realized he was still touching her and shoved it in his pocket. “I guess you should go back to your car, right? I’ll be over soon. Quick.”

“Uh, sure.” Izobel narrowed her eyes, still not processing much past the tingling of her lips and the streak of pinkish red lighting up Bash's high cheekbones. “Are you…?”

Bash waved with one hand, turned on his heel, and all but ran in the opposite direction. His long legs made quick work of the never-ending hallway. Before she knew it, she was standing alone with her mouth opening and closing like a fish seeing nothing of her surroundings.

“A word of advice?” A woman wearing scrubs elbowed her in the ribs. “Don’t let that man go, you got it?”

“We’re getting married in two days,” she said in an eerie monotone, still processing the slow burn that was working its way through her veins from his touch.

With that as the start of their new relationship, whatever else she had to look forward to flashed across her brain in a naughty tussle of limbs, lips, tongue, and teeth.

“What have I gotten myself into?” she breathed.

“Something you don’t want out of, trust me,” said the nurse.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it?
 

Second Excerpt:

“You shouldn’t have come. You know that, right?” He stood off to the side slinging his arm around the huge carved banister post.

“I think I grasp that concept more than you truly realize. Thanks.”

He grunted at the sarcasm. The dominant part of him wanted to spank her for her insolence, but she wasn’t one of his subs, so he leaned harder on the banister until the wood indented his side, causing a stab of pain. Much easier to think that way. Otherwise, he might throw her over his shoulder and caveman her out of the club until they were back at the hotel where he’d lock her in bathroom for the night with a pillow.

“How can I have known you for so long, known everything, and known nothing at all? I…I love you…but…” She buried her head in her hands and sighed with a sadness that made him flinch.

“You can’t.”

He hadn’t meant the words to come out so harsh, but they were out.

“I can’t?” Her head didn’t move.

His fingers tightened until he sensed the pain overwhelming his joints and traveling all the way up his arms into his neck.
          “You can’t accept this for me. I wouldn’t ask you to embrace a monster. Sure, you may have loved a part of me, a fragment that you’d built in your head, but when have I ever been someone to love to anyone? I’m dark, twisted, and fucked up. No one should carry me as a burden around their neck, least of all you.”

“How dare you tell me what I feel and don’t feel!” Within a matter of seconds, she’d vaulted up from the stairs and was advancing on him, pushing him back into the wall behind them with the calculated steps of a lioness stalking her prey. He’d never thought to see all that deliberate, fiery passion unleashed on his account.

A quick flash of what it would be like to subdue it beneath his hands made him choke on a small moan. He was disgusting. Her eyes blazed despite the low light. The time for diffusing the situation was clearly long past, and so he hugged the wall to keep from reaching out, slamming her back into the opposite wall, and taking advantage of all the emotions that were pouring out of her and onto his skin. He wanted to bathe in her anger until her screams turned to soft pliant whimpers—and it was wrong. Everything inside him knew it.

When a growl leaked out from between his lips and he fisted his hands through his hair to keep from reaching out for her, the implied threat did nothing to stop her progress. Their bodies pressed close enough that he could smell the thin sheen of sweat that beaded along her body.

“You were someone for me to love this morning. Yesterday. The morning before that, hell, Sebastian, when you offered to be my husband to give my mother a small bit of peace, you were as good as I’d ever seen you. Why can’t you understand that?”
           “Because I forced you into that too, didn’t I?” He glared at her for all he was worth.

“Will you just shut up?”

He repressed the barest curve of a smile. That wasn’t a first, but it was nice to know she could still put him in his place while they were practically in each other’s faces. Shit, he needed to focus. She was pissed while all he could think about was shimmying her out of her little skirt, bending her over the banister, and sliding into her wet heat until she screamed for him. Yet, he’d pretty much killed any chance of that happening earlier. God, he was a mess.

“You’re selfish, snide, always late, and you can’t clean a dish to save your life. You hate paying bills and you always forget my birthday. But damn it, liking what you like sexually doesn’t make you a monster. You never had to do what you did with my mother. It’s not your job to make her life easier or happier, so why can’t I love you for it?” She threw her hands up in the air, before snatching the back of his head.

Before he could gather himself, Izzy’s soft, warm lips were pressed to his, and he was kissing her until nothing else registered. His arms crashed around her until somehow they’d switched positions. Her small hands molded to his chest shifting a wash of goose bumps across his upper body until he shuddered beneath her touch. He took her mouth with careless possession, bruising and plundering with his tongue until they were both breathless. As if he was no longer in control, his mouth slid down her neck, biting her rocketing pulse until she made a small noise in the back of her throat. He liked that noise. He liked it a lot.

“Make it for me again,” he moaned against her flesh, and she shuddered, pressed back against the gold leaf wallpaper.

His teeth clamped onto her shoulder pressing down against her sweet flesh and her fingers dug into his shoulder blades, nails pressing in until he knew he’d be marked for at least a few hours. The idea of it nearly drove him to madness. When he drew back from her pure skin it was a shiny red as his hand reached to grasp her breast. She pulled him closer, inviting his oblivion. God, he’d never known he wanted her so badly. And now it seemed he could barely want anything else again. Their eyes locked for the briefest of seconds as he dove his left hand into the cup of her tank top dragging out one of her gorgeous, plump breasts from where it was hidden.

The sight of her partially dressed made him forgot how to breathe.

“Please don’t stop, Bash. Please don’t stop.”

 He dropped his hands as if she’d held a gun to his head.

Stop, please. Please, stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

He shook his head, pressing his fingers into his temples until he thought they might go through this skull.

 

Her blood dripped onto the broken tile floor, tiny plinks that made him gag while he huddled in the corner. The monster of a man still loomed over them. His shadow seemed to crawl up Sebastian’s body like a living thing that would infect him, make him evil, too. Each choppy breath through his nose brought the tang of copper. No matter how hard he closed his eyes, it kept happening—always—with no breaks.

“Please,” she whispered, voice hoarse from screaming. “Please, no more.”

Sebastian peeked through his fingers. A bruise curved her cheekbone, her nose was bleeding, and she was cradling her wrist to her chest, her arm hanging at a funny angle. The nasty gash on her head wouldn’t stop bleeding. It was an old one. But it kept reopening every time…a wash of adrenaline made him clutch his stomach, clenching his teeth. No matter what he couldn’t draw attention to himself—he’d learned that lesson well over the past ten years.

Never make a sound. Never say a word. Be invisible.

He couldn’t stop shaking while the monster advanced cracking his knuckles. When the monster knelt down he couldn’t see his mother anymore. The sharp crack of his palm connected and Sebastian flinched into himself. At least, it was open palm—when he used his fist the noise crunched, not went flat.

“You deserve this, don’t you, Addy?”

“Yes, I deserve this.”

“You like it. Tell me you like it.”

“I like it. I need it, baby. I need discipline.”

“Good. I only do it for you. Only for you.”

She wasn’t bleeding from five different places. He would only stop when she was bleeding from five different places because that was how many times he’d offended her today. Every day, it was something new. Lessons. Their special little lessons, because the monster loved her and wanted her to be her best.

Soon she’d stop crying and accept it. Soon he’d start.

Until next time my pets...be safe and play nice... Gray