Bella Andre — Love Me

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Welcome Back
Bella Andre

Thanks so much to Leah for having me as a guest on her blog again! How is everyone doing since late spring when I was here last? How was your summer? Any good news roll in? Did you get some time to relax with a few great books? Ever since I got my kindle I’ve been reading like crazy! Of course I loved Texas Tangle. :) It’s still warm here in Northern California, but some of the trees around my house are already starting to turn colors!

I’m here this time around to tell all of you about a book I’m really proud of and thrilled to have finally gotten the chance to write! You see, five years ago, I wrote a book called TAKE ME, about a full figured heroine named Lily and the unrequited love she feels for the hero, Travis. Ever since then, the lovely women who’ve read it have sent me a bazillion emails, all asking the same thing: “When are you going to write Luke and Janica’s story?”

This summer, I finally had the chance to write LOVE ME, and give two characters that I’ve never been able to forget their very own happily ever after. I’ve included an excerpt from the book below. I hope you enjoy it!
Love Me

by Bella Andre


Buy it on Kindle 
Or the Print (via Amazon)  version through Amazon
Or through Smashwords for Non-US/Non-kindle users 

(Note: LOVE ME is not currently available in any brick-and-mortar bookstores. Both the ebook and paperback version can be found online, however.)

It’s been five years since Lily Ellis and Travis Carson got married and fell in love in TAKE ME….now it’s finally time for Janica Ellis and Luke Carson to get their very own happy ending.

If there’s one thing that Janica Ellis is absolutely certain of, it’s that she and Luke Carson are totally wrong for each other. She’s a wild, artistic and outspoken fashion designer. He’s a type A, workaholic trauma surgeon (who just happens to be sizzling hot and her brother-in-law!). But Janica is about to be proven wrong when opposites attract…in the sexiest possible way.

After a life-changing night in the ER, Luke is desperate for escape – and relief from his personal demons. For five years he has fought his attraction to his sister-in-law, but when he’s pushed too far, he can’t fight it another second. He needs her. Desperately. He’s spent his whole life doing the right thing. For one night, he’s going to follow desire instead. Straight into Janica’s arms.

Janica can’t believe Luke is finally at her front door…and that he’s kissing her like he’s been waiting his whole life to touch her. But even as their sensual connection deepens with every touch of skin on skin – and the man she always thought was such a good boy turns out to be sinfully, toe-curlingly bad between the sheets – Janica soon realizes she wants more than Luke’s body. She wants his heart too. But what will Luke do when one night of extreme passion turns into an all or nothing proposition?

Love Me
Excerpt
LOVE ME (Take Me sequel) Excerpt
copyright Bella Andre, 2010

Janica couldn’t get enough of Luke.

She could feel the warmth of his skin beneath his clothes as her hands roamed down his back, then back up and across his broad, muscular shoulders, but it wasn’t good enough. She wanted to know the feel of him beneath her fingertips.

Skin on skin.

Let the love begin.

Oh yeah.

She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this, so utterly consumed by a man, so frantic to get him naked, to feast her eyes and hands and mouth on every inch of his body. Sex had always been at the top of her favorite-things list, but this desire-this total, all-encompassing need-was something else entirely.

So different, in fact, that as she yanked his T-shirt out of his pants and broke their kiss long enough to pull it up over his head, she started freaking out a little bit.

Because with his torso bared before her, with all of that hard heat at her disposal to caress and run her tongue across, she wanted so many things so powerfully all at once that instead of being able to do any of them she found herself paralyzed.

Pressing her hands flat against his chest, she could feel the beating of his heart against her palms. A hard, fast pounding that mirrored her own heartbeat.

So many years she’d dreamed of this moment, so many years she’d thought it would never come, and now that it had, she felt almost frightened.

She lifted her eyes to his at the exact moment that her heart said, I love you.

No.

She stumbled back from Luke, or tried to, but his arms were faster than she was.

She hadn’t read love in his eyes at any point so far tonight, only lust. Pure lust. And now he was saying, “Yes or no?” in a low voice that rumbled through her entire body like a sensual earthquake.

Oh god. It couldn’t be true.

She couldn’t be in love with Luke.

Of all the stupid things to feel for him, love was definitely the stupidest.

She swallowed hard, made herself locate her voice, which felt like it had dropped way down deep into her toes.
“To what question?”

“Tonight. This. You and me.”

Ah, now she got it. He was asking her if she could forget about who they were. About their past. About how this could thoroughly complicate their future. He was asking her to make a choice between risking everything she was for this one night…or running scared from it.

She hadn’t been afraid of anything for a very long time. So why, she wondered helplessly, was she afraid now?
And why had her brain actually thrown the word love into the mix?

His hands were warm on the small of her back, just above the curve of her ass. The heat of his bare chest radiated out to her as she stood in his arms. A bone-deep longing to shut her eyes and lay her head against him while he held her close hit her hard.

God, what was wrong with her tonight? Here she was on the verge of getting everything she’d ever wanted and instead of grabbing Luke with both hands, dragging him to her bedroom, and having her dirty way with him, she was freaking out.

“Yes or no?” he repeated.

She tried to say yes, but all she could get out was, “You already know the answer.”

He shook his head, just as she’d known he would. He wasn’t the kind of man you could fool. He was too smart. Too quick.

“I want to hear you say it, Janica. I need to hear you say it.”

His need rocked through her. She couldn’t say no to him. Just as she couldn’t say no to herself, to her own desperate need.

She licked her lips. Opened her mouth. Finally whispered, “Yes.”

That one small word was all it took for him to take over.


Contest!


I will be giving away a paperback copy of one of my earlier books – TEMPT ME, TASTE ME, TOUCH ME – to one lucky commenter. So please say hello and as we get ready for fall, I’d love to know – what do you most look forward to in autumn?

All my best,
Bella

21 thoughts on “Bella Andre — Love Me”

  1. Hi,

    I enjoyed your post. Thanks for being here.

    I'm looking forward to cooler days and lazy evenings reading books!!

    I also love the changes in colour as summer turns to autumn, the golds, browns, reds, it's beautiful.

    Valerie
    in Germany

  2. Hello & thank you again to Leah for having me here! Sorry I'm a bit late checking in – I just returned from the dentist. :)

    Valeria – Oh yes, I agree that longer, darker evenings to read are wonderful!

    I'm heading off to San Francisco for a writer's lunch (with the fabulous Barbara Freethy, Veronica Wolff, Carol Grace, Teresa Grant & Penelope Williamson – aren't I lucky?!) and will check in again as soon as I return.

    :) Bella

  3. Breaking out the pumpkin spice candles!

    Love your books Bella! I just read Personnal Protection, by Leah and it was fabulous!

    Alison
    Northern Cali

  4. Hi Bella,
    Loved the excerpts.they both sounds like great reads.
    I have been in a bit of a reading slump this summer so hopefully with the colder weather coming I can snuggle up and read more :)

    elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net

  5. Hi Bella,

    I really enjoyed Take Me. I can't wait to get a hold of Love Me. I also have to say I love the cover of Love Me. So yummy.

    I would have to say my favorite thing about fall is the leaves changing colors and the kiddos going back to school.

    Jill
    Northern Virginia

  6. Autumn is my all-time fave season – I love the changing colors of fall…the crisp brisk air…gives me the chance to go on long walks around the city w/o worrying about having an asthma attack – it's all good. *grin*

    *hugs*
    Anna

  7. Great excerpts! Both books sound really good.

    Fall is my favorite season—the changing color of the leaves, cooler weather and FOOTBALL!

  8. Hi, Bella! Congrats on your new release :-)
    What I'm looking forward to is being able to go outside without sweating the second I walk out my front door ;-)

  9. Hello again! I'm back from lunch. Fun and yummy too! Always wonderful to brainstorm such fun stories with such a great group of writers. Makes me want to get back to my own book. :)

    Alison – Thanks so much! And I love candles too.

    Elaing8 – Wow, now you are really making me want to curl up under a blanket with a book! Only probably is it's 100 degrees in NorCal today! :)

    Jill – Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed Take Me! I hope you like Love Me just as much. It was so much fun to go back into Lily and Travis's lives. And how could I have forgotten – kids going back to school is definitely right up there! LOL

    Anna – I love that temperature where you need a sweater, but it isn't freezing cold yet. Long walks on crunching, colorful leaves.

    Estella – Yes, football! :) Glad you liked the excerpt.

    Chelsea – Thanks. I'm really excited about LOVE ME. And I agree, no sweating is always good in my book!

    I'll check in again in a bit after picking up my kids/soccer practice.

    :) Bella
    http://www.BellaAndre.com

  10. Ooh, ooh….pick me, pick me!

    Anyhoo, I love the cooler temps but with warm days still happening. The colors of the foliage are also lovely to look at.

    joderjo402 AT gmail DOT com

  12. Hi Leah & Bella Bella
    Don't enter me.I have all your books. Still have Never Too Hot in my head but I'm not complaining LOL. Just about to order Love me from B & N. Can't wait. Alas, although I hate the heat & humidity, fall signals the end of summer & the start of playing tennis indoors. Nice not to worry about tying my hair back or having the sun in my eyes though.

  13. Congrats on the new release, Bella. I'm looking forward to the cool comfortable weather and I hope to go apple picking this fall, too.

    janie1215 AT excite DOT com

  16. How exciting, Bella! Been waiting for this book since I read Take Me!

    I love the cooler but not cold weather, and the whole soup-stew perfect time of year!

    No need to enter me :) Already on the keeper shelf!

  17. Mary – Hi again! So glad Never Too Hot has stuck with you for so long! :) I hope you enjoy Love Me just as much. And I'm not much of a heat/humidity fan either. My perfect weather is 70 with a light breeze.

    Jane – Thanks for dropping by! We just picked all of the apples off our trees in the front today. Going to make a Dutch Apple Baby with the kids tonight after school. Yum!

    Loretta – Sounds lovely!

    :) Bella

  18. Hi Bella
    I really like autumn.The weather is perfect.I love lounging in my garden,with a book.And I love going on long rides on my Scooty to nearby picnic spots.How can I forget to mention the tasty and juicy fruits available!!

    Loved reading the excerpt.Looking forward to it.

    Sneha

  19. Hi Bella!
    I have all your books, down to even the Ellora's Cave ones, as you know!
    I LOVED Tempt Me , Taste Me, Touch Me as well! Would LOVE to have a signed copy too!

    What I love most about Autumn… Curling up with my hunky sexy man in front of a fire or taking brisk walks through the crunching fallen leaves with him!

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