Hi, all. The latest version of Give Yourself to Me (re-release of 2010 book with a whole BUNCH of new material) went live yesterday. I’m sharing two excerpts: one from the original version and one taken from the new material. I am really digging this book. I had such a good time writing it! Enjoy these excerpts on me. But first, the summary:
If Dr. Hollis Delacroix had known she’d be falling in love with a future vampire-murderer when she was seventeen, she…probably…still would’ve fallen in love. Hilliard had been irresistible then, and he was twice that now. She’d stood him up on prom night and fourteen years later, he’s finally found her, and boy has she got some explaining to do. But so does he. He never told her that he was a vampire. But worse than that is that he’s suspected of killing other vampires and the bodies are winding up in her morgue. Talk about having some explaining to do!
Hilliard Ashley doesn’t go around biting people willy-nilly, and never in his life has he drank anyone’s blood without their permission. He’s just not that kind of vampire. He’d explain all that to the woman he’s been in love with since they were seventeen if she’d just let him. He cannot believe that the girl he’d known as Rose is now the big shot New Orleans medical examiner named Hollis Delacroix. He’s thrilled to have found her, but she’s looking at him for the murders of four people. Okay, so maybe he DID kill two of them, but he has his reasons. All very good ones, too. She’d see that if she’d just stand still long enough for him to explain.
He doesn’t care if her name is Hollis or Rose. Hill just wants her back, and he wants her back with such desperation that it’s almost enough to be embarrassing. He wants ALL of her, no holds barred. She’s his, he’s hers, and they both know it. They knew it when they were seventeen, and there’s no use pretending. Of course, just when Hill sees the light at the end of the tunnel and thinks he can breathe easy, an old pain-in-the-ass nemesis tracks him down and is determined to get his revenge through Hollis, which predictably sends her scurrying away again.
Damn.
Can a vampire (a pretty nice one, by the by) catch a break?
Excerpt One:
New Orleans
April 2009
He scented her before he saw her, and shocked to his core, he stiffened in recognition. It might have been fourteen long years since he’d detected her scent, but it was one he’d never forget. Like a wolf sensing its mate, Hilliard Ashley unerringly looked in the direction from which she came. Except for where he and the others were standing under the bright lights, it was pitch-dark, but he saw her at least a minute before anyone else did, or could have, even if they’d been paying attention. She wore black skinny jeans and a breast-hugging black T-shirt over her tall, thin frame, tying everything together at her waist with a wide black leather belt. Black kick-ass boots covered her feet.
Of course she still had that lazy, graceful walk that had always driven him mad with lust and made her look like she had no place special to be, and if she did, then it could wait. He narrowed his eyes. Everyone could wait, as far as she was concerned.
Two large dogs, one on either side, loped down the street with her. They too appeared to be in no hurry. When she was about a hundred feet from where he stood, Hill heard her give the dogs a soft command and watched as each dog obediently stopped and gazed adoringly after her as she kept walking. Finally she came into the light, and still she took her time.
“Here comes La Belle Dangereuse,” Hill heard one of the men next to him say in a thick Cajun accent, and fascinatingly, as one unit, everyone — the paramedics, the crime-scene techs, and even the damned police officers who were supposed to be watching him, their suspect — stopped what they were doing to turn to watch her approach. Hill refrained from shaking his head in disgust. She’d always had that effect on people.
“Not too fond of that dick of yours, are you, boy?” an older man asked the Cajun. “You’d better not let the good doctor hear you call her that, or you’ll find out just how well you can get along without it.”
Hill heard a deep, heartfelt sigh of longing come from the young technician next to him and had to agree with the sentiment, even as he hated himself for it.
Laughing heartily, someone slapped the sighing man on the back. “Don’t even think it. Dr. Hollis Delacroix isn’t even in your stratosphere, son.”
Hollis Delacroix? What the fuck? Hill thought. She really had wanted to get away from me.
“Jesus, just look at her,” a female paramedic about thirty feet from Hill said in a low voice. His sensitive ears picked up the words and the envy. “She looks gorgeous even at this time of night.”
“Yeah, how dare she,” the lone female cop said drily in reply. “On anyone else, what she has on would just look like an ordinary outfit, but on her, it’s a freaking ensemble. What a selfish bitch. Hey! Dangerous Beauty!” she yelled and emphasized the nickname. “When you’re done attracting helpless supplicants, you want to get your heavenly ass to work so we mortals can get out of here sometime tonight?”
Hill, who had listened to all the conversations going on around him but hadn’t taken his eyes off his target once, watched as a fond smile split the doctor’s face and she turned her head in the other woman’s direction.
“Bite me, bitch,” she said mildly, making the cop laugh.
“Not tonight, honey. I’ve got work to do. And besides, I wouldn’t want to make anyone jealous.”
Her lips twisted, and she obligingly flipped the cop the bird, but Hill could tell the doctor’s attention was focused on the dead body as she gave a general greeting to everyone and pulled on latex gloves. She hadn’t seen him yet, and Hill wondered what her reaction would be when she finally did notice him. He didn’t have long to wait. Her searching eyes eventually came to rest on him. One elegant arched brow was the only indication of her surprise.
“Well, Hilliard Ashley,” she drawled in that same husky voice that had seductively dogged his dreams as a seventeen-year-old and still did all these years later. But now, Hill just considered the act cruel. “What on earth are you doing at my murder scene?” she asked. And then that damned familiar crooked grin appeared on her face. “You my murderer, cher?”
Excerpt Two:
“I smell another man on you.”
That was not the response she’d been expecting, and Hollis whipped around to stare at him in surprise. His stance was filled with tension. “I beg your pardon.”
“I said, you smell of another man.”
The way he said it was possessive and almost accusatory. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and crossed her arms. “Just what are you implying?” she asked slowly through clenched teeth.
“I’m not implying anything. I’m simply stating a fact. You smell like a man’s cologne and his own unique scent, whoever he is. It isn’t your dad, because I remember what he smells like underneath that Old Spice he likes so much. Who have you been hugging?”
Hollis continued to stare at him for a moment. What the fuck? “How in the hell do you know that? Did you know I kissed him, too?” she challenged. Before she knew it, Hill was stalking her, walking with determination toward her until she was backing up in surprise. She soon found herself with her back against the wall with him staring down at her with anger in his gaze.
He put an arm above her head and leaned in and down to kiss her, his tongue a rampaging invader. There was no preparation, no wooing, and no coddling. His lips were on hers and his tongue was in her mouth, making a swath through it as if taking up ownership. His sudden possession made her squirm in surprise and delight, and her hands went to his chest just as she stood on her toes to assist in her own claiming.
Hollis sucked hungrily on his tongue, her body and mind remembering him and desperately wanting more. Helplessly, she fell into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as the familiar weakness for him invaded her body. He ended the kiss by pressing his lips lingeringly to hers, but coming back again and again for more, as if he couldn’t help himself. Hollis was back on her toes trying to capture his mouth in another deep kiss.
Hill tried to tame his inner beast that wanted to conquer and devour. He’d swear he saw red when she said she’d kissed someone else. He supposed his kiss was meant to wipe the other man from her mind. All he could think was, how dare he. This unknown man. And how could she? When she stood on her toes to receive him, he growled, feeling a sense of triumph and when she slumped weakly against him, he felt vindicated. “Who is he?” he whispered against her mouth as she tried to capture his mouth in another kiss.
“Hmm? What?”
He looked at her. She opened her eyes and looked at him. He watched in fascination as her pupils went from unfocused to focused, and with laser-like intensity. Suspicion entered her eyes and he winced, knowing he’d asked the wrong question.
“Fuck off,” she said in a soft, sweet tone that nonetheless brooked no dissension. “I’m not telling you.”
The book can be found at the following retailers:
The last two retailers offer the book in multiple formats, so it isn’t necessary to own a kindle or a nook. Thanks for your attention!
Best,
Lisa
Lisa G. Riley.com 