I have had nothing but the best experience with Samhain Publishing, although I will admit when my first editor e-mailed me back within weeks of receiving my submission and said “I love it” and “I want to offer you a contract” I was skeptical. But that was only because I’d been brainwashed by the traditional publishing world into believing what I write wasn’t good enough, marketable enough, commercial enough or something else not enough. I quizzed Lindsey a little about her background thinking, does she really know what she’s doing? But turns out she did, she does, they do!

Excerpt from A FOREVER KIND OF GUY

Ray appeared that evening as she was about to go in. She’d smoked her cigarette and dawdled over her wine, half of her hoping he’d join her and the other half terrified he would.

She stood, ready to extinguish the candle, when he opened the screen door. He didn’t say anything but she could feel his gaze on her in the near-darkness. Her heart started to pound, and she tingled like mad inside and out.

He took the two steps necessary to get close to her, but he still didn’t say anything. Tension filled the air. She could almost see the electricity sparking around and between them.

He inched even closer. He cupped her head, his thumbs below her jaw. His fingers slid along that sensitive area right below and behind her ears and into her hair.

She made a sound of some sort due to protest or fear or excitement. She wasn’t sure which. She felt like she was being torn in half, terror and anticipation battling it out inside of her.

He kissed her. God knew a part of her had hoped he would. Yet somehow, the moment his lips touched hers, she had the sense of being outside herself looking down at the two of them. She could sense Ray holding back. He wasn’t going all crazy on her. He nibbled and caressed as if looking for a way in, if only she’d let him.

She couldn’t relax. She wanted to. She wanted to give in to everything she was feeling, everything he was making her feel, could make her feel.

She had a crazy flashback, right in the middle of Ray’s kiss, of Trey kissing her for the first time. She’d already been head-over-heels for him. That first kiss was the culmination of the delicious crush she’d had on him from the moment she’d met him. She’d let herself be out of control with him, without giving it a lot of thought. If she followed her gut instinct, she didn’t see how she could go wrong.

But she had. They had. It had all gone horribly awry between them. And what if, oh God, what if she gave in to Ray and the same thing happened all over again? Everything she’d once felt for Trey, the love and admiration and joy she’d taken in their relationship had turned to disgust and contempt and disappointment.

She sighed, wishing she could turn her brain off for a while, a good long while, long enough to enjoy kissing Ray more than she was. He pressed closer and oh God, it felt good to be this close to him, to feel the evidence of his interest in her.

The sigh had parted her lips, and Ray took that as an invitation. Deepening the kiss got her to pay attention. Her mind shut down, and she was there, right there, in the moment with him.

Her back pressed against the door, and she was sandwiched between it and the hard length of Ray’s body. He’d slid his arms around her, and one hand clutched her bottom, holding her close to him.

His lips traveled along her jaw to her ear, down along her throat to the vee of her tee-shirt. Her temperature shot sky high. Heat rose off him in waves.

When the edge of his hand brushed against the side of her breast, she stiffened. Ray was no dummy. He knew exactly when the tide turned. He braced his hands on the door above her shoulders, his face inches from hers. She didn’t want to look at him, didn’t want to face him or confess her fears, but she made herself do it anyway.

“I’m not—I can’t.” How exactly to explain to him the jumble of feelings she could barely analyze for herself?

“I figured.”

“Figured what?”

“That you weren’t quite ready.”

Hayley crossed her arms over her chest. Ray always seemed to be one step ahead of her, and she wasn’t sure she liked it. “And you thought, what? You’d come over and see if you could seduce me anyway?”

He grinned at her. “Hey, I’m a guy.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “You are a guy.”

He tugged her arms away from her chest, and she let him. He held her hands and moved in close again, loosely pinning her wrists against the door behind her, linking his fingers with hers. “I just figured,” he said as he brushed his lips against hers, “I could start warming you up.” He kissed her again, gently. “For when you are ready.”

“What if I’m never ready?” she mumbled between kisses.

“Then I’ll wait.”

“How long?”

“Long as it takes.”

“What if it takes forever?”

“It won’t.”

“But what if it does?”

“Then I’ll wait forever.”

Hayley smiled against his lips. “You will? Why?” She knew he wasn’t serious, but she found his declaration oddly reassuring.

“Because that’s the kind of guy I am,” he whispered.

“What kind of guy is that? A forever kind of guy?”

“Mmm.”