Recognizing Earth Weekend...with Sexy Vets

I'm participating in a blog-hop right now for Earth Weekend, and what better way to celebrate it than with e-books and gift cards for prizes??? No paper products! To join the hop, as a reader or an author, just click this link here.
While my books aren't exactly about recycling, they are about finding new life after the old one didn't work out. I write about Marines that have returned home, battle-damaged and heart-sore, that are forced to rebuild their lives when the military discharges them.

The prequel of the series, The Embattled Road, is free! If you click on this cover it will take you directly to Amazon.










Book 1 of the series is titled Embattled Hearts, about a wheelchair bound former Marine trying to save the woman he's falling in love with.  No, there's nothing in the book itself about recycling or being Earth conscious, but it is wonderful to watch John Palmer's transformation from hard-ass Marine to nice guy. Here's an excerpt.

John sat back in his chair, with a hand across his flat belly. “I can’t eat any more. That was wonderful.”

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“I mean every word of it. It’s better than anything I’ve ever had before.”

Shannon felt her brows lower skeptically. “Oh, please. I’m an okay cook, but certainly not fantastic.”

“After MREs, hospital food and take-out, believe me, this is ambrosia.”

Shannon tipped her head forward. “Well thank you very much for the compliment, John. It’s the least I could do.”

She took a piece of chicken over to the box in the corner and broke it into little pieces. One she gave to the mother, and the others to each of the kittens. John rolled over behind her, and peered down into the box. He scowled as he watched them spit and hiss at each other. “Why are they doing that?” he demanded.

Shannon smiled and separated two of the kittens. “Well, they haven’t been eating solid food very long, and they’re trying to establish a pecking order. They don’t usually hurt each other.”

She handed a small gray bundle of fur to John. “This is the runt of the litter, and I try to feed her a little more than the others.”

John held the kitten awkwardly in front of him. The young cat’s paws batted the air, looking for something to claw into.

“No, no, hold her against you, like this.”

She settled his hand against his chest and shaped his fingers around the little creature’s bottom. Shannon didn’t even realize how close she had moved to John until she looked up and found him staring at her. Hard. With those heavy black brows furrowed and his dark eyes full of burning emotion.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, and pulled away quickly. She snatched another kitten out of the box and tucked it under her chin.

John’s kitten started to purr.

“What’s it doing now?” he demanded.

Shannon laughed at the ferocious frown on his face. “Relax,” she told him gently, “she’s just purring. It means she’s comfortable and likes what you’re doing.”

John eased back in his chair and eyed the cat.

“Haven’t you ever had a cat?” she asked him curiously.

John’s face lost all expression, and a subtle tension eased into the air. “No, I haven’t. Animals weren’t allowed at the boy’s home where I grew up.”

“Oh.” Shannon felt like a heel as the revelation about his childhood settled into her. It explained so much of who he was.

“I didn’t mean to dig things up,” she told him finally.

John shrugged and stroked the kitten on the top of its head with a huge finger. “No big deal. You didn’t know.”

“So, have you ever had any pets?” she asked finally.

John shook his head. “None. There was a stray dog I used to toss scraps to outside my window at the orphanage, but he wasn’t around very long before the pound caught him.”

Shannon felt her eyes fill with helpless tears. How very sad. No animals in his life at all, and the one small contact he had destroyed by the dog catcher. She still had three horses at her parent’s house in Colorado Springs she needed to decide what to do with. She’d always had animals in her life. From hamsters and hermit crabs as a child to horses and cattle she showed in 4-H in her teenage years. Actually, she couldn’t remember ever not having an animal in her life.

John fondled the kitten around the ears, and the little animal purred just as loud as she could, her eyes slitted shut in rapture. Shannon knew she would do the same thing if John handled her that way too.

“She really likes you,” she told him softly.

John made a non-committal grunt, but he continued to run his big fingers gently over her coat.

“You know,” Shannon murmured, “I’m going to have to find homes for these before too long.”

John immediately held the kitten out to her. “No, thank you. You’ll find a better home for it than with me.”

Reluctantly, she took the dangling kitten from his hand. She wouldn’t push him on it. They wouldn’t be ready to wean for a couple of weeks yet, anyway. Setting the two gently in the box, she turned back to John.

And caught him as he glanced away from her ass.

 

Embattled Hearts is on sale now at all outlets. Here's the link for Amazon. 

I sincerely thank you for stopping and hope you enjoy the books!

One person who comments on my Earth Day blog will be chosen for a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card, plus there is the huge blog drawing you'll be entered for as well. And to recap the weekend, we're having a chat on Sunday at 7pm eastern time here. That's where all the drawings will occur, so you may want to check it out!

Thanks!!!

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