Sunday, April 17, 2016

What a Tangled Web They Weave...

...When First They Practice To Deceive...

Coming May 3rd... The third installment of the Secret Lives Series


For a little sneak peak at Jessy and Trey... Read all the way to the end




WHEN FIRST THEY PRACTICE TO DECEIVE

Pre-order your copies here!


Author: Carolyn LaRoche
Series: The Secret Lives #3
✦SYNOPSIS✦

All Jessy Wallace wants is a happy marriage, but her husband is a liar and in over his head…

Jessy has spent the last decade happily married to her husband, Sam. But when she finally lands a job at Dixie’s Place, a hole-in-the-wall diner, she learns not all is well in paradise. Officer Sam Wallace has been spending the majority of their marriage in the beds of other women. Fed up, Jessy kicks her husband to the curb.

The last thing she wants is another messy relationship…

Uncertain if her husband ever truly loved her, Jessy gets caught completely off guard by the intense attraction she feels for Trey Smith, the night cook at Dixie’s Place. But she recognizes some telltale signs, and discovers he’s an undercover FBI agent. Jessy curses herself for falling for another lawman. To make matters worse, her soon-to-be ex-husband might be involved with Trey’s case.

After the death of his wife, FBI agent Trey Smith has spent the last four years married to his work…

But when Jessy starts waitressing at the diner where he is working undercover, he falls head over heels for her. Her ex-husband, however, is one of the top suspects in Trey’s case, and all Trey wants to do is protect her. He can’t lose this once in a lifetime chance at love.

Jessy is the soon-to-be ex-wife of a suspected criminal. 

Trey Smith is an undercover FBI agent. 

Can their love overcome the odds, or will it all come crashing down under the weight of lies and deception?

✦ COVER DESIGNER 
WICKED BY DESIGN




Dixie dumped her packages on the counter with a grunt. “Where the hell is that cook? Trey!

Trey’s appearance in the dining room was announced by the slam of the back door. His cheeks were red. Jessy caught sight of a cell phone sticking out of his shirt pocket. Trey rubbed his hands together.
“It’s mighty frosty out there tonight. Was just taking out the trash. You need something, Dix?”

“How many times have I told you not to call me that? It sounds too much like dicks.” She swatted at him but Trey sidestepped the hit.

“Aw lighten up, Dix, no one is going to think that of you.” Jessy experienced an annoying twinge of jealousy as Trey ran a long, lazy glance over Dixie’s body, making the woman flush a deep crimson which just made her look sexier. Jessy glanced down at her own, curveless frame and frowned. Life is so unfair.
“Just take this stuff into my office so I can sort it.”

“Sure thing. What’s in all these packages anyway?” Trey flipped open a box lid. “Christmas decorations?”

Dixie shrugged. “Well, yeah. It’s December.”

Trey rummaged around and pulled out an ornament of a tiny ballerina. “Shattered dreams going on the tree this year, Dixie?”

“Gimme that!” Dixie snatched the figure from Trey’s hand.

“Okay, so which one of us is the angel supposed to represent? Knowing all of you like I do, I have to go with the only logical conclusion. Me.”

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re a real angel all right.” Arnetta gave Trey a searing look, like the ones they write about in romance novels.

“You know nothing about my angel status.” Trey returned the angel to the box as he winked at Jessy. “That is a mystery that remains to be discovered. Oh wait, maybe this will help.”

“What is it?” Jessy, intrigued by the contents of the box as much as she was interested in just how much Arnetta knew about Trey’s status, stepped forward. Trey whipped around to face her, his hand on his head.

Only it wasn’t resting on his head. It held a little sprig of green vegetation in his hand and a grin on his face that rivaled that of the Chesire Cat. Mistletoe. Aw, crap.

“Oops, I’m stuck under some mistletoe. You know legend says I have to kiss the person nearest to me.” His eyes burned into Jessy’s skin as her cheeks heated to new proportions never before experienced.

“I don’t think that’s quite how it goes,” Arnetta said.

“Shut up! He’s about to have his meal!” Surrey whispered loudly behind Jessy.

“I think the legend says someone is supposed to kiss you.” Jessy looked into Trey’s  eyes without blinking.

“Breaking legend is bad luck. Very, very bad luck.”

“I think you mean tradition. It’s bad luck to break tradition.”

“Legend. Tradition. Whatever. All I know is you are leaving me hanging and potentially exposing both of us to many years of pain and suffering.”

Jessy could feel three sets of female eyes on her, but she only cared about Trey’s. His eyes were so warm and so welcoming, and they were doing things to her insides so she couldn’t think straight.

“Well, I guess we wouldn’t want that.” She rose up slightly on tip toe, closing some of the height gap between them.

“No. I guess not.” He leaned forward, closing just a little more of the distance.

“It’s never a good idea to tempt the fates.” Jessy heard three breaths sucked in as one.

“Nope. Definitely not.”
Freezing air wrapped around them as the sounds of laughter and chatter suddenly filled the diner.
“Show’s over, folks. Time to make some money.” Dixie grabbed a few bags and headed to her office.

“Trey! Get the rest of those boxes for me then get in the kitchen!”
Trey stepped back and lowered the mistletoe, never breaking eye contact with Jessy. “Yes, ma’am! I’m right behind you.”

He blew her a little kiss then stepped over to the counter, scooped up the boxes, and was gone before Jessy could remember to breathe.

Surrey was the first to grab up a notepad and take a table, but not before she whispered in Jessy’s ear, “Just like I said. Looks at you like his next meal.”




Other Books in the Series

Undercover in Six Inch Stilettos

In The Shadow of the Shield

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Cover Reveal! When First They Practice to Deceive


✦✦ ✦✦ COVER REVEAL ✦✦ ✦✦
WHEN FIRST THEY PRACTICE TO DECEIVE

Author: Carolyn LaRoche

Series: The Secret Lives #3
✦SYNOPSIS✦

All Jessy Wallace wants is a happy marriage, but her husband is a liar and in over his head…


Jessy has spent the last decade happily married to her husband, Sam. But when she finally lands a job at Dixie’s Place, a hole-in-the-wall diner, she learns not all is well in paradise. Officer Sam Wallace has been spending the majority of their marriage in the beds of other women. Fed up, Jessy kicks her husband to the curb.

The last thing she wants is another messy relationship…

Uncertain if her husband ever truly loved her, Jessy gets caught completely off guard by the intense attraction she feels for Trey Smith, the night cook at Dixie’s Place. But she recognizes some telltale signs, and discovers he’s an undercover FBI agent. Jessy curses herself for falling for another lawman. To make matters worse, her soon-to-be ex-husband might be involved with Trey’s case.

After the death of his wife, FBI agent Trey Smith has spent the last four years married to his work…

But when Jessy starts waitressing at the diner where he is working undercover, he falls head over heels for her. Her ex-husband, however, is one of the top suspects in Trey’s case, and all Trey wants to do is protect her. He can’t lose this once in a lifetime chance at love.

Jessy is the soon-to-be ex-wife of a suspected criminal. 

Trey Smith is an undercover FBI agent. 

Can their love overcome the odds, or will it all come crashing down under the weight of lies and deception?

✦ COVER DESIGNER 
WICKED BY DESIGN


To get books 1 and 2 in the series, click on the links below:
Book 1: Undercover in Six Inch Stilettos

Book 2: In the Shadow of the Shield

✦✦ ✦✦ CAROLYN LAROCHE ✦✦ ✦✦ 


Carolyn LaRoche grew up in snow country but fled the cold and ice several years ago. She now lives near the beach with her husband, their two boys, two finicky cats and one old dog. When she is not at the baseball field cheering on big hits and home runs, she is busy teaching science to unwilling teenagers.




Saturday, April 2, 2016

Release Information And A Little Something Extra

I'm very excited to announce that the third book in the Secret Lives Series will be released on May 3 by Limitless Publishing! I'll be sharing the cover here in just five days...and it's absolutely awesome!! I can't wait for you all to see it.

As a little treat in preparation for the cover reveal, I am sharing one of my favorite parts of In the Shadow of the Shield with you today.  Diana is finally pulling out mourning and allowing herself to live again...




      If you haven't read this book yet, you can get a copy here...or borrow it free in kindle unlimited



“So, what are you doing here anyway?” she asked as she pulled a couple of tea bags from a canister on the counter. “Obviously you’re on duty.”
He shrugged and offered a sheepish smile. “Would you believe that I missed you?”
She returned the smile. “I definitely wouldn’t mind if you did.” 
“You almost shooting me aside, is it okay that I dropped by? I was down the street on patrol, and my unit seemed to develop a mind of its own. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in your driveway.”

“You can stop by anytime. I’m glad you did.”  Diana set out two mugs, dropped the tea bags in them, and reached for the lemon juice and honey she kept handy.
Carter caught her hand from across the counter and held it, caressing the palm with his thumb. “It’s been a long week. I never minded going home to my empty apartment before. Now, I can’t stand how lonely and cold it is. For the first time since my wife left, I feel like I have a reason to be a little bit happy. Being with you makes me happy.” He looked up at her. “Too much too soon?”
“No. I have been pacing the house for days, hoping Louie would text you so you would have a reason to come by. Crazy, huh?”
“Not at all. I wanted to, but I figured you needed a little space after—how did things go with your son the other day?”
The tea pot whistled. Diana poured steaming water into both cups and passed Carter one of them with a spoon. “Jackson misses his father. He’s struggling with the idea that life has to go on, and you have to admit, he did happen in on us at a very inopportune time.”
 “Yeah, no kidding. It took me half the afternoon…”
“Half the afternoon to what?”
 “Let’s just say that kiss didn’t end in my mind for a good long time.”
“You youngsters are so dramatic!” She flipped a dish towel at him. Carter caught it in one hand, and his expression turned serious.
 “Why are you so hung up on our age difference? It’s only eight years. If I were older than you, would it even occur to you to care?”

She felt her cheeks heat up as Carter watched her intently. “I—I don’t know. I mean, it’s a little strange to me to have someone so much younger—I mean, the way I—” She threw her hands in the air in frustration and turned her back on him. “Look, Donnie was my high school sweetheart. I loved him for more than half my life. I still love him. I was not prepared for the way I would be affected by a man other than him.”
When she turned around again, Carter was standing there, his eyes filled with desire and emotion. “I’m not trying to take Massey’s place in your life. I had no idea when I went to the cemetery that—oh, I don’t even know. I was looking for you, yes, but only because I wanted to know what really happened to Massey. I wasn’t prepared for the way—for what’s happening either. I’m still not. Not really. I’m broken, Diana. I have a mother who didn’t love me, and a wife who couldn’t love me enough to stick around. It’s only been a week since I met you, and it has been the best time in my life in a very long time. I only want the opportunity to get to know you, see where— if anywhere—this thing will go. And figure out what really happened to Massey.”
 “How do we even know something happened to him?”
“It’s a gut feeling. That’s all I can say.” They were standing very close. Too close. She could smell that musky soap of his again, and it was all she could do to stay where she was. He sure looked good in that uniform. Too good. She moistened her suddenly dry lips with the tip of her tongue.  “Don’t do that.”

“What?”
 “Lick your lips that way. I have to get back on the road in a minute, and that might make me quit my job so I can see you do that again.”
She giggled like a schoolgirl. “Oh, you can’t do that. Your uniform is half the appeal. Don’t you know, once a badge bunny, always a badge bunny?” She tapped the badge on his chest with one finger.
“Badge bunny, huh?” In one smooth move, his arm slipped around her and his lips pressed to hers in a quick kiss. “I hate to leave, Madam Bunny, but the streets of Virginia Beach are begging to be kept safe.”
 “What kind of crime is there in a resort town in the middle of the winter?”
 “You’d be surprised. Hookers still got pimps to pay, no matter how cold it is. Crack heads still need a fix, and drive-bys are very popular this time of year. The discerning gangster prefers not to freeze the family jewels to get the weekly quota of shootings in.”
“I suppose that makes sense, since it was this time last year when Donnie got mixed up in that supposed meth case.” No sooner had the words left her mouth that they heard the ringing of a cell phone.
Carter let her go and dug into one of his pockets. “That’s the Louie phone number. A text message.” “What’s it say?”
 “He says he wants a pizza with his Snickers and his Mountain Dew.”
 “What?”
“Hold on. Another message is coming in. It’s a photograph.”

“A photo of what?”
“Hard to tell. It’s pretty dark, but it looks like three people. He says he caught them leaving the house, and they are the same guys he saw the other night.”
“Ask him who they are.” Her heart rate picked up at the thought of a possible lead. “Are they cops?” Carter tapped out a message and then waited for Louie to reply. “Okay, he says they left and locked the place up tight. He doesn’t know who they are, but he is certain they are the same guys he saw the other night.” Carter typed in another message, then set the phone down on the counter by his radio. It buzzed almost immediately with a message from Louie, promising to let them know the second the men returned, as long as he could have an extra-large double cheese pie. “All right, as much as I hate to go, I need to get back out on patrol. Lunchtime is over.”
 “Lunch time? Was I supposed to be a quickie on your lunch break?”
Carter grabbed his radio and clipped it back on his belt. “Trust me, baby, if that was why I was here, there would be nothing quick about it.”