Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Featured Author: Eva Charles

Welcome Today's Featured Author
Eva Charles!!



Petite Madeleine (Meadows Shore #3) 
 
The Claytons and Harringtons are back!

Drew Harrington loves baseball, drumming and Cassie Anteros, although not necessarily in that order. After his parents die, Drew finds comfort in all the wrong places, until Cassie discovers him passed out, facedown, in his own vomit.

Cassie Anteros is a big-hearted, sheltered princess who Drew abandons when he leaves school to get himself together. After graduation, with an Ivy League degree in hand and years of grooming behind her, Cassie is well-positioned to take over her father’s Wall Street firm, but a lump in her left breast sets her life on a different path.

Now eight years later, he’s the very sexy general manager of the Boston Blues baseball team, and she’s an award-winning baker in Baltimore. When the two come face-to-face, the earth trembles under their feet, threatening to swallow them whole. She still owns a piece of his soul, and he lives-on in her heart, but is that enough for Drew and Cassie to get a second chance at love, or has time and suffering already sealed their fate?




Except:

When people learn that I’m publishing a romance novel where the heroine is a breast cancer survivor, what they always ask about is that moment when she first bares her breasts to hero. How did you write that, they ask? Was is it hard to write?
Surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult to write, because by the time the scene unfolded, I knew exactly how much the hero loved her. I knew exactly how he’d respond. As for how I wrote it, I’ll give you a glimpse. The following scene takes place after Cassie and Drew talk about what her life was like after the diagnosis. He’s known now for a couple of weeks that she had breast cancer while they were apart, but she’s just shared more of her feelings about that time. This is what happens next:


“Cassie,” he pulled her tighter against his chest and rocked with her on the sofa until they both were breathing normally again.
“Then I went to work for my dad, and that’s when I met Ned. Some days I could scarcely believe a decent guy wanted me… You know the rest.”
Yeah, he knew the rest, but there was one more piece, one enormous piece. The elephant was still in the room, sprawled out in the corner, taunting him, taunting her, and taking up too much valuable space. He wanted it out, banished forever. Not just for him, but for her too.
“Cass?”
“Hmmm?”
“Will you let me see your breasts?” She tensed. “You’ve shared so much with me tonight, please share the rest. Do it for both of us.”
They sat on the sofa, with her in his lap, for a good five minutes, maybe longer. It felt like five hours. Neither of them spoke, neither of them moved.
Then with unsteady hands, she began to fumble with the top button on her shirt. But her fingers were thick and heavy, and she was on the precipice of tears again.
“Will you let me help?” he whispered.
She nodded.
And with hands almost as unsteady as hers, he gently moved her to the plush rug in front of the fireplace, and he lay down beside her. Kissing her, caressing her face, her arms, and her back with shaky hands.
He met her eyes, and with her face awash in trust laced with fear, she nodded again.
His clumsy fingers finally freed the first small button, and his lips found hers. He captured her mouth again and again while each button was slipped from its tether. His tongue stole into her mouth, exploring, distracting, leading them both to a safe, familiar place.
He brushed his hand over her damp forehead. “Sweetheart, this isn’t a prelude to sex. It’s about getting comfortable together after a long time apart.”
She nodded, but he could feel her fear, smell it seeping from every pore.
She hadn’t been this scared the night he took her virginity, and more than a small part of him wanted to stop, button her shirt, and simply hold her for the rest of the night. Hold her for the rest of his life. Save her from the embarrassment, save himself from the pain. But their relationship wasn’t going anywhere until they’d moved past this difficult moment, and they were so close he could see daylight on the horizon.
Nothing about this was about the physical—it was all emotional. She needed to know that he wouldn’t reject her, and he needed to know he was a man, the man she needed. Her breasts had become the physical manifestation of all their fears, all their worries.
“Do you remember the first time we made love? When I promised to go slow, that I wouldn’t hurt you?”
She nodded. He was acutely aware that she hadn’t uttered a single word since he’d asked to see her breasts.
“Did I keep my word?”
She nodded again.
“I had no freakin’ idea what I was doing.” He kissed the bridge of her nose. “My self-control is better now, and I promise we won’t do anything that hurts you. Anything you don’t want to do. You stop me if it gets to be too much.”
Before he opened her shirt, he pulled his off. “We both need to get to know each other again. My body’s changed too.”
He gently pulled aside the fabric, and trailed barely-there kisses over her neck, moving slowly to her décolletage where it met the tops of her breasts. In no hurry, he allowed his tongue to linger, gliding over the tender skin until her hips lifted off the floor.
When she shrugged the shirt off her shoulders, signaling him to continue his exploration, he gasped at the intricate purple lace covering her breasts, gently tracing the contours, first with his finger and then with his tongue. He rested his index fingers over the tiny clasp in front, placing a small kiss there before meeting her eyes.
She nodded, her expression was becoming more relaxed, and he saw a faint light in her eyes beginning to break through the clouds.
His heart was beating so fast he was practically panting. Struggling to control his breath, he ran the point of his tongue over the sensitive skin surrounding the tiny clasp before freeing it.
He kept his eyes locked on hers while his fingers eased the clasp open. Deathly afraid of doing something that would hurt her, upset her.
When her bra fell open, he lowered his head to reach one firmly beaded nub, and with a feather stroke, he circled his thumb around the other. Alternating between her mouth and her breasts, he lavished attention on every inch of flesh.
Tasting.
Lapping.
Arousing.
Soothing.
Her heart galloped wildly while he ran his tongue over the scars, accepting them, loving them the way he loved the rest of her. Her eyes were closed, but a small tear found its way out the corner and slid down her cheek toward her ear.


About Eva Charles:

Eva Charles is the author of the multi-titled Meadows Shore Series chronicling the lives and loves of the Clayton-Harrington family. She invites you to visit their beloved Meadows Shore, nestled in the charming seaside town of Fair Harbor, where you’ll enjoy love, laughter, loyalty, and an abundance of mouth-watering food, Portuguese style.

After being a confirmed city-girl for more than thirty-five years, Eva moved to beautiful western Massachusetts in 2014. There, she found herself living in the woods with no job, no friends (unless you count the turkeys, deer, and coyotes roaming the backyard), and no children underfoot, wondering what on earth she’d been thinking. But as it turned out, it was the perfect setting to take all those yarns spinning in her head and weave them into a romantic tale.

When she’s not writing, trying to squeeze information out of her tight-lipped sons or playing with the two cutest dogs you’ve ever seen, Eva’s creating chapters in her own love story.



Website: evacharles.com




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