Book Blitz with Giveaway: Tainted (Wyatt #1) by Amanda Cowen

Book info:
Title:  Tainted
Author:  Amanda Cowen
Series: Wyatt #1
Publication date: June 22nd, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

Rhys Wyatt is as arrogant as he is beautiful, and Ivy Bishop has been infatuated with him forever. The night Ivy makes her move, it ends horribly, leaving her utterly heartbroken.

Three years later, Ivy is dating Blaine Wyatt; Rhys’s loving and tender younger brother. With Rhys and their past somewhat out of her mind, everything about her relationship with Blaine seems perfect. But when Blaine leaves Ivy alone all summer; neither of them anticipated Rhys to return, or him and Ivy to be stuck living under the same roof…

Rhys never believed Ivy would be all grown up and everything he’s ever wanted – gorgeous, perfectly alluring, and an infuriatingly tempting beauty he has to keep his hands off of. But the more they try to resist each other, the more intense their urges become, until one night changes everything, and Wyatt brothers will never be the same.

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EXCERPT:

IVY
I pushed open the front door, tossed my keys onto the entryway table and flicked on a light switch.

“Where were you?”

I let out a shrill scream and whipped around, even though I immediately recognized his smooth deep voice. Rhys sat on a bench along the opposite wall leaning back, legs apart and spread, with his muscular arms crossed in front of his chest. My green eyes locked with his blue ones, but his bare chest had my gaze slowly creeping below his neckline. My eyes travelled downwards to see tattooed forearms, a pair of gray sweat pants hanging loosely around his hips, and finally his bare feet.

I pressed my palms down on the table behind me to keep from melting to the floor. “What the hell are you still doing here?” I sputtered.

An amused grin curled on his lips, but he didn’t budge as if he were inviting me to straddle his open legs. “Where were you?” he repeated.

“Why are you sitting here in the dark?” I shot back, even though my voice was shaky.

“Do you always answer a question with a question?” He stroked the five o’clock shadow grown in around his lips with his thumb and index finger.  He slouched down further on the bench like he was getting comfy.

“No, not always.” I said, finally able to gain my composure.

“Come on Ivy, don’t make me ask you again.” His smug smile made want to whip off one of Missy’s cowboy boots I was wearing and chuck it at him.

He slowly uncrossed his arms and pressed his palms flat against the bench beneath him on either side of long muscular legs. He leaned forward and tilted his head to the side with a cocky grin. “Your shift must have ended at least three hours ago.”

I just stood still welling up with irritation. What the hell was he still doing here? He bit down on his bottom lip and tucked his shoulder length hair behind his ears. Even though he looked scruffy and older, he still had the same boyish good looks I remembered falling in love with. His new appearance suited him better than his once clean-shaven face hidden under a baseball cap.

“It’s none of your business.” I pulled off my boots in case I really did need them for ammo.

“When my brother’s girlfriend gets dropped off by Charlie three hours after her shift ended, I think it’s more than my business. Especially when she stumbles in wearing the world’s shortest skirt.” Rhys’s gaze trailed up my legs as he rose to his feet. He was much taller than I remembered, and I had to tilt my chin upwards to meet his stare.

“I was at an employee bonfire behind the bunkhouse. I wanted to leave, so Charlie offered to drive me to the ranch. If I would’ve known you were still here, I would’ve rather slept in a dumpster than be graced with your presence.” I spun around to separate myself from his intense stare and headed off in the direction of the guest bedroom.

Who the hell did Rhys Wyatt think he was talking to me like that?

Rhys’s hand closed around my elbow, and my body trembled at his touch. I wasn’t expecting every tiny hair to stand on edge when his warm fingers melted into my skin but they did.

“No one knows I’m back in Moose Creek, and I’d like to keep it that way… for now.” Rhys’s voice lowered to a murmur. He gently tugged my backside against his hard groin and whispered in my ear. “Trust me. I don’t want to be here anymore than I want your little body floating around and bumping into me every which way I turn. When you walked in on me last night -” He stopped from continuing his sentence and paused. He let out a warm tense breath and growled against my ear. “This situation isn’t ideal for either of us. So keep your distance and don’t you dare tell anyone I’m back.”

I sucked a sharp breath. It felt like my knees were about to buckle. How could I let my body react to him like this?

“What are you hiding from?” I asked through clenched teeth.

Rhys released my elbow from his death grip. “I’m not hiding.”

I slowly turned around and watched his smooth muscular back arch as he ran both his hands through his brown hair. His chest was so defined that I wanted to reach out and trace my fingers around his prefect pecks. His eyes fell closed and he let out an angry noise from his throat.

“I’m not leaving, Ivy. I’m staying in Moose Creek for the summer and I’m living at the ranch. I’d really appreciate you keeping my presence to yourself right now. That means not telling Blaine either. I don’t need anyone asking questions, especially not Blaine.”  When his eyes finally opened they softened. Rhys slowly moved his bare feet across the hardwood floors and I stood frozen in place, mesmerized by his tight body stalking in my direction. He stopped inches in front of me and ran a hand through his thick dark hair. “Do you understand?” he asked.

I nodded. “Understood.”

“Thank you.”

I stood speechless for a moment until he lifted his eyes to meet mine. I expected them to be filled with a proud and pompous smile, but there was something vulnerable in them that I had never seen in him before. His chest rose up and down and his lips stayed slightly parted.

“Goodnight Ivy,” he whispered and disappeared down the hallway.

Author Bio:

Amanda Cowen can be found eating cupcakes, singing off-key, or watching a good RomCom when she isn't trapped on her computer writing stories. She is an "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" fanatic, a hater of roller-coasters and a country music junkie. She lives in Thunder Bay, ON where the summers are short and the winters are long.
Amanda would love to hear from her readers. Become a fan on Facebook, follow her on Instagram @authoramandacowen, or follow her on Goodreads.

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GIVEAWAY!
 

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Pre-Order Blitz with Giveaway - Seduction Squad: Tainted by Amanda Stewart

Title: SEDUCTION SQUAD: TAINTED
Author: Amanda Stewart
Publisher: Carina Press
Pages: 111
Genre: Erotic Romance

The members of Seduction Squad are beautiful, skillful and deadly. Trained in the twin arts of seduction and assassination, their mission is to discover the darkest secrets of the world's most powerful men.

Sex, secrets and slaughter

On Christie Mason's eighteenth birthday, crime boss Theo Ward took her virginity and walked out of her life without a backward glance. She's quietly nursed a broken heart for ten years, but now, all signs point to Theo having masterminded her father's downfall. For that, "Uncle Theo" will pay.

In exchange for induction into the Seduction Squad, Christie will gain access to Theo's lavish floating sex party and take out a powerful Colombian politician—one of the Squad's untouchable targets.

What she'll do to Theo is her reward.

Christie hadn't bargained on her body betraying her, or on Theo still being all she ever wanted. And while Theo can't get enough of Christie, he's suspicious—and on borrowed time: Christie's not the only party guest out for revenge.

PREORDER YOUR COPY:

Amazon

Book Excerpt:

“Theo Ward is out to get me.” My father had said that just before his arrest.

“Theo did this.” His last words as they took him down to the cells. He killed himself later that day.

Now I was out to get Theo Ward. I had nothing to lose. After the scandal of my father’s disgrace, my business had taken a nose dive into oblivion. My social life had died along with it. Invitations had dried up, friends had stopped calling, acquaintances…well, I didn’t seem to have any. I had gone from socialite to outcast in a single, tarnished bound.

I learned about the Seduction Squad from my father. We had never been close, but we had made those prison visits count. For the first time, we had really talked to each other. And we had touched on the subject of Theo. The man whose life was so closely entwined with ours. I hadn’t gotten the whole story, but my father had finally mentioned his name.

“Bastard is bulletproof. Even the Seduction Squad can’t get close.” My father’s voice had been bitter.

“Seduction Squad?” 

He had clammed up then and it had taken some time to pry the details from him. He said it wasn’t the sort of thing a man discussed with his daughter. Eventually, he told me. Over the years, my holier-than-thou father had used the services of a unique organization to find out his enemies’ secrets. That organization was known as the Seduction Squad.

Even though I was shocked to discover this hypocritical side of my father, I was fascinated. To someone brought up protected from anything remotely erotic, it sounded so glamorous. The Seduction Squad were the modern-day equivalent of Mata Hari, the infamous spy who used her body to entice powerful men to part with secrets. The Squad was based on the sixteenth-century team known as the Escuadrón Volante, or Flying Squadron. Working on the orders of the French Queen, Catherine de’ Medici, they were a hand-picked team of beautiful courtesans who had ensnared the most influential men in the land.

The Seduction Squad was a private company. Governments, businesses, even wealthy individuals such as my father, paid its manager, a woman known as the Signora, millions for the services of its members.

Moderation had never appealed to me. If I was going to get my revenge on Theo, it was going to be absolute. I was going to make him pay for that night ten years ago and for the pain I had endured ever since. He was going to regret ruining my father out of petty spite and causing his death. And it turned out the Signora had a very lucrative contract lined up…one that could only be fulfilled if she could get an operative on board The Dark Side.

I knew now, of course, that being part of the squad wasn’t glamorous. My induction had been grueling and gritty. I had learned my new trade from an experienced sex worker and a trained assassin. There had been times when I thought I wouldn’t make the grade. Times when I hoped I wouldn’t.

After a particularly hard day, Jake, the squad’s Head of Security, had taken me to one side.

“You look like the princess who has escaped from a fairytale, but no matter what I throw at you—kickboxing, pistol shooting, assault course—you come out on top. What is it with you? Do you need the money?” The squad paid well and the Signora looked after her girls.

“No. I have an old score to settle.” I had smiled. “But when I’ve done that, the money is going to help.”

At the end of my training, Jake had handed me a graduation present. It was a T-shirt with a picture of a cute kitten holding a blood-stained machete between its paws. The words Killer Pussy were embroidered underneath. “Only Seduction Squad members can understand what those words really mean.” He had unzipped his jacket to show me he was wearing the same design. “And me, because I live with one.” Although they were totally professional when they were together, I had discovered from some of the other girls that Jake and the Signora were an item.

I had brought the T-shirt with me on this cruise, even though I figured I wouldn’t get a chance to wear it. It was a reminder of what I had been through to get here.

There was still plenty of time before I needed to dress in the clothes that would take me back in time. I sank lower in the water, sliding my hand between my legs. Closing my eyes, I pictured Theo’s face. His looks had a devilish edge, like a fallen angel or a hell-raising rock star. With pale skin and thick black hair that always managed to look tousled…as if he—or maybe someone else—had been dragging impatient fingers through it. His features were carved from granite with a determined, stubbled chin and cheekbones so chiseled they should be illegal. But it was his eyes. The memory of those onyx depths, so dark it was impossible to distinguish between the pupil and iris. If the eyes were the window to the soul, the bleak, beautiful intensity of Theo’s gaze held its own warning.

 

About the Author:

Amanda Stewart writes erotic romance for Carina Press. “Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken.” (Terry Pratchett)

She lives in England and loves to read and travel, trying to combine to two as often as she can. Amanda is married to a lovely man, is mum to two grown up children, and has recently discovered the joy of being a grandmother. 

Amanda Stewart also writes paranormal romance and romantic suspense as Jane Godman.

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GIVEAWAY!

Amanda Stewart is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card and ePub Copy of SEDUCTION SQUAD: TAINTED!

Terms and Conditions:

• By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
• One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive both $25 Amazon Gift Card & ePub copy of SEDUCTION SQUAD: TAINTED
• This giveaway ends midnight July 7.
• Winner will be contacted via email on July 8.
• Winner has 48 hours to reply.

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