Rites of Spring blog hop!

Welcome to my stop on the Rites of Spring blog hop.

 

 

My Falling For The First Time offering: an excerpt of my hero and heroine's first meet from

This Side of Dead

 

All things considered, it wasn’t what he had expected from death.

His lids flickered open. "Am I in Heaven?" he muttered. His blurry angel hovered over him. His vision focused on eyes warm and blue like the waters of the Caribbean, but he felt the icy chill of a stroll in a walk-in freezer.

"You'll be in Hell if you don’t find the wherewithal to get up on your feet and haul your ass out of here with me," she said.

"Are you an angel?" A soggy, shivering, angry angel. She was Casper-the-Friendly-Ghost white, that was for sure. With the full moon up above, she practically glowed in the dark. The black ringlets of hair framing her white face and blue lips made for a strikingly haunting visual combination. "You’re beautiful."

Tilting her head adorably, she said, "Aw, thanks." Then through a clenched jaw, she growled, "Now get up." She pulled on his arms until he reluctantly sat up.

Mal didn’t know what he had expected from the afterlife, but not unbearable cold, lightheadedness and a forced nighttime march through the dark forest of death. "I’m cold."

Tightening her grip on his biceps, she said, "No, buoy boy, I’m cold."

 "Will you spend eternity with me, my angel?"

"Get. Up." She helped heave him to his feet.

Malcolm wavered on unsteady legs. His head spun—or everything around him did—and he bent to puke out a stomachful of murky river water. "Oh. My. God. I’m alive. Death could not possibly be this miserable."

 "You can thank me later," she said. Thank her later?

"You did this? You saved me? Why?"

She bounced on her toes, wrapping her arms around her body, straitjacket style. "I know this sounds crazy, but we’re on death’s doorstep."
Sounds crazy? Try looks crazy. Wild-eyed crazy

He glanced toward the all-too-familiar bridge in the distance. "Being on death’s doorstep is sort of what I was going for when I jumped off the bridge." Mal plopped back down on the ground to wait for Death to double back and fetch him. Her body heat would feel mighty good right about now, but would only slow his progression toward his blissful demise. Might be worth it.

"Get up," she demanded in a raspy Exorcist voice. Pointing to the bridge, she added, "You will not die today." He waited for her head to spin. Nothing. "Come back and try again tomorrow. I’ll be sure to be somewhere else."

He hung his head and shook like a jackhammer. "I can’t get up. Your friend was right. I’ve lost the will to live."

"He’s not my friend." His militant angel flung her wet t-shirt wildly over her head. Next, she skimmed her flirty skirt away.

Hallelujah! I
am in heaven. "W-what are you doing?"

"I’m going to share my body heat," she replied. "We’ll get you up a couple degrees, and then you and I are going to hike out of here before the Grim Reaper returns."

"O-okay."

Wait. What? "The Grim Reaper?"

"Death," she whispered. In nothing but black bra and panties and little lacy socks poking out of mud-covered ankle boots that squished with each step she took, she straddled his lap. "He’s a crazy, necrophiliac killer. And that’s the best-case scenario." She ripped open his shirt, buttons flying hither and yon. It was like a Penthouse Forum dream come true. "Cannibalism might be involved."

Looking straight down at her cleavage, he asked, "Does this mean you

will spend eternity with me?"

His guardian angel flashed him a ring—either that or she’d flipped him off at the speed of light with the wrong finger. "I’m practically engaged, Bob."

"My name’s not Bob."

She peeled away his wet shirt and rubbed his arms with her hands in a none-too-gentle way. "Well it’s all I’ve seen you do so far besides whine, so I assumed."

 

Blurb:

On Memorial Day weekend, Cecilia Denton hopped out of her boyfriend Brad’s car and leapt off a bridge. Far from suicidal herself, she did it to save a jumper, but she had no idea of the chain of events her heroic stunt would set in motion. Because Cecilia cheated the Grim Reaper, Death claimed her boyfriend instead. Now, Cecilia and Malcolm, the stranger whose life she saved, must go on a scavenger hunt of redemption. Either they prove to Death that there’s more to humans than greed and despair, or Death claims both Malcolm and Brad.

Malcolm Manchester didn’t ask to be saved, and he sure doesn’t want to be Cecilia’s partner in a game of Beat the Clock to restore Death’s faith in humanity. The heat is on Cecilia to give Malcolm a reason to live before time runs out—or send him off with a bang.

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Please leave me a comment with an email address and I will enter you in my drawing for an ecopy of This Side of Dead. Don't forget to check out the other Rites of Spring bloggers for additional great giveaways and more chances to enter for the grand prizes!

 

1^st Grand Prize

Kindle Fire (international)

2^nd Grand Prize

$50 Amazon.com gift certificate

a Rafflecopter giveaway