I love romance with conflict. Even if it's set in paradise, it's not a story without tears and heartbreak.
I love a vacation with absolutely NO conflict. Of course whether you've been married 3 days or 33 years, you're gonna have some.
: Right. You're always so demeaning, like you're so much smarter than me. I'm sick of it.
: Oo-kay, we're all tired and crabby, but please don't interrupt my vacation high.
I hope the two didn't ruin their vacation with that fight. I'll never know because I went for a stroll down the concourse to get away from them. Conflict, ugh.
Had that been a romance, I would have gripped my Kindle tighter and thought 'Alo-ha! Now we're getting to the good stuff. Trouble in paradise, yeah! Will he break her heart? Will she break his? Will they ever solve this problem and will they have hot makeup sex?'
Well, in a Cathryn Cade romance, yes to all the above. And much, much more!
, Bk 4 of my red hot contemporary paranormal series set in Hawaii. Conflict? Oh, yeah. Makes me kinda feel bad, the things I put my hero and heroine through.
But like I said, can't have a good romance without it.
Here's a glimpse, with an exclusive excerpt.
Despite her successful career, Lalei Kai-Ho’omalu has always considered herself mere decoration in a dynamic Hawaiian family, with none of their powerful gifts. Destined for life in the background as a useless, upper-crust wife.
Desperate to escape her mother’s latest matchmaking attempt, Lalei acts on her sizzling attraction to a guest at her cousin’s island wedding, making him a bold offer he can’t refuse.
A no-strings, no-holds-barred affair on Nawea Bay with the sexy Hawaiian beauty is just the break California Realtor Jack Nord needs from his fast-paced career—and an inner darkness he’d like to forget. Just for a while.
Their very public liaison is the shocking declaration of independence Lalei intended—with unintended consequences. Stirred to anger by developers set on carving her family’s unspoiled ancestral lands into a resort, Lalei discovers she has the supernatural power to stop them.
But when Jack learns his lover can bring down the rain and throw bolts of lightning, whose side will he take? The money-making machine? Or the woman born to protect her island home?
A wahine whose real estate may be too hot to handle, and a Realtor who’s determined to seal the deal.
After that, it was really only a matter of making sure all the pieces of her plan were in place.
One, ignore Suzy tapping on her door with whispered pleas to let her in.
Two, refuse to cry like a keiki because her mother had finally tipped the balance in their relationship to the point that Lalei was willing to take any action necessary to put a stop to Suzy’s manipulations.
Three, take a quick shower and slip into her most beguiling sleepwear.
Four, wait for her knight to return to his room.
And five, convince him to rescue her.
Before she could lose her nerve, Lalei rapped on the door of her quarry’s guest room. For a moment, she heard nothing, and she bit her lip uncertainly. She knew he was in there; she’d watched him from her own room as he sauntered across the lanai, then heard his footsteps in the hall and the sound of his door thudding closed.
Finally the door opened to reveal Jack. He wore a pair of turquoise gym shorts and a sleepy expression. His smooth skin gleamed in the lamplight; his blond hair was tousled and damp with perspiration.
Hawaiian music drifted in the open windows from the beach lanai. The light curtains blew in the night breeze, shadows patterning the sisal floor mats and the pineapple quilt on the bed.
Jack’s blue eyes narrowed, the sleepiness gone. “What do you want?”
Lalei stepped forward. He fell back a few steps like the gentleman he was, letting her shut the door behind her and enclose them in his room.
“I want to use you for a little mindless sex,” she said, giving him look for look. “Any objections?”
He arched one heavy brow. In the muted light, his eyes were shadowed, mysterious. Lalei held her breath. Would he refuse her? Humiliate her by turning her away?
But one side of his beautiful, sculpted mouth kicked up, his cheek creasing with a dimple. “Objections? Oh, hell no. I could use a good post-celebration fuck myself, Ms. Lah-lei.” He drawled out her name, exaggerating the Hawaiian pronunciation.
She nodded, pretending that her heart was not thundering in her chest, her hands sweating and her knees wobbling like guava jelly. “Good.”
“I didn’t know you liked me,” he said, the mocking note stronger. He lifted the small towel he held and swiped off his face and neck, giving her a glinting look over the blue fabric. So that wasn’t sweat—he’d been washing. His short, sun-streaked blond hair clung to his well-shaped head, except for one lock that curved up like a question mark over his forehead.
“I don’t.” She undid the belt of her short cocoa silk robe, keeping her expression cool with an effort. “This doesn’t mean we’re going steady or anything.”
He tossed the towel aside, missing the rattan chair he aimed at, and shook his head, his gaze on her fingers. “Nope, so don’t go getting any ideas about falling for me or any sappy shit like that.”
As if. Lalei nearly snorted but decided that wasn’t very enticing, so she merely arched a brow at him. Letting go of the belt, she started to pull the garment off.
His big hand shot out and stopped her. “Mind if I do that?”
Caught off guard, she shrugged. He looked down, his thick, gold-tipped lashes nearly brushing his cheeks as he pushed the cover-up aside. His warm fingertips brushed the skin of her midriff, and she shivered. He smelled really good, slightly sweaty male with a hint of cologne and fruity mai tai.
He gave an approving growl as the robe parted. “Oh, yeah, I like this. The perfect tease.”
Lalei’s heart thumped. She’d had a hard time deciding whether to wear this silk cami and tap pants or come naked under the robe. Well, at least he thought the tiny, shell-pink sleepwear was sexy—thought she was sexy. He liked her body, even if he seemed to be laughing at her half the time. That was fine with her. She didn’t want him for his sparkling conversation, either.
She knew she was pretty—she’d competed in the Miss Hawaii pageant in college, and since then she’d been asked to model for more than one Hawaiian jewelry and clothing maker. She knew how to dress to set off her slender figure, how to wear makeup to enhance her Polynesian looks and long, dark hair.
Jack slid his hands inside the cover-up, over the thin silk covering her ribs, then up the sides of her breasts and over the tops of her shoulders, pushing the garment back. It slipped down her arms and fell to the floor around her feet.
Slowly, he lifted one hand and ran the backs of his fingers down over her throat and into the valley between her breasts. As a Hawaiian love song lilted from the stereo and the gauzy curtains drifted inward, the warm evening breeze caressing her bare skin, Jack traced a line over the bared tops of her breasts, just above the edge of the cami.
Lalei’s next breath hitched. She hadn’t expected to enjoy his touch quite so much. She was here for her own reasons, which didn’t really include pleasure.
“May I take this off you?” he asked, his voice rough.
She nodded, surprised he’d asked. She hadn’t expected this big ex-football player to be such a gentleman. Even her one-time fiancé, who was supposed to be Honolulu upper crust, had yanked her clothing impatiently out of the way to get to his goal.
She touched the tiny button between her breasts. “It fastens here.”
As Jack worked the button free of the loop, she peeped down and saw a long, thick shape tenting the front of his shorts. A queer, melting sensation spread down through the muscles in her legs, as if they might dump her at his feet. Desire… She hadn’t felt it in a long time. Why now, when it was so inconvenient? Not that she wanted him to be repulsive, of course. This wasn’t penance, for Pele’s sake.
He drew the cami open. Then he paused, and his hands fell away, leaving the cami dangling from its narrow straps. Her middle tightened with uncertainty. She glanced down, checking to see if the delicate skin on her breasts was marked from the tight band of her strapless dress, then looked back up at him.
He was eyeing her with speculation. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re really here, sweetheart?”
Lalei frowned at him. Damn, she should have brought him another drink so he’d be too drunk to ask awkward questions. Of course, then he might not have been any use to her. She shimmied her shoulders, letting the straps of her top slip down her arms. It fell to the floor behind her.
Stepping forward, she reached down to cup her hand over his erection and brushed the tips of her breasts against the hot, damp, furred plain of his chest. Oh God, he was so big and so alive, surging male power in her grasp.
“I told you—just sex. Now, do you want to get to it, or do you want to chat?”
His big hands settled on her bare waist, his thumbs caressing the flat plain of her midriff, and he flexed his lean hips, pushing his turgid length into her palm with a groan of pleasure. “No, but I’m warning you, if this is about pressuring me into something, it won’t do you a damn bit of good.”
Lalei blinked. As the complete inaccuracy of his guess sank in, she laughed. “A’ole pilikia, moke. Not a problem. I don’t want your money or a ring, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“All right, then,” he said roughly, his eyes darkening. “I’m all yours, wahine.”
His hands slid down over the high curve of her hips and inside her tap pants. As his big hands cupped the tender flesh of her ass, she melted against him. He squeezed her as if he loved the way she felt in his hands. Suddenly she was afraid that if everything he did felt this good, she was going to end up all his instead of vice versa.
But she reassured herself she was here for one reason only—okay, make that two, she amended with a gasp as his long fingers delved naughtily between her ass cheeks. Oh Pele, that felt so good. He reached deeper, tracing the seam of her labia.
She was going to enjoy this big, blond haole, use him to show her mother a thing or two, and then she was going to wave good-bye and walk away.'
Aloha! If you enjoyed this glimpse into Jack and Lalei's world, you must love conflict as much as I do, 'cause holy molten lava, are these two setting themselves up for trouble or what? Leaping into bed when they don't really know or respect each other—tsk, tsk! Naughty.
Mahalo for stopping by. Leave a comment and tell me about YOUR vacation conflict, or whatever. Be sure to leave an email addy so I can contact you if you WIN a copy of your choice of Hawaiian Heroes.
And visit my website for more excerpts, reviews and a glimpse at what's coming next. Or do I mean who? Hmmm.
Cathryn Cade
... red hot romance!
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By the time you read this,
Cathryn Cade will be moved with her husband to their new home in the gorgeous lake country of North Idaho—she hopes! After years of working as a children's librarian, she is now a full-time romance writer. Look for a new erotic romance series coming soon from Samhain, and more. Cathryn loves to hear from readers, so stay in touch on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, email and her newsletter.
I had a great RT but I slept through much of it because I got my bronchitis crap while I was there. I came home sick and grumpy and tired and whiny. Then I got to feeling better and wham! it's Mother's Day (which should be a day to relax and do nothing but in my family, it's not really) and then wham! end of school parties and tests and turning in all the crap she should've turned in already and then wham! summer associates start work at my firm and then wham! I realize I have every summer week mapped out for Diva except for the week of June 3. 
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