Category: Vivian Wood

Cover Reveal: Dirty Little Secret by Vivian Wood

4/10/2019

Title: Dirty Little Secret
(#1 of Dirty Little Hearts)

Author: Vivian Wood

Genre: Contemporary Romance, NA

Publication date: October 22nd, 2019

Cover Design: Lori Jackson Design

Goodreads

My dirty little secret…
My greatest weakness…
My best friend’s little sister….
Olivia is all these things and more.

Her brother and I have been best friends for years, and he doesn’t want me so much as glancing in her direction. I can’t blame him -- not when I’ve screwed every girl in a fifty-mile radius.

But this kid sister is all grown up… and she’s in the bedroom next to mine. We’re both on the Morgan estate for our own reasons; she’s got ambitions, I’ve got secrets in my past.

She’s my full-blown obsession. I wonder how she’d moan if I took her in the woods, against a tree. I think about how she’d sound when she breathlessly whispered my name.

There’s a past between us. There are people standing in our way.
Will we be able to leave it all behind us in order to find happiness?

About the Author . . .

Vivian likes to write about troubled, deeply flawed alpha males and the fiery, kick-ass women who bring them to their knees.

Vivian's lasting motto in romance is a quote from a favorite song: "Soulmates never die."

Be sure to follow Vivian through her Vivian's Vixens mailing list or Facebook group to keep up with all the awesome giveaways, author videos, ARC opportunities, and more!

Facebook | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon

0 Comments

Release Blitz: Kiss Me Again by Vivian Wood

6/8/2019

0 Comments

Title: Kiss Me Again
(#1 of Star Crossed Love)

Author: Vivian Wood

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Amazon (US/UK/CA/Aus)

Goodreads

From WSJ and USA Today bestseller Vivian Wood comes a steamy, angsty second chance romance.

Rachel.
The rich girl who stole my breath away ten years ago.
The one who had a Navy man like me wrapped around her little finger.
The only person to make my heart ache.

When I disappeared from her life five years ago, I never thought I’d see her again.
And yet here she is, at my ranger station, looking as surprised as I am.
When my boss tells me that Rachel is my summer assignment, I groan.
No good can come from opening up the old wounds.

Rachel demands to know where I’ve been.
I don’t have the heart to tell her the unvarnished truth.
But that doesn’t stop the heat between us.
I dream of plowing my hands into her hair, bending her back, and making her mine once more.

My dark secret, her broken engagement, and so much water under the bridge threaten to shake our very foundations.
Will we be able to put love first this time around?

Excerpt . . .

I dip my paddle into the lake, testing out how it works.
“No, no,” Grayson says. “You are doing it wrong. You want to go with the water. Look…”
He picks up his own paddle and dips it in the lake, moving it smoothly. I try to copy his movement, but he just sighs loudly.
“No.” He demonstrates again. “You are going against the water. If you expect to get anywhere—”
“Alright!” I say through gritted teeth. “It’s my first time. Just let me—”
I stroke my paddle in the water. Grayson explodes.
“You still aren’t doing it right! How hard can it possibly be to follow instructions?” He grabs the end of my paddle, exasperated. “Just—”
“Let go!” He’s pushing me close to the edge. I can feel my temper starting to balloon up. Gripping my paddle, I rip it from his hands.
Anger flares in his eyes. “You are so—”
“What is your problem, Grayson?!”
He’s already got a response loaded. “You are my problem! What in the fuck are you even doing here, Rachel?”
“I could ask you the same thing, but you would probably not have an answer,” I grind out. “Again. I generally don’t like to repeat my mistakes.”
He bristles. “Are you saying that I was a mistake, then?”
I narrow my eyes. “That’s not what I meant, but… yes. My mother’s right about you.”
As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I wish I could take them back. My mother said a lot of hideous things about him while we were together. How is he supposed to know that I’m referencing something she said when he was already gone?
Grayson gets this wounded look in his eyes for the barest second. Watching it is like being slapped in the face.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Enough.” He glares at me. “Just use your fucking paddle like a normal person, okay?”
He stands up and carefully turns around, so that he’s facing away from me. He dips his paddle in the water and starts rowing wordlessly. I mimic him and he switches to the other side of the canoe with a heavy sigh.
We actually move pretty quickly then, especially since we are not communicating. I realize that I probably should have stopped back on the shore for a sample of water, but I guess we can stop on the return journey.
I try to breathe and paddle in time with Grayson’s mighty strokes. As we leave the shore behind us, I look up at the calm blue sky overhead. Except the sky isn’t blue exactly; it’s light gray now, thunderclouds gathering overhead.
Struggling to keep up with Grayson, I watch the sky darken. It’s definitely about to rain. As soon as I can see the shore on the other side, I see raindrops begin to hit the lake’s smooth surface.
“Shit,” I hear Grayson grumble.
Digging my paddle into the water deeper doesn’t help as much as I want it to. The skies open up and dump rain onto us. There is suddenly water everywhere, each raindrop seeming to bounce back up from where it falls on the lake.
When we are almost there, Grayson actually gets out of the canoe, soaking himself up though to the waist. Unsure what to do, I try to stand up. I see Grayson glance back at me and do a double take.
“Rachel—”
But it’s too late. I tip the canoe over and fall out, flailing awkwardly. The only thing that breaks my fall is the water, which is shockingly cold. Then I am submerged for several breathless seconds, underneath the lake’s muddy waters.
I feel something move in the water beside me. My heart starts to pound.
Grayson materializes right there, grabbing me and pulling me to the surface of the lake. I gasp for breath. My arms automatically go around his neck as he pulls me toward the shore, dripping wet.
Even though I’m half drowned, I’m also intimately aware of how warm the hard muscle of his chest is. He holds me tight, almost uncomfortably so. If everything wasn’t happening all at once, I might make some noise about it.
I try to clear my face of my own water-dampened hair. He runs up onto the shore with me in his arms, not stopping for a second. He keeps going until he trots into a little lean-to.
Only when there is something over both of our heads does he stop and breathe. His eyes dart to and fro, scanning the downpour outside. He leans forward and pulls the door closed just a little.
Something about his behavior is… off, somehow.
“Grayson,” I say, gently putting my hands on his chest. “Gray?”
He looks at me as if he’s seeing me for the first time. When he speaks, his voice is oddly quiet. “Hey.”
I squirm a little but he doesn’t get the picture. “Can you put me down, please?”
There is a moment of hesitation there. I can see in his eyes that he wants to say no. But he lets me down.
And for just the briefest moment, soaking wet and pressed against his warm body, that I don’t want him to let me go. I peer up into his eyes and wonder if he ever thinks about kissing me. And he looks right back at me, his eyes glinting blue.
Then he pushes me away. It’s so silly to feel this way, but it’s like being rejected by him all over again. My eyes mist over and I curse myself for being so weak.
Grayson heads out into the pouring rain and I watch him go, determined not to cry.

About the Author . . .

0 Comments

Cover Reveal: Kiss Me Again by Vivian Wood

15/7/2019

0 Comments

Title: Kiss Me Again
(#1 of Star Crossed Love)

Author: Vivian Wood

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publication date: August 6th, 2019

Pre-order: Amazon (US/UK/CA/Aus)

Goodreads

Cover Design: Lori Jackson Designs
Photo: Wander Aguiar
Model: Tristan Elgart

Once upon a time, I believed in fairy tales.
I thought he was my Prince Charming, even though Grayson was tall, brooding, and from the wrong side of the tracks...
At fifteen, he swept me off my feet.
At twenty, he shattered my heart.

When I finally dried my tears, I became a new person.
Hardened. Untouchable. Impenetrable.

Until one day, like magic, Grayson reappears. All my old scars start to ache.
He’s different, too: haunted. Brooding. Damaged.
We’re both scarred by our past and yearning to escape our present.

He protests my presence even as he kisses me under the starry sky, but it’s no use.
I’m not falling for that again - not for his glances that make me weak in the knees, not for his smoldering touches that make me tingle with need.
He’ll just disappear again, leaving me broken and alone.
That’s why I have to guard my heart - and never, ever fall for Grayson again.

Even though he’s wildly tempting. I can’t forget the way his touch felt, the heat of his lips against my skin.
And I know what we could be together… if he doesn’t shatter my heart again.
Grayson and I are star crossed. Our lives are chartered for two separate courses.
And yet even the stars fall sometimes...

Excerpt . . .

I take down a big, old tree that I had my eye on before. It is dying, causing a fire hazard. Not to mention the fact that the tree is in danger of falling, threatening any unsuspecting hikers that happen by this place.
Thwack. Heave.
Thwack. Heave.
Thwack. Heave.
I’m soon out of breath and sweating. I pause and peel my cotton t-shirt off, taking a second for a little water from my canteen. Then I go at it again, venting my rage and regret and my heartfelt sadness, watching it wash away as I continue to sweat.
Thwack. Heave.
Thwack. Heave.
Thwack. Heave.
By midday, I am all but boneless, both mentally and physically exhausted. I throw my shirt over my shoulder and head back down to the base camp. It’s hard to think, which is just the way I like it.
I am rounding one of the last bends before I get into camp when I run smack into Rachel. I hit her hard, sending her sprawling across the ground. She looks up at me and her breathing hitches. Her eyes wander down to my chest, which is still bare from my exertions and damp from perspiration.
For the barest second, a note of desire rises in the air between us, unbidden. It’s been a long time since I’ve been around anybody that looks at me this way. Mostly I keep to myself up here, that’s what’s so wonderful about this job.
But for a moment, I remember what it used to be like. Being wanted by women. Being ogled by them. Being the object of a woman’s desire.
Of Rachel’s desire.
I forgot how amazing that could be.
With the next breath she ruins it, though. Her expression turns sour as she picks herself up off of the ground. “You should really be more careful where you’re going.”
Just like that, the brief moment is over, the bubble popped. I roll my eyes.
“It’s not my fault. You ran into me,” I point out. “And then you bounced off me and fell, because you are a tiny person.”
Her jaw tightens. “I am a normal size for a woman.”
Rachel is pissed now and I can’t help but goad her. “Yeah. A tiny woman.”
When she dusts herself off and crosses her arms, I get a little pleasure out of knowing I’ve really annoyed her. “You are impossible. You didn’t used to be so… so…”
She makes a strangled noise deep in her throat. My eyes narrow.
“Did you want something or were you just going to fling accusations about how I used to be at me?”
She pulls a face. “You’re supposed to go through wilderness first aid with me. It’s the last class I have.”
I check my watch, trying not to roll my eyes again. “Alright. How about you meet me at the same little cabin as we were at yesterday in fifteen minutes?”
“Okay.” She shrugs.
“Fine.”
I leave her there and hustle through cleaning myself up. Smelling my t-shirts to find the least sweated-on of the bunch, I make a note to do another load of laundry before I head out on the trail with Rachel.
Because heaven forbid she might know that I stink sometimes. I roll my eyes at myself. Still, I put on another coat of deodorant just for good measure.
Not for Rachel. Just for everyone’s sake. At least that’s what I tell myself.
When I finally walk down to the little cabin, pine needles crunching beneath my feet, she is already inside. Ducking in the too-small cabin, I start to feel a prickling sense of unease as soon as I’m inside the cabin. The walls are so close, giving me the sensation of being squeezed. At least that is how my lungs feel.
I look at how little space I’ve been given in this little room and my throat starts to close.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asks, her brow furrowing.
I nod even though the answer is clearly no. “I just…” I pause and suck in a breath. “We should study outside.”
Grabbing two of the Red Cross handbooks and Whiskey Bend’s additional addendums, I am out the door before she even has a chance to respond. Rachel trails after me as I stalk over to the nearby picnic tables.
Clearing a table of the ever-present pine needles, I motion for her to sit. She does, although she looks wary of me. Like I’m a ticking time bomb and she’s trying not to set me off sooner than planned, I guess.
Out here though at least I can breathe a lot better. Because the picnic tables weren’t designed for someone of my stature, I sit on the actual table and hand her a copy of each handbook.
“Okay.” I open the first aid handbook to the first chapter. “Here we go. Systematic Approach to Assessing, Recognizing and Caring for Adults.”
Her eyes are on me, watching. But I try to focus on the material. Letting my attention drift to her means I would wonder about her.
Whether she still has that cluster of freckles on her lower back that looks just like the Lyra constellation. Whether she still gets that intense look of concentration when she’s about to come, a breathless expression of pure want.
Those thoughts could lead to naming all the things I regret in this life. And selfishly, I just can’t afford that today.
But deep in the back of my mind, those thoughts still swirl around and around. And Rachel is finally done, when she’s taken the test and qualified for official park purposes, the thoughts are still there.
“You passed the test.” I glance at her from where I’m sitting, my guard up all the way.
Her lips lift in the ghost of a smile. She obviously wasn’t worried about not passing.
“I guess that means we are going on this trip, then.”
My heart thuds a little too loudly. I swallow and clear my throat. “Yep.”
For a second, her gaze locks with mine and it’s like she can see right through me. Before her beautiful brown eyes, I am without pretense or preamble, naked and bare for her inspection. Her lips quirk as if she is going to say something.
Then at the last second she shakes her head instead. Pushing up from the picnic table, she turns away, calling over her shoulder.
“See you, Gray.”
Gray.
I feel the word is an arrow, going straight into my heart.
It’s been five years since anyone has called me that.
I stare at her walking away, swinging that pert ass of hers.
I am so, so very fucked if she keeps calling me that.