When Naomi got to the table, she sat down with a huge sigh. Miranda Kane watched Naomi approach, her violet eyes steadily taking her in. Immediately, any feeling of being unbalanced or skewed disappeared: her world realigned and settled back on its axis. She yanked the café door open, and spotted Mirrie at their usual table in the back. Naomi pulled her collar up against the bitter late-October wind, shivering.

Bonus points for money still being in the meter – a whole hour, which was probably just about long enough. She got lucky and found a parking spot right in front of Frank’s Café. Calmer now, but still clutching her sobriety chip, she pulled back on to the highway and headed in to Denver proper. She breathed deeply, felt her heartbeat slow down. Something to hold on to, to squeeze, to draw strength from at moments like this. The coin was nestled in her sweaty palm, comforting and solid. And Christ Almighty, right now, I feel every fucking second of it. Seven months, three weeks, four days without a drink. The size of a poker chip, painted a shining copper, it represented the most astounding act of self-love that she’d ever performed. Hands trembling, Naomi reached in to her purse and pulled out the brass coin.

A devil who was pure, wicked, muscular, mouthwatering temptation. A devil that she never saw coming and had no idea how to mount a defense against. A devil with a stare that could smash through every single wall she’d built up to protect herself. One that was, in some ways, far more frightening than the first.Ī dark-haired devil with killer gray eyes and massive hands. One old and familiar – the one that had tried to ruin her life in ways that she was just starting to get a handle on – and one new.

Naomi Abbott peeled out of the Dangerous Curves parking lot like she had the devil himself chasing her… and in a way she did. I hope it’ll hold you until the book goes live… when that will be is anyone’s guess. I really appreciate all the warm fuzzies you’ve given me over the past 3 days or so, since I uploaded my book (aka: ‘dropped it in to a gigantic black hole from whence it has not yet emerged’).Īs a THANK YOU, I’m posting the first chapter of ‘Hard Curves‘ here for you.

Dangerous Curves by Marysol James