Category: Teaser Tuesday

There are only 14 days until the release of Lost in Little Havana! Woo hoo! The reviews are starting to come in! Thanks to GabReadsBooks who said Lost in Little Havana was “A wonderful romantic mystery…fast-paced adventure from beginning to end. I had to read this in one sitting, the story was just that addicting! The characters are well developed and had intense chemistry…” Thank you GabReadsBooks! You can find out more about this first book in the South Beach Security series from Harlequin Intrigue at https://amzn.to/3FT144d. Here’s a little teaser for you too! In this scene, we’re finding out more about the secret police detective Roni Lopez feels is keeping from Trey Gonzalez.

Teaser

Roni stood behind the Twins as they showered Trey with hugs and kisses.

“Hermanito, you had us so worried,” Mia said and hugged her older brother. Carolina playfully elbowed Mia out of the way to drop a quick kiss on her cousin’s cheek. “Totally worried,” Carolina said.

Trey glanced her way and offered a pained and slightly weak smile, but his color was good and he’d managed to sit upright in bed without any help. “Thank you all for coming by, but I’ll be fine,” he said, his voice raspy.

If you could consider being shot in three different places fine, Roni thought, but he seemed stronger than after his operation two days earlier. After losing her suspect when he’d raced out of the club, she’d headed to another bar in the hopes of finding him, but she’d had no luck. She had returned to the bar to make sure her friends were fine. That was when Trey’s parents had called Mia to tell her about the shooting.

At that moment, her heart had stopped in her chest and the only thing she could think was, Not Trey.

“You better be fine, Gonzalez,” Roni said, trying to keep her tone upbeat. Two nights ago, when she’d driven the Twins to the hospital, it had been too scary to see him unconscious and in pain.

Trey nodded and said, “I will be. Bet on it.”

Knowing Trey, she wouldn’t bet against him. And knowing Trey, he’d be determined to find out who had murdered his partner. She was just as determined to find the suspect who had been talking to Doug that night and discover what had been his relationship to Trey’s partner. Worry niggled in her gut that it hadn’t been anything aboveboard.

Shooting a glance at her watch, she said, “I should get going. My partner is probably wondering where I am this morning.”

“Thanks for coming,” Trey said and jerked his chin up in a bro-kind of good-bye. No hugs and kisses for her and disappointment flared before she tamped it down.

“Sure. See you.” She was tempted for a moment, a too-brief moment, to go over and give him a hug or a kiss. But she was afraid it might reveal too much, especially with the Twins watching. They were well aware of her crush and would be only too happy to play matchmaker.

Order

Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/36KrDcR
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3L6Svlt
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/lost-in-little-havana/id1617070775
BN E-book: https://bit.ly/3wS0AqN
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lost-in-little-havana
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/LostLittleHavana

Woo hoo only 21 days until the release of Lost in Little Havana, my new romantic suspense release from Harlequin Intrigue. Today I’m sharing an excerpt from the book for you and don’t forget to enter the giveaway on my Facebook Fan page for a chance win a $15 Gift Card and some custom book cover pins! You can enter the contest at https://bit.ly/3Ui4J06 or if you’re not on Facebook, leave a comment on this post. Also, please take a moment to check out Lost in Little Havana at https://amzn.to/3FT144d.

Excerpt

Roni rode the elevators to the lobby and strolled out onto the steps of the hotel. She looked around and realized that Trey was sitting off to one side of the wide veranda at the front of the hotel.

He sauntered to her and laid a hand at her waist. “Are you okay?”

“I am,” she said, and they walked toward the valet at the curb.

“Mia and Carolina said Wilson took you into his private room. What happened in there?” he asked, searching her features for any sign of upset.

“You’re not going to believe me when I tell you.” She displayed the card with the phone number and said, “He wanted a gaming partner.”

Trey examined the card as they reached the curb. A valet rushed up to them and he passed the man the ticket for the convertible. The young man sprinted away to get their car.

“I don’t get it,” Trey said and returned the card.

“We played a video game. All night. And it turns out Miles is his half brother.”

Trey shook his head. “The weird feeling Mia and Carolina got was—”

“Off, but not in a way we should worry about. I mean, it is weird, but aren’t there a lot of eccentric millionaires?” she said with a quick wobble of her head.

Trey cursed, but just then a car turned the corner with the screech of tires on the pavement and veered into the wrong lane of traffic in front of the hotel. The dark muzzle of a gun poked from the driver’s-side window.

“Get down,” Trey screamed and hauled her to the ground behind a parked car, covering her body with his as a spray of gunfire pinged against vehicles and shattered glass.

After the gunfire had ended, he helped her sit up. “You okay?”

“I’m okay,” she said, even though there was a burning sensation along her right arm.

Trey muttered a curse. “You’re hit.”

There was only a small graze on her upper arm. “I’m okay,” she said and accepted his help to get to her feet. She wobbled on the high heels, but he steadied her.

“Are you sure?” he asked even as a police car jerked to a halt in front of the hotel, lights flashing, casting eerie red and blue lights that battled with the neon from the buildings along the strip. A second cruiser arrived a second later and the officers streamed from their vehicles to check on those who had been on the sidewalk when the shooting started.

Trey and Roni did the same. Trey pulled his out from his pocket and Roni slipped her hand beneath the hem of the dress to the holder wrapped high around her thigh. They showed the badges to the officers and civilians they helped.

Luckily no pedestrians or hotel patrons had been shot, and there were only minor injuries from people diving out of the way to avoid the gunfire. The EMTs tended to them and Roni. After, Trey and Roni worked with the other officers to take down names and get as many firsthand accounts as they could about the car and shooter.

Captain Rogers arrived in a squad car just as they were heading into the hotel to request the videos from their security cameras. “Lopez. Gonzalez. Do you have any idea if this was related to your investigation?”

Sadly, there had been a number of shootings on Ocean Drive and nearby areas. “It’s possible, but we can’t say for sure,” she said.

Rogers gestured to her arm, which had been bandaged by one of the EMTs “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine and we have witness accounts of the car and driver as well as our own observations.”

“Good. Let’s go see what those security videos have for us,” Rogers said.

I can’t believe it’s only 42 days until the release of Lost in Little Havana, the first book in the South Beach Security romantic suspense series. I had a blast dreaming up the Gonzalez family and their private security and investigation agency and can’t wait for you to meet Trey, Mia, and Ricky, the siblings in the first three stories (which are all standalone). I also can’t wait for you to meet the spinoff with SBS’s K-9 division when it debuts in 2023. I’ve already finished the first book in the K-9 series and am busily working on book #2!

Teaser

Each brush with death…
…makes their shared desire harder to ignore

Detective Roni Lopez has been keeping a secret from Detective Trey Gonzalez her whole life. When his partner is gunned down in a Miami Beach nightclub, she has a new secret to keep. Trey can’t know that she’s working for Internal Affairs—just like he can’t know that she’s always loved him. But when their lives are on the line, she has to make some tough choices about what really matters…

Excerpt

MIAMI BEACH DETECTIVE Roni Lopez worked her way through the club, her walk one that any fashion model on a catwalk would envy. She was there to draw the attention of the man they suspected of having abducted a number of women in the South Beach area. Roni had only the barest information on the alleged kidnapper and a police sketch from a woman who had luckily managed to avoid a similar fate. The man might also be responsible for the disappearance days earlier of two college students.

As Roni neared the bar, she caught sight of her best friends, Mia and her cousin Carolina. They were dressed to the nines in dresses that had to be designer and Louboutins with their distinctive red soles. Mia’s almost seal-black hair was cut short in a stylish bob while Carolina’s hair hung in soft waves to her shoulders. Men scrambled around them, eager to buy them drinks, but her friends politely refused the offers.

She sauntered over for a quick hello and to warn them about the club—that it was a possible hunting ground for a kidnapper, although her friends were unlikely targets. As well-known influencers, their disappearance would bring too much attention. It was much easier to grab women who would not be missed as quickly, like sex workers. That was why she had been surprised to find that the college students had been taken while on a school trip. Their absence had been noted within 48 hours.

Roni slipped an arm around her friends’ waists and dropped quick kisses on their cheeks. She wiped away a red lipstick stain she left behind on Mia’s cheek.

Mia smiled and said, “Hola, mi amiga. What brings you here tonight?”

In a whisper so that only her friends could hear, she said, “Work, unfortunately.”

“You and Trey. You just missed him,” Carolina said and tossed her head toward the far side of the club.

Roni looked that way, but Trey was nowhere to be found.

“Disappointed?” Mia teased, well aware that Roni had once had a massive crush on her older brother. That crush had dimmed but not totally disappeared, given the way her heart had jumped at the mention of Trey’s name. But he was Mia’s brother as well as a fellow Miami Beach police detective and therefore definitely off-limits.

“Been there, done that,” Roni lied and shot a quick look around again, searching for the handsome detective. She didn’t see Trey, but she suddenly spied Trey’s partner, Doug Adams, speaking to a man who looked way too much like the police sketch of her possible suspect. She was about to walk over when Doug’s gaze locked with hers.

Doug’s eyes widened in surprise, and he quickly leaned toward the other man to say something. The man looked her way, his blue eyes as flat as a shark’s, rousing a chill in her center. Dangerous eyes. Maybe even the eyes of a kidnapper.

She took a step toward them, but they separated and raced off in different directions.

Roni muttered a curse under her breath and murmured a hasty good-bye to her friends. “Gotta run. Stay safe, okay.”

“You, too,” they said in unison as Roni hurried after the man with the cold dead eyes.

Order

Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/36KrDcR
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3L6Svlt
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/lost-in-little-havana/id1617070775
BN E-book: https://bit.ly/3wS0AqN
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lost-in-little-havana
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/LostLittleHavana

I love baseball so it was a lot of fun for me to write some stories revolving around a fictional New Jersey baseball team. Yes, it’s about time that us Jersey Girls had our own baseball team! I loved writing Winning Season because it was a story about a second chance at love between a baseball player facing the end of his career and his ex-wife who is just at the start of her flourishing career as a basketball player. Today I’m teasing you with the cover for the book which I plan on re-releasing in October, just in time for the playoffs. But in the meantime, you can read the first three chapters for free on Kindle Vella at https://amzn.to/3v5nVEl. I hope you’ll drop by and check it out as well as my other baseball romance Rookie of the Year.

Blurb

Eric Mendoza knew that he’d blown it years earlier when he let his desire to play baseball drive a wedge into his marriage to Yvonne Lopez. But when Fate throws Eric and Yvonne together again, Eric’s career is almost over while Yvonne’s dream of a basketball career is only just beginning. Will Eric and Yvonne learn to balance life and their careers to find happiness or will their push for success doom their love once again?

Excerpt

Eric Mendoza passed his fingers over the cold glossy paper of the photo, imagining instead that it was the warm silken feel of Yvonne’s skin. He closed his eyes, pictured the creaminess of it. The pale milky smoothness of her breasts and the taste of her against his lips. The soft sounds of her passion as he brought her to the edge.

He cursed beneath his breath and opened his eyes. He had almost crumpled the paper in his hands with his musings. He smoothed it out on the surface of his table and examined it yet again, almost as if to torture himself.

Yvonne was wearing nothing but the pants of her team’s basketball uniform, riding low on her shapely hips. The curve of her waist was clear, as was her navel and the small beauty mark beside it. The view of her lean, sculpted midsection was interrupted by her arms, which cradled a bright orange basketball that also hid her breasts, but just barely. The full globes of them were visible behind the basketball.

Her hands hung loosely before her. Beautiful hands with long fingers which sported only one ring – the small gold pinky ring given to her by her abuelita for her fifteenth birthday. The only sign of her wedding ring was a barely discernable line on her ring finger, but that would fade with time, or maybe it was only him imagining that he saw some visible remnant of their marriage. After all, they had been divorced for nearly two years now.

In fact, he hadn’t seen Yvonne in over a year, since shortly after their divorce. The last time they had run into one another had only been in passing in the corridor of one of the local television stations. She had been headed out, apparently after doing an interview and he had been on his way in.

Yvonne had given him a curt smile, nodded and kept on walking. He’d had too much pride to chase after her, just like he’d had too much pride to acknowledge that maybe the reason for the end of their marriage had been his mistakes. His failure to keep his promises to his young wife.

Eric sighed heavily and leaned into the hard-backed chair, wondering how something that had started so right could have ended so wrong.

They had been attracted to each other from the moment they had first met. Yvonne had been too young, just eighteen and on her way to college.

He had been twenty-four and a hotshot Rookie of the Year who had been invited back to speak at his old high school’s annual sports award dinner. After giving his speech, he had presented the trophies to the top male and female athletes, never expecting to be immediately intrigued by the attractive young girl who had won.

Yvonne had excelled at a number of sports, but her prowess at basketball had earned her multiple awards as well as a full scholarship to college. As impressive as that was on paper, it had hadn’t been nearly as inspiring as the sight of her and the calm, elegant poise she exhibited as she came up to accept the honor.

Eric had stepped behind her and admired the sleek lines of her strong body. The very feminine voice that wrapped itself around him and drew him in as she gave her acceptance speech.

After the dinner, people mingled in the school gym, and flocked around the various recipients. No one had to tell him where Yvonne was. She’d had the largest crowd gathered around her, including a number of reporters from the local papers and sports shows.

He’d always scoffed at those scenes in the movies where couples spot each other across a crowded room and everything else around them blurred into nothingness. He’d thought them the whimsical stylings of the cinema . . . until it had happened to him with Yvonne.

In that crowded gym, with dozens of people talking and milling about, she’d looked up and caught his eye and the world had dropped away until it was just the two of them.

Eric had walked up to her, excusing himself as he brushed past her many admirers and the well-wishers waiting to congratulate her. Smiling as he realized she had finished with the reporter interviewing her and taken a step toward him.

“Hola,” she had said and with that one word he knew she was the one meant for him.

It’s going to be such an amazing end to the year for me with the release of back-to-back Harlequin Intrigue novels in the South Beach Security series! The first book in the series is Lost in Little Havana and it’s an exciting action-packed story about a detective who is trying to find out who murdered his partner and stop a human trafficking ring at the same time. This Teaser Tuesday I’m sharing a teaser and short excerpt from Lost in Little Havana.

Teaser

Each brush with death…
…makes their shared desire harder to ignore

Detective Roni Lopez has been keeping a secret from Detective Trey Gonzalez her whole life. When his partner is gunned down in a Miami Beach nightclub, she has a new secret to keep. Trey can’t know that she’s working for Internal Affairs—just like he can’t know that she’s always loved him. But when their lives are on the line, she has to make some tough choices about what really matters…

Excerpt

Music pounded out of speakers while a DJ positioned on a stage above the crowded dance floor, like a high priest at the altar, orchestrated the electronic beats. Tourists dressed in bright tropical hues danced and gyrated beside top model wannabes and disinterested locals. Overhead lights and strobes bathed them in a wash of neon color.

The South Beach nightclub was lit but danger lurked beneath all that glitter and glamour.

Miami Beach Detective Trey Gonzalez stood at one side of the packed club, searching for the confidential informant who had called to say he had info that might be of interest. His partner, Doug Adams, had gone off on his own earlier to meet his own CI and hadn’t returned. As Trey scanned the area, he caught sight of his sister Mia and cousin Carolina jockeying for spots at the bar. The two women had been born on the same day and were almost inseparable, which was why everyone teasingly called them the Twins. As they were two of Miami’s top influencers, he wasn’t surprised to see them there since they regularly covered the club scene for their popular lifestyle blog. But he was worried that they might get caught up in the nasty things going on at the club.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, dragging his attention from the Twins. When he had time, he’d have to warn his sister and cousin away from this location. He pulled out his phone. His CI was calling.

“¿Donde estas, Eddie?” he asked, wondering where the man was since Trey hadn’t spotted him in the club.

“Mano, I can’t show my face tonight,” Eddie said in hushed tones, making it hard for Trey to hear over the almost deafening music.

To combat the noise, Trey hurried outside into a Miami night that was so steamy it was like he had walked into a sauna. “¿Que pasa?”

“There’s too much going down at the club, Trey,” his CI said nervously and slightly out of breath, as if he was running from something. Was it personal Eddie issues or something bigger that might be dangerous to the Twins and other innocent bystanders?

“Caray, Eddie. What’s happening?” Trey said, worried. Plus, his partner would be wondering where he had gone since they might be missing some of the drug dealing that he and his partner were undercover to prevent.

In a rapid-fire burst of words, Eddie spilled his sketchy story. “Looking for me there. I know about the women in a shipping container on Terminal Island. Sending them overseas to a human trafficking ring. Soon.”

Order

Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/36KrDcR
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3L6Svlt
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/lost-in-little-havana/id1617070775
BN E-book: https://bit.ly/3wS0AqN
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lost-in-little-havana
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/LostLittleHavana

I’m busy writing the first book in the Harlequin Intrigue SBS K-9 series and it’s fun to include so much of what I learned in order to write Decoy Training. Butter, the canine heroine of Rescue at Redland (Tentative title) is a Labrador retriever who is fairly new to the K-9 world and to her partner SBS Agent Matt Perez. I’m having a fun time working Butter into the story, but also working in the racehorses in the story. Did I mention that the story takes place at a racehorse stable? It’s going to be an exciting story about how Matt protects stable owner Teresa Rodriguez from a dangerous threat. If you like exciting stories, check out the other books in the K-9s on Patrol series. Each of the stories are standalone but you’ll get to see what’s happening with the characters from all the other books. I love that as a reader and hope you will as well! For now, here’s a little teaser from the book for you.

Teaser

The ride to town was blessedly short and his hunger was quickly tamped down by his first bite of an absolutely wonderful burger. “As good as I’d heard.”

Piper grinned and picked up her burger. “Glad you weren’t disappointed.”

“I wasn’t. Just like I’m not disappointed with everything I’ve been learning at the DCA,” he said, wanting to keep the conversation to anything other than the break-in.

“Truthfully, it’s been a pleasure to work with you since Decoy has so many natural skills. The two of you will be a wonderful addition to any search and rescue team,” she said and took a big bite of her burger. “Mmm, so tasty.”

“There’s still a lot to learn,” Shane said, then snagged an onion ring and took a big bite.
With a small shake of her head, she said, “There is. Working with Decoy and you has me learning as well so I can keep on challenging you.”

Shane couldn’t resist teasing her. He arched a brow and said, “So I challenge you?”

A becoming flush of pink painted her cheeks. “You know you do. But I think I challenge you, too.”

He chuckled and grinned, admiring her spirit. “You do. I wasn’t expecting someone like you.”

Around mouthful of burger, she said, “Ditto.”

He barked out a laugh and started eating again, enjoying the burger and the company. It was turning out to be such a nice night, he didn’t have the heart to ask anything about the burglary. There would be time enough on the drive home.

Home…

When he had left California and headed to Idaho, it had never occurred to him that in just a few short weeks he’d think of it as home, but there it was. Jasper felt like home. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that Piper made it feel that way.

But in a little over two weeks, he was supposed to be on his way to Montana. Away from Jasper.
Away from Piper.

His heart did a little skip at that, forcing him to suck in a breath. The air was tinged with the faint scent of something floral. Piper’s soap or maybe her shampoo.

They finished dinner with a slice of Millard’s cherry pie and ice cream. A perfect ending to their meal together.

But once they started their drive home, he had no choice but to ask the hard questions. He hesitated until they were almost to Piper’s.

Gripping the wheel tightly, he shot a quick look at her. She looked peaceful and he hated to upset that peacefulness, but it had to be done.

Order Decoy Training

Amazon Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZohoXx
Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3CNO4bl
Apple: https://apple.co/3o9usuh
BN E-book: http://bit.ly/BNDecoy
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/decoy-training
Additional Retailers: https://books2read.com/DecoyTraining

I just got my cover for Lost in Little Havana and it’s just fabulous! OMG! I’m so excited for you to see all of it, but in the meantime, here’s a little teaser cover reveal for it. Lost in Little Havana is the first book in my new South Beach Security series for Harlequin Intrigue. It will be released on November 29, 2022. I can’t wait.