A TASTE of AMY ROMINE

- Romantic Suspense Author

Excerpt from Shockwave –Temperance a Tarot Series Novel

 COMING April 01 (eXtasy Books)

Jack heard a distant pounding and shifted. He abruptly felt his body ache, and he opened his eyes to his living room. Not remembering exactly how he got there, he tried to sit up, his head thudding in protest.

The banging started again, and he realized there was someone at the door.

Dragging himself off the couch, he shuffled to the door and opened it.

“Are you alright?” he heard Melissa ask him as soon as the door opened.

“Ah, yeah I guess.” His eyes closed as he tried to silence the thundering of her voice in his head.

“You look like shit.” She moved past him into the house

“Well good morning to you too.”

“Morning?”

She was in full business attire, which struck him as odd. She usually didn’t change until after the show “Yeah morning.” He walked past her toward the kitchen. “I need coffee.”

“Jack, it’s two in the afternoon.”

The statement hit him and then rolled off. Obviously, he had over slept, missed the show, and she was irritated with him. He continued to the cabinet pulling out the coffee filters as her heels clicked behind him.

“Did you hear me?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened?” Her scolding eyes bore into him. He continued to make the coffee, ignoring her, still trying to remember how he got home. “Jack.”

“Yes, Melissa,” Jack faced her with a grunt. “What is it that you want?”

“Really?” She looked like she could kill. “You don’t think that missing work, and leaving R.J. and I stranded warrants an explanation?”

“I overslept,” pouring the water into the coffee maker and turning it on. “You and R.J. have run the show before what’s the big deal?”

“We are getting good at it. This is the third time in three weeks you’ve left us stranded.”

“And overreacting as usual.”

 “You’re out all hours of the night. Drinking so much you’re hung over almost every morning and you think I am overreacting?”

“It’s called having a life. Seriously, Miss, I know that you have settled down, but do you really need to know where I am twenty four hours a day?” Her face went pale before she turned on her heel walking out of the kitchen. “You’d think we were married or something, or did you forget that you already have a husband to nag?”

She reappeared in the arch between the kitchen and the hallway. Unable to meet her eyes he turned away.

“You don’t get to turn away from me after that comment Tucker.” Melissa circled him, forcing him to look at her. “The only reason you would ever be such a dick is to try and push me away. So why don’t we skip the semantics and get to what’s really going on here?”

“Leave it alone.”He turned his back on her again.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen anymore. You’re a mess and you are going to tell me why.”

“Jesus, Miss! I’m a mess! Is that what you want to hear?”

“This is about Vegas, isn’t it?”

As soon as he heard the word Vegas, his body melted a little. He struggled with the onslaught of images the word brought on, and he turned back to the coffee pot.

“You know what happened,” he moved to the refrigerator pulling out cream for his coffee.

“Obviously not, so why don’t you refresh my memory.”

“I’m not doing this.”

“I’m not leaving it alone, Jack.”

“There is nothing to tell,” he poured cream in his cup. It pooled in the bottom, and Kate’s smile hit him. He stopped, tossing the bottle of cream in the garbage. “It’s over.”

“No it’s not.” Her eyes softened when she looked at him. “You’re trying to pretend it is, but you can’t. I can see it in your eyes. The only person you’re fooling here is you, and even that isn’t working anymore.”

“Melissa, just stop!” he picked up his coffee cup, and tossed it into the sink with a loud clang. A thick silence filled the room, the heat of her eyes on him.

“I’m back,” they heard a female voice. Melissa looked to Jack. The previous evening and his guest came bounding back. She walked in with a shopping bag and two Lattes’ in hand. Smiling at him brightly, her long brown hair, and green eyes gleaming, she handed him the coffee and then noticed Melissa.

“Oh I’m sorry was I interrupting something?” She looked at him and then Melissa.

“Candice, this is Melissa,” relieved that he remembered her name. “Melissa this is Candice.”

“Melissa from ‘The Shot’!” Candice grabbed Melissa’s hand shaking it. “I love your beauty segment! I have all of the products you recommend!”

“Ah yeah it’s nice to meet you Candice,” Melissa offered before looking at her watch. “Wow, you know what? I have to get going.”

Jack watched her move past Candice and straight to the door.

“Miss,” he called to her half-heartedly, but made no attempt to stop her as she opened the door and then disappeared behind it.

Excerpt from Trust Me Book 3 - Jaded Promises

 Get It Now! (eXtasy Books)

The stairs creaked with each step as he looked into the dimness below. The humid musty area was cold and damp. He swallowed hard. Gray concrete, jagged walls and dust surrounded them and a chill raked up his spine.

"We found it over there." The same officer descended the stairs behind them. The beam of his flashlight landed to the right of where they stood. Eric reached for a flashlight, and his eyes landed on Charlie who scanned the room. An officer offered his and Eric stepped toward the area. His hand brushed against the cold concrete but his mind still refused to accept it.

Not here…not like this…

Eric’s eyes fell on a spatter of blood and his chest flooded with an unrecognized pain.

She was here

Unable to push the image away, all the air left the room as his entire body clenched at the suffocation. He ascended the stairs into the sunlight, fighting for control. He began to unhinge, mindlessly entered one of the side rooms

They didn't find her which means she's still…

Keep it together Stiles…falling apart isn't going to help anyone

The sewn seam around his emotions threatened to tear, and he couldn't move. The paralyzing agony that spiked from the core of his body was relentless. He fought back in vain. He knew it wouldn't stop until she was in his arms, safe.

"Eric, what’s going on?"

Eric wiped an unexpected wetness from his eyes. He leaned against the wall to face his brother. Pure disbelief stared back at him.

"I've never seen you like this."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, you never…"

"Yeah well, things change." Eric moved to exit the room.

He found the front door and pushed through it hearing Charlie just behind him.

"Since when?"

"You still don't get it do you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Have you really convinced yourself that all of this…what happened, was just some kind of joke?” He stopped to face him. “That Rebecca and I didn’t mean anything we said when we told you that we never wanted to hurt you?"

"I don't know what the hell you meant to do and to be honest, I don’t really care."

"Charlie…whether or not you choose to believe it, we did try to walk away.” Charlie’s eyes diverted in anger. "Jesus, Charlie she went through hell and all she could think about was how she couldn't hurt you!"

"So once again this is my fault!"

"No…I am just…" Eric’s chest turned to stone, unwilling to allow him to hide. "As your brother, your friend, I tried to forget about…everything. But that night. That first night in Dallas, everything changed. We did everything we could to ignore it, make disappear but it didn't. It only got stronger…can you try to understand that?"

"You really expect me to…"

"I expect you to believe that I tried! I expect you to realize that this had nothing to do with you. To remember that until that moment, I've never betrayed you."

"So because you’ve always tried to be the good big brother you want me to be okay with this? To just accept what you did and move on?"

"Yes."

'Why?"

"Because you’re my brother and I need you to." Eric’s watering despite his continued battle against it. "Charlie, I'm in love with her."

"I loved her too!"

"Okay Charlie,” Eric clenched his jaw. “Where did you see things heading with her? Let's say we never met, what then?"

"I don't know. I never got the chance thanks to you!"

"That’s the difference!" Eric’s fists balled in frustration. "Six weeks ago, and the two months before that. Hell even in Dallas I knew this was different. I knew she changed everything. Even when she left without a word and I didn’t even know her name, I couldn’t get her out of my head! I look at her and see everything I never knew I wanted. She's woken up this person inside me that I didn’t even know was there! The one who wants a house and a family. The person who needs to see her every morning and hold her every night, because when I don't something is missing and the world doesn't make sense. "

"Eric…"

"The difference is that the moment I met her, she became my whole world," Eric explained as he struggled to keep his furious heart under control. "I know that you loved her. That was one of the reason's I stayed away as long as I did. It might not seem like much but…she needed me and I couldn’t turn my back anymore. Now she's gone and I can't…If we don't…if I can't find her..."

"We're going to find her, Eric.” He saw the first glimpse of understanding in his brothers eyes.

Here are Amy's links again: 

Suspense for The Romantic Heart                        Red Lipstick Journals

Authors of Red Lipstick Journals                         BellaOnline - Prime Time TV Editor

Affiliate Author _ Alternative Reads                     Twitter – AmyJRomine

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Thanks for being here, Amy. It's been great getting to know you

Stop Press: Shockwave's Release date has been moved up to APRIL 1st! Amy is celebrating with a contest!

All you need to do is to enter a comment and tell her why YOU should win an exclusive pre-release copy of Shockwave!