Berkley Sensation
Featuring: Gabriel Rossiter; Katherine James
400 pages ISBN: 0425219763 EAN: 9780425219768 Kindle: B0030CVQ44 Mass Market Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
Katherine James, born of a Navajo mother and a "bilagaanaa" (white) man, has been raised by her grandmother. Considered a "half-ajo" by her many siblings and feeling unwanted, Kat is now a reporter living in Denver. Kat is miraculously rescued from a near-death fall from Eldorado Canyon Cliff by Boulder Mountain Park Ranger Gabriel Rossiter.
Gabe, having endured the loss of his love, will not allow himself to form an attachment to the very beautiful woman with the big eyes and long dark hair. Kat, saving her virginity for that "one true other half," falls deeply in love with Gabe as they constantly find themselves thrown together while investigating the desecration and looting of artifacts of the sacred land at Mesa Butte. As Kat reveals the mysterious events, Gabe risks his life to save her from murder. Gabe struggles to resist Kat as she admits he is the "other half" to her. Trudging through feet of snow, surviving gunshot wounds, broken bones and being thrown off a cliff, the endurance of their strength is continually tested. Releasing old beliefs may be harder than either one of them can survive.
Kat's character is a beautiful, strong woman full of integrity with a strong belief in her Navajo heritage. Hunky Gabe isn't as strong as he thinks when confronted with a woman who's perfectly attuned to him. Incredibly raw and erotic sex binds them as nothing else can. This highly sensual novel with curl your hair from the sexual activity while keeping you totally in suspense throughout. A very good read.
What do you do when desire drives you to the very brink?
The day Navajo journalist Katherine James met Gabriel
Rossiter, the earth literally moved beneath her feet. Nearly
killed in a rockslide while hiking, she found her life in
the tall park ranger's hands. Although she can't forget him
she thinks she'll never see him again. She is crushed when
she recognizes her rescuer among the law enforcement
officers raiding a sweat lodge ceremony one night, throwing
her and her friends off Mesa Butte, land they consider sacred.
Gabe long ago swore he would never again lose himself to a
woman not even one with long dark hair and big eyes that
seem to see right through him. But from the moment he first
sees Kat, the attraction he feels is undeniable. Appalled by
what he has been ordered to do, he's determined to get to
the bottom of recent events at Mesa Butte and to keep Kat safe.
But asking questions can be dangerous almost as dangerous as
risking one's heart. And soon Kat and Gabe's passion for the
truth and each other makes them targets for those who would
do anything, even kill, to keep Native Americans off their
sacred land.
Excerpt
Geee-zus!
Gabe sucked in a breath, shocked by the blistering impact of
Kat’s unexpected kiss, heat shearing through his gut at the
first clumsy press of her lips against his. Even as his body
responded, some part of his brain knew this shouldn’t be
happening. "Kat, you’re upset and tipsy and—"
She kissed him again, tilting her head to better slant her
mouth over his.
Christ!
He turned his face away, felt her lips brush his jaw.
"Honey, you don’t really want this. You’ve just lost—"
She made a little sound of protest, her arms sliding behind
his head, drawing his lips closer to hers, as if to show him
that she did really want it.
Good. So did he.
Ignoring the pathetic warnings of his conscience, he took
control of the kiss, drawing her tight against him,
capturing her mouth with his.
God, she tasted sweet! She smelled sweet, too — like honey
and woman. She gave a little whimper, melting against him in
a way that was utterly feminine, every inch of her soft body
molding to his, her breasts pressing against his ribs, her
lips parting to give him access. He swirled his tongue over
hers, felt her body tense. And through a pheromone fog, he
realized she wasn’t just a virgin between her legs.
Kissing — real kissing — was new to her, too.
Not just virgin, buddy — extra virgin.
He reined himself in, gentled the kiss, slowed it down,
brushing her lips lightly with his, teasing their outline
with the tip of his tongue, nipping their fullness, his lust
for her at war with some strange urge to protect her from
himself. In his world, any night that started with kissing
ended soon after with fucking. His cock had already risen to
the occasion and strained painfully against his fly, looking
for the surest route out of denim and into her. But that
couldn’t happen — not tonight, not when she was vulnerable
and afraid and hurting, probably not ever. She wanted
happily ever after, and all he could give her was sex.
Still, he could keep kissing her…
Hell, yeah.
He claimed her mouth in a no-holds-barred kiss, penetrating
deep, taking her tongue with his, sucking it into his mouth,
biting down. She whimpered, kissed him back, meeting the
strokes of his tongue with her own, her fingers curled in
his hair, her body almost undulating against his,
communicating in a primal language of its own, one Gabe’s
body understood only too well.
Katherine James might want to save her virginity, but her
body had other plans.
With a groan, he drew her beneath him, testosterone shorting
out his brain, his body taking over, his blood running hot
and fast. He found her throat and pressed his lips against
the rapid beating of her pulse, kissing a path over soft,
sweet skin, tasting her, nibbling her earlobe. And he wasn’t
finished — not by a long shot.
Kat heard herself whimper and turned her head to the side,
surrendering her throat to Gabe, the heat of his lips
raising goose bumps on her skin, his male scent filling her
head, the hard press of his body on top hers making her
belly flutter.
She’d never felt anything like this, never even imagined it
— the heat, the intensity, the overwhelming physical force
of it. Her body trembled, and her heart raced, her breathing
uneven as if she’d been running. And she was running — from
her grief, from her fear, from everything that hurt. Some
part of her knew this, but that only made her run faster.
The rules don’t apply tonight.
She didn’t stop him when he slid a callused hand beneath her
sweater to trace tiny circles up her ribcage. She didn’t
object when his clever fingers found the clasp of her bra
between her breasts and unhooked it. And when he cupped her
left breast, when his thumb flicked her nipple...
She gasped, stunned, the sensation too astonishing, too
arousing, too wonderful to be real. Jagged shafts of heat
seemed to shoot straight from her breast to her belly,
turning to liquid between her thighs.
"You like that, don’t you?"
At the husky sound of his voice, her eyes flew open. She
found him looking down at her, his breathing as rough as
hers, his blue eyes burning, a smile on his wet lips. She
forced herself to hold his gaze, shocked by the intimacy of
watching him as he watched her, as he watched the effect his
touch had on her, his hand still cupping and shaping her
breast, his thumb tracing lazy circles over its aching crest.
And the heat in her belly became a wildfire.
Then he pushed her sweater up, baring her breasts, his gaze
raking hungrily over her. "God, Kat, honey, you’ve got
beautiful breasts. They’re so… Mmm."
Whatever he’d been about to say became a moan as he ducked
down and drew one of her nipples into the scorching heat of
his mouth.
"Gabe." Kat’s body jerked at the initial shock of it,
the pleasure staggering as he suckled first one nipple and
then the other, tugging at her with his lips, teasing her
with velvet strokes of his tongue, tormenting her with nips
of his teeth. It was sweet, so sweet, and terrible, too, the
fire between her thighs now a throbbing ache. She heard
herself calling his name, felt her hips lifting toward him,
wanting, wanting…
Wanting him.
He groaned, settled his weight between her thighs, and
answered her need, grinding what could only be the thick
ridge of his erection against her… there. Slowly, so slowly
he moved against her, taking the edge off the ache, only to
make it so much worse. She was wet, the emptiness inside her
burning, her inner muscles clenching around nothing. And she
knew.
If he kept going, if he pressed her, she wouldn’t be able to
stop him. She wouldn’t want to.
Gabe’s body was strung so tightly he thought it might snap.
He’d been a damned idiot to take it this far. He’d wanted to
give her the comfort she so obviously needed, and one thing
had let to another. Or that’s what he’d told himself. In
truth, he’d wanted to kiss her and hold her — and so he had.
He needed to stop. But how could he when Kat was coming
apart in his arms, her response burning him up? Her little
mewls and whimpers were driving him out of his mind, her
wine-dark nipples drawn into tight buds that begged for his
mouth, her hips moving in a way that was both feminine and
undeniably erotic. He didn’t want to stop — oh, hell, no! He
wanted to fuck her long and hard. He wanted to make her come
again and again. He wanted to forget himself inside her.
And then what, buddy? You’ll pluck her sweet cherry and
show her the door? She deserves better than that, and you
damned well know it.
Gabe dragged his lips from hers, forced his hips to hold
still, sexual need grinding in his gut, blood pounding
through his veins. "Kat."
She looked up at him, so beautiful it made his chest ache,
confusion and longing in those hazel green eyes, tear stains
on her cheeks, her lips red and swollen, her delicious
breasts rising and falling with each rapid breath — no
makeup, no silicon, nothing but sweet, soft, sexually
aroused woman.
He fought the urge, so elemental, to kiss her again and
settled for running his knuckles over her cheek. Somehow, he
managed to string a few words together. "If I don’t stop
now, honey, we’re going to be at this all night."