Spotlight & Giveaway: Always by Helen Hardt

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Helen Hardt to HJ!

Hi Helen and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Always!

Thank you for inviting me!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

She’s a take-charge woman. But he’s a master of control.
Always is the sixth and final book in my Follow Me series.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Oh? What are your hard limits?
I only have one.
What is it?
I don’t talk about it.
Don’t you think I should know? So I don’t bring it up?
Trust me, Skye. You will never bring it up.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

This book is a companion to book three, Follow Me Always, which is in the heroine’s point of view. Always follows the hero’s point of view.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

They were first attracted to each other in the first book of the series, For Braden, it’s Skye’s need for control. For Skye, it’s Braden’s enigmatic demeanor.

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Tense, volatile, yearning, unbalanced, evolving.
 

The First Kiss…

The first kiss happened earlier in the series.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

My favorite scene is when they become intimate for the first time without engaging in any BDSM. Here’s a short excerpt:

I take her hand and place it on my shoulder. “Touch me, Skye. Please.”
It’s frightening how much I yearn for her touch. Usually she’s bound, her motion restricted.
As she reaches out to me, her hand trembles.
She trails her fingers over my shoulder and down my upper arm all the way to my hand, where she entwines her fingers with mine.
I close my eyes. “I ache for your touch, Skye. I fucking ache for it.”
“Why do you bind me, then? Why do you make it so I can’t touch you except on your terms?”
My eyes still closed, I sigh. It’s a valid question. How do I answer? “I ache for that, too. I’ve always wanted women that way. But it’s different with you. I want the darkness, but I also want the light.”
“And that frightens you,” she says.
I nod. She knows me better than she realizes. “Please. Touch all of me.”
She leans into me and kisses my chest.
She’s kissed my lips before, sucked my dick, but I’ve never allowed her to touch me all over. Every part of me.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

Definitely the scene I just described.

Readers should read this book …

If they like a gorgeous alpha hero with a tortured past, a strong and feisty heroine, action and suspense, and lots of spicy scenes!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

Always marks the end of the Follow Me Series. My last two releases were I Am Salvation, the second in my new Steel Legends series, which is related to my bestselling Steel Brothers Saga, and Victorious Vice, number six in my Bellamy Brothers series. I’ll be announcing a new series soon, plus I have a serial that is coming to print for the first time. Exciting times!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: An e-copy of Follow Me Darkly, the first in the series

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite trope in a romance novel?

 
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Excerpt from Always:

“I’ve been in meetings nearly twenty-four-seven since I left Kansas,” I say. “I need a shower, too.” A little white lie. I showered when I got back to my place.
“Be my guest, then.” She gestures me toward the bathroom.
“Oh, no. You can’t dangle the idea of a shower with you in front of me and then take it away.”
“I didn’t dangle anything, Braden. You know that as well as I do. We’re not together right now, despite—”
“Fuck it all, Skye. I don’t care.” I grab her and slam my mouth onto hers.
The kiss is more than pent-up passion. It’s primal, like a mark.
Like when I bit the top of her breast that time.
I’ve missed her.
I can’t stay away from her.
She breaks the kiss and pushes me away.
I cock my head and adjust my groin. I’m hard and throbbing and only a moment away from fucking her against her door.
But I remain silent.
“You’re the one who ended things,” she tells me. “Then you go to my parents’ home without telling me. Then you tell me you want to have vanilla sex.”
“All true statements,” I say.
“But you can’t be with me, you say. Not until I can answer the question you asked me after the club.”
“That’s true.”
“So why are you kissing me? Why are you trying to get into the shower with me? Because we both know what will happen in the shower.”
I stalk toward her and push her against the wall, pinning her, my hands gripping her shoulders. “Why am I kissing you? Don’t you know by now?”
“N-No. I mean, yeah. You love me. You desire me.”
I shake my head. “It goes so far beyond that, Skye. You know that, because you feel it, too.”
She nods, shivering.
“You’ve become a drug to me, and damn it, I can’t leave you alone, no matter how much I know I should.”
“Y-You don’t have to leave me alone, Braden.”
“Don’t I?”
“No. Because I have an answer. Tonight I’ll answer your question.”
I crush my lips to hers once more. Her apron is coated with God knows what, and I’m wearing a custom Armani suite, but I don’t give a shit.
Our tongues tangle and duel. The kiss stays primal, as if we’re two animals getting ready to mate.
For that’s what our desire is—animalistic. It has been from the beginning. We’re drawn to each other as if the universe has forced us together for some divine purpose.
And perhaps it has.
Perhaps I needed to figure some things out about myself to live a happier life.
Perhaps Skye needs to do the same thing.
Our love came after the primal instinct to come together, as if our hearts followed our souls.
The best kind of love.
We kiss and we kiss and we kiss, until she breaks her mouth away from mine and inhales a deep breath.
“I have to check dinner,” she says. “I can’t let it get ruined again.”
I trail one finger down her cheek. “Okay. We’ll have the shower after dinner.”
“After we talk,” she says.
I nod. “After we talk.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Take his breath away…

Braden and Skye have an electric connection that gets stronger with every boundary and every limit they push. There’s nothing Braden won’t explore with Skye…with one exception. Only now she’s the one who’s challenging him. Because what Skye wants is the one thing Braden can’t give her. And the only way he’ll be able to keep the woman he loves is to relinquish the one thing he’s mastered above everything else: control.

Don’t miss this intensely sexy series with the first books, Darkly (told from Braden’s point of view) and Follow Me Darkly (told from Skye’s). Discover an even spicier experience by reading stories from both perspectives as you enjoy bestselling author Helen Hardt’s daring Follow Me series.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

#1 New York Times, #1 USA Today, and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Helen Hardt’s passion for the written word began with the books her mother read to her at bedtime. She wrote her first story at age six and hasn’t stopped since. In addition to being an award-winning author of romantic fiction, she’s a mother, an attorney, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an appreciator of fine red wine, and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. She writes from her home in Colorado, where she lives with her family. Helen loves to hear from readers.
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