Spotlight & Giveaway: Bare Devotion by Geri Krotow

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Geri Krotow to HJ!

Hi Geri and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Bare Devotion!

 
Hi Sara! Thanks for hosting me again.
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

Bare Devotion brings Henry and Sonja back together after she jilts him only a few weeks earlier. It’s the story of two soulmates who lost their way due to outside stressors, to include Henry’s racist parents. Sonja sacrifices her happiness for Henry, unbeknownst to him. Now another stressor brings them face-to-face; Sonja’s pregnant. This forces them to peel back all the layers of their relationship, figure out where they went wrong, and to decide if there is any future for them together, going forward.

What’s your favorite line(s) from the book?:

“He was lost without her.”
This is Henry’s realization. Sure, he told her he loved her before, always, but never took the time to express how, and how his life was so much better with Sonja. I enjoyed writing this passage and seeing Henry’s motivations come to light. It reassured me that it’s okay to be human!

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

They share an instant chemistry (of course!) but what really attracts them is each others compassion and intelligence. Henry is wowed by Sonja’s strength of character and total fearlessness when it comes to going after her goals. He’s also impressed that she doesn’t back down to his parents when their racist views rear their ugly heads.
Sonja is attracted to Henry’s dedication to the law and raising disadvantaged New Orleans residents to their best potential. As the story unfolds she is impressed with how he’s willing to open up to her and share all of himself–even the ugly, messy parts.

When you sat down to start this book, what was the biggest challenge you faced? What were you most excited about?

Bringing a couple back from a failed wedding was very, very hard! I knew that Sonja and Henry belonged together but they had to work through a lot of emotional baggage they hadn’t taken care of in the first place.
What excited me the most was writing a book about a couple who’d messed up so badly with one another but both were still willing to do the difficult work to get back together, and stay together forever this time.

What, in your mind, makes this book stand out?

New Orleans, of course, but more importantly the people of NOLA–the diversity of color, culture, lifestyles. The Bayou Bachelors barely dips into the depth of character that is NOLA and its history, but I’d like to think I pulled back the curtain a bit for the reader.

The First Kiss…

Sonja and Henry’s first kiss happened years ago, when they fell in love while working side-by-side at the Boudreaux’s law firm. They both do an impressive job of fighting their attraction after their very public un-wedding, but when alone at the cottage that will be their home while their house is repaired from flood damage, they can’t resist one another any longer. Not only do they share a kiss, but a hot lovemaking scene on their small porch.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

Their first-meet scene, in the flood ravaged riverfront house that had been their home for three years, until their wedding day, when Sonja fled their marriage vows. She knows she’s pregnant, he has no clue, their relationship is over, done, down in flames, and yet…there is a glimmer of hope in how Sonja responds to Henry.

“This is a far cry from the cathedral.” An unmistakable voice, the sexiest
timbre on the planet, rocked her.
A startled gasp left her lips before she had a chance to even know she
made the sound. She faced him, looked into the brilliant blue eyes whose
look always felt like a caress. Right now it was more like a harsh slap of
hail on her bare cheeks.
“I didn’t see your car in the drive so I thought it’d be okay to come
in.” Her defensiveness surprised her. She’d practiced how she’d behave
when she saw him again, and this was nothing like the detached air she’d
hoped to project.
“Why wouldn’t it be okay? It’s your house, too.” Tall, lean, and with the
lethal stare he usually reserved for his toughest courtroom cases, Henry
stared at her from the foyer. As imperious as ever but without his usual
air of humor. The self-deprecation that had endeared him to her. He wore
his best attorney mask without any sign of the warmth she’d gotten too
used to. He was guarded, prepared for battle.

If your hero had a sexy-times play list, what song(s) would have to be on it?

Fallin, Alicia Keys; Cry Me a River, Justin Timberlake; She Will Be Loved, Maroon 5

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

The best relationships take A LOT of work. And it’s always worth it to do the work, dig deep, and build a solid foundation for the love of a lifetime.

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?

I just turned in Silver Valley PD Book 8, and I am writing another Harlequin Romantic Suspense book for the Coltons series, which I know readers adore. I have one more release in 2018, next month, with The Pregnant Colton Witness. Then 2019 will start with a double-release in January, Bayou Bachelors Book 3 Bayou Vows, and Silver Valley PD Book 7, Snowbound with the Secret Agent.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One ebook copy of Fully Dressed, Book One in the Bayou Bachelors series. Two signed print copies of Reunion Under Fire, Book 6 in the Silver Valley PD series. US only please.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: I couldn’t write about New Orleans without featuring the local yummies. A favorite is the beignets-hot and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Do you like desserts? What’s your favorite?

 
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Excerpt from Bare Devotion:

She’d been hired by his father almost four years ago. She’d watched his
interest in her flicker on and off for three months before he’d read her mind,
somehow seen her daydreams, and finally asked her out. And taken her
to bed, the devout attention to detail he was known for in the courtroom
turned on completely for her, to her, making her feel things and do things
she’d never thought of. Or at least, never thought of doing sober, in broad
daylight, like the time he’d taken one of his brother’s boats out into the
bayou and bent her over the wheelhouse rail, taking her with raw need
and heat. It had been worth the mosquito bites.
She shook her head, needing the physical motion to release the memory.
“Good morning.” The two words were all that separated her from giving
in to her desire to run or stay and stand her ground like the strong woman
she’d thought she was. The woman who’d never have let Henry’s parents
talk to her the way they did, who’d have paid heed to the warning signs
that a marriage to Henry Boudreaux was never going to work. The woman
who would have seen the evidence in front of her that there was a major
trust issue going on.
“Sonja.” Henry graced her with one more scorching appraisal before
turning to Alesia with a warm smile. “We’ll need lunch catered for the
McNeely account, main conference room. Sonja, Rick, and I will sit in,
and there are six attending from their team.”
Sonya’s head buzzed with the drone of Henry and Alesia’s conversation.
She walked off to her office, unable to pretend that each time she had to
deal with Henry was anything less than it was.
Cataclysmic.
* * * *
Henry had expected a huge surge of exultation at her shocked expression.
It was what he’d intended to do. Shake her out of her professional composure,
throw her off her damned too-sexy heels and let her know that she hadn’t
affected him at all. He didn’t care if he’d made her throw up just hours
ago. And he was grateful she’d fled their vows. The marriage had been a
bad idea from the start. Living together had worked; why had they pushed
it to the altar?
Why did you push it to the altar?
He stifled a groan.
“Do you want me to get the usual mix of wraps or something more
local for lunch?” Alesia’s attention was completely on him, and he’d barely
heard her request.
He wanted to give in to his snide alter ego, the energy that had kept him
moving forward through the hell that had become his life since Sonja left
him a jilted groom only a little over two weeks ago.
“You decide. Your judgment is impeccable.” He flashed Alesia the grin
that had opened doors for him all across Southern Louisiana, throughout
the New Orleans courts, even without his family name.
The grin that had initially drawn Sonja to him three and a half years ago,
if what she’d told him was the truth. If she’d fallen for him at first sight,
as she’d said. If her heart had really skipped a beat and she’d gotten the
hiccups because her soul had “recognized” him. They’d been in this same
office, Sonja sitting opposite his father as the senior Boudreaux interviewed
her. She’d been sipping on a cola and showed zero signs of nervousness.
And the way her eyes had sized him up had made him hard on the spot.
Her expression had been priceless when that loud hiccup erupted from her
mouth, her sexy as sin lips puffing, and all he’d been able to think about
was how badly he needed to touch her, kiss her, have her.
She’d said it was love at first sight for her. That Henry was it. He let
out a grunt of frustration. He’d never forgive himself for his own fucking
stupidity. Nothing she’d said or done had been the truth, it turned out.
He closed the door to his office and crashed down hard on the leather sofa.
And immediately bounced back up, unable to be in such close proximity
to the very place he’d last made love to Sonja. They’d been working late
to get ahead on their cases, knowing that they’d be in Tahiti for ten days
after the wedding. Thinking about her in a teeny bikini, or better, nothing,
had made him harder than the oak desk he leaned against, his hands
wrapping around the edge. She’d let him go down on her as she lay across
his quickly cleared desk, and with no one in the office, Sonja’s cries had
wrapped around him as they both came in a rush of lust. Combined with
love, or so he’d thought.
A true love didn’t abandon you at the altar, though.
His phone buzzed, and he gratefully grabbed for the distraction.
“Hey, Gus.”
“Henry. You back at work?” His brother’s long drawl was indicative
of a happy man. Brandon “Gus” Boudreaux should be happy—he’d met
the love of his life when Sonja’s maid of honor had showed up for the prewedding
festivities.
Poppy and Brandon had been all but inseparable ever since, and Henry
believed his little brother when he told him he knew Poppy was “the one.”
Henry had thought Sonja was the one for him. Familiar pain squeezed just
above his stomach.
“Bro, you still there?” Brandon sounded worried.
“Fuck. Yes, I’m here.”
“A little early for you to be cussing, big brother. Let me guess, Sonja’s
back at work today. Am I right?”
“Yes.” Through clenched teeth.
“Maybe it’s a good day for you to take a breather. You’ve been working
since what, last week?”
“Yeah. I can’t take off—we have a big client meeting today.”
“You, or you and Sonja?”
“Both of us.”
A long whistle. “Sorry, Henry. That sucks moose cock.”
He laughed despite his existential struggles. “Yeah. Yeah it does, man.”
“Whatever you do, keep your chin up and don’t let her see you suffer.
Unless you want her back.”
“Hell no. Never.”
“Sounds a little too quick on the draw, Henry. You still haven’t hashed
out what happened at the wedding.”
“There’s nothing to hash out. And frankly, it started long before then.”
He walked around his desk and lowered himself into the chair, forcing
his gaze out the window at the Spanish-moss-draped oak that sheltered
the office from the hot Louisiana sun. “It’s over. My only regret is that I
didn’t stop it sooner.”
“Bullshit, brother.” Brandon knew him too well, even with their severalyear
estrangement. Funny how the wedding-that-wasn’t had helped bridge
their pride. “How about you join me and Poppy for dinner?”
“Ah, thanks, Gus. I’m the worst kind of company right now. Can I take
a rain check?”
“Sure. Always.” He heard the sound of Brandon’s breath, then a swish
as he imagined his brother opening his sliding screen door and walking
out onto his expansive deck that overlooked the water. “But don’t think
you have to call ahead or wait until you feel better. Come over whenever
you want.”
“Thanks, bro.” He disconnected and stared at his cell phone. His
estrangement from Brandon had been repaired by the same event that had
broken his engagement and ended his marriage to the woman he knew he’d
never get out of his blood. And as much as he appreciated his brother’s
concern, Brandon was seeing Poppy, Sonja’s best friend. Henry didn’t put
it past either Poppy or Brandon to try to fix things by surprising him with
Sonja being at dinner.
They meant well, but were clueless. His and Sonja’s hurts ran deeper
than a nice dinner and bottle of wine could mend.
****
Sonja bit into the almond croissant with the hunger that had plagued her
every day of the past few weeks. Like clockwork, her appetite returned late
morning after the morning nausea passed. She knew the exact night she’d
conceived the baby. Her body had felt “different” after the lovemaking
session with Henry that had lasted the better part of a late winter night
after they’d won a particularly challenging case. At first she hadn’t been
able to pinpoint it and blamed her exhaustion on prenuptial jitters. The
week before the wedding, her breasts swelled, her nipples became sensitive
to the shower spray, and she’d felt as though her period was about to start
at any moment. But of course it hadn’t. She’d known two days before the
wedding for sure. Thank God she’d only shared it with Poppy. If Henry
had known, she didn’t think she’d have been able to walk away from
marrying him as she had.
The memory of leaving her soul mate at the altar made the pastry feel
heavy in her stomach, and she paused, closing her eyes and breathing in
and out slowly to ward off a wave of nausea. Anytime she remembered
their wedding day she felt sick all over again.
“Is it that good?”
Her eyes flew open at the sexy baritone that only a few weeks ago had
coaxed an orgasm out of her as he spoke dirty words into her ear while
he moved over her, inside her, again and again. They might not have been
completely candid with each other about a lot of things, but their sex life
had always been honest.
“It’s delicious.” She put the croissant down on a napkin, next to her
stack of files. Henry’s gaze dared her to look away, and she never backed
down from anyone, so she stared back.
A quick flash of disgust shadowed his face before Henry looked away
and sat in the seat opposite her, reaching over for his files. Usually they
sat together, ready to work until whenever it took to get the day’s items
checked off. It wasn’t going to get easy, ever, to know he thought so little
of her. Knowing she deserved it for something he didn’t even know about
yet—the baby—made it worse.
“I imagine you need time to go over these.” A deft verbal pitch to see
how she’d react. Would she go high, admit she should have been back in the
office last week, or go low and blame him for her staying away, or ignore it?
“Alesia sent me the files last week. I’ve read through them all.”
He had to be playing her—Alesia told Henry everything. He’d know she’d
had copies to analyze. Their round-trip tickets to Tahiti had gone unused,
so it wasn’t as if she’d been out of the country and unable to do any work.
“Any concerns?” He kept his face low, focused on the paperwork, but
she saw the blood vessel just above his collar pulsing in rhythm to his
heartbeat. Whenever Henry was agitated that was his tell.
“No, nothing to speak of.” Her voice was low and throaty, and she wished
she’d tendered her resignation. It would be so much easier, especially
now when every damned hormone in her body was setting off emotions
she didn’t even know she was capable of. But a deft noncompete clause
she’d signed when his father had hired her prevented her from going out
on her own just yet. She couldn’t afford it. And now the house needed to
be renovated.
Brilliant blue eyes watched her with usual alertness. “You sure about
that, Sonja? You’re acting like something’s not sitting right with you.”
“It’s just this.” She motioned very slightly between them, using her
finger. “Awkward with a capital A, am I right? We didn’t talk about it
as much as we probably should have this morning.” Of course, dearest
Deidre’s appearance had shut down any chance of the conversation they
needed to have in private.
The curiosity in his eyes turned to frosted crystal. “Let’s get it out on
the table, then.” He splayed both hands on the dark polished surface, and
she wondered if he’d forgotten about the time they’d both arrived to work
early, too early. They’d ended up here, naked, in under five minutes. Did
he see her naked body as she’d knelt on all fours, waiting for him to take
her? She shook her head, blinked.
“Sonja, you okay?”
“Fine. You were going to say?”
“Whatever we shared was wiped out when you decided to walk out on
our relationship without the least bit of warning. You’ve never given me
a chance to explain my side of things.”
“Wait a min—”
“No, hold up.” He shot down her attempt to interrupt him with a flick
of his hand. “You made your choice. And you’ve decided to continue on
at this firm. I’m guessing that’s so that you can make your share of the
money to fix the house, right?” He waited for her slight nod. “We both
need to raise the funds to get the house rehabbed well enough to sell. Fine,
I get it. But don’t think for one minute that there is anything other than our
working relationship at stake. We’ve always enjoyed that, correct? And
I’m willing to work with you, until the day you decide to leave the firm.
Because, let’s face it, I’m not going anywhere. This is my family firm.
You, you’ll go out on your own or take a better offer elsewhere. That’s
okay. Until then I expect the best you have to offer, and for you to kindly
refrain from referring to what we shared on a personal level. It’s over.”
Sonja stared at the man who’d hung the moon for her and only saw the
stamp of Boudreaux on his expression. The same look his father had when
she’d told him to take the money and referral he’d offered her to quit when
she and Henry announced their engagement and shove them up his tight
white racist ass. He’d never fire her, not as a black woman in his otherwise
very white, very male firm. And regardless of his racist views, Sonja brought
in a lot of business for their firm that they’d otherwise never catch. She’d
expected Henry’s father to give her a hard time, but not so much Henry.
She’d been a fool.
“Our professional relationship never had anything to do with our personal
life. Why should it now?”
Henry didn’t respond but instead glared at her. He may as well have
thrown a machete at her for how his silent gesture pained her.
The door clicked open, and Alesia entered with trays of lunch food,
followed by two clients and Rick, the firm’s other NOLA attorney.
As she and Henry stood to greet them she eyed her almost-husband.
Her ex-fiancé. The man who’d broken her heart.
Henry was tall and professional-looking, whether dressed in a classic
suit as he was now or in cargo shorts and a T-shirt like yesterday. He’d
been born to inherit his father’s firm, a lawyer’s mind part of his gene pool.
And until their wedding weekend, she hadn’t seen that he’d also inherited
the insatiable need to make everything appear perfect. Hence the pristine
wedding they’d almost gone through with. Henry wasn’t a people-pleaser
though, especially not to his parents. He’d bucked their sensibilities and
desires by choosing to marry her, a black woman from a bayou family.
Henry had never seen her as anything other than the woman he’d decided
to marry. She believed that.
What Henry had refused to see, however, was that his father was never
going to leave the firm to Henry as long as Sonja was his wife. The firm was
going to be dissolved and all of his father’s money locked up in trust funds
for future grandchildren, be it theirs or his siblings’. Sonja didn’t care about
the financials for her, but she cared for Henry. He deserved more, and his
constant state of denial with his parents drove her nuts. Henry’s younger
brother, Gus, had formed his own life with his shipbuilding business in
New Orleans, and Henry’s sister, Jena, was very much her own person.
Henry’s younger sister was a social worker who thrived on her job
in New Orleans, but she was also in the U.S. Navy reserves and often
traveled overseas. Jena had missed the un-wedding because she was
somewhere in South America doing who knew what kind of operations
for the government. She hadn’t gone to law school; neither had Henry’s
younger brother, Brandon, always “Gus” to Henry.
It wasn’t about the money, which was significant, but about family legacy.
Henry was the man to change it, to turn the law firm into a contemporary,
relevant part of the community, serving diverse clients and causes. He saw
that corporate law didn’t have to mean serving the same good ol’ boys
his father had.
But Henry would never have the chance to improve upon his family
legacy if she were around…unless he’d taken her up on her suggestion that
they start his own family firm. She remembered offering her opinion after
work last Christmastime. He’d looked at her like she had horns growing
out of her head, so she’d dropped it. Thought Henry would come around
to seeing he needed to start his own legacy. She’d been wrong. Henry was
too loyal to the Boudreaux legacy. His father might be a jerk, but one of
his great-grandfathers had worked to rebuild a free South after the Civil
War. Henry wanted that to be his legacy.
The younger siblings had gotten the hell away from the family dynasty.
But not Henry. Henry needed to be part of his father’s legacy in a way
the other two didn’t. Because Sonja saw this, saw the need in the man she
loved so desperately, she’d had no choice but to back out of their marriage.
She’d do anything for Henry’s happiness, and Henry would never be happy
without knowing he’d made a difference in what his father had begun.
He’d never forgive her for leaving him the way she did, and that was
all right. Sonja didn’t want Henry’s forgiveness. She’d wanted his love,
understanding, and trust, but her expectations had been too much.
Henry didn’t have it to give. And just as well—she hadn’t been completely
honest with him. All of the discussions she’d had with his parents, no
matter how acrimonious, should have been relayed to him.
And as she watched him, the one man she’d ever pinned all her hopes on,
she had to face the cold hard truth. She was as unworthy of trust as Henry.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Sweet and sultry, hot and wild…that’s desire, Louisiana-style. And there’s no one better to explore it with than one of the Bayou Bachelors…

Returning to her flooded New Orleans home to face Henry Boudreaux, the man she jilted at the altar, is the hardest thing attorney Sonja Bosco has ever done—even before she discovers she’s pregnant. Sonja backed out of the marriage for Henry’s sake. He wants to be part of his father’s law firm, and his parents will never approve of an interracial marriage. Better to bruise his heart than ruin his life.

Henry can’t forgive Sonja, and doubts that he can trust her again. But learning that they’re going to be parents means there’s no avoiding each other. Springtime on the bayou is already steamy enough…now they’re living in the same small space while their damaged house is repaired. And with each passing day they’re getting a little more honest. A lot more real. And realizing that nothing—not even New Orleans at Mardi Gras—glows brighter than the desire they’re trying to deny…
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Meet the Author:

Geri Krotow is the bestselling author of the Silver Valley PD series from Harlequin™ Romantic Suspense and the Bayou Bachelors series from Kensington Lyrical Caress. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Geri served as a Naval Intelligence Officer and loves writing about sexy military characters with emotional punch.
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