Spotlight & Giveaway: Guilty Pleasure by Taryn Leigh Taylor

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Taryn Leigh Taylor to HJ!

Hi Taryn Leigh and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Guilty Pleasure!

 
Excited to be here! Thanks for having me.
 

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

Guilty Pleasure is the fourth and final book in my Business of Pleasure series for Harlequin Dare. It’s a spicy, snarky, second-chance romance that involves a hero who just got out of jail, and the heroine who put him there in the first place. One of the conditions of Wes’s bail is that he’s been remanded into Vivienne’s care, and I love me some forced proximity!
Not to mention, readers will finally get to see who is behind the computer hack that’s been running through all the books…

Also, can I just mention that cover? DAY-UM. Thank you, Harlequin art department.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

Oooh! Let’s see…

I really love Wes’s courting wordplay when he brings Viv a bouquet after she tells him she thinks flowers are a cop-out gift:
“You’re pretty, but you don’t listen so good, huh?”
“Oh, I listen just fine. And what I heard is that the wrong guys have been giving you flowers.”
The unimpressed arch of her eyebrow stoked his competitive streak. “Because you’re the right guy to give me flowers?”
“No.” Wes stepped closer. “I’m just the guy who’s giving you the right flowers.”

And I love that Viv gives as good as she gets:
She was adorable when she scoffed. “So I’m a tiger, and that makes you what? My helpless sex antelope?”

But mostly I love that, even after years apart, they still know each other so well:
“Do you want a beer?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I just got out of prison.”
“Whiskey it is.”

What inspired this book?

I’ve always wanted to write a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers book, and Guilty Pleasure was the perfect opportunity.

As a writer, it’s an incredible challenge to figure out how two people who were torn apart can find a way to mend that rift. As a reader, I love the tension and sparks that come from characters with very specific emotional baggage that’s tied to their shared past. And as a person, I love the idea that mistakes don’t always lead to emotional ruin. Forgiveness can make you stronger.

Also, I’ve always wanted to write some elevator sex. So there’s that.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

Since these characters have been making little guest appearances throughout the series, I thought that I knew who I was dealing with. Boy, was I wrong! Examining their backstory was a real eye opener.

I got to play a bit with scenes from their past-how they met, how they fell in love, why they broke up-and that really helped inform who they are now, and how their current relationship would play out. Especially since circumstances, and the legal system, keep shoving them back together. It makes for a LOT of sexy tension.

What was your favorite scene to write?

I have to say, writing the scenes between Wes and AJ, (the heroine from the third book in the series, Wicked Pleasure) were a lot of fun. I love sparky banter, and morphing these two from combatants to unlikely allies was a joy. I adore a good male/female friendship, and I’m glad I got to explore that here. Because Wes and Vivienne’s story is fraught with a lot of deep emotions and painful memories, it was nice to throw a little levity in.

Then the burglar shut the door with a complete lack of finesse, and Wes rolled his eyes as he came around the corner. “The reports of your stealthiness are greatly exaggerated.”
AJ turned away from the dull wall art to face him. “Hey, I was just giving you a heads-up so you could make yourself presentable.” Her gaze slid dismissively over him, from head to foot. “But obviously you suffer from a raging case of chronic shirtlessness.”
“That’s why you’re here. Did you get the stuff?”
“Of course, I got the stuff.”
AJ tossed the bag in her right hand at him, and he caught it against his chest. “Your clothes, sir. Because apparently, I’m a personal shopper now. I just brought you a bunch of black stuff.”
Wes side-eyed her black Doc Martens, black jeans, black T-shirt and black leather jacket. “We’ll match. How exciting.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

Oh, man. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the aftermath of Vivienne confessing to Wes that she’s the one who put him in jail was such a gut punch. She’s been beating herself up over it for so long, and dealing with the fallout from that betrayal, and all the emotions that go with it, was just devastating. And it led to a sex scene that almost broke me.

She could feel the leashed emotion rushing through him, and the darkness of it called to her, made her blood run hot.
“I ruined your company. I put you in jail.”
The lash of her words had the intended effect. She could read it in the darkening of his eyes, the way his breathing picked up. His chest heaved as he stared at her. His fingers bit dug into her skin as he jerked her closer.
Vindication surged through her blood at the lapse of his control.
There was barely any space between them, but it was still too much.
“Stop it,” he warned, his voice low and dangerous.
“Make me.” Vivienne lifted her head a fraction of an inch, and when he didn’t move, she leaned forward and bit his bottom lip.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

My Dare books are a little darker and more risque than my usual fare, but I think Wes and Viv’s story showcases the things that are important to me as an author: deep emotion, witty banter, and a whole lotta smexy stuff.

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

I think, deep down, Guilty Pleasure is about self-forgiveness. Ha! That sounds a bit pretentious, doesn’t it? But I’m kind of fascinated by secrets, and the gap between what we think is going to happen when they get out and what actually happens. And how sometimes we punish ourselves more than is necessary. I want people to see a little bit of themselves in all my characters, and maybe relate to the emotions they experience, if not the exact situation. I like books that make me think, so that’s what I try to write.

And hopefully, you’ll laugh a little, swoon a lot, and fall in love with this imperfectly perfect couple.

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

It’s back to the rink for me, continuing on with my Montana Wolfpack hockey series after this! I can’t wait. Especially with the NHL season on hiatus.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Three randomly chosen commenters will win an e-copy of GUILTY PLEASURE.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: I hope everyone is safe and well during these unprecedented and difficult times. It’s important to to take care of yourself so that you have the energy and resources to deal with everything the world is throwing at us right now.
For a chance to win an e-copy of Guilty Pleasure, tell me below, what’s your favourite guilty pleasure? Dancing around your living room to boy band songs? Binging reality TV? Polishing off a bag of Chicago mix popcorn? Whatever it is, I want to know!

 
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Excerpt from Guilty Pleasure:

Wes looked good.
Vivienne sent a covert glance at her passenger as they zipped over the suspension bridge that led to the 110 and back into LA proper.
In fact, he looked better than good, considering.
She had to strangle a macabre laugh. Considering. A bland euphemism for being arrested, having your assets seized and losing your cyber security business and your reputation in one fell swoop.
She’d worried that he’d look different, that prison might have irreparably changed him. It was the one thing he’d vowed would never happen—ending up in jail, like his deadbeat father. But now it had.
And yet, as far as she could see, the only outward evidence of his ordeal was ten days’ worth of facial hair and a slightly wrinkled suit that fit him to perfection—an ode to both the breadth of his shoulders and the skill of his tailor.
Wes had come face-to-face with his greatest fear and emerged sexily disheveled.
An unwelcome heat prickled across her skin, some kind of carnal nostalgia, and she shifted against the black leather bucket seat like it was a lightning rod that could dissipate the sudden charge of attraction inside the Aston Martin.
She was desperate to pop the bubble of awareness that had so easily consumed her, but her haste made her careless and the conversational pin she chose was a mistake.
“How is…everyone?”
Bland pleasantries with anyone else, but between them, the question felt shockingly personal.
Wes’s shoulders stiffened. He obviously hadn’t expected her to go there either.
The fact that Vivienne found she cared about the answer—after so many years of purposefully not thinking about his mother, his sister, him—stung more than she’d expected. Like she’d accidentally ripped a scab off her heart.
“What are you doing?”
She didn’t know. She’d returned from her annual three-day pilgrimage to the Phoenix Inn, a little B&B in Connecticut, to the news that her boss had put Wesley in the FBI crosshairs. She’d quit her dream job and spent the last week pouring everything she had into getting him out of jail. She’d called in every favor, pushed her legal acumen to the brink, wheedled, cajoled, outsmarted and insomnia-ed in anticipation of this moment. And now that it was here, now that he was free…ish…she had no answer to his question, no explanation that wouldn’t reveal more than she wanted to give. He was a weakness she couldn’t afford. He always had been.
“It’s called small talk. It’s a form of politeness that acquaintances use to fill the silence.”
Wes’s sudden grin dominated her peripheral vision and tightened Vivienne’s hands on the steering wheel. She remembered a time it wasn’t quite so mocking.
A time when a flash of it was all it took for her to surrender her panties in the unisex bathroom at Señor Taco’s a mere two hours and three tequilas after her roommate had dragged her across campus to the lamest of frat parties. Then they’d headed back to her dorm room for orgasms two, three, and four, and woken up the next morning wrapped around each other and well on their mutual way to orgasm number five.
Wes hadn’t been wearing a suit then. Just a white T-shirt that seemed to glow against the tan he’d acquired doing manual labor in the California sun, a pair of faded jeans that were soft from washing, the worn fabric hugging thighs thick with muscle, and that smile. The one that gave her the kind of XXX butterflies that skipped her abdomen altogether and headed straight for her—
“Oh, is that what we are? Acquaintances?” He sneered the word.
Viv forced air into her lungs and kept her glance dismissive. “Would you prefer something more colorful?” After a quick shoulder check, she maneuvered the sports car into the far left lane. “Former paramours? Scorned exes?” Her voice broke, and she had to clear her throat to finish her list. “Star-crossed lovers?”
Wes blew out an audible breath, tinged with defeat. “Acquaintances it is,” he conceded. “You going to tell me where we’re going?”
The moment of truth.
“My place.”
For the first time since he’d gotten in the car, she was in his sights. She could feel the burn of his stare on her profile. “I don’t think so.”
Vivienne’s spine hardened with resolve. She wasn’t that idealistic, lovestruck girl anymore, and he was no longer the object of her affection. No amount of reminiscing—sentimental or erotic—was going to change that fact. She was a lawyer. He needed a lawyer. And that was that.
“As a computer wizard and a flight risk, there were a couple of provisos I had to agree to in order to get you out on bail.”
He resettled his big frame against the passenger seat, a whisper of fabric on leather, but the flex of his fist against his muscled thigh belied his calm exterior. “No tech. No internet. No travel beyond the range of my ankle monitor. I got the speech, Vivienne. Stop stalling”
The sound of her full name on his lips was a bullet to the heart. Taciturn and austere, with no flicker of the heat that used to burn strong and insatiable between them.
Tangible proof the past was gone.
And the present was a cold, hard bitch.
Just like me, she reminded herself, buoying her resolve.
“In addition to those stipulations, you’ve also been remanded into my care until the trial.”
“Forget it.”
“Should I turn around then? I can call ahead to make sure your cell is ready by the time we arrive.”
She felt him bristle at the constraints of his current situation, as though his essence was pacing the car like a caged lion, testing the bars for weaknesses. It didn’t take him long to realize there was no escape. Wes had always been a staunch realist.
“Good to know my company still ranks higher than incarceration.”
“Just barely,” he mumbled, and with that unflattering summation, he purposefully and studiously ignored her for the rest of the trip which, thanks to the notorious LA traffic, took three times as long as it should have.
Not that it mattered. His opinion didn’t concern her, and he’d proven a long time ago that he wasn’t susceptible to anything as basic as human emotion, so the state of his feelings was irrelevant. Vivienne was going to set things right, and his cooperation was neither essential nor desired. She would do what needed to be done, and once she had, she could finally lance this painful, recurring boil that sprang up every time their lives intersected.
Besides, Vivienne reasoned, flipping on the signal light, his silence was no more than she deserved.
She was, after all, the reason he’d gone to jail in the first place.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Info:

Taryn Leigh Taylor brings The Business of Pleasure series to a steamy conclusion in this scandalous tale of old flames reunited. She can’t resist him…but can he forgive her painful betrayal?

After Wes Brennan is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, he’s rescued by hotshot lawyer Vivienne Grant: the woman whose heart he broke years ago. His bail conditions dictate he stays with his gorgeous ex while she proves his innocence. In close proximity for hours on end, the pair soon forgive old betrayals—and reawaken old desires.

Though he’s hurt to discover Vivienne’s illicit involvement in a spyware scheme led to his arrest, Wes is determined to give their relationship another go. But suddenly, the charges against him are mysteriously dropped and the prosecution announces a new prime suspect: Vivienne.

Wes knows Vivienne’s confession to him could land her behind bars…unless he can’t testify, that is. He proposes a convenient marriage to save her career and buy them time to investigate—the racy honeymoon getaway is a thrilling bonus. But the past is still clouded with secrets and Wes knows Vivienne’s holding back something huge. When the truth is revealed, will their reignited passion finally burn out?

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Meet the Author:

Taryn Leigh Taylor likes dinosaurs, bridges and space, both personal and of the final-frontier variety. She shamelessly indulges in cliches, most notably her Starbucks addiction, her shoe hoard and her penchant for falling in lust with fictional men with great abs. She also really loves books, which is what sent her down the crazy path of writing one in the first place.
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