Spotlight & Giveaway: Hawaiian Medic to Rescue His Heart by Annie O’Neil

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Annie O’Neil to HJ!

Hi Annie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Hawaiian Medic to Rescue His Heart!

 
Aloha! It’s wonderful to be here.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Lulu Kahale may be Hawaiian born and bred, but her lifestyle is the opposite of the nationally chillaxed “island time.” She is a high octane, high speed, high stakes rescue medic and the fact the bosses have decided to hire someone else for the job of running her crew isn’t going to slow her down. Zach Murphy has one thing on his mind when he’s at work and that is safety first. The divorced father has his son to think about and relocating to Hawaii means his son is the only parent he has to depend on it so the last thing he’s going to do is risk his neck at work. The last thing he expects is to find the thing he ends up risking is his heart.
 

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

This is the meet cute that comes right after Lulu has rescued a family of four who were stranded on an island at high tide:

A man Lulu didn’t recognise was waiting on the dock with a wheelchair. The closer they got, the more she pulled to attention. He was looking out at them with an unsmiling face. That wasn’t what had her attention, though.
He was drop dead gorgeous.
Frowning might possibly have even made him sexier. He was tall. Not as tall as her brothers, but he definitely would’ve clocked in at six foot something. Athletic. The lean variety as opposed to her brother’s body-builder aesthetic. Amazing blue eyes that could easily put a girl in a trance. Cheekbones begging for some fingertips to run the length of them. Chestnutty coloured hair. Not sun-kissed. So…a haole. A haole wearing an OSR jacket.
A wash of horror swept through her. The grumpy hottie was the new boss.
She knew he was coming. Had known it for weeks. They all did. But…kind of like the mythical dwarves…she’d never entirely, actually, believed he would come.
She forced on a smile and waved. ‘Aloha!’
Eww. That was high-pitched. She didn’t dare look at the rest of the crew because she could feeling them staring at her with what kind of weird voice was that eyes.
He did that chin lift thing guys did when they chose actions over words and, of course, didn’t answer, which was rude. His eyes narrowed as if inspecting her for flaws.
A weird urge to rattle them off for him, seized her. She wasn’t in regulation uniform. They shouldn’t have taken this call. They should’ve left someone back at base. They should’ve locked the office. She should’ve done the towering pile of paperwork sitting in the in-tray. There were also the more personal ones. Her hair was probably mental. She chose gut reactions to ‘by the book’ reactions. She hated beetroot. Probably could’ve eaten more vegetable in general. And there was always room for improvement in her flossing routine.
Bah!
Woulda, shoulda, coulda. They’d saved this family from drowning. That’s what mattered.
So she kept her smile bright and waited for a response to her cheery island greeting other than a frown.
His bright sapphire blue eyes scanned her then flashed with an unchecked hit of warning when their eyes met. She fought the tiniest of trembles and turned it into a careless shrug. Their duelling I see you stares changed into something else. Something every bit as heated, but…different. Like…butterflies in her stomach kind of different.
Which was entirely unprofessional and made any I’m-right-you’re-wrong posturing completely evaporate along with her high-pitched aloha. She couldn’t have the hots for him. No way. Not for a haole. Not for someone who was this frowny and definitely not for a boss.
Who still had yet to say hello.
Hmmmph.
From the thinning of that rather too sensual to belong to a man mouth, it was certainly looking like someone needed a little lesson on island greetings.
She jumped onto the dock the second they pulled up and gave him a little salute. Maybe he was ex-military like their last chief.
He didn’t salute back.
Okay. Whatever. She still wasn’t going to let his whole stoic, I can play statues better than you can, thing unnerve her. Unlike the last boss man? This one was going to know Lulu Kahale was a force to be reckoned with.
‘Aloha,’ she said again, lifting her hand into a shaka. ‘Lulu Kahale. Acting crew chief at your service.’
‘Zach Murphy,’ he said without returning the Shaka. ‘You’re grounded. I’ll take over from here.’

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I used to live in Hawaii a loooooong time ago, so I definitely worked in some childhood haunts (and potential dangers!) including a trip out to Mokoli’i, also known as Chinaman’s Hat where we used to go out in our inner tubes and have a picnic and race the tide to get back onto the shore.
• My husband and I went to Hawaii on our honeymoon and revisited Hanama Bay where we swam with turtles and scads of tropical fish.
• I ate at LEAST three Hawaiian topped pizzas in the course of writing this book.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Lulu Kahale is everything Zach Murphy won’t let himself be – impetuous, passionate and living life to the full wattage she’s been afforded – even though her past comes with some dark moments.

Zach Murphy isn’t just good looking on the outside, he keeps a heart of gold hidden behind all of his rules and regulations and the more Lulu manages to unpeeled the layers, the more she likes what she sees.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

When Zach and Lulu have to participate in a team building exercise I was both laughing and blushing – building up the sexual tension these two shared from the moment they laid eyes on one another. Here’s a little snippet:

‘Quiet you lot!’ The emcee of the evening, a steel grey, crew-cutted man who would also be leading events over the weekend, held out his hands to quiet down the whistles and whooping. ‘The final event of the night is….’ He paused for dramatic effect, ‘…the handcuff challenge!’
The audience erupted with explosive laughter, hoots and hollers.
Zach threw Lulu a look. What the hell was the handcuff challenge?
She shrugged. This was her first time here, too. She was as much in the dark as he was.
The emcee explained. The pair of them would be handcuffed together with ‘team building cuffs, whatever they were. It was possible to break free, they were told, but only by using their highest levels of teamwork and, taking on board hints and suggestions from the audience who would be split in two. One half for Makoa and Kiko. One half for Zach and Lulu. They’d have five minutes.
It had taken a Herculean effort not to notice the few swigs of MaiTai Lulu had taken as Dutch courage had made her a bit more…ermm…pliable in the physicality department. She’d been the one to fall into his arms during the trust exercise. Rather than doing it the old-fashioned way? She’d somehow twisted and whirled herself in the air so that she’d landed in his arms like a damsel in distress. Well. A damsel who also leapt out of his arms, paraded round the stage shouting, ‘That’s how we roll!’
They were turned back to back, their wrists bound with some sort of rubbery rope. It wasn’t very pliable and allowed for very little room for manoeuvre. The audience was shouting all sorts of options. Dislocate a shoulder. A thumb. Shred what little dignity they had and give up now.
All options Zach felt it wise to table.
Lulu turned her head away from the crowd, her hair brushing against his cheek as he turned to her. She whispered up to him, ‘Follow my lead, okay? I’ve got this.’
He gave her a quick affirmative noise, hoping she knew what she was talking about. Spending the rest of the evening tied to Lulu who was already wriggling against his butt like a supercharged sexy Easter bunny was going to be his biggest challenge yet. The last thing he needed was to get a hard on in front of Hawaii’s finest rescue teams.
Mind over matter, he told himself on a loop. Mind over matter.
‘Crouch down,’ Lulu said. ‘I’m going to have to climb over you.’
‘What?’
‘Or maybe slip under you,’ she said already lowering herself down so he had no choice but to follow. ‘Not sure yet.’
He felt her body press hard against his, then pull away. With a quick grunt and tug on his hands, he felt Lulu do something like a somersault in the limited space between them, their bound wrists pressing into her chest, his back still to her. If he had the flexibility he could slide her under his legs along with his bound hands. He stretched his arms out and brushed what he was pretty sure was her breast, much to the merriment of the audience. The next thing he knew, Lulu had was Lulu was up on tiptoe walking over his head, the audience going insane with cheers and laughter, until he ducked down and pulled back, her legs sliding along his chest until she lost her balance, landed in a straddle on his lap, their tied hands high above them. He felt ever single centimetre of her body as if they were both completely naked. Her body heat met and married with his. Her breath fell in short, hot, puffs upon his mouth, just as he was sure his breath was landing on hers. Their eyes met and clashed, both of them frozen in one of those moments that communicated one, solitary thing: desire. She felt so good. Legs tucked round his hips. Her hips cinching in with his. Breasts pushing into his chest, the taut tips of her nipples making it clear she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
More than he ever had before, he wanted to throw away his dumbass rulebook that made women off limits. He wanted to forget about the will-they-won’t-they energy that had been running through him like adrenaline these past few weeks and open up his heart and body to it all. Forget about the search and rescue games. Spend the next three days in his room – or hers – it didn’t matter and pour themselves into one another as if they were each moulds that would make the the other whole. He wanted to show her every level of pleasure he knew how to bring to a woman and explore all the others he had yet to learn. Something about the way all the blood was rushing below his waistline told him Lulu Kahele could wring him dry if she set her mind to it.
Somehow, miraculously, they each became aware of a countdown. Makoa and Kiko were still in deep discussion, their position unchanged. The audience was shouting a charged, ‘FIVE! FOUR! THREE!’
‘You okay with a bit of wrist burn?’ Lulu asked, her lips brushing against his as she spoke.
It was the most erotic request for guaranteed pain he’d ever received.
‘Yes.’
She blinked, as if absorbing the deeper meaning of his assent – I trust you – then abruptly twisted her hands and yanked them free of the binding. She leapt up in the air, hands held high and danced around her brother and Kiko who, seconds later, did a quick up and over arm twist as if they were performing a 1950s Lindy hop, faced one another, folded their hands together then slipped off the bands.
Effectively achieving the same result without wanting to immediately have sex with one another.
The crow went wild. He rose and gave a red-faced bow, pleased for Lulu that they’d won but hoping he could find the nearest exit and fast. He didn’t need congratulatory slaps on the back, or celebratory MaiTais already being called for at the Tiki Bar or even the supersized t-shirt he and Lulu were meant to wear together to prove they were the reigning champs of the team challenges. No. He needed a cold shower. And fast.

Readers should read this book….

if they want a tropical escape wrapped round a will they won’t they romance.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am just about to start a book set in Bali with a gorgeous Australian hero and a heartbroken English heroine. I am so excited for this. Then I’ll be writing a Christmas book which, as you may know, is one of my favourite things to write! As for upcoming releases…keep your eyes peeled in the New Year for A New Year’s Kiss With His Cinderella, one of a duet with the amazing Tina Beckett where we explore Nashville Nights!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I’ve got two copies of a two-in-one to give away. Hawaiian medic to Rescue His Heart couples with Charlotte Hawkes’ Tempted by Her Convenient Husband.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Do you have a favourite tropical island you’ve been to or wanted to visit?

 
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Excerpt from Hawaiian Medic to Rescue His Heart:

Zach might as well have pressed explode on the island’s dormant volcanoes for the tension in the air.
Hell.
Zach had wanted to make an impression when he arrived here at the station. A bad one, however, had not been the goal. And this one was about as bad as it got.
He didn’t know what it was about Lulu Kahale, but she got right under his skin. Before he’d even met her, which took some doing. Now that he had? His instincts had been spot on.
Beautiful. Proud. Brimming with unchecked energy. She was a force of nature. More hurricane than natural wonder at this exact moment. Although…even that barely disguised sneer of hers didn’t detract from her striking aesthetic. It might’ve even illuminated it.
Pitch black hair he bet looked like an oil slick when it was fanned out on a pillow. Liquid eyes that looked like molten gold. Lips so full and soft, a dangerous image of what they’d look like bruised from kisses temporarily blinded him.
He rubbed his thumbs on his eyes, refocussed his brain and turned away from her, forcing himself to pour the energy she was unwittingly pulling from him back into the task at hand.
Impossible, as it turned out. He’d made a call and the lightning fast change in atmosphere meant he’d made the wrong one.
As he took the boy from one of the crew’s arms and placed him in the wheelchair, Zach was giving himself invisible punches in the face.
His parents had warned him. Hawaiians do thing differently. There’s another way of getting things done out here. And, more pressingly, don’t expect things to run by the same book they did back in New York.
They got that right.
Rescue crews were extraordinary people. They willingly dove head first into situations most humans were genetically programmed to flee. Dangerous ones. Fire. Floods. Ravines. Mountaintops. The whole damn ocean. They didn’t deserve coddling, but they certainly deserved respect. Appreciation. That ethos had been the key to managing the Fire and Rescue medic teams he’d helmed back in New York. Gratitude combined with one crystal clear edict: No bending the rules. Ever.
Which was precisely why the team behind Oahu Search and Rescue had brought him on board. According to management, this team needed ‘a bit more starch in their collars.’
They weren’t part of Hawaii’s famous Ocean Safety Team. This crew was more…off radar. They went a step beyond. Took the rescues the OST weren’t trained up for. Belayed into the steepest ravines to find hikers who’d lost their way. Dove out of helicopters into a stormy ocean to find surfers sucked out to sea by the powerful currents. And countless other scenarios. In short, they risked life and limb to save someone else’s.
His new bosses, based back on the mainland, had drilled a second message into his three month mandatory probation. One that had been ringing in his head from the moment he’d accepted the job. The funding for Oahu Search and Rescue would only continue if everything was shipshape. From what he’d seen so far, it most assuredly wasn’t. And he needed this job. He needed it as much as he needed the heart that beat in his chest. The heart that beat in his son’s. They were both battered and bruised and needed this new start more than he could ever put words to. So, yeah. When he’d arrived at the office, found no one there, the door wide open, an overflowing tray of week’s old paperwork and then eagle-eyed the crew returning half in regulation gear, half very definitely not? He’d seen red. They weren’t just compromising his professional future with this slap dash approach. They were compromising everyone’s health and safety. And that was unacceptable.
If this was officially his first day, he’d be halfway through reading this woman the riot act. This…Lulu.
Before he’d even met her, he’d struggled to build up much of a thunder. Shouting at a ‘Lulu’ felt like shouting at a happy go lucky puppy. Now that he’d met her? His gut and the vibes she was arrowing straight at his jugular were telling shouting would only turn things from bad to worse.
Eyebrow lifted in an imperious arc, she shifted from one hip to the other, droplets of water glistening on the high cut arch of her wetsuit where her hip met her thighs. Caramel coloured thighs that should very definitely be hidden behind regulation board shorts or a knee length wetsuit. Not this…body hugging, shorty wetsuit that swept up and along her curves to her heart shaped face, those flame-licked amber eyes, unblinking as she maintained her gaze on him, pulled some lip balm out who knew where and swept it along first her upper lip, then her lower, as if preparing for battle. He felt as if they were speaking to him. Her lips. Begging him to kiss the disdain away. Turn it into something sweeter.
Or maybe the heat had officially sent him tropical.
He threw some proverbial cold water on his head.
He’d thought he was immune to ‘drop dead gorgeous’ after things with his wife had gone so spectacularly wrong, but no. This woman’s beauty was something else altogether. Natural. Spirited. Every bit as heated as the lava threatening to make a show over on the main island.
As his eyes swept the length of her, hot licks of desire tugged at parts of him he’d rather not be dealing with right now. He saw her giving him the same once over with an expression that shifted from angry to impossible to read. One enemy sizing up the other? Or two people hitting it off on the wrong foot realizing seconds too late there was one helluva mutual attraction.
He made a big mental X over the latter option and concentrated on the task at hand. Getting things back on track for a positive working relationship.
To keep the unwanted carnal sensations from making a visual impression, Zach pulled himself up to his full height and crossed his arms over his chest, hoping to draw Lulu’s attention back to his face.
‘So. What exactly does being grounded entail?’ Lulu was still staring him straight in the eye, clearly unintimidated by him physically or professionally. ‘Are you sending me to my room? No dates for a month? No candy bars ’til Christmas?’
One of the crew behind her tried and failed to turn a snigger into a cough. This was Lulu’s crowd and he had five seconds to find a way not to be permanently branded The Bad Guy.
Zach shifted his feet, transfixed by Lulu’s amber-coloured eyes flaring with coppery hits of indignation. He’d definitely made the wrong call. She wasn’t belligerent, she was proud. She wasn’t reckless, she was permanently poised for action. She wasn’t trying to one-up him, she was trying to hang onto her hard won rung on the ladder.
Not hard enough, though. He was the new chief and as such, there had to be some lines drawn in the sand.
‘The patient’s the priority for now,’ he said. It was as much of an olive branch as he could give without throwing up his hands and conceding defeat.
‘Oh? So you do want me to do my job then?’ Lulu didn’t bother double checking. She made a signal to her team that they should carry on what they were doing, which was, in fairness, their job. A blonde woman and two other men all kitted out in the regulation neon orange OSR shirts and board shorts helped the rest of the family off of the boat, while Lulu took command of the boy in the wheelchair. One of the crew offered a quick apologetic, ‘pretty sure she needs an extra set of hands’ explanation as they hurried after Lulu who was strutting down the dock as if she were a pop star who’d just swept the Grammys. Whether her intent was to show off her curves or not was hard to tell, but suffice it to say, she had it and she was flaunting it.
He couldn’t help it. He grinned. The woman was gutsy. He was going to have to match her point for point, then win some extras, if he wanted to win the team’s respect.
‘Eh, bruh?’ The man piloting the speedboat clapped him on the shoulders. ‘I’m guessing you’re the new boss man?’
Zach nodded.
He introduced himself as Stewart, rattled off a quick ream of credentials, then lowered his voice as he tilted his head towards Lulu, now disappearing into the clinic. ‘She’s alright, so – cut her some slack, yeah? She’s spent a lifetime proving to her five big brothers that she’s just as tough as they are and tends to come on a bit strong at first.’
Zach whistled. Five big brothers, eh?
There had been plenty of second and third generation firemen at his station like that. Trying to prove they were just as good or better than those who had come before them. Hell. He was a bit like that. Nothing like following in the wake of a father who had all but been the poster boy for the 9-11 rescue efforts. Everyone on the fire crews had gone above and beyond, but his dad’s rescue efforts had captured the press’s attention. For awhile. The fact he’d had to take early retirement because of the battering his body had taken hadn’t warranted so much as a column inch. No one cared about pulmonary fibrosis in a fireman outside of his prime. They cared even less when he moved to Hawaii to try and give his lungs a break. Anyway…he shook his head and focussed on the problem at hand.
‘Rules are the same for everyone,’ Zach said, almost by rote.
Stewart rocked back on his heels and made a noise that, once again, had Zach invisibly giving himself a pop in the kisser. He was definitely on an out of the frying pan into the fire path today.
‘Yeah, bruh…I see where you’re going, but…’ Stewart cleared his throat and gave his chin a scrub, obviously trying to put his words in an order he thought would penetrate Zach’s thick skull. ‘The thing is…Lulu’s got health and safety ingrained in her bones, you know? She’s lived and breathed this stuff her entire life but never been given proper recognition for it. The last boss…he tended to “put Baby in the corner” if you know what I mean.’
Zach shook his head. Nope. He did not.
‘You know,’ Stewart opened his hands as if it was obvious. ‘Dirty Dancing?’
Another vision of those water droplets skidding along Lulu’s bare thighs blinded him for a second. ‘Nope,’ he said.
‘Not a film reference kind of guy?’
‘I prefer facts to fiction.’ Zach said, knowing the direction this conversation was headed wasn’t endearing him to Stewart who would, inevitably, report back to the rest of the crew. He put up a hand in an attempt to rescue the situation. ‘Look. I’m still a bit jet-lagged and probably shouldn’t have rocked up barking orders in the middle of a rescue. I suspect we’re all going to have to take a bit of time to get used to one another.’
‘Don’t worry, man.’ Stewart gave him a congenial clap on the shoulder that made it very clear the man’s age had done little to diminish his strength. ‘We all have false starts. The thing about Hawaii is…’ he looked out to the sea, then up to the sun, then back to Zach. ‘We all come here seeking instant perfection and the thing about paradise?’
He opened his eyes wide, actively inviting Zach to ask him to unveil the mysteries of Polynesia.
‘What is the thing about paradise?’ Zach asked, finally clocking that Stewart wasn’t going to share the island wisdom until Zach asked.
‘You have to earn it.’ Stewart said tapping the side of his nose. ‘Ho’oponopono.’
‘Come again?’
Stewart repeated the word then explained. ‘It’s the Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. A way to free yourself from negative thoughts and feelings. Building a gateway to happiness and fulfilment of your dreams.’
Zach looked at Stewart. Really looked at him. Beneath the tan and laid back stance, he saw a man who’d fought and failed and fought again until he’d truly won that aura of inner calm and, dare he say it, control of his own destiny.
Another thing to take note of. Just because a person was relaxed and smiley didn’t necessarily mean they flaunted the rules. They respected them. They just had their own way of paying said respect.
Son of a gun.
He couldn’t believe he, Zach “Read the regs” Murphy was even thinking this, but…maybe every now and again seeing the rules from another angle was the better option.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Firefighter and paramedic Zach is looking forward to a quieter life in Hawaii, and to building a bright future for himself and his son. But his beautiful, kind, vibrant new colleague Lulu has the potential to derail all his plans!
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Meet the Author:

Annie spent most of her childhood with a leg draped over the family rocking chair and a book in her hand. Novels, baking and writing too much teenage angst poetry ate up most of her youth. Now, Annie splits her time between corralling her husband into helping her with their cows or scratching the backs of their rare breed pigs and spending some very happy hours at her computer writing.
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