Spotlight & Giveaway: No Ordinary Texas Billionaire by Eve Gaddy

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Eve Gaddy to HJ!

Hi Eve and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, No Ordinary Texas Billionaire!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

No Ordinary Texas Billionaire is the third book in my Devil’s Rock at Whiskey River trilogy. Levi Chapman and Dana DeLong’s story is a reunion romance, and what a reunion they have! Levi and Dana have been avoiding each other for months until Levi is forced to ask for Dana’s help in remodeling his house for accessibility. Levi’s wounded veteran brother, Asher, is coming home. Levi and Dana have some problems from their past but they agree to start fresh…which, of course, doesn’t work for long. But if ever two people were a perfect match it’s Levi and Dana. If they can just get over the past…
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Eight months, three days, and forty-seven minutes. Give or take a few minutes. That’s how long it had been since Levi Chapman had sex with Dana DeLong. Actually, that was how long it had been since Levi had sex with anyone.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Working title: Levi
• Song list:
  • Passenger-Let Her Go
  • Ed Sheeran–Kiss Me
  • Daughtry–Life After you
  • Kelly Clarkson-Already Gone
  • Mark Chestnutt–Almost Goodbye
• Book Trailer: http://bit.ly/NOTBvid
• Chocolate. I always crave chocolate.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Levi is really ‘no ordinary billionaire’. He’s very loyal–you see right off that he’ll do anything for his brother. And he’s been in love with Dana for years but was convinced the two of them would never work. Dana is also convinced the two of them won’t work, but she’s been in love with him for years. But when Levi needs her help she can’t deny him.
Levi’s brother Asher was a surprise to me. Levi’s relationship with Asher is a very important part of his life.

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

This scene shows exactly how Levi and Dana feel about each other and how hard they are fighting the attraction. It would also be a good scene to see how the actors convey some of the things that aren’t said, but are felt.

Snippet:
She started to get up but Levi put a hand on her arm to detain her. She wished she could say that it was no big deal for him to touch her. But it was.
“Dana, is something wrong?”
“No, why?”
“You seem distracted. If it’s something about the job—”
“It’s not the job.” She looked down at his hand on her arm. “You can let go now.”
“I could. But I don’t want to.” He rubbed his thumb on her bare skin sending a shiver up her spine.
He’s only touching your arm, you hopeless romantic. It shouldn’t mean a thing. “Levi—”
“Your skin is so soft. I’d almost forgotten that.” He looked up, into her eyes. “Almost.”
His eyes were so pretty. Endless blue, deep blue sky. And she could get sucked right into the promise in them so damn easily. Her gaze fell to his mouth. That beautifully talented mouth she wanted to kiss, to taste. Levi’s eyes darkened and they leaned toward each other.
At the last moment Dana pulled back. “We said we weren’t going to do this again.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said regretfully. “But I’m having second thoughts.”
So was she. Damn it. “We’ll regret it if we do.”
“Will we? Don’t you remember how good we were together?”
“Of course I do. And I also remember that we never could make it work.”
“Maybe we’ve changed.”
“Maybe. But have we changed enough?”
“We won’t know that until we try,” Levi said.

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

My main goal is the same with every book I write. I want people to enjoy it. I want them to forget their worries for a while and get lost in the story. And I want people to know that sometimes second chances do work out.

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

No Ordinary Texas Billionaire will be out October 4.
I’m currently working on the first of four books in a new series for Tule. It’s set in a new fictional town, Last Stand, Texas. My first story is about Dr. Graham McBride and the woman he reluctantly falls for, Bella Benson. This is my next release, some time in April, I think☺
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: No Ordinary Texas Billionaire print book, Tule tote bag and fun book swag! – US only

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Excerpt from No Ordinary Texas Billionaire:

He stopped swimming when he reached the side and pulled himself out of the water, not bothering with something as mundane as the ladder. Stood with the water sluicing off his body and grabbed a towel before he realized she was there. Oh, God, that body. He was beautiful. Always had been. Her gaze traveled over him hungrily before she could stop herself. Same broad, muscled chest narrowing down to his waist and hips. Excellent. Same flat stomach. Definitely. Same washboard abs just asking to be stroked. Check. Make that double check.
Dana jerked up her gaze and met his eyes. He was laughing. Not with his mouth, but his sky-blue eyes sparkled with mirth, enjoying every bit of her discomfort, she imagined.
“See something you like?”
“Not at all,” she said, with a toss of her head. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but have you put on some weight in the last several months? I don’t remember you having a—” she put a finger to her lips as if contemplating how to express herself “—well, a beer belly is the only word for it.”
Levi looked down, then back up at her. “I don’t have a beer belly.” The humor had fled from his eyes.
“Oh, it’s not bad. Just a tiny bit of one.” She paused and added deliberately, “You know that happens when you get older.”
Levi narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re a riot, you know that?”
“Does the truth hurt?” she asked sweetly.
“Come over here.”
“Why? So you can throw me in the pool?”
“The thought did cross my mind.”
“Then no, thanks.” She laughed. “You know you don’t really have a beer belly. I was just jerking your chain.”
She didn’t think he’d heard her. He was looking at her with a definite gleam in his eyes.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Dana said.
“How am I looking at you?” Levi asked, a shade too innocently.
“You know very well. Like you want to rip off my clothes and throw me on the bed. Or any other handy surface.”
His smile was slow and wicked. “How do you know that’s what I’m thinking?”
Oh, hell. She was so tired of resisting him. Would it really be so bad to hit the sheets with him again? It probably wouldn’t even be that good.
Right. Because the last time wasn’t insanely good, was it? So incredible you remember every detail more than eight months later.
Shut up.
“Because I’ve thought about it too,” she admitted reluctantly.
Levi finished drying off and tossed his towel aside. “And what did you decide?” he asked, walking toward her.
“I decided it’s too risky to start something, again, something that we know won’t work.”
“Is that why you were with Nathan Saturday night?” He reached her side and put a hand on her bare arm.
She decided to be honest. “I wasn’t with him. I ran into him there and we played some pool and he bought me a drink when I won.”
“So you were just hustling him.” He rubbed his thumb on the soft underside of her arm.
She shrugged, attempting nonchalance despite the fact that her heartbeat had sped up the moment he touched her. “You know I like pool.”
“I remember.” His voice had deepened.
“Nathan’s a nice guy.”
“How nice?”
“You sound like you’re jealous. Are you?” she asked bluntly.
“What if I was?”
“I’m not interested in Nathan. Not like that.” She paused and added, “It would be better for me if I was.”
“But since you’re not interested in Nathan, does that mean you are interested in…someone else?” He moved closer.
“What would be the point? When I know it won’t work?”
“How do we know it won’t work?” He moved closer yet.
All that bare skin, so near, so tempting. He smelled like sunshine and chlorine, which shouldn’t have been so sexy, but it was. Adding in all those muscles, begging to be touched and stroked and caressed and he was damned near irresistible. “It hasn’t in the past.”
He pulled her up close and oh so intimate and nuzzled her neck. “Maybe it could work. This time.”
His breath was warm against her naked skin. One hand on her arm, the other in the small of her back, urging her nearer. But gently, not aggressively. Dana tingled, in places she had no business tingling. Her thought processes began to shut down.
“But if it doesn’t work out, we still have to work together. We’ll still be around each other all the time.” She lifted her head, just a little, allowing him better access.
“Hmm. That could be a problem.”
Now he was kissing her neck. “I need to… We shouldn’t…” Oh, my God, her knees were turning to jelly.
“Shouldn’t what?”
“We shouldn’t… You need to stop that.”
“Stop what?” His lips cruised over her jaw. “This?” His arms had somehow moved to wrap around her.
“Yes. Stop…kissing…me.” Her words said stop but her body was melting. Which Levi knew. She realized he’d been slowly edging them closer to the pool. “What are you doing?”
“You’re right.”
“I am?”
“Yes. But I’m hot now and I think you are too.”
“Levi—what are you—don’t you dare!”
“Too late,” he said and fell into the water with her.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

He broke the mold

Billionaire inventor Levi Chapman prefers his old friends and his small Texas hometown to nightlife on the celebrity circuit. Only one woman ever touched his heart—architect Dana DeLong. But despite the passion between them, Dana’s drive to succeed at her job in the city, a place that drains his soul, broke them apart. After Dana returns to Whiskey River for a project, they manage to avoid each other. But when Levi’s Green Beret brother is injured in combat, Levi’s need to care for him compels him to turn to Dana.

She broke his heart

A job remodeling Devil’s Rock airport lures Dana DeLong back to Whiskey River, home of the lover she never got over. Though they mutually decided to remain apart, when Levi asks her to tap her specialty, designing accessible housing, to help his disabled veteran brother, she can’t refuse. Passion still burns bright between them and soon they succumb to their desires.

Life has changed them both, but is the love they share now enough to overcome the differences that drove them apart?

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Meet the Author:

Eve Gaddy is the national bestselling, award winning author of more than twenty-five novels. A member of Romance Writers of America’s Honor Roll for Bestselling authors, her books have won and been nominated for awards from Romantic Times, Golden Quill, Bookseller’s Best, Holt Medallion, Daphne Du Maurier and more. She was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Innovative Series romance and won the 2008 Romantic Times Career Achievement award for Series Storyteller of the year. Eve’s books have sold over a million copies worldwide and been published in many foreign countries. Eve lives in East Texas with her husband of many years.
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