Spotlight & Giveaway: Protected by Lexi Blake

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Lexi Blake to HJ!

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

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Wade Rycroft fell in love with Geneva Harris when she was the smartest girl in his high school class. They made plans to get married after high school. Those plans changed when Genny broke his heart. He joined the Army and left town. Genny married the town’s golden boy and Wade knew that he could never go home again. Fifteen years later, Wade’s left the Army and works as a bodyguard at McKay-Taggart, and Genny’s marriage has dissolved. When Wade’s brother’s wedding brings him home he walks into a storm of scandal. The town has turned against Genny, and someone is making threats against her. Seeing her again reawakens feelings he thought were long gone.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Geneva Harris was going to die. It was right there and he was a horrible person because he kept her on the edge. That brilliant place only Wade Rycroft had ever taken her to was within reach, but every time she thought she would fall over the edge, he pulled his hand away.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This book closes out the Lexi Blake Crossover Collection storyline. It ends where Close Cover, my book in the Crossover Collection, ended.
• Protected has a fun connection to Small Town Siren, the first book I ever published. Wade’s family ranch is part of a collective of independent ranchers that supply southern Texas with organic beef. The collective was started by Jack Barnes and Sam Fleetwood.
• Genny becomes an essential part of the McKay-Taggart office!

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

Wade Rycroft has been around for a while. He started out as the Dom in residence at Sanctum and then hired on at McKay-Taggart when the bodyguard unit began. He’s big and badass and it turns out he’s incredibly tender and patient when it comes to the love of his life. Geneva gave up her freedom to protect Wade once. She was eighteen when she made a deal with her own personal devil to save the man she loved. Watching her bloom as she finally gets some independence was a revelation for me.

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

Wade held his hands up. “Can I turn around or do you plan on shooting me in the back? Last time you used a knife.”
Yup, she wished she hadn’t promised her only child she wouldn’t commit murder tonight. “You can turn around.”
Slowly he turned, and then she wished she’d kept him facing away from her. He was almost too beautiful to look at. Pitch black hair and soulful brown eyes. The man was even more overwhelming than the boy she’d known. He’d put on muscle and seemed to be taller than he’d been, but that might be a trick of her memory. Or it might be because in the years that spread between them, she’d been made so small.
He’d gotten more handsome, more masculine, and she’d been reduced to nothing. Sometimes she felt like she’d died that day and only came back to life for brief periods. She was a walking shell and always would be if she didn’t take control of this. This was her one and only chance. Perhaps she could have avoided this scene if it had only been her chance, but it was Ash’s only chance, too, and that meant everything to her.
“You owe me, Wade Rycroft.” She’d been waiting fifteen years to say those words. “And the time has come to pay up.”
“I owe you?”
“Yes. You owe me and I’ve come to collect. Here’s how this is going to go,” she started.
Before she could begin to explain her plan, he was on her. His left hand chopped up, batting her hands and making her lose her grip on the pistol. It clattered to the floor, banging against the hardwoods. He gripped her wrist, dragging it around her back as he shoved her against the wall.
She found herself caught as he pressed himself in, using his weight to hold her still.
“You think I owe you? I see things differently, darlin’.” The words were spoken softly against her ear. He was close enough that she could feel the heat of his breath, but there was no way to mistake the words coming from his mouth as anything but cold. “I think you owe me.”
Her breath hitched and she struggled against him. Rage formed in her gut. Or maybe it was always there and he simply turned the furnace up a notch. “Let me go, you bastard.”
He pressed in and suddenly she could feel something hard against her ass. “Not until I figure out exactly why you decided to pull a gun on me. Did you think I’d let you get away with that? Damn it, Genny. Stop squirming. Please.”
The please coming out of his mouth sounded so much like her Wade that she went still for a moment. “Let me go.”
“Could I have a minute? I need to calm down. I don’t want to hurt you. Stop fighting me and don’t pretend you’re the victim here. You pulled the gun on me. And I’m sorry about the…I’m sorry about that. Adrenaline can do that to a man. I don’t want you to think I’m going to hurt you.”
She closed her eyes to try to keep the tears from flowing. God, even when she’d pulled a gun on the man he was concerned for her. He would rip her heart out, but he wouldn’t hurt her physically. Unlike her ex-husband.

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

That not every problem between lovers can be solved in bed. That love requires patience and understanding.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned for 2017?

I’m finishing Memento Mori, the first book in Masters and Mercenaries: The Forgotten spinoff. It’s the first book about the Lost Boys, who were rescued from Hope McDonald’s lab when McKay-Taggart found Theo. This story features Jax and is set in Bliss, Colorado, from the series I wrote as Sophie Oak.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A print book of choice from Lexi’s backlist.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: It’s steamy hot in North Texas right now, so I’m staying indoors as much as possible. I’ve been enjoying my favorite summer TV show, Big Brother. What do you do for entertainment when you’re stuck in the house?

 
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Excerpt from Protected:

Genny eyes were sleepy and she yawned again. “Wow. I got tired really fast.”
Wade noticed Ash hadn’t done what he’d said he would do. The sheets were still neatly folded on the couch. Well, he could do it himself. “Why don’t you go on to bed? I can handle things out here.”
He wouldn’t sleep a wink. He would sit up all night long thinking about what she’d been through, wondering if things could have been different if he’d tried harder, believed in her more.
“Or you could go ahead and pass out,” Ash urged. “It’ll make things easier.”
What had he done? Wade looked from the mug in Genny’s hand back to the counter. Sure enough, there was a small bottle of medication sitting there.
Genny sighed and her eyes were unfocused. “Something’s wrong. I didn’t drink much at the wedding. I only had the one drink. Why is my brain fuzzy?”
“Because I slipped you a mickey, as they would say in some noir film. It’s okay. I checked the dosage. You’ll be out for eight to ten hours,” Ash assured her. “You can use the sleep.”
“What the hell?” Wade rushed over to the bottle. They were sleeping pills prescribed to Genny, but the date was months old and it looked like she’d never used them. Until her son decided she needed some bedtime.
“Wade? I don’t think I can get to bed.” The words slurred as she pushed back from her chair.
He managed to catch her before she hit the floor. She weighed next to nothing in his arms. There was a reason her clothes didn’t fit her. She was too thin, and not in a naturally healthy way. He clutched her to his chest and looked for the kid he was about to have a serious talk with. Maybe there was more of his father in there than he’d thought.
“In the morning, she was going to tell you to take me to Dallas,” Ash explained quietly. “She never intended to go with us. Brock gets out of prison any day now and he’s going to come after both of us. She’s going to lie in wait and she’s going to kill him. I can’t allow that to happen because she’ll either lose that battle or go to jail. We need you. You’re a bodyguard. You work for one of the premier security firms in the world. I can’t pay you but I’m begging you to save my mom.”
“She’s going to try to kill him?” The words didn’t make sense. Genny was gentle. Genny had worried about him going into the military because deep down she’d been a pacifist. The idea of her lying in wait to murder her ex didn’t compute.
“Yes,” Ash said. “I’m sorry for taking this choice away from her. She’s had very few of them, but I can’t allow her to ruin the rest of her life because she’s protecting me. It might not be fair, but I’m putting it on you. You loved her once. You could love her again.”
“I never stopped loving her,” he admitted. “But there’s a difference between saying she’s going to kill someone and actually doing it.”
“She’s got a will in place that gives custody of me to Clint and Lori.”
He felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. She was planning on doing it. She was going to try to go out in a blaze of glory. His eyes met Asher’s, a moment of pure connection and harmony between the men.
“Pack a bag for your mother. I suspect you’re already ready,” Wade said. “We’re going to Dallas.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Their first chance at love ended in heartbreak

Wade Rycroft fell in love with Geneva Harris when she was the smartest girl in his class. The rodeo star and the shy academic made for an odd pair, but their chemistry was undeniable. They made plans to get married after high school. Those plans changed when Genny broke his heart. Joining the Army gave him a chance to leave that life behind. News that Genny married the town’s golden boy let Wade know that he could never go home again.

A chance encounter rekindles an old flame

Fifteen years later, he’s found his place in the world and tried to forget the woman who left him standing in the rain. After leaving the Army he forged a new life as a bodyguard at McKay-Taggart, but he still feels incomplete. When his brother’s wedding brings him home to Broken Bend, Texas, he walks into a storm of scandal. Genny’s marriage has dissolved, the town has turned against her, and someone is making threats. Seeing her again reawakens feelings he thought were long gone, and he worries that staying close enough to help her could be too much to bear.

Their reunion just might kill them both

After an attempt is made on Genny’s life, Wade can’t refuse to help her. Watching over her day and night, it’s clear that having her back in his life could be the thing to finally make him whole. When the danger follows them back to Dallas, their second chance at love could be over before it even begins.

Buy links:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xLS3qq
Print: http://amzn.to/2GV1sNS
 
 

Meet the Author:

Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places. Lexi believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome or foursome may seem. She also writes contemporary Western ménage as Sophie Oak.
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