Spotlight & Giveaway: Secret Pleasure by Taryn Leigh Taylor

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

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

 
It’s always great to be here. Thanks for having me!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Secret Pleasure is a book that explores preconceived notions and second chances.

When Kaylee Whitfield is presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to share a clandestine night of passion with her childhood crush, she goes for it.

But things get a lot more complicated when Aidan learns that the Kaylee of his youth–bookish, introverted, and raven-haired–and the blonde, burlesque-dancing bombshell who rocked his world in a supply closet, are one and the same.

Now Kaylee and Aidan have to navigate the fallout that comes when fantasy and reality collide.
 

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

What I love most about this book, is how kick-ass and powerful Kaylee is when she’s on stage. She’s proud of her sexuality, and even at the start of the novel, she knows it’s one of her strengths, so I’ve always loved this quote, because I think it’s so indicative of her power:

When her corset hit the floor, Kaylee was clad in nothing but sequined pasties and ruffled panties, but in all her performances, she’d never once felt so deliciously naked or so desperately wanted. She barely heard the applause and whistles. There was only her and Aidan and his stark look of desire as she executed an impressive shoulder shimmy and struck her final pose as the music ended.

And of course, I love a little banter, so the scene where Aidan teaches Kaylee how to box is also close to my heart:

Aidan slapped the focus pads together with a loud thwap and held his hands up as targets. She landed three decent jabs and one really good one. “There you go! Now you’re on a roll. Try that again.”
His phone buzzed in his back pocket and he dropped his guard, intending to answer it. Kaylee punched him in the shoulder with a pretty respectable shot. “Whoa. Easy there, Fists of Fury.”
Her gloved hands flew to her mouth, hazel eyes wide with horror. “You moved your hand! I’m so sorry.”
Aidan grinned as he pulled off the focus pads and tossed them onto the stool in the corner of the ring. “I’ll live,” he assured her, extricating his phone.
His easy dismissal stoked her competitive streak. “Well, sure, but you might have a bruise, right? That was a solid punch.”
“Bloodthirsty,” he admonished, but he was still chuckling at Kaylee when he answered the call.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• “Bei Mir Bist du Schon” is such a great song, and I’ve loved it since my first listen, so I knew from the get-go that’s what I would use for Kaylee’s burlesque number at the start of the book.
• Although I don’t usually mention who my hero inspiration is so that readers can fill in the blanks with whomever appeals to them, I think it’s pretty obvious that I was hyped up on King Arthur viewings when I wrote this book. The Charlie Hunnam vibe is strong in Aidan. LOL
• Despite this being a romance novel, one of my favourite scenes happens when Aidan shows up at Kaylee’s brother’s door in the middle of the night. Max was the hero of the inaugural book of the series, Forbidden Pleasure, and putting him and Aidan in the same room for the first time since their falling out was such a testosterone-fueled blast!

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

This book was an interesting one, because Kaylee and Aidan have known each other for ages, so they have a lot of outdated ideas about each other.
Their physical attraction is strong, sure, but love stories aren’t that simple, are they? They take work, and for these two, that means that Kaylee has to get over the halcyon remnants of her teenage crush on Aidan, and Aidan has to get over his guilt and come to grips with the fact that Kaylee isn’t a kid anymore.

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

I think I’d probably use the first time Kaylee and Aidan run into each other after their passionate night together. Kaylee isn’t wearing her burlesque costume anymore–no wig, no contacts, no hiding–and she’s desperately worried that Aidan will figure out that the sexy woman from the supply closet tryst was her.

I think the scene is a lot of fun, and it would be a great challenge for the actors to play the different layers of this scene:

“I’ll have a vanilla latte, please.”
“Can I get a name for the cup?”
“Kaylee,” she started to say, but before she got to the second syllable, Aidan stepped close behind her, and the dazzled barista stared distractedly over Kaylee’s shoulder.
“You can add a black coffee to that.”
Aidan handed her a couple of bills before Kaylee managed to retrieve her wallet.
“Oh! You don’t have to pay.” Kaylee dug into her purse. “I can…”
Aidan’s fingertips brushed her wrist to still her hand, and her voice trailed off. Her pulse fluttered madly beneath her skin. “Your money’s no good here, right…” He spared a glance at the smitten barista’s name tag before adding, “Tanis?”
The girl nodded dreamily. Kaylee was pretty sure Aidan could have said, This is a stickup—empty the till into this bag or I’ll kill everyone in here, and still gotten the same reaction. Seeing it reminded her that she wasn’t a teenager anymore and went a long way toward making her feel more like herself. She tucked a wayward strand of dark hair behind her ear. “Thanks.”
“Least I can do. It’s been a while.”
Two frustratingly horny days, her body reminded her. “Um, almost ten years, I guess?”
It wasn’t a guess. She knew. Aside from Lola Mariposa, in the storage room, with Aidan’s candlestick, she’d been seventeen the last time she saw him, freshly graduated and all packed and on her way to study at Oxford. Her crush on him had cooled by that point—no sense in pining over someone who would never see you as anything more than a kid sister—but that hadn’t kept her from reveling in the goodbye they’d shared.
“You got this, KJ,” he’d said in a way that made her believe him. And then Aidan had hugged her. The only hug she’d received. Max hadn’t. Her mom and dad hadn’t. And for a scared seventeen-year-old leaving her home for the first time, that hug had buoyed her courage, as though being wrapped in his big solid arms had transferred some of his strength to her, some of his wanderlust.
It was a moment that had meant the world.
It was nice thinking someone believed in her.
“So what have you been up to?” he asked
“University, grown-up job, the usual stuff,” she averred. She didn’t want to bring up anything that might ruin their easy camaraderie. Besides, she wasn’t exactly sure how Aidan and her brother had turned into mortal enemies. It was safer to steer the conversation away from her PR position at the company named after her family and run by her brother.
Aidan shot her a look that said he had other ideas. “Nope. Not buying it, Ms. Public Relations. This is a no-spin zone, so stop being modest and tell me about how you’re putting that fancy Oxford education to use nowadays.”
The realization that he remembered her major and her alma mater combined with the interest on his handsome face edged the lust in her belly with a sweetness she hadn’t expected. Maybe that was why she still didn’t mention Whitfield Industries by name, just left it hanging like a guillotine blade, hoping it wouldn’t sever this thread of…something that was pulsing between them.
“Mostly I write media releases and deal with questions from the press. And every now and then a scandal breaks out and things get interesting.” The words fell out of her mouth without her meaning them to, and the sharp pain of the current situation knifed through her gut. That Max had worn a wire, turned their father in for blackmailing Emma Mathison, the head of R and D for SecurePay. That Charles was currently wearing an ankle bracelet, under house arrest after ponying up the five-million-dollars bail. That she’d been completely in the dark about her own father until it had all gone down…
“How about you? What have you been doing with yourself for the last decade?”
He grinned, and her heart stuttered at the flash of straight, white teeth. “Before or after I got gored running with the bulls in Spain?”
She couldn’t help but smile back. She’d always loved Aidan’s stories. He was the reason she’d begged her mother to let her study abroad. Actually, getting as far away from Sylvia Whitfield’s nitpicking as possible was the reason she’d done that, but Aidan’s stories had given her the courage to persevere, to board the plane when her mother had unexpectedly relented and let her go. “Liar.”
Her mouth went dry as he reached down and lifted the hem of his T-shirt up his side, revealing that jagged scar across his rib cage. The one her fingers had traced during their time in the storage closet. The one her fingers wanted to touch now. Oh God. It must have hurt and everything, but damn. Like the man needed to be any sexier.
The two ladies chattering at a nearby table stopped to take in the deliciously masculine sight of Aidan showing off his wound.
Oblivious, he dropped the white cotton. “Twenty stitches.”
“I have a vanilla latte for Karly and a coffee for Hot Guy,” called the barista, and Aidan quirked a conspiratorial eyebrow, startling a smile from her. It might not be the heat that had sparked between him and Lola, but it was nice to see him as herself, too.

Readers should read this book….

If they love banter, sexytimes, fist fights, and secret identities. Oh, and if the the older brother’s best friend trope is your jam, then this is the book for you!

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

Right now I’m working on the next book in the Business of Pleasure series, Wicked Pleasure, coming out in August. And of course, I have some more hot hockey heroes lined up for the new year as well.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Three people will receive a digital copy of Secret Pleasure! This giveaway is open internationally.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: In Secret Pleasure, Kaylee’ has a secret identity that makes her feel strong and powerful. What I want to know, is if you could have a secret identity, an alternate version of you that got to live another version of your life, what would your alter-ego do? (Nothing’s off limits! Other You could attend Hogwarts, or be a firefighter, or possess the ability to talk to dolphins! Let your imagination run wild.)

Personally, I’m shy and not much of a risk-taker, so my alter-ego would be an astronaut, kicking it in zero-gravity and exploring the galaxy! Tell me yours below.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Secret Pleasure:

This is one of my favourite scenes. After Kaylee’s burlesque routine, she tries to sneak out of the club without running into Aidan, but it doesn’t quite go as planned…

“Damn it.”
Kaylee pulled her hand from her bag to find it covered in liquid foundation. Her jeans were coated in beige, her white T-shirt splotched with it. So much for a fast getaway. She’d been hoping to change and sneak out as quickly as possible. Fooling Aidan from a distance was one thing, but she didn’t want to tempt fate by running into him again.
She laughed at herself as she flipped the light switch in the tiny backstage bathroom with her elbow. As if Aidan would be looking for her at all. Unlike her, he’d spent the majority of their youth completely unaware of her status as a member of the opposite sex. She stuck her makeup-y hands beneath the tap, washing the mess from her skin.
She remembered the first time she’d seen him. He’d stolen her breath, throwing her long-held beliefs that boys were gross and cooties were a fate worse than death right out the proverbial window. A golden boy with shaggy hair and a leather jacket. He’d been fifteen to her eleven, and she’d thought he was the coolest guy she’d ever met. So different than Max’s other friends. There was something rough about him, more dangerous than the country-club jerks she’d grown up with. But the best thing about Aidan was that he never ignored her. And sometimes, when Max was busy doing something for their parents, Aidan would talk to her, tell her stories full of adventure—races he’d won, fights he’d started, the trips he planned to take.
Her crush had only intensified with puberty, and by the time she was fourteen, she was counting down the days until Max and Aidan came home from university on break. By then, his boyish promise had been realized, and Aidan had grown into his cocky swagger. He didn’t just have the attitude anymore but a muscled body that could back it up. Kaylee had been mesmerized.
By that point, Max was a cool, distant stranger, but Aidan still made time to greet her, tell her a story, flirt a little. At least she’d thought it was flirting, until one fateful evening when she’d come home from studying at the library to find Max was having a get-together. Kaylee had witnessed firsthand what real flirting was like when she’d covertly watched Aidan and their neighbor Natasha wrapped in each other’s arms, indulging in the kind of kissing that Kaylee had only seen in movies. She’d fled from the passionate scene with a heavy heart, made heavier when she’d heard that Aidan had gone on to seduce the pretty blond right out of her bikini. Or at least that was the story as Natasha had told it later that summer.
Her hero worship of her brother’s best friend had taken a big hit after that, and to punish Aidan for the transgression of not waiting for her, Kaylee had done her teenage best to treat him with polite disdain. Trouble was, he hadn’t even noticed.
And she’d realized for the first time that her crush had been one-sided. It had broken her infatuated little heart.
By the time she was sixteen, they were nothing more than polite acquaintances, discussing things no deeper than how school was going and summer plans. But he was still the most beautiful man she’d ever seen.
Tonight, though. Tonight, Aidan had looked at her like he’d looked at Natasha all those years ago. With heat. With lust.
And it had felt incredibly good to inspire something other than pleasantness in him. Even if he had no idea she was the one doing it. She knew it, and she would let the rush of it wash over her for a long time.
After shutting off the taps, she dried her hands with some paper towels and headed back to the dressing area. One of the other girls loaned her a simple black jersey skirt, and she donned it before stuffing herself back into her corset.
She’d sneak out the side door and wait outside until her Uber arrived to take her home. Of all the nights not to drive herself. But last Friday, one of the other performers had let her know some creep had been checking out her Audi, and Kaylee had decided it might be safer to get a ride this week. A woman couldn’t be too careful.
She skirted along the billiards area, glad that most of the attention remained on the stage, and Ginger Merlot’s performance, where it belonged.
She was almost at the side door, almost all the way to freedom, but she couldn’t resist a final backward glance at the man who’d made tonight one to remember. The pillar would probably block most of him, but she tried to discern the sleeve of his jacket from the post anyway. The creaky metal door to her right swung open and the sound stole her attention a split second before she slammed into someone. Someone big and solid. Someone wearing a leather jacket. Someone whose strong hands steadied her, warm against her arms.
She recognized the scent of him on a primal level.
His proximity did funny things to her pulse.
She couldn’t look away.
Neither of them said anything.
It took her a moment to realize he was still holding her, that she should pull back. But as she looked up at the man who’d starred in many of her girlish fantasies, she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. Because the rush of hormones and lust, the thrill of being so close to him and having him looking at her that way—like he felt some of the maelstrom of desire churning in her belly—was heady…like a wet dream come true.
And suddenly she wanted that dream. Wanted it desperately.
The seductive siren song of rebellion wound its way through her bloodstream.
What would it hurt?
He obviously hadn’t connected her alter ego with her real self. And there was no reason he should.
It was a great wig. She had her contacts in.
Why shouldn’t they both have what they wanted?
And he wanted her. She could feel it in the flex of his hands on her skin the second before he let go of her. Could see it in the flare of his eyes, the tightening of his jaw.
And she definitely wanted him. Always had. But there was nothing girlish about it anymore. It was a triple-X, adult-content-warning kind of want.
Kaylee was high on the rush of a live performance, of their public flirtation, so why shouldn’t it be Aidan instead of her detachable showerhead that made her come tonight?
She licked her lips, and his eyes dropped to her mouth.
Slowly, he dragged them back up her face. And the wicked, dangerous gleam she saw there made her wet. She didn’t want propriety or duty or sweetness from him.
She wanted passion.
She wanted him to want her.
The air grew thick and heavy between them. She could feel her pulse everywhere, as though her skin was beating with it. She didn’t see him reach for her hand, didn’t remember reaching for his, but suddenly there was skin to skin contact as their palms slid together, and the warm roughness of his hand around hers sent an arrow of lust right through her core. The next thing she knew, he’d turned and was tugging her along in his wake. She had to run to keep up with his long strides. Aidan spared a quick look around the bar before he pushed through a door marked Employees Only, and she followed him inside.
Because in that moment, Kaylee would have followed him anywhere.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Info:

She’s sweet as sin…and he’s twice as wicked!

Bombshell burlesque performer Kaylee Whitfield has perfected the art of the tease. Onstage, Kaylee disappears completely into “Lola,” her braver, sultrier alter ego. That is, until one of her performances is watched by a pair of joltingly familiar green eyes. Aidan. Her brother’s super-hot former best friend. The breaker of Kaylee’s teenage heart. And now she has the perfect opportunity to make a decade of wanting a red-hot reality without him ever knowing who she is…

But be careful what you wish for.

All Aidan wanted was to find Kaylee. She’s the key to getting some real answers about his father and ending the ridiculous spy-novel scenario he’s found himself in. Instead, Aidan finds her. Blonde, blue-eyed and a body that invites every sin imaginable. But what started as a deliciously hot little tryst has turned into a wicked game. One filled with raw need. And this burlesque babe is doing everything she can to keep Aidan hungry…

Only this game is more dangerous than either of them knows.

Because Aidan just might teach Kaylee a few things about the art of deception, temptation…and how to lose her heart for good.
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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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