Spotlight & Giveaway: Tease Me by J. Kenner

Posted March 10th, 2020 by in Blog, Spotlight / 69 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author J. Kenner to HJ!

Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Julie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Tease Me!

 
Hi everyone! Excited to be here!
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

T is for Tempting, Teasing, Tantalizing
M is for Mystery, Mine, sMooches <g>

 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Ryan Hunter watched the young woman he’d been hired to protect absently spin the gold ring on her finger. He doubted she even realized what she was doing. Instead, she was absorbed by the view outside the train’s window.

 

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book.

Jamie is one of my favorite characters to write. She started out as a hot mess … but she’s been tamed by Ryan, her husband. An aspiring actress, she’s making a name for herself on the production side of Hollywood as an entertainment reporter. And she’s best friends with Nikki Fairchild Stark.

Ryan Hunter is the bad ass head of Stark Security. Sexy and dominant, he’s the only man who’s ever been able to hold onto Jamie.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • Jamie first appeared in Release Me, my bestselling book and the intro to the world of Damien Stark and Stark International.
  • Ryan appears later in that series … and the two got their own story in Tame Me!
  • This book can be read as a standalone!
  • This book started out as bonus content for my newsletter subscribers. I expanded it into a novel … and love the result!

 

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

Ryan adores the wild side of his wife … and the fact that he’s the one who’s tamed her.

In Ryan, Jamie found the first man who she could truly be herself with, and he calms the wildness inside her.

 

The First Kiss…

Roughly, his mouth closes over mine, our teeth clashing and our tongues warring. He’s fierce, demanding. Wild and bold. A man who takes what he wants even as he gives me everything I crave.

 

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

What I want is Ryan. I’ve been anticipating his touch since we stepped off the elevator, and now my skin is so primed that I’m certain I’ll explode from nothing more than the feel of his fingertip against my forearm.

And yet he’s not touching me at all. Damn the man.

Despite the raw, seductive words, he hasn’t even kissed me, much less stripped me. And though I can imagine the feel of his hands on my bare skin, imagination is all I’ve enjoyed. Well, since we left the elevator, anyway.

I tilt my head and pout. “You’re a tease, Hunter.”

“Maybe I am.” He moves toward me, then runs a strand of my hair through his fingers. He’s careful not to touch my skin, and yet I shiver simply from the promise of connection. “Or maybe I’m just waiting to hear the rest of it, Kitten.”

“The rest of—”

He stops me with a finger to my lips. “You’re here. And it doesn’t make sense.”
I take a step back. “You’re here. Of course it makes sense.”

The corner of his mouth curves up, and I put a ticky-mark in the Jamie column of my mental score card.

“I appreciate the loyalty,” he says. “And I definitely appreciated earlier. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Hunter, I—”

He shakes his head, silencing me. “Your work, Jamie. You expect me to believe that you dropped everything and raced to London just because you missed me? I’ve gone on business trips before.”

“Not this long.” I turn my back to him, then head toward the plush, outdoor sofa.

“True.” His voice follows me, but the man himself doesn’t move. “But I think we’ve been finding some creative ways to make up for the time and distance. Considering some of our Skype sessions, I think you could have had one hell of a career as a cam girl.”

I look back at him over my shoulder. “You were already more than familiar with my wide and varied skill sets.”

He chuckles. “True.”

“And it’s not the same.”

The levity fades. “No, it’s not,” he admits. “And baby, I hope you know that there will never be a time when I don’t prefer to have you in person. But maybe this wasn’t the right time.”

“Not the right time?” My mind immediately jumps to the mysterious Someone he bumped into, and I drop onto the corner of the couch, then pull a pillow to me and hug it close. “Because it’s not convenient for you? What with spending every waking minute working on all those detailey security issues.”

 

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?*

I’m working on a new sexy, dangerous, wildly sensual trilogy launching in September that I’m soooo excited about! Cover reveal and more info coming later this month!

And … I’m super excited that book four of my Stark Security Series is coming April 21 — Wrecked With You.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: $15 Amazon gift card.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever peeked at your partner’s texts … and not liked what you saw?!

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Tease Me:

Ryan’s been gone less than five minutes, and already I’ve read the whorish bitch’s text over a dozen times.
I need you again.
Our last kiss
What it meant
The same place
Love, F
The words burn inside my mind, and I want to vomit.
She needs him desperately?
Their last kiss?
And what fucking place?
I’m not sure if none of it makes sense, or if I’m just too numb to process the words. Or to process my thoughts, for that matter.
How can I, when all I feel is dead?
I’ve been pacing the suite, and now I realize that I’ve stopped in front of the open balcony door. I have the phone in my hand, and I’m about to hurl it off into space when I force myself to stop.
For one, I don’t want to give some unsuspecting pedestrian a concussion. For another, I don’t actually want to let it go. It’s the smoking gun. The proof of his lies. His infidelity. And, goddammit, I want to shove it hard up his lying, cheating ass the moment he walks through that door.
Except…
Except maybe I don’t. This is Ryan, after all. My Hunter. Could he have done this to me? To us?
Fuck.
The curse is lame. A whisper in my head. And I wipe away the tears that now cling to my lashes.
With a watery sigh, I move back to the sofa and drop down onto one of the overstuffed cushions. Then I open his phone and read the text one more time.
I’m sorry I ran… need you again… desperately… our last kiss…
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
And you know what else? Fuck all of this. I’m not going to just sit here with a smoking gun and do nothing.
So I tap the number at the top of the screen, put the phone on speaker, and wait for the bitch who’s probably fucking my husband to answer the line.
One ring. Two. Five. Eight.
It never goes to voicemail. Just rings and rings and rings.
I end the call, then stare at the phone as I transfer the whole of the sense of betrayal I’d been feeling about Ryan to this palm-sized collection of plastic and silicon. Without thinking, I hurl it across the room, and it smashes against the wall. I know the things are damn near indestructible, but that at least felt good.
With a little bit of the weight relieved, I snatch my own phone from off the coffee table. I hit the speed dial for Nikki, not even thinking about the time difference. It’s only when the call rolls to voicemail that I wonder if it’s the middle of the night there. But, no, London is ahead of California. It’s almost ten here, which means it’s…lunchtime there?
Maybe. I’m not sure. I can’t do math right now. But if it’s during work hours, she’s probably busy.
I start to leave a whiny message but think better of it. Instead of the rant I want to leave, all I say is, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to call. Hope all is awesome in La-La Land.”
It’s lame, but knowing Nikki, if I’d filled her in, she’d get on one of the Stark jets and actually fly over here to both commiserate with me and to make sure I don’t do anything rash—like whack Ryan’s nuts off—without being absolutely certain he’s cheated.
And if he has, then in true best-friend fashion, she’d help me castrate the motherfucker.
But Hunter? Do we actually believe that?
That little voice is back in my head, but I’m so angry I don’t want to hear it.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Kenner comes a new story in her Stark International Security series…

Entertainment reporter Jamie Archer knew it would be hard when her husband, Stark Security Chief Ryan Hunter, was called away for a long-term project in London. The distance is difficult to endure, but Jamie trusts the deep and passionate love that has always burned between them. At least until a mysterious woman from Ryan’s past shows up at his doorstep, her very presence threatening to destroy everything that Jamie holds dear.

Ryan never expected to see Felicia Randall again, a woman with whom he shared a dark past and a dangerous secret. The first and only woman he ever truly failed.

Desperate and on the run, Felicia’s come to plead for his help. But while Ryan knows that helping her is the only way to heal old wounds, he also knows that the mission will not only endanger the life of the woman he holds most dear, but will brutally test the deep trust that binds Jamie and Ryan together.

Discover more Jamie and Ryan in the Stark International Security series:

1. Tame Me
2. Tempt Me
3. Tease Me
Book Links: Amazon | B& N | iTunes | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

A former attorney, J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, and #1 International bestselling author of over one-hundred novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres including erotic romance, paranormal and contemporary romance, women’s fiction, urban fantasy, and paranormal mommy lit. Visit her website at www.jkenner.com to learn more and to connect with JK through social media!
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads |

 
 
 

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69 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Tease Me by J. Kenner”

  1. Lilah Chavez

    Yes… Well, yea.. It’s the letting the brother borrow money type of text…without letting me know, of course.

  2. Jeanna Massman

    No, believe it or not, my husband is fairly new to texting and only uses it if he has to, so nothing exciting there.

  3. Sonia

    No but if I ask to see them and the answer is no then I would definitely think something is going on.

  6. Diana Tidlund

    Nope after 28 years and having over 100 strokes and spending weeks in ICU where he only left my side to work and sleep for 4 hours a night I’m secure in how much he loves me. ( I don’t remember any of it but my kids who are 28 and 29 were there the whole time tell me that all the time )

  7. laurieg72

    My husband and I are old school. We share 1 cell phone. We still have a separate home phone too. My children call us dinosaurs. Oh well, since we share the phone I see all the texts and actually write most of them.

  9. Didi

    I never peeked on my partner’s texts. I’m currently not in any relationship but I’d like to think that’s that person’s privacy. Dunno if circumstances call for it.

  11. janinecatmom

    My husband still carries a flip phone so he doesn’t text. But even if he did text, I trust him enough where I wouldn’t feel the need to look at his phone.

  12. Pamela Conway

    No, my late husband didn’t know how to text. I would of had to do it for him.

  13. Onyinye Elochukwu

    I’m always curious so I peek some times. Mostly work texts.

  14. Karina Angeles

    I don’t go through my hubby’s phone. He’s always playing online games, he hardly ever texts.

  17. dynal roberson

    No. I mean we share each other’s texts all the time, I’ve just never had a bad experience with it.

  22. dbranigan

    No, I haven’t peeked and I would not expect to see something that I didn’t like.

  23. isisthe12th

    I have peeked and jumped to conclusions that weren’t true. Thank you

  26. Amy R

    Have you ever peeked at your partner’s texts … and not liked what you saw?! Yes

  28. Kathleen Bylsma

    Nope…he didn’t text but my ex husband started a letter to an old flame and left it under the seat of my car…I found it, he regretted it seriously!

  29. lorih824

    I’d be surprised if he was texting as he usually doesn’t even have his phone. However if I thought something suspicious I’d be asking him about it.

  34. lorih824

    I would be surprised if he was texting because he never has his phone. However if I thought something was suspicious I’d be checking it.

  35. mathlady68

    Does it count if he tells me to read the text when he can’t? I’ve never seen anything I thought was upsetting except his job won’t leave him alone.

  42. Anna Nguyen

    i have never done that but i can understand the temptation if your partner is being secretive. you just have to learn to trust though otherwise the relationship will not survive.

  56. Patricia B.

    He doesn’t text much at all. We grab each other’s phones all the time. Nothing interesting.