Happy Tuesday! I have Emily and Colin, the heroine and hero from Debbie Gould’s Second Chance, here today for an interview.
Welcome, Emily and Colin, and thanks for coming by. Please tell us about you: job, hobbies, special talents, and anything else you would want to share.
Emily: Right now I’m a stay at home mom. I have several degrees and some day may put them to use, but for now, I’m doing what make me the happiest.
Colin: I’m a Lieutenant in the Air Force and work in Special Ops, pararescueman to be exact, which brings about all kinds of special talents. Most importantly the ability to go behind enemy lines and rescue down pilots and crew. And, uh, Em? You forgot to tell them about your newfound talent.
Emily: (face flushes) I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.
Colin: The yoga, Emily, sheesh.
Emily: Ohhhhhh, yeah, the yoga. Colin’s team are a little upset that I told him he should add yoga to their PT (Physical Training) regimen. Goodness you should hear some of their complaints. If I didn’t know better If think they were a bunch of pansy’s.
Tell us about the first time you met.
Colin: We’ve known each other for years, but I’d have to say the first time I noticed her as more that a friend/sister-in-law, had to be about a year after my wife’s death. I’d taken Emily and the baby to a barbeque that a friend of ours was throwing. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her that night. The way she laughed with the other women and the obvious love she had for Izzy, my daughter, I guess you could say I saw Em in a whole new light.
Emily: And he fought it every step of the way.
Colin: Yeah, I did.
Emily: (smiles) We kissed that night.
Colin: Good God, did we?
Emily: And you ran even harder.
Colin: I did. My guilt over not being here when Tabitha died already held me like a vise grip. (grabs Emily’s hand) After that kiss, I wanted you so bad I ached. But I didn’t think I deserved you. I’d already let one woman down because of my job. I couldn’t risk it again.
Emily: Tabitha never felt that way.
Colin: Yeah. I know that now. (leans in and kisses her) Thanks to you.
Emily: Ummm…the interview.
Colin: Oh, uh, yeah. Where were we?
What drew you to each other?
Colin: God, what didn’t? Not only is she beautiful, but she cares so deeply about those in her life. The woman has a heart the size of Texas. She became a mother to my child without batting an eye at a time when she was grieving just as much as I was. She loves deeply and with everything she has.
Emily: (wipes away tears) His pain drew me at first. Even though I was going through my own, I had an adorable little girl, a precious part of my sister to help me through. Colin wouldn’t let himself get too close to Izzy, he wouldn’t stop punishing himself. In the beginning, his grief was just so unbearable to watch. But it was those moments that he eventually did let his baby in, when I caught the glimpses of infatuated love for his daughter that drew me to the man he is. Over the two years, I couldn’t help but fall for the guy.
What is your favorite part of each other?
Colin: Her heart. She loves full out, no barriers, just head on. She’s got a strength to her that I can only begin to try to match. It’s not easy for me to admit, but there are times when it’s her holding me together when it should be the other way around. This woman is my life. Well, then there’s her ass. She’s got a damn fine ass.
Emily: (smacks Colin on the arm) God, he’s such a man. Hmm. My favorite part of him. I guess I’d have to say the total package. (giggles) I mean, beyond all the emotional stuff we had to get through, the guy is a complete Alpha. Strong, oh my god, is he strong. He uses me as a bar bell sometimes, he’s ripped. But he’s the most generous and thorough lover a woman could want, and that’s all I’m saying.
Care to share future plans?
Emily: We’re getting married soon. Beyond that, it’s one day at a time. With him in the Air Force and Special Ops, he’s called away often, so we make the most of the time we have together while he’s here, and the homecomings are always that much more special.
Second Chance
By
Debbie Gould
Lieutenant Colin Beckett, US Air Force special ops, lost his wife in childbirth while off on a mission. Two years later, he’s still trying to come to grips with the guilt that tortures him. And to complicate matters, he finds himself undeniably attracted to his wife’s sister, Emily. Struggling with his desire, he tells himself he doesn’t deserve a second chance with such an amazing woman.
Emily wants Colin in her life and her bed. Enlisting the help of Colin’s teammate’s and Madame Eve’s 1 Night Stand dating service, she plans to prove to Colin he can have everything he lost once again.
Will their one night lead to the happy ending she longs for or the loneliness he thinks he deserves?
Excerpt
Colin took a step back and cringed. “Aw, shit, Bobby. What’ve you done?”
Bobby punched Zeke in the shoulder and shook his head. “Nothing bad. Actually, it’s so simple you’re gonna kick your ass for not thinking of it first, Ghost.”
He doubted it. More than likely he would kick Bobby’s ass. The man worked overtime to hook him up, like he was a damn charity case. If he wanted to get laid, he could go find his own. Unfortunately, the only woman that spurred his senses in the last year had been Emily. He wanted her so bad he caught himself thinking about her during the day and woke up sweat-soaked and hard at night from dreaming about her.
Shit! Maybe he did need to get laid. “I repeat, what have you done?”
Zeke jumped up. “See, there’s this woman named Madame Eve––”
Colin threw his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is low even for you. I don’t need a freaking prostitute. Damn, Bobby. What the hell are you thinking?”
Bobby laughed. “Not that kind of madame. She runs an elite dating service and sets up one-night stands for consenting adults. It’s a no-strings-attached kind of thing. Just two like-minded adults looking for a night of pleasure. That’s it. You both go in with your eyes open and leave the next more feeling a lot less stressed.”
Colin crossed his arms over his chest and lifted a brow, “And how does she go about finding these people and matching them up?”
“Don’t worry I’ve checked it all out. You go on her website, fill out the application. Then she matches you up with someone who meets your needs. She names the date and place and the rest is on you. It’s all legit.”
“You sound like an infomercial.” Colin shook his head. “This is fucking crazy, ya know. I have no trouble finding my own women.”
“Never said you did, Lieutenant,” Zeke said. “But this way you don’t have to troll the bars, hoping to find a woman who wants to get her rocks off exactly like you. We know that’s not your scene, but this way everyone gets what they want and walks away happy.”
Bobby glared at Zeke. “Where the hell do you come from anyway?” He returned his gaze to Colin. “More like a night of mutual pleasure.”
“I have my own ways of relieving stress.”
Bobby snorted. “Uh, yeah. I’m not talking about whacking off in the shower, dude.”
Colin rubbed his hands over his face. Good God, had he really been reduced to this? “Fine.”
About Debbie
Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, at the age of two Debbie and her mother moved to New Jersey, spending many happy years on her grandparents’ horse farm. You’ll sometimes find this setting as a backdrop in her work.
As a teenager, she and her mother found a new home in Vermont, where she currently resides. With a daughter in the Air Force, one son in college and the other working for the family business, Debbie now shuffles her time between a husband and full time job as a nurse, and writing.
About seven years ago, while looking at over three hundred treasured books lining her shelves, she realized there was a multitude of stories of her own clamoring for release. Since then, she’s seriously persevered in keeping the keyboard in constant motion.
With two novels, Mountain’s Echo and Infidelity, and two novellas, November Rain and Second Chance now published, Debbie is now also working with a partner, L.J. Garland. Together the two have written Sins of the Mind and are hard at work on many more manuscripts.
Debbie has been a member of KOD, FTHRW, ELEMENTS and RWA Online.
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