Friday Sneak Peek

Edited to add: Blogger failed me again! This was supposed to post Friday morning!
Last Friday was release day for Taming Tara so I thought I'd share another small excerpt from that book:

Christ, she was smart. That itself was a huge turn-on, never mind the sexy sparkle in her eyes. Heat curled inside him. “So which is it?”


“What do you mean?” She frowned as she looked back at him. His eyes moved over her smooth, golden skin, her cheeks lightly tinged peach, her eyes framed with thick lashes. Her full mouth gleamed, like yesterday, with a pale shiny peach gloss.

“I mean, which do you want to focus on? The niche market, producing small quantities of high quality olive oil; or expanding your production using new planting methods like high density planting and producing larger quantities of oil.”

Her frown deepened. “I…I want to do both.”

He met her gaze. “You think you can do both? Really?”

She blinked at him. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head. “Increasing production doesn’t necessarily mean giving up those high quality oils, those niche markets.”

He kept looking at her.

“Does it?” Her mouth turned down and her eyes narrowed.

“Well, you just said you have high production costs here, compared to Spain and Italy. That limits how much you can produce. Why not focus on the specialty markets then? Do what you can do well.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t believe we have to limit ourselves to that. I think with new planting methods and mechanical harvesting, we can do both.”

“Show me.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“Show me. Show me how you can do both.”

“Well, I…I…just know it.”

He almost laughed. “Not good enough, Tara,” he said softly. “If you want me with you when you try to convince Tyrone that high density planting is worth the investment, and let’s face it, it’s going to cost up front, you’ve got to convince me first. I need facts and figures and cost-benefits analysis. You’ve got to prove to me you can do both.”

She stared at him and the hint of deference in her amber eyes and soft mouth sent lust slicing through him, making him hard. Oh, man. This was bad.

Then her gaze hardened. “No.” Her brows drew together and she shook her head. “No! This is insane. I don’t have to prove anything to you. Who the hell do you think you are?”

He still just looked at her, using the power of his gaze. It always worked.

She jumped to her feet and stood there. He leaned back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head.

“I’m going to talk to Grandpa right now,” she muttered and stalked out of the office. He watched her go, her cheeks flushed a deeper hue of peach, her back stiff, long slender legs striding across the room.

Adrenaline sizzled through his veins. Holy fucking shit. She wasn’t going to give in without a major battle. He smiled. Anticipation tingled over every nerve ending. She had to be the most difficult woman to master he’d ever met. She was smart and strong and, Jesus Christ, she had him dangerously on the edge of losing control.

He could physically dominate her. He was bigger, stronger—he could restrain her and he could show her that. Too bad that wasn’t appropriate behavior for the office. No, here he had to rely on his wits—intellect, experience, instinct. He had to know her triggers…and he was definitely getting to.