Hello book lovers!

I hope everyone is doing well. I’m currently promoting my latest release, Only One for Me which is the 3^rd book in the Arrington Family Series. I’m also working on my first book for Harlequin Kimani Romance. I do have an official date for 2014, but I’ll announce it once I receive the book cover. As of now, I’m still writing/editing because it’s due in two months. I’ll be in the writing cave for the rest of the summer and then back in it once I receive the edits back from the editor. If you read The Game of Seduction, then you met Megan Chase who was one of the twins all of the groomsmen were drooling over at Shelbi’s wedding. Megan is an interior decorator in Atlanta, and I’m so excited her book has found a home with Kimani Romance. I actually wrote the book in 2006/2007 which was years before I even thought of the Arringtons.

Also, I’ve been blog hopping sharing excerpts of Only One for Me as well as a few interviews which you can check out below.

On June 12^th I was in the chat chair with author Nikki Walker. Find out when I knew I was a writer and what book and character inspired me. Candace Shaw Was in the Chat Chair

On June 24^th, I hung out with my “Scandal” buddy, author Olivia Linden in the Via Linden Lounge. Check out that interview to find out which songs inspired the book Only One for Me and what the heroine, Yasmine Dubose, and I have in common. Olivia Linden Interviews Candace Shaw

Also be sure to check out Nikki Walker and Olivia Linden’s books while you’re on their blogs. These ladies are fantastic authors!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer. Below is a never-shared before steamy excerpt from Only One for Me. Read it when the kiddies aren’t around!

CS

Dr. Cannon Arrington’s mission is to help people in need. But when his ex fiancée re enters his life after twelve years, he has a new mission. Never let her get away again.

Yasmine Dubose never stopped loving Cannon. Instead, she learned to live without him, guarding her heart in the process. However, when they are brought together to plan a wedding for their best friends, Yasmine is faced with the challenge of following her heart this time around or risk losing the only man she’s ever loved.

*****

Note to reader:  Only One for Me is the third book in the Arrington Family Series. If you have not read the free, short prequel Simply Amazing (Cannon’s and Yasmine’s back story) it is in the back of this book after the About the Author page if you would prefer to read it first. It takes place fourteen years before the book.

Background information: Cannon and Yasmine are sitting at his kitchen table making wedding favors for Doug and Sherika’s wedding and discussing their dating lives during the past 12 years.

Excerpt

 “So since you were being Dr. Nosey, what about the women you’ve dated since me?” She slid back into her chair, sipped her drink, and then downed it.

A slow grin crossed his face. “I was wondering when you were going to ask me.”

Leaning back, she closed her eyes for a second and breathed in deep. “Go ahead.”

“Well, let’s see. I met a nurse during my residency. We just hung out, you know. Then there was this other girl. She was cool. We dated until I moved back to Memphis.”

“What happened?”

“She didn’t want a long distance relationship. About a few years ago, I was in a serious relationship. She kept pressuring me into marrying her, showing me rings and talking about how many children we would have. Shelbi thinks my ex was trying to get pregnant because she kept forgetting to take her pill on time or not at all.”

“Why didn’t you marry her?”

“She wasn’t you.”

*****

Yasmine breathed out a sigh of relief at his answer. Over the years, she’d always wondered about his dating life. Was he in love? Was he married? And when she found out he wasn’t married—why wasn’t he married? She secretly wanted to believe that she was the reason. That he still loved her. That he couldn’t possibly marry another woman because like her, his heart was somewhere else.

“Come here,” she whispered in a sexy voice.

A sly smile crossed his face as he pulled her out of the chair and into his arms.

Cannon’s mouth hurriedly, seductively imprisoned hers. His arms squeezed around her, drawing her against his hard frame. She happily welcomed the feel of his exploring tongue on her lips as he delved in even more. Wave after wave of pure bliss charged through her body, awakening the long-buried passion she had for him. Her mind and soul sank deeper into the kiss, and she thought she would fall into an unconscious abyss from the force. Her fingers clutched his shoulders for support, and her heart was ready to explode out of her chest with an abnormally fast pounding.

He clamped one hand in her hair, coaxing her further into him. Her mouth willingly opened even more to allow both of them better access. Their tongues and hearts danced with each other, heightening to a level of intensity that she’d never experienced before, including with him, for she’d never needed him as she needed him now. She’d missed him, and she wanted him to know just how much.

She pushed him toward the couch in the keeping room. He lifted his mouth briefly from their kiss and a half grin inched up his jaw.

“Are you in control, Yaz?” he breathed against her lips.

“Shhh, be quiet.” She shoved him back on the couch and straddled him, claiming his lips once more before he said anything else.

But he stopped their kiss and lowered his gaze to the open part of her blouse. His finger traveled down her face to her neck. Yasmine fought to push down the shudder that tore through her as his eyes held hers in a knowing, sensual connection. Cannon’s fingers explored her neck, circling around to the spot. His spot. Yes! She’d longed for his touch there, and her pulse sped up as he caressed it while his gaze stayed on her in a serious expression. He unbuttoned her blouse, placing kisses down her skin as he unfastened each button. He eased the blouse off her, which she happily threw across the kitchen.

Her breathing became unsteady as he lowered his lips to her exposed collarbone and journeyed a scorching path in between her breasts. His fingers still massaged the back of her neck, inching up into her hair, causing her to finally exhale after having been without him for so long. He unhooked the front snap on her bra to expose her breasts. Her eyes fluttered shut as she absorbed the heat of Cannon’s mouth on her skin. She’d dreamed of remembering to know once again what it was like to be intimate with the only man she truly loved. Cannon had been the one to make her feel alive. Exquisite. Loved. Beautiful. Yasmine knew she said she wanted to take it slow with him this time around, but the aching she had for him, she could no longer control herself in his presence. The way his skilled tongue explored her breasts teasing, sucking, nibbling on her pebbled nipples, sent trembling sensations from her head all the way down to her pink toenails. She must’ve been insane if she thought she was actually going to wait three months to make love to him. Hell, she’d waited twelve years. That was definitely torture long enough.

“You’re so damn beautiful, Angel face,” he said in a rough, sexy voice that sent heat to escalate through her veins. “I’m going to show you just how much I’ve missed you for the rest of the night. Maybe some of tomorrow morning as well.”

He claimed her lips once more in a raging, commanding kiss, taking the breath of out her lungs. She lifted his sweater over his head and tossed it on the floor with her blouse. The scent of him mixed with his soap from his recent shower, whiffed into her nose, and she wanted him to take her right now on the couch. She pressed herself against his rock bare chest, feeling the intensity of his heartbeat against her body, and kissed his lips with the pent up urgency that had been buried in her for so long. His hands clenched her butt cheeks as he lifted her off of the couch and flipped her onto her back, his lips never leaving hers. He laid on top of her, moving his hands over her body and down to the belt of her jeans. His lips broke off from hers, which caused a pleading moan to escape from her lips. However, when his tongue glided down her neck, she was thankful that his lips were still on her.

With her belt out of the way, he unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, pulling them down with one hand as he moved his lips and other hand down to her breasts. His heated gaze raked over her naked body, and she knew that intense familiar stare. There wouldn’t be much foreplay. He wanted her right then.

Copyright by Candace Shaw, June 2013

Don’t you just hate when I cut it off right when it’s getting to the really good part? To read the rest, the buy links are below.

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