12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

Sometimes plans need to change. Yesterday I had a plan. I had a list. I knew the stores I wanted to shop in and the items I wanted to buy and then two things happened. My daughter woke up with the flu and the rain came. Under normal circumstances I could get my daughter set up for a few hours and leave. There were three other adults in the house too.
It was the rain that kept me home. Torrential downpours, winds whipping at 40-45 mph. It wasn’t worth going out. Besides, I didn’t want to wake up today, sick with the flu. So I stayed home. I finished decorating the house, put up lights on the railings. Our granddaughter loved the lights. She’s learning her colors and let’s just say red, green, yellow and blue are four words I’m tired of saying! LOL
Back to the daily grind and another work week.

Now on to the contest winner. Today was easier to choose a winner because everyone had the correct answer. So courtesy of random.org our winner is: Cindy Skaggs. Please send me an email to amberskyze @ aol.com so I can send you a copy of Heat Waves.

Today’s question and giveaway comes from my Ellora's Cave Dec '09 release Body Shots – What is the fake name Sierra gives Reed? It’s in the excerpt.

Blurb:
Got tequila? Sierra does, and Reed isn’t afraid to use it. He’s determined to do shots on every inch of her skin, but Sierra has insecurities preventing him from exploring intimate areas. Her insecurities won’t stop her from lavishing his body with the heady liquor though.

Ten years ago an accident tore Sierra Allen and Reed Walker apart. Now a chance encounter has them burning for each other. A bottle of liquor and a pool table has this duo ready to quench their thirsts with one night of body shots. But will one night be enough?

Excerpt:
Reed Walker leaned his massive frame against the wall. His leg bent, his boot-clad foot tapped against the wall to the rhythm of the bass drum. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, as his eyes gazed upon the singer crooning the soft rock ballad. She was gorgeous by every standard of the word. Long flowing black hair, dark mysterious eyes, her arms sleeved in tattoos. Dressed only in black leather pants and a matching leather bra, her rock-hard stomach revealed she worshiped the gym but Reed wasn’t here for the singer. She wasn’t his type any longer. Another time, another place maybe. Not tonight. Tonight, he was here for the owner of the bar.
Looking to make some extra cash doing something they loved, Reed and his fellow band mates decided to reunite after a ten year hiatus. Reed, having always been the businessman of the group, took on the task of going to different bars and clubs to see if they were interested in adding his band Foul Play to their lineup.
When he walked into Crimson Nights he thought he was walking into a dream. Never in his wildest imagination had he thought he’d come face to face with the only true love of his life—Sierra Allen.
The look on her face when he walked up to the bar and asked to speak to the owner was one of shock. Like seeing a ghost. And that’s how he felt. Oh, she’d cut off most of her long red hair but she couldn’t deny the scar on her right cheek. It had faded some over the years and she tried covering it with her hand most of the time they spoke but he knew it was her. She told him her name was Laura but Reed knew better. Those haunting green eyes couldn’t be mistaken.
He went along with her charade, though it killed him deep inside. She had run away from him after the car accident without so much as an explanation. The weeks he spent by her side, holding her while she cried over what she felt was a deformed face. The painful recovery from the shards of glass that cut her, when the windshield shattered. He stood by her side, loving her, wishing he could take away her pain. Wishing it was him who suffered instead of her, only to have her up and vanish when she was released from the hospital.
Now she was pretending she didn’t know him. It didn’t make sense. He’d let her go a long time ago but this time he wasn’t going to leave without finding out why. It was the least she could do. She owed him an explanation.
She shocked him when she agreed to let his band play. He fully expected a flat-out “no”. Why would she want his band playing there if she was hiding her identity? Was it a ploy to make him believe she was this Laura she pretended to be? Or was she feeling the connection too? If it was to prove her charade, she was sadly mistaken. Reed wasn’t stupid enough to be fooled by a haircut or name change.
Reed would wait until the night was done and the bar empty before he confronted her but he would and when he did, Sierra had some explaining to do.