Can’t Help Falling in Love

Can’t Help Falling in Love…quotes that make me smile

/ Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

CHFiLI spent a lot of time this weekend pulling excerpts for blog posts (got some upcoming guest posts with giveaways…woo hoo! look for more info on that Wednesday) and I made this list of my favorites:

1. What Tony thinks of Randa:

He just didn’t need anything bringing the hotel’s newest guest to mind.

But it was too late. Randa Whitmore.

In the Marines, he’d spent a lot of time with sand in really uncomfortable places.

He had a feeling she’d be a lot like that. Irritating and impossible to ignore.

2. What Randa thinks of Tony:

“What kind of dog is she?” Randa asked as she stared into the dog’s eyes. She kissed the flat spot right between the green bows before straightening up.

Tony’s face had thawed slightly, she was happy to see. When their eyes locked, Randa had to remind herself to breathe slowly and evenly. She caught her breath when he looked back at the computer and said, “Bloodhound. And pampered princess.”

For a minute, she got the feeling he was talking about her with the last part, but his face was back to normal. Hard to read.

3. But then this happens:

Out of the Hawaiian shirt and khakis, Tony was perfectly imperfect. His olive skin was lightly tan. Black ink swirled up his left arm. This close she could make out the words “Semper Fi” and then what looked like names, all in a simple script. She wanted to touch his tattoo, to trace her fingers up his arm. She wanted to feel his skin. Black curls covered his pecs and trickled to a thin line down his abdomen to disappear into . . .

God, help me.

4. And then this happens:

Tony wanted to see her in a swimsuit. Badly. He wanted to burn the image of her in a bikini somewhere safe and sound that he could savor later to his heart’s content.

“Oh, right. You, on the swim team.” Tony watched her bright red lips tighten.

“I just don’t feel like swimming, that’s all.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“So you’re out here by the pool instead of . . . I don’t know, touring Graceland? Or doing your nails? Or bathing in unicorn blood to stave off wrinkles? You must have a long list of other things to do.”

Randa dismissed that idea with a wave. “Unicorn blood? Do you know how expensive that stuff is?”

Tony laughed. He couldn’t help it. It was rusty and harsh to his ears, but the feeling of letting go of some of the tension and fear that he might not ever laugh again, especially while sitting next to a beautiful woman, was so good.

5. And things get real…

Willodean stared at a small gold statue of Elvis for a minute before she shook her head. “Don’t think we’re the competition, Tony. They build those tall, boxy monstrosities with zero personality.” She smiled slyly. “My Rock’n’Rolla’s got plenty of personality.”

He chuckled. She was right. And she was cute as she said it too.

“Pretty girl?”

Tony glanced away and squinted at the light pouring in through the window. Finally he exhaled loud and long. “Prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

Willodean clasped her hands together. “Oh, thank you, Lord, for answering the prayers of a sinner like me.”

I could go on because I do love Tony, the bookworm ex-Marine. Here’s the book info:

The staff of Cheryl Harper’s Elvis-themed Rock’n’Rolla Hotel are back with a funny, fresh romance that goes undercover—under the covers! As a former Marine, hotel manager Tony Ortega has plenty of experience assessing threats, and the hotel’s newest guest, Randa Whitmore, is a code red. Tall, blonde, and with legs for miles, she may look like his every fantasy, but he knows she’s not really visiting for the famed Elvis Week. Though dangerously drawn to his new guest, Tony will do anything to protect his job . . . especially if it means sleeping with the enemy.  Business strategist Randa Whitmore never meant to be undercover in Memphis. In August. Sweating her expensive spa treatments away. But snagging another perfect hotel location for her father’s empire means using all the tricks in her designer arsenal. And even though the sexy, tattooed manager seems oblivious to her charms, Randa’s prepared to bring out the big guns—just so long as she can stay objective and out of Tony’s muscled arms. After all, it’s just business, right?

Can’t Help Falling in Love Excerpt: The Bookstore Kiss

/ Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

His face was determined as he leaned towards her, and she lost her breath because it looked like he was going to kiss her.

Then he did, his lips a warm shock against hers.

This kiss was a sweet hello. His lips settled on hers in an easy slide. When she gripped his shoulders and tried to pull him closer, he smiled against her lips and his tongue was a quick tease over her bottom lip before he rested his forehead against hers. Randa didn’t move. She was afraid to. He was going to step back, and she didn’t want him to. She wanted to stay right here with him. Finally he took a deep breath and leaned back just enough to look her in the eyes. “There’s this one other thing I’ve been dying to do.”

“Yes.” Randa nodded her head. She had no idea what it was, but she was ready.

Tony squeezed his eyes shut for just a second. The sound he made when he opened them again was somewhere between a laugh and a moan. Maybe it was both. Randa understood exactly what that felt like.

He pressed forward to kiss her again, his hand a hot support against the back of her head and his lips aggressively seductive. This time he coaxed her lips open and teased her tongue with his. Each tentative touch sent a shiver of awareness through her. She wanted to press her breasts against his chest, get closer, so much closer, but the seat belt pinned her down. Her breath was long gone when Tony ended the kiss, his breath coming in quiet pants as he stared into her eyes, but when his hand rested on her knee she tried to gasp. And when he touched her thigh, lightly rubbing his hand on bare skin, she lost her mind.

She actually bit her lip to keep from moaning like a porn star. Because a man touched her thigh. It was a little like she was back in high school but so much hotter.

Seduced in front of a bookstore. Did it get any better? More private, certainly. But better, no way. Tony’s eyes were hot as he stared down at her.

Randa squeezed the hand on her thigh and said, “Satisfied?”

The look in his eyes was predatory. Tony shook his head. “No way. Not even close.”

Randa licked her lips. “Good. Me either.”

Can’t Help Falling in Love Excerpt: Chapter 1

/ Cheryl Harper / Leave a comment

Randa stopped in front of the doors but they automatically swung open. The music notes on the doors were probably a nod to the gates of Graceland. They weren’t so bad. She decided to take a picture and think about it before she made a recommendation to replace them. But the air conditioning that wafted out was as beautiful and welcome as the smell of fresh-baked cookies. If she were a cartoon character, she would have floated in with her eyes closed in ecstasy.

Sam nodded as she waved and she stopped to absorb the lobby of the Rock’n’Rolla. It was green. Really, really green. And not like green paint or carpet. Green like the rainforest. Plants exploded along one wall of the lobby and she could hear the faint trickle of a waterfall. Heavy wood chairs were scattered around and the floors and walls were some kind of natural stone. What she could see of them. She could feel the cool stone through her shoes and she wanted to sigh with relief.

But she was distracted because right in the middle of the lobby floor was what appeared to be a dead dog. Well, not dead, but surely dead to the world. Every now and then the loose lips would twitch. Randa approached it carefully because while she loved dogs, she didn’t really have much practical experience. Dogs didn’t work with the all-white, all-designer, all-expensive Whitmore design aesthetic. Her mother had told her that often enough. Eventually, Randa had stopped asking.

Randa squatted and teetered on her four-inch heels for a minute before she reached out to pet the dog’s long, silky brown ears. Little green bows fluttered as the dog drowsily stretched and moved closer to her. She knew she was wearing a stupid grin, but the softness of his—no, her droopy ears—and the satisfied “hmph” she let out before she went back to sleep were reasons to smile. Randa didn’t care who saw it.

“Can I help you?”

Randa glanced up across the empty lobby to see a thug in another ugly Hawaiian shirt standing behind the front desk. Thug might be too harsh. He was tall, dark, and not handsome but . . . attractive in intensely focused kind of way that made her nervous. Randa froze as her eyes locked with his. Close-cut hair gave him a military look, but the dark ink that ran from his wrist to the sleeve on his left arm said he was dangerous. Or different. Or both, but he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt after all. Unless he was robbing the place, he was part of the staff.

She’d spent most of her life swimming in deep waters where the sharks were hard to see behind designer labels and expensive haircuts. This man was so different that he might have been a whole new species. One with really nice muscles, big hands, and enough controlled power to merit a second and third look. He watched her like he knew her, knew everything about her because he saw her. He didn’t give her the obvious leer that she’d seen and dismissed a million times. This guy, when he looked, saw more than most people. Randa had spent a lot of time blending in with the perfectly bland Whitmore woodwork. Being the subject of that much focus made her restless. She knew exactly how a fluffy bunny felt when it looked up to see a hungry mountain lion. Well, except the bunny would run away. She wasn’t sure which direction she’d run if he crooked his finger right this second. Away was definitely safer, but all of sudden she was tired of safe.