✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ Christmas at the Lake by Charlotte Blake {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

Christmas at the Lake by Charlotte Blake

Release Date: September 12th 2017

Series: Great Escapes #2

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Sometimes love gets forgotten …

Hugely successful Lexi Stuart is used to guys pursuing her, but for all the wrong reasons. Sure, she’s beautiful and rich, but the men in her life never seem to want anything more serious than just sex. It’s a stark reality she’s become used to.

As a code writer in Silicon Vally, Adam Hunt doesn’t have to worry about money. And as a heartthrob in general, he doesn’t need to worry about attracting women, either. But when he meets Lexi during a Christmas holiday in Lake Tahoe, he’s floored that she won’t give him the time of day after one wild night together.

Now, this sports bum is about to take Lexi on the ride of her life. All she needs to do is hang on!

18+ NOTE: This STAND-ALONE romance contains very steamy love scenes. All of the books in the Great Escapes series can be read in any order. 

Purchase: Amazon

{EXCERPT}

Sweeping views of the lake and the surrounding land were better than all of the other views she’d seen put together. Several chairs were situated by the windows with small drink tables between each pair. Two pool tables dominated the inner space, but that wasn’t all. There were three dart boards, and, she was delighted to see, two machines of skee ball.

“Oh, I love skee ball!” Lexi said, walking up to to one of the games. “How do I get the balls to come down?”

“Over here at the bar is a basket full of coins you can use to release them.”

She immediately went to the basket and grabbed a handful.

“I’ve never been very good at it,” she said, putting one of the coins into the slot.

Six wooden balls descended into the holder, and she was immediately distracted from both the tour and Adam. She took her first shot, ten points. Her second, ten points.

“I told you,” she said.

But on her next one, it went so far awry of her intended direction it landed in one of the fifty point cups.

“Ha! Look at that!” She smiled triumphantly.

Adam clapped appreciatively.

“I think we’ve seen all we need to for now, Mary. The lady seems to have found her activity for the morning.”

Mary laughed. “Well, if you two need anything else, don’t hesitate to come down to the office. There’s a fully stocked bar over there in the corner. Help yourselves.”

“Thank you for the tour, Mary. This place is wonderful.” Lexi still had her eyes on the machine.

“You’re quite welcome. I’ll leave you to it.”

Adam walked up next to Lexi, swiping one of the coins she had placed on the edge of the machine.

“Now this I’m good at.” He aimed his ball expertly and immediately sunk one into the fifty point cup.

Lexi was not deterred. She didn’t care about winning this game. It was simply fun for her. She made a mental note to have one of the machines installed in her apartment when she got back home.

“So,” Adam said, finishing up his game. “I think our minds were supposed to be on pool.”

“I know. Just a few more balls.” She was in heaven, completely distracted from everything else she’d had on her mind.

Adam walked over to set up the pool balls. “Just a few.”

But she didn’t stop. Finally he walked up behind her and whispered in her ear.

“You said you’d play me at pool, remember?”

The feeling of his lips brushing against her ear made her breath catch. She leaned down, bowling the last ball, then she turned. They stared at each other for a few moments. Then he moved in for a kiss.

It was forward of him, a risk.

But his lips were soft, delicate. He put one hand on the small of her back and drew her body toward him. The feeling of his body up against hers made her giddy. Usually, the men she was with stripped her down right away, not caring about the tease.

But this Adam … he knew how to do things. She was suddenly thrilled, filled with anticipation.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“For what, exactly?” she purred.

“For pool.” His words were quiet, suggestive.

“Are you sure that’s all you want to do?”

“For now.” He separated himself from her, walked over to the pool table, and grabbed her a cue and a piece of blue chalk.

She slumped as he walked away.

Whoa.

She couldn’t remember feeling the way she did now. She wanted him to take her upstairs, that was for sure. But her finely honed veneer was starting to crack a little. She was so used to being in charge. But he seemed to be leading this little game of theirs.

Just once, she reminded herself. Maybe twice.

Or maybe the whole trip.

Her family didn’t need to know, though she imagined they might figure it out. Her older brother, Andrew, and his wife, Amanda, had been hounding her for years about her need to find someone to settle down with. But why? So she could pop out a couple of kids? That wasn’t a life she wanted. Her work was too intense, too busy to be able to raise a child. Maybe when she was older, when there was no time left and she had made her fortune large enough to really sustain her for the rest of her life, then she could look for a man to hang onto and have children with. Or not; she could just do it on her own.

It was how she’d done everything since her mother had left her all that money. She was guarded, and trusted few. And that was fine with her. Her mother had been the same way, only with a dash of never-good-enough to hold over Lexi’s head.

It made it hard to leave work, even for the holidays. Even though her mother had passed years ago, she still felt the same pressure to perform. The same pressure to be the best at everything. No room for error. It was an expectation that both helped her rise and held her down. There was no winning. Not even now.

“I’ll let you break,” he said, wrenching her out of her thoughts. “Since you’re so terrible at this game, I feel it’ll be more fair to let you have the first shot.”

She smirked and walked over, taking the cue he’d offered and hanging it back up on the wall. She chose a shorter one more suited to her and rubbed some of the chalk onto the tip.

“You set the balls up wrong.” She leaned over the table, getting ready to take the first shot.

“I thought I just needed to keep the white one out.”

“That’ll be fine. I’ll beat you either way.”

But it didn’t work out that way. She was definitely talented at pool, but he was a perfect match to her skills. At the end of the first game, only three balls remained, two of hers and the eight ball. It was his turn and he sunk it without any trouble at all.

“You know, I’m starting to feel like maybe we should be making bets,” he said.

“No, I’m not betting you anything, you filthy liar.” She was laughing, but part of her was angry with herself for having given up the game so easily. “Best out of three.”

“You’re on. But not before a little taste.”

He walked up to her, leaning her gently against the table, and unloaded one of those kisses again. She tried hard not to gasp this time, but she couldn’t help it. She was tempted to toss the cue away and head upstairs. Her body was getting warmer and warmer every time he touched her. And in a way she wasn’t used to.

But there would be time for that later. It was only ten in the morning, and the snow was still coming down outside. She’d have at least two nights alone at the lodge with him. Hopefully.

So she picked up her cue and started searching through the pockets for the sunken balls, rolling them onto the table.

“Let me show you the right way to set the balls,” she said.

“I know the right way. I was just playing you. Are you sure you want to play again?” He walked up behind her and put his hands on her waist.

Oh, boy.

She turned.

“We have all day for that,” she insisted as his mouth traveled to her earlobe, giving it a little bite. “Now hands off so I can show you how this is really done.”

But she had barely cracked the balls when he was on her again. It was getting harder and harder for her to resist him. She felt sure that she’d be up in his bedroom by noon.

AUTHOR BIO:

I am happy to call the San Francisco Bay Area home, where I lives with my husband, two kids, one dog and three cats. I started writing at an early age, but have only been writing novels for the past five years. I love the idea of love conquering all, and that is what drove me to begin the Great Escapes series, where the reader follows couples meeting up in exotic locations around the world. In this series, each book is a stand-alone, and each can be read in any order.

But readers, be forewarned, there is a healthy amount of steam in these books!

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy Great Escapes!

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