Going Down Hard by Tawny Weber

I recently blogged on the Romance Bandits about the fun and infamy of the bridesmaids dress. You know the one, that costs-more-than-a-car-payment? The only wear once because, no, even if you alter it to cocktail length, it’s still a generic and often unflattering dress. So, really, one would think that being a bridesmaid meant the worst you walked away with was a questionable dress and a lighter wallet, right?

Except in GOING DOWN HARD, Sierra Donovan ended up with a lot more that, thanks to her best friend’s wedding. Or should I say, wedding that wasn’t. Sierra was willing to do anything for Belle... even wear bubble gum pink and flirt with the sexiest cowboy who’d ever made her crazy-aware of her own femininity. But when Belle’s wedding fell apart, Sierra stuck by her friend’s side, even though it meant turning her back on Reece Carter.

Then, six years later, Belle and her abandoned groom, Mitch Carter, reconnected, bringing the groom’s cowboy cousin back into Sierra’s life. This time, though, she’s smart enough to know that he’s the worst guy in the world for her. Well, almost the worst – given that she’s currently being stalked by some pervert via photo shopped pictures. When the stalking threatens not only Sierra’s life, but also her business, she finally gives in to Belle’s urging and agrees to let Reece step in as bodyguard. But she’s not sure which is worse... the threat to her life. Or the threat to her heart.

Tawny will be giving out a Goody bag filled with fun stuff to one lucky commenter who comments on her article or excerpt and leaves their email addy. (No Email Addy, No Entry!!!)


GOING DOWN HARD Except:

Reece Carter.

Long, lean and sexy.

Heat flashed in Sierra’s belly as she faced the only guy to scare the hell out of her.

Not only because he was the sexiest man on earth and made her want to strip him naked, then lick her way up his body. That she could deal with.

What scared her was that she was a savvy, strong and opinionated woman. But when she saw Reece, she instantly wanted to become sweet, timid and compliant.

So she spent all her time around him being a hard-ass bitch, just to prove she could.
Pathetic.

Her breath quickened as she took in the delicious width of his shoulders encased in a black tee-shirt. She wanted to trace her palm over the fabric where it curved lovingly over his big, muscled biceps. She wanted to press her cheek to the hard lines of his torso and run her fingers down the slim, denim covered hips. The man had a body like a swimmer, with the tightest ass she’d ever seen grace denim.
He made her mouth water.

He had ever since she’d seen him for the first time six years ago at Belle and Mitch’s first wedding rehearsal dinner and fell into instant lust. Then he’d opened his mouth and they’d fallen into instant verbal foreplay. Nobody could turn her on with a few words like Reece could. Unfortunately, nobody could make her lose control with just a few words like he could, either. Because it hadn’t taken more than a half-dozen exchanges for her to realize he was too much of a threat to her. To her independence, to her self-control. That hadn’t stopped her from getting hot and wild with him on the dance floor, though.

Pitiful that she’d been saved from the biggest mistake of her life by her friend dumping Mitch at the altar. She’d used loyalty as her reason to turn down all of Reece’s advances after that. Not that there’d been too many. A few weeks of phone calls, one or two in-person date requests. Then poof, he went away. Just like she’d wanted.

A shame, really. He was so delicious to look at. His white Stetson cast a shadow over wavy black hair, midnight-blue eyes and a chiseled jaw. All-masculine hotness.
Their gazes met. In his eyes she saw both desire and assessment. The unspoken message that he wanted her like hell, but he didn’t like it.

Sierra’s shoulders stiffened at the judgment. But that didn’t stop her body from going into instant lust mode. For one brief second she wished the picture of her face pasted on the woman using the sex swing could be real if Reece was the guy she’d been swinging with.

Then he opened his mouth and, as usual, ruined it all.

“I hear you’re doing a little modeling on the side,” he teased in his slow, easy drawl.

Telling herself it was fury and not embarrassment, Sierra swung around on the stool to glare at Belle. Unrepentant, her friend just shrugged and topped off her half-full margarita. “I thought we could ask Reece’s thoughts. You know, get a little advice. Maybe some help.”

“I don’t need help,” Sierra claimed, her teeth gritted together as she stretched her mouth into a fake smile.

“If you need the police, you need help,” Reece said easily.

“I didn’t need the police,” Sierra returned precisely. She hated that whenever she was around Reece she felt the need to argue. And win. The need to win was almost overwhelming. But their verbal sparring was like an addictive foreplay to her. Every time they went up against each other, she got turned on, insanely hot for him. No. Not smart. She needed to stay away from the arguing.

“If you wanted to do a sex pictorial you should have given me a call,” Reece said, patting her shoulder to let her know he was teasing before reaching across her to snag himself a chip and a scoop of guacamole. Sierra’s first reaction was to pull back so she couldn’t feel the heat of his arm across her shoulder. But she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. Even if the look in his eyes told her he knew.
“There is the one shot with a goat,” she returned, determined to hold her own. “It did remind me of you.”

“Horny?”

“Knock-kneed,” Sierra delivered with a wicked smile.