It Starts With A Kiss – Jenna Bayley-Burke

Of all the islands in all the world, she’s come to his.
Under the Caribbean Sun, Book 2

Holly Hansen has sacrificed too much to let anything-“especially” a man-get in the way of making her clothing line a success. When she arrives on the island of Anguilla, she zeroes in on the biggest threat to her make-or-break photo shoot. At six-and-a-half foot of sculpted Dutch muscle, Harmannus Prinsen is every inch the womanizer of Caribbean legend, but he will “not” be seducing any of her models. She knows exactly how to make sure of it. Make the girls think he’s taken.

Harm is stunned when the curvaceous beauty greets him with a mind-numbing kiss. She’s the embodiment of every pin-up portrait he collected as a teen, with a sassy tongue and a body that begs for his touch. Sure, he’ll pretend to be her date…but only if they “really” date.

Despite her best efforts to remain immune to his charms, Holly finds herself falling for the man behind the myth. She begins to wonder which island she belongs on…Manhattan or Anguilla.

Warning: Contains an island bad boy with an orgasmic library, and a career-focused heroine who learns that being the focus of one man’s…attentions…isn’t so bad. Clothing optional.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

How to start a story. It always hangs me up. I know the characters I want to find a way to weave together, a few predicaments they’ll find themselves in, but it’s not until I know how it all begins that I can write forward.

 

With my latest, Caribbean Casanova, I had a daring woman and a beast of a man and a problem with how to introduce them to one another. These two were not going to get along, so a cute meet was only going to annoy them and they were prickly enough. When you can’t do sweet, you might as well go for sexy.

 

So she kisses him. Not in a hey-sexy-I-can’t-help-myself way, but in a I-have-a-few-tricks-up-my-sleeveless-dress way. And since he’s a man, sexy woman all over you short-circuits the defense mechanisms. Temporarily.

 

As a reader, I’m a sucker for a cute meet. Give me a fun first impression and I know our couple has a great story to tell the grandkids. In my print release this month, For Kicks, the heroine literally falls for the hero. Or on him. Whatever.

 

What are some of your favorite story openings? Whomever has one that entices me to buy a book wins a $5 Amazon (or other ebook retailer) gift card… I’m an easy mark. So go on…
 

Jenna Bayley-Burke :: blog | website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

Caribbean Casanova :: Samhain | Amazon | B&N | Kobo

 

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