New Release: STAKED by Sandra Edwards

Book Blurb:
Ava Valentine is a time-traveling bounty hunter from the distant future. She's chased her fugitive back to present-day New York City, where she hopes her new contact will lead her to an uneventful capture. What she's not expecting is to get mixed up with a man she suspects is a vampire.

Dexter Stone is a mysterious soldier of fortune. He holds an allegiance to few, and has a reputation for selling out anyone if the price is right. His word is good though, and once he chooses a side, it'll take more than monetary gain to sway him to the other.

A run-in with an unsavory person from Ava's past forces the pair into an uneasy alliance. And soon, Ava will discover that she could be Stone's saving grace-or his downfall. 

Buy Links:

US Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052MSYRW
UK Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0052MSYRW
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Staked/Sandra-Edwards/e/2940012611826
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61863

Book Excerpt:

The door creaked open and the hairs at the nape of her neck rose amid goose bumps. Some strange magic was at work.

Lucien? No. Not Lucien, but somebody equally as dangerous. Could Ava’s contact be a vampire? 

Uh oh.  

She fought the urge to look at the figure claiming a seat at the bar, leaving an empty stool between them. An overwhelming scent trickled over her and drew her in with the ease of a fishing lure. Definitely male, and possibly vamp. 

The desire to look at him needled at her, but it wasn’t a good idea even though she wanted to in the worst way. Was he a vampire, or wasn’t he?

Ava didn’t like messing with vamps. Still, he had another thing coming if he thought she’d give up her bounty.

She glanced in the mirror behind the bar and wrestled with the urge to preen her hair. The chestnut color looked browner than usual and she prayed it didn't look as drab as her reflection portrayed in the subdued lighting.  

Pathetic. Either Ava was pitiful or this guy was a vampire with superpowers. She hadn’t even looked at him but he’d already wielded an intoxicating influence over her.  

His image in the mirror resided just outside her peripheral vision—whoever said vamps don’t have reflections was probably a vampire poking fun at some Mortal.

Ava tried to look at him in the mirror in an offhanded way. His dark eyes caught and tangled her in a mixture of turmoil and curiosity, even though he wasn’t looking at her. A wave of lust washed over her, followed by a powerful need to move to the empty stool separating them. She wanted this guy. She wanted him in the worst way. This desire she was feeling was stronger than anything she’d ever experienced—even the attraction she used to feel for Lucien.

Damn it. She was a goner. 

The magnetic stranger was talking to the guy sitting on the other side of him, and paying no attention to Ava whatsoever. She lowered her head and inched it to the left until she had a good view of—his boots. 

Typical footwear of twentieth century bikers. It was hard to say if it was his normal attire or a trite disguise. Seasoned Levi’s clothed his long, lanky legs and dragged her attention up to his athletic torso covered by a black, skintight T-shirt. Bronzed muscular arms rested against the bar. Long, slender fingers loosely encircled the beer bottle Phil had placed in front of him. Ebony-black hair had been tied into a pony-tail and hung down his back nearly to his waist. Several inches longer than her own, Ava marveled at the perseverance it took to grow it to such lengths. His face, chiseled and clean-shaven, was as bronze as his compelling arms that were capable of....

Geez, he was good to look at. And most definitely a vamp. Who else could bewitch her like this? Hell, he hadn’t even looked at her yet and she was already under his spell.

Finally, he turned toward her. Self-preservation urged Ava to look away before their eyes met, but she couldn't. His deep coffee-brown eyes latched onto her gaze and held it with some infinite, indefinable power.

She’d been hoping against hope that her talent for reading emotions would confirm or deny her suspicions. Was he or wasn’t he? He could hide among the shadows of the night and cast as many spells over her as he could conjure, but his vampire attributes would still be there, camouflaged.

****

Author Bio:

Sandra is  an award-winning author with eclectic tastes. She writes in a variety of genres such as paranormal (mostly time travel and reincarnation), contemporary, and suspense. Her books often push the  envelope and step outside the boundaries of conventional romance. She lives in the U.S. (west coast) with her husband, two kids, four dogs and one very temperamental feline.