SETUP OF THE SCENE:  Christy and her friends are playing a game in the hotel’s game room when two hot guys enter the room and start playing Foosball. Summer, a popular cheerleader, spots them and goes to investigate.

EXCERPT:

“She returned to the group with the two guys trailing her, without going to the bathroom, of course.

“These guys are from New York,” she said. “This is Jeremy and he’s Nathan. Is it okay if they play too?”

What could we say? After a few moments, “Sure” came from a few mouths and “Whatever” came from a few others. Josh didn’t say a word, he just looked at the floor.

“Who has the most things left?” Summer asked, not skipping a beat. Her huge, brilliant smile blinding me.

Everyone looked at me, hello, so I counted my pieces of paper. “Eight,” I said, my face hot with renewed embarrassment.

“Eight? Man, Christy, you really haven’t ever done anything,” Alex said. “No wonder you wanted to come here.” He chuckled along with Josh and Summer. I even saw a smile break on Kira’s lips.

Alex. I wanted to cry. There was no doubt what he thought about me now. Stupidly, I looked up at him. He looked back at me. Even though I knew someone like him would never be interested in me, it hurt to have the slight glimmer of hope I’d had, dashed.

“Get eight things,” Summer told the new guys.

The game didn’t last much longer. I won, of course, my humiliation underscored.

The new guys were interesting, even Josh ended up playing nice. They talked sports with him and he jumped on board. It was getting late; Eugene and Marybeth headed up to their rooms. Despite how tired I felt, I knew what awaited me when I closed my eyes: a sword, a bloody head, and people chasing me, so I was in no hurry. I sat and listened to the others talk until I didn’t hear anymore.

When I opened my eyes, I was thrashing side to side trying to get out from someone’s grip when I realized who it was. Jeremy, one of the foosball guys, stood over me, his light brown hair catching the light as he held my arms.

“Wake-up!” he said. “Wake-up! It isn’t real. It’s a dream.” His voice gradually grew softer the more alert I became. I noticed that Rick, Kira, and Alex were standing right behind him. They all looked really concerned. No one laughed.

“What? What?” I said. “Was I dreaming?”

“Dreaming? No. You were having a wicked nightmare,” Jeremy said. “Do you remember it?”

“Not really,” I hedged. “Guess I better go to bed.” I didn’t really want to go, or answer any more questions, and was terrified of closing my eyes again.

“I’ll go with you,” Kira said.

“No, no, you stay here. I’ll be all right. Marybeth’s already there, isn’t she? You stay, I’ll be fine.” I really did want her to come with me, but I didn’t want to look wimpy either. But, what if someone was waiting for me to be alone to snatch me away?

“Okay,” she said.

I wished she’d insisted, but fresh, hot college meat had joined the group, and she really wanted to stay and get more of their attention.

I headed for the door, passing Summer and Josh playing foosball, only to find Jeremy on my heels.

“Hey, wait up,” he said. “I’m not letting you go alone after a nightmare like that. You must be scared to death.”

There was something about the way he talked to me that made me feel like he was a lot older than we were. It made me wary, but at the same time, I sensed he wanted to help me. He was very good looking and seemed nice, so I looked past him to the others, who were deep in conversation again, and slipped through the door he held open for me.

“Hey, do you mind if I grab a Coke?” Jeremy pointed at the door that led to the vending machines.

“No,” I said. “Go ahead.”

I waited in the hall until he came out, waving a dollar bill. “I hate these machines, they never take my money. You don’t happen to have a buck on you to trade for this one?”

I almost never had money on me. “No, Sorry. Here, let me try.”

He handed me his beat up dollar, and I stepped into the vending room. No matter what I tried, it wouldn’t take his dollar. I turned around, only to find the door was shut and Jeremy was blocking it.

“No luck,” I said. “Sorry.” I tried not to think about the shut door and small space we were in.

“Just a sec,” he said. He reached into his pocket. Maybe he had another dollar bill. Not even close. He pulled out a black Ipod looking thing and with the push of a button, the room filled with music.

I backed up as far as I could into the soda machines. I was getting creeped out. Music? He leaned in toward me, and I jerked away, slamming the back of my head hard into one of the soda machines. Did he want to make out in here? There was no way my virgin lips were landing on his. He grabbed my arms quickly, and whispered into my ear. I don’t know what he said, because I started to scream. His hand flew up to cover my mouth. His other arm surrounded me, trapping me against the machine, and he whispered, “Don’t scream. I’m FBI. I’m here to protect you, not hurt you.”

FBI?

He whispered, “It’s okay. Just relax.”

Here is a fun fact about J.D. in her own words:   I spent 7 years actively racing catamarans off of the same beaches in this series. Though the other racers were out to beat me, no one ever tried to kill me…at least not so I noticed.

Sounds like fun, and definitely fits you into the “write what you know” category of smart authors. Now, on to the story.

Setup of scene:  Cassie is a brilliant geek who has graduated with a Master’s degree in Biology, and she has a teaching job in the fall at the local high school. Her older sister, a nurse, has attracted a stalker and moved in with her at South Padre Island, so they are new to the island. She has taken a summer job to help with finances until school starts. Cassie believes that her extreme braininess make her less attractive to the opposite sex.

EXCERPT

Cassie tied on her cross-trainers and sprinted down the stairs. She set out jogging in the sand.

Inhaling the fresh ocean air was exhilarating. She pulled the scrunchy out of her hair, letting it cascade around her shoulders, the tendrils lifting in the offshore breeze. She should be able to get in a couple of miles today and work up to something more challenging.

Her gait was easy, and her breathing unstrained. The soft white sand was resilient and packed closer to the water. Gulls circled over the shrimp boats as they chugged back and forth across the bay

As she jogged, she saw a distant vehicle, a red truck with oversized tires pulled up to the dunes and a lone figure standing in the surf. Not standing, he was casting a giant rod out into the frothing waves.

Cassie ran toward him, not intending to acknowledge him, but aware that this part of the beach was isolated and she hadn’t seen another human since she’d begun her run.

Not to worry. Nobody’s stalking me.

But then again, why borrow trouble? She would run by this guy and maybe he’d be gone by the time she made the return trip.

She drew nearer, watching him cast, his broad, powerful shoulders lunging into the effort of hurling the line out into the water. As his muscular arms arced overhead, his lats formed a perfect vee down to his butt.

Cassie experienced a thrill of pure pleasure. Dang! That’s hot!

His skin was browned and his dark hair had been trimmed close to his scalp.

Cassie jogged by, trying not to gawk, but the man didn’t notice, so intent was he upon his task. She felt a tiny bit disappointed that he didn’t pay any attention to her passing by.

She lifted her chin and continued on her way. Not the first hot guy to ignore me. Probably won’t be the last.

She jogged for a while, until she began to feel the first symptoms of fatigue and then turned back the way she had come. She had slowed down to a walk by the time she saw the fisherman again.

He had caught a six-foot sand shark and dragged it onto the beach. He looked up and grinned as she approached. “How was your run?” Dark eyes checked her out as she neared.

“Great!” She stopped short. He did notice me. A flush of pleasure washed through her. She returned his grin. “Odontaspididae”

“Excuse me?” He looked up, frowning at her now.

“That’s the kind of shark you caught.” Don’t blow it, Cass. Don’t flex your brains in front of Mister Hotness. She ducked her head and then tossed her hair as she glanced back up at him. “I must have read that somewhere.”

He smiled again. “All I know is they taste great on the grill.”

“Really?” She opened her eyes wide and gave him a flirtatious grin. She leaned over from the waist and pretended to examine the shark closer.

“Careful,” he said. “It can still bite.”

She stepped back. “Those things are out in the water?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but don’t worry. You don’t taste that good.”

She shot him a glance. “How do you know?”

He looked back at her, flashing his wide, white-toothed grin. “To a shark. Humans don’t taste that good to them.”

“Oh, I thought you were making a personal remark about me.” She had to fight to suppress the giggle struggling to erupt from her throat when she saw his face. He can’t feel intimidated now. Must think I’m dumb as a box of rocks.

He shook his head, dimples flashing. “Vacationing?”

“Just moved here.”

He turned sharply. “Really? With your parents?”

“No, why do you ask?”

The dark eyes roamed over her again. “You look very young to be out on your own.”

She sniffed. “Well, looks can be deceiving.”

The dimples quirked again. “Just how old are you?”

The voice screaming in her head shouted, ‘none of your darned business’, but the youngest Danforth daughter replied politely and truthfully, “I’m twenty.”

He grinned. “So old?”

“Bite me!” She turned and began her run again, kicking her legs out like she had done when she was in high school track.

“Hey! Slow down!”

Surprised, she slowed to a stop. Mister Hotness had chased after her. She glared up at him, her lower jaw jutting out.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by that. Don’t get mad at me.” He reached out and put his hand on her arm.

Her eyes followed his muscular hand as he gave her arm a squeeze. “Watch the hand,” she enunciated carefully. “I have black belts in karate and tai kwan do. I can kick your ass all over this beach.”

“Really?” He chuckled softly. “Let me start all over again. My name is Javier Rios. My friends call me Javi.” He held out his hand to her.

She eyed it suspiciously, then put her hand in his. “I’m Cassidy Danforth.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said. “You’re just…young to be so old.” He held her hand between both of his.

She drew a deep breath and let it out all in a huff. “That’s a perfect description of me.”

“Again, I apologize for insulting you. I didn’t mean it that way.” Javier’s eyes searched hers.

“Apology accepted. I have to get ready for work now.”

He ignored the slight tug of her hand, holding her a little longer. “Where do you work, Cassidy?”

“The Net. This is my first day.”

“Waitressing?”

“Delivering. I’ve really got to go.”

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers, never taking his eyes off hers. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Cassidy Danforth.”

A herd of butterflies swirled up from her stomach. She grinned, in spite of her efforts to appear cool.

Slipping her fingers from his grasp, she turned and ran back toward their home. When she glanced back, he was still watching her.

END OF EXCERPT 

Both of these characters seem to be strong and smart, a great start to any sizzling romance, not to mention the sandy dunes and awesome lats.

Check out these links where you can find Bad Karma and J.D. Faver.

To buy Bad Karma: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0081SGPZW

Website: http://www.jdfaver.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JDFaver

Twitter Handle: @JDFaver_Author

Amaon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/J.D.-Faver/e/B0050KEWMM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Thanks so much for sharing the beginning of your couple’s romance with us, J.D. Faver. I know you’ll join me in welcoming any questions or comments. Visitors, remember to jog this direction every First Sight Saturday for a new first meeting excerpt from a new guest author.

A fun fact about J.J.:  I was married at Graceland — in the private chapel on the Elvis Presley estate.

I have to admit that is the first time anyone has had that fun fact.  LOL

So, on to the first meeting!

EXCERPT

SETUP OF THE SCENE: Celise’s best friend’s boyfriend is dead, and she does not heed Cullen’s warning, slipped to her in a note as he’s being arrested for the murder. Instead she’s been snooping in his apartment which he apparently doesn’t appreciate.

EXCERPT

iBooks – http://bit.ly/17Asczv
Barnes & Noble – http://bit.ly/1abP1LC
Liquid Silver Books (publisher – all formats) – http://bit.ly/172SszA

Blog: http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

Alison and I welcome any comments or questions you might have. Please visit every Saturday for a fresh new first meeting!

SETUP OF THE BOOK:
An idyllic Caribbean vacation turns deadly when hostages are taken at one of Mexico’s most popular Mayan ruins. The kidnappers believe the abduction will be a simple way to negotiate the release of a colleague from a Texas prison, but the stakes become much higher when they realize one of their hostages is the daughter of a powerful U.S. Senator and another, an ex-Army Ranger who has no intention of playing by the rules. After a daring escape the Senator’s daughter, Jessica, and the ex-Ranger, Jack, must endure a terrifying manhunt and a desperate fight for survival. While trying to stay alive in the unforgiving jungle they forge a bond that will last a lifetime and find love neither wanted, but were unable to avoid.

EXCERPT:

The Escort  by Gina Robinson True love runs deep.

 Introducing the Book Lovers’ Buffet. Load up, you won’t gain a pound!