Today I am excited to share an excerpt from REPRISE by Lisa Swallow. This is a contemporary romance title and the third book in the series Ruby Riot! The book will be released April 27th and it is available for pre-order now, exclusively through Amazon. Be sure to check out the previous books in the series and grab them while they are on sale!
RILEY
Short of time, I devour the chocolate cake, happy the coffee is half-decent. A text arrives, asking why I’m late, and I wipe my fingers before answering.
Each minute that passes, I’m putting off the inevitable.
And as I head towards the lobby, the inevitable appears.
I didn’t mean to but, unprepared, I stop in my tracks. Nate Campbell strides across the tiled floor in my direction. Dressed in dark denim and Converse, greying T-shirt stretched across his chest, he hasn’t changed. The twins are different these days; bass player Will wears his hair longer so there’s no doubt this twin with short, spiked hair is Nate.
I’m convinced Nate’s about to blank me and walk past but he stops too. His green eyes fix on mine with disinterest. I’m wrong; he has changed. His eyes are creased by tiredness, his skin paler, but this doesn’t detract from the deceptive attractiveness of his perfect features. I cannot believe I kissed that mouth; allowed those hands on my body. But there’s nothing attractive behind his lucky genetics, unless Nate’s changed on the inside too. From what I’ve heard, he hasn’t.
“Riley,” he says in greeting.
“Hello, Nate.”
“I heard you were coming. How long you staying?”
“A couple of days.”
“Not long, then.”
“Too long.”
Nate stares at my mouth, then flicks his gaze back to my eyes. His mouth tips at one corner and I hold my breath. It may be two years since, but I’ve seen that look on Nate’s face before. Amusement.
“You haven’t changed,” he says.
“Neither have you, much.”
“Yeah?”
I wave a hand at him. “You look the same.”
“That isn’t what I meant. Your attitude.” Nate crosses his arms. “But yeah, you’re skinnier and your hair’s blonder. I preferred it brown.”
I bristle at the fact he checked me out. “Your attitude remains the same too, then.”
I swore I’d avoid this, but already the animosity slips in.
“Still get your knickers in a twist over everything?”
“What?”
“Just a question. I heard you lost your shit with Melissa a couple of hours ago.” He smirks. “Smiley Riley’s back in town.”
“Jesus, Nate. Two minutes and you’ve already started this. Don’t you think we should forget what happened and be professional?”
Two years.
Two years to say the words that needed saying back then. How we should’ve left things. Professional.
“About what happened? You still dwelling on that?” Nate shakes his head. “Ancient history, Riley.”
“Okay.” I put my phone in my bag. “Call this the line in the sand. I’ll ignore what happened in the past if you do. A couple of days here and I’m gone, and we don’t have to see each other again. We can be civil for that long.”
Nate rubs his index finger along his lips, staring at my mouth again. “How about we just keep out of each other’s way?”
“Sounds like a great idea.”
“If you can, of course.”
I laugh, a short derisive sound. “Seriously?”
Nate steps closer and that tiny change in proximity floods back the frustrating physical effect the man I hate has on me. I tuck my hands beneath my arms, goose bumps rising along my neck. Has the absence made this worse? Sometimes I have stupid dreams about Nate that involve far too much intimacy and wake up disgusted with myself. Why the hell can’t I control my subconscious?
Nate raises a hand to my face and I’m too stunned to react before he touches the corner of my mouth. “Riley,” he whispers, moving his face closer to mine. “There’s something you need to know.”
I blink as the sensation of his fingertip sends a tiny shock across my mouth and I part my lips. “What?”
Instead of darkened eyes to match my thumping heart, the amusement remains on his face. Nate holds his index finger up. “You have chocolate around your mouth.”
I step back and narrow my eyes at him.
He grins and wipes his hand on his jeans. “Gotcha.”
“Asshole!”
“You’re not over me, are you?”
Before I get a chance to tell Nate exactly what I think of him, he moves past me. “Two years, Riley!” Nate calls as he walks away. “Get a grip!”
I glance around, relieved nobody saw our encounter, then rush to the nearest ladies’ room. Fury is replaced by horror. Chocolate is smeared around the edges of my mouth, in a way any five-year-old would be proud of. My professional image ruined by a slice of bloody cake. With shaking hands, I wipe the mess away with a paper towel.
Damn you, Nate Campbell.
Reprise
Ruby Riot #3
Lisa Swallow
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publication Date: April 27, 2016
Drummer Nate Campbell is a ‘Ruby Riot twin’ – and that’s all he wants anybody to know. The only person allowed close is his brother, Will, and even that’s not working out these days. For Nate, girls are a dispensable distraction and the rock star life suits his needs. Nobody will expect him to hand his heart over if he pretends he doesn’t have a one.
Falling for Nate Campbell was the second biggest mistake of Riley Sawyer’s life. Working as a junior PR girl on the Blue Phoenix European and Ruby Riot tour, she earned a reputation as unapproachable and unable to switch off from work. With a side to her life Riley keeps hidden, she was happy to maintain her distance. But after an encounter with Nate, and several difficult weeks, Riley left the circuit and vowed never to tour with bands again.
Two years later Riley achieves her ambition and is a PR manager and Ruby Riot are headlining stadiums. She meets Nate again for the first time in two years and nothing has changed. The animosity stands and so does the attraction. Neither sees this as a problem because they can avoid each other for the two days until Riley leaves.
What they don’t count on is that Nate’s bloody-mindedness and an unfortunate set of circumstances leads to the pair snowed-in at a pub on the Yorkshire Moors for several days. Forced to spend time together, Riley and Nate are pushed into discussing what happened on tour and find themselves in a situation neither of them expected.
When the snow retreats and they return to London, Nate discovers Riley has her own secret and it’s one deeply connected to his past. Nate backs away, unsure if he can continue a relationship with the girl who’s more like himself than he realised.
Nate won’t have long to decide because Riley isn’t prepared to let a damaged commitmentphobe into her life. And she has zero interest in fixing a man who refuses to fix himself.
Reprise is the third standalone book in the Ruby Riot series.
You can pre-order your copy of Reprise today on Amazon!
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The Ruby Riot Series | The Amazon Bestselling Rock Romance series
#1 Bestsellers in British Contemporary Fiction in Amazon US. Grab them while they are on sale for a limited time only! Links below!
Cadence (Ruby Riot #1)
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FREE on Kindle Unlimited
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Tegan Hughes joins Blue Phoenix and Ruby Riot on tour, and drummer Bryn isn’t the only one who notices his little sister isn’t a kid anymore.
Jax Lewis is the guitarist for Ruby Riot and the band are rising to success. He’s hot property and loving every minute of his new found fame. Now, he’s on tour supporting Blue Phoenix and living his rock star life to the full. Until Tegan walks into his world and puts the brakes on.
Tegan Hughes is taking a year out and has her sights set on touring Europe with her big brother’s band. Blue Phoenix drummer, Bryn isn’t happy when his sister arrives unannounced at his hotel in Lisbon, but Tegan isn’t the type of person to take no as an answer.
With her big brother breathing down their necks, Jax and Tegan attempt to keep a handle on their growing attraction but that proves harder than they thought. Jax is used to getting whoever and whatever he wants and after kissing Tegan once, he knows one thing…he wants more.
But Tegan isn’t rock star girlfriend material. She has ambitions of her own and refuses to let anything stand in the way of her plans. And when Jax and Tegan’s relationship becomes public knowledge life becomes a hell of a lot more complicated.
Ruby Riot is a spin-off from the Blue Phoenix books but the two series can be read separately. All the Ruby Riot books are standalone.
Shuffle (Ruby Riot #2)
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With Ruby Riot on a break, Will Campbell, Ruby Riot bassist, returns to university to finish his degree and fails badly at everything apart from partying. He needs major help if he wants to pass his final year and attempts to join a not-very-rock star study group. Will is horrified to discover the person organizing the group is Fleur Roberts, the girl he’s secretly crushed on for two years and who recently threatened him with a restraining order.
Fleur’s rock stars are history academics. She has no interest in any variety of pierced, tattooed slacker, especially not the jackass rock star who humiliated her at a party. There’s no way in hell that Will Campbell is joining her group.
Faced with losing the easiest way to fix his academic problems, Will has the perfect solution: pretend he’s his twin, Nate. Will and Nate have swapped identities before so nothing can go wrong. Surely.
Fleur is successful academically, but her love life is a failure. Following a number of disastrous dates, she finds herself falling in love with a guy who is lying to her. But Will’s deceit isn’t the only thing about to shatter her world. When another man Fleur trusted betrays her, and she attempts to retaliate, Fleur discovers how dangerous he is. And when Will becomes involved, the repercussions threaten both of their futures.
Lisa is an Amazon bestselling author of contemporary and paranormal romance. She is originally from the UK and moved to Australia in 2001. She now lives in Perth, Western Australia with her husband, three children, and Weimaraner, Tilly, who often makes appearances on Lisa’s social media.
Lisa’s first publication was a moving poem about the rain, followed by a suspenseful story about shoes. Following these successes at nine years old there was a long gap in her writing career, until she published her first book in 2013.
In the past, Lisa worked as an English teacher in France, as an advertising copywriter in England, and ran her own business in Australia. Now she spends her days with imaginary rock stars.
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