Romantic Love

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Here’s a little love

Dusk was slipping into night and Lacey turned back toward the living room to contemplate these thoughts, but ran right into Jake.

“Jake!” she shouted, surprised.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you heard me behind you.” He didn’t move away, though.

She looked up into his face, now familiar and comforting, and saw something ragged and raw in his eyes. She drew in a sharp breath, but didn’t step away. Something stirred in her, low and enticing. She tilted her face up to him and breathed, “It’s okay. I was just going to…” Maybe her concussion had left her brain damaged, because she couldn’t think of anything coherent to say. Shallow breaths seized up in her lungs. Wild and frantic passions spurred her pulse as she continued to stare into his glittering dark eyes.

Like steel to a magnate, his lips drew close to hers, touching her gently, briefly. She didn’t resist. It felt right to meet his lips with hers, like they were made for each other.

His arms wrapped around her, pulling her in hard, but gently nuzzled her neck with his face. He didn’t say a word, but she could hear his breath in her ear. Then his lips were on hers hard, his tongue darting inside her mouth, heating her body with his desire.

He started to pull at her camisole, lifting it toward her shoulders, and she yanked at his T-shirt, tearing it over his head, impatiently, to expose his muscled chest. The scent of his heated skin was heady, pulling her further into something that she hadn’t felt in years. Not since before Nicholas…died.

Inexplicably tears brimmed her eyes. She placed a palm to Jake’s muscled chest. Everything slammed to a stop as he realized tears were trickling down her cheeks.

“Lacey, what’s wrong?” He brushed the tears away with a gentle touch and peered down into her eyes.

She collapsed to the floor, and he lowered her, still holding her in his arms. “I’m so sorry.” She rested her head against his shoulder, letting the feelings flow.

“No apologies needed,” he said, caressing her hair. “If anyone should apologize it’s me. I didn’t mean to take advantage of you or lose control.”

“No, it’s not like that.” Misery filtered through her. She needed to make him understand, but how could she when she didn’t? “I haven’t been with a man since my husband died. I’ve never stopped loving him,” she sobbed.

“He was a lucky man, to have you to love and love him back.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you. I do. But I’m not sure how to love someone else. I’m so sorry. You’ve been so kind.”

He pulled back, giving her a pointed look. “I don’t know if you know it but I’m falling in love with you, Lacey. When or if we make love, I don’t want you to feel it’s because you owe me something. Far from it. I’m grateful for the time you’ve been here. It’s been like nothing I’ve ever experienced.” He pulled back more and started to stand.

But she grabbed his arms. “Don’t. Don’t go.”

He slanted his head, confusion in his face. “What?”

“Cuddling would be nice,” she managed to murmur.

Romantic gestures are fun, sometimes funny, but typically memorable. What is one of your most favorite romantic gestures--fictional or real? PG 13, please.

Get to Know Always and Forever Love by Lynn Crandall

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Here’s a book blurb of Always and Forever Love!

The presence of a ghost in her life doesn't alarm Lacy Aegar, in fact it makes her happy. Two and a half years ago when her dead husband Nicholas reappeared in her life as a full-bodied spirit, she questioned her sanity. But with Nicholas' explanation that there are things about life that are not as she's always believed, she settled into a pleasant routine of working with her sister at their private investigation business and enjoying home life with her now 10-year-old son – with Nicholas never very far away.

Lacey's complacency and sense of stability is sent topsy-turvy when she runs into Jackson Carter, the son of powerful and influential business tycoon, William Carter. Typical of the Carter reputation, Jackson's slick new private investigating business is siphoning off clients from the Aegar sisters' business, creating financial difficulty. It's a recurring nightmare for Lacey, who has already seen damage done by the Carter family, and when she encounters Jackson, she wants nothing to do with him.

But things are not what they seem when it comes to Jackson Carter, either. Unbeknownst to Lacey and her sister, Jackson is fighting a battle to preserve his business, too, and his integrity. For him, it's a fight for his soul, and he enlists Lacey's help because of her unique investigative skills and open heart. When she uncovers a mole in his business, she also discovers that one of his clients' drug trials has been given the green light to go to the next phase based on falsified data. As they work together to save both their businesses, Jackson and Lacey not only face death, they must come to grips with their feelings about love and life.

Now a little peek into Lacey’s budding relationship with Jackson.
Jackson put a hand to Lacey’s shoulder, familiar, like he’d done it many times before, and she couldn’t stop the lilt of reaction to the warmth of his touch. “Have you heard from the boys? I’ve been wondering how they’re making out. My nephew was really excited about camp. All that adventure and nature. I bet they’re having a blast.”

“Hmmm…I hope so,” Lacey said. Sterling gave her a pointed be nice look. “It’s nice they have each other. This is the first time Tyler has been away from home.” Why am I rambling on so? Spilling her guts to this guy would be listed right under a list titled Last Things To Do Ever.

Jackson locked eyes with her, for the length of a breath, and she felt something sad move through her. “Well, I better get back to the office. Nice running into you.”

His back to her, Lacey watched him walk away and out onto the street, without a backward glance. His form was solid beneath his dark suit and his stride purposeful but easy.

Sterling eyed her. “You didn’t tell me Tyler is at camp with Jackson’s nephew.” She whispered it, like it was a secret. “I hope the dog doesn’t go missing again.” Her eyes sparkled, enjoying the moment of humor at Jackson’s expense.

Lacey sipped her coffee, struggling with the odd feeling that lay at the pit of stomach. Jackson may be the spoiled son of her archenemy, but having gotten a glimpse of his soul, for a brief moment, she now found it a little harder to dismiss him.

While Sterling talked about Jackson and his company, Lacey started tracing a small tulip blossom pattern on her hand, aware of what she was doing but not caring. Splitting her attention between her sister and her own thoughts, she felt her uneasiness rise.

She’d stopped talking to the counselor when Nick had come back. Things had gotten less dire, but she continued to do the little things that she’d done since childhood to soothe herself—needless counting, preference for even numbers, and more little, seemingly meaningless things her counselor referred to as compulsions.

She wasn’t alone in turning to coping mechanisms to survive the loss of their father to murder and their mother to grief-induced mental illness. Sterling had immersed herself in independence, erecting inner walls as shields from pain and vulnerability. She’d struggled to let Ben in.

But why now the uneasiness, Lacey wondered.

“You’re not listening, are you?”

She blinked and noticed Sterling staring at her, quizzically. “Oh. Sorry.”

“What’s going on, Lacey? You look troubled.” She placed her hand over her sister’s, gently hindering the tracing.

“I don’t know. Something triggered something.” She shrugged it off. “It couldn’t be the financial concerns of our business troubling me, could it? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?”

Sterling pursed her lips, thoughtfully, clearly not persuaded to let things go but doing it anyway. “Let no rock go unturned.”

“Good advice. We should go back to work and turn over some rocks. It’s amazing how important the phrase billable hours has become.”

****

Lacey feels protective of her son and is not too keen on the adventure Jackson talks about in this scene. Are you an adventurer? How do you get your “adventure” on?

Great Lines from Life or Fiction

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As the phrase goes, life is stranger than fiction. It’s an interesting thought. There are some really strange things posted on Facebook, which is a kind of reality. Nice and not so nice phrases are shared on Facebook, and strange and wonderful words read in books or heard as lines delivered in movies and television can be pretty strange and beautiful. But I agree with the sentiment, and find that some of the best lines I’ve heard in daily life can’t be made up.

Children are good for spontaneous good lines. They pop them out without any prompting. For instance, one evening my husband and I were trying to get two of our granddaughters to agree on a restaurant. Finally, we chose a restaurant one girl liked, the one the other girl didn’t, simply to end the arguing and get to the food. As the unhappy granddaughter started walking out the backdoor to leave for the restaurant, she proclaimed, “I’m just going to waste food.” Obviously…a statement of fact. We could take her there, order food for her, but we couldn’t make her eat it.

Another good line spontaneously came out of my middle son’s mouth in response to candles in my husband’s and my bedroom. When my children were young my husband and I were always trying to infuse a little fun in everyday life. We’d have hamburgers for breakfast, pancakes for dinner, and other not terribly imaginative things that nonetheless brought smiles to our kids’ faces. Another thing we did was set candles on the table and light them for breakfast or dinner. That was a big hit. One night my husband and I brought some of the candles in the bedroom for a bit of romantic “interaction.” We left them on a desk in the bedroom after that night. One afternoon soon after, my middle son came home from school and found me in the bedroom folding clothes. He saw the candles on the desk. His face filled with indignation, and he said, “You used candles without us?”

Children and money can make a stranger than fiction situation. Among our family members, growing up involved learning to budget. The children resisted this procedure. They clearly knew much more than my husband did when it came to using money. When they went away to college and marriage after college, they discovered some things about their parents that had escaped their attention all their young lives. One, as my youngest son said, “A home cooked meal is like aahhh.” A very succinct but eloquent line coming from a college freshman getting accustomed to cafeteria food. But this child also gave his father this line as he prepared to help fund a wedding. “Dad, you were right. Savings add up and do help.” It was truly hard not to laugh at his discovery.

Church may be a place from which great lines emerge, not counting those quoted from the Bible. In the church I was raised in, the preacher always invited the congregation to stand up and share something they needed prayer about or a bit of inspiration they’d come across. One woman shared that she’d made a pie and while eating it bit down on a cherry pit – a never failer. She told the congregation that life is like a cherry pie. There’s always a never failer, a bump in the road, a challenge, a cherry pit in the pie.

Books and movies are excellent sources for great lines. Here are a few, including one from Always and Forever Love.

I felt as tough as Kleenex. Greywalker by Kat Richardson

“Hi, Uncle Jake.”

Jason’s greeting jolted Lacey out of her skin. Retreat was impossible. She turned to face the square shoulders, tall frame, and solid jaw of a dark-haired man. “Uncle Jake, I presume?” She wasn’t doing anything wrong, so why did she feel as though Brad Pitt had just caught her picking her nose? Always and Forever Love

"Here I am, ready to charge forth in pursuit of my destiny and I can't get time off work to do it." Roy McAvoy to Romeo in Tin Cup

"I'm no expert here, but it seems to me that the pursuit of destiny isn't something you need to get off a $10 per hour job to do." Romeo

Whether scripted in a movie or written in the text of a book, great lines can make us ponder, laugh, and cry. But those that pop out of human mouths, spontaneous and impulsive, can stop us in the moment and stay with us to savor as a part of life.

What are some lines and phrases you've read or heard, fiction or real life, that made you smile or set off a tuning fork in your heart or that left some sort of impact on your life?

A Peek at Always and Forever Love

Here's another look into the life of Lacey Aegar, a woman who has chosen to live with her ghost husband.

“He seemed well intentioned.”

Lacey felt the soothing tonic of Nicholas flow through her. “Good morning. I don’t want to talk about Jackson Carter.”

He smiled and kept silent.

It had been two years—two years after his death—since her husband, Nicholas, had first come to her, appearing by her side at a time when she needed him so much her heart cried out loud in agony over his absence.

She’d worn the grief of his untimely death like a mantle, she knew, but it was useless to pretend otherwise. But determined not to leave her son essentially alone, as her mother had at her father’s death, Lacey had let the changes in her life and the death of dreams launch a new career. She’d left journalism and gone into the private investigating business with her sister. It was a move she never regretted, but the day the bad guys she and Sterling were up against kidnapped Tyler had turned her mantle of grief into a nearly unbearable weight, as she faced the possible loss of her son. Miraculously, the cosmic forces had somehow, inexplicably, brought her Nicholas back to her.

His gentleness and vibrant personality were there, just as before, before he died. His physical body had substance, like a human body, but he’d passed over. Things were different after, after he returned, but not in ways that mattered. His kisses and hugs and touches were full of love and emotion. His thoughts, though, and the way he related to her, reflected his experience of dying and becoming not an angel but an enlightened person. There was nothing creepy or unnatural about him—in fact the opposite. Nicholas was naturally and fully beautiful and cared only about showing her love, though his idea of love meant something broader than she’d ever experienced before with another person. It didn't include lovemaking, because that wasn’t an aspect of his enlightened body. For Nicholas, love was supporting her and holding her in his expanded love, not satisfying a sexual need of his own. He was complete. It was wonderful and at the same time unnerving, because she sensed he was only here to encourage her to forget about him.

Nonetheless, it was Nicholas who’d helped her survive the ordeal. And he’d promised to stay as long as she wanted him.

Stay tuned for more about Lacey and her life with Nicholas...

Gift Card Give Away Celebrating Release of Always and Forever Love

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Bio: Lynn Crandall lives in the Midwest and writes in the company of her two cats. She has been a reader and a writer all her life. Her background is in journalism, but whether writing a magazine or newspaper story or creating a romance, she loves the power stories hold to transport, inspire, and uplift. In her romances, she focuses on vulnerable, embraceable characters who don't back down. She hopes that readers discover, over and over, stories of ordinary people who face ordinary life challenges and are transformed by extraordinary love.

Book Blurb:

The presence of a ghost in her life doesn't alarm Lacy Aegar, in fact it makes her happy. Two and a half years ago when her dead husband Nicholas reappeared in her life as a full-bodied spirit, she questioned her sanity. But with Nicholas' explanation that there are things about life that are not as she's always believed, she settled into a pleasant routine of working with her sister at their private investigation business and enjoying home life with her now 10-year-old son – with Nicholas never very far away.

Lacey's complacency and sense of stability is sent topsy-turvy when she runs into Jackson Carter, the son of powerful and influential business tycoon, William Carter. Typical of the Carter reputation, Jackson's slick new private investigating business is siphoning off clients from the Aegar sisters' business, creating financial difficulty. It's a recurring nightmare for Lacey, who has already seen damage done by the Carter family, and when she encounters Jackson, she wants nothing to do with him.

But things are not what they seem when it comes to Jackson Carter, either. Unbeknownst to Lacey and her sister, Jackson is fighting a battle to preserve his business, too, and his integrity. For him, it's a fight for his soul, and he enlists Lacey's help because of her unique investigative skills and open heart. When she uncovers a mole in his business, she also discovers that one of his clients' drug trials has been given the green light to go to the next phase based on falsified data. As they work together to save both their businesses, Jackson and Lacey not only face death, they must decide whether or not to come to grips with their feelings about love and life.
Excerpt:

Walking into the master bath, Lacey stopped short. “Geez! Now, that’s a bathtub,” she exclaimed. Her voice echoed slightly against the marble tile walls and gray slate floor. Jason waited patiently at the doorway while her gaze moved from one opulent element to another. A large white and gold marble whirlpool tub, deep enough to disappear in, was framed on three sides by frosted glass windows and a small garden of palms and feathery ferns. On another wall stood a shower stall sporting a gold rain-head showerhead and etched glass doors.

“Hi, Uncle Jake.”

Jason’s greeting jolted Lacey out of her skin. Retreat was impossible. She turned to face the square shoulders, tall frame, and solid jaw of a dark-haired man. “Uncle Jake, I presume?” She wasn’t doing anything wrong, so why did she feel her as though Brad Pitt had just caught her picking her nose?

“I know who I am. Who are you and what are you doing in my bathroom?” The man’s voice was clipped velvet. His arm circled Jason protectively.

She stuck out her hand. “I’m Lacey Aegar. And as for what I’m doing here…”

“I hired her, Uncle Jake. She’s going to find Snickers.”

She looked from Jason’s cherubic face and up into the glistening brown eyes of his uncle and felt her composure melt into the cold slate beneath her feet. “Umm…I’m a private investigator. And your nephew has asked me to…”

“I think you’ve seen enough, Ms. Private Investigator or gossip columnist or whoever you are.” The man grabbed Lacey’s elbow and began to usher her briskly out of the room.

“But Uncle Jake—”

“If you’ll just hold on a minute I can explain.” Lacey’s face burned at the man’s insinuation. With Jason at his heels, the man swept Lacey down the stairs and was heading toward the front door, where she spread out her hands and planted them against the hard wood. "Stop,” she demanded, whirling around to face him head-on. “I’m not leaving until I finish what I came here for, and that’s to help Jason find his dog.”

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