Title: Love, Tussles, And Takedowns (Cactus Creek #3)
Author: Violet Duke
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 27th, 2014
Hudson Reyes has been a fighter for longer than he cares to remember, with enough scars to last several lifetimes. After his combat injuries retire him from the life he wasn’t ready to give up yet, Hudson forces himself back on his feet, building a new post-military career as a fight scene and weapons specialist in the film industry, spending his carbon copy days doing what he knows best: surviving. Until he meets her. The one woman that makes him want to live again. The one woman with hidden wounds as deep as his...and a wicked roundhouse kick that almost knocks him out the day he finally learns her name.
...but she has all the weapons.
An antique arms authenticator by day and a self-defense instructor by night, Liana Lin has made a living turning the unthinkable demons of her past into the passions that fuel, and fill, her life. So when the unjustly handsome man she’s been unable to get out of her head literally takes her to the mat with fighting styles unlike anything she’s ever seen—all while pinning her with a molten hot stare that promises things she won’t even let herself imagine, Lia makes damn sure the barbed wire fence around her heart is closed up tight. Because if one man could find a way to disarm her carefully-built defenses, it’d be him.
Now if only they could stop sparring long enough to find out...
Available For Purchase (for 99c on release day only!):
The Cactus Creek Series by Violet Duke:
A Little Combustible Chemistry (Cactus Creek #1) - FREE prequel novella
Love, Chocolate, And Beer (Cactus Creek #2)
Cactus Creek #5: Love, Sidelines, and Endzones [Grady & Sienna] -- Sept 2014
Cactus Creek #6: A Little Holiday Meddling [Holiday Novella -- Noah & Katelyn] -- Nov 2014
“Used to be, I could handle a combat weapon with the kind of speed and precision that guys in my unit were gladly willing to trade their left nut for.” A hard edge darkened his expression for a brief moment before fading, softening when his gaze fell on her face again. “After the explosion, discovering that I wouldn’t ever have that level of fine motor control in my trigger hand again, or that I wouldn’t ever be able to fully process the feel of a weapon because of the nerve damage in my other hand…that just about destroyed me.”
He slid his hand over her skin gently. “But this—ˮ
She gasped, gripped the sheets to keep herself grounded mentally, emotionally. To keep her silly heart from acknowledging the fact that he was shattering her defenses with that one simple touch, owning her with the intense, single-minded focus his eyes held as they followed the path his fingers were tracing across her belly. Hungrily. Reverently.
“I thought that was the hardest thing I’d have to get over because of my injuries. But this right here,” he whispered, leaning down to wreck even more havoc on her senses by shadowing his touch with his words, his evil, evil lips only just barely skimming her flesh. “Not being able to do all the things I want to do to you with the pace and precision I want to with this hand…” She stopped breathing when she felt his other palm smooth up the back of her thigh. “And worse, not being able feel you fully with this one…”
“Hell, Lia. That’s killing me more than you can imagine.”
