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Justice and Her League
Demigods Trilogy book 1
Excerpt – 643 words
“What the fuck happened?” the blond one, Malcolm, roared when he stuck his head into the office and noticed Rafael or Rafe-for-short laid out on the floor.
The hulking—and okay, seriously hot—black guy shadowed the doorway next, then he pushed Malcom out of the way so he could slip inside the room and drop to his knees next to Rafe’s body.
“Did you do this to him?” Malcolm demanded while Ajax pressed two fingers to Rafe’s neck and then prodded his head, causing the guy to let out a pained-sounding groan.
“Of course not,” I said, full of all sorts of indignation. I’d told Rafe I worked alone, and he’d insisted on following me anyway. He made the choice; how were the consequences of that decision my fault?
When Rafe rolled over onto his back, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding, and then I glanced around the office. The only people in here were myself and these three guys to whom I was insanely sexually attracted, which made no sense. I mean, I’d been attracted to guys plenty in my life, and I’d acted on probably 75 percent of those scenarios.
But it never happened in the middle of a job, and never with such intensity—or with three guys at once.
If they asked me to pick which one I wanted most, I’d be unable to give an answer.
It was seriously fucked up. Clearly, I needed to get laid, but more than that, I needed to know where the hell Ignacio went.
“Don’t even tell me he got away,” I snapped at Malcolm.
“Okay, I won’t tell you.”
“Could you be any more cliché?”
He shrugged. “Clichés are funny.”
Flinging my hands in the air, I twirled around toward the door. “I gotta go. I need to track him down and—”
“Do not let her leave,” Rafe practically growled at Malcolm, who had edged his way onto the threshold.
I narrowed my eyes. Malcolm crossed his arms.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” I warned.
“Go ahead and try.” He grinned. “I promise to enjoy every moment.”
For fuck’s sake, was that a growl that just escaped through my clenched teeth?
Ajax had pulled Rafe to his feet. “First,” Rafe said, his gaze on me, “we help these women get back to their lives. Or, if that’s not what they want, we help them start new ones.”
“What do you mean, first?” I demanded, even though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
“Before we track down the guy in charge of this operation.”
Oh, I don’t think so. “That could take weeks! And also—”
“More like months,” Malcolm said.
I bared my teeth at him. He winked back. I shifted my focus to Rafe, who was obviously the leader of this little group of sexy guys.
“Look, I told you, I work alone. And while I’m glad those women are now free, my objective is to kill Ignacio. I don’t want anything to do with helping them get on with their lives.”
“That’s not how it works,” Ajax said. Pretty sure it was the first time he’d spoken directly to me since he tried to strangle me earlier. No, wait. He’d asked me to clarify when I said Ignacio was mine, like he was jealous or some shit. What the hell did he have to be jealous over?
I crossed my arms under my breasts, and ignored the way his gaze dropped before lifting to my eyes again. I forced myself to ignore the way my lady bits were doing a happy dance over the idea that he liked my breasts. Was there a heterosexual man alive who didn’t like boobs? So why was my traitorous body so pleased that this particular guy found mine attractive?
“Listen, big guy—”
Justice Loses Her League
Demigods Trilogy book 2
Excerpt – 530 words
“Would you like some water?” Rafe asked.
Without waiting for an answer, he strode across the room to a small shelf, lifted a pitcher, and poured clear liquid into a glass before returning and offering it to me.
His longish dark hair was mussed, his perpetual stubble thicker and scruffier than normal. There were new lines around his eyes that hadn’t been there before the attack. Before I’d been shot.
He was still dressed in the T-shirt and cargo pants he’d been wearing when it happened. I had no idea whether that had occurred hours or days ago. Considering how healed I was, I assumed it had been days, at least. I tended to heal faster than your average human, but a gunshot wound was a pretty severe injury.
I accepted Rafe’s peace offering and took a grateful drink. My side twinged only a little when I lifted my arm. Another day and I’d probably feel it only if I tried to do sit-ups or pull-ups, neither of which were on my to-do list.
At the moment, there was only one thing on that list.
“So now that they’re gone…” I started, watching him.
He dropped wearily onto the side of the bed and rested his elbows on his thighs. “I did what I did to save your life.”
“I get that, and I appreciate it, obviously. But I still don’t understand why this was your first choice.” I waved at the white on white-on-white room. “I never even knew this place existed, and you went straight to ‘take Justice to the land of the gods.’”
“You knew it existed. You knew your father lived here.”
“Sure, but I didn’t know where here was. I still don’t. Are we even on Earth?”
“It’s hard to explain. Basically, we are in a different realm. Like a parallel universal, I guess. You can only get back and forth between the two realms through a portal, and only someone who possesses magic can summon one.”
“Okay, I can accept that.” I didn’t recall getting here, as I’d been unconscious, but that was good to know so I knew how to get home. Or at least the process required.
“But?”
“Why did you involve my father? You know how I feel about him.”
Rafe shook his head. “I didn’t involve him, not intentionally. I only meant to get you here because I knew a god, a full god, could save you. I didn’t think it through beyond that. When we stepped through the portal, your father was waiting. I don’t know how or why. He was just there.”
That was something I’d file away to ask my father about later. Although I was in no hurry to see him again, I had no doubt I would get so lucky. “Now, explain why he is so intent on us not formally mating.”
Rafe’s entire body went rock hard, and not in the I’m-about-to-feel-real-good way.
“So clearly you know something I don’t. And I’m betting Malcolm and Ajax don’t either,” I said.
Rafe turned, pulling his leg up onto the bed so that he faced me. “I don’t suppose you’d take ‘it’s complicated’ as an answer?”
In League With Justice
Demigods Trilogy book 3
Coming soon!
What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
I’m not sure this counts as a literary pilgrimage, but it’s a cool story, so I’m going to tell it.
Six years ago, my book, Undercover Heat, had been nominated for an award. It wasn’t my first to be nominated, so I was of course excited, but not, like, over the moon. Until I was invited to the RONE Award Gala out in California. Oh my, this potential award was tied to a gala! I had to take a fancy dress and fancy shoes and, if I won, go up on stage and give a speech!
Of course, I had absolutely zero expectations that I’d win. I’d never even been nominated for this particular award before. But I went, because, of course I did. It was an excuse to travel to California for a few days, and to get all dressed up on a Saturday night. Plus, I got to hobnob with fellow authors, many of whom were far cooler and also way more famous than I was. Oh, and I also got to meet in person several authors who had become my friends via online support (I mean, writing, haha) groups. That was a huge highlight of the event. Would have been the best, awesomest part, except…
I actually won! Undercover Heat won the “Best Contemporary, Cops, Jocks, and Cowboys” award (it’s an FBI romantic suspense and it’s written by my alternate pen name, Tami Lund). That moment, when the announcer called out my name; that is a feeling I will never, ever forget. I was utterly shocked, and also thrilled!
And as I’d not expected to win, I had not thought to prepare a speech! Which meant I had to improvise, up on a stage, in front of hundreds of peers… it was intimidating, to say the least. And it also meant I did what I usually do when I’m nervous: I word-vomited.
It wasn’t that bad. What actually happened was, I wore a little black dress and a snazzy pair of red heels with an ankle strap. As I stepped onto the stage, the gorgeous and famous author who was presenting the award to me complimented my shoes, and I complimented hers back (she wore a sexy pair of rhinestone-studded high-heeled sandals), and then we laughed and posed for a silly picture of the award with our shoes.
When I was invited to say a few words, I told the story of how I’d become the proud owner of these sexy red heels. A few months prior, I had told my husband that I need a sensible pair of navy pumps, and he being the shoe-fetish guy he was, offered to go shopping with me. While I went searching for the boring navy pumps, he wandered around on his own, and returned to me with those red heels in his hand. I had no actual need for sexy red heels, but they did look really good when I tried them on, and naturally, we ended up buying them. And they ultimately were the perfect complement to the outfit I’d chosen to wear to this awards ceremony, where I had to get up in front of an audience and graciously accept an award for one of my books!
And that is the story of my favorite literary pilgrimage…
TJ Bell is the naughtier alter-ego of romance author Tami Lund (although you should totally read Tami Lund’s book too, because they are really, really good). She writes paranormal, all the time. Her heroines are tough, even if they are broken, and her heroes tend to have a heart of gold under all that alpha. Hell, sometimes they aren’t even alpha at all; after all, who doesn’t love a solid beta hero?
When she isn’t writing snarky, steamy books, TJ Bell likes to take long walks on the beach with a tall glass of wine… oh wait, wrong bio. But still true.
TJ Bell lives in the (sometimes) beautiful state of Michigan, USA, where the weather is glorious approximately 30% of the time, with her even-more-snarky husband, snarky-in-training (and progressing impressively) teenage daughter, and her dog, Kaya, who wants to know if it’s dinnertime yet.
Sign up for TJ Bell’s newsletter so you get dibs on all the book awesomeness: https://www.subscribepage.com/authortjbell
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