A Pride of Brothers: Rick by @peggy_jaeger is a New Year New Books Fete Pick #newrelease
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  • N. N. Light
    • Jan 13, 2020
    • 6 min read

A Pride of Brothers: Rick by @peggy_jaeger is a New Year New Books Fete Pick #newrelease


Title: A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK

Author: PEGGY JAEGER

Genre: Romantic Suspense Lite


Book Blurb:

Elite bodyguard and P.I. Rick Bannerman's job is to protect. He doesn't get emotional with his clients, but when a woman from his past is threatened, his next job becomes personal.

Family lawyer Abigail Laine is the target of a client's vengeful husband, but refuses Rick's offer of protection. He walked away from her four years ago, and she swore to forget him.

Now her reluctance to accept his help could cost Abby her life.


Excerpt:

“Turn around,” he said.


“What?”


“You heard me. Turn around, Abigail.”


“Bossy, much?”


The low, deep rumble of his chuckle sent the tiny hairs on her neck up to attention.


“When I have to be,” he said. “Believe me, for once you’ll be glad you listened.”

“Doubtful,” she murmured. Reluctantly, she presented him with her back.


“Take a breath,” he told her. “A deep one. And hold it for a few seconds.”


She did.


“Now let it out, slowly. Count to five in your head while you do.”


“What is this, Bannerman? Some Vulcan mind- trick cure for a headache? Because if it is, it’s not—oh! Oh...my.” The last word scattered out in one long exhale.


“Told you you’d be glad you listened.”


The pressure of his thumbs on either side of her shoulders, a hair below the collar of her blouse as they kneaded, pressed, and drew little circles around her constricted muscles, shot a wave of intense pleasure straight down the length of her spine.


Abby closed her eyes and sighed. “Oh, good Lord. Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.”

“Your neck is so tight, I’m surprised your spine doesn’t snap when you walk in those stilts you love so much. It’s a wonder you can move at all with any kind of flexibility.”


“Practice.” She all but purred like her cat when his thumbs sank into her flesh. “And motivation. That feels...amazeballs.”


She swore she could hear his grin. He replaced his thumbs with the pads of his first and second fingers, pressed in deep, released, and then did it again.


“Amazeballs, Abigail? How old are you?”


“Oh! I’ll be any age you want me to be, but don’t stop...please.”


His chuckle turned to a laugh. “I can’t tell you how much I like hearing you beg. Take another deep breath.”


Obediently, since she now knew the benefits of being so, she did. “Oh. My. God.”


He’d wound his long, strong fingers up under her hairline. While he flexed them, massaging every bit of her skull, a thousand jolts of electricity bounded down her back. Her legs turned liquid. She needed to sit down before she fell flat to the floor.


“Stop wiggling. Try to hold still,” he said, dangerously close to her ear. The warmth of his breath as it whispered over her neck delightfully singed her skin. “There’s one pressure point I haven’t gotten to yet.”


“I can’t feel my feet.” Good Lord. Did that moan come from her?


“Good. Then this is working. Give me another minute.”


“You can have all night, Bannerman. As long as you want. Just don’t stop.”


For the briefest of moments, so brief she might have imagined it, he stopped kneading, a swift inhale ringing around her. Then, in a heartbeat, he started his ministrations again. For the first time Abby noticed their bodies were touching, the middle of her back pressed along his torso.


While his fingers skimmed up to her temples, she tilted backward, bumping her head against his chest. He was as solid as a block of concrete.


He had the pads of three fingers against her temples now, the concentric circles he pressed and released over them drawing out little mewing noises from the back of her throat. When his pinkies joined their brothers, all four fingers of each hand now splayed along her skin, feathered into her hairline, Abby rolled her neck back and opened her eyes a fraction. Upside down, she saw the edge of Rick’s jaw, watched— fascinated—as his throat bobbed up and down while he continued attending to her.


“I’m almost done. Hold on for another sec.”


She let her eyes drift closed again. Rick moved his hands so they cupped the back of her neck, then, slowly, he brought her head away from his chest to an upright position, leaving his palms flattened across her shoulder blades.


“Take a breath and lift your shoulders,” he commanded.


Abby did, then rolled her head front to back.


“How’s the headache now?”


She opened her eyes and blinked. “Gone.” She whirled around to face him. “Completely gone.”


He nodded and flexed his fingers as if working out his own kinks. “Good. I’m glad it worked.”


“Where did you learn how to do that?” She slid a hand along one side of her neck, tilted her head, then moved it in the opposite direction. “I don’t think my shoulders have been this loose since, well, fourth grade.”


“You spend a lot of time hunched over.” He opened her fridge and pulled out two bottled waters.


“Computer. Legal briefs. It’s no wonder your shoulders are tight and you’re susceptible to migraines.”


“How did you know I had migraines?” She took a swig of the water. “I mean, as opposed to regular bad headaches?”

“You wear the pain on your face. It’s obvious to anyone who knows what to look for.”


“And you do?”


He nodded. “Drink the whole bottle and then you need to eat. You haven’t had anything all day. It’s a wonder you aren’t dropping.”


He bent and peeked into the refrigerator. Sipping her water, she took the opportunity to stare at his butt.


“What’s this?” he asked, standing upright and holding a filled glass container.


“Vegetable soup. Kandy made a batch the other day. She knows I don’t like to eat too heavy if I’ve been working late.”


“Where are your pots?”


Abby cocked her head. “Why?”


“You’d rather eat cold soup?”


“Eww. No, of course not.”


He started opening the cabinets under the kitchen counter. When he pulled out a pot and lid, he pushed passed her to the stove.


“Go sit down,” he told her. “I’ll bring you a bowl when it’s heated.”


Abby blinked a few times as he ladled the soup into the pot. “Who are you and what have you done with Rick Bannerman, the king of takeout?”


He ignored her.


“Do you even know how to turn the stove on?”


“Yes.” The word practically growled from him.


Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):








It’s a brand-new year, full of possibilities Did you make any resolutions/goals for 2020? If so, please share one.


My biggest goal/resolution for 2020 centers around my daughter’s May wedding. I am determined to shed at least 20 pounds by the date! I don’t like getting my picture taken on a good day and the fact that their will be hundreds of people at this wedding all with phone cameras clicking away gives me hives just thinking about it! So I want to be as slim as I can be since the camera adds 50 pounds (in my case!).


Why is your featured book a must-read in 2020?


It’s my very first spin-off book from another series and my first Romantic Suspense novel. Plus, Rick Bannerman is the stuff of hot dreams!


Giveaway:

Enter to win a $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

Enter to win a $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

Enter to win a $25 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

Enter to win a $15 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

Enter to win a $10 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card



Open internationally.


Runs January 1 – 31, 2020.


Drawing will be held on February 1, 2020.


Author Biography:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!

Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, she brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go "What??!"


Social Media Links:

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0


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