Jaci Burton’s Muse

Snippet Saturday is a way to give you all a taste of various authors’ work, a little piece of something we’ve done, or a look into our creativity (sometimes a scary place!).

Today’s Snippet Saturday is the Defining Moment. To me, the defining moment is the place in the story where everything changes for the characters. It could be a plot point, or a relationship point. But it has to be an important point.

I chose a scene from Nothing Personal, a contemporary romance from Samhain Publishing.

Ryan is a millionaire in search of a bride and an heir to fulfill the terms of his grandmother’s will. He finds one in his assistant, Faith, who’s shy and devoted and willing to anything for her boss, who she secretly adores.

But Ryan is all about business and knows nothing about pleasing a woman, so Faith decides she needs to get to know him better before they make love and attempt to produce an heir. And Ryan thinks expensive trips and jewelry will do the trick. But Faith is a simple woman and those things just don’t work with her. Until she falls apart after a set of kittens die at the local shelter where she volunteers, and Ryan brings home a kitten for her.

Hope you enjoy:

Long moments passed before Faith could breathe normally. Their sweat-soaked bodies remained joined. She didn’t want to be separated from him.

For the first time in her life, she belonged to someone.

She belonged to Ryan. Maybe not forever, but for now she was his, and he belonged to her. Only her.

He swept the moist tendrils of her hair away from her face and smiled down at her. “Are you all right?”

She nodded and stroked his back. “Never better.”

“Did I hurt you?”

“Not at all.”

He cradled her face in his hands. “I need to ask you a question.”

She nodded.

“Why now? Why tonight? What changed your mind?”

“You mean about making love?”

He nodded and smiled sheepishly. “I have to admit, I tried everything to get you in bed. Jewelry, a new wardrobe, even the trip to Hawaii. And nothing. So why now?”

She should have been angry with him, trying to buy her virginity like that, but she wasn’t. On some level she understood the type of women Ryan normally associated with. He could buy his way into their beds. But that didn’t work on her.

“It was the kitten.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “The kitten? Why?”

She smiled and ran her fingertip along his jaw, loving the erotic feel of his stubble against her skin. “You brought me that kitten because I felt bad, and you wanted to make me feel better. That’s what convinced me.”

“The kitten?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t get you the kitten to get you into bed, Faith.”

“I know. But Ryan, the best gift is always the one that comes from the heart.”

Nothing Personal is available in both e-book and print.

Please visit these other authors to see their Defining Moments:

Lauren Dane
Cynthia Eden
Vivi Anna
SJ Day
Moira Rogers
Leah Braemel
Mandy Roth
Anya Bast
Viv Arend
Juliana Stone
Savannah Foley
Beth Williamson
Elisabeth Naughton
Michelle Pillow
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
Sasha White