Meant For Her by Raine Thomas

Synopsis

Photographer Sierra Stratton views the world through a lens all her own. She has an uncanny sense about people, something that often causes her trouble. When she meets the sexy and brooding Evan Dorsey, her intuition tells her he’s suffering, and she wants to be the one to help him.

Evan isn’t open to help from anyone, however. His focus is on his Major League career and making himself as marketable as possible for his upcoming free agency. He plans to ride out the season in Atlanta and then sign with another team, away from the painful memories that haunt him.

Someone’s eager to send him on his way, too. Between anonymous threats and equipment sabotage, it’s clear he’s earned himself an enemy along the way. To him, it’s one more sign that he’s right to move on.

But Sierra threatens his conviction. Her contagious smile proves hard to resist, as does her kiss. She tempts him in ways he never anticipated, making him question his plans for the first time. If he’s not careful, she might just convince him that he’s meant for her.

Buy Links

B&N | iBooks | Kobo 

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada

About the Author

Raine Thomas is the award-winning author of bestselling Young Adult and New Adult fiction. Known for character-driven stories that inspire the imagination, Raine recently signed with multiple award-winning producer Chase Chenowith of Back Fence Productions to bring her popular Daughters of Saraqael trilogy to the big screen. She's a proud indie author who is living the dream. When she isn't writing or glued to e-mail or social networking sites, Raine can usually be found vacationing with her husband and daughter on one of Florida's beautiful beaches or crossing the border to visit with her Canadian friends and relatives.

Author Links 

Website | Twitter  
| Facebook  
| Goodreads 

Amazon Author Page | 
Pinterest | Linkedin  | Blog 

Excerpt

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her. It was all she could do to keep her eyes on his face. She’d already seen the black tattoo on the inside of his left forearm that read Strength, but she hadn’t seen his others yet. Across his pecs was a longer tattoo, some sentence or phrase that she couldn’t read from where she stood. He had another one on his right bicep, high enough to be covered by a sleeve whenever he wore a shirt.

She wanted to run up to him and touch and examine every inch of his tanned skin, especially where his spectacular abs disappeared into a V where his towel cut him off. If she didn’t already look like a whacked out, creepy stalker, that would be sure to do the trick.

After a long moment, he said, “It’s not broken.”

Relief flooded through her, both because he apparently wasn’t filing charges and because Beck’s paw was only sprained. She went back down to her knees to pet him some more.

“I’m so glad to hear it. Did Dr. Paulk give you the anti-inflammatories?”

Evan made a face. “Yeah. When I tried to give one to Beck, he puked on me.”

She made a sound of sympathy and kissed the top of Beck’s head. “Poor thing. You’re not feeling well at all, are you, big guy?”

“You know, I’m the one who got puked on,” Evan grumbled.

That was way too good a segue to pass up. Getting to her feet, she slowly walked over to him. His eyebrow lifted.

“Poor, Evan,” she said, her eyes on his as she stopped in front of him. “You’ve had a rough couple of days, haven’t you, big guy?”

“You petted Beck,” he reminded her.

Smiling, she reached out and placed her palms on his chest. As she ran her hands over his hard muscles, she read his chest tattoo.

Play as if you’ll live forever.

“An oversight I’m happy to remedy,” she murmured, meeting his gaze as her right hand lowered to his abdomen. “How rough have you had it these past couple of days, Evan?”

He grabbed her hand when it reached the waistband of his towel. She hadn’t had any intention of going beneath it…this time. But it pleased her to look down and see the results of her touch on his body.

Figuring he wanted her to stop teasing him, she stepped away. He yanked her back against him and brought his mouth down on hers.

All sense of teasing was gone like a snap. Desire raged between them. The kiss was hot, open-mouthed, carnal. She buried her fingers in the hair at the base of his neck, barely aware when he reached down to lift her so that her legs wrapped around his waist. She just knew how happy she was to have even easier access to his fabulous mouth.

She met the thrust of his tongue with hers, mimicking the mating that they both clearly wanted. Soft moans and growls filled the room, none of them from the dogs. They backed against a wall. His lower body pressed hard against hers, the towel and her clothing suddenly unbearable barriers.

When she reached for the towel, he stopped her, breaking off the kiss. The sound of their ragged breathing blended with her pulse racing in her ears.

“Mother of God,” he panted, bracing himself against the wall. “I could take you right here.” 

Trailer

Whoa, There…Leave Your Pants On! With Raine Thomas

You just have to love how Raine Thomas, author of the Daughters of Saraqael trilogy and the upcoming Firstborn trilogy, worked the Hoover Dam into this one!  

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’ve been asked this question any number of times in interviews, and every time, it makes me wince. Perhaps it’s a testament to my school days, but when I hear “pantser,” I envision bullies in hallways reaching for the much-too-high waistbands of unsuspecting nerds. Humiliation simply oozes from the word.

The bottom line is that I’m a Type A. “Pantser” has no room in my vocabulary.

Okay, that’s a little extreme. In truth, when I write my books, I’m a little of both. I always, always, always (yes, it’s worth stating three times) start with an outline. My first outlines were more general, giving me a basic guideline for the beginning, middle and end of the story. The outline for my current WIP, Shift, on the other hand, is a chapter-by-chapter outline that is so thorough it allowed me to write 10,000 words a day when I actually had a full weekend to dedicate to just writing.

That said, I’ve never stuck to an outline. Not once. Even with Shift’s outline being so detailed that the story could practically write itself (ha, ha), I’ve strayed from it. I believe in letting my characters tell their own stories, and I’m not going to be limited by an outline, despite its importance.

Writers who indicate that they write “by the seat of their pants” cause me serious concern. Writing is tough. Like other professions, it requires strict adherence to certain mechanics to ensure a quality final product, even if the end result differs by “engineer.”

Do you think the Hoover Dam was built on a whim? That a group of individuals just decided to wing it and throw up a structure to contain the Colorado River?

Of course not. They had a carefully crafted plan before they started. Sure, they had to vary from that plan as they faced unexpected challenges, but they stuck to the main goal and ultimately made it happen.

Writing an effective story isn’t so very different. It’s important to have a clear plan for a story before getting started. This doesn’t mean having some vague idea of a cool character overcoming a challenge. This means laying out the bones of the story so that when it’s put to paper, it stands strong.

I suggest starting with character sketches of the main protagonist(s). Writers should know their characters inside and out. I create sketches that contain details I never reveal in the actual books, but that compose the cores of my characters. As long as I know those details, the characters come alive on the page.

Then comes the general outline. How will the story begin? How will it end? What will happen in between?

In truth, I think many writers can create full-length novels using only the above devices. If they want to write more quickly, I suggest using the detailed, chapter-by-chapter outline that I mentioned above. It’s amazing how much time is saved when there’s no pause between chapters, trying to figure out what to write next. Thus, taking the initial time to create an outline will save tons of time later when it comes to actually writing.

Am I a plotter or a pantser? I’m a plotter, baby…and you should be, too! 

Raine Thomas is the author of a bestselling series of YA paranormal romance novels about the Estilorian plane, including the Daughters of Saraqael trilogy and the upcoming Firstborn trilogy. She is a proud member of Romance Writers of America and is a contributing blogger to The Writer's Voice. When she isn’t planning weddings, writing or glued to social networking sites, she can usually be found on one of Florida’s beautiful beaches with her husband and daughter or crossing the border to visit with her Canadian friends and relatives.

Follow Raine here:

 Twitter (http://twitter/Raine_Thomas)
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/rainethomas)
Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/raine_thomas/)
Website (http://rainethomas.com)
Blog (http://RaineThomas.com/blog/)