Title- Love Story for a Snow Princess
Series- Love Story # 1
By- Beth D. Carter
Genre- Contemporary Erotic Romance
Blurb-
When Panthea Snow loses her family in a horrific car crash, she needs something to keep her going. She decides to replace one family with another and signs up as a mail order bride to a man living in the far north in Alaska. When she arrives, however, she realizes she can't go through with it but is stuck in River Ice, Alaska until the snow melts in a few weeks.
She meets Paden Winters and is drawn to him despite his moodiness and ill temper. As she gets to know him, she realizes they are both dealing with issues of healing and concealing pain. Only Paden deals with it by cutting himself for sexual satisfaction.
Can a woman who has an abnormal fear of blood and a man who cuts himself ever find happiness? Or are some pains too deep to overcome?
Excerpt from Love Story for a Snow Princess-
And then déjà vuhappened. The door opened, a gust of cold wind came in, and all of Thea's nerves came instantly alive. She knew, without turning around, that the man from the night before had just walked in.
"I'll be right there, Paden," Miki called out.
Paden. His name is Paden.
"You gonna be back tomorrow to keep me company?" Miki asked her, jolting her back to her senses.
"I'd love to. How much do I owe you for lunch and the pot of coffee, Miki?"
Miki waved the offer away. "It was nice to have a girl in here to talk to."
"Then thank you."
"My pleasure."
Thea hopped off the barstool. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, but I will insist on paying."
"Very well. If you hold on for a minute, let me take care of Paden and then I'll walk you to the hotel," she said as she wiped her hands on a towel and poured a cup of black coffee.
"You don't have to escort me," Thea protested. "It's not that far."
"Yeah, but it's dark. Just wait."
She tapped Thea's hand before walking to the back corner where the man, Paden, sat. She watched as Miki sat the mug of coffee before him and then nodded as he gave his order. Though his face was turned toward Miki, those grass-green eyes stayed focused on Thea.
"Hello," she said turning toward him after Miki had walked into the kitchen.
"Hello," he answered, though his tone wasn't engaging.
He eyed her up and down, pausing on her hair and her Ugg boots. A mocking sort of smile twisted his lips, and he took a drink of his coffee.
"You don't like my boots?"
"Let me guess. You saw the word boot and thought it seemed appropriate for minus-thirty-degree weather."
"It's not that cold out," she protested, stung by his disdain.
"It will be. Didn't you read your Alaskan Frommers Guide, Princess?" he taunted.
Thea frowned at his derision, wondering why such a handsome man was so rude. She decided she didn't like him. He made her extremely uncomfortable. He simply stared at her, making her nervous for some reason, so she jumped off her seat and headed for the door. She grabbed her coat, hurrying out of the diner and into the icy wind. She struggled to put on her coat, scarf, and hat before she froze. Unused to such frigid wind, Thea came to realize how quickly hypothermia could settle in.
"You little fool," came a harsh voice. Gloved hands came out of nowhere to bundle her up. "You can freeze to death in minutes out here!"
Thea's teeth were chattering too much for her to say anything. She looked up through her lashes at Paden, very aware that the strange reaction she'd had while looking at him in the diner hadn't dissipated with the cold.
"Come on," he growled and took her arm.
Through the blinding, swirling snow, he led her back to the hotel. Though it wasn't far, it seemed like forever as she took step after step in the glacial wind, glad that she had Paden leading the way even if his presence threw her off-balance.
Truth be told, Thea had no idea how she would have made it back to the hotel if this man hadn't come out to rescue her, even though the hotel was only a five-minute walk away.
After what seemed like hours, Paden marched her up to the hotel and into the lobby. Warmth engulfed her immediately, and she moved instinctively toward the fireplace where a roaring fire generated lifesaving heat. She stretched out her hands and closed her eyes in bliss. Little by little, her shivering body calmed as dizziness swirled through her mind.
Paden came to stand next to her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him, smiling her thanks languidly.
"You little fool," he said again, contempt dripping from each syllable. Her smile disappeared in an instant. "Don't you realize how dangerous this weather can be?"
"No," she said. "I mean, yes. I mean, not until now."
He snorted. "It only takes moments for hypothermia to set in, and if you get disoriented and wander off the road we won't find you till it's too late."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"It's September, winter is settling in fast," he told her. "I suggest you find someone to walk you back to the hotel every night."
He went to leave, but for some inexplicable reason, she didn't want him to go. She must have a masochistic streak she had no idea about. Thea grabbed his arm, halting his retreat. He glanced first at her small hand resting against his large arm before piercing her with his grim stare.
"Yes?"
She cleared her throat, yanking her hand back like he'd scorched her. "My name is Panthea Snow. Thank you."
He didn't say anything. He just stared at her as if she were a bug he was inspecting. Thea fidgeted, not used to such scrutiny. He turned abruptly and walked away, leaving her staring after him.
He hadn't even introduced himself.
Title-Once Upon a Love Story
Series-Love Story # 2
By- Beth D. Carter
Genre-Contemporary Erotic Romance
Blurb-
Caleb Tasker lost his wife to cancer but it took him a long time to put her memory to rest. Deciding he needs a vacation, he accepts the gracious invitation of living in his friend's Malibu home for an over due holiday.
Delilah Ward grew up in rural Mississippi and ran away when she was sixteen, moving to Los Angeles with thoughts of being anything but the person she was born to be. But reality settled in quickly and the bright lights of Hollywood soon faded into the dark abyss of dancing on a darkened platform.
Caleb is used to love being easy and Delilah is used to fighting against everything. They have nothing in common except a wildfire attraction that won't let go of them. But when tough choices need to be made, will they both be able to be honest to what they really want?
Excerpt from Once Upon a Love Story-
"I'm going to head to the bar," Jake said.
"You go ahead," Caleb replied. "I want to check out the stage."
Jake grinned and disappeared into the crowd. As Caleb began to head toward the stage he happened to glance to his right and saw a beautiful African-American woman giving out beer to passing people. Even in the low light he could see disdain in her eyes as she smiled at the man standing in front of her. She held out a cold beer plucked from the icy casket in front of her, twisting off the cap with a deft flick of her wrist. She wore a one-piece bathing suit, scarlet red and cut high on the side, showing off her gorgeous long legs. Her black hair fell in a straight curtain past her shoulders and a silver headband held her bangs back. Her dark skin glistened under the overhead lights.
The man stuck a dollar in a tip bucket as he walked on, taking a long drink from his beer. The woman said thanks, and as she turned, the fake smile immediately slid from her lips. Before he knew what he was doing, he had walked over to where she stood passing out beer.
"Would you like one?" she said, the fake smile falling back into place.
"Sure," he answered.
She popped the top and handed him one. When he took it, she turned back to look at the crowded room as if waiting for him to go. Only Caleb didn't leave. He moved to the side as a couple more people came up to get beer.
"My name is Caleb," he said, once they were alone again.
She flicked a cautious, hesitant look at him and flashed that impersonal smile.
"I'm sorry for lingering, but I don't know anyone here," he went on. "And you seem to hold the monopoly on manly drinks."
"'Glass after glass you drain to quench his thirst,'" she quoted.
"'Each glass contains a spirit like the first,'" he quoted back without missing a beat, and he could tell he impressed her when her mouth dropped open.
"You know Ella Wheeler Wilcox?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Why, is that a surprise?"
She shifted back and looked him up and down. Caleb found himself strangely aroused by her perusal. "Pardon me for saying, but you don't look like a man who quotes female poets."
"What kind of man do I look like?"
She pursed her lips. "I don't know. A lumberjack?"
Caleb scratched his beard and smiled. "Close. I'm a forest ranger, actually, from Alaska."
A man walked up and the woman opened a beer before handing it over with a flirty smile. The man winked at her, nodded at Caleb, and walked away. And as soon as he was gone the brightness of her face drained away.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Candy," she answered immediately.
"Really? Well, okay."
"What's wrong with my name?"
"You don't look like a Candy."
She raised a sculptured eyebrow. "What do I look like?"
"Something classical, with maybe a touch of exotic."
She cocked her head and stared at him. Caleb had the distinct feeling that she was sizing him up, making some type of monumental decision. "Delilah," she finally said, slowly, as if she still wasn't sure she wanted to tell him. Then she gave a rueful laugh. "I don't usually tell men my real name."
That confused him. "Why?"
Another man walked up and a smile lit up Delilah's face for the time it took to hand him a beer. When the man walked away, like before, the smile faded from her lovely face.
"Candy is my working name," she told him abruptly.
"This work?"
She shrugged and made a sweeping gesture with her hand, encompassing the whole room. "Weekend work. Pays well, I can keep my clothes on, and I'm home by one a.m."
A hideous thought entered his mind. "Are you trying to tell me that you, ah, you're a…"
She seemed to take grim amusement when words failed him. He saw her shoulders straighten as she stiffened her spine. Her dark eyes watched him, appraising him, and for some reason Caleb felt like he was on trial.
"I'm a stripper," she told him bluntly. "At The Pink Pony. Monday through Friday. Stop by if you'd like."
Title- Lights, Camera, Love Story-
Series- Love Story # 3
By- Beth D. Carter
Genre- Contemporary Erotic Romance
Blurb-
Jake Coolidge is Hollywood's hot new star. Growing up in Los Angeles among the film sets his father worked on, Jake knows fame is fickle so he lives life to the fullest. He never has to search far for a pretty face with an amazing body to fill his bed, and he never, ever, promises fidelity.
Norah Scaritt has lived her whole life in a fantasy world. Knowing she would never be the girl to wear a bikini or short shorts, she's come to accept that she has curves even though she secretly wishes she was one of the slim, beautiful models that decorates Jake's arm.
She's written a movie script that she knows Jake will be perfect for, but she's ill prepared for the magnetic attraction she feels for him. As she tries to form a professional bond with him, his hot and cold attitude breaks her heart one too many times. Can Jake save a love that he denied before he's lost the only person that ever really mattered?
Excerpt from Lights, Camera, Love Story-
Norah was standing in line at the post office when her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She sat the package she was going to send on the little island next to her and dug her phone out. She didn't recognize the number but she decided to answer it anyway in case it was Jill calling from a different phone line.
"Hello?" she asked softly.
"Hello, Norah Scaritt?" a deep male voice asked.
"Yes?"
"This is Jake Coolidge. I work with your cousin Jill."
Norah's mind went blank. She pulled her phone away and looked at it, as if that was going to give her divine answers to thinking. Oh god! And that's as far as her brain got.
"Hello? Miss Scaritt?"
"Uh…yes. I'm here." She hoped Jake Coolidge could not hear the breathless quiver in her voice. She glanced behind her at the other customers and got out of line so she could have a private moment with Jake Coolidge!
She moved the phone away to clear her throat and then returned it. But it was impossible to steady her pounding heartbeat so she didn't even try.
"Yes, Mr. Coolidge, I'm here. How may I help you?" She gave a fist pump her voice came out sounding normal.
"Last month Jill gave me your script to read and I was hoping we could meet for lunch and talk about it."
Had she just died?
Because no frickin' way had Jake Coolidge just asked her to lunch!
"Definitely," she murmured calmly. "Is there a day that works well with you?"
"How about tomorrow?"
"I am free tomorrow."
"Great. I live in Malibu. There's a great little café on the PCH, just past Las Floras Canyon Road called The Applegate. Meet me there about noon?"
"That sounds nice. Thank you for your call."
He gave a smooth chuckle. "My pleasure. See you tomorrow, Miss Scaritt."
And he clicked off.
Norah stood there for a long moment, staring at her phone, wondering if she'd just dreamed the whole conversation with Jake Coolidge.
Jake frickin' Coolidge!
She jumped up in the air with a whoop of joy and then danced in a circle. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was still in the post office and everyone in line was looking at her and smiling.
She held up the phone. "Good news."
The woman closest to her smiled. "Congratulations. Is this your package?"
"Oh. Yeah. Holy heck, I've got to run. Thank you!"
She grabbed the box and hurried out the door, her fingers already speed-dialing Jill. Her cousin answered on the second ring.
"Guess who I have a lunch date with tomorrow?" she asked, not even bothering to give a greeting.
"Um, Brad Pitt?"
"Why would I have a lunch date with Brad Pitt?"
"How would I know?"
"Jake Coolidge called me!"
"Really? He must have read your screenplay!"
"Yep. That's what he wants to talk about. What do you think that means?"
"I think it means he wants to talk about your screenplay."
"No, not that," Norah grumbled. "I meant, do you think that's a good sign? That he liked it? It's gotta be because he liked it. Right? He wouldn't set up a lunch date to tell me it sucked, would he?"
"I'm sure he liked it," Jill replied.
"But?"
"But what?"
"Your answer sounded like it had a but in there."
"No but. He does have a fine-looking one, though." Jill giggled.
"Oh my god!" Norah squealed. "What am I going to wear? What am I going to eat? What am I going to wear?"
"You asked that one twice. Calm down, Norah. It's just Jake. I talk to him all the time."
"You do?"
"On set, yes. I usually have to get him when he's needed on set."
"Is he nice or a jerk? Is he really that gorgeous in person? Should I dye my hair blonde?"
Jill laughed. "Slow down, cowgirl! Jake is nice, but he's a player. If it's got a pussy he's trying to hump it. Yes, he's very handsome and absolutely do not dye your hair. Calm down, Norah, before you hyperventilate to death."
"I know," Norah said, dragging in a deep lungful of air. "I have to go home and pick out what I'm going to wear."
Jill laughed. "Go ahead. Call me after the meeting."
Playlist-
With each story I write I have a signature song that drives my muse. With Love Story for a Snow Princess, I focused on the pain of both people and channeled that from the song "Bother" by Stone Sour. Hauntingly beautiful song with powerful lyrics that kick you in the gut, and it fits the hurt and anger driving both characters.
In Once Upon a Love Story, Delilah was the focal point driving Caleb's desires so the lyrics to "Undisclosed Desires" by Muse is really what's in his heart. You have two opposite people falling in love, a man who believes in it completely and a woman who doesn't believe at all.
"I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart"
For Lights, Camera, Love Story, I shifted things once again, this time having the hero, Jake Coolidge, be the focus. Jake is, well, he's slightly a man-whore. Don't think too badly of him, he had crappy parents. When I heard "Love Has Come for Me" by Colton Dixon I thought it was the perfect anthem for a man who gets knocked over the head by love.
Character Bios-
From Love Story for a Snow Princess:
Paden Winters: Paden is originally from Florida, the only heir to a yacht building empire. When he was ten, he was kidnapped for ransom and was held in captivity for ten months aboard a boat, abused in more ways than one. Later in the life, the experience left him unable to find sexual pleasure except when he cut himself. He went through years of counseling for his problem until he left Florida and isolated himself in the small town of River Ice, Alaska. He thought he had everything under control until Panthea Snow comes to town.
Panthea Snow: Thea was traveling home one night with her family when the unthinkable happened. A car accident left her the sole survivor with an abnormal fear of blood. A year later, she still wrestles with depression and decides to replace one family with another by signing up as a mail-order bride in Alaska. But she can't go through with it. Instead, she gets stranded in River Ice and meets Paden Winters and falls for him before she realizes his cutting problem.
From Once Upon a Love Story:
Caleb Tasker: Caleb is a forest ranger. He lost his young wife to cancer and, like Panthea, needs something to keep him going. Which is why he sent away for a wife. Once he meets Thea, he realizes he can't marry her. Two years later, Thea lets him borrow her old house in Malibu, California for a much needed vacation. He befriends a man name Jake who leads him to meeting Delilah Ward, a woman wary of any type of emotional entanglements. Caleb convinces her to let him woo her but his belief in happy ever after scars her.
Delilah Ward: Delilah had a very tough start in life. From the deep south, her mother prostituted her out at age thirteen. When she was sixteen, she lost a baby, which was her wake up call to get away and find the life she only dreamed of. So she ran to Hollywood, but once there she didn't have much of a choice so she began dancing on a stripper's stage. She has self taught herself for seven years and her dream is to get her GED. From Lights, Camera, Love Story: Jake Coolidge: He's Hollywood's newest heart throb but Jake grew up on film sets and knows how fickle fame can be. His father was a director who got a fifteen year old girl pregnant, causing him to be imprisoned. The scandal broke Jake's life apart. Now, he doesn't believe in true love. He's been given a movie script that he knows is perfect for him, but when he meets the author, Norah, he's blindsided with how much he wants her. Norah Scaritt: Norah comes from a small town in Missouri with dreams of being a Hollywood screen writer. She knows Jake is perfect for her screenplay but she's shocked at how much she's attracted to him. She tries to maintain a professional distance with him, but he keeps drawing her in until she falls in love. Dream Cast- In Love Story for a Snow Princess: Paden Winters: Ryan Reynolds (with a beard) Once Upon a Love Story: Caleb Tasker: Justin Hartley
Panthea Snow: Emma Stone
Delilah Ward: Zoe Saldana
Jake Coolidge: Dave Franco
Norah Scaritt: Amanda Lajcaj
About the Author-
I like writing about the very ordinary girl thrust into extraordinary circumstances, so my heroines will probably never be lawyers, doctors or corporate highrollers. I try to write characters who aren't cookie cutters and push myself to write complicated situations that I have no idea how to resolve, forcing me to think outside the box. I love writing characters who are real, complex and full of flaws, heroes and heroines who find redemption through love.
I've been pretty fortunate in life to experience some amazing things. I've lived in France, traveled throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand. I am a mom to an amazing little boy. I live in Los Angeles, surrounded by friends and family. I hate washing dishes but I love cooking. I hate washing clothes but I love wearing them. Writing my bio is difficult because I never know what to say so I hope you like this one. My favorite color is red but I look best in black (it's slimming). I hate people who don't pick up their dog's crap in public places, people who don't use turn signals, and I really hate people who are rude and condescending. I especially hate discrimination in all and every form. And although I love holding a book in my hand, I absolutely adore my ereader, whom I've named Ruby. I love to hear from readers so I've made it really easy to find me on:
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