Lying in Shadows is the first in the Event Horizon series of contemp romantic suspense stories. Some of the characters may already be familiar to readers, from the Talisman series, and the standalones Perfect Stranger and Pole Position.
It’s as much romance as it is suspense, set in a high-tech global company, where good people sometimes do bad things. Just like real life.
P.S. – Event Horizon are a rock band. This could be a whole new genre – hot rocker romantic suspense?
Title: Lying in Shadows
Series: Event Horizon, #1
Genre: Romantic suspense
Heat level: Light
Author: Sofia Grey
Release date: 24 February 2017
Publisher: Acelette Press
Pricing: $0.99 for pre-order period, rising to $3.99 on release
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Tagline: Good people sometimes do bad things
Blurb
Marianne needs to find who's leaking secrets from her company, before they lose another major contract. What she doesn't need is an affair with her married boss. Even worse, to fall in love with him.
She discovers the security leak is more than a case of commercial espionage: someone is lying in the shadows, playing games with them. Now more than her heart and career are at stake—her life is on the line.
Author links:
Author bio:
Romance author Sofia Grey spends her days managing projects in the corporate world and her nights hanging out with wolf shifters and alpha males. She devours pretty much anything in the fiction line, but she prefers her romances to be hot, and her heroes to have hidden depths. When writing, she enjoys peeling back the layers to expose her characters’ flaws and always makes them work hard for their happy endings.
Music is interwoven so tightly into my writing that I can’t untangle the two. Either I’m listening to a playlist on my iPod, have music seeping from my laptop speakers, or there’s a song playing in my head – sometimes on auto-repeat.
Short Excerpt
Marcus was just so damned nice. Marianne had almost forgotten what good company he was and how easily they slipped back into being friends. She sensed there was something he wasn’t telling her. He’d lost weight in the past year, and had new worry lines on his forehead and shadows under his eyes. She almost asked if the rumours about him and Louisa were true, but managed to stop herself in time.
Was this the right moment to ask if his wife was on the verge of leaving him? Was there ever a good time?
“Thank you for walking me back.” It was all of two blocks, but she enjoyed having him at her side.
“Sleep well.” He made no move to leave.
Silence hung between them. Marianne should turn on her heel and walk into the apartment building, but she didn’t. What was it about Marcus that drew her so much? He was a complication she couldn’t afford.
“You too.” The quick hug she gave him was impulsive. Air-kissing cheeks was as close as they’d been up to now. The squeeze he gave her made her pulse quicken, but she moved. Stepped free. “Goodnight, Marcus.” She didn’t look back at him. She couldn’t.
Longer Excerpt
Marcus faced her. Now the night was ending, he felt more awake and alive than he had in a long time. “Yeah. It was good.” He spoke slowly and looked her in the eyes. “Thank you. For all of it.” He was transfixed by a puff of her breath on the freezing night air. Her perfume, sweet and woody at the same time, teased his senses. It suited her perfectly.
They were inches apart. He wouldn’t have to move far, to close the distance between them. He gazed at her lips, unable to tear himself away. Everything about Marianne called to him and always had. He’d allowed himself to become friends with her, knowing it was dangerous. Wanting Marianne was wrong. He had to think of Louisa.
Marianne ran a hand through her pixie-cut hair and leaned against him. “It’s so pretty here, but it’s freaking cold. What the hell was I thinking?”
Wrapping one arm around her shoulders was instinctive. His yearning to kiss her roared back into life, and he tried to ignore it. “It is pretty, but you’re beautiful.”
“Sweet talker,” she murmured. She made no move, and Marcus held her closer.
Jesus. Marianne filled all his senses. All his needs.
One taste—that was all he wanted. One hint of this beautiful, sassy woman. It would have to be enough. He couldn’t offer anything else.
He lifted his hand and cupped her cold cheek, brushing a pattern over the soft skin with his thumb. The air felt charged. He gazed into her eyes, waiting for a sign. Waiting for her to tell him to fuck off.
She didn’t.
Did she want him? He had to know. Need coursed through his veins, and he dropped his head and brushed his lips over hers. His world shrank to the bench in Trafalgar Square.
She didn’t retreat, so he moved in again, with another fleeting kiss that grazed her lips. He was crazy to think one taste would be enough. He wanted to gorge on her.
Marianne pulled back, opening a cool space between them. “This is wrong.” Her voice was husky. “We shouldn’t be doing this. You’ll hate me and yourself.”
She was right. He was behaving like an ass, but he still didn’t want to stop.
It took a superhuman effort, but he disentangled himself from her and stood. He took a step away and turned to face the empty square. His heart raced, as if he’d run a marathon. He tried to get his body under control.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, his mouth as dry as a gravel path. He couldn’t look at her. Didn’t dare to.
She huffed a breath behind him. “I can’t be your lover, Marcus, but I can be your friend.”
No. He wanted more, and that scared him. He had to fix things with Louisa, not get caught up in a flirtation going nowhere. He should be beating himself up with guilt right now, but he wasn’t. Instead, he felt panic at losing the chance of a stolen afternoon with Marianne. “Are we still going out tomorrow?”
