You might be thinking – what on earth is Lime talking about? Well, the re-release of one of Joey W. Hill‘s books! She’s a total sweetheart, incidentally, and her books are hot. But you don’t want to read my babble, you want to read a super sexy excerpt. And see what she’s giving away. 😉

Mermaids and Angels Return…just in time for Christmas!

First the good stuff, before I natter at you. Here’s a little clip from the beginning of A Mermaid’s Kiss: An angel has fallen into the sea, and Anna is trying to hide him from his pursuing enemies…

The angelic Jonah has been battling the Dark Ones for centuries. But his noble spirit has begun to tire with the weight of war—allowing a Dark One to strike a blow that severs his wings and knocks him into the sea.

Anna is a Daughter of Arianne—a direct descendant of the mermaid of legend. Anna’s longing for love compels her to risk her very life to protect and hide the fallen Jonah. And the longer Jonah delays his return to the heavens, the more Anna’s secret passions are tempted.

But as she falls more in love with him, Anna wonders if she’s destined to lose her heart and her dreams to save Jonah’s soul…

Anna wanted to turn back, take them out of this underwater maze of dark caves, but now she didn’t know which way was back. It didn’t matter. She’d just swim, the faster the better. Anything was better than not moving.

When the wing brushed the center of her back, at first she paid it no mind, but then she realized it wasn’t his wing. It was the angel’s hand, his arm coming inside the circle of the wing to take a sure clasp around her, bringing her close against his firm, warm body.

It’s all right. Be still and let me think, little one.

He was conscious at last. The relief she felt, not to be alone in this empty pit, almost made her sag against him before she remembered she was holding him up. Even though the voice was wholly inside her head, it reassured, not only because of the pitched velvet of it, but the command. It was a thought with no fear in it. No uncertainty. And an additional quality that unexpectedly distracted her from their immediate problem.

His hand moved along her back, then down to the curve of her hip, layered in tight scales that felt every movement of his touch. Her sensitive side fins feathered against his fingers.

A mermaid. A young mermaid, come to my aid. His hand went up, tangled in her loose hair. A maid in truth.

So he knew her kind, enough to know that the unmated girls wore their hair down. Then he found his way around to her mouth, and that thought skittered off somewhere, forgotten.

Despite the cold and fear, nerve endings activated like the sea fans agitated by the stimulation of an irresistible current. She eagerly embraced it, because it made the terror retreat enough so she could think again.

“They’re close,” she managed. “If they see your light…” She spoke in the way of mermaids, a combination of sounds that vibrated through the water, because she wasn’t sure if he could hear her thoughts. She also didn’t know if he knew her language, but she needn’t have worried. He didn’t seem to have any problem understanding her. She was able to feel his head nod, once. Sensed him probing their surroundings in some way. Despite that and the firm command in his mind-voice, she wondered if he would remain cognizant. While she didn’t want to hear it, pain and effort were there, in a strained note underneath his thoughts. His next words confirmed it, bringing back her fear.

Another mile down, there will be an outcropping, shaped like a dragon’s head. Do you know what a dragon is?

She nodded.

Good. Use it as your marker. Its mouth leads to a series of caverns. There should be light there. And warmth. But it is a long way. Far, far down into its belly. Too far.

She felt his attention on her, though she couldn’t see the features of his face.

You know…there are no female angels.

She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. “Save your strength, my lord. We will get you to safety.”

You are beautiful and kind, little one. But it is best to leave me. Let me die and save yourself. There are many angels, and only one of you.

He couldn’t know how true those last words were. Could he?

When she turned her head, her temple brushed his face, his jaw. At that moment, his other hand raised, and a soft blue light emitted from his palm, giving her a brief flash of dim light that almost made her sob in relief. His eyes had opened, the remarkable sweep of thick lashes now revealing his dark eyes. All dark. He had no whites, so the way he gazed at her was peculiar, animallike. She couldn’t tell his thoughts from them, or if he was having any thoughts at all.

She wanted to push away the thought that she would be descending even further into the darkness and freezing cold, and that he might be delirious. She sensed no fear in him, though he must know better than she what followed them.

I am quite conscious and rational…but I see you need proof.

His head descended and his lips, his mouth, were on hers. A turn of events that completely immobilized her. It wasn’t kissing, not exactly. It was as if he was tasting her, for his tongue traced hers, his lips coaxing hers apart.

Had she been cold? It seemed fire now swept her. She’d been holding him in the role of protector, but now she was pressed against him, one of his arms tightly around her body, making it clear who was the far stronger of the two of them. The one most capable of taking charge, keeping fears at bay.

She soared through those clouds of distracting thoughts and into a blue sky of something else. This was wanting and feeling and needing…ecstasy and sorrow together in that odd way, balancing release with never-ending yearning, leaving one in a strange confusion of joy. Her fingers crept up, wondrously touching the place where their lips met. His curved, and then his teeth nipped at her, making her start. Astonishingly, she almost laughed.

A convulsion went through him, disrupting the moment, making her heart leap into her throat. “My lord—”

Consciousness deserted him once more, his lips drifting along her jaw. Anna had never felt so awake in her life.

 ~*~

A few years ago, I was asked to write a “sensual” story for the Berkley Sensation line. Up until that time, I was a Dark Side dweller…hanging out over in the Berkley Heat side of things with my Vampire Queen series, which is pretty hardcore BDSM romance. Truth, I’m a dark side kind of girl, but I said “Sure, I’ll do it. I’ll write a sensual romance.” In the meantime, I was thinking: “Uh-huh. Doesn’t matter how hard you try, Joey—by the time you type ‘the end’, someone’s going to be tied up and enjoying it. If not, pigs will be flying to the moon.”

But what the heck. As long as the muse gives me a story, I’ll follow where it goes. As it turns out, she gave me a lovely one, both an erotic and spiritual journey. Jonah is an angel who has lost his purpose, and Anna, a descendant of Arianne, the original Little Mermaid, is determined to help him rediscover it. She’s on a short schedule, though, because the curse on her family says she’ll die when she’s twenty-one.  I was very surprised where the story went, because by the end of it, they’d traveled from coastal Florida to the Nevada desert, and had interacted with a variety of unexpected characters, including an Art Bell type radio program host, a carpenter and his wife, a WWII veteran… Did I mention Lucifer also shows up and he and Jonah get into a pissing match?

So why am I talking about a book that was released a few years ago? Because A Mermaid’s Kiss is being re-released in mass market format December 4. That means if you’ve never taken the plunge with my mermaids and angels (yes, of course angels can swim—they’re angels!) you can do so now, for a less expensive price. We all like to save money, right?

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt. If you’d like the chance to win a book of your choice (including this one), just leave me a comment or question. I’ll be checking in throughout the day to answer any questions or just put in my two cents (grin).

Oh, and if you want more of this story, you can read a chapter one excerpt from this book on my website, as well as free excerpts from the other two books in the Daughters of Arianne series, A Witch’s Beauty (about the seawitch, Mina) and A Mermaid’s Ransom (about Jonah and Anna’s daughter).

You can find Joey at her Website, Facebook, Twitter: @JoeyWHill, or her fan forum: (there’s free reads out here, revisiting my characters, as well as awesome graphics inspired by the books)

Come on – I know you must have some comments or questions after all that. And hey, even if you don’t, think of something, because there’s a sexy book up for grabs! <3