Book Sojourner: Review Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway: Hard As Steel by Laura Kaye

Hard as Steel - Review & Excerpt Tour - banner

We so excited to be able to bring you the Review & Excerpt Tour for Laura Kaye's HARD AS STEEL!! HARD AS STEEL is a Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover Series Novella brought to you by 1001 Dark Nights.

Hard as Steel by Laura Kaye
(Hard Ink #4.5)
September 22, 2015
128 pages
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance 18+
Contains: profanity, explicit sex

Amazon eBook ** Amazon Paperback

About HARD AS STEEL: A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover Novella

After identifying her employer's dangerous enemies, Jessica Jakes takes refuge at the compound of the Raven Riders Motorcycle Club. Fellow Hard Ink tattooist and Raven leader Ike Young promises to keep Jess safe for as long as it takes, which would be perfect if his close, personal, round-the-clock protection didn't make it so hard to hide just how much she wants him—and always has.

Ike Young loved and lost a woman in trouble once before. The last thing he needs is alone time with the sexiest and feistiest woman he's ever known, one he's purposely kept at a distance for years. Now, Ike's not sure he can keep his hands or his heart to himself—or that he even wants to anymore. And that means he has to do whatever it takes to hold on to Jess forever.

I loved the Hard Ink series, so I was uber excited that a novella would be coming out, linking Hard Ink with the Ravens MC. And who better to link the two series than Ike himself. Ike and Jessica, Jeremy's two co-workers from Hard Ink, were two characters we knew a little about, but not much, making the information gained about them in this novella even more exciting. While this little story takes place during the Hard Ink series, it's behind-the-scenes enough that it can easily be read as a standalone, but is exciting enough for fans of the series to love as an addition.

Ike and Jessica have a crazy amount of sexual tensionn between the two of them. Having worked together for four years, they certainly have spent enough time with each other to know if there's chemistry or not. But the deeper insights about each of them here reveals why a relationship has never been pursued. But should they pursue it? Even amidst danger, they cannot deny feeling something spark. But there are issues long held, especially by Ike, and walls erected that have to be torn down. Can love win out in the end?

Ike and Jessica's story was just the right amount of depth and heart, friends and lovers. And when I say lovers, I say hot, hot heat. Yowzers. Laura Kaye did not hold back! Plus, we get a peek into more of the Ravens MC, so I'm definitely looking forward to that series.

I’m thrilled to be here celebrating the release of my 21st book, HARD AS STEEL! After a midnight break-in at her apartment, close friends and Hard Ink Tattoo co-workers Ike Young and Jessica Jakes are forced into hiding—and forced to confront the feelings they’ve always denied for one another. I have always adored friends-to-lovers and forced proximity stories, and HARD AS STEEL delivers that and more, including a taste of both my award-winning and best-selling Hard Ink and upcoming Raven Riders series! Check out this excerpt:

“Night,” she said, heading up the steps.

“Night,” he replied, watching her hips sway in a pair of silky black shorts. Combined with the form-fitting black tank top and those perfect-for-grabbing pigtails, she was going to make it damn hard for him to fall asleep tonight.

Damn hard, indeed.

He turned out the light and went horizontal, the soft couch so comfortable against his sore back even though it was a little too short to fit his whole body. He adjusted his erection, willing it to get with the no-sex-with-Jess program. Problem was, in the quiet darkness, Ike could hear her moving around in the loft. Soft footsteps on the wood floor. The shifting of covers. The squeaking of the box spring. And all that did was invite his imagination out to play. Easy since he had so much material to work with after sleeping with Jess wrapped around him the past two nights.

His shoulders and chest knew what the silk of her hair felt like when it skimmed over his skin. His hip knew the heat of her core when she slept with her knee across his thighs. His hands had memorized the curve of her lower back and the shape of her biceps and just how much of her luscious a$$ he could fit in his palms.

Ike knew what her mouth tasted like, how tight her legs could wrap around his waist, and how f-ing beautiful the combination of ink and steel was on her skin.

Jesus, his cock was never going to let him go to sleep at this rate.

And was it f-ing hot in here or what? He tossed the cover off, wishing he had a ceiling fan downstairs, too. Something for the to-do list around this place.

Ike sighed and flung his hand over his head. And wondered why the hell he was torturing himself this way.

He could just go up there and get in the bed—and take what he wanted, and what he knew Jess would be only too happy to give. Neither of them was immune to the mutual attraction that had always been there between them. And her reaction to his kiss the other day made it crystal f-ing clear that she was waiting for him to make his move.

Jess had plenty of one-night stands and casual hook-ups. Ike knew she was perfectly capable of handling that kind of relationship.

Except.

Except Ike wasn’t a clueless idiot, and he wasn’t in the habit of doing things he knew damn right well would hurt someone he cared about. Jess wore her emotions like she wore her ink—out loud and unapologetically. He had a pretty good idea that she was rocking some more-than-friendly and more-than-physical feelings for him. Right now, she thought them unrequited, and that kept a kind of sexually tense equilibrium between them. But if he let himself off the leash—even just once—he’d very likely raise and dash her hopes, give her all kinds of mixed signals, and screw things up royally between them.

He shook his head and heaved a deep breath. If he wasn’t going to go the distance with her, he had no business taking the first step.

End of.

About Laura Kaye: Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty books in contemporary and paranormal romance and romantic suspense. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.