First of all…
Everyone’s probably busy getting ready for their holiday weekend celebrations. Hamburgers and watermelon, apple pie and parades, fireworks and fireflies. What a great holiday!
But if you have a few minutes while you’re waiting for the pie to bake or the potatoes to finish boiling for the potato salad, here’s a sizzling, summertime treat to feast your eyes upon:
Hubba hubba, huh?
Hopefully you’ll find what’s on the pages inside the book just as enjoyable. I’ve been so focused on getting the word out about FADE TO BLACK (showing up in stores this weekend! 
) that I’ve sort of overlooked this fun and sexy summer anthology. Thanks to Katie for pointing that out!)
My story, PROPOSITIONED, is a fun, sexy one about Liz Talbot, a former Boston executive who decided to just drop-out of the fast lane when her sleazy ex-husband broke her heart. Sticking a pin in a map, she ended up on the beautiful island of St. Lucia, and she never left. Working as a bartender at a beachfront bar, she’s loving her new life, not missing her old one at all. But then one day, a very sexy remnant of that old life shows up at her bar. It’s Jack “Bad-Boy” Beaumont, a playboy millionaire she’d once been very attracted to. And Jack’s presence in St. Lucia isn’t a coincidence. He came for one thing: Liz!
Here’s a brief excerpt. Hope you enjoy!! The book is being released on Tuesday, so hopefully while you’re out looking for FADE TO BLACK you’ll keep your eyes out for this one, too! 
Or if you’d like to order it from Amazon, here’s a link.
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Jack Beaumont hadn’t been sure how Liz Talbot would react to seeing him again. It had been a year and a half since he’d laid eyes on her. Eighteen months since she’d ditched her job with a major public relations firm—not to mention ditching her cheating husband—and disappeared off the face of the earth.
Those eighteen months had treated her well. Very well. If she’d been pretty back in Boston, she was damn near stunning now. Stunning enough to cause him to watch quietly from the other side of the room, visually drinking her in for the first few minutes after his arrival.
Part of him had hoped she’d be happy when they came face to face. Or, if not, at least unable to hide a quick flash of pleasure, even if she quickly hid it behind an impersonal smile.
Wishful thinking. Because he didn’t even get that. No smile. No happiness. No warmth at all. Instead, as she finally turned her head and fully met his stare, she looked most like someone about to step on a cockroach.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, speaking more to herself than to him.
Yeah. Definite dislike there.
The only question was, why? An unwelcome reminder of her past life, okay. He’d been prepared for that. Personal dislike, however, hadn’t even entered his mind.
After all, they’d liked each other a lot once upon a time. Neither of them had ever admitted it, considering she’d had a wedding ring on her finger and he’d been her husband’s boss, but there’d even been a spark of something more than liking. At least on his part. And to his knowledge, he’d never done anything to make her dislike him.
Unless she just hated all men after what her scumbag ex had done. Tim Talbot, the slimy little prick, was enough to make any woman swear off the opposite sex.
“Of all the rum joints in all the Caribbean, you had to walk into mine,” she murmured.
“Sorry,” he said with a smile. “But you can stop channeling Bogey. I’m not Ingrid Bergman and this is not Casablanca.”
And they most certainly didn’t have Paris. Or anything resembling a romantic relationship.
Not that he hadn’t wanted one, he certainly had. Ever since he’d first laid eyes on her, Liz had attracted him on a deep, physical level. Not merely beautiful, she had a smooth, throaty voice made for whispering sensual secrets, and a genuine laugh that drew the eye of every person around her. Plus she oozed feminine self-confidence without displaying a speck of vanity.
“No, not a romantic movie like Casablanca.” Her eyes—beautiful sea-green eyes—closed briefly, the sooty lashes dark against her lightly tanned cheeks. Though she quickly opened them again, they remained the tiniest bit narrowed. “This is more like Alien vs. Predator.” Though her words were sharp, her tone was more weary than anything else.
“Ouch. Sure we can’t go for An Affair To Remember?”
“Keep dreaming.”
“Are we mortal enemies now?”
“Well, we’re not friends.”
“Nice to see you, too,” he said, undeterred, even as he acknowledged that she wasn’t merely disinterested, she really had something against him. He just didn’t know what. “Though if you’re waiting for a sharp-clawed creature to erupt out of my chest, I have to say I hope you’re disappointed.”
“I was picturing you more as the one with the dredlocks.”
“Making you the sharp-clawed creature?”
She laughed a little before she could stop herself.
And everything suddenly felt better.
Leslie Kelly used to say she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up, but then she discovered Nancy Drew books. Being a flashlight-under-the-covers-nose-in-book reader throughout her childhood, she couldn’t think of anything else she’d rather do as an adult than continue to lose herself in fictional stories. Her real life marriage of 20 years to the man of her dreams is a constant reinforcement that happily-ever-afters really can happen…and that they’re worth writing about. Living in Maryland, Leslie spends her non-writing time laughing a lot with the above-mentioned romance hero and their three daughters. Though an author of more than thirty sexy, contemporary comedies, she has recently branched out to write dark romantic suspense under the pseudonym Leslie Parrish.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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Happy 4th of July everyone!
I spent yesterday cooking ribs (my first BTW) and they are just falling off the bone! Last night I put my pinto beans onto cook overnight in the slow cooker(they are done and yummy). My mom is making the potato salad because I stink at making it. When I make any my family groans.
(Oh god mom made potato salad again 
DO WE HAVE TO EAT IT?) LOL Yes, I know my limits and potato salad is it! Yeah it really is THAT bad! LOL
Celebrate and enjoy the time with your loved ones!
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I will be working at the Capitol 4th of July… We have great weather here in DC, lets hope it stays.
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Good morning Les…I hope that everyone has a wonderful Day celebrating with family and friends today…I see that the sun is shining in my part of good ole New England, and I hope it keeps it up for the rest of the day…
Les, I wish they had triple S on the stands when I went book shopping yesterday…I will go out later on today to find it…I missed Leslie Kelly books…I too have been really focused on your alterego, I forgot about your softer side too…forgive me…This summer is going to be filled with so much great books…my goal is to read about 50+ books…I can do it, too…wishful thinking anyway…I abso loved the excerpt…I will get a couple of copies for some of my friends too…
Happy Independence Day everyon!
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Happy 4th of July everyone!
Leslie, I have my copy of Sun, Sand, Seduction! on my e-reader. Hope to make it to the bookstore today to look for many books that are out or scheduled to come out in the next day or so. No huge plans for today or tonight. Going to someone’s house to see the huge Nashville fireworks show. Right now taking care of laundry and watching the Williams sisters at Wimbledon.
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ooooo what fun – love the banter !!! my TPR pile is getting awefully tippy
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Ban, my TBR pile has already avalanched!
Leslie, I can’t wait to read this one! As soon as my edits are done,
I’m going to take a couple of days and do nothing but read! 
Happy 4th, everyone!
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the kid is headed back to LA and we will head out to the local ballpark for a game. the fireworks make it worthwhile and I won’t have to cook or clean anything!!
Oh, and beer.
Looking forward to the book. Gotta catch my ereader up!
Happy 4th everyone!!!
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Great excerpt!
HAPPY 4TH!!
Cher
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Enjoyed the excerpt!
Congratulations on the Tuesday release day!
Pat Cochran
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Hubba Hubba!
Enjoy the 4th everyone.
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Ok I can just as easily look for two books.
You naughty girl. Don’t u b forgeting L. Kelly.
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Happy July 4th everyone.
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Terrific excerpt!
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you hooked me, Les!
Happh 4th All!
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Happy 4th of July, Everyone!
I hope you’re all having a fun, relaxing day!
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I’d already decided to purchase that book after you posted the cover on the Blaze Authors blog, but the excerpt just confirmed that I really really want to read it