Wilder Adventures
One day about six months ago I was fretting over not knowing how to start my book. All I knew was that I had three brothers running an adventure expedition company. I wanted the guys to be big and bad and tough, and of course sexy, and I wanted them all to be felled, one by one, by love. I wanted them to fall hard and messily, and I even knew by who.
What I didn’t know was who the hell the first hero was and what he was so damn reluctant and reticent and wounded from, I had no idea what had made him who he was.
And then this song came on the radio. It was by Lifehouse, one of my favorite bands, and as I listened to the song, I realized they’d been kind enough to solve all my problems. The words to Whatever It Takes had me suddenly fully understanding the hero.
I love it when that happens.
I won’t tell you more now cuz I don’t want to spoil the unveiling, so to speak. But I turned the book in last week and I just wanted to give a big shout out and eternal THANK YOU to Lifehouse for the below lyrics, which put everything into perspective when I most desperately needed it. For now, here’s the lyrics that started it all.
Whatever It Takes
By LIFEHOUSEA strangled smile fell from your face
It kills me that I hurt you this way
The worst part is that I didn’t even know
Now there’s a million reasons for you to go
But if you can find a reason to stayI’ll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what’s at stake
I know that I’ve let you down
And if you give me a chance
Believe that I can change
I’ll keep us together whatever it takesShe said “If we’re gonna make this work
You gotta let me inside even though it hurts
Don’t hide the broken parts that I need to see”
She said “Like it or not it’s the way it’s gotta be
You gotta love yourself if you can ever love me”I’ll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what’s at stake
I know that I’ve let you down
And if you give me a chance
And give me a break
I’ll keep us together, I know you deserve much betterBut remember the time I told you the way that I felt
That I’d be lost without you and never find myself
Let’s hold onto each other above everything else
Start over, start overI’ll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what’s at stake
I know I’ve let you down
And if you give me a chance
and believe that I can change
I’ll keep us together whatever it takes
Here’s an Excerpt
Apparently he was always going to appear when she was somehow embarrassing herself or out of her element. With a sigh, Katie turned and faced her tall, strapping, gorgeous stranger from last night.
Except he wasn’t a stranger.
No, Cameron Wilder was her boss, he of the sun-kissed unruly brown hair, razor sharp green eyes and scruffy face that she inexplicably and inappropriately wanted to feel rubbing all over her bare body. He wore the boots he’d had on last night, with lose khaki cargoes and a thick, soft-looking black sweater that she wanted to press her note to.
What was with her?
He reached out and removed her fogged glasses, cleaning them on the hem of his sweater while she squinted and focused the best she could.
“Why do they fog?” he asked.
Gee, because you’re hot? “Um . . . they do that sometimes.” When a hot guy gets close . . . which almost never happened.
In truth, Cam wasn’t classically handsome. Nope, his nose was slightly crooked. And then there was the scar bisecting his left eyebrow. He had fine lines fanning out from his eyes, reflecting he’d lived his life, a real life out here in the mountains, and also apparently all over the planet with
a board strapped to his feet. That drew her too.
So much.
Then there were his eyes, filled a wicked bad-boy glint, which shockingly drew her in, but it actually wasn’t just a physical appeal. She sensed a hint of something much deeper inside him, something . . . haunting, and though she had no idea what it was exactly, it was that which drew her most of all…
He set her glasses back on her nose. She could have told him not to bother, that if he kept doing stuff like, oh, breathing, they were just going to keep fogging. Finding her composure by sheer will, she pointed to her desk. “I was hoping you could give me a hand getting started here.”
“You do remember me from last night, right?” He leaned that tightly muscled body against her desk. “The most unhelpful man you’ve ever met?” he reminded her.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.” She winced at the memory. “But in my defense, I was a little…discombobulated at the time.”
“Yeah.” He offered a little smile that fried more than a few brain cells. “Me too.”
“Really?” He’d seemed . . . exhausted, but definitely at ease, especially in his own skin.
“Hell yeah. I came home and found a beautiful woman in my bed that I didn’t put there.”
The first book of this series is coming out February 2009.
