Word of the Week: ex-hole — Your asshole ex-husband, ex-boyfriend or just plain ex. A phrase used to refer to that person you used to date but now can’t stand.
As usual before the release of a new book, I like to post an excerpt or deleted scene from the story, if one is available. And you know there are only FIVE-odd DAYS LEFT before KNOCK ME FOR A LOOP comes out!
If you don’t believe me, just ask the Countdown Clock. 
So today I’m going to share a snippet of story that didn’t make it into the final book. Apparently because it was just a tad too bloodthirsty. Yeah, well, we all know where I stand on that issue. 
But even if this part of the scene got cut, I sure did have fun writing it—& I hope you have fun reading it. Just don’t hold any of Grace’s actions here against her. Remember, she has issues. 
“Hey! Sleeping Beauty!” she called, more loudly this time. And instead of touching his bare skin with her bare skin, she lifted a leg a la Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid to poke him in the hip with the tip of her hot pink and glittery white Sketcher.
“Wake.” Poke. “Up.” Poke-poke. “You lazy.” Kick. “Ass.” Shove.
By the last, she was pressing almost full-forced against the meaty side of his left buttock with the entire flat of her shoe and starting to breathe hard.
Good lord, was he even alive? she wondered crossly. How could anyone sleep so heavily that they didn’t budge when somebody was literally whomping them in the butt?
Rounding the end of the bed, she hunkered down and leaned on the mattress to bring her face nearly nose to nose with his.
Was he breathing?
She stuck two fingers under his nostrils and felt for air.
Hmm. She couldn’t tell, but his lips weren’t blue, which she took as a good sign.
Was his chest moving?
Lifting her head, she watched for a minute and thought she saw his back shift up and down ever so slightly, but couldn’t quite tell about that, either.
All right, time for the Nurse Betty routine.
Canting herself sideways over the bed again, she lifted one of his eyelids to study his pupil, while at the same time reaching for his wrist to feel for a pulse.
The pulse was a definite, thank goodness, but the eye . . . well, she didn’t know what the hell she was looking for, anyway.
Doing one show about CPR and watching three seasons of ER didn’t exactly make her a paramedic.
“Hey, Zack!” she tried in a near-shout.
Seriously, how he couldn’t be plugging his ears or pulling a pillow over his head by now, she’d never know.
He gave a sudden short snort, startling her into dropping his eyelid and jumping back. But when he turned back into Coma Boy almost immediately, she scowled, huffing in frustration, and decided that–come Hell, high water, or an elephant gun–she was going to wake him and get him out of this bed.
“Yo, dickhead!” she yelled and gave the cheek not glued to the mattress a light slap.
Ooh, that felt good.
Slap. A little harder this time. “Wake up. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”
She kept repeating it, practically breaking into song and punctuating each request with a smack just a bit sharper than the last.
He groaned, his brow furrowing in confusion even as his eyes remained closed.
“Oh, Zaaaa-aaaack.” This time, she lowered her voice and whispered his name seductively. Then gave him a nice slap.
He he, this was kind of fun. Maybe she didn’t want him to wake up. She could happily spend the rest of the day lying here, slapping the crap out of him.
She was really getting into it, smacking out a little ditty to the tune of Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” when he began to squint. And squirm. And curse beneath his breath, if all the grumbling gurgles were any indication.
“Whata hellif gona?”
Which she took to mean, What the hell is going on?
To be continued…FEBRUARY 2nd!!! 
There you go again…tempting me! LOL!!! Have a great rest of the day Heidi. I will check back in later. I should probably catch some zzzzz. Good night/morning.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
Aww poor Za, nevermind. Grace made me laugh! This book is going to be soooooooo much fun!!!
Whoo-hoo, Paula scored the Golden Halo!
She just had to stay up waaaaay past her bedtime to do it. 
Laura~ (Or do I mean Gage & Dylan? *vbg*) I certainly hope the story lives up to everyone’s expectations after all the cruel & blatant teasing I’ve done this month.
I can’t wait!! Heidi, tell me this will be released for the Kindle, because I went to pre-order and could not. Was verrrrrry sad.
I already pre-ordered my copy..I am like everyone else…I CAN’T WAIT!
It doesn’t help there is that damn countdown. Every time I see the seconds tick by I swear I can hear an invisible clock in my head ticking away as well. Since I have two delightfully bratty kids I know it isn’t my biological clock ticking. The pendulum was broken after my second daughter came out and started blaming everything on her brother lol.
I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS BOOK!!!!!
Mistress Heidi says Mwahahahahahahaha!
Maisey~ I really really *think* it will also be released for Kindle. The other two were, right? And I would think the Kindle version would be available the same time as the paperback, but…well, the fact that it’s not available for pre-order via Kindle does raise questions. I’ll try to find out!
Heidi–I have no idea how Gage and Dylan got in my bed, uh I mean house and hacked into my computer. They are such bad boys. Gonna have to go all Mistress Heidi on them!!
Laura, I’ve read the books…you could NOT handle both of those men at once. Although…trying might be fun…
Heidi, yep, I haz the other two on my Kindle, so you’d *think*…but yeah, let me know. If not, I have to pre-order.
OMG!OMG!! this book is going to be sooo much fun!!! SQUEEEE!!!!
Those litte hackers are so going to be punished!!! If they think Grace gave Zack the smackdown–these boys ain’t seen nothin yet!!!!!!
Grace was just making sure the overconcussed [it's my word] hockey player is not in a deep coma. She’s such a humanitarian…
Hey Heidi, I was up really late finishing up a book. It looks like I will be up late again tonight…all I can say is
Lucky 13…go Dylan and Ronnie!!! and “naked knitting.” That is some pretty potent yarn spun by Charlotte.
Where do you come up with these ideas? I am almost done…and I don’t want it to end. But, I want to catch up with everyone else too…I am so gonna miss these guys when the book is done. I love these guys. Girl, it was more than worth the wait to read these books. I am so glad I held out because I definitely would not have been patient enough to wait for the “Loves Me” after reading “Tangled”. WOW and I see that a little of Mistress Heidi was in there kicking in her two cents. Have a great night everyone! I know I will be having some sweet dreams tonight. LOL!!!!!
Peace and love,
Paula R.
Paula~ You are so sweet, thank you. I’m glad I could keep you up past your bedtime…glad you’re enjoying Dylan & Ronnie…glad they were wroth the wait… And I’m glad you’re liking the naked knitting part; that was one of my favorites!
So let me guess…you are glad that I love this book? LOL!!!! I remembered reading something on the blog that mentioned the naked knitting, and I remember wondering what that was all about. You are very welcome btw.
Peace and love,
Paula R.