Excerpt: 'Just One Taste' by Kimberly Kincaid

Kimberly Kincaid shares an excerpt from her May 26 release, Just One Taste. Bonus! Anyone who preorders the book for only $1.99 can sign up to receive an entire deleted chapter from the story, featuring Jesse and Kat. Readers must sign up by May 25, and the deleted chapter will go out on May 26.

About the book (courtesy of Zebra):

A little home improvement can go a long way…

Jesse Oliver was a medic in Afghanistan, but back home in Pine Mountain he's happy to switch gears as the Double Shot bar's new sous chef. When his apartment floods and his old Army buddy offers the family's dilapidated lake house as temporary quarters, Jesse thinks a little remodeling on the creaky duplex sounds like a fair return favor. That's before he sets eyes on the gorgeous woman moving into the other side of the cabin—and discovers she's his buddy's kid sister, a.k.a totally off limits.

Kat McMarrin has fought hard for her space, and she's not too interested in sharing it. Of course, her job as a physical therapist means she won't see much of Jesse, even if he's a few thin floorboards away—unless she seeks him out. And with his sculpted body and slow-burn gaze, she might be tempted. Maybe the fixer-upper projects she has planned for the cabin will keep her mind off him. Or maybe her instincts to strip the place down will get out of hand…

Kimberly sets the scene for us …

Kimberly: Physical therapist Kat McMarrin has been flooded out of the cozy apartment she loves, and has to spend a month in her family's lakeside vacation cabin, which holds bittersweet memories. But her downstairs neighbor has been flooded out too, and he just happens to have been stationed with her brother Gabe in Afghanistan. Now that Jesse Oliver is home, he's just looking for a nice, quiet transition back to life stateside. But living across the hall from the fiery, beautiful, very off-limits sister of his Army buddy proves to be anything but easy...

EXCERPT

Kat stood in the door frame to the south side of the duplex with a grocery bag on her hip and a repeating chorus of this isn't happening running through her head. But she'd overheard enough of her brother Gabe's conversation with the guy standing next to him to understand where this was headed, and she needed to put the kibosh on the whole sure-you-can-stay-here thing, like now.

And then her potential roomie swung all the way around, and the argument on her lips spontaneously combusted.

"Jeez, Kat. Make some noise next time," Gabe managed to say over a laugh, shaking off the ingrained defensive stance he took on the rare occasion someone was able to sneak up on him. Funny, 1B had a carbon copy of the same maneuver. "And what do you mean, you just moved back in?"

Her brother's boots thumped over the thinning carpet as he crossed the room to kiss her cheek and take the bag from her hands, and Kat fast-tracked herself back to reality.

"I mean exactly that. How do you two know each other?"

"Jesse and I were in Afghanistan together," Gabe said, and Kat gave herself a mental head slap. It certainly explained Jesse's reaction to being taken by surprise a minute ago, not to mention the way he stood at attention 24/7.

And the fact that she'd never seen him express an emotion, good, bad, or ugly? Yeah, it explained that too.

Gabe's forehead creased as he took in her expression, then Jesse's non-expression, and he traced an imaginary loop between the two of them with his index finger. "I think the bigger question is, how do you two know each other?"

Kat hesitated, but of course Jesse chose precisely that moment to finally get gabby. "We live in the same building," he said, shoulders locked and loaded beneath his white T-shirt. "Your sister's apartment is directly above mine."

Gabe's hands found his hips in all their big-brother glory. "You were flooded out of your apartment this morning, and you didn't tell me?"

Oh hell. "Maybe?"

"Maybe." A flare of big-brother protectiveness flattened his stare to a steely blue, and Kat caved.

"Okay, yes. But I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd only worry. I figured I'd come up here and get settled in, then tell you. No harm, no foul."

"Well, that's going to make life interesting, since I just promised half the place to Jesse here."

Kat sucked in a breath to respond—how was she supposed to know Gabe had been Army buddies with Mr. Calm, Cool, and Gorgeous—but Jesse stepped in, beating her to the punch.

"It's okay. The house belongs to you." He dropped his chin in a tight nod. "I'll work something out."

The hitch in his coppery stare lasted for barely a second, but Kat caught it all the same. "Wait. Do you have another place to go?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Do you have another place to go that isn't your car?" Gabe amended, and Jesse ran a hand over the back of his neck as he shifted over the threadbare carpet.

"Not really."

And didn't Kat know just how that felt.

Find out more about Kimberly and her books at www.kimberlykincaid.com.