There are preconceived notions about everything in life. A woman who lives on the streets and wears short skirts in public must be a sinner. A woman who attends church every week must be a saint. However, everything is not always as it seems. In fact, it rarely is.
Police chief’s daughter, Danielle Beckett, grew up knowing two things. One: anything worth having was worth hiding from her father, and two: she wanted to be the best at what she did. Her business, Sinners & Saints Modeling Agency, does well for itself but what happens behind the scenes does better. As an exclusive high priced call girl she has everything she wants while keeping everyone in the dark.
Life is great until her employees start being picked off one by one. Danielle starts missing days and everything falls apart. As her life unravels around her, she is forced to not only choose between her safety and her business, but between her business and the one thing she never saw herself wanting.
How can she keep her business and herself alive, when she knows one story, but the police know another?
**Warning: If you're looking for something to leave you feeling warm and fuzzy, this is not the book for you. The worst thing you can do going into this book, is go in thinking you know how it's going to end. This book is intended ONLY for those over the age of eighteen.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Holy freaknflips! This book is the one that will make you late to work. Dahum, it keeps you guessing and ends with an unexpected whammy!
Dani runs a modeling agency called Sinners & Saints. Where the models are also high priced call girls. Her models have been ending up gruesomely beaten to death. We get to see the killer as the girls are taken and beaten. The killer is terrifying in being creative at torture. Dani thinks she is safe from the killer and not just because her daddy is the Police Chief. The killer wants Dani to see what has happened to the girls and make her stop and is taunting Dani. Dani is also seeing one of her clients, a senator. Between the senator, the police chief, and the killer wanting her alive, that should keep a girl safe shouldn’t it? And then there’s Harper, the stray girl that Dani picked up out of the jail lock up. Is she more than she seems and involved with the dead models or just another victim? Dani can’t just go to the police when she is threatened and blackmailed or else daddy and everyone else will know about the side of her company that she wants to keep quiet. Not only will it ruin her life but that of the senator’s. What’s a girl to do when she can’t even go to the police?
Just when you think you have one part figured out here comes the next surprise. I wish I could tell you more but I don’t want to spoil the good parts – and it’s ALL good. This is a wickedly good ride!
Excerpt One
My feet swing back and forth in time with his calculated steps. “You don’t have to slide in like that, Mr. Senator.” I cock my head to the side and smile.
He chuckles as his fingers work to loosen his tie. “Yes, I do. Because the last time I just swung the door open, you were naked and on your knees waiting for me.”
“Yes,” I giggle, “I was. And if I recall correctly, you liked it.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” he smirks, “I loved it, but I like it even more when I get to unwrap you myself.” His fingers pull at the belt and slowly begin undoing the buttons on my jacket once he reaches me.
Somehow I lucked out when it comes to this guy. Most politicians are older, potbellied and are more interested in how to fill their pockets than how to fill what’s between my thighs. Brendon, on the other hand, is in his early thirties, built like a wrecking ball and hung like a horse. He pays our fees with no problem, and we’re both happy when I leave.
Standing in the middle of the Police station, I search for Chief Beckett with my hands resting on my stomach. Instead of finding him, tall, blonde, and sexy steps into my view.
“Can I help you, Ma’am?”
The man’s southern drawl washes over me as he pushes his jacket out of the way, revealing his detective shield. I swear if I wasn’t already ten million months pregnant, the sound of his voice would have made me that way. “I uh— I’m looking for Captain Beckett.”
He nods his head, his uneasy eyes never leaving my stomach. “Well, since I’m doing anything I can to avoid this reporter, I’ll bring you to him.” This must be Cooper.
Taking his offered arm, he leads me across the room slowly, mainly because I waddle. Thankfully he doesn’t say anything about our pace so I don’t say anything about being the person he’s trying to avoid. “Do pregnant women make you uneasy, Detective?” I purse my lips, trying to hide the grin threatening to make an appearance as I peek up at him.
He stiffens, taking a deep breath, telling me that what he’s getting ready to say is a lie. “No, not at all. Pregnancy is wonderful… for some people.”
“Not for you?”
“We’re here.” He stops mid-step, opening the office door.
Captain Beckett smiles up at me from behind his deck, waving me in. He rises from behind his desk offering me both his hand and his chair since the rest of the seats are already taken. I hear Cooper mutter “Fuck me” under his breath, and I can’t help the giggle that leaks out through my lips.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, Detective Hayes.”
Cooper leans back against the door after he closes it and continues to stare at my belly. If I’m being honest, it kind of creeps me out, but I can see the hurt behind his guarded eyes. I figure by the look on his face something must have happened to him involving a baby, so I don’t say anything.
“Don’t mind him,” the statuesque brunette on the couch says. “He just doesn’t like it when he doesn’t get his way.”
Her clothes, the way her leg crosses gracefully toward the man on her right, and the hand resting on the man’s thigh, makes me think that this is Dani. “Dani, I presume.” She nods, resting her head against the guys shoulder. “Which must make you Brendon.” Turning to the younger girl on my right. She gives me a small wave before tucking her hands back between her thighs. “And Harper. I’ve already met Cooper, and Captain Beckett, which means the only person missing is Tara.”
“Don’t worry”--Harper mumbles--“that crazy bitch is always here somewhere. She likes to pop up when you least expect it, or when you don’t want her around the most.”
I pull my recorder from my bag, setting it up in the center of the desk so I can capture what everyone says. That way I don’t have to worry about keeping notes. I shift in my seat, trying to get comfortable before launching into my questions.
“First of all, I want to thank all of you for taking time out of your day for me. My name is Rebecca. I know you’re all busy, but everyone wants to know a few things, so let’s get down to business and I can let you all go. I took some questions from some people who know your whole story and they get pretty personal. Hope you don’t mind.” I smile, trying to put everyone at ease and lean back in the chair. “First up, we have two easy questions for the girls. If Tara wants in on this, I’m sure she will speak up.” Dani nods once and continues waiting for my question. “Manolo or Louboutin. What’s your preference?”
The corners of Dani’s lips perk up as she stares down at her feet. “Manolo, obviously.”
I turn toward Harper. “And you?”
She shrugs. “There’s something classic about the red soles, I’m going to have to go with Louboutin.”
“Anything to be different…” Dani rolls her eyes.
“Shut up hoo—”
“Enough!” Captain Beckett snaps. “That is just about enough out of the both of you.”
They both look like wounded puppies as I launch into my next easy question. “Satin or lace.”
“Satin,” Dani says quietly.
“Lace.”
“OK… let’s take the focus away from the girls for a few and ask the guys some questions. Cooper, did you ever think you actually had feelings for Dani, or did you just want to get in her chonies?”
Cooper clears his throat, chuckling when Brendon practically growls. “Honestly, I think I could have had feelings, not that I actually want to admit that now that I know what she is, but I’m not a guy that only goes after a woman to get in her pants.”
I see Dani wanting to speak up when he makes the snide comment, but she thinks better of it when her father shakes his head.
“OK. Mr. Beckett.” I flip through my notes, trying to find the question for him. “Did you ever have any sneaking suspicions that there was something else going on with your daughter when you saw her with a bunch of different high profile men?”
“No,” he says gruffly, crossing his arms across his chest. “My daughter works as a model, of course she’s going to be seen with different men. It’s doesn’t mean anything. Rumors are just that, rumors. Don’t believe everything you you hear, Rebecca.”
I feel the heat creep up my neck and into my face. “Yes, Sir. That’s why I’m asking questions. People want to know, I want to give them your side of the story. How about we move on to one for Brendon.” I scan my page before pulling up and connecting with his gaze. “Why would you put yourself, and your position as a Senator, at risk by having something on going with Dani when you know the rumors going around about her? Wouldn’t that put your career at risk?”
“It’s just a job, Rebecca. Just money, a title; nothing that truly matters in the long run. People are going to think what they want either way. The outcome just depends on how you handle yourself. But if you’re happy, nothing else matters.”
Well, that’s profound for someone hooking up with a prostitute...
“OK, Harper, after the fight, why didn’t you push harder to find out why it happened?”
Harper’s eyes shift from me, to across the room and back. “Like I said to her, you get one free hit. I knew she had been struggling, and she had just found out about Jen, I figured she had just snapped for a second. I didn’t think she was bat-shit crazy.”
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat, whore.”
“Oh, yay…” Harper whispers sarcastically. “Tara’s here to play.”
I smile to myself, glad that Tara finally showed up because the last few questions I have are for her. “Can I have some alone time with Tara please?” I ask Captain Beckett. He nods, opening the door. Cooper and Brendon leave, followed closely by Harper who whispers as she walks by.
“If you want to be alone with the crazy bitch more power to you, but I’m out.”
Once the door closes, Tara kicks off her heels, tucking her feet up under her. Her cold eyes flick from my face, to my stomach, staying there for a minute before her gaze connects with mine again. “Are you married?”
“Yes.”
“And the baby is your husband's?”
I chuckle. “Yes, the baby is my husband's. But I think we’re off track.”
“Whatever.I just wanted to make sure you weren’t a whore too.” She shrugs. “Ask what you want to know so I can go back to what I was doing.”
The glint in her eyes and the smirk on her lips makes me want to question what she was doing, but something in me tells me to think better of it. “Do you ever feel the desire to make Dani the bad guy, so you have the chance to be the good guy for once? Or is everything you do to protect Dani?”
Without even hesitating, she answers, never breaking eye contact. “Everything I do is to protect her. If she would stop doing stupid shit and getting herself in these predicaments, I wouldn’t have worry about it.”
“So, you know what happened on the balcony with Dani and Cooper. At any point during that, did you feel like jumping in and ending everything?”
“Honestly"--she shudders--“I stayed as far away from that until it was over. I don’t want any part of those situations. But yes, if I thought it would have made a difference, I would have stepped in.”
“OK, final question and I’ll be going. You know about Dani’s profession, and you hate it. Have you ever tried to convince her to stop, or to just off herself? I know you’ve talked about it before, but I want the truth.”
Tara looks at me like I’m the dumbest person on earth, but she answers me. “I try to convince her to stop every chance I get. As for getting her to off herself… I won’t lie and say I’ve never tried, but if that happens, I go away. I’m not ready to go away completely and will take any steps necessary to make sure I stick around until I’m finished with what I’m here for.”
“Thank you.” Standing from the chair, I grab the recorder from the desk, shut it off, and stuff it back in my desk. Brendon opens the door when he sees me head for it, and I slip past him. Standing in the middle of the little group, I smile. “Thank you. All of you. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you all again soon.”
Cooper offers me his arm again and pulls me away from everyone else. I don’t say anything because Tara was starting to creep me out a bit. He silently walks me to my car, helps me in, and waves as I pull out of the parking lot. I can’t help but wonder if the next time I’m here, all six of them will still be around for another interview.
Sinner Q&A
1. Where did you get the idea for the story for Sinner?
I have absolutely no clue. I was writing Hate Me Today when I suddenly had to put it down because the boss lady of Sinners and Saints popped into my head demanding attention. What it started out as, and what it is now, are so different that I’m not sure how I got from point A to point B with it.
2. What interests you in writing this genre of books?
I’m able to let every part of me out. The romantic, the sex-fueled, the sick and twisted. I’m used to coming up with a little mystery with the other series, but nothing that really made the reader’s mind twist the way Sinner does.
3. What is your favorite book not written by you?
That’s impossible! I can’t pick just one author, and I also can’t pick just one book, so I’ll do series. I will narrow it down the best I can though! The Falling Away series by Penelope Douglas, Harper Sloan’s Corps Security books, Nicole Edwards Alluring Indulgence Series, and the Chocolate Lovers Series by Tara Sivec. That’s as narrowed down as I can get for you. Phew, that was hard.
4. Are there any messages in the story that you want the readers to grasp by the time they finish the book?
Not everything is how it seems in life. Just because something looks like it’s one thing, doesn’t mean it is. Everyone has demons hiding within them, some more than others, and how your life turns out just depends on how well you tame those demons.
5. Do you have any pre-writing rituals to help you prepare for writing different scenes and getting into a character’s mind?
Not really. I can write anywhere with almost anything going on around me. I think the only difference with this book was writing Tara. I had to be super mad to get her out, and for some reason, she wanted Spice Girls to be the first thing she heard when we started. After that, it didn’t matter. But, no lie, she wouldn’t talk without a little Wannabe first thing.
6. Who was your favorite character to write in Sinner?
Tara. Hands down. It was nice to finally be able to let that sick, twisted, mouthy chick out of my head. Shewas simmering throughout the first three books I wrote, but I could never work her into that series. She wasn’t part of this book at first, but she put her foot down, demanding that she be set free. Although, I never expected THAT from her.
7. What can we expect next from you?
Saint is next in this series. If you think that Sinner was twisted, you’re in for it with Saint. Other than that, I have the final three books in the Save Me Series. I have a lot in the works for next year, so watch out!
8. What type of scenes do you enjoy writing the most?
It really depends. With this book, it was the more grotesque scenes because I was able to get my aggression out without having to worry about bail money. With the others it was different, and really depended on the book.
9. Tell us a random fact about yourself.
Thanks to some amazing friends… I have a seven pound rubber ass that hangs out on my desk. Her name is Alice the Anus, and I’m pretty sure she will travel with me to signings. She’s there, just hanging out when I need something to squeeze, punch, slap, hold my pen…
10.How do you come up with the character names?
Sometimes the names pop into my head right off the bat. Other times I have friends help me, or I use a baby name website. I’ve written a few books where I had to use () in place of a name because I couldn’t come up with a name for that particular person until later on.
11. Do you read a lot and if so, how do you make sure other stories do not influence your books?
I used to read a lot. Like, ten to twelve books a week, but since I started publishing it’s been cut back. There are a few select authors that I HAVE to stop writing so I can read them, but not many. As for not influencing my books, it’s hard, but I try to make sure that it’s my voice being heard and not anyone else’s. I have a few people that read as I write, or before I publish, and will tell me if something sounds familiar. If it resembles something, I change it.
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