Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Anything for You by Jessica Scott Blog Tour and Giveaway...


I'm so excited to be a part of the Anything for You Blog Tour!! I have heard so many great things about this series and I cannot wait to read. I am so loving the excerpt listed below!! 
Please be sure to leave a comment!!

Jessica is giving away a digital copy of ANYTHING FOR YOU as well as Shane & Jen’s first story BECAUSE OF YOU to one lucky commenter!
Good Luck!!

Because of You (Coming Home, #1)  Anything for You (Coming Home, #2.5)


From the author of Because of You comes an all new Coming Home short story.
Anything for You (Coming Home, #2.5)
Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison has spent a year recovering from his combat injuries. A year spent in the arms of the woman of his dreams.  But loving Jen comes with a price: every time he touches her, he faces the uncertain fear that loving her might mean losing her forever.

Jen is a breast cancer survivor and with Shane, she’s found a man who loves her despite her scars. But her scars may be too much for their love to survive.

As their love grows, so does the risk to Jen’s life. And Shane must make the toughest decision any man can make to save the woman he loves.


    
  

Here is the official excerpt!

Fort Hood, late 2008
“Jen is going to kill you. You know that, right?” Vic Carponti took a long
pull off his ever-present Dr Pepper. “I think she has first dibs on your balls.
You don’t have exclusive use over them any more.”
Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison glanced over at Carponti and
fought the urge to use the physical therapy ropes to strangle the younger
sergeant. No matter how much time they’d spent together training Army
privates at Benning or blowing shit up downrange, Carponti still managed to
push all the right buttons. “You’re not helping, you know.” Shane was
already having a hard enough time trying to find the nerve to talk to his
fiancée about his desire for a vasectomy.
“Jen wants kids.”
“I know that,” Shane growled. He leaned down to stretch, barely
suppressing a groan as the muscles in his thighs protested the daily pain his
physical therapist insisted on. He’d have thought that six months after being
blown up in Iraq, physical therapy would stop being a morning torture
session. Guess not.
“Why are you so adamant about this?” Carponti held up his hand at
Shane’s fierce look. “I’m an expert in amputations, not women and babies,
okay?”
“She had breast cancer. A really aggressive version. If she gets
pregnant and the cancer comes back, the choice comes down to her life or
the baby’s life…and I don’t want to have to make that choice with her. I don’t
want her to have to make that choice. Granted, it might all be fine. She
might never get sick again, or the hormones from pregnancy might not do
anything to her.” Shane walked over to the free weights. His legs protested
each step, so his next words came out slowly, one with each step. “I can’t
risk it. No matter how much I might want a kid with her, I’m not going to risk
her life for some selfish need to feel my baby growing inside her.”
“I realize that,” Carponti said, “but why on earth are you looking at this
without talking to her first?”
“I’m going to talk to her.” Shane sighed hard. “I just haven’t yet.” He
didn’t want to admit he was afraid. Not to Carponti. He’d never hear the end
of it.
“Did you ever think you’re overreacting?” Carponti asked, following
him.
“No,” Shane snapped. “Because I’m not.”
“You just said there’s no rule that if a woman gets pregnant after
cancer, she’s going to die.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve also talked to the brigade surgeon. There’s a higher
risk of the cancer coming back for younger women like Jen who had
aggressive cancers. There’s a higher risk that if she does get pregnant and
the cancer comes back, it could come back even more aggressive.” Shane
looked at Carponti seriously. “I want kids with her. I just don’t want to kill
her.”
“So you’re going to get unmanned and tell her later?”
“This isn’t funny.”
“Vasectomies are always funny. Especially watching a big guy like you
squirm over the fact.”
“It is my balls we’re talking about,” Shane snapped, grabbing the fiftypound
dumbbells. It was one of those times he’d rather not have Carponti
chirping in his ear.
“If a vasectomy is such a big deal, then why do it?” Carponti placed the
bottle in his prosthetic hand. “There’s other ways of preventing pregnancy,
you know.”
“We’ve talked about all of those. She had a bad reaction to an IUD.
Anything hormone-based is out. And condoms scare the shit out of me.”
“Did we have a bad experience with a condom?”
Shane groaned, wishing he hadn’t said anything. “When I was
seventeen, I had a condom break on me. The girl and I spent the rest of the
month terrified she was pregnant.” He glanced at Carponti. “So while I
appreciate that you think me getting my balls clipped is amusing, this isn’t
all that funny.”
“Maybe not, but watching you freak out about it certainly is.”
“You’re so good for morale.”
“You can bitch all you want, but I still don't see why there aren’t other
options.”
Why? Shane ground his teeth and counted as he curled the weights.
He’d read the literature about Jen’s specific cancer. Everything he read
created a little more fear that he could lose her. Shane did not do well with
fear. If the only thing he could control in the equation was his sperm, he was
doing that.
Sometimes, at night, when the nightmares came, it was no longer his
soldiers who’d died in the war haunting his sleep. Sometimes, it was Jen,
bleeding out in his arms. He didn’t tell her that. Every time he tried, the
emotion got jammed up halfway between his throat and his mouth.
Jen wasn’t a random number in a study. She was his heart and soul,
and while she was determined to live a normal life and not let the cancer
define her, every time they made love, he was aware of the risk.
The worst part about it all? He wanted kids with her, too. But the risk
was too great.
“Hello? Candyass who’s stressing about getting his balls chopped off?
Why is a vasectomy the only option for you not to get her pregnant?”
Shane finished his set. “Because it’s the smart thing to do. Condoms
break. Birth control fails.” Carponti was probably about to accuse him of
writing country songs again. “This is the only one-hundred-percent sure
option.”
“You could always be in a celibate marriage with her,” Carponti said
dryly.
“Yeah, and then she bangs the FedEx guy when I’m in the field.”
Carponti snorted and coughed. “That’s just wrong.”
Shane dropped the weights, the muscles in his left arm screaming. He
was nearly back to his previous strength in his upper body, but sometimes
his bones liked to remind him that no, he was never going to be as good as
he’d been before.
It frustrated him that there were more aches and pains now. More
stiffness just getting out of bed in the morning. But he was determined to
heal, so he could get back to leading soldiers.
Because that’s what he did.
Beside him, Carponti finished not choking on his drink. “You’re serious
about this. You’re really going to let a doctor near your nutsack with a
scalpel?”
“Will you just drop it? I shouldn’t have said anything to you, damn it.”
“What? I just want to be sure you’re making the best, most informed
decision.” Carponti grinned. “You’re going to let me see the cut, right?”
Shane just shot him a baleful glare and Carponti held up both hands,
the soda in one. Funny, Shane was used to the prosthetic now. It no longer
caught his eye like it once had. Carponti was just...Carponti. The missing
hand didn’t really matter.
“Hey, so have you heard what’s going on back at battalion?” Carponti
asked.
Shane picked up his water bottle and flipped open the cap. “I haven’t
been in to see Sarn’t Major in a while. I’ve got a meeting with him later
today. Why?”
“There’s a ton of bad shit going on. Iaconelli got in a bunch of trouble
up in Colorado on a mission.”
“That’s nothing new. Ike’s always in trouble.” Shane and Sergeant First
Class Reza Iaconelli had never really gotten along, which was a shame,
because Ike was a damn fine infantryman.
“Yeah, well, apparently there’s a whole bunch of crap going on down
there. Maybe that’s why Sarn’t Major wants to see you. See how much longer
before you’re back at work?”
“Maybe.” Sarn’t Major would no doubt fill him in when he saw him
later. Shane wanted to get back to work. Badly. But if Ike was screwing up
again, Shane damn sure didn’t want to get back just to clean up after him.
Carponti grinned. “So, back to the more pressing matters, are you
going to gift wrap your nuts and put a little bow on them and say, ‘Here
baby, for Valentine’s Day, I’ve sacrificed my manhood’?”
Shane shook his head and tried not to laugh. “There’s something the
matter with you. You know that, right?”
“Sure. My traumatic brain injury is acting up again.” Carponti turned
toward the door as it opened. “Speaking of nuts, here’s my wife. I need to
get mine out of her purse.”
Shane turned to see Nicole Carponti walking onto the physical therapy
floor, looking polished and perfect. No one ever looked at her and thought
she was a cop. It made her a perfect investigator.
It also made everyone wonder what the hell she was doing with a
scruffy, red-headed sergeant like Vic Carponti, but hey, she’d stuck with him
after he’d gotten blown up. And worse, through his incessant bad tricks with
his prosthetic. Shane watched as Carponti kissed his wife on the cheek, then
slung his good arm around her shoulders as they walked out. Shane was
reasonably certain Carponti tried to pinch Nicole’s ass with his prosthetic.
Life was never dull around Carponti, that was for damn sure.
Shane finished his therapy in blessed silence and headed to the locker
room to change back into his duty uniform. He took a deep breath, running
his hand over his jaw. Last week, Jen had slipped her body over his, her slick
heat caressing his bare erection, and Shane had almost died from the
pleasure of skin on skin. No barriers. He didn’t know which one of them
wanted it more—the desire painting her features had been beautiful. And
she’d gotten bolder since then, driving him toward a little death each time he
touched her. No matter how much he was tempted to make love to her
without a goddamned condom, he would not risk her life for a few moments
of pleasure.
He loved Jen. More than life itself. The vasectomy was a very real
discussion he was going to have with her very soon.

About Jess
Jessica Scott
Jessica Scott is a career army officer, mother of two daughters, three cats and three dogs, wife to a career NCO and wrangler of all things stuffed and fluffy. She is a terrible cook and even worse housekeeper, but she's a pretty good shot with her assigned weapon and someone liked some of the stuff she wrote. Somehow, her children are pretty well adjusted and her husband still loves her, despite burned water and a messy house.

Oprah has called her. True story.


Her debut novel BECAUSE OF YOU launched Loveswept, the first Random House digital imprint.

She's written for the New York Times At War Blog, PBS Point of View Regarding War, and IAVA. She deployed to Iraq in 2009 as part of OIF/New Dawn and is currently a company commander stationed at Fort Hood.

Most recently, she's been featured as one of Esquire Magazine's Americans of the Year for 2012.  

Connect with Jessica at:



3 comments:

  1. Hi Jessica,
    I was excited to find your post today! You are one of my favorite authors. I loved Because of You so much! I could not put it down. I wrote to you when I finished the book to see if you were going to write more about Jen and Shane. I am so glad you did they are great characters. I am also looking forward to Laura and Trent's story! I have my friends hooked on this series also. Thanks for the amazing stories.
    Patti F

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Patti

    I'm so glad you enjoyed! And yes, Laura & Trent are going to have a story, it's coming soon! Promise!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice excerpt.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete