Excerpt:
End of Night by Ramona Gray
Tiger shifter, Boone Jameson, isn't interested in love, not when grief rules his life.
Until he meets Hedra Miller, the private nurse he hires to care for his ailing grandmother.
His instant attraction to the sassy and gorgeous human isn’t surprising, but his urge to be her mate is. Hedra’s ability to extinguish his sorrow has him eager to spend time with her in and out of the bedroom.
Too bad Hedra has a strict rule against sleeping with the boss.
Hedra’s no stranger to mistakes. And sleeping with Boone would be more than a mistake, it could cost her everything.
Unfortunately, ignoring her attraction to Boone proves impossible, especially when she’s a live-in nurse. Not sleeping with the sexy tiger shifter requires a level of willpower she doesn’t possess.
As Hedra and Boone grow closer, Boone’s grief and Hedra’s enemies threaten to tear apart their blossoming love.
But when Hedra’s life is in peril, Boone and his tiger will stop at nothing to save their mate.
Content notes: physical violence with blood, death of a best friend in the past but discussed throughout book, dealing with grief and loss, stalking and threatening behaviour, sexually explicit scenes, trapped underwater
This novel is fourth in a series but can be read as a standalone.
Excerpt from End of Night by Ramona Gray
Hedra crept down the hallway to her room. It was later than she meant to stay out, and the house was dark and quiet. She’d discovered Boone was a night owl like her, but tonight he’d gone to bed earlier than normal.
She slipped inside her bedroom and used the bathroom she shared with Althea before checking on the tiger shifter. Althea was sleeping soundly, and Hedra stuck her tongue out at Alfie when the poodle growled softly at her from his spot on the bed beside Althea.
She returned to her room and changed into her cotton shirt and shorts pajama set before washing her face and brushing her teeth. She studied herself in the bathroom mirror. Tonight had been fun, and she’d been embarrassingly happy when Shay invited her for coffee on Thursday night. She liked Ryan and Daisy a lot, but she felt an almost instant connection with Shay.
She reminds you of Dianne.
Hedra swallowed hard and rinsed her toothbrush before putting it in the holder. Yeah, maybe a little. Not in looks, but definitely in personality.
Do you feel good about trying to replace Dianne?
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and concentrated on not spiraling. Her therapist had given her different tools to combat this very scenario, and she used all of them until her rapid heartbeat calmed and she no longer felt nauseous.
She opened her eyes. “Her death is not your fault,” she told her reflection. “You are not responsible for Mateo’s grief.”
She took a few more deep breaths before shutting off the bathroom light and heading toward her bed. She pulled back the covers and was about to climb in when she heard the scratching at her door. She cocked her head and studied the door, frowning when she heard the scratching again.
She crossed the room and opened the door, staring in surprise at the tiger standing in the hallway. “Boone? What’s wrong?”
The tiger purred before pushing past her. He sniffed her bed before dipping his head into the laundry hamper and sniffing.
“If you steal a pair of my underwear, I’m calling the labour board,” Hedra said.
The tiger chuffed loudly before returning to her. She grunted in surprise when he rubbed up against her, his big body knocking her into the door and closing it with a loud bang.
She winced and rubbed at her hipbone as the tiger rubbed against her again. “Hey, watch it, you big lug.”
She waited for Althea to call for her, but apparently, she’d slept through the door slamming shut. She tried to straighten, grunting again when Boone chuffed and burrowed his big head into her stomach.
“Oof,” she said. She scratched hesitantly around his ears, and the tiger purred happily.
Feeling disconcerted, Hedra stroked Boone’s head, delighted by how soft the fur was. “Okay, this has been fun, but it’s late, and I was just going to bed, so…”
Boone chuffed again and loped across the room to leap onto her bed. He stretched out on it, his tail flicking back and forth and his big body barely able to fit on the double bed.
“Boone, no,” she said. “You can’t sleep in my bed.”
He chuffed, and she joined him, shoving on one meaty hip. “Get up, big guy.”
He growled and nudged her arm with his head.
“Are you serious right now?” she said. “Boone, get out of my bed.”
This time, the tiger’s chuff sounded dejected, and she sighed before gripping the tiger’s head in her hands and staring directly into his jade eyes. “Boone, can you hear me in there? Your tiger is being weird. Can you shift to your human form, please?”
The tiger blinked at her before yawning. She stared at his teeth before sighing again. “Fine. You can lie in bed with me for fifteen minutes. Then you have to return to your own bed. Got it?”
He chuffed in what she hoped was agreement, and she opened her bedroom door enough for the tiger to slip past before climbing into bed and pulling the covers up. She flinched when Boone rubbed his head against her face and neck before licking her forehead with his rough tongue.
“Hey, keep the tongue to yourself, big guy,” she said.
He growled before rubbing his head across her mouth. She sputtered out a mouthful of tiger fur. “And stop marking me. Your grandmother will have a fit when she smells me tomorrow.”
Boone chuffed and marked her again. She poked him in his shoulder. “Boone, enough.”
She’d never seen a tiger pout before. She rolled her eyes as he stared at her. “Don’t look at me like that.”
He let his head drop onto her chest, and after a few seconds, she rubbed and stroked his head, scratching behind his ears and along his throat. He purred deafeningly, and she smiled a little. His purring was the perfect white noise, and the heat from his big body was nice. She rubbed his forehead and reached to shut off the lamp on the nightstand.
“Fifteen minutes,” she said into the dark room. “Then back to your own bed. Got it?”
His purring cut out for a few seconds before starting again, and she stroked his head as she closed her eyes.