February is for Paranormal Romance...and we have an incredible month of special author features for you. Today we have a Valentine's Day themed "this or that" Q+A with Felicity Heaton and Owen Nightingale.
Keep reading for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card!
Q+A with Felicity Heaton and Owen Nightingale
I’m standing in the living room of the illustrious hunter, Owen Nightingale, waiting for the man himself to make an appearance. When I arranged this little fun interview, he told me to use the key above the door to let myself into his very elegant Georgian townhouse in the centre of London and that he would meet me here later.
Well, later has come and gone and I think I’ve snooped at every square inch of the pale blue drawing room, messed around with every weapon scattered across the large oak table taking up a good amount of space on the left of the expansive room, and even thumbed through a few of the books that are stacked tightly in the cases that line the right hand side of the room between the tall sash windows. I’ve stared out of those windows for more minutes than I can count, losing track of time as I stared at the quiet residential street below, waiting for the familiar black car to roll up to the space outside Owen’s rather posh house.
Maybe he’s forgotten me.
Just as I debate leaving the U of three black leather couches near the fireplace, I hear a door open and slam shut again far below me. I really hope that’s Owen and not someone who has just let themselves in to burgle the joint. He didn’t tell me to lock the door after myself, and it is the small hours of a Saturday morning.
Heavy footsteps sound on the wooden stairs and even though I’m prepared for it, I still jump when the door bursts open, whirling to face it as my hand leaps to my chest.
Pale green eyes stare across the room at me and then dark slashes of eyebrows drop low above them, narrowing them into a frown that quickly melts into a guilty look.
“Heck, it was today, wasn’t it?” Owen grimaces, and the guy looks just as handsome when he’s cringing as he does when he’s flashing me a killer smile a second later and scrubbing the back of his neck, tousling his dark hair. “Sorry. I got caught up in a little business.”
He seems to be wearing the evidence of that ‘little business’ on his face. I point a shaky finger at the blood splattered up his neck and over the strong straight line of his jaw. His smile fades and he touches his face, brings his hand away so he can look at it, and grimaces again.
He stalks across the room, long lean black-jeans-clad legs eating up the stretch of wooden floor between us. He rounds the couch near me, close enough I can feel his heat and smell his aftershave, and bends to swipe a tissue from the box on the coffee table nestled between the couches. I watch in silence as he wipes the blood off, and then nod and smile when he looks at me, green eyes asking whether he got it all.
Owen heaves a sigh and collapses onto the couch that faces the fireplace, his black dress shirt and jeans making him blend into it in the low light coming from the fire. He stretches his arms out along the back of the couch and kicks his boots up onto the coffee table, a weary look on his handsome face.
“I can come back another time if this is a bad one,” I say and he flashes that killer smile again.
“Nah, we’re good. I should’ve remembered. Cait reminded me enough times. She posted notes all over the damned house.” He shoves his fingers through his dark hair, tugging it back. “And yet I still forgot.”
I shrug this time and sit on the couch to his left. “It won’t take long, just a simple list of this and that questions I need you to answer, and then you can get some sleep.”
He looks tired, and I really shouldn’t have mentioned him going to sleep, because now I’m thinking about him stripping off and crawling into bed.
I clear my throat and rush out the first question. “Chocolates or flowers?”
Owen tips his head back and my eyes disobey my command not to drop to his throat and his delicious Adam’s apple visible through the day’s worth of stubble.
“Ah, flowers.” He drops his chin and smiles at me, a flicker of warmth in his eyes as he realises that the questions are all about romance. “This’ll sound odd, but Cait can’t eat chocolate… it’s a cat thing… being a hellcat shifter is apparently very much like being a regular cat. No chocolate. She loves flowers though. She can’t get enough of them. You don’t see many flowers in Hell where she’s from.”
“It makes sense, although I’ve never really thought about whether cat shifters suffer the same problems as their animal brethren.” It’s definitely something worth noting for all those cat shifter lovers out there. If you ever bag yourself a hot cat shifter, don’t give them chocolate. “I think I know the answer to the next one. Going out or staying in?”
Owen’s smile widens. “Out. She loves it when I take her out. As I said, she doesn’t leave Hell much, but now we’re together, she’s regularly here getting in my way on my jobs.”
Something in his smile says he doesn’t mind the sassy shifter crashing his missions and lending a paw.
“Fancy restaurant or fast food joint?” This I definitely want to know the answer to as I can’t imagine Owen in a fast food joint. He doesn’t look the sort.
“That edge to your cheeky smile says you know I don’t do fast food. I have to keep in shape.” Owen pats his stomach and I try my best not to look down and imagine what he looks like under that black shirt. “That isn’t to say I haven’t taken Cait to a burger joint. She wants to try every single item of food she can, in as little time as possible. Sometimes, I don’t think she understands the concept of immortality. She has centuries to try everything.”
“Okay, so… say you do go out on a date, or maybe have a quiet night in, and you were going to watch a movie. What would it be… an action flick or romantic comedy?”
Owen cringes. “I can’t watch romance with Cait. She gets this gooey look in her eyes and a goofy smile. She almost kicked my arse the first time we watched a romance together and I poked fun at her because she was so absorbed in it and looking like a teen girl with a crush.”
“Definitely action then?” I have to sympathise with Cait because I have been known to sport a silly smile and moon eyes after a good romantic flick. Haven’t we all, Ladies?
Owen nods very enthusiastically.
“Well, since you two love going out, do you take her to a nightclub or a ballroom?” I definitely know the answer to this one.
Owen laughs, and the sound is magical, captivating me as he smiles at me. “Nightclub. She loves Underworld almost as much as I do and we’re regularly there. You have to see Cait dance. Heck, she loves to dance… and it’s mesmerising. Although… I do want to kill the guys who try to dance with her.”
“Why don’t you dance with her?”
He shrugs. “I do, sometimes… but I’m really not a dancer… and when Cait dances I tend to just end up standing there in front of her, staring at her as she dances at me. She’s too damned hot and sexy when she dances. I can’t concentrate.”
“She definitely cast a spell on you at the beginning of your romance by dancing in Underworld right in front of you. I can understand why she affects you so badly.” The opening moment in their romance, Bitten by a Hellcat, is set in that nightclub and Owen was thoroughly captivated by his bad little kitty.
A touch of colour darkens his cheeks and he glances away from me and shrugs. I smile. It’s nice seeing a guy in love.
“Cocktails or coffee? I’m guessing cocktails, many of them… or maybe a shot of Hellfire?” I grin when he scowls at me, refusing to apologise for my coded reference to a moment when he first met Cait.
It softens into another killer smile. “Yeah, cocktails. She loves them. All the bright colours. Cavanaugh makes a mean Mai Tai and Blue Lagoon. I tend to stick with the vodka.”
Understandable. I can’t imagine Owen Nightingale sipping a colourful cocktail. He might lose a little of the respect of the demons, shifters and fae who frequent Underworld. They would definitely be less afraid of him anyway.
I look down at my list of questions. “That’s all of them. Thanks for giving us this little insight into the romance habits of Owen Nightingale, infamous shifter hunter extraordinaire.”
“Ha ha… you’re so not funny. Want me to kick you out?” The tired edge to his jade eyes says he’s half serious.
I stand and brush down my jeans. “Nah. I can let myself out. You get some shuteye. Something tells me it isn’t just the jobs wearing you out…”
The blush stains his cheeks again and he gives me his best glare. I shrug it off. It’s fun embarrassing grown men about affairs of the heart. I think I’ll have to do it more often, but maybe I’ll stick to the heroes in my books who won’t be inclined to tear out my jugular for bringing up their sex lives.
I give Owen a little wave. “Catch you later.”
He lifts his hand in a salute as he yawns and flops over to lay on the couch. I let myself out, quietly closing the door, sure that I’ll be seeing more of Owen and Cait soon.
I hope you enjoyed my little interview with Owen, the hero of Bitten by a Hellcat, the next book in the Eternal Mates series. If you want to know more about Owen, you can take a peek at his book, which is out on February 17th, at my website.
How do you celebrate Valentine's Day?
Thank you Felicity for joining us here today at From the Shadows!
Felicity Heaton is the author of the ETERNAL MATES paranormal romance series. BITTEN BY A HELLCAT hits shelves February 17th!
To learn more about paranormal romance author Felicity Heaton, please visit her website, and don't miss our in depth Q+A with Felicity Heaton earlier this month here at From the Shadows.
February is for Paranormal Romance Giveaway
All month long we are posting special features from our favorite paranormal romance authors, and we are topping this off with a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card!
To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL. If you cannot accept an electronic Amazon Gift Card, you may choose one paranormal romance book from The Book Depository (value up to $10.00). Giveaway ends February 28, 2015 midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Happy Valentine's Day!
