Always A Marine: Meet Author Heather Long

It
was actually rather organic with a side of normal.  A friend of mine suggested that I had a great voice for the
1Night Stand line from Decadent. She encouraged me to write a story for it and
after a little bit of research (and reading more than a few of the awesome
books in the 1NS line), I decided to go for it. I’d always wanted to write a
military hero and that seemed to be the perfect marriage of testing whether I
could write a short and writing the kind of hero I’d always wanted to. I sat
down over the Friday, Saturday, Sunday weekend of Thanksgiving and Luke Dexter
and then men of his unit were born.

2.
What makes a military hero special? Different from other alpha male heroes?

Most
Alpha heroes are driven by circumstance or through events, but military heroes
actually just step up. They are the average guy, the high school jock, the
nerd, or the outsider who doesn’t fit into the social pack. These guys
volunteer, they enlist, and they commit years
of their life to serving their country. No matter what their differences
outside of that service, they become brothers (or sisters), and they walk into
some of the most dangerous situations in the world without regard for their own
safety because they are defending their country or their way of life.

3.
Do you base any of the characters in your books on real people you know/have
known?

Yes.
Fortunately, I’ve met a number of brave and courageous individuals that allow
me an insight into that world.

4. Do you write other genres? Or want to? Or have in the past? (Optional
question – don’t answer if you don’t want to…)

I
write in multiple genres including paranormal western romance (think paranormal
cowboys in 1850 Texas), romantic suspense, erotic romance, and paranormal
erotic romance.

5.
What new book are you working on now? In this series? New series?

Currently
I am working on a novel that will follow-up Retreat Hell! She Just Got
Here.  I wasn’t done with the
characters of Jazz, Logan, and Zach. Fortunately, my editor liked my proposal
so hopefully we’ll be chatting about that soon.

6. What kind of research do you do for your books? Have you read non-fiction
military history?

I
talk to experts in their fields whether its munitions, investigators, or active
military to make sure I get the details right. I’ve watched numerous
documentaries, read non-fiction military history in order to give myself all
the facts and then I build my story from there.

7.
What percentage of your readers are now or have been in the military?

I
have no idea. Honestly. I know I’ve heard from both active and former as well
as the families of those who serve and they have been wonderfully encouraging.

8.
What do you feel is the future of Military Romance?

I
think it’s only going to grow. We live in an era where we’ve been at war for
more than a decade overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. We have an entire
generation of children growing up with parents who are serving their country
and military families who are serving by supporting their military family
members. Unlike Vietnam, the public recognizes that our soldiers, Marines,
airmen, and sailors need our support both abroad and at home.  Thankfully, we are supporting them and
if even one person develops a deeper respect or understanding for what our
Armed Forces go through by reading my books, I’ll be deeply proud to have been
able to contribute. 

Title: Once Her Man,
Always Her Man (Always a Marine, Book 1)

Author: Heather Long

Publisher: Decadent Publishing (1NS)

Length: 11,000 words

Genre(s): Contemporary Erotic Military Romance

Available
at:

Decadent
Publishing | ARe
| Amazon
| BookStrand

Reviews
on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13596947-once-her-man-always-her-man

Blurb:

Fulfilling a favor and executing
a business plan, Luke Dexter arrived at Dallas’ Sybarite Club for a one-night
stand. He never imagined that in the darkened club with bluesy strains of jazz
playing he’d come face to face with the woman he left behind a decade earlier.

Rebecca Rainier fell in love with
Luke Dexter in high school and was crushed when he dumped her to join the
Marines after 9/11. Now, waiting for a date her best friend and business
partner set up, she’s unprepared when Luke walks in.

Can Luke and Rebecca
bridge the pain of a decade long abandonment in one cold Texas night? 

Excerpt:

Luke’s chest hurt, but he braced
himself against it. Shock wrinkled the line between her brows, the emotion far
more brutal to him than a firefight in Kandahar or Kabul. She didn’t turn to
look at him. But her reflection in the mirror didn’t soften. The familiar,
flirtatious smile fled from the cool, firm line of her lips. Color drained from
the face of the woman who shifted on the bar stool. Movement to his right
caught his attention. A man approached, intent on her, but meeting Luke’s iron
expression, the would-be interloper diverted to another table.

Satisfied, his attention returned
to the girl—no, the woman—gazing at him, pain etching the softness of her lips.
The memory of her lips got him through Paris Island. He’d thought about them,
about her smile, every single, damn day.

“Hello, Luke.” Her voice poured
over him like warm honey.

Life doesn’t always offer second chances….

“May I join you?” He nodded to
the stool next to her.

“It’s a free country.” And just
like that, she turned her back and the warm honey chilled, hardening over his
chest.

“Thank you, ma’am.” He tacked the
ma’am on as an afterthought. But the steel wrapped in her velvety voice jabbed
his kidneys. Perching on the edge of the stool, he motioned to the bartender.
“Two more of whatever the lady is having.”

She watched him from the mirror.
Hungriness reflected in the gold flecked, tawny brown eyes, a perfect contrast
to the tight jaw and stiff fingers wrapped around her wine glass. She tossed
back a third of a glass like a shot of vodka.

A shot of vodka sounded like a
great idea. But he needed his wits about him. IEDs laced the battlefield in
front of him and patience and procedure and about eighty-five pounds of
protective gear weren’t handy. But the trick to survival was to examine what
was right in front of him and to react to it. He could do that in the field, he
could do that with her. It was what he did best.

After the bartender served the
drinks and took his credit card, Luke sat sideways, intentionally brushing his
leg against hers. She didn’t recoil—exactly—but did shift away after a few
seconds.

Definitely treading in dangerous waters.

About the
Author:

Heather Long lives in
Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather
skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan
and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that
laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the
Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at
work on her next novel.

http://www.heatherlong.net

Http://www.facebook.com/HeatherLongAuthor