Fool for Love, Noah Clark, hero of After Midnight by Sarah Grimm

Please welcome, Noah Clark.

Thank you for allowing me to visit with you today, Emma.

Do you consider yourself a Fool for Love, or is that just a recent development?

A Fool for Love? *laughter* Sarah didn’t tell me that’s what you and I would converse about today. Not sure how I feel about being labeled a fool for anything, however I’m going with it being a recent development.

Do you embrace your feelings, or are you fighting them every step of the way?

I embrace them. The first time she set those eyes on me and smiled, I was lost. I’m a songwriter, but the way she affected me, I haven’t words. How could you fight something like that?

Describe the object of your desire in six words or less? 

Prodigy. Talented. Scarred. Tortured. Vulnerable. Strong.

What happened the first time you saw, Isabeau Montgomery?

I didn’t know what to think. I was in Long Island City, New York, checking out a recording studio owned by a friend of my band’s manager. It was my birthday, and I didn’t want to spend it alone in my hotel room, so I went to a local bar I’d seen earlier in the day – Izzy’s Bar. I don’t drink much anymore, but at least other people were around. Then up walks the bartender to get my order and…it was like every nerve ending in my body stood at attention. I couldn’t breathe. No woman has ever affected me that way with just a smile. Right then I knew I had to get close to her.

Is she as much a Fool for Love as you? 

Sadly, no. However I’m a patient man. Also a bit tenacious. Eventually I’ll win Isabeau over.

Please provide a bit of your story that showcases your situation best. 

“I’m not the type of woman men fall for.”

“I’ve fallen for you.”

Heat flooded her system. She forced herself to breathe, to keep her eyes locked with his. “No you haven’t. You …”

He pushed off the mantel and stepped in her direction. “I—what?”

“Never mind.”

“Finish the sentence, Isabeau.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then let me.” He closed the distance between them. “You were going to say I haven’t fallen for you, weren’t you? You actually believe him? That you’re nothing more to me than convenient?”

Her pulse throbbed thick and hard. Heat radiated off his body. The scent of him filled her head. She wanted, more than anything, to press herself against him and relive the pleasure of his mouth against hers. Instead, she lifted her chin.

“Maybe.”

He leaned in close. So close his breath brushed across her lips. “You believe him, but not me?”

“You are here only temporarily.”

“Yes.”

“And I am just down the street.”

“I suppose.”

She ran her tongue over her dry lips. “So the whole thing does seem rather—”

“Don’t say it.”

“—convenient.”

Something dangerous came and went in his eyes. “Now I’m getting angry.”

His hands skimmed down her sides, slipped under her shirt and settled on her lace-covered bottom. Her breath went uneven. Searing need swarmed her.

“You want something to believe, believe this.” He pulled her into the solid ridge of his erection. She lost her concentration. “There is nothing convenient about the way I feel about you.”

“I…no?”

“You think you’re not the type to draw a man’s attention, think again. I can’t stand in the same room as you without wanting to taste you. I can’t taste you without wanting to taste all of you.”

Oh, God. Her knees turned to jelly. A hot, wet pulse came to life between her legs.

“If you can’t see in yourself what it is that I see, feel what you do to me.” Taking hold of her wrist, he placed her hand in the center of his chest.

His heart was racing. She tipped her head back and looked into his eyes. Her bones began to liquefy.

“The way you’re looking at me,” she whispered.

“How am I looking at you?”

“Like I’m important.”

“You are.”

She swallowed hard, wanting to believe him. “Like I’m beautiful.”

His lips brushed across her temple and her eyes drifted shut. “I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. Then you would know how beautiful you are.”

Her eyes snapped open as he spun her in his arms. His hands settled on her shoulders, drawing her back against his chest. She gasped at their image reflected in the trio of mirrors that hung on her wall. When had this become a seduction?

After Midnight available at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/After-Midnight-ebook/dp/B005QBZ0G2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335231026&sr=8-1),

Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/after-midnight-sarah-grimm/1106102028?ean=2940013352445 ),

The Wild Rose Press (http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=640&zenid=87f1c87a2422232fb0c31cf284cb7522)

Check out the book video at http://youtu.be/IaUOaC7pTC4