Love's Whisper: Ravencross Romance Suspense: Book 3

By Em Avalon

Can the right man really be from the wrong side of town?

Smart, independent professional women want to know...
...and in the ground-breaking Ravencross series you find out when these fabulous women meet equally high-flying, gorgeous available men to share their lives.

You'll soon fall in love too...with this extraordinary Smart Romance series, and the delightful, impressive, witty characters who will have you going from page to page with a little laugh, and a lot of heat.

Each Ravencross book is a contemporary romance suspense story with two hot, steamy parallel love stories playing out in real life, and on screen, and a twisted love struck outsider going online to disrupt everyone's lives.

In Book 3, Love's Whisper....

Backstage: Two nerdy but determined writers on Forever, Sydney Calloway and Canso Merchant make one of those 'what happens in Vegas' trips that sets in motion a fast-moving plot they would not have crafted.

Onscreen: Lunen Wintermere, the college junior from the city's richest family comes home for the summer, and sees... a tall, gorgeous, self-assured stranger walking around her parents' estate as if he owns the place.

Nik Clark is poor boy with mogul dreams operating, literally in her backyard. For the first time ever, Lunen may have found an attraction stronger than the printed word. But does she care enough to take a chance with this impossible man?
Can a wealthy, educated, girl from high up in Lake Heights really find common ground with a townie with a superiority complex?

Online: A brilliant programmer sets her sights on Canso and threatens to bring down the world's most popular entertainment franchise right out from under everyone's online gaze.

In the Ravencross series, thriving women meet their match when a hot male attraction crosses their paths. The sparks fly and the air heats up quickly, and that's just the beginning...

This novel is absolutely romance with a unique and exciting setting. The Ravencross series involves dazzling women and desirable men from the cast, crew and fans of a popular daytime drama who become dangerously, and obsessively involved with one another through the show and an A.I. enhanced online game based on the characters.

From the hot, tense Hollywood set of the blockbuster series Forever, out to the steamy Las Vegas desert or online where everyone can live and love in the social media video game EverLife... Real life humans, on screen characters, digital avatars - romance and thrills are happening in three heart-pounding dimensions through one non-stop page-flipping unified story.

This extraordinary format is packed with stories - two hot, steamy romances and a suspense thrill - in one full 70,000+ words contemporary novel with HEA, no cliffhanger and a preview of the next story. Each book can be read independently. And your favorite couples have cameos in the other books.

The Ravencross Series by Em Avalon:

Ravencross is a Smart Romance suspense series about the tension of secret desire, the enchantment of instant love, and the enduring power of our mediums of entertainment...

Book 1: Love's Embrace: Seneca and Anton
Book 2: Love's Triumph: Brielle and Mak
Book 3: Love's Whisper: Lunen and Nik
Book 4: Love's Wonder: Krisa and Gideon
Book 5: Love's Victory: Shay and Dane
Book 6: Love's Delight: Kalla and Marcus

Thank you for checking out my exciting new series!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Em Avalon
• Release date: Nov 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370241118

Em Avalon

Em Avalon watched a lot of daytime drama and played a few too many hours of Sim City back in the day. The productive result of this knowledge is the creation of Ravencross, a fictional world where the two great entertainment adventures meet.Educated in communications, political science, business, law and economics, Em lived in nine different countries before spending a decade in Hollywood on the transition from physical to digital media. She is only slightly obsessed about the impending enlightenment or trauma connected to the transition to a global high tech future from A.I. controlling our lives to living in virtual worlds.Today as a global writer, traveler, entrepreneur, and observer to the future, Em happily recognizes the fundamentals will never change. Biology is not going anywhere. And as illustrated in the Ravencross series, the enduring stories of meeting “the one” are going to stay locked in our hearts.

Book preview

Every year I waited, every year he returned. Only the pressure of rapidly flowing river waters could bridge the divide created by The Cross, the separation forced upon the people settling in the valley. The hills pushed us together within their tree lined walls, and urged us to link across the shining river waters. This was a land made for love, for joy, for happiness. Here where birds, fish and wild animals operated without fear, a natural call went out to the humans to accept being taken to heightened levels of experience by the exactness of our bond to one another.

- From the diary of Raven Wintermere, 1857

PART ONE: Real Life: Sydney and Canso

Chapter 1

Sydney Calloway briskly walked from her car into the United Television Network’s production studio building. Waving to the security guard as he nodded to her, she stood back as the door was buzzed open. Feeling energized and light-headed as always, she let her long hair loosely fly in the air-conditioned breeze, as she passed through the empty lobby.

UTN’s studios were the definition of heaven for Sydney. The daughter of successful Hollywood producers, she had focused her life on becoming a writer for television and the movies in the town where the careers were made.

Her reward for her unrelenting professional diligence was to arrive every day to a major entertainment production studio to write for the most popular daytime drama in the world. Toned, fit and ready to transform the attentions of millions of viewers every working day of the week, she felt on top of the world, and in unrestrained control of her fabulous life.

Brushing through the entryway, balancing her coffee thermos in one hand, messenger bag strap slung over her shoulder, she punched the elevator up to her floor, and breezed through the pearly gates of her domain, the writers’ room for her series.

She was always the first person to enter, living the example she wanted to set as one of the show’s senior writers. Sydney believed in discipline, punctuality, preciseness, a sense of order to ensure success.

But when she crossed the threshold and reached out her hand to the switches to flick on the lights, she abruptly stopped. The room was already illuminated.

Surprised, she quickly looked around. Maybe the cleaning staff had left the lights on all night. But as her eyes grazed over the setting, she was jolted out of her everyday revelry into a space that left her suspended between the sky and the ground.

Standing on the other side of the room was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Even more beautiful than the trail of gorgeous hunks who played the male leads on her show, Forever. This man was tall, slim, muscular, his short cropped blond hair neatly cut around a sharp face with piercing blue eyes. Sydney nearly fell over at the sight of him. After several seconds, she shook her head, shaking off the effects of a dream.

Good morning, he said, in a lilting voice, smiling as if she had turned on the day.

Sydney felt her eyes widen to the top of her head, she gulped and forgot the standard response.

Good morning, he repeated. I’m Canso Merchant. He was coming towards her with his arm outstretched, and Sydney nearly dropped her coffee to take his hand. Could she be dreaming?

In a minute, she had gone from being a confident, together top-flight professional to a drooling, stupefied girl. This was not the behavior of a woman living a precise, disciplined, measured life.

Mentally kicking herself back into gear, she made a last second recovery, let memory overcome her and loudly said, I’m Sydney Calloway.

She accepted his hand in hers and felt a brief shock slip under her skin. His hand was large, firm, smooth. She felt every inch of his touch in the passing of too brief a second. Sydney had never been the type to react to Hollywood lookers. That breed of man was all over the studio.

Instead of trolling for his kind with all the other groupies, she was committed and focused on her job, leading the writing team at Forever. She taught herself to not let her responsibilities slip over a feigned connection to any hot Adonis who walked in the door. And she held steadfast to her personal commitment. Her success depended on her discipline.

I’m a new writer.

Sydney’s eyes opened even wider with shock. This handsome hunk of honey was a writer! You’re kidding.

His eyes fluttered in alarm, and she automatically regretted her flippant response. But he seemed to recover quickly, as if recognizing the reaction from others. No, no I’m not kidding, he grinned, I’ve been hired to write for Forever.

She stared at him. Every inch of his rippled frame loomed over her, as she fought her body’s sudden need to shudder in air set to room temperature.

Where on earth did Shania Mahone find a writer who looked like this?

Shania Mahone was the executive producer of Forever, and the owner of the show. Months before, she and Sydney had discussed the need to bring on more writers to ignite the dynamic action that kept the series at the forefront of pop culture.

But daytime dramas were shot on a rapid-fire schedule, almost around the clock to deliver five new hours a week to their global audience. Shania had promised to do the hiring and get the writers to the set as soon as possible. She was an even more energetic high-flying professional than Sydney. As usual, she had over-delivered.

"You’ve been hired to write for Forever?" Sydney’s incredulity rose back to lead her discourse.

Yes. Is that a surprise?

Surprise was hardly the word for her feeling at that moment.

She considered shock. She considered bombshell. She considered his hard body, handsome face, full lips…

She backed down.

Sorry, I did not know the new writer was scheduled to start today.

Well, here I am.

Sydney could have been ungracious and guessed one obvious reason to hire Canso. But Shania was fiercely protective of all-things Forever. She hired top-flight talent and paid well. Plus she was unbreakably involved in a relationship with the show’s ridiculously handsome director Hudson Cormack, and would not be looking elsewhere. If she hired Canso, it must be because he has proven talent to write for her successful production.

He certainly had talent to make a woman swoon. Much to her chagrin, Sydney could already attest to that fact.

Did you come from another show? she asked.

Yeah, I was over at Rocket Launch.

The game show?

It’s not a game show. It’s a scripted series.

Sorry. She had not meant to offend him. But Rocket Launch was hardly Forever. In the ranking of entertainment gravitas, Forever could claim ratings, awards and a place at the top of the pop culture zeitgeist. Rocket Launch barely had a standard genre definition.

That’s okay. It’s made to look like a game show.

Sydney felt a little better, especially since he was smiling at her with that gorgeous mouth and smooth lips…

That’s the only other show you’ve done?

Full-time, yeah. I’ve had smaller production work too.

Considering his limited resume, she actually really was surprised he had been hired. Shania only took experienced writers with developed credits. Even with Sydney’s parents’ connections in Hollywood, she did not get hired at Forever until she had worked on four other shows, and paid her proverbial dues. She would have to take a look at Rocket Launch to see how Canso could have managed to make the leap from that unglamorous set to her vaunted domain.

Right. Well, are you happy to be over here now? She certainly felt happy to see him.

Extremely. His words seemed to glide through the air to her, and she angrily felt the need to sit. The writers’ room was actually a long large hallway with offices on both sides. In the middle was a narrow conference room table, surrounded by chairs. The writers met together at the beginning of the week and collaborated on overall themes for the storylines. Dedicated teams wrote the separate dialogue.

Falling into a chair, she nearly jumped up again when he quickly sat down next to her. Her body instantly responded to his closeness in the adjacent chair. Under the table, his leg was less than an inch away, and she needed all the force she could muster to resist touching her knee to his. Every ounce of her was demanding to know what it felt like to touch him.

She had to find something wrong with him.

Are you a fan of Forever? she asked.

Isn’t everyone?

Well pretty much everyone has an opinion about the show. But not all are fans.

I’m a fan.

Of course he is. Shania would hardly have hired a guy who could not discuss the show’s ongoing story threads with a level of insight and intelligence. She weeded out the types who were angling for a credit and a payday, and focused on those who could be show lifers, keeping the stories fresh, but tied to the overall theme.

Great, that’s important because you know we have a very different energy here.

What do you mean?

Our show operates in more than one dimension.

Oh of course, because of EverLife.

Yes when you write for this show, you are also changing an online video game played by millions of people who are watching your every move.

Canso chuckled, and Sydney watched the way his blue eyes seemed to glitter as his body shook with happiness. I understand.

She sat back, pleased with his apparent research of the show, and its extended tentacles beyond the television screen.

Maybe there was nothing wrong with him after all.

He already understood Forever had an existential life in popular entertainment as the foundational storyline for the massive multi-player online game, EverLife. EverLife was the most accessed game in the world with more than 500 million active accounts.

Despite the mocking daytime drama took in certain circles, all of Hollywood was silently jealous of Forever’s relentless ability to make money, lots of money, through its alliance with gamers.

The creators of EverLife used the storylines, characters and setting of Forever, as the basis for the game which used artificial intelligence to allow players to interact with each other as avatars in a simulated city. The idea started as a limited social game, but evolved into a global phenomenon where people competed with each other for everything from where to live, to the hearts of major characters.

Viewers actually know who the writers are on this show, Sydney said. They discuss everything we’re doing online.

Okay.

But you can’t let their comments affect how you write the stories.

I won’t.

Good. Is there a particular storyline Shania said you’ll be working on?

Yeah, the new love story.

Sydney grinned. Which one?

Canso laughed again, and Sydney had to grip the table to keep from swooning over his carefree and delectably attractive manner. I guess that’s not a very accurate description for a daytime drama storyline.

No, it’s not. We pretty much have a love story building, ongoing, collapsing or pending for every character at all times.

Well that’s what keeps the fans coming back. Too bad real life wasn’t like that.

Sydney stared at him. A flaw? He’s not a romantic.

It’s not? she playfully asked. You don’t think there’s some form of love somewhere in the world for everyone at all times?

Canso stared at her, his eyes lit by her words. If I say ‘no,’ am I already a bad daytime drama writer?

She fought off the disappointment aching to spread across her face. No, no of course not. You can believe whatever you want. We are writing the relationships people want to experience.

But never do?

Not wanting to sound desperate, she checked her defensive tone. I wouldn’t say never.

I believe some people find each other. But the endless true love stories on the show are just to make the world feel better about the fact true love never happens.

Oh. This time she could not help but look disappointed. That’s too bad.

What? The way the show works?

She realized she had said the words out loud. No, I mean…well yes, your attitude is a little negative.

You think so?

Yes.

But even on the show, the true love happens only because of the setting right? Isn’t the idea that Ravencross is some sort of mystical town, and because of that every character can find the one true love of their life?

Well that’s sort of a back story, yes. But we don’t really spend a lot of time on it.

But still, even on the show, the basis of true love is magic, not human reality.

Well, okay maybe. Sydney felt a rising panic. She wanted this new writer to stay, but he was already talking his way out of the job. Everyone working on Forever were believers in the underlying purpose of their genre. All were tied to the spirit of ‘love in the afternoon,’ and all the other romantic visions that kept the last of the soaps operating on broadcast television. I think your ideas may be a little too deep for our viewers.

And for you?

Me? Of course not, I understand what you’re saying.

His voice lowered. What am I saying?

Sydney hesitated. That it’s a fantasy. We know it’s make-believe. You want to keep it real. But we do write a story. A world of true love, faithful friends, happy endings, but we write the other side too. There is plenty of betrayal, fighting and sabotage and hate going on.

Yeah that’s the part I like.

What? Really? The bad side.

Maybe he is a bad boy? That could be the flaw. Or not.

The drama. That’s what makes for the drama, right?

Yes, sure, of course.

It can’t all be sweetness and love.

No, I guess not.

You have to have the real bad side of human nature to balance all the good stuff or people will never really believe it. Look at EverLife, the reason that game is so popular is because people are constantly fighting and trying to sabotage each other. Playing that game is about trying to see how you can beat other people with your own tricks.

You’ve looked at EverLife that closely?

Well of course. I had to get ready for this job.

So you see the bad side, that’s your thing?

That’s humans’ thing. Like most people I’m just trying to get by. I hope I would recognize true love when I see it, but I’m not so sure it could ever happen.

Oh. Sydney sat up straighter. She was not sure true love could happen either. Her job was to write stories where the characters fell into each other’s arms, but she had never experienced the sensation herself. On that fact, she had to agree with him.

Growing up in Hollywood, she did not know anyone, not one single couple, who had a relationship that mirrored the ‘soap opera true love,’ she wrote for a living. Even her parents, although together at this moment, had broken up and married other people, twice, before deciding to marry each other again.

In Hollywood, always coming back to the same person would be considered true love. But Sydney began to doubt whether the pattern was possible for all but a few favored souls. She was writing about a world she had never seen the evidence to believe.

She turned away. For the first time, she was a little unsure of the reason she was even in the writers’ room.

*

Canso could not help staring as Sydney twisted in the seat beside him. It was probably not a good idea to begin your first day by trashing the formula that paid the bills around here. But he could not help expressing his views. Her presence next to him was blocking his ability to think straight.

He had never seen a woman who looked like Sydney. Her hair was a light brown with a tinge of orange-red, and an even lighter texture, constantly flying up, blowing with the air in the room. Her trim body looked toned and tight under a pair of straight-leg jeans and a beautifully patterned blouse. She wore a touch of makeup, although she didn’t need any. Her face was perfectly proportioned, a natural beauty, so rare.

Feeling giddy every time she lifted her coffee thermos to her full sensuous lips, he struggled to resist the urge to throw the thermos across the room and putting his own lips on hers.

Surprised to be the first person to arrive at the writers’ room, Canso had waited to see who would show up second. His timing was graciously rewarded. Sydney Calloway was magnificent. When he shook her hand, he felt an electric shock rip through him.

But he became a little wary as they spoke about the show. She was a seasoned believer in the content of Forever, a daytime drama that played on every human emotion, every day of the week.

He was a serious writer who wanted to get the experience of the pace and scope of daytime television before moving on to primetime or the movies. Forever was the best show in the world to gain experience. It’s high profile and EverLife mojo frequently kept the writers’ names in the entertainment news. That’s exactly where Canso wanted to be.

He had been struggling as an actor and writer in Hollywood since quitting his day job as an accountant and starting to hustle for auditions. Coming out of his lower middle class existence in San Diego, he had done everything he was supposed to do to get away from the low pay, unskilled work his single mother had to accept to survive.

Self-motivated, he had gone to school when most of his friends skipped out to drink, do drugs or get into more serious trouble. On to college with a scholarship, he studied there too, qualified in a profession, and earned the stable employment he was told to cherish.

But within days of starting his 9-to-5 job, he promptly wanted to tear down the recycled metal of his cubicle and run out the door.

After saving for about a year’s worth of living expenses, he decided to quit and take his chances in Hollywood. When he told his mother, she would not stop crying. She was probably still crying.

But he was here at UTN. He won the job on Forever. This was his opportunity to prove he had been right to make the decision based on his dreams, and not someone else’s idea of common sense.

But he did not expect to be distracted from his goal on his first day by meeting a beautiful senior writer who took his breath away.

Did you get settled in okay? Sydney asked from the seat next to him. Her sleeve had rolled up one third of her arm, exposing skin.

Canso shifted in his chair. Only a calculation of how quickly she could fire him and have security throw him out, helped control the urge to place his hand on hers. But her skin looked so smooth, soft, appealing…

Yeah, it was pretty straightforward to find my office, he responded through a split breath. Faking a cough to regain control of his voice, he continued, Someone was kind enough to put my name on the door.

Oh good. You’ll find out pretty quickly that’s how things work around here. Shania keeps everything first class. Just ask if you need anything. She would hate to hear an excuse for not writing like, ‘I couldn’t find my office.’

Canso laughed. He had found Shania Mahone to be considerate but strict when she had talked to him about how Forever functioned as a production operation. Okay yeah, I got the impression there is a certain way things are done around here. I’m sure this will be a lot different from my last show. First class wasn’t in their vocabulary.

It is here. There’s a lot of money at stake.

Because of EverLife?

Yes of course. I’d be lying if I claimed otherwise. The game has dramatically changed our fortunes.

The game must be giving everyone a boost.

"Well we get a literal boost because we get paid more, but that’s as far as it