Scene of the Crime

"Scene of the Crime", my short story in Cougars & Cubs releases as a single title tomorrow.

I've been overwhelmed lately. With work, illness, and Christmas. And most of all, I've just felt overwhelmed with everything. Do you ever feel that way?

I hate it, but it happened.

November and December are not just busy, but crazy times at my day job. I usually work ten hour days and often longer. By the time I get home, my brain and body are mush. Add Christmas into that, and I'm lucky I don't speak in gibberish. Then I fell and hit my head. Shortly after that my husband had surgery. And then I got bronchitis in the middle of doing employee evaluations at work which is keeping me overtime again. I'm ready for life to get back to normal.

Thus I have to give myself a swift kick in the butt and get myself together. I should feel lucky. I'm far better off than Joan Wilder and Jack Colton in Jewel of the Nile which is on TV as I write this. They're presently hanging over a well of acid, rats eating away at their ropes as a madman tries to take over the Nile. My problems real and imagined, are nothing compared to this. If Joan Wilder can get her act together and defeat an insane dictator, I can surely overcome some overtime and illness.

The heroine in "Scene of the Crime", my newest release, feels rather overwhelmed, too. Not only is she distressed that her ex-boyfriend from many years before wants back in her life, his sexy adult son and ex-wife want her to get out of town and leave them alone. How is she supposed to excel at her new dream job with all this drama?

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1062

Robin didn’t know whether to be relieved or appalled that the sexy man she’d fallen into bed with wasn’t her ex-boyfriend, but his adult son.


When Robin returns to her alma mater as a professor of history, she can’t believe her ex-boyfriend is still on campus much less looking so young and buff after twenty years.

The sexy-as-hell man she’d seen on her first day back, however, isn’t her ex but his adult son. Although she wants nothing to do with either of them, they won’t leave her head or her heart alone.

Reader Advisory: This story has been previously released as part of the Cougars and Cubs anthology by Total-E-Bound

Excerpt:


Chills struck Robyn Cattrall as she stepped onto the grounds of her alma mater. Memories good and bad blindsided her for several moments. She’d done a lot of soul-searching before accepting a post here as history professor.

But the burnished autumn leaves and chill in the air made her feel alive again. They brought the promise of soon-coming winter with its wonderland of glistening snow, something she’d missed living in south Florida for the past couple of decades.

She consoled herself that as a connoisseur of history, she had learned from past mistakes and knew better than to repeat them. Just because she was back at the scene of her first heartbreak didn’t mean she was doomed to repeat it. She’d make sure she didn’t. Forty-four now, she was a lot wiser than she’d been at twenty-two.

Funny, she felt young on a campus surrounded by twenty-year-olds, especially when a horde of students burst into the sunshine and several young studs eyed her appreciatively.

She did her best not to drool over what might be her future students, and tried hard to keep a pleasantly professional smile. But when she came face to face with the ghost of her first love, Phil Williams, her jaw dropped, her eyes widened and her heart stopped. Unabashedly, she stared.

Phil…

What was he doing here?

Phil’s glance slid over her without a hint of recognition, and he passed by without a falter in his step.

She hated herself, but she turned and stared at his retreating back as the sea of people parted around her, then swallowed him. How could he not turn to look at her? How could he forget? How could he look so damned good?

She gulped and licked her lips. When someone bumped her, she jolted awake. Embarrassed, she checked her campus map and hurried to her office.

Available at: Total-E-Bound

Saturday Snippets: Bad Dates

Have you ever been on a bad date?

I set my cousin Vickie up with my boy friend's best friend back in high school and I thought we were having Armageddon. Whoa! What a disaster.

I was set up on a couple blind dates, too, and one was so boring falling asleep would've been more fun.

Of course, there was the terrible date where my ex-fiance tried to get me to smoke weed and date another woman (he wanted me to go out with her).

Most of us have had bad dates (maybe not my other cousin who married the only woman he ever dated) so most of us can relate to today's theme. I've had more than one bad date, so I can really relate.

In the excerpt I have for you today, the hero's and heroine's time together starts off good but rapidly deteriorates when an uninvited guest shows up.

Abracadabra

By Ashley Ladd

Available at Total-E-Bound.

Blurb:

When Savi finds a beautiful bottle, she wishes for the man she loves to be proven innocent and released from jail.

To Savi’s shock, a genie fulfils her wish. Then all hell breaks loose...

Excerpt:

He clucked his tongue and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand, sending electric sparks through her. “Not so fast. What if I wish for you to stay with me forever? Would that work?”

She sucked in a ragged breath and gazed into his passion-glazed eyes. “It might. Only I might hate you forever.” Uncomfortable being trapped between Mark’s hard body and the cold refrigerator, she blinked herself across the room. Awesome! She could get used to her powers. Giggling with the first real glee she’d felt in forever, she blinked herself to several other spots about the apartment.

Mark scowled darkly, and grabbed a bottle of his favourite root beer from her fridge, tilted it to his lips and took a swig. “Whenever you’re done flitting around, I’m ready for my first wish.”

Finally, they were getting somewhere! She blinked herself two feet in front of him and stood at parade rest, her arms crossed over her chest, ready to grant his wish. “I am ready…master.” She was compelled to add the title much to her dismay. It must be part and parcel of the genie curse.

He drawled huskily, “Savannah, I wish you to be my sex slave.”

Astounded, simultaneously thrilled and mortified, she stared at him, her jaw slack. Again she was compelled to do her job. Nodding her head, blinking, she said in a choking voice, “Your wish will be granted, master.”

Without warning, he scooped her into his arms, against his hard chest and carried her to the bed. His warm lips caressed her forehead, her cheeks and her lips conducting a symphony in her heart.

She looped her arms around his neck and moulded her breasts to his magnificent chest which was amazingly in shape for being incarcerated for so long. Against his lips, she murmured, “This won’t make me love you.”

“We’ll see. I practice a little magic myself. Now that I’ve got you in my bed, we’ll see if the old enchantment works.”

Tingling all over, she held out her arms to him. Well aware her outfit enhanced her curves that spilled out of it, it made her feel deliciously decadent for the short amount of time he allowed her wear it. Mark made short shrift of it, tugging the bra over her head and burying his face between her aching breasts.

Mark’s hot tongue swept along the side of her breast and he moaned against her. “I’d forgotten how very beautiful you are, how wonderful you taste.”

Coherent thought fleeing, she moaned as delicious sensations coursed through her. Arching her back, she thrust her tight nipple at him. “Suckle me. It’s been so very long.” An eternity. Infinity since she’d been in his embrace, since he’d set her on fire with his mere touch.

“Anything you want, darlin’. You’re never gonna want to leave my bed.”

Technically, it was her bed, but she wasn’t about to correct him. At one time, everything that belonged to her also belonged to him, but that was no longer the case. Bathing his earlobe with her tongue, delighting in her power over him when intense shivers racked his body, she asked, “Just what is a sex slave supposed to do?”

“Anything and everything I say.”

She blinked his shirt off so that she could spread her palms over his muscled chest. This genie stuff wasn’t turning out to be half bad. She could get seriously used to this. “What is your command, master?”

“Relax and enjoy. I’m going to pleasure you, my sweet. I’ve been dreaming of holding you in my arms for so long I can hardly believe this is finally real.”

Was it real? Maybe she was dreaming or delusional to think she was an honest to god genie. But if this was a dream, she never wanted to awaken. It had been too long since she’d been in Mark’s arms, known his kisses and been wrapped in his love. “Maybe we’re both dreaming.”

His throbbing cock felt very real, extremely erotic pressed against the juncture of her legs. Starving to know his possession once more, she blinked the rest of his clothing away so that he was now at her mercy, under her spell.

“Do you still love me?” She hadn’t planned to blurt that out, but she was intoxicated by his kisses.

“I never stopped. I was afraid you’d never kiss me again. If that had happened, I might as well have stayed in jail. Life without you isn’t worth living.”

Blown away by his sweet confession, she gazed deeply into his eyes, wishing she could see into his soul. Her life had been one miserable day after another since this nightmare had erupted. And yet, she knew his life had been the one torn apart, that he had lived a nightmare each and every day while she had walked about free and relatively unscathed.

She stroked his beloved face. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” She had so needed that kind of reassurance when she’d been at her most bereft. Being painfully honest with herself, she knew she would have rejected it.

“I didn’t think you’d want to hear it even if you believed me.” He leaned his forehead against hers and cupped her bottom in his hands, pulling her inexorably closer against him. “Did you?”

Veiling her eyes from him, her warring feelings nearly tore her apart. “I don’t know. Sometimes, no. Others I longed to hear you say what you just said.”

“I’ve lost faith in this system. They were ready to hang me knowing I was innocent just to make them look good. I can’t believe they confessed.” He tucked a finger under her chin and forced her to meet his suspicious gaze. “Give me the real 411. Did you make my accuser confess?”

She licked her parched lips, squirming. “Yes and no. I wished for you to go free but only if you were truly innocent. My genie, Adara I mean, must’ve cast a truth spell on your accuser and the D.A.”

“Thank you. I died a little bit more every day I was in that god awful place, knowing I’d not done anything to deserve it, knowing I’d lost you.”

She reached down and encircled his very much alive cock in her hand. “Funny, you feel very alive to me.”

“Want me to prove it?”

“I’m your sex slave. You tell me.” She nibbled his earlobe, loving his salty taste.

“Oh yeah, I want to prove it very much.” Lifting himself high over her, he made a powerful thrust, filling her to her core, igniting flames in her belly.

On fire for him, she met him thrust for thrust, her hips thrashing in ancient rhythm, her body singing as if it had just been resurrected.

He worshipped her with his eyes, lips, and hands, caressing her as if she was the most cherished woman in the universe.

She felt like she was floating and when she opened her eyes, she was stunned to see that they were hovering high above the bed, close enough to touch the ceiling. And yet their suspended state didn’t lessen in any way the force of their drive. If they could make love floating in her bedroom, why not in the clouds or in space?

Curious, she blinked them onto a fluffy white cloud over the Caribbean.

Bright sunlight showered them as they lay atop a fluffy bed of cotton. “Have you ever seen anything so spectacular?”

Mark’s gaze adored her, making her quiver. A smile played around his lips. “You. You’re even more beautiful now than before I was sent away.”

Glowing inside, her body trembling at his nearness, she tried to remember if he’d been so charismatic before. He’d always been a charmer who made her heart sing, but not this gloriously.

“I wanted to give you the heavens.” A note of pathos rang in Mark’s sultry voice.

His kiss made her soar beyond the heavens, past the moon and the stars.

Blinking, she transported them into space, their only blanket the shimmering stars in the Milky Way. They cast a bluish-purple incandescent haze over them, so that their bare flesh reflected the brilliant colours. “All that matters is that we’re in heaven together.”

He crushed her to him, filling her impossibly deep, taking her to a magical place far beyond heaven. His lips trailed fiery liquid along the hollow of her throat, along her jaw and then he captured her lips from which he drank deeply.

Stroking in and out, his cock enflamed her. Shooting stars blazed through her. Writhing beneath him in ecstasy, she raked her fingernails down his back, clutching him to her, never wanting to let him go.

With one final plunge, Roman candles exploded inside and out. Feverishly, she drank of his kiss, wishing this night would never end.

“Would you like to explore other worlds? Travel into the future or the past?” Ragged breaths punctuated her words but she felt more wonderful than she ever had before. Heady power surged through her. She could do anything—fly, transport anywhere or change herself into anything.

“You mean like see the birth of Christ, watch Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel or find out who really shot Kennedy?” He sucked her lower lip into her mouth as his hands kneaded her waist. “Or meet our great-great grandchildren as adults?”

Furious heat stole into her cheeks. He presumed a lot. Their grandchildren? She was his sex slave, not his concubine or his wife. Yet...
Mark licked her neck, driving her crazy. “I’d like to meet them. To see if they have your stunning beauty.”

Whoa! The brakes skidded on, and she pulled back, confused. He presumed a lot and was trying to take things awfully fast. He hadn’t been out of prison a full twenty-four hours, and he wanted to meet their great-great grandchildren? How could he be so sure they had children much less grandchildren? Although the question burned on her lips, she bit it back, refusing to egg him on further.

Ignoring his question, she blinked them home, hoping he wouldn’t bewitch her with more mind-numbing sex until she got better control of her newly acquired powers. She loved him, at least she loved the old Mark with all her heart and soul, but this required serious breathing space, thinking time and Mark’s touch scattered all coherent thought. She had to make sure he was still the same man, that she was still the same woman before she committed her life to him.

Chuckling, Mark said, “This doesn’t look very futuristic.” Naughtiness quirked in his eyes and he crooked his finger at her. “Come here. I’ve not had my fill of you.”

Her pulses racing, eager for more of his kisses she went into his inviting arms and lifted her swollen lips to his. “Ordinary sex might prove boring now.”

The devil trailed hot kisses down her throat, a move guaranteed to make
her swoon, and make her knees go weak. How very well he knew her.

Melting in his arms, she arched her neck to give him better access. Nothing felt better than Mark’s lips on the back of her neck. Almost nothing. Even without the spell, her heart flipped when he touched her. He must have bewitched her.

“The genie is so submissive and loving to her new master,” a very deep, unfamiliar voice boomed behind her, yanking her out of her euphoria.

Bristling Mark pulled back, and pushed her behind him. “Did you forget to tell me something? Who is he?
Your new boyfriend?”

Available at Total-E-Bound.

Would you like to win a pdf copy of Abracadabra? To win, simply email me at chinara@aol.com before midnight EST and tell me you'd like to be entered in the contest. I'll need your email address so I can contact you if you win and to verify I received your entry. However, I will not add you to a mailing list unless you ask.

Also today for your reading pleasure are several more excerpts featuring bad dates by my fellow Saturday Snippet authors. Please visit them, too.



Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Ashley Ladd
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
Lissa Matthews
Shelley Munro
TJ Michaels
Shelli Stevens
Jody Wallace

Saturday Snippets - Bring me a tissue (waaah!)

Get out your tissues for today's excerpts. The Saturday Snippets authors plan to bring a tear to your eye.

Today I feature my novella "Undiplomatic Relations" which was recently re-released by Ellora's Cave as a single story. Originally, it was released as part of the "Chances Are" anthology in 2006.

Blurb:

In the 26th century, Major Kady Elliott witnesses a heartless massacre of innocent children. Deeply disillusioned and troubled, she escapes the evil murderer, Emperor Lukas. She vows to stop him, so she defects from the Federation and goes in search of the rebel forces hoping to join their ranks.


But that’s not so easily done. Not only was she a high-ranking officer in the Federation, she’s the ex-lover of the rebel commander, Admiral Shane Trigilio. And Shane’s more than a little bitter about her supposed betrayal of him. To rebuild his trust, he demands she follow his every command…

Publisher’s Note: Originally available in the Chances Are anthology.





Excerpt: UNDIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

Copyright © ASHLEY LADD, 2006

A grubby-faced little girl cloaked in tattered rags scampered over marshy ground to Kady Elliott and hugged her. “Will you be my new mommy?”

Kady choked back sudden hot tears and smiled down at the child she’d become so very fond of during her several visits to monitor this world. “You don’t know how very much I’d love to be your new mommy. But I’m a soldier, sweetie. My kind of life wouldn’t be good for a sweet little girl like you.”

“But I wuv you and I need a new mommy.” Pathos rang in the precious five-year-old’s voice.

Kady hugged her in return, cursing the horrors of war that had left the children of the Paldera Nation orphaned, that allowed her to feel this child’s ribs painfully protruding from her malnourished form. No one older than ten had survived the massacre of this outer rim community, and she was amazed they had lived this long on their own. Her unlucky companions who had accompanied her in the shuttle on this quick mission, Yamin and Daughtry, had perished when they’d tripped over old-style land mines undetectable by their scanners.

This should not be happening in the civilized twenty-sixth century! “I love you, too. I’ll be your auntie and I’ll help find you and all your friends new mommies and daddies.”

“Pwomise?” The tot swiped at tears, making twin runways down her dirty cheeks.

Kady ran her fingertip over her chest and forced a sunny smile. “Cross my heart and hope to die. On my honor as an officer and a gentleman.”

The girl’s face radiated with light and she giggled. “But you’re a girl.”

Kady tousled the silky mahogany hair that hung in clumps down the child’s back. She’d been without sex so long, had been nothing but an asexual soldier for four long years, that she’d almost forgotten she was a female. “So I am. Stay here while I round up the other children and then I’ll take you to my ship and on to your new mommy. Okay?”

The tyke’s little head insistently bounced up and down as new hope gleamed in her dark eyes.

Kady’s heart lifted a little. She vowed to do everything in her power to help these kids. Pivoting on her worn boot heel, she went in search of the other children. She checked in the caverns where they liked to hide. When she didn’t find them, she climbed the rocky hill to the other side.

High-pitched, childish screams rent the air from the valley across the creek and then plasma blaster fire erupted nearby. A most eerie, ominous silence followed.

Kady’s heart froze. What the—

Adrenaline surged through her, restarting her heart. She drew her weapon, threw herself to the rocky terrain and crawled through low ground cover to the source of the sound. Cautiously, she peeked around the bend of an old, overgrown bush trail. What she saw stole her breath.

No!

Emperor Lukas smiled wickedly and tilted his head at his top lieutenant. “No rebel spawn will grow up to infest my universe.”

The tall, skinny female ensign, who wore her pink Mohawk long but stiff, lifted her arm and pointed a deadly plasma blaster on the little girl Kady had just left.

The child sobbed and pleaded. She turned to run, but stumbled on makeshift toys scattered about the ground.

Kady took careful aim at the devil ensign and fired.

But her shot missed as the woman stepped away to fire on her innocent target and bore a large hole in the child’s tiny body.

Her heart breaking and unable to believe her eyes, Kady tried to blink back sudden, unstoppable tears. Not one child, girl or boy, had been spared. Their bodies lay littered on the ground in bloody pools, decaying under the midday sun. Bile rose in her throat and she had to turn away from the horrific scene. Her esteemed commander and his henchmen were hideous monsters, vile, murdering bastards, every last one.

Oh no! Shane had been right. The Federation was a vile serpent suffocating the universe and it had to be stopped at all costs.

“Elliott! I know you’re out there. We need to talk. It’s not what it seems.”

She didn’t believe a word out of the fiend’s mouth. Leaves and gravel crunched behind her, propelling her to her ship. Breathless, perspiring profusely, she scampered aboard and locked the hatch. She dove into the captain’s chair and rammed the alactra controls on full throttle so that the ship trembled when the teractic reaction chamber fired up. Inhaling deeply, she skipped over eco power and pushed the ship straight into molecular stream teractic drive. The lactofield held her in her seat when the ship shook so hard it felt as if it would explode and she felt as if every cell in her body would implode.

Lukas bent to one knee, squinted down the barrel of his plasma blaster and let loose fire on her ship.

Her ship rocked and dove alarmingly and she bit out a curse. She diverted half power from life sustain to the shields and sent deadly ionic splinter blasts at the emperor.

He ducked and rolled at the last second when the ionic blast made a crater but a few feet away. He scuttled around his almost grave into the safety of a nearby cave carved into the mountainside.

“Hasta la vista, baby,” she ground out between gritted teeth and saluted smartly at her former commander’s dust. Then she departed from the planet’s atmosphere, from the hideous massacre.

* * * * *

Days later, Kady still shuddered at the vivid memories that wouldn’t give her a moment’s peace. She squinted at the coordinates through a haze of tears as she plotted her course, letting her fingers skim the control panel. While the ship sailed through calm, friendly space, she hugged herself and cried on and off, not at all officer-like. Even through an asteroid belt, she could hardly stop sniffling and dabbing her eyes.

“Get a grip, soldier!” she ordered herself, angrily swiping away non-regulation tears. “Some warrior you are. Death’s part of the game.”

Shivers raced up and down her spine as the little girl’s ghost tormented her.

When the little girl’s spirit wasn’t haunting her, Shane’s was. What a load of words she had to choke on as she’d have to regurgitate each and every poisonous one.

Images of her final hours with Shane four long years ago haunted her, refusing to be erased. Tormenting visions of loving and fighting and breaking up scorched her heart. Cruising out in deep space, several parsecs from any known Federation colonies and stations, with the ship flying on auto-power, she dwelled on their vivid history.

“I don’t know why you flew into my universe for I surely never did anything to be so blessed,” Shane had murmured, smoothing her hair away from her flushed cheeks. He kissed her eyelids and then trailed his caresses down her cheeks until he captured her lips and drank deeply.

Quivering with a need that threatened to devour her, she wound her arms around him and pulled him so impossibly, incredibly close, their souls surely must become one. Against his lips, she murmured, “It’s me who’s blessed.”

Undiplomatic Relations is available at Ellora's Cave.
For more emotional excerpts visit my fellow authors.


Leah Braemel
Lissa Matthews
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Ashley Ladd
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
Lauren Dane
Sasha White
Shelley Munro
TJ Michaels

Saturday Snippets: Foodies

Today's Saturday Snippets features foodies.

My upcoming romance novel "Bon Appetit!" features Demi who is a synethesist. She tastes words, good and bad.

Bon Appetit! will release October 12, 2010 at Total-E-Bound.

Bon Appetit!
By Ashley Ladd

Excerpt
Demi faced the next lunch with the foursome of friends with a light, bouncy step. This time she was a bad girl, too. She’d been sick of being the good one who hadn’t been good and fucked in years, of having to hide the state of her sex life, of watching every word out of her mouth.

Lisa smoothed her skirt beneath her as she took her seat and flashed a wicked smile at her friends. She leaned close to Demi and Cassandra as Veronica was her fashionably late self. “I almost didn’t make it. Reid and Logan didn’t want me out of bed. They had me tied to the bed.”

Cassandra wiggled her brow. “You finally getting into BDSM? Did they spank you?”

Lisa chortled and repositioned her hair in its banana clip. “I whipped them first.”

Demi rested her chin on her hand and gazed at her mentors with glee. She was getting lots of good ideas for the next time Matt joined them in bed. And she enjoyed the luscious flavours of chocolate croissant melting in her mouth.

Lisa turned to Demi and put her hand on her arm. “And what about you? Have you ventured away from plain vanilla sex?”

Demi’s lips spread in a wide, sunny smile and she twisted her hair around her finger. She took a large sip of her wine and swished it around in her mouth before answering. “Not if you call vanilla sex having a ménage with two men fucking me at once.”

Too late she spied the young man who usually waited on them come up behind Cassandra and turn beet red. When he pivoted on his heel and sped away, she spit out the liquid in her mouth.

Cassandra turned her head, then giggled when her gaze followed Demi’s. “I bet we’re the talk of the kitchen.”

Lisa gaped at Demi. “You? You’ve never had eyes for anyone but Alex.”

Feeling flushed, Demi lifted her hair off her nape, but she nodded. “I know. But we needed to spice up our sex life, and when I told him about you having sex with two men, he brought home Matt as a ‘gift’.”

Cassandra’s eyes got wide. “Wow! My husband’s idea of a sexy gift is a new whip.”

Lisa nudged Demi and winked. “Is Alex fucking your new lover, too? Maybe we can have a foursome with you, me and Reid sometime.”

Veronica suddenly towered over them, then slung her purse over the empty chair. “Someone’s having a foursome? Can we come to the orgy, too?”

An elderly couple at the next table shot them dirty looks and got up and moved to another table.

Demi laughed. “We’re incorrigible. I’m surprised they let us into this restaurant.”

Veronica gave a flippant wave of her wrist then lowered herself into her chair. “This is the twenty-first century and we’re in the big city. If they don’t like us, fuck ‘em.”

Lisa raised her glass of wine in toast then clinked it to Cassandra’s, Veronica’s, and finally Demi’s glasses. “Fuck ‘em all!” they chorused.

The waiter who was enroute to their table with their salads, turned and ran back to the kitchen.

“Guys, we’ll never eat at this rate.” Demi’s stomach grumbled as if to punctuate her words. “I think our waiter just hijacked our salads.”

Veronica gulped her wine then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Who needs food? We’re going to have an orgy.”

Cassandra scowled then chewed on a bread stick. She waved it at Veronica. “I don’t know about you, but I need sustenance before I start cracking my whip. If we’re going to have an orgy, I need to build up my energy. Are you all subs or doms?”

Demi’s ears whirred and she shrugged and held her palms up. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

Lisa crooked her finger at their waiter and raised her voice, “Food please!” Then she said to Demi, “Would you rather be spanked or do the spanking? It’s that simple.”

Demi’s mind slipped back to her bedroom and her two lovers. She could definitely see them mastering her, ordering her around, having their wicked way with her. She tried to envision the reverse but didn’t find a cowering, docile man sexy. Tasting rich, gooey chocolate in her mouth again, a taste she had come to associate with great sex, she admitted, “I’m a sub. I long to be spanked and manhandled.”

The crash behind her chair made her jump, shooting her heart into her throat. Her pulse raced and she spun around. When she saw their salads littering the floor with their waiter in the middle of the mess, she had to lift her glass in toast again and say with a lopsided grin, “Bon Appétit!”

Please visit the other authors participating in today's Saturday Snippets for more reading enjoyment:

Lauren Dane
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
HelenKay Dimon
TJ Michaels
Jody Wallace

Saturday Snippets: Friendship

Today's Saturday Snippet theme is "Friendships".

Love isn't the only important relationship in life.

Other family members, friends, co-workers, team members, neighbors, etc. make up our lives.

My cousin who is also a friend called me yesterday to let me know her mother died. Although her mother was my mother's cousin, I considered her my aunt. So I lost my aunt and reconnected with my cousin. As this cousin and I were in the same grade in the same high school, we're also friends.

Not long ago, I lost another aunt this year. Bittersweet as it always is, her memorial service was both a time to say goodbye to her and a family reunion for the rest of the family.

My recent romance, Whirlwind Relationship, not only deals with a chance to win back a lost love, but a chance to renew relationships with a lost sister and a lost friend.

When Colleen gets sucked into a hurricane and awakes in 1978 she gets a second chance to be with the only man she’s ever loved.


Colleen’s life didn’t turn out like she planned. At fifty plus she’s divorced, childless and her career’s nowhere. If that isn’t bad enough, a hurricane destroys her home and sucks her into it.

When she awakes she’s either dead or crazy. It can’t be 1978 and she can’t be young again but all indications point to that.

She really can’t have a second chance with the only man she’s ever loved...or can she?





Excerpt:

Abba’s Dancing Queen yanked Colleen from her nightmare. She resented relinquishing her pillow and blind from sleep, she patted the dresser, searching for the alarm clock. When it crashed to the floor she moaned, “Five more minutes.” Then she hit the snooze button and cocooned herself in her comforter.


But the nightmare returned filled with tornadoes that devoured buildings and trees. Splintered wood stabbed her. Concrete slabs crushed her. In terror anew, she bolted up in her bed. Then the room’s serene but strange décor filtered into her slumberous brain. Her brow furrowed and she did a double take.

This wasn’t her room, at least not in 2010.

Eight-track tapes littered the dresser. A rabbit-ear antenna sprouted from the TV. A bright yellow phone on the nightstand sported a rotary dial.

She read the tapes and her jaw dropped. Captain & Tenille. Bee Gees. Linda Ronstadt. Rod Stewart. Queen. Billy Joel. Barry Manilowe. Elton John.

Before she could figure out what this meant, Rhonda popped into her room. Her college roommate’s eyes danced and her hair long and feathered like one of Charlie’s Angels. She looked to be twenty-something, not the fifty-something she should be. Rhonda shouldn’t be in her room at all. She hadn’t seen the woman in almost thirty years, not since she’d stolen Gary.

Rhonda sauntered over and shook her shoulder. “Sleeping Beauty, you’d better get up. Don’t you have early class today?”

Colleen blinked at the ghost. She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand but the vision remained. Nothing was making sense.

On a gulp she asked, “What class?”

Rhonda shrugged. “Beats me. You’re lucky I know you have class. I’m not your keeper.”

Colleen batted her ears and rubbed her eyes. Not happy to be face to face with the ex-best friend who’d stolen her man, she eyed her warily. Her Botox never worked that good. She’d never seen plastic surgery do the trick that well, either. Not even for Cher. “What are you doing here?”

Rhonda closed the distance between them and put her hand to Colleen’s forehead. “I live here. Are you okay?”

Colleen stole herself not to flinch. She tried to remember the good times, the time before her friend stole the only man she’d ever loved. But she couldn’t forget the treachery. Agony tormented her as she remembered Gary and Rhonda together.

Whirlwind Relationship is available at Total-E-Bound.

Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Emma Petersen
HelenKay Dimon
Shelley Munro
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Eliza Gayle
Lauren Dane

If you're not here to look for this Nook for the Long and the Short of It's Party Treasure Hunt, but you'd like to win a Nook then go to The Long and Short Reviews to check out the contest. August 2-29, 2010.

Saturday Snippets: Exotic Locations

Summer is a time may people vacation, some in exotic locations. I'm blessed to live in one of them: South Florida. Tourists from all over the world come to enjoy the sun and surf.

Thus, I set a alot of my stories in Florida.

"Welcome to Paradise" is one such story. The heroine, Jordan, has fled her cold climate for the sunny Florida beaches.

Blurb:
Determined to live life by her own rules, Jordan's more than ready to devour two yummy men, what her religious father thinks, be damned.
Eager to escape the bitter cold of the frigid Northwest and especially her strict, overzealous religious father, Jordan seeks a new life in sunny Florida at a resort called Paradise. When she meets the proprietors, Evan and Chris, she's ready to try new, titillating things with the yummy pair, even blindfolded BDSM and especially ménage a trois. She reasons that if the men in her father's religion can have more than one wife, she certainly can have more than one husband.



Excerpt:
Jordan Marshall spread her toes in the warm Florida sand and let the heady warmth seep into her. This was a long-time dream, and she wondered again if it was a fantasy. Having lived in the snows of Alaska and Utah all her twenty-four years, she’d finally found paradise.


Stretching her bikini-clad body, she reached towards the sun’s warmth and light. Joyous laughter bubbled from her lips, and she hoped a merman would emerge from the depths of the blue gulf waves and claim her for his own. Well, not really. She just wanted a man. A man who wasn’t of her father’s choosing or the type he would choose: a return Mormon missionary, probably an exulted Brigham Young University or Rick’s College grad. No, she’d escaped her daddy’s clutches to find a man of her choosing. No return missionaries or religious nuts need apply. And no one was to know she was rich, either. She longed to find love on her own terms. To be loved for herself. That shouldn’t be too hard since she was staying at Paradise Inc., a cosy little hotel on the gorgeous Gulf Shore of west Florida. If she couldn’t find love in paradise, where could she?

Certainly not at Utah State even though she knew darned well her dad had sent her there to be as close to BYU as possible. If he’d had his way, she’d have attended BYU to get her MRS, but since she wasn’t a temple-card carrying member of the Latter-day Saints, she’d been rejected. Had her dad ever been mortified. And had she ever been relieved. Like her mother, she had serious doubts about the church her father prized.
A handsome, well-muscled blond caught her eye, and remembering the flirting advice she’d recently read on the internet, she returned his smile. It was so wide, she could almost feel the cleft in her chin deepening. Pretending to look for the small black shark’s teeth that were so abundant in the Gulf sands, she inched her way nearer to the hottie. But then a buxom, blonde female joined him and whisked him away, kicking sand in her wake and burying Jordin’s dreams under clumps of wet sand.
Jordan bit back a sigh and bagged her sharks’ teeth. Oh well, she consoled herself, there was sure to be an abundance of available men in Paradise. If not, looking on the bright side, at least she could make shark’s teeth necklaces for all her friends back home.

She spent her afternoon playing in the surf and sand and sunbathing, trying to take a bit of pallor off her lily-white flesh. Since she didn’t want to look like a cooked lobster, she reapplied her Bull Frog sunscreen every half hour and wore a visor and dark shades to protect her eyes that were more accustomed to light filtered through clouds than heavy doses of direct sun. Although she spied a lot of interesting men, she hadn’t gotten up the nerve to approach any. What was she supposed to say? Carry me away? Make love to me? Save me from daddy dearest?
Oh, yeah. That would really attract men.
"Welcome to Paradise" is available at Total-E-Bound.

For more exciting, exotic blurbs, please visit the following authors.

Jody Wallace
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Emma Petersen
HelenKay Dimon
Shelley Munro
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd

Saturday Snippet: Is this a date?

Today's Saturday Snippet theme is about dates.

I've been married thirty years so I've not been on a date in more than three decades. But dates can be fun, even very sexy, very erotic as the heroine of "Charity's Auction" discovered when she set up a date with two men simultaneously.

So I want to share this very hot date with you.

Charity's Auction is available at Total-E-Bound in ebook and audio book formats.

When Char bids on and wins both sexy doctors Hunky and Hottie in her hospital's charity auction, she knows exactly what to do with them and it's not tidily winks.

Although head nurse Char Reynolds is desperately head over heels for bad boy Dr. Dexter Graham, he's moved on. Still she gets caught up in bidding for him at the hospital's auction for the new children's wing and wins. His smug expression drives her to also bid on and win the very hunky Dr. Ben Price, Dexter's nemesis and to plan a very naughty, very sexy night with both men.

EXCERPT:

Excerpt From: Charity's Auction

Charity “Char” Reynolds stared at Dr. Dexter Graham, her eyes narrowed, her heart doing the cha-cha while mathematical calculations flew around in her head. He was gorgeous with his dark, five o’clock shadow, the sexy glint in his eyes, and his broad, powerful shoulders. If it weren’t for that smirk on his lips, he’d be perfect. But he was far from it. He only looked perfect.

The good doctor was a bad boy through and through. It was a toss up whether he mended or broke more hearts. His record on the operating room table was stellar. Off, however, was horrendous. He’d broken so many hearts with that killer smile and huge dimples he should be thrown into solitary confinement for the rest of his miserable life.

Amy Koch, the hospital’s chief administrator, adjusted the microphone with her only hand. Then she tapped the instrument and blew into it. “Can you hear me?”

When the sound from the mic blasted through Char’s head, she clapped her hands over her ears in self-preservation. “Have mercy, woman.”

Once her brain stopped spinning and she was able to see again, she looked over a sea of other people holding their ears. Tentatively, she removed one hand, keeping it close just in case the mic went crazy again.

So far so good. Slowly, she lowered her other hand but kept it at the ready as she warily kept her eye on Amy.

Although, she felt sorry for Amy since the car wreck that had amputated the administrator’s left arm, that she couldn’t find anything to like about her caused her to war with feelings of guilt and distrust. Even before the accident, Amy had only been out for number one, stepping on anybody in her way, claiming it was for the greater good. Now people overlooked her mean tempered whining—until they came into her sights. Char had been dead centre in Amy’s far too often. As head surgical nurse, she and Amy butted heads daily.

“Welcome to our first annual charity auction.” Amy beamed at the audience and batted her fake lashes. When she moved, the spotlight made her rhinestones shoot laser beams around the room.

Amy clapped her hand against the mic and shot a grin as fake as her lashes at the audience. “I hope your cheque books are fat and happy and your fingers are itching to write outrageous amounts for the new children’s wing. Let’s get this thing off the ground tonight!”

Cheering anew deafened Char, and her lips stretched so tightly over her teeth they ached.

Her best friend, Beth, another surgical nurse, elbowed her. She rubbed her hands together, and there was a hungry gleam in her eyes. “My cheque book’s ready, willing and able. I moved money from savings to bid on Dr. Hottie.”

It was all Char could do to hold her smile in place and not growl at the sweet strawberry blonde. Since she’d never breathed a word about her brief fling with Dr. Hottie, she couldn’t accuse her friend of trying to steal her ex-boyfriend, yet her claws extended and her skin crawled. When her throat stopped constricting, she said as airily as possible, “Oh, really? Great minds think alike. Me, too.”

Their third musketeer, Jody, a surgical intern jumped up and down and waved her psychedelic-coloured cheque book in their faces. “Me three! Let’s do a ménage à trois with him and have our wicked way.”

Beth scrunched her nose at the perky child. With a duh hanging in her voice, she said, “Ew. I don’t want to see your naked tits. Besides a ménage à trois is three and there would be four of us.”

The three of them would be much too good for the louse. What she wanted to do to him involved whips, chains and video. He’d be so sorry he’d ever broken her heart…

“Aw shucks.” Jody scrunched her nose and pouted. “You two make three times as much as me. I’ll be lucky if I can buy Dr. Rob. I might as well go home since you two party poopers won’t share. It’s way too smoky in here anyway.” She covered her mouth with her hand and coughed as if to add emphasis.

Char’s gaze landed on Dr. Hunky, aka Ben Price, plastic surgeon to the rich and ritzy Boca Babes. “What about Dr. Hunky? He’s mighty cute.”

Charity's Auction is available at Total-E-Bound.

Jody Wallace
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
Emma Petersen
HelenKay Dimon
Shelley Munro
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd

Saturday Snippets: Apologies

TGIS! It's Saturday again. My coworkers and I live for weekends. My grandson is staying with us this weekend and after I post this blog, we're going to go out and have fun. Maybe bowling. Maybe renting bicycles at the beach and bike riding. Maybe we'll take him to the park and let him play at the playground. He's 10. My younger daughter is 19 going on 10.

After that, or maybe during all that, I HAVE to squeeze in writing time. My alter ego just received galleys that have to be returned before 4 days. I promised two editors I would turn in stories SOON. I promised myself I would turn in stories SOONER. But family time is important, too. My grandson will be 19 before I know it. My daughter was. I don't want to have apologies of my own.

Below is my apologies snippet, from a sweet romance I have at The Wild Rose Press.

Always A Bridesmaid
The Wild Rose Press
http://www.thewildrosepress.com/always-a-bridesmaid-p-3940.html

Hell has finally frozen over. After nine long years, Breanna Parker has come home to be her sister's maid of honor. Just her luck that the first person she runs into is her ex-fiance, Troy Youngwolf—the man who eloped with her ex-best friend and broke her heart. Now a widowed father and sheriff of their Florida home town, sexy bad boy Troy wants another chance and won't take no for an answer. However, every time Breanna looks at Troy or his little girl, her heart breaks anew. She can hardly wait for her sister to get hitched so she can escape back to her urban family in Ft. Lauderdale. The risk is too high that Troy may discover her most closely held secret, one with the potential to destroy them both…perhaps this time forever.

Excerpt:

Troy’s sharp gaze cut into her as he hooked his thumbs through the empty belt loops of his jeans. A smile tugged at the corner of his chiseled lips. “Why didn’t you come home for Meg’s funeral?”

Meg’s name stole the breath from her lungs, paralyzing her, almost as much as his disapproving smile. She had loved Meg. She had hated her...almost as much as she had loved and hated the man who married her. Troy deserved the most blame for breaking her heart, however, much more than Meg. He had been her fiancé before marrying her ex-best friend.

She gazed down at her toes, anywhere but into his eyes, unable to meet his accusing gaze. “I couldn’t,” she mumbled around the lump in her throat and squeezed back fresh tears stinging her eyes.

“She apologized. She missed you.” Troy cupped her elbow.
And what about her needs?

He escorted her from the center of the sidewalk as if to avoid the curious gazes that seemed to be boring into their backs.

Her temper threatened to escape its tightly leashed bounds but she struggled to keep it checked. She couldn’t let him find out her secret. She just couldn’t.

His fingers burned through the thin material of her cotton sleeve, shooting frissons of awareness up her arm. When they bit into her flesh, she shook him from her body but could not erase the haunting memories. He had no right to touch her.

Her smile dissipated as cold and out of breath, she chortled mirthlessly. “Apologies can’t fix everything. Some things should be left alone and forgotten.” Lord knew she’d done her best to forget how her ex-fiancé and ex-best friend had destroyed her life. The last few years she had almost succeeded—until Meg died in a horrible car wreck, dredging up awful memories. Oh, she had forgiven them but forget? No…She wished.

Always A Bridesmaid is available at The Wild Rose Press.

For more apology snippets, visit these fantastic authors.

Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle
Mari Carr
Vivian Arend
HelenKay Dimon
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Shelli Stevens
TJ Michaels
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
Ashley Ladd

Saturday Snippets: Favorite Intimate Moment

Today's Saturday Snippets feature our favorite intimate moments.

If you've stopped by for today's segment of the Cougar Growls Tour, please click here. If you think younger men are sexy, if you ever wished to be a cougar, check out my post "How To Be A Cougar".

Saturday Snippets:

Since I write erotic romance, all my stories have intimate moments. As my vampire romance releases this Monday, May 17th, I chose to feature an intimate scene from it.

Blurb:

Kes is obsessed with killing Nikolai – to prevent him from destroying Earth 900 years into the future.

Kes is obsessed with eliminating Nikolai before he's reborn as the evil vampire who destroys Earth and propels her family into the past.

Once she finds the Nikolai of her present is a good and kind man she's not sure she can hold the very sexy human accountable for something he hasn't yet done.





Excerpt:

Jumbled visions of Nikolai invaded her dreams, making her toss and turn, and she quickly became entangled in her sheets, feeling trapped between her duty to Earth, its inhabitants and her loyalty to her father.


She fought against them, against intangible bonds she couldn’t see but could feel with every fibre of her being. She gnawed at them with her fangs but to no avail. They tied her tighter, and she felt as if she were suffocating.

Screams ripped from her throat, and she fought her bonds.

“Shush, my love. Pray tell, don’t worry so much. Nothing is as black as it seems,” the rich masculine of her lover’s voice crooned. Strong but gentle arms crept around her from behind.

She smiled and sank into her lover’s mesmerising warmth. “Not as black? I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” Then her dream turned into the nightmare that haunted her for the millionth time as she witnessed her beloved planet exploding into a billion burning pieces, as millions of terrified voices cried for mercy. Nikolai hadn’t shown clemency to them. Why should she show it to him?

“We’re here, together, my sweet. Forget about all that. Live for today.” The last words were mumbled huskily against her ear then a moist tongue delved inside, laving it, making her quiver.

She relaxed into the embrace, yearning to do as her lover implored. She’d never truly lived, had never let go of her parents’ past. She’d never felt free to be herself, to live her own life. Surely she could shrug off if off for one more night to indulge in something for herself. But how? Her mission defined her.

“You know you want to.” The voice bewitched her, echoing her thoughts. His warm breath, his sensual lips, caressed her into a relaxed mindlessness, and she laid her head on his broad shoulder. “You deserve to.”

She nodded. Her lover had the sexiest voice she’d ever heard, and she quaked in his arms.

“We’re meant to be together, forever,” he continued, turning her around and lowering his lips to hers.

His face and form lay in the shadows, but his erection pushed unmistakably against her stomach as was the fervour of his tongue exploring her mouth.

Frissons of desire shot up her arm, through her heart and down to her pussy. When he ground his hips against hers, she fell into his rhythm, moaning. Unable to get close enough, her fingers fumbled with his laces and pushed his shirt off his shoulders. She couldn’t wait to feel his naked flesh against hers.

“You are so comely, so desirable. You’re meant to be mine,” he murmured against her lips as his calloused thumbs grazed her heated flesh.

With his help, she stepped out of her bloomers which were soaked with her moisture. Their musky scent permeated the room, intoxicating her. Consumed by a rampaging need she’d never before known, her thoughts were barely coherent. Only one remained, and she muttered it against the rapid-fire pulse in his neck, “Who are you?”

He paused and stroked her damp hair away from her cheeks. “Your soul mate.” As she opened her mouth to demand his name, he swallowed her words with a soul-deep kiss.
 
Carnal Lust will be available Monday May 17th at Total-E-Bound.
 

For more reading enjoyment, don't miss the other intimate moment excerpts today from the following fab authors.
 
Mari Carr
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Shelley Munro
Lacey Savage
HelenKay Dimon
Eliza Gayle


Recent posts you might like to read:

Author Interview: Wendi Zwaduk 

Author Interview: Frances Pauli


Author Interview: Marcia James

Author Interview: Elaine Hopper

Weathering A Bad Review

What Do You Want in a Romance Hero & What Do You Want in a Real Life Husband?

Rejection: Where Do You Go Next?

Procrastination

Cliche or Coincidence?

Incognito: free short story

Dedicating Books

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Wendi Zwaduk are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Crazy In Love by Ashley Ladd

Crazy in Love

An MF erotic romance by Ashley Ladd

Released March 22, 2010

Available at Total-E-Bound.com

The ghost of Kacey's crazy great-grandfather threatens her life but just might save her marriage.

When the ghost of Kacey's crazy great-grandfather mistakes her for her great-grandmother, he threatens to kill her for cheating on him. Meanwhile her husband, Heath, finds out she believes he's fallen out of love with her and he sets out to show her just how much he loves her. However, he fears she's crazy as she claims to see homicidal ghosts.

Although Kacey longs to save her marriage, she doesn't know if she can stay with a man who doesn't believe her and thinks she's insane.

Excerpt From: Crazy in Love


A mixture of awe, disbelief, enlightenment, and grief washing over her, Kacey Carlisle poured over her great-great-grandmother’s pension claim records. The ancient handwriting was almost illegible in places yet it was clear—her grandfather, August, hadn’t left his wife and family as the descendants had believed all these years. Her grandmother, Emma, had kicked him out.

Emma had sworn under deposition she’d feared for her life after August had returned home from the Civil War, physically and mentally ill. Other acquaintances had also testified under oath that August had suffered from crazy spells, that he’d thought spirits were chasing him. Others claimed August believed Emma to have been unfaithful. For sure, he’d been a tortured soul.

Kacey’s head spun so she took another sip of her soda as she tried to make sense of her readings. Clearly, there were two sides. Still, she sympathised with Emma. Her own husband, Heath, while not insane or abusive, had been ignoring her for a long time and so her thoughts had turned more and more to divorce. It broke her heart, but she could no longer deny it. Heath had fallen out of love with her. If she paraded naked before him, he’d only tell her to quit acting silly and stop blocking the TV.

Oh, yeah. She empathised with her ancestor. Men could be real shits. Who needed them?

Her heart cracked a little more. Who was she fooling? She still loved her husband, desperately, madly. Insanely. At least, they didn’t have kids who would get hurt.

Miffed at herself, she chewed her lower lip. So it would seem she was insane, too. Who would hang on when the situation was so hopeless?

Only a crazy person. Maybe she’d inherited Grandpa August’s crazy streak.

”It’s late. Come to bed,” Heath muttered on a growl. Barefoot, he padded through the hall and scowled at her. He scrubbed the heel of his hand over the beginnings of new stubble on his chin. “I’ll lose my job if you keep me awake all night. I won’t be able to function at work tomorrow.”

Character Interview: Kacey Carlisle from new book "Crazy In Love"

Kacey Carlisle, the heroine from my erotic paranormal romance releasing today, has kindly agreed to an interview with me to tell readers a little about her romance.

Help me to welcome Kacey and be sure to ask her questions.

Ashley: Kacey, welcome! As you know my blog is titled "Happily Ever After" which is because that's what I write.

Kacey: Thanks, Ashley. I've never been interviewed before and I don't know much about this blogging stuff.

Ashley: (gasp) You don't blog? I thought everybody blogged in 2010. So what do you do with your time?

Kacey: I've been busy doing my family genealogy. A distant cousin sent medical records to me about our great-great-grandfather, from right after the Civil War. It has personal interviews with my great-great-grandmother, his doctors, his friends, his neighbors, his employers... It's such a great find, better than a treasure chest full of rare gems.

Ashley: Wow! I've dabbled in genealogy but haven't done much of it in a couple years. I hit a dead end when my ancestors got on the ship in Germany, back in the 1800's.

Kacey: I'm available for hire. I LOVE to do genealogy. Except when insane ghos... Oops! I didn't mean to say that. I don't want to give anything away.

Ashley: Let's change the subject then. I usually don't think of romances being about married people, unless of course, it's about an arranged marriage. Was yours an arranged marriage?

Kacey: This is 2010 in the US. Who has arranged marriages? No, I met my husband in college. I was getting my history degree and he was in law school. He couldn't keep his hands off me.

Ashley: Go on. My readers and I love to hear sexy stuff.

Kacey: But you said no spoilers. You don't want me to give away your book, do you?

Ashley: Shoot! I guess they'll just have to read your story to get the good stuff. So, tell me, what's your favorite vegetable?

Kacey: Zucchini. Big fat ones, though. Not like that skinny little one in your "Tease" story on your blog today.

Ashley: I don't believe you said that.

Kacey: But you're an erotic romance writer? You put me in your erotic romance. What's your favorite vegetable?

Ashley: Who's the interviewer and who's the interviewee? Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to say that out loud. I guess Italian green beans or corn on the cob. What's your favorite paranormal type character? Ghosts?

Kacey: Ghosts! How could you ask me that! I'd rather face a real-life vampire. You know how crazy those ghos...

Ashley: No more ghost questions. Promise. So, are you a Coke or Pepsi person?

Kacey: I'm trying to cut back on soda and adopt a healthier lifestyle. Flavored water.

Ashley: Romance, mystery, or suspense?

Kacey: History. Genealogy.

Ashley: You don't like my romances? I write sweet and erotic.

Kacey: I love your romances, Ash. Especially mine and Heath's. Did I tell everyone how awesome it is?

Ashley: You're so sweet. Thanks. So what else do you do besides genealogy and history?

Kacey: I love drive-in movies.

Ashley: Me, too! When I'm not reading I love the big screen. Hopefully "Crazy In Love" will make it to the big screen soon.

Kacey: But the crazy ghos...

Ashley: Well, it was great chatting with you. Do you have a website? Can people hire you to help them with their genealogy? What's your url?

Kacey: My ur-what? No, I don't have a website. I'm not that into computers.

Ashley: Maybe you'll change your mind once you become a celebrity. I hope we'll get to talk again, after "Crazy In Love"'s been out awhile.

Kacey: I'd be delighted. Thank you, Ashley! You're the greatest.

Ashley: Back at you. You've been a great ghost...I mean guest.

If you want to check out Kacey and Heath's romance, "Crazy In Love" visit TEB. It released today, Monday March 22nd. After this interview and all the promotion I've been doing for this book and that of my alter ego's that comes out Wednesday, I barely remember my name.

Excerpt from "Crazy In Love":

A mixture of awe, disbelief, enlightenment, and grief washing over her, Kacey Carlisle poured over her great-great-grandmother’s pension claim records. The ancient handwriting was almost illegible in places yet it was clear—her grandfather, August, hadn’t left his wife and family as the descendants had believed all these years. Her grandmother, Emma, had kicked him out.

Emma had sworn under deposition she’d feared for her life after August had returned home from the Civil War, physically and mentally ill. Other acquaintances had also testified under oath that August had suffered from crazy spells, that he’d thought spirits were chasing him. Others claimed August believed Emma to have been unfaithful. For sure, he’d been a tortured soul.

Kacey’s head spun so she took another sip of her soda as she tried to make sense of her readings. Clearly, there were two sides. Still, she sympathised with Emma. Her own husband, Heath, while not insane or abusive, had been ignoring her for a long time and so her thoughts had turned more and more to divorce. It broke her heart, but she could no longer deny it. Heath had fallen out of love with her. If she paraded naked before him, he’d only tell her to quit acting silly and stop blocking the TV.

Oh, yeah. She empathised with her ancestor. Men could be real shits. Who needed them?

Her heart cracked a little more. Who was she fooling? She still loved her husband, desperately, madly. Insanely. At least, they didn’t have kids who would get hurt.

Miffed at herself, she chewed her lower lip. So it would seem she was insane, too. Who would hang on when the situation was so hopeless?

Only a crazy person. Maybe she’d inherited Grandpa August’s crazy streak.

”It’s late. Come to bed,” Heath muttered on a growl. Barefoot, he padded through the hall and scowled at her. He scrubbed the heel of his hand over the beginnings of new stubble on his chin. “I’ll lose my job if you keep me awake all night. I won’t be able to function at work tomorrow.”

Crazy In Love is now available at Total-E-Bound.


Recent posts you might like to read:

What Do You Want in a Romance Hero & What Do You Want in a Real Life Husband?

Rejection: Where Do You Go Next?

Procrastination

Cliche or Coincidence?

What Prompts Me To "Follow" A Blog

Make Sure Pretentious Words Don't Turn Off Your Readers

Dedicating Books

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

Winners & Release Day for NAKED AMBITION

And the winners of my Valentine's Day story "Naked Ambition" are:

Tamsyn

and

teka_cideon (from Twitter)

I've sent notices to both winners and will send their prizes as soon as I hear from them.

And today is the day "Naked Ambition" releases at http://www.total-e-bound.com/

Homecoming Valentines Collection, stories of love lost and love found: "If you love someone, let them go. If they return to you, it was meant to be. If they don't, their love was never yours to begin with..."

BLURB
Ali James will do anything to raise her orphaned sister and finish medical school, even work as a topless waitress.

Ali James is determined to finish medical school and cure cancers like the one that killed her mother. She's also determined to raise her trouble-making teenage sister. As if it's not hard enough to juggle all this and her job as a topless waitress, her ex-fiancé comes back to town and makes it plain he's still sore she chose her career over him and that he very much disapproves her of job.



EXCERPT
Police detective Cliff Griffin stewed in the back of the worst dive he’d ever seen. If he wasn’t on duty he wouldn’t be caught dead in the joint.


A waitress winked broadly and pointedly looked at his crotch. “Can I get you anything, sugar? Anything at all?”

He plastered a smile on his face as he choked out, “No thanks.”

The platinum blonde with bright blue eye shadow that would do a 1960s go-go dancer proud, pouted prettily and stooped lower so that her breasts threatened to spill out of her skimpy costume. “Are you sure? You’re the cutest thing to wander into this place in a year of Sundays.”

Cliff didn’t consider himself cute, but he wasn’t grizzled or dirty like most of the other patrons, either. He wondered what the woman would do if he flashed his police badge or told her he was a cop. But he wasn’t ready to reveal himself, so he looked away while trying not to get his face stuck in her cleavage. “I’m sure.”

He had to keep a clear head and a watchful eye. Some monster was threatening the woman and her co-workers. To date, they didn’t know if the threat came from a religious nut, a thwarted lover or maybe the jealous wife of one of the patrons. As the new guy in the department, he’d gotten stuck on the case.

He had nothing against naked women or drinking, but he wasn’t allowed to partake of either on duty so this was torture. He also preferred to be alone with a naked woman.

That brought a grimace to his lips. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he’d been with a woman. And it had been even longer since he’d been in love with one.

That he could remember. Who wouldn’t remember a big break-up on Valentine’s Day? Or having a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates bonk him on the head?

If the cheesy decorations on the walls were anything to go by, it was almost Valentine’s Day again—the worst day in the world. When he got off duty, it was his turn to have a stiff drink!

Available today, Monday February 8, 2010 at Total-E-Bound.

If you love Valentine's Day and romance and you've not read my Valentine's Day romance from 2009 "Secret Admirer" check it out here.

A long-time secret admirer of star pitcher Blake, geeky nerd Wes asks Blake to make him over into his fantasy man - for someone else.

Geeky nerd Wes Donovan has a secret crush on Blake Kircherner, star pitcher of his baseball team. Unfortunately, the only time Blake seems to notice him is when he's making the last out for their team and losing another game.

With Valentine's Day and the team's annual Valentine's Day party coming up, he can't stand the thought of going dateless again. So he asks Blake to make him into a new man and help him make their coach Clay, jealous. In reality, Blake's the one he hopes to make jealous and to win after he's transformed into Blake's fantasy man.

Saturday Snippets: DUMPED

Today's excerpts are all about being DUMPED.

DUMPED - I HATE that word. I've been dumped, more than once. One time it was for a girl with a mustache!

DUMPED sounds as if I (or the heroine) was tossed unceremoniously into a dumpster.

However, I just celebrated my 30th wedding anniversary so it's a long time since I've suffered this fate. Also, I know I'm far from the only person who's ever been dumped, so even if I were ever to get dumped again, I'd survive. Still, as most of us knows, it hurts like hell right after it happens.

In my story "Shipwrecked", the first of my stories published by Total-E-Bound, Katie was dumped by her fiance. As if that's not bad enough, as she's trying to escape the humiliation and hurt, she gets shipwrecked physically and emotionally with another handsome and equally inappropriate man who threatens to break her heart all over.

Blurb:

Katie's life is one huge shipwreck. But when she runs away from one disaster, bigger ones await.


Whilst fleeing from her rich and powerful ex-fiancé, Katie McLaughlin's ship runs aground. Lo and behold, she is shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island with Scott Vanderhorne, a man ten times richer andmore  powerful than her ex, a man with a fiancée back home. To survive, Katie and Scott must join together, but many dangers await, especially to their hearts.


Excerpt:

Throwing her over his shoulder as if she weighed no more than a toddler, he carried her further out into the ocean, until he was waist deep. He ignored her fists pummelling his back. His mouth set in a grim line, while mirth danced in his eyes. "You throw me in the water and I'll throw you in the water." His hands slid to her waist, spanned it so that his thumbs and fingertips met, and their gaze met and held.


She caught her breath as a fire ignited in her belly and licked up her spine. He was going to kiss her. She knew it. Worse, she wanted him to with all her being.

Closing her eyes and puckering her lips, she waited for the first searing touch of his lips. Instead, with a mighty roar, he flung her into the waves.

Her eyes opened so wide, the sockets ached. Sputtering water out her mouth and nose, she vowed revenge. Diving under water after she caught her breath, she grabbed him around his knees, trying to pull his legs out from beneath him.

Although his knees buckled a fraction, they did not give way.

To her horror, his hands caught her around her waist again and hauled her up against his chest. "Good try." He hoisted her out, tossing her into another oncoming wave, his laughter echoing in her ears.

She struck out in a strong, clean crawl, trying to escape him, but he was fast on her tail, grabbing her calf, pulling her backwards. Again, he caught her in his arms as lithely as if she put up no struggle, trapping her against his chest, his heartbeat pounding against her ear.

Despite the cool water, his warmth seeped into her, beguiling her, teasing her. Swirls of blond hair tickled her cheek, teasing and tempting her. Instead of flinging her away from him this time, he gazed deeply into her eyes, the passion igniting in his stealing her breath. He lowered his head, capturing her lips in a soul-shattering kiss that would have knocked her off her feet if she'd been standing.

Without her volition, her arms crept around his neck and her fingers tangled in the wet hair at the base of his neck, playing in its thickness. His beard scratched her tender face, grazing her lips, but she revelled in the all male feel of it, desire inflaming her.

His low growl poured into her mouth as his tongue duelled with hers. He drank deeply of her, his chest crushed to hers, his thick mat of chest hair teasing the swell of her breasts, making her long to rip off her top so that she could rub her nipples against him.

Waves crashed against them, making him sway, but not loosening his grip on her. Carrying her, he waded to shore. Once there, he laid her gently on the sand, never releasing her lips, caressing her face, her breasts, and the swell of her hip. When his hand splayed across her belly only fractions of an inch away from her pussy, she bucked beneath him, grounding her hips against his.

Unable to remember why she shouldn't be kissing or caressing him, she let her hands explore his rugged frame, running up and down his chest, his back, and kneading his firm buttocks. She rubbed her pussy against his growing cock. Their groans grew louder, more ragged.

Her breath coming in short bursts, she could hardly breathe. Sweet emotions engorged her and without thought, she lifted her arms for him to lift her top off.

Shipwrecked is available at Total-E-Bound.

Don't stop here. Below are links to several more great excerpts all about today's theme. Enjoy!


Lissa Matthews
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Shelli Stevens
Eliza Gayle
Vivian Arend
Mari Carr
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro

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You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)