NEW RELEASE! Come Back is now available in ebook and print!

Come Back by Tilly Greene

Shape Shifter Erotic Romance
Tease Publishing

Buy ebook at Amazon and print from Amazon│CreateSpace

Cassie Johnston needs to move on from a bad break-up. To start, she gets a new hairstyle and leaves the hospital scrubs behind for a research lab coat.   Exhausted and yet excited about the new challenges, she’s unprepared to handle it when her heartbreaker walks back in to her life.

Mikhail Ivanovich tried to do the right thing for the woman he loves, but he’s haunted by her absence. Buying himself in work hasn't helped and eventually he accepts life is too short not to spend it with the woman he loves.

A heat wave blankets New York City and the two finally sit down to talk about what happened between them. Will they reunite or are there too many insurmountable problems standing in their way?

WARNING! There's a sexy shape shifter living in NYC wearing a 3 piece suit that will do anything to get his woman back in his arms where he can keep her safe and happy!


Excerpt
“You okay, Cassie?”

“Oh yes, yes, sorry everyone.” With a smile pasted on her face, she looked around the table at the faces of her worried and anxious workmates. They’d all been enjoying lunch together until she’d screamed in terror at something no one else could see. “I guess my mind traveled into uncharted territory.” The small group of men and women tittered and returned to talking while she put her hands on her heated cheeks. It was a useless move to stop the blush staining them from spreading further, but she did it all the same.

Groaning silently with embarrassment, she reminded herself how, until then, the altered reality only happened at home, while she slept. Realistically, she could no longer blame her weird tiger dreams on her problems with change. Maybe she should talk to a mental health professional.

Why couldn’t she be like everyone else?

Why did she have to embarrass herself by daydreaming about her white tiger while sitting in the company’s air-conditioned and packed lunchroom?

Flustered, she fussed with her salad before eventually excusing herself early, telling her lunch mates she needed to make a couple of calls before heading back into the lab. Actually, what she needed was a few minutes alone to pull herself back together. She made her way to her office, all the while focused on controlling her breathing and heartbeat, which were still unsettled from the recent trip her imagination had taken.

Sitting at her desk, she opened a file, and pretended to read while her mind raced through what had happened. There was something going on that wasn’t right. If she had any doubts in leaving the hectic pace of the hospital floor for the quiet one of research, they were long gone. She couldn’t be more thrilled with her decision to accept Dr. Winton’s offer. While change was not her thing, the new job had actually been a good decision.

On her first day at work, she’d been placed on a team looking into diabetes, specifically childhood type 1. They were trying to pinpoint the problem gene or genes in a bid to eradicate or, at the very least, find a means to treat the disease. It was exciting and rewarding, as well as slow and methodical work, with hours spent alone in a clean room. The people in her group were great, focused on the job at hand, and yet were still real. Not for one minute did she feel like the new kid on the block. It had been an easy transition, she couldn’t have asked for better.

Unfortunately, it meant the only problem she’d had all week was between her and the tiger. For almost a year, he’d offered her comfort through her imaginings, and she was thankful. Suddenly, he’d moved out of her dreams to take up residence in her brain, ensuring he was with her whether awake or asleep. She was scared on many different levels and, because she wasn’t sure how to handle it, she’d tried to ignore his presence.

Apparently that tactic was no longer an option.

All week the white beast haunted her. It was the visits while she was up and aware that upset her the most. Everything would be moving along normally, her eyes and brain focused on something, maybe a printout full of data, and the white tiger would be there waiting for something. Or, like what happened in the lunchroom, her mind would travel and there he’d be, coming for her. Sometimes an aura of impatience surrounded him and eventually he’d make his presence known while growling and pacing. Other times he’d be there, quiet, curious but not intrusive. Then there were a few times when he’d lie down and purr. Those were the more curious incidents. Whenever they happened, she was drawn to him, and wanted to hold him close. Then she’d remember he was a ruthless beast and a figment of her imagination.

The worst time was when she believed he spoke to her. She didn’t know why her subconscious expected and accepted a tiger could speak, but it did. The words were always the same and clearly enunciated as they kept an ongoing, unrelenting cadence beating through her body. Come back? That implied she knew the tiger, personally, and that wasn’t possible. People and animals did not communicate.

Was she losing her mind? Schizophrenic? Obviously something wasn’t right in her head and it was getting worse since the tiger never truly left her alone. Even right then, as she was internally freaking out at her desk, he was there waiting for something from her, and she didn’t have any idea what it was. However, she was absolutely certain about one thing. It was becoming increasingly clear, the cat’s tolerance for her to do what it wanted her to do was running desperately low.

It was odd how she’d never seriously questioned his presence in her dreams before today. He was always there, giving her comfort, but something had changed because he wouldn’t leave.

Mentally, Cassie pushed away from the tiger sitting in her mind, and turned her focus back to work.

I’ll question the state of my mental health later. The minute she spoke those words to herself, she swore a growl reverberate through her soul, bringing a chill to her flesh along with it. Her first response was to snarl back at the tiger and doing so earned her a purr, which put her right back where she’d been.

She was questioning where her sanity had gone because it clearly wasn’t present.

* * * * *
The next morning she was lying in bed, panting for a breath, while her heart pounded wildly after another visit from the white tiger. She couldn’t simply accept his presence any longer. To make matters even more difficult to handle was the continuation of a record breaking heat wave. The weather had escalated to dangerous levels, with massive power outages, which seemed to have put all the city’s residents on edge. She wasn’t sure if it was the heat or dreams, but it was too much for Cassie to take. It was time she found a doctor who would listen to her concerns about having an imagined tiger camping out in her head.

Trying to relax, she fluffed up her pillows, and mentally approached the issue that left her questioning her connection with reality. When she found no answers to any of the questions she had, Cassie got up, and made her way to the shower, bypassing the warm and going straight to cold.

With her new job came a different schedule. It was her first day off and she needed to do some errands. Thinking about the freedoms she’d gained by taking a Monday through Friday job made her smile. It had been a long time since she’d had an entire weekend off. She wasn’t sure what to do.

Actually, maybe she’d get the errands over with, and do something different like catch a movie. Theaters usually had great air conditioning and the weather reports she’d heard last night had called for another hundred degrees plus day.

However, before she made any decisions of what to do, she wanted to read the newspaper. All she’d done during the past week was stay on top of the headlines and she was eager to read in depth about what was happening around the world. A small pleasure of hers was to have the weekend paper delivered to her front door. She didn’t have to get dressed and walk down the block to the corner shop for one, all she had to do was open her door, and there it would be.

After drying off, she made her way back into her room to get dressed.

Since it was already hot, she decided to forgo both bra and panties until she had to go out. Given the choice, she didn’t want anything binding her in the hot weather if it wasn’t necessary. She put on a short spaghetti-strap cotton dress and was ready to start the day by settling on the couch to relax with the paper.

Making her way to the front door, she unlocked and unbolted it, pulled it open, only to be stunned speechless.

“Morning, Cassie.”

“Mi-Mikhail.”

Leaning against the stair rail outside her apartment was Mikhail Ivanovich, in the flesh, and he was holding her paper. Even in the sweltering temperatures, he looked cool, calm, and utterly handsome. The man looked sexy in a simple white t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers without socks. It wasn’t fair. Dressed to the nines or casual like he was with his white hair tamed and framing his sexy eyes, he always had the ability to ignite her passion and need to be fulfilled.
©Tilly Greene, 2012

Buy Come Back by Tilly Greene ebook at Amazon and print from Amazon│CreateSpace

Future Come series releases: Come to Me [book 2] - F/W 2012 and Come and Stay [book 3] - Sp/S 2013

Sex Scene Saturday is the first peek at my soon to be released shifter erotic romance with Mikhail and Cassie

Come Back by Tilly Greene

ShapeShifter Erotic Romance

Releases June 15 2012

Sex Scene Saturday

Although the sun was at its zenith and his blood was close to a boiling point, he knew it was more with lust than the actual temperature.  Not wanting to talk any longer, Mikhail moved them down to the grass and made a place for himself between her legs.  Throwing his head back, he closed his eyes as she wrapped her silken limbs around his thighs.  When he didn’t think things could get any better, they did when she hooked her feet right beneath his ass, soft arms encircled his neck, and she told him what he needed to hear.

“I’ve missed you every day, every minute you were gone.  Take me, lover.  Please, fill me up, and love me.”

Shifting his arm around, he wedged a hand between them, and held her pussy lips open.  He wasted no time in nudging the crown of his cock inside her and, with their gazes connected, welcomed the feeling of loving unity as he entered her.

“Paradise.”  He claimed against her mouth and slowly slid his rod through her hot tight clench.  He was thrilled to once again be able to hear her moan his name on a note of pleasure.  Reality was much better than dreams.

Their bodies were slick with water and sweat, gluing them to each other.  Mikhail didn’t move, he wanted to take a minute to feel her surrounding him, and give her some time to adjust to him being back inside her body.  Bracing himself on his forearms, he lifted his chest up and scraped the hard excited points on the tips of her breasts along the way.

“You are so very beautiful.”  He tried to hold back a moan as she used her feminine muscles to grip him hard, only he couldn’t.  Like a pulse, she released the delicious pressure only to tighten around him again.

“Yes, and you’re handsome, but you’d better love me now.  I-I’ve, please, I’ve missed having you here, inside me.  Please!”

“Okay, sweetheart, okay.”  He pulled his cock out until only the knob remained, then pushed back in.  Cassie’s breasts shook a little when he bottomed out.  The tight red tips held his attention.  His mouth watered to have them at his mercy, but he wanted to see her climax.  The answer to the quandary was to continue using his body to make them even stiffer.  Mikhail started to move faster, harder, making the two mounds move wildly, and knock against his chest.

Sweat slipped down his spine, pooling in the small of his back.  His hair grew damp and yet, all he could think about or feel was the woman beneath him.  She moaned as her hips bounced up to meet each of his thrusts.  In his arms was the woman who meant the world to him and made him feel like a better person.  Finally, finally, she was back where she belonged.

©Tilly Greene, 2011

eBook of Come Back, a shapeshifter erotic romance and first book in the Come series, to be released June 15 and paperback at Authors After Dark Convention in New Orleans.

I love to travel and learn about and experience other cultures and countries, and this passion often shows up in my writing.  The Ivanoviches of my Come series are Russian emigres who have settled in New York City, but haven't forgotten about what they left behind.  Actually America is full of immigrants.  I'm a third generation on both sides, one from Ireland and the other from Grenada, and married to an Englishman.  So that's a snippet of where I come from, now it's your turn...has your family been in the US for ages or are its so new some are still working through the paperwork?  Share and you're entered to win an ebook from my backlist...your choice.   You have through Sunday :-)

Here five other authors Sex Scene Saturday to check out and steam up your weekend:

Sandy Sullivan

Bridget Midway

Jenn LeBlanc

Diana DeRicci

Stella and Audra Price

Inspirational Share on Hump Day

I'm thinking about my soon to be released book, Come Back in specific and the series in general, and thought since it's Wednesday I'd share where my head was at for the hero(es).

 

There's no particular reason my reference pics of these men are all b/w, I know what they look like in color and yet the lack thereof does suit the Come series.

Have I mentioned the series is an erotic romance about a trio of shapeshifters?

Thinking about how these pics fit together?  Not to worry, I'll share more details once I have cover(s).

Meanwhile, they are inspiring :-)

Where my interest in Russia started is in a book...sort of

Aha oe feii? (Are You Jealous?) by Paul Gauguin
The Pushkin Museum, Moscow

Actually it started with an art exhibit at which I bought the accompanying book and my interst in Russia spiraled out from there.

In the eighties Russia agreed to loan art housed in The Hermitage and Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts that hadn't been seen in decades.  Our local museum was one of the locations that the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism work was shown alongside works from the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

I gained two things from this visit that are still with me today.

One is my love for the impressionists.  There is something about the colors and various styles that I find quite calming.  Monet, Manet, Degas and others I knew, could even recognize their work, but I discovered new pieces from each of these as well as Vuillard, Bonnard and Utrillo at this show.  My pleasure found in art was expanded.

The second thing I gained from the show was an interest in Russia itself.  Up to that point and for some time afterwards there was limited information to be discovered and that made me even hungrier.  In the end, it was one of the subjects I studied at University and even there I found limitations.  Its hard to believe such a large country managed to keep a tight hold on its borders and they've only been opened for a little over 20 years.

By the way, when I say Russia, I mean pre-Soviet time.  My studies and interest stops at 1917, however, the Come trilogy is set in contemporary times and the Ivanovich brothers have been living in America since they were ten and younger.

Fantabulous News x 3 = Tremendous Joy!

Recently I received the wonderful news that Tease Publishing had accepted not one, not two, but all three books in my 'Come' trilogy - shapeshifting erotic romances - and I had to share the news!

The 'Come' series delves into the lives of three brothers who aren't the typical Russian émigrés.  To make life more trying, they aren't able to be truly happy until they fully accept who they are and what the future holds for them.  Only once that happens will the women they love respond to their call and come.

"Come Back" is the first book and shares Mikhail Ivanovich's, the eldest Ivanovich brother, path to reclaiming love and will be out this Spring with "Come to Me" [book 2] - Nikolai's story - and "Come and Stay" [book 3] - Aleksandr's story - to follow.

Soon I'll be sharing more snippets and treats from the series here and there, so keep your eyes open for some seriously sexy Russian shifters.  Meanwhile, yes, they are Russian but they live in NYC.  Maybe you'll cross their paths in Central Park or circling the Empire State Building.

Writing Cave Update!

A week ago I mentioned diving back into an ms/trilogy that I'd set down for over a year ago and am now almost done with the hardest stage of self-edits. The slash and burn one and I've done that in spades, and I have two chapters to go. I've also added 8k and was surprised to notice that. I'm not a total word count junkies, in fact, it's something I rarely look at because the length of the story is set when it's finished.

So, what's "Come, Now" about?

To put it succinctly: Russians in New York City, politics and medical research, shape-shifters and the paparazzi, all while a search for trust is taking place!

My research has been varied.  Before I even started the story way back when, the first thing I looked up was Genghis Khan, and the other day it was a search for more specific details about the hypodermic needle. I need to make a trip into NYC to confirm a piece of the puzzle that I have a picture for, but not specifics and will do that next week.

The first book in the trilogy has Mikhail, the eldest Ivanovich, as the hero and he's struggling. Why? It's because of Cassie Johnston, the woman he loves also happens to be the one he walked out on - albeit with the best of intentions.

There you have it, an update with details.

What's been cut?

I'm being ruthless as I go through "Come, Now" for submission and thought I'd share a snippet of what's been cut.

May 1896 – Petrovsky Palace, Moscow, Russia

In two hours he’d be sitting in a fabulously ornate carriage, with his beautiful wife, Alexandra Fedornova, sitting at his side. They’d be driving toward the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin where he would be crowned Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias. Their people would be pleased to see him officially don the crown.

How stupid, he thought, here he stood a few hours before the grand procession would take him to the Assumption Cathedral for his coronation, waiting to ask a man he’d never met or heard of, for his support.

When asked, Witte, his advisor, had been able to fill him in on the Ivanovich family. Without question or needing to do research which had surprised him because he believed he already knew everyone who was important in Russia. Apparently they were an old, extremely successful family based up in Novgorod. The people of the area respected the entire clan and never questioned when their word was given.
A set of footsteps echoed down the hallway toward him. Not sure how this meeting was to be conducted he decided the best route would be to ensure this man knew he, Nicholas II, was the person in charge not some man from the wild northern territories.

Just a snippet of what's out but there's also a hint in there of what's to come :-)

Thursday 13 #31!

On Tuesday's Book Talk! I mentioned being knee deep in my Russian books for the 'Come' series. Because I'm still there and might be for longer than I thought, here's 13 bits and pieces about the series.

1. 'Come' is an erotic romance shape-shifter trilogy about the three Ivanovich brothers.

2. They were all born in Russia and left after Gorbachev took office.

3. There are rumors flying around their homeland about them that they will never confirm or deny.

4. They moved to New York City and have an estate in the Adirondaks that's like one of the old camps with a house for each man.

5. They brought their tradtions with them including one that belongs only to their family.

6. The eldest son is Mikhail and his story is first - "Come, Now".

7. He's a well-respected businessman who runs Ivanovich Holdings.

8. He falls for Cassie, a nurse, who may be be small but she definitely keeps this big strong man on his toes.

9. A very small peek at one of my favorite interactions between Mikhail and Cassie in "Come, Now" is:

“Back hurts from the tree.”
“Sorry.”
She was stunned he didn’t jump up and at least look at it. She stared down at him waiting for him to apologize or something. When not another word was said gave him a poke in the side.
“What?!?”
“Hello, wounded here big guy.”
“It’s the cost.”
“Cost? What cost?”
“Stripping in the woods.”

10. The middle son is Aleksandr and his story is second - "Come to Me".

11. He's a security consultant for the government on various high-profile events.

12. He falls for Alison, a paper engineer.

13. The youngest son is Stefan and his story will be last - "Come and Stay".

I'm heading back in to "Come to Me" to make some extensive changes before moving on to write the final book. The Ivanovich men are definitely inspiring me to delve ever deeper into their stories who knows what will happen along the way to their happy ever after.

Book Talk!

This month I'm knee deep in my 'Come' series and that means Russia! Where I'm double checking some of my information for the opening prologue [hmmm] just so happens to be from one of my text books and this led me to a Book Talk! on my Russian book shelves.

A History of Russia by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky is just one of the many books I kept from my time in the classroom that I enjoy rereading. Russia's history is anything but simple and boring. Through the rule of individual princes to the Tsar's and on to today where they have a prime minister/president system, there is much intrigue and behind the scene happenings that just might help you understand where this country is coming from.

One of the first books I ever read about this country and its history was Peter the Great by Robert Massie. A one of a kind man who had a vision for Russia and did it, without a care for the detractors around him and there were many. Nicholas and Alexandra also by Massie is another book that brings a great deal of insight into the man on the throne and in this case his wife who was strong enough to have some influence.

Because my studies stopped abruptly with the end of the Romanov reign I have only a dozen or so books beyond it but I did like Khrushchev by Roy A. Medvedev & Zhores A. Medvedev. He's a fascinating man in the Soviet period. Stalin is a man I'd make the time to read more about. I know he was Georgian and cruel, but really that's about it and I should know more because he was able to control this nation with an iron fist that is most likely still felt by some of the people today. One of these days I'll get to Stalin by Edvard Radzinsky which is sitting on my to be read stack.

If you're not a fan of non-fiction then I'd highly recommend these three books to give you a good taste of Russia through various stages. Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin , this is a tale before politics takes over all aspects of life. Petersburg by Andrei Biely, a story that takes place on the cusp of change. Finally, my favorite and the one that led me into the classroom for more, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - short and packs a serious punch. There's many more fictional books on my shelves that I'd recommend and think I'll have to do another Book Talk! about them in specific.

As this is Women's History Month there's one more very interesting read is the Five Sisters by Barbara Engel. At a time when many people thought women were only for the home, here is the story of five women who took part in trying to overthrow a Tsar.

Happy Reading!