Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 27!

Green Grass by Gemini Judson
Buy eBook from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid July 1!
Contemporary Erotic Romance

Chapter One
Angel

“Devil with the blue dress, blue dress, blue dress, devil with the blue dress on.” Kevin flailed imaginary drumsticks in the air and paused to regain his balance. He forgot his iPod again and had to rely on his own singing to entertain his hike down Jackdog Mountain.

As much as he loved his research, the weekly trek to his air quality monitoring station grew tiresome. Especially when the weather sucked like it did on this day. His raincoat smelled musty and it was his own fault. The last time he wore it, he’d balled it up and stuffed it in his backpack, soaking wet. Today the rain dribbled down his neck and shlogged in his boots. All he wanted was a hot shower. He’d felt lousy when he left his apartment, and this weather didn’t help.

The October colors flooded his senses, despite the muting effect of the rain. He passed through a stand of maples and paused to fill his lungs. The oaks and aspens harmonized to produce a color palette he could almost taste. He drew another deep breath to capture some of their energy.

The New England colors peaked early this year and with this lingering rain and wind, they wouldn’t last long. Hurricane warnings were posted far south of the Maine coastline, but any East Coast storm would dump a load his way too. He’d spent an extra amount of time at his data collection tower to reinforce the cables and check the battery pack. There might be some interesting blips if he could keep the sniffers operating during the storm.

He headed down the trail and looked for the short cut that would take about twenty minutes off his hike. Sometimes he took it, sometimes he didn’t. The steep descent had fewer switchbacks—not a straight shot down, but damn near it. Today he figured he’d slide most of the way down in the mud. He just wanted to get out of the miserable rain. A shiver of icy wind assaulted him and he felt a cold trickle between his shoulder blades. Ah, the life of a graduate student.

When Kevin came to the stream crossing, the usual easy flow roared with vigor and gave it a new face. Normally he would skip across on the rocks. Today he would need an alternate route or risk washing away in a torrent. He stooped to look at the beautiful sight and daydreamed of another place and time, another beautiful rushing river. Jessy Tanner—now Jessy Manzey, was never far from his thoughts these days. The last time he spoke to her, he’d laid it on the line. He didn’t expect anything from her, but she needed to know how he felt. Maybe she could help him move on.

“I know you’re Conrad’s girl and I know you two are meant to be together. I just can’t get you out of my head. I love you, Jessy. I really do. What do I do with that?”

“Kevin, what you and I shared together, no one but the two of us could ever understand. It’s special. And Conrad knows that and has come to accept it. But he’s the light of my life. He’s the very reason I take my next breath.”

This wasn’t a news flash. The depth of Con and Jessy’s love was inspiring to Kevin. But it still needled him.

“I love you too, Kevin. But we have to love each other deeply, as friends. You know a part of me that only two other men on the planet know. I like to think it’s an exclusive club, and you’re a life-long member.”

“Some club. I can’t even get in the door anymore. Did you change the secret hand shake?”

“I think Con resents that you were ever a member. I have to always keep that in mind.”

“Can you say you don’t think about me? About how good we felt together? God, you were so amazing in my arms.”

“It would be dangerous for me to think about that. You know how important loyalty is to Con.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have asked. You’re too good a woman to be sniffing around me.”

“Wait until you meet that girl, Kev—she’ll light up your life. Out of nowhere, she’ll hit you like a ton of bricks. Wait and see.”

Kevin stood and felt dizzy from the rush. “She hasn’t come yet, Jess. I’m losing hope.”

It’s not like he hadn’t been with a lot of women since Jessy. It had been four years, after all. They just left him empty and longing for—something. The first year of graduate school had been grueling and now he was up to his neck in thesis research. He felt grateful he currently had little time for women anyway.

He walked along the banks to search for a place to cross the rushing water. The muscles in his legs felt like tissue paper and his backpack weighed more than the contents would suggest. He felt a tug of apprehension when he looked upstream and saw a wall of rocks. I don’t remember that.

When he stepped out farther to see around the bend, his boot slipped on the slick surface. He landed with back-jolting thud on a boulder, then plunged into an icy pool. Frigid water clutched his limbs and a searing pain shot through his ankle. The wet rocks provided little traction as he struggled to get a purchase and climb out of the water. Finally he sat on the bank, wet to his waist and eased his hiking boot off his already swollen foot.

“Fuck.”

He tried to stand and winced in pain. “Double fuck.”

The wind ripped through his soaked clothes and the rain couldn’t decide if it would rather be snow. “I’m gonna be in deep shit if I don’t get going.”

He hobbled along on his excruciating ankle with the muddy boot under his arm. There was no way it would slide back on. Stupid stupid stupid. Pretty basic Boy Scout know-how. You don’t take the boot off. The trail weaved in and out of focus beneath his feet while the trees swirled and laughed above his head. Between his throbbing ankle and his dizzy head, he made slow progress.

In the distance the canopy of trees lightened and he bushwhacked with an erratic path toward the openness. The woods were gnarled and angry, deliberately impeding his efforts as twigs grabbed his jacket and jabbed his skin. Finally he looked down and saw a road far below. How the hell am I gonna get down there?

The answer came to him suddenly as the ground beneath him softened and gave way. He fell onto his butt and slid and tumbled and rolled, branches scratching him all the way down. At the bottom he lay in a heap in a puddle of water. He rolled over and looked up at a mean, gray sky. A quick survey of limbs—nothing broken. Just that damn ankle. He stood, wobbled and fell back into the puddle with a splash.

A weak light illuminated the mist around him. Kevin swiped at his eyes. A vehicle was coming. He stood and fell and stood and fell again, vaguely noticing the forest tipping sideways around him. When he arrived in the middle of the road he stood tall and waved his hands in the air. The lights approached slowly—no, just one headlight. At the last second he prayed they would see him in the gray fog. And the world went dark.


Kevin blinked the clouds from his head. What was that smell? It smelled like freshly mown grass. He blinked again. His skin tingled and felt warm.

Then he saw her.

Sitting at his side was a vision unlike anything he’d every seen.

“Are you an angel?”

The angel giggled.

“God, you must be.”

“I’ve been called a lot of things, but never an angel.”

“You’re beautiful.”

“You are too.”

But Kevin meant it. He looked closely for the flutter of wings behind her. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean and her skin creamy white. She looked as if a puff of wind would send her entire image scattering to the wind. The pearly blonde waves dashed and played at the nape of her neck. He reached out and touched her hair, certain it would feel like eider down. It was soft to the touch. “Wow. You’re real.”

The angel giggled again.

“Where am I?” Memories floated in and out of his head as he tried to piece together a history. “How did I get here?”

“You stepped into my headlights. And then fell to the ground. I brought you home. You've been asleep for a few hours. You had a fever and I think you have a nasty sprain.

Kevin had forgotten. He tried to move his ankle and winced. “Oh, shit.”

“I’ll try to get you to a doctor tomorrow.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Adrian. Who are you?”

“Kevin Shepherd. I’m a graduate student at UMaine. I’m doing research up on Jackdog Mountain. Not a good day for a hike I guess.”

“It’s always a good day for a hike on Jackdog.”

“It smells like a garden in here.” He looked around him and above his head. Where exactly was here?

“You shivered so terribly when you came in. I rubbed you down with oil.”
Kevin lifted the sheets and realized he wasn’t wearing a lick of clothes. He looked again at the sweet blue eyes that looked like an angel. Maybe not.

“Let me get some more ice for your ankle.”

Kevin raised his arm to his nose and inhaled the oil while he took in the details of his surroundings. It looked like some old shed. Two raggedy floral blankets hung from beams to make a corner room that separated his sleeping quarters from wherever she went.

“Adrian?”

“Yeah?” She reappeared with a bag of frozen peas. “I don’t actually have ice.” Her smile sent a spark straight to Kevin’s heart. She lifted the blanket off his foot and gently touched his ankle. “The swelling has gone down. Maybe it’s not such a bad sprain after all.”

“You never told me. Where am I?”

“Well, I’m Adrian Culpepper and this is my house. I own it.”

Kevin noticed she emphasized this as if the statement might be debated. He glanced around the small space visible to him. Dark wooden walls with no insulation? No window? Was this a chicken coop? He laughed, still not clear on his whereabouts. “What part of the planet am I on?”

“We’re on the outskirts of Hatfield.”

“Hatfield? That’s on the ocean side of Jackdog. How the heck did I get here?”

“Beats me. I think you were delirious when I picked you up. Kept asking for Jessy. Did I know where Jessy was.”

Kevin swallowed hard. “Hope I didn’t make a fool of myself.”

“Not at all. Who’s Jessy? Is she your dog?”

Kevin laughed again. “No, not a dog. She’s a friend of mine. And nowhere near Jackdog. I guess I was delirious.”

“Girlfriend?”

He noticed a look. She hoped Jessy wasn’t his girlfriend. This was good. “No, I used to work with Jessy and her husband. Just good a friend.”

The angel felt his forehead. “I think my oil worked. Your fever is gone. How do you feel?”

“Weak.”

“I’ll make you some tea in a bit. You rest a while. I’ll be just on the other side of the curtain if you need anything. She disappeared.

* * * * *
Now what do I do with him? A guy that good lookin’ ought to have a warning beacon on him.

Adrian flumped into her flea market chair and contemplated her houseguest. When she saw him wave his hands in her one functioning headlight and fall to the ground, she smelled trouble. When she knelt down and saw his soft brown eyes blink up at her with confusion, she felt a tingle.

True, she was lonely. But she kept busy with her oils. And keeping an eye on her little sister was her number one priority. She looked around her home with a wave of anxiety. A one-room garage was not a home by most standards, and probably a guy like this Kevin Shepherd came from a rich family. He was a graduate student, for Pete’s sake.

No college for her. She wanted to—so badly. She was a self-taught chemist, distilling her essential oils and learning as she went. She sold them at a local natural foods store and earned very little money. Her dad left her nothing but a garage on a tiny square of land on the edge of a run down town. She turned it into a home. Good enough for now.

Maybe this Kevin Shepherd would be fun for a weekend. It was mating season, after all. She giggled as she unbuttoned her oversized flannel shirt.

Buy eBook from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid July 1!

Gemini Judson Website│Blog│Twitter


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 26!

Lions' Pride by Teresa Noelle Roberts
Buy eBook from Samhain Publishing
Pre-Order/Buy Paperback from Amazon - July 6 2010
Erotic Paranormal Romance/Menage

To save the one they love, they’re going in with spells blazing…

Duals and Donovan: The Different, Book 1

Elissa Donovan is a real green witch—when she and her lion-shapeshifter husband have sex, the blazing heat is recycled to warm their house. Now her beloved Jude has been kidnapped by a shadowy government agency, and the last place she can turn for help is her high-powered family, who considers her magic mediocre.

When Rafe Benedict gets Elissa’s call for muscle to back up her magic, he risks his law enforcement career to answer. He’s spent a lifetime hiding his Dual ability, but something about Elissa and Jude’s magic awakens the cougar within him.

Tempting, bronzed Rafe is the perfect fuse for Elissa’s sex-fueled magic. Danger lies in breaking her vows; joining with anyone other than her true mate could not only send her marriage up in flames, it could burn out her powers in a last, all-or-nothing explosion. But Jude is worth the risk. And for Rafe, potential heartbreak is nothing next to the chance to help the two people he’s coming to love.

First, though, Rafe needs a crash course in Cougar…

Warning: This title contains evil fae, guys with guns, shadowy government conspiracies, a snarky ghost, and smoking-hot, three-way sex.


EXCERPT
For a little setting, Jude has been captured by the bad guys and shot up
with a dangerous experimental drug that's affecting the bond between his human and lion sides. Elissa's managed to pull them all into the spirit world so she can heal his damaged spirit--via sex magic.

Elissa's lips tasted of green and cinnamon, of life itself burgeoning, and his cock swelled in response. But there was an undertaste, one hauntingly familiar but not right.

Pine and forest smells, like the air around them, amber and male feline musk. For all it didn’t belong around his woman, let alone on his woman’s lips, it went straight to his cock and balls, adding to his desire. He ached sweetly for things he hadn’t known, had barely dared to imagine.

A hand gripped his shoulder, large and heated and firm. Not a threat, but a gift, he sensed. The scent of sage, already on the wind, already on Elissa, grew stronger.

Reluctantly, he turned from Elissa.

Into Rafe’s waiting arms.

Rafe stood, fully human, naked as Jude himself. He was shorter than Jude, but strong, muscled. Perfect copper abs tapered to narrow hips and a cock Jude felt hard against him, but didn’t dare to look at.

Instead, he met the other man’s eyes and saw the cougar, tawny and alert and curious, in the same spot where the human-seeming Rafe stood. The lion responded as he would to a beautiful lioness, or to the lioness the lion perceived Elissa to be despite her human body.

All kinds of questions rambled through his head, too many to ask.

“We’ve found you,” Elissa said. She pressed against him, her arms around his waist, her breasts soft against his back. “We’re going to get you out, my heart. No matter what.”

“Elissa…” He tried to turn, to look into her eyes, to tell her not to risk herself. That he’d be fine—even though he had no idea how he would be, poisoned and imprisoned and in the kind of pain that would eventually break his mind.

Rafe had left his hand resting on Jude’s shoulder as if it was the most natural thing on earth. He placed the other over Elissa’s on Jude’s hip, so his fingertips brushed Jude’s skin, the sensitive low belly, perilously near Jude’s swollen dick.

His cock felt huge, treelike. On fire with need. Wrong, yet so right. Elissa’s cunt was its natural home, but he felt an equal pull toward Rafe’s lush mouth and firm, elegant ass.

The air throbbed with the smell of herbs and pears and pine and fur, of male and female musk. Jude closed his eyes, trying to shut out some of the stimuli, but this was a dream and the sight of Rafe, of Elissa, of the two of them touching him and each other, burned through his eyelids.

“Rafe, what are you doing in my dream?” Jude finally stammered. He’d meant it to sound accusing, but it came out plaintive and eager, as if he’d been yearning for Rafe to be there for so long he’d given up hope.

“This,” Rafe said, and reached up to kiss him.

Buy eBook from Samhain Publishing
Pre-Order/Buy Paperback from Amazon - July 6 2010

Teresa Noelle Roberts Website│Blog│Facebook


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 25!

Sexual Energy by Afton Locke
Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave
Futuristic Menage [m/m/f]

Planet Chromefield has always run on sexual energy, but due to a troubling affliction, all the men have lost their erections and all the women are insanely horny.

When virile astronaut Logan crash lands on the planet, he must agree to perform an impossible test to get home again—a test which puts him in the bed of sexy Alysa, who wants more independence and creative sex, despite the planet’s chauvinistic mores, and her fiancé Dean—whose secret desire could cost him everything.

Dazzled by his lust for them both, Logan only agrees to give them his body, but the resulting three-way bond surpasses each of their sexual fantasies and thaws his solitary heart, which just might contain the key to saving the planet…if only they can convince him to stay.

An X-rated Excerpt from Sexual Energy (Unedited)

“Well, I want you to do it now,” she said, tempting him by sliding her finger around her slick folds. “We need to recreate everything.”

Her pussy did resemble a delectable candy treat but he just couldn’t do it. He’d gone against Chromefield’s mores enough already by rubbing syrup on a man’s cock. If anyone every saw that, his career would be history. Thank goodness they always turned the surveillance cameras off before having sex.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” he finally said. “What else did you two do?"

“I sucked syrup off Logan’s cock,” she said.

Dean hated how disappointed she sounded from his refusal to lick her. It flattered him she’d wanted him to do it, even though Logan already had. Maybe the other man really couldn’t satisfy her completely. There was hope for their marriage yet.

"Now that I’d like to see,” Dean said. “Suck his cock, sweetheart.”

She bent over to reach it. As the head of Logan’s penis slid into her mouth, Dean felt it all the way down to his balls. He imagined each flick of her tongue on him instead.

“Back your ass over here,” Dean told her, “so I can rub your cunt while you do that.”

He worked his finger into her pussy from behind, watching her beautiful ass squirm in pleasure while Dean fucked her mouth. Logan’s cock made a loud, wet popping sound as she took it out of her mouth.

“I’m going to come soon,” she said, breathless.

“Me too,” Logan said, even more breathless. “Dean, I want you to finish it.”

“I’m not going to suck your cock either,” Dean said, even though he was dying to. Applying syrup with his hand was one thing. Oral sex was quite another.

“Use your hand then,” Logan suggested.

Dean used one hand to rub Alysa’s cunt and the other, with syrup, to stroke Logan’s shaft, which was harder and hotter than it had been before.

Both Alysa and Logan came at the same time. Dean almost felt as if he were coming himself as he watched Logan shoot cum on her beautiful face and open mouth while her pussy clamped around his hand. She extended her tongue, catching almost every drop.

“You look so beautiful that way,” Dean whispered, “with Logan’s semen all over you. Come here.”

Cum and syrup clung to her bottom lip, which was dark and slightly swollen from being pounded by Logan’s vigorous thrusting. He pulled her close for a kiss, tasting sweet syrup and salty ejaculate. Something powerful took over him then as he kissed her lips and her face—a wild, starving man, licking and sucking the enticing flavors. The more cum and syrup he swallowed, the more he wanted.

He surrendered. Yes, he wanted men. Particularly this man and woman. He wanted to be fucked by both of them, over and over again. He could no longer deny it. But wanting and being able to have were two different things. This couldn’t be.
Copyright © AFTON LOCKE, 2009

EXTRA GOODIES FROM AFTON LOCKE
Take a tour of Planet Chromefield, the world Afton built for Sexual Energy. There’s even a quiz at the end.

Watch the Sexual Energy Trailer

Read the sequel about Jay and Lorna - FREE READ - Peak Energy.

Astrophysicist Dr. Jay Walters needs to find enough energy to launch and control a spaceship for Planet Chromefield’s new space program. When sexy Lorna, the object of his fantasies, seduces him one day at lunch, he discovers what may be the greatest source of sexual energy between her shapely legs. His hunch is proven correct when he tests her energy during a private experiment, but when he instructs her to get as horny as she possibly can, she needs a little help from the doctor.

Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave

Afton Locke Website


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 24!

What a Girl Wants by Selena Robins
Buy eBook from Samhain Publishing │Kindle
Contemporary Romance / Comedy

Readers who enjoy their romance spicy and filled with witty repartee mixed together with a heavy dose of comedy and a splash of mystery, will enjoy WHAT A GIRL WANTS.

Warning
Side effects may include spontaneous, uncontrollable laughter, hot flashes and dangerous chocolate cravings. Contents include, one kick-ass heroine and a sex-on-legs hero whose kiss could singe the eyebrows off a mannequin. Can be read in bed with someone special or a BOB (battery operated boyfriend). Please note: Batteries not included.

Blurb
“Life’s a beach. Then you have sex on it.”

Maddie Saunders has new attitude and two wishes. Turn her triple-X fantasies into reality with Mr. Sex-On-Legs—Alex Donovan. And, find her biological father. Fulfilling both wishes will take her life down a drastically different path.

For Alex, Maddie falls under the platonic heading of “Look, but don’t touch”. Trouble is, she excels at giving him a hard time—in more ways than one.

He manages to fend off her guerilla seduction tactics—for a few days. Complicated? Absolutely. Especially when Alex discovers the real reason they were sent to Hawaii.

Review
Selena Robins has an excellent voice that makes Maddie such a wonderfully hilarious woman. There are more twists and turns in What a Girl Wants to keep the reader on their toes. The emotions between Alex and Maddie are poetically conveyed while providing the extra spice to make it beautifully erotic. What A Girl Wants is one that should be near the top of any TBR list.
Delane, 4 cups from reviewer for Coffee Time Romance and More

Buy eBook from Samhain Publishing │Kindle

Selena Robins Website


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 23!

Sex is a major part of the erotic romance genre, it also happens to be a prevelent activity in Ancient Greek mythology, and I put the two together for the Mythological Messes Redux series. Recently I had a reader ask me how I decided who had what kind of sex and it wasn't something I'd ever really thought about. The simple answer would be that the characters tell me what they want to do in the sack and, to a certain extent, that's true, although I generally know who will do what before the characters are fully developed as their sexual proclivity is part of their personalities.

Let me back up and clarify something. Our discussion had started with us talking about the unconventional, non-vanilla [BDSM and Ménages] sex I sometimes write and how they should have a unique page on my website [I've since taken their advice and done this :-)]. So, back to that question, how I decide who has what type of sex, specifically when it came to the Ancient Greek mythological characters. While the gods, goddesses and immortals were all sexually active, that was generally as far as it went, but would they have stretched the repertoire in the boudoir if the opportunity had been presented?

Let's see, shall we?


Hephaestus, god of the Forge, was hated, mistreated and ridiculed by his stepmother [Hera is just as often considered his mother], but he was a good man. He worked hard making important special items for the other Olympians. Things like thunderbolts for Zeus and Hermes' winged hat and shoes. Heph may find it necessary to walk with an aid, a stick, but the work he did meant he was totally buff. The god was big, with well defined muscles and handsome [at least I like to think so]. Wouldn't it be logical for a man who is physically challenged and yet quite comfortable with manipulating steel to be turned on by binding his lover for his focused attention?


Then there's the twins who aren't really twins, Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri [Sons of Zeus]. Brought up as brothers, they were very close and as grown men, became even better friends. They thought and acted as one. Both men were great horsemen, renowned hunters and the best of boxers who often sought to right a wrong - the brothers protected those who needed it most. On such a mission, Castor [mortal] lay dying when Pollux gave up his immortality to spend eternity with his brother, not completely dead, but existing as the Gemini constellation. Doesn't it make sense that these two men would fall in love with the same woman?


And then there's the feared, one-eyed Cyclopes monsters, they could never have a lover, could they? Agres, Steropes and Brontes have existed forever, are firmly set in their ways and see no reason to change. Humans are annoying and it's fine with them that cower in fear of the brothers. Work keeps them busy and it takes a great deal of attention to keep from sucumbing to their unique personifications. However, their job also happens to shape their bodies into delightfully strong forms, and the one eye, surrounded by long lashes, is gorgeous, especially when focused on a specific woman. Never believing love would never be theirs, it's believeable that these three outcasts would share the one who holds their hearts wants, right?

Bondage and ménages fit these three scenearios, the characters personalities, and could actually have happened if happiness for all had been the goal of the myths, only it wasn't. Lessons were definitely learned from those ancients texts, but in the 21st century, everyone - including the physically challenged, the might as well be dead, and the feared - is entitled to their happy ever after. Right? Of course they are! How they go about finding their pleasure is how the lovers express their deep emotions for each other and if that means tying them down or sharing them with another, so be it.

By the way, tags/labels denoting sub-genres are hints for a reader of what's in a book, and they're important, although there are problems.  Most publishers set a limit for labels and that means there could be problems for readers who don't want to read specific sub-genres.  Also, definition of the tags/labels differ, which adds further complications to picking out a book that suits a reader.  And then, on top of all that, there's the fact that no two authors write sub-genres in the same way.  My advice is twofold.  First, when it comes to sub-genres [mc, bdsm, menage, rubenesque, etc.] be adventurous, and set aside the "I don't read...".  And then I suggest knowing the authors and how they write.  Do this by visiting their websites, blogs, tweet them a query, because you might be missing a great book because of the "I don't read..." limits.

So, that said, for me, when it comes to BDSM and D/s, I don't include pain or humiliation in my books/ebooks - just pleasureable fun and games that all the characters involved want.  And, when it comes to menages, what can I say other than they are not orgies, they fit.

Other books of mine where BDSM and Ménages take place:
Come, Sweet Creature [bondage and D/s]
Extreme Speed, Total Control [one scene ménage a trois]
An Invitation to the World: Russia and New Zealand [D/s and ménage a trois]
The Leather Bride [bondage]
Zandia [bondage and exhibitionism]
Taming Marie Antoinette [bondage, D/s and ménage a trois]
Ride 'em [bondage, D/s and ménage]
The Gilded Cage [bondage and D/s]
Highland Heat [bondage]
Call Me Lucifer [bondage and D/s]
My Angel [bondage]

and...

Mythological Messes Redux series by Tilly Greene
Hephaestus Lays Down the Law [bondage] - (ebook) ARe│Fictionwise and (paperback) Amazon│BN│your local independent bookshop
Together Again? - ARe
Double Punch [ménage a trois] - (ebook) ARe│Fictionwise and (paperback) Amazon│BN
Cyra's Cyclopes [ménage] - ARe│Fictionwise

Tilly Greene Website│Blog│Facebook│Twitter

AUTHOR GIVEAWAY TODAY
Tell me if you think mythological figures would have practiced kinky sex if it had been around back then and you're entered to win a gift certificate to All Romance eBooks [ARe]!


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 22!

Den of Desire by Shauna Hart
Buy eBook / Paperback from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid
Romantic Suspense / Thriller

Mara Templeton may be a bestselling erotic romance writer, but deep down, she knows her identity’s a lie. She’s never come close to experimenting like her characters. Weeks from a deadline, she’s desperate to find inspiration. So when she accepts an invitation for a private tour of Club X, a club known for its exotic pleasures, she knows she is in way over her head. But nothing can prepare her for the club’s sexy owner.

Joe Gates sees right through Mara’s cool façade. He’s made a business of learning people’s secrets in Club X. And he’s good at what he does. He sees the unsatisfied desire in Mara’s eyes. And he’s more than ready to show her just what she’s been missing.

But someone else is watching, too.

Someone who will stop at nothing to claim her.


Sample of Chapter from Den of Desire by Shauna Hart

What was she doing here?

She still couldn’t believe that she’d let Lexi talk her into this. She knew that time was running out. After all, the deadline for her next erotic romance novel was only a month away, and she hadn’t written a single word. Readers expecting the next Mara Templeton novel were definitely going to be disappointed if she didn’t find some way to spark the muse. The two words that every writer dreads couldn’t have struck at a worse time.

Writer’s block.

Like the nemesis in the Harry Potter series, it was something that every writer feared but didn’t dare speak of aloud. But after a messy breakup two months ago, it had become her constant companion. She couldn’t deny that her breakup with Dan had been a shock. It wasn’t every day she found her boyfriend in bed with another woman. Still, it wasn’t like their relationship was a hot one. It wasn’t even lukewarm. After living together for four months, anything hot about their relationship had died a lonely death within the first few weeks.

So, why was she having this problem?

It was a good question.

One that she didn’t have an answer for.

Now, as she stood outside the club, she wondered if her problem wasn’t a bout of insanity. She looked up at the large X that hung over the door. At night, it would light up half of the block. But now, in the light of day, it was little more than an outline. She willed herself to knock, willed herself to be bold and brave like the characters in her books, but a part of her wavered.

When Lexi’d offered to take her to the club, she’d refused. As much as she wanted to be as wild and free as Lexi was, the truth was that they were complete opposites. She had never done anything like the things Lexi did. Until recently, it had seemed like her life was right on course. She had a successful career and a solid relationship. Now, she was beginning to see how naïve she had been.

Sensing that she was nervous about visiting the club, Lexi had set up a private walk-through with the owner during the day. She could still remember her friend’s good-natured prodding.

“What have you got to lose? Maybe if you walk around the place, you will get a few ideas. I know that I always do,” she said with a wink.

She knew Lexi was right.

What could touring the club when it was closed hurt?

She raised her hand to knock mere seconds before it was pulled open. Her gaze rose to meet an arresting pair of green eyes. One eyebrow arched.

“Miss Templeton?”

She offered him a timid smile. “Yes, I’m here to meet…”

“Joe Gates,” he replied, holding out his hand.

She wasn’t sure what she had pictured when she thought of the man who owned the hottest sex club in town. Maybe bald, with the look of a pervert? But she definitely hadn’t expected him to be so…sexy.

Why would a guy like him be working in a place like this?

She placed her hand in his, noting how large it felt as it closed around her own. Instead of shaking it, he pulled her inside, closing the door behind them.

“Lexi said you wanted a private tour,” he said.

Despite the darkness, she could feel his eyes traveling the length of her body.

“Yes,” she managed.

He pulled a remote out of his pocket to press a button. Instantly, the room was flooded with light. Mara looked down the long narrow hall, her surprise evident. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting.

But this wasn’t it.

The place looked like little more than a glorified basement with track lighting. After everything she had heard from Lexi about how wonderful the place was, this was definitely not what she had envisioned.

He walked ahead of her, and she followed behind him.

“Normally, I wouldn’t grant a request like this, but Lexi’s a friend,” he observed.

Mara’s eyebrows arched. She couldn’t help but wonder what his definition of a friend was. Had they slept together? Her gaze fell to the way his ass filled out the pair of dress slacks he wore. The man definitely wore pants well. His black hair curled over the collar of his royal blue dress shirt, which was stretched over wide shoulders.

She could see why the place stayed in business. The man was a walking advertisement for sex, even if he did seem to have a slight attitude problem. He turned the corner, and her eyes widened. Rooms lined either side of the walls, their interior lights blinking on in chorus as she walked past. Her attention was immediately drawn to a room on the left. A circular bed rotated in the center. The interior of the room was draped in purple satin.

A glance to the right revealed a stark contrast. Chains were suspended from the ceiling and the floor. A variety of toys hung from the pegs at the back of the room. She turned to look at him only to find him watching her intently.

“I’m sorry if it’s an inconvenience,” she muttered, her brain still a little scrambled from the view. She felt his gaze on her body, and her nipples tightened against the thin material of her dress.

“I didn’t say that. I just think it’s a waste of time,” he explained casually.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

He walked over to her slowly, coming to stand before her. Reaching over, he twirled one of her blonde curls around his finger. “I don’t think you can understand what the club has to offer until you experience it firsthand.”

His words robbed the air from her lungs. She could feel the heat of his body against hers. And it felt good. Too good. Her eyes met his, and his full lips slid into a smile. Her mind went to forbidden places.

Places where naked bodies met.

She had to get a hold of herself before she did something stupid.

“Look, Mr. Gates…”

“Joe,” he corrected.

“Joe. This isn’t exactly my first book,” she reminded him curtly.

His gaze lifted to the ceiling for a moment as he replied. “Yes, I know. I’ve read them.”

Her eyebrows furrowed together. “You’ve read my books?” she asked, her surprise evident.

He stared at her but didn’t elaborate.

“And?” she prodded.

His eyebrows rose, his lips curling on a smirk. “They were…okay.”

Her eyes widened. “Okay?”

He tilted his head to the side at her reaction. “Yes.”

She drew in a deep breath in an attempt to reign in her temper. “So, you didn’t like them?”

“I didn’t say that. I just mean that it was obvious that you haven’t experimented much.”

She let out a huff of aggravation. “I’m not exactly a virgin, Mr. Gates,” she replied, her lips pursed.

His eyes traveled over her body in blatant interest. “Not exactly,” he agreed.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have a lot of nerve?” she asked, her voice laced with sarcasm.

His mischievous grin made her want to slap him. “I got the memo.”

“For your information, I’ve been with a lot of guys,” she offered.

In reality, all of three, but he didn’t have to know that.

“Really? Then I am sorry.”

She nodded. The man’s arrogance was astounding.

“I’m sorry that none of them could take you the way you want to be taken.”

“They took me just fine,” she countered defensively.

One eyebrow arched. “Not enough. And not the way you wanted them to,” he explained.“Why do you think you’ve suddenly become such an expert on me and what I want?” she challenged.

His smug grin nearly did her in. “I read your books.”

She sighed heavily. He took a step closer, his hand coming up to curl around her nape. His thumb trailed along the line of her jaw. Her mouth parted of its own volition as he leaned in.

“You want to be taken, Mara,” he said, his breath wafting over her lips. “You want to be taken so deeply that you only exist for pleasure.”

All rational thought seemed to disappear with his nearness. As much as he irritated her, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to have his lips against hers, his tongue seeking out every hidden part of her mouth.

“I…” she stuttered.

“I could show you. But not while the club is closed.”

She told herself to back away, to tell him to go to hell, but her feet stayed rooted to the floor. She couldn’t deny that she was intrigued. The smoky depth of his voice teased her with something she had fantasized about for years but never admitted out loud. True, she had been with other lovers, but none of them had been able to take her to the heights she had heard Lexi muse about. Maybe deep down she had begun to believe that she would never reach them.

But as Joe’s body pressed into hers, she wondered…

“I don’t…” she began.

His finger came up to cover her lips, effectively silencing her. “Don’t you want to know? Don’t you want to feel what your characters feel?” he taunted.

Oh, God.

She did.

More than she could ever admit.

To herself. And to a stranger.

“Because until you do, you’re cheating yourself and you’re cheating them.”

She forced herself to look away from the smoldering heat in his gaze, and he dropped his hand.

“I appreciate the offer, Mr. Gates. But I’m just not into…” She trailed off, unable to describe the events that took place here.

His answering smile mocked her cowardice. “Yes, you are. You wouldn’t write about it if you weren’t curious.”

He took her hand, leading her over to a large picture window. Inside, a rectangular table covered in black leather was the only furniture. Straps lined the sides.

“Imagine what it would be like. Blindfolded. Strapped down. Completely bare. All you can do is feel.”

His words made her body cry out to be filled. She could feel his erection against her buttocks, and despite the warning in her head, she wanted more.

“Have you ever been taken like that? Given your body so completely to another?”

No.

She hadn’t.

She had never thought she could or wanted to. But standing before him, feeling him against her as she listened to the husky sound of his voice, she realized that she did.

“Come to the club tonight.”

His breath teased the sensitive skin of her ear. It made her want to agree to anything he asked.

“I…”

He turned her to face him. “I’m not asking you to participate, Mara. Not yet, anyway. I just want you to see it. I want you to see what people experience when they come here.”

She bit the inside of her lip. “Just to watch?”

He smiled, his gaze feeling as intimate as any touch she had ever experienced. “Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen,” he assured her.

That, she was afraid, was the problem.

Buy eBook / Paperback from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

Shauna Hart Website


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 21!

Anything You Can Do by Marianne Stephens
Buy eBook from Breathless Press
Contemporary Romance

5 STAR REVIEW by Diana Coyle, NOR, REVIEWER’S TOP PICK!

What happens when a childcare, clueless male CEO mixes with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers for a week, all because of a dare? Can he keep up with the kids...and maintain his sanity...while becoming more and more attracted to the daycare's owner, the woman who issued the challenge?

When her daycare facility needs financial aid in order to offer the employees at Ryan Industries the best care for their children, Allison Minetti approaches the CEO, Jeffrey Ryan. After he fails to answer her requests for a partnership, Allison dares him to spend one week at the center. Jeff accepts the challenge and ups the ante by demanding her company for the weekend if he wins.

Instant mutual attraction leads to a week of seductive teasing and brief steamy encounters. Is there a way for them both to win? Or will someone's interference in their challenge lead to mistaken conclusions and pull them apart?

Watch the Anything You Can Do Trailer

Buy eBook from Breathless Press

Marianne Stephens Website

AUTHOR GIVEAWAY TODAY
June is National Candy month and I can't think of a better way to read a romance book than to have some wonderful chocolates nearby to munch on!  Comment today and be entered to win a $10.00 gift card to either Russell Stover or Whitman's!


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 20!

One Night in Napa by Allie Boniface
Buy Paperback from Samhain Publishing
Contemporary Romance

Journalist Grant Walker has one chance to salvage his job and his relationship with his domineering father. Terrorists have kidnapped a fading film star’s son, and Grant has scored the first interview with the grieving mother. Even better, a new twist has just arrived on the scene—an illegitimate granddaughter who hasn’t been heard from in seven long years.

It’s the story of a lifetime, and all Grant has to do is deliver.

After discovering a terrible secret about her birth, Kira March left home vowing never to return. With her father kidnapped and her grandmother cracking under media pressure, it’s up to her to find and destroy all evidence of that secret. Trouble is, a reporter has weaseled his way into the house looking for answers—and he isn’t leaving until he gets them.

Yet as the hours pass, Kira finds herself falling for the very man who could destroy her. And when Grant comforts her in the wake of a midnight tragedy, he remembers why it’s a bad idea to get emotionally involved with an interview subject. Especially when the family name is on the line.

Buy Paperback from Samhain Publishing

Allie Boniface Website


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 19!

Reckless Liasions by Kayleigh Jamison
Buy eBook from ARe
Historical Romance

It's June already? Pack my things, we're going to the country! In Regency England, June marked the unofficial end of the Season, when the Haute Ton deserted London and returned to their country estates - London in summer was hot and the smell of the city left something to be desired (though you won't often hear of that in a romance novel). The Season is frequently used in romance novels today, in part, for its convenience. It was the one time of year when most of British high society congregated in one place and one was liable to see anyone anywhere. This creates endless, potentially delicious possibilities for the romance hero and heroine.

The Season began each year with the sitting of Parliament some time after Christmas, and was in full-swing by Easter, when the last stragglers returned to the city, though he "official" beginning of the Season was in May. The official close of the season was August 12th, the Glorious Twelfth, coinciding with the adjournment of Parliament and the opening of Grouse-hunting season. So what did one do during the Season?

To borrow a modern phrase, party your ass off. The Season was a frenetic, busy time, particularly for a young lady just entering society. According to Michelle Jean Hope (http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article024.html), "[o]nce presented, a prospective bride could reasonably attend 50 balls, 60 parties, 30 dinners and 25 breakfasts all in one season." That's a hell of a lot of socializing.

In Reckless Liaisons, I took the first half of the book away from London and the hectic atmosphere of the Season. The book's hero is gruff and reclusive and encounters his heroine in a setting where he has the upper hand. When and how the story shifts back to the city is something you'll have to read to discover.

Buy eBook from ARe

Kayleigh Jamison Website

AUTHOR GIVEAWAY TODAY
Leave a comment and/or query today for Kayleigh Jamison to be entered in a drawing for an ebook of hers.


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 18!

Do Me Good by Adele Dubois
Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave
Paranormal Erotic Romance

Penny throws her hot but worthless mooch of a boyfriend out on her front lawn with his clothes, and vows never again to be a bum magnet. Exhausted by overwork and mountainous debt, Penny pleads for divine intervention.

Gunnar, a rebellious Nordic warrior cast into servitude by an angry god to learn humility, answers. While Penny sleeps, the celestial arrives to houseclean, but she awakens and confronts him. The handsome immortal kisses her, sparking a passionate, forbidden sexual encounter.

Dark forces seeking vengeance for Gunnar’s past misdeeds mark Penny as a target. To protect his lover, Gunnar tests immortality in a death battle using a god’s magical sword. But the strength of Penny’s love and their lusty connection might be what saves them both.

Excerpt

He smoothed the hair at her temple and then rubbed a thick tendril between his thumb and forefinger. “I am Gunnar.” He pronounced the name “Goo-nar”.

A coarse brand of the sun, surrounded by a circle on the back of his hand, and covering the areas between his thumb, index knuckle and wrist caught her eye. His hand looked muscular and powerful beneath her gaze.

She touched the scarred skin with the tips of her fingers while he held a length of her hair, recognizing Freyr’s sacred insignia from her textbooks. “The pain must have been excruciating.” Without thinking, she lifted the old wound to her mouth and laid four kisses against its perimeter before pressing a fifth to the emblem inside.

A low tremor vibrated across her lips as they touched the ancient symbol on the white, extended hand. The brand grew warm and then hot on her mouth, though it did not burn. Her lips tingled and her body hummed with the pleasant sensations. She ran her tongue over the thick scars to erase the heat and then licked the center with the tip of her tongue in a tiny swirl before lifting her head.

His gasp of surprise was the last thing she expected as he released her hair and leaned away.

“Have I offended you? I’m sorry.” She searched his face for clues as to what to do next. Behind his shocked expression she found desire and longing and something completely unexpected.

Thankfulness.

Penny waited for his reply without letting go of his disfigured hand. She could tell his next words didn’t come easily.

“Kindness isn’t something I’m used to finding. Perhaps you’d be less inclined toward compassion if you knew what I’d done to deserve this brand of servitude.”

She reached out and hooked her arm around his neck to bring his face closer to hers. “I am Penelope. And if you are from Alfheim, I know who and what you are. I just don’t understand why you’ve come.” How could she deserve his rare, benevolent gifts? She was just an ordinary woman, barely scraping by.

“Sometimes we get what we need, simply because we ask. That’s the beauty and power of the unexpected.” His warm breath grazed her cheek in shallow rushes, lifting goose bumps across her skin. His wide, firm mouth smelled of sweet ground parsley and fresh-picked mint.

Their gazes locked and held, assessing, appraising.

Searching.

Gunnar’s eyes were like pools of deep blue water speckled with light that pulled her in and down. Down. Her breathing slowed as the sound of her heartbeat intensified in her ears and the inside of her mouth moistened. She licked her lips and became intensely aware of every nerve ending shimmering along her body. Her muscles tensed as if waiting for something unexpected to happen.

As if meeting a Nordic Light Elf in the flesh wasn’t amazing enough.

Just when she wondered how his mouth would taste, he brought his lips to hers and kissed her. An explosion of kinetic energy shot vibrations through her body that prickled every fiber and muscle, held her taut and then released, leaving her breathless.

The Mythology Behind The Story DO ME GOOD by Adele Dubois

I grew up in a household filled with drama--and I mean that in the most literal sense. Ours was a family steeped in theatre, art, and creative writing. We were voracious readers, too, and curled up in the family room with our books in the evenings. I was one of those kids who read with a flashlight under the covers when bedtime came too early.

You might think a family of artists would be disorganized and untidy, but our house was neat as a pin. Every night my mother would remind us to put our things away, saying, “The elves and fairies won’t clean our house for us.” That bit of training stayed with me the rest of my life.

The last time I warned my own kids, “the elves and fairies won’t clean for us,” the story concept for DO ME GOOD popped into my head. What if the elves really did help? What if they completed chores in the middle of the night? And what if they were handsome and sexy and…available?


And what if you accidentally caught one?

To my surprise, with a little research, I discovered that such immortals existed in Norse mythology. These pre-Christian celestials, called Nordic Light Elves, “came from the place between heaven and earth” under the rule of a fertility god. They were “fairer to look upon than the sun” and interacted with both gods and mortals. Their sole purpose was to work for the benefit of humankind.

Though I’m still waiting for the elves and fairies to clean my house, I thought it would be fun to offer the fantasy of capturing a handsome immortal who does chores to romance readers. I hope you enjoy DO ME GOOD.

Watch the Do Me Good Trailer

Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave

Adele Dubois Website │ Blog

AUTHOR GIVEAWAY TODAY
Which of my books is your favorite, and why? Leave a detailed comment to enter a drawing for a copy of the trade paperback DESERT NECTAR by Adele Dubois. (Within the continental USA only, please.)


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 17!

You Burn Me by Stella and Audra Price
Buy eBook from ARe
Paranormal Romance

A priestess of The Morrigan, Xxieda Rolla is a woman who has known success in her business, fulfillment in her family life and is only missing one thing: the love of the man that would have her for always. Sent to Shadow Heights New York by her goddess to find him, she meets the ever tasty, ever surly Dante Barratt. Sparks fly, and so does Amaretto Latte.

Dante, a dealer of rare and illegal commodities, and a very tempestuous fire demon might want the woman who's brown eyes haunt him, but knows better then to get involved with someone who just screams purity. Shes hot, and successful in ways he never could be, and knows a man that just gave away his soul like he did didn't deserve a woman like that.

After a chance encounter on a dark street corner, and an earth shattering kiss, Both are powerless to deny the chemistry between them...until Xxieda tells him her secret: shes a virgin.

Caught between his head and his heart, can Dante accept the fact that Fate sometimes gives us exactly what we really need, not what we think we want?

Buy eBook from ARe

Stella and Audra Price Website│Blog


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 16!

From Out of the Shadows by Linda Mooney
Buy eBook from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid
Erotic Paranormal/Fantasy Romance

Croat was a Lupan, one of the half-man, half-beast creatures long thought to be extinct or fabricated from fairy tales. Lupan were folklore, nothing more than a myth.

Tora was a Sensitive. Her kind really existed, and normal people feared Sensitives because it was common knowledge that all Sensitives were evil and practiced the dark magicks.

Captured and thrown together inside Baron Agrino’s dungeon, they discovered a connection between them that defied all reason, and a love that transcended all boundaries.

But is their love strong enough to stop the baron from what he’ll do with every Lupan he plans to capture? Or, worse, what he’ll do with Tora once he learns what she is?

Warning! Contains torture, imprisonment, severe beatings, nasty bad guys, public nudity, molten wax, old wives' tales, forest folk, bad horsemanship, and lots of pissed off townspeople.


Excerpt

Some time during the night a commotion outside her door dragged her out of her restless sleep. Tora listened intently to the obvious sounds of a struggle, holding her breath as the noise grew louder and closer.

There were shouts and cursing, audible although muffled. She could make out a howling or growling, much like a dog fighting its master. Her first thought was that the new prisoner was giving his captors difficulty. It had to be a man, rather than a woman or child. Perhaps more than one man. It definitely sounded as though several jailors had their hands full with their recalcitrant victim. Silently she wished the new prisoner luck at fighting the baron’s men. If he was being brought here, it meant that the baron wanted him alive. Otherwise the soldiers would have already killed him.

The struggle came nearer until it stopped at her door. Suddenly, there was a key in the lock, and the door flew open so hard, it slammed into the wall. Before it could bounce back, at least a dozen men began to pour into the tiny cell, struggling to keep the prisoner from escaping. In their midst was a net made of heavy rope, wherein their captive fought to escape. One man carried a lantern, but the pale light did little to illuminate things enough for her to see clearly.

The cursing and screaming was deafening. Tora squeezed herself against the wall as tightly as she could, never taking her eyes off of the dark form being beaten into submission. They used whatever they had to punish the man: chains, rifle butts, boots. The baron’s men eventually dropped their victim, but instead of backing away, they continued to pummel the man.

She knew it would be useless to beg the soldiers to leave the man be. Still, she had to tightly press her lips together to keep from yelling at them. For what seemed like hours, the guards savagely attacked the poor soul. Someone came in with a whip. The sound of it hitting raw flesh was sickening. They cursed at their target, spat on it, and some laughed. Tora flinched at the brutality inflicted. Tears fell when she heard the crunch of bones being broken, and the wet squelch of bleeding wounds. A thin trail of blood trickled across the stone floor, between the soldier’s feet, and nearly reached her. In the singular light of the lantern, the wetness was as black as the night sky.

She was on the verge of covering her ears with her hands when the beatings finally stopped. The soldiers stepped back, ripping the net away from their victim. For several long minutes they silently eyed the still form, until one of their number spoke up.

"Is he dead?"

"Naw. But when he comes to, he’ll wish he was," another answered.

They turned and began filing out of the cell. One man glanced over at where Tora was huddled against the wall. She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he was smiling. The soldiers always smiled after inflicting any sort of cruelty on another helpless human being.

The last armed man gave the still figure a final kick before he left, locking the door behind him. With the only source of light gone, the cell once again grew pitch black. Her quiet world shifted back into place—only now she was sharing it with another person. A person who had been beaten nearly to death. From where she sat, Tora could hear the poor man’s labored breathing. Every few seconds he would groan in pain. Her heart went out to him.

Slowly, carefully, she got onto her knees and inched her way over to the unconscious figure. Holding out a hand, she sought the man’s pulse, hoping she would find it strong. Many years ago she had discovered she could survive almost anything. But if this man died and was allowed to rot in this place, Tora wondered if she could live through that experience.

Could she survive through another long and agonizing death?

"Sir...Sir, let me help you." She lowered her hand, expecting to encounter chilled, if not bloodied flesh. Instead, her fingers felt hair. Long, thick hair.

Not believing what she was feeling, she extended her arm as far as it would reach to find his shoulder. An arm. And more thick, fur-like hair. Her immediate reaction was to jerk back in sudden terror.

Oh, please. God, no! It couldn’t be, she argued with herself. It was a man lying on the blisteringly cold stone floor. It was a man who had been the target of those soldiers’ venom. It had to be. There was no way it could be...

Lupan.

Even the thought of the possibility that she could be trapped in here with a half-man, half-wolf creature sent terror pulsing through her body. Solid reasoning reminded her that there were no such beings as Lupans anymore. Lupans hadn’t existed for centuries. In fact, they were considered extinct, if they had ever lived at all. Creatures now of myth and legend. Monsters only kept alive in stories, to be told to children in order to make them behave.

Tora squeezed her eyes shut, counted to ten, and opened them, hoping to see more of the being lying nearby. Unfortunately there was no moon tonight, and no other outside light could penetrate the darkness. Still, she could barely make out the man’s...beast’s?...shape. Cautiously, she reached out again to find a thick pelt, now sticky and warm.

Blood. Its sickly smell filled the room.

The man gave a shuddering breath and moaned. The sound was heartbreaking. Worse, it sounded human. Terrifying creature of myth or not, he was in excruciating pain. Gathering her courage, Tora spread her fingers over his back, letting the dense hairs tickle her palm. Then, little by little, she opened herself up to his agony.

It was like absorbing fire.

Tora hissed as the burning pain seeped through her skin, surged into her blood vessels, and penetrated her muscles. With the pain came the additional torment of broken and shattered bones. She mentally located them—two ribs, the lower left arm, and his left collarbone. As she continued to examine him, reaching where she could, she discovered several areas where his flesh was raw and pulpy. Yet everywhere she touch, she met fur. And the more she investigated, the less evidence she found that felt human.

As her fingers traveled over a large, bleeding tear near the damaged arm, the man-beast shrank slightly from her touch, and a deep growl softly warned her to be careful. This time Tora immediately retreated back to her side of the room.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you," she told him in a gentle voice, and hoped he wouldn’t notice it was also quaking. "I know where you’re hurt, and I wish I could help, but I can’t when it’s dark like this." She could feel the blood cooling and congealing on her hand. She wiped as much of it as she could on her skirt. "Come daylight, I’ll see what I can do, but I’m afraid it won’t be enough. You’ve been badly injured, and you’ve lost a lot of blood. You also have some broken ribs, plus a broken bone in your arm and collarbone." Sighing loudly, Tora added, "I don’t have anything to clean your wounds or bind them. I’m sorry. It looks like it’s going to be a long night for both of us, I’m afraid."

She waited, listening intently for the creature to respond. After a while it was clear it either wasn’t going to say anything. Maybe it wasn’t capable of complete human speech.

Curling up as tightly as she could, Tora tried to find a comfortable position in which to get some sleep. The attempt would prove futile, as the cold made it nearly impossible to rest. Add the fact that a huge creature she had believed no longer existed lay unchained less than six feet away, compounded her fear and distress.

The worst was yet to come, and the thought of what she had still to face filled her with dread. In the morning, she would see for the first time what her hands had described. And if the legends and tales proved true, it could very well be her last morning of life.

Because everyone knew how much Lupans craved human flesh.

Buy eBook from Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

Watch the From Out of the Shadows Trailer

Listen to Linda Mooney every Monday on the radio at Other Worlds of Romance

Linda Mooney Website

AUTHOR GIVEAWAY TODAY
Leave a comment and/or query today for Linda Mooney to be entered in a drawing for From Out of the Shadows ebook [new release]!


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 15!

Whirlwind Affair by Francesca Hawley
Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave
Contemporary Erotic Romance / Rubenesque

Red Stilettos, Book Two
While a stand-alone, books are best enjoyed if read in order.

Erika Bergstrom is shopping in an upscale adult boutique when handsome Rodrigo Torbellino asks for help finding a gift. Just her luck! As he flirts with her, she discovers he’s shopping for a bridal shower gift for a friend, not a lover. So when he asks her to model a beautiful negligee then seduces her in the dressing room, Erika gives in to her urge for a wild new experience…a one-night stand.

The next morning, Erika’s body is sated from pleasure. Rigo obtains a promise she’ll call him and tells her that if she doesn’t, he’ll find her. She’s intrigued and thrilled with his obvious interest until she discovers Rigo is the head of the company her brother wants the family to partner with, so she doesn’t contact him. A month passes. When they meet again, the fire between them burns just as bright as ever, but does Rigo want the business deal or her?

Can the red stilettos live up to their legend to provide the wearer with her heart’s desire?

Read an Excerpt

Francesca Hawley Website


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 14!

Maui Rekindled by Ari Thatcher
Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave
Contemporary Erotic Romance

“I’ll call you.” That’s the last thing Gabe said fifteen years ago as Maggie prepared to fly home from a summer in paradise. When he didn’t call, she packed away the memories of their sexual romp and relegated him to vacation-fling status.

Now, as the ink on her divorce papers dries, Maggie returns to that Maui resort hoping to find the carefree woman she once was. When Gabe walks out of the waves on her first afternoon at the beach, she isn’t sure whether to laugh or run away. Hot, crazy vacation sex with no strings attached would be the perfect remedy for her bloody divorce.

Gabe thinks of Maggie as the one who got away, and he’s not about to let it happen again. The passion between them is as fiery as ever, but is it hot enough to rekindle the romance he knows they could share?

He’s got one week to prove to her it is.

Naughty Nooner (freebie) called Maui Heat [prequel]

Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave

Ari Thatcher Website

AUTHOR GIVEAWAY TODAY
Leave a comment and/or query today for Ari Thatcher to be entered in a drawing for an ebook of hers.


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 13!

Beneath the Surface by MJ Fredrick
Published by Samhain Publishing
Buy Paperback from Amazon
Romantic Suspense

Adrian didn’t wait for Toney and Jacob to tie the boat off before he leaped to the dock. He barely registered the vibration of the dock beneath his feet as he strode toward her.

“Adrian, I—”

He didn’t let her finish. Damn, she was so pretty, even windblown, even with the flash of uncertainty he saw in her eyes. He took her face in his hands, stroked his thumb over her cheek and kissed her. Surprise had her tensing for a second, and he feared she might pull away. Instead, she relaxed, just a bit, and he came home.

She was as soft, as sexy as he remembered. Her taste hadn’t changed, her mouth moved beneath his the same way, as if those three years had never passed.

He rubbed her hair, regretting the calluses on his fingers that snagged on her hair, her skin. Her fingers closed on his bare shoulders, her nails digging in briefly before sliding under the straps of his shirt, and he was lost. Dropping his hands to her hips, he drew her against him.

Slowly, it came to him where they were, why they were standing here, and he lifted his head to smile. “You came back.”

She looked a little dazed, her mouth swollen, her eyes dark. She blinked, lowering her hands from his shoulders. “Adrian, I—”

“Come see what we found.” He slid his hand down her arm to take her hand and guide her to the Miss M. She resisted at first, then followed him, trying to ignore how everyone else was watching them with interest.

What the hell had she done, coming here? Mallory swayed on the dock and watched Adrian beckon her. Once she’d reached home, she’d put her feelers out. The offers had come in fast and furious, but all she could think of was getting here to help Adrian. She waffled for a long time about how much help she’d give him. The cashier’s check in her bag was the least she could do. Staying to help excavate was the most.

After that greeting, she didn’t know how wise it was to stay, even as everything female inside her proclaimed they were ready to set up camp. Had he been so glad to see her? No, something in his eyes told her there was more. Something out there had gotten his juices flowing.

Something out there always did.

Buy Paperback from Amazon

MJ Fredrick Website


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 12!

Lost and Found by Kelly Jamieson
Buy eBook from Samhain Publishing
Contemporary Romance

Last week my book Lost and Found was released with Samhain Publishing. I’ve been blogging all over about this book, about how many “romance rules” I broke when writing it, how many genres it crosses and how many issues in the story aren’t black and white, including infidelity.

But today I want to talk about the setting of the book. If you’ve seen the trailer for the book (view it here) you’ll know that the ocean features prominently in the story. Krissa and Derek live in Montecito, California, in a fictional house on the Pacific Ocean. (If you’ve read the book, I encourage you to watch the trailer again, I think it’s much more moving when you know the story!)

Some of the images I used in the trailer are ones taken by my husband, a professional photographer who went to photography school in Santa Barbara, California, which is now one of our favourite places to visit, and which is why I set many of my stories there!


© Lance Thomson Photographic

The heroine of Lost and Found, Krissa, likes to wander on the beach when she has important things to think about. The vast, seemingly endless ocean helps put her problems into perspective and the ceaseless rhythm of the waves onto shore soothes her.

When Nate arrives in Montecito, he’s a photographer in danger of losing his career. He’s made his fortune photographing water – often the ocean – in calm conditions and using long exposures that make the water smooth and glassy and tranquil. He too, finds comfort in walking on the beach and sitting beside the ocean.

A number of images in the story are symbolic of Krissa, Nate and Derek’s lives – turbulent, crashing waves; a tangled mass of seaweed, impossible to unravel; a seashell that’s beautiful and perfect on the outside, but empty and lifeless inside.

As well as photographs, here are a couple of poems that provided some inspiration to me when writing Lost and Found:

From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Sea Shore:

Behold the Sea,
The opaline, the plentiful and strong,
Yet beautiful as is the rose in June,
Fresh as the trickling rainbow of July;
Sea full of food, the nourisher of kinds,
Purger of earth, and medicine of men;
Creating a sweet climate by my breath,
Washing out harms and griefs from memory,
And, in my mathematic ebb and flow,
Giving a hint of that which changes not.

And ‘maggy and milly and molly and may’ by ee cummings:

maggy and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
its always ourselves we find in the sea

I hope sharing a little about the setting of this story deepens your experience when you read it!

Watch the Lost and Found trailer!

Buy eBook from Samhain Publishing

Kelly Jamieson Website


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.

Big Huge Reader Contest - Day 11!

Lush Velvet Nights by Tina Donahue
Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave
Contemporary Erotic Romance

Reviewer’s TOP PICK – the Pagan and the Pen
FIVE ANGELS – Fallen Angel Reviews
Four blossoms – a page turner – Book Junkie

When wanton desires and love demand all…

During the day, Adriana’s a lonely corporate heiress, helming a supermarket empire. At night, she hires escorts, scripting provocative fantasies of kidnapping, lust, submission and endless longing. It’s all she has to excite her until she meets Nathan Wynn.

Tall, blond and muscular—like a modern-day Viking—Nathan is a labor relations attorney representing Adriana’s union employees. His imposing presence intensifies her basest desires. When he protects her from an escort he believes is an attacker, she knows he’s wonderfully dominant and unrestrained.

Fascinated by Adriana’s underlying sensuality, Nathan brings her to his secluded mountain estate, determined she submit fully to his hunger. At a gentleman’s club, he makes certain she denies him nothing. Engaging in a seductive sexual journey, Nathan’s caught off-guard by his stunning need for Adriana—and a growing emotional connection she will not let him deny.

Excerpt
(In this scene, Nathan & Adriana have arrived at his mountain estate where he plans to teach her full submission to his carnal desires)

He brought her to the edge of the thick wool rug facing the hearth. Even after he’d lowered Adriana to her feet, she clung to him. Nathan knew her desire for closeness drove part of her reaction. Not knowing what to expect from him also played into her response.

Focused on her accelerating anticipation, he left her side with one order. “Stay there.”

In his peripheral vision, he checked to make certain she hadn’t moved. He padded to their pile of clothing, selecting his tie and her blouse for his coming scheme. On a whim, he lifted her thong and brought it to his nose, inhaling deeply. Jesus. His head fell forward at her heavenly fragrance. He struggled to take a full breath and maintain his control. No dice. His fingers crushed the flimsy silk. He wanted to bury his cock in her so badly, he wasn’t certain he could go through with his plan to tempt her beyond reason.

Her heels clicked on the hardwood floor.

Looking over, he saw her shifting her weight from foot to foot. She’d moved to the far left to watch him, her curiosity taking her off the rug. He fought a smile at the way she’d reverted to form, covering her breasts with her right arm and hand, her cunt with the left. For protection from his neighbor’s prying eyes or as an unconscious reaction to what he intended for her?

I’m going to show you how it feels to be truly captive, Adriana.

He suspected she knew what he planned, though not to the degree he had in mind. Nor would he warn her.

Content in the moment, he stared. Firelight changed the color of her skin from olive to a creamy caramel shade, enhancing her dramatic blue eyes. Long, black tresses trailed over her narrow shoulders. She looked as seductive as a dark-haired Venus in Botticelli’s famous painting and as debased as an advertisement for an upscale Nevada brothel in a men’s magazine.

Eyes on her, he approached, stopping at the cocktail table. He slung the blouse and tie over his right shoulder and curled his forefinger, gesturing her closer. At his side, she seemed to forget her nudity and vulnerability. Her hands rested on his tattoo. Warmer now, her soft palms did wicked things to his pecs and abs, causing the muscles to jerk on contact with her fingertips, which traced the design.

She spoke quietly, nearly a whisper. “When did you get it?”

During a drunken stupor, days after he’d learned Echo wasn’t his. Pissed, hurt and tired of working eighteen-hour days, he’d decided to indulge himself in every way possible, which eventually led him to Zanes and, in a way, to tonight. “Years ago,” he answered, “when I decided I liked being reckless.”

Her eyes lifted to his then dropped back down to his hands. In his left, he held her wrists. With his right, he pulled the tie from his shoulder and wrapped it around them. Convinced she couldn’t get free, he released her and knotted the tie. “On your knees, Adriana.”

A flash of surprise registered on her face, though she didn’t question. Nor did she resist. She sank to the rug so swiftly, he knew her legs were too weak to hold her and her body craved whatever he intended to give.

Nathan went to one knee. Her eyes darted to his pendulous cock and balls. Gently, he eased her onto her back, her bound arms above her head. Chin lifted, she watched him secure the ends of his tie to the leg of the cocktail table. The second time he pulled on the knot, making sure it wouldn’t come loose, her blouse slipped from his shoulder, landing on her arm.

She made a sound halfway between the word “what” and a whimper, finally falling silent, not asking why he’d taken her blouse, simply watching, waiting.

With the garment back in his hands, he spread it on the rug to fold it into a wide rectangle.

Understanding swept across Adriana’s face as to his intent. He reached the end of his task and watched her reaction. She blinked rapidly. Her face flamed with a rosy blush, bawdy and oddly virginal. He concentrated on the innocence. It, her mute dependence, bruised lips and the mascara smudges beneath her eyes stirred Nathan as few things had. Surprising affection battled with lust. Given his history with intimacy and love, he made certain to yield to his baser emotions. Draping the silk across her eyes, he lifted her head and pulled the fabric around to the back, tying it behind her right ear.

Her throat jerked with her swallow. Agitated, she tested the binding around her wrists. Unable to free them, her legs wavered. She took a halting breath and pulled her knees up. The narrow points of her high heels gouged the rug. The movement seemed to give her a measure of control.

It provided an image that squeezed the air from Nathan’s lungs. With her heels digging in, she’d lifted her hips and unknowingly spread her thighs, presenting a picture of a woman, bound, blindfolded and powerless, ready to be mounted, taken by her master.

He gritted his teeth at the ache in his groin, what it needed right now even as he knew a quick fuck wouldn’t satisfy. In the depths of his mind, he realized one, two or even three orgasms in quick succession would only whet his hunger for her. If he’d been able, he would have crawled inside of her body to become one with her mind, heart and blood. Crazy. He’d never been this way with another woman, not even Hayley during their early teenaged romance, and didn’t care to examine where his intensity had come from. Nor would he succumb to it. He’d promised to show Adriana a weekend she’d never forget and by god, if it killed him to wait for an orgasm, he’d follow through.

Resolved, he took several deep breaths to calm down. It didn’t work. However, he’d composed himself enough to trust his voice. Face close to hers, he murmured, “Can you see?”

She stopped sucking her bottom lip and moved her head from side to side.

He stared at her damp lip, resisting the urge to draw it into his mouth and hug her until neither of them could breathe. Shaking off his sentimentality, he countered, “I think you can.” He pulled the scarf over her cheekbones and to the tip of her nose to block out any vision.

Instantly, she pulled her chin up in an effort to see. Unable to, her heels dug deeper into the carpet.

Nathan sat back on his heels, hands on his thighs as he gazed at her, his heart banging into his ribs. He pressed the base of his palms into his legs and dug his nails into the skin above his knees. The pain should have registered but didn’t. Adriana captured his full attention. His forced silence affected her immediately. Her breasts trembled with her quickened breaths. A thin sheen of perspiration shone on her neck and upper chest. The thought of her salty, hot flesh beneath his mouth and hands made him woozy.

Watch the Lush Velvet Nights Trailer

Buy eBook from Ellora's Cave

Tina Donahue Website

AUTHOR GIVEAWAY TODAY
Leave a comment for your chance to win ONE of the following by Tina Donahue:
1. Adored – ebook
2. Deep, Dark, Delicious – ebook
3. Close to Perfect – mass market paperback
4. Bad Boys with Red Roses – trade paperback
5. Take My Breath Away – trade paperback


REMEMBER
Commenting and/or asking questions on an author’s blog for the day will enter you into the Big Huge Reader Contest for a Pink Sony eReader or one of three boxes packed full of RT Booklovers Convention goodies. Unfortunately, due to the grand prize being an electronic and weight of the other three boxes, this contest is for US residents only.