by Mlissa | May 29, 2012 | Melting Jane, self publishing
Yes yes yes! Finally, right!
You may have heard this before. Then again, you may not have. Melting Jane is the original title for the book some of my readers know as Sugar Rush. The contract was up on the book and I decided I wanted to make a few changes, add some word count, a new scene, some extended scenes, give it a new cover, and lower the price.
I’ve always loved this book. Jane is sassy and snarky and hates that the men in her life are always right. Graham is delicious and sweet and determined. It’s one thing when a woman doesn’t want a man and keeps saying No, it’s quite another when she DOES want him and keeps saying No.
If you read Sugar Rush, thank you. If you’re so inclined to re-read it in it’s new packaging, thank you.
If you haven’t ever read about Graham and Jane, and Jane’s friend Edward, I’m hoping you will give it a try.
Blurb:
Graham Hall is a twenty-six year old Texan with the job of his dreams: being a freelance travel writer for a national publication. He’s just finished his latest article about small winter resort destinations in Colorado and has earned some personal down time. With the six month lease not yet up on the small cabin he rented, Graham decides to stick around the area for a while and in the process, finds himself agreeing to a blind date with a feisty, down on her luck in the love department, candy maker named Jane.
After all, what could it hurt?
Jane, completely oblivious to the set up, arrives at Graham’s isolated little valley cabin to deliver a box of her handmade Chocolate Kick truffles. From the moment Graham opens the door, Jane is tongue tied and ticked off. Edward, her business partner and most certainly former best friend, set her up. When she regains her ability to put two coherent words together, plus size, mid-thirties Jane apologizes for intruding and assures Graham that she will take care of the mistake.
What ensues is a series of encounters and confrontations between Jane and Edward, Jane and Graham, and Edward and Graham. At the heart of it all, is Jane’s happiness. Edward wants this for her more than anything. Graham finds himself caught up in her tart tongue and curvy body and isn’t about to call his all too real pursuit a failure, no matter how many times she says no.
With her inability to continue denying herself the man she affectionately refers to as Cowboy Surfer in her head, she gives in and is rewarded with scorching hot sex and a lot of follow-up phone calls after she learns the truth of Graham’s attraction. His persistence leads Jane to believe that life doesn’t have to revolve around chocolate truffles, but rather should revolve around a delicious, well traveled and well built younger man.
Excerpt:
“What about this one?”
This one, was a little black dress that would dance around her knees when she spun this way or that. “No.” He swished the dress back and forth in front of her on the hanger. She crossed her arms and turned her head. She didn’t want to be tempted into the little dress. Kitchen stores were one thing. Clothing was another.
“Why not? It would look darling on you.”
“In case you’ve forgotten or have lost your sight recently, I don’t have a darling figure.”
“I, nor anyone else, would know a thing about your figure since you keep it hidden under every shapeless garment you can find.”
“Yeah, well…”
“Try it on.” He pleaded. “Please.”
“No.”
“For me?”
“No.”
“For him?”
“Him? Him who?” Jane thought for a moment and then understanding dawned on her. “Oh.” She grimaced. “No. Let’s go.” She got up and as soon as she did, Edward sat down in the newly vacated chair. “What are you doing?”
He crossed one leg over the other and looked for all the world like he hadn’t a care or a job. “I’m not going anywhere until you try on the dress.”
“Oh my god, Edward. Fine. You can sit there all day. I’ve got work to get back to.” When Edward didn’t make a move to get up, she threw up her hands and started walking toward the front of the store.
“Jane…”
“Look,” she said, walking back toward Edward. “I love you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, but you need to stop.”
“No. I don’t.” And given the look on his face, he believed that. “I want the best for you and I don’t have to stop until I’ve gotten through to you.” He blinked his puppy dog eyes and if they’d been alone in their loft, she’d have growled and stomped her feet. He was annoying, irritating, frustrating, and completely pissing her off. As it was, they were in a store, a high end clothing store, one of Edward’s favorites and she wasn’t comfortable making a scene. She’d wait until they were outside where she could drag him into a side street.
“This is the only one, understand? The only dress I intend to try on.”
Edward grinned. “Yes. That’s the only one I saw that I liked. The rest of their dresses were a little matronly for what you need.”
“What I need?”
“Sexy, but sweet.”
Jane rolled her eyes. “Oh please.” She slipped into the dressing room and hung the light and flirty dress on the wall hook. With long chiffon sleeves, a sweetheart neckline, and a nipped in waist, it was sweet looking. The flippy skirt coupled with slits in the sleeves to reveal skin, gave it the sexy look. It was an understated sexy, but with the right heels… Damn. He had her. The meddling man had her and he knew it. “I hate you.”
“I know.”
“I mean it, Edward,” she said, tugging her sweatshirt off over her head. She rocked her hips from side to side to get her jeans down. She huffed and sat on the little bench to pull her snow boots off. “I really hate you for this,” she reminded him.
“Let me see, then we can decide how much you hate me.”
“A lot.” But the dress slid down over her body like it had been made just for her. The side zipper ate up the distance to the top without her having to suck in her stomach, clench her butt, pray, or offer her soul. The lining hugged her curves with ease and the chiffon flowed. It was such a simple dress but it was perfect.
She stepped out of the little cubicle and Edward’s mouth dropped. That was a good sign. That was the best sign. He loved it on her and his gloating look hadn’t set in yet. She was thankful for that small miracle.
“Wow. I don’t know what to say.” He stood and came toward her. “I haven’t seen you in anything like this in so long. If I were a straight man…”
“Lucky for me, you’re not.” They stood in front of the three-way mirror, both of them staring at her from all sides. She realized she looked very nice. Well, as nice as she could without make up, her hair in a messy pony tail, and her one leopard print pink and black sock and her one neon green and black zebra stripe sock. If she’d known he wanted to do more than grab coffee and a pastry…
“I love it, Jane.” He was giddy with excitement, and practically bouncing up and down. “We should buy it.”
“No. No Edward, we shouldn’t. It’ll just sit in the closet and — ”
“No arguments. We’re getting the dress. Now, go take it off.”
“Edward.” Her tone should have been enough for him to let it go and realize it was a lost cause, that she wouldn’t be buying the dress, but he elected not to hear the slight inflectional change.
She huffed her way back into the dressing room and carefully removed the dress. “Aren’t you supposed to be looking for something for yourself to wear for your new guy?” There was no answer from Edward and when she had finished putting her clothes back on, went looking for him. He stood by the register, waiting.
“Will that be all?” the clerk asked her. Jane was quick to hand the dress over and nodded.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No, we’ll take these, too.” Edward placed a knee high pair of black boots on the counter. They were beautiful, elegant. Lace up the front, a short curved heel. She loved them immediately.
“Edward, really,” she whispered heatedly, ignoring the curious glance from the young woman behind the counter.
“These will be all.”
“Wonderful.”
Jane knew when she was beat. She walked away, all the way out the door, letting Edward do what he did best. Have his way.
The air was crisp, cold, tolerable. She liked the dry air, was happy there was no wind and that it wasn’t snowing. “Well, this has been a huge success.”
Jane turned to Edward as he joined her on the sidewalk. “What has?”
“Shopping.”
“Ah yes.” She started walking. “Where are your purchases for your man?”
“Oh I got them the other day.”
“Meaning this was all a ploy again, a set up.”
“I didn’t set you up with anyone other than me. I thought a morning out would be a nice change.”
“I don’t like that you’ve taken to lying to me.”
“If you liked the truth, I wouldn’t have to.”
Melting Jane is now available from Amazon | Barnes and Noble | All Romance eBooks | Smashwords
Have a great day!
~lissa
by Mlissa | Nov 15, 2011 | self publishing
Revealed has been uploaded to both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It is now available for Amazon Kindle. We’re still waiting for it go live at Barnes and Noble for Nook. It comes in a few K’s short of 20,000 words, which is twice as long as I had planned it to be. As you wait, I thought I’d serve up a little excerpt for you to indulge in…
Blurb:
The mask has come off, the closet door opened, and the acceptance in revelation has begun…
Thor sent Bobby home from Abyss with a few conditions. Have the hard conversations with those closest to him and arrive at Thor’s home, midnight, the following weekend. He’s been instructed not to call, not to email, not to contact Thor in any way. Simply do as told or…not.
Bobby comes to Thor a different man, changed somewhat for having come out of the closet to his parents and his best friend. The weight of his secret longings has been lifted and his desire to begin a relationship full of exploration and submission with a man is within his grasp. All it takes is following Thor’s orders, submitting to Thor’s rules, offering himself up to Thor’s dominance.
Can Bobby truly give over his tightly held onto control to the one man who drives him to his knees? Can Thor look beyond Bobby’s womanizer reputation to the longing for acceptance within?
Find out in, Revealed, the third installment in Lissa Matthews’ Masked series
Excerpt: (R Rated)
The headlights flashed through the front window one minute after midnight. Thor smiled, took a deep breath, and opened the garage door, waiting for Bobby to exit his flashy little car. He found it somewhat funny, the turn of events, how less than a month ago Bobby had been Robert and someone Thor had looked upon with… Well, he wasn’t sure how he’d ever really thought about the man. Fascinated, for sure, but he couldn’t say he’d ever been interested in him.
Then again, maybe he had. Subconsciously at least.
To say he’d been surprised when Bobby turned from the cross last weekend and Thor’d seen who he’d been lusting after, who he’d been unable to stop thinking about, would be a gross understatement. Bobby didn’t have the greatest reputation with women and Thor didn’t want to find out or be the first in a long line of men. He’d been unsure about Bobby’s true commitment to this, but at the same time, it was new for both of them, too. Thor wanted it bad enough that he was willing to give it a hundred percent attention and effort. He hoped Bobby wanted it just as bad.
That Thor’s erection hadn’t gone down in six days, no matter how many times he beat off, was testament to the attraction, the lust, the need Bobby inspired in him. It definitely dipped well below the surface.
He’d never been hung up on the closet, coming out or staying in, however when presented with the reality of having to make a choice, of having to make the decision, Thor’d done so in the most public way possible at the time. Since he sent Bobby home last Friday night, he’d wondered if perhaps other men would affect him the same way as Bobby, kind of like being a kid in a candy store. He’d stepped out could freely sample the variety around him. The more he looked at other men, though, the more Bobby’s face filled his mind, the feel of Bobby’s lips under his, the texture of Bobby’s bare ass beneath his hand. Thor didn’t want anyone else.
Bobby got out of his car and clicked a button on the key fob in his hand. A little beeping sound filled the otherwise quiet night as an internal theft alarm set. Thor stood in the doorway between the garage and the kitchen as Bobby walked toward him. He’d dressed in jeans tonight, and as he got closer Thor could see the shirt Bobby wore was a black button down. Black boots thumped on the wooden steps and then, Bobby was eye to eye, chest to chest with Thor.
“Hey.”
Thor smiled at the word, at the tentative softness in Bobby’s voice. “Hey. You’re a minute late. Second thoughts?”
“Traffic light missed a cycle.”
“Yeah? The one around the corner?”
Bobby nodded. “Yeah.”
“You staying?”
“If you’ll have me.”
Thor’s heart kicked in his chest and his cock pressed itself against the wool of his kilt. “Come on in,” he said, happy his voice didn’t betray his caveman desire to push Bobby to the ground.
Bobby preceded him. “Nice house.”
“Thanks,” Thor said as he pushed the button to close the small one car garage. When it was down, he closed the kitchen door behind him.
He lived in an older part of town, having bought an abandoned fixer upper for nothing more than the unpaid taxes at auction. He’d completely remodeled it over the last year and while the outside fit in with the neighborhood, the inside was all him.
Pride filled him as Bobby stepped through the kitchen doorway and let go a low whistle of appreciation. Thor stood against one of the black granite counters and let Bobby look around unhampered.
“Did you do all the work yourself?” Bobby inquired as he moved from one open space to another, pausing every now and then to study something.
The all black galley kitchen gave way to a muted gray living room. Replicas of Scottish swords lined one wall while images of Scottish castle ruins lined another custom black and red frames he’d made.
“I did.”
“I know which end of the hammer to use and how to screw in a light bulb, but that’s about the extent of my home improvement knowledge.”
“I guess it’s not a job requirement in a law firm.”
Bobby laughed and shook his head, stopping in the center of the room. He slid his hands into his pockets, his eyes roaming from one corner to next, following the seamless walls up to the ceiling and back down again. “No, it isn’t.”
The living room seating consisted of two black upholstered couches, and black barstools padded in red leather lined the breakfast bar as the only eating area.
“You don’t like the color black at all, do you?”
The question was asked with a smile and the answer given was done with the same light tone. “Fuck you.”
The mood however changed in an instant as the last word left Thor’s mouth. Their eyes connected and in less time than it took for him to draw breath, Thor had Bobby up against nearest wall. “I like a great many things,” Thor whispered, nipping at Bobby’s bottom lip, tugging, sucking it between his teeth, before letting go to slide his tongue inside Bobby’s mouth. It had been too long, six days too long since he’d kissed the man he couldn’t stop thinking about.
Bobby met him stroke for stroke. He slid his hands around Thor’s waist and up his back. The moan he gave Bobby to swallow when Bobby pulled the rubber band from Thor’s hair and gripped the strands in his fists was quickly followed by another. It felt good, so fucking good to be touched, to be wanted, to be with the man against his wall.
Thor pulled away from the kiss and opened his eyes to find Bobby’s bright blue ones focused on him. If he let himself, he could drown in those orbs and he tried to mentally shake himself out of the haze of lust clouding his brain. But, if he were honest, he’d admit he didn’t want to. He wanted Bobby. Had wanted him for the last couple of weeks, probably longer, probably since the first time he’d seen him at the haunted house. It didn’t really matter though. All that did matter was Bobby being in his house, Bobby giving himself to Thor.
“Play first or talk?” Just this once, he’d give Bobby the choice.
“Play.”
“You sure?”
“Yes sir.”
“Damn good answer, boy.” Thor touched the buttons on Bobby’s shirt. “Good shirt?”
“No sir.”
“Damn good answer again,” Thor muttered, lifting both hands to rip the shirt open over Bobby’s chest. Buttons popped and flew across the hardwood floor. Bobby grunted and pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. Thor smiled. “Get naked. I’ll be right back.”
Bobby swallowed. “Here?”
Thor was mesmerized by the movement of Bobby’s Adam’s apple and fought against the urge to tilt his head and take a bite. “Right here. Naked. Now.”
Thor turned and walked away, down the hallway to his bedroom. Through the darkness, he made his way to the bathroom where he flipped on the light. The baby oil sat on the counter along with the foil packet containing the condom he’d set out earlier. Grabbing both, he took one long look in the mirror. This was it, the moment he’d always wanted, always desired, even if he’d kept it a secret inside his own mind.
He’d been with men before, as equals, lover, never as dominant and submissive. This time things were different, felt different. It was out in the open and that added another element to it. He was ready for this. He hadn’t had a girlfriend or male lover in longer than he cared to remember. He’d been waiting for something, for someone to come along and trip his fucking trigger after Bailey. He could have been happy with her, as her dominant. Maybe not long term, but she was so purely submissive, so open and giving, he’d been smitten for months before she’d ever approached his cross. Of course, then his friend and mentor Aidn stepped in and the two had been so taken with one another, she never looked Thor’s away again. With Bobby, though, smitten wasn’t the word. He wasn’t sure what the word was, but he intended to spend however long he had with Bobby figuring it out.
He flipped off the bathroom light and walked back down the hall. Bobby stood naked against the wall where Thor’d left him, his cock hard and standing straight against his stomach. Average in length, he made up for it in thickness and Thor did his best to contain the groan of hunger bubbling up.
He tore his gaze from Bobby’s erection and mentally shrugged it off as no big deal. He only hoped his voice reflected nonchalance. “When was the last time you bent over for a man?” Nothing like a little crudeness to set the tone. This was a taking, a claiming. It wasn’t one man making love to another. It was nothing to do with love at all. It was surrender and dominance.
“I, uh… It’s been a while. A few months.”
“Who?” Jealousy boiled up from his stomach. The thought of anyone touching Bobby, being inside Bobby and Thor, however irrational, about lost his mind.
“Lawyer from another firm. He’s a switch. Visits Abyss.”
The only thing that could make Thor feel better about that was perhaps the other lawyer witnessed Bobby being flogged in the club. “Condoms?”
“Y-yes. Always.”
“Good.” Thor pulled one of the barstools away from the counter and patted the leather seat. “Bend over, rest your forearms on this, legs shoulder width apart.”
Bobby’s eyes widened and he hesitated only a moment before doing as he was told. “Yes sir,” he said softly.
Thor stood off to the side as Bobby assumed the position he’d been instructed in. Strong legs, perfectly defined muscles. Tight ass. Slender hips and trembling shoulders. His hands, smooth and well tended, fisted and let go, then fisted again as he tried to relax.
He was nervous and something about that made the tension in Thor’s gut loosen. He’d never seen Bobby nervous, not around women at least. He’d been nervous at the club last weekend, but Thor chalked that up to the public display on the cross.
He stepped closer and reached out, running his fingers lightly down Bobby’s spine in a gesture meant to relax. His muscles shook beneath the contact. “I’ve never seen you like this. Almost unsure.”
“No. Not unsure, just… I don’t know what to expect, what to do. Out of my element.” The words were soft but solid.
Thor nodded even though Bobby couldn’t see the motion. “All you have to do is what I tell you. All you have to do is follow my instructions, my orders. All you have to do is trust me.”
“I wish it were as easy as all that.”
“I know.” And he did. He’d never been a submissive, but he still understood what it took to trust. He had to trust the submissive partner, too and doing so wasn’t always as ‘easy as all that’.
“I am not going to do anything you don’t agree to. You have a safe word and a safe signal. Use them.” As he spoke, he slid his hand lower, over Bobby’s ass and gripped the flesh in his palm, squeezing until Bobby yelped. Thor leaned down and nipped at his lover’s shoulder. “Right now though, this is only about me getting inside you. I haven’t been able to think about too much else beyond splitting you open, impaling you, making you mine.”
Bobby’s slight trembles turned to full on shivers as he nodded his head emphatically. “Yes, please, sir, please.”
“You’re not above begging, are you?”
Bobby shook his head. “No sir. No I’m not.”
Revealed is now available for your Kindle reading pleasure. Find it HERE!
~lissa
