It’s Halloween. And I’m being a bit of a scrooge, I’m afraid. I have candy, which my daughter made me buy (yes, made. have YOU ever dealt with a teenage girl? if so, you know what i’m talking about…). But, I’m not feeling much in the answer the door, hand out candy, answer the door, hand out candy… Rinse, and repeat.
Told ya, Scrooge.
I do, on the other hand, have something I am willing to share with you. A new release. Some of you know about it. Some of you don’t. Either way, here’s the blurb, the cover, an excerpt, and buy links…
Once Brax traded in his suit and law degree for part ownership in his best friend’s tattoo parlor, Love and Tattoos, he never looked back. Inked from head to toe, full of business smarts, and an affinity for classical music and hard sex, he’s got life right where he wants it.
Until the woman he can’t stop craving comes home. She’s full of luscious curves, looks a little unsure of herself, and has taken to acting a little odd around him. Brax can’t help but wonder why.
The corporate advertising firm in Philadelphia that Annie buttoned up her carefree personality for has laid her off. Now, back in North Carolina, she’s trying to find her sparks again. Her career is changing direction, her sex life is nearly dead, and the one thing worth having in the midst of it all is supposedly off limits.
Brax’s cockiness and Annie’s own desire to for the tattoo artist, dares her to believe he might know her better than she thinks he does. And when he promises that he can help her find what’s missing in her life, she agrees to his little after-hours game.
The challenge he lays out comes with a few strings, the suggestion of stripping, confessions, and the temptation of ink. But, they’ve never been that close, so how could she possibly lose?
Excerpt:
“You really should’ve let me take you back to my place tonight.” Brax leaned heavily on the refrigerator door in their closet sized break room. Not the walk-in size either. No, this was nothing more than a bi-fold closet with a fridge, a microwave, and a set of free standing cabinets
“Why’s that?”
“There’s nothing to eat in here.”
“Nothing at all?” she asked, peering under his arm.
“Nope.”
Annie backed up and opened the cabinet doors “Nothing in here, either. This is sad. Who’s the designated stock person in the shop?”
“We don’t have one.” He slammed the refrigerator shut and braced his back against it. “Jamie’s is closed too.”
“Wait.” Annie bounced on the balls of her feet and clapped her hands together in rapid succession. “Do we have more water bottles?”
“Yes.” Brax’s tone was wary at best. Annie understood. She did seem a little too excited.
“Grab a couple. Do you know how to pick a lock?”
“Breaking and entering? Okay. Who are you and what have you done with my staid and stand-offish Annie?”
“Yep. Joe’s desk.” Annie fairly skipped into the office. “Joe always keeps a package of cookies in the back of the bottom draw.” She stopped and faced him. “What do you mean staid and stand-offish? I have not been that way with you tonight.”
“Not since you had to get naked. And what do you mean by Joe always keeps cookies in his desk drawer? I’ve never seen them.”
“I know. They’re behind the hanging files. He about killed me the first time I found them.”
“What if he ate them all?”
Annie shook her head. “He never does that. He always makes sure there’s a full package.”
“Okay.” Brax wagged his finger in her face, but pulled it back when she made to bite it. “If we get in trouble for it…”
“I know. I know. I’ll blame it on you.” She barely made it out of swatting range.
She had her shirt and panties back on and he had his pants on and for some reason they hadn’t left. He hadn’t pushed about taking her to his place and she hadn’t invited him to hers. It was fun in the tattoo shop in the middle of the night. It was familiar, but not. It was like being somewhere they shouldn’t be, but not for any reason she could think of.
He knelt on the floor at her feet, with two metal files; one that looked like a pick, and one that looked like it had a flat blade at the end. She wasn’t paying as much attention to the illegal activity of lock picking as she was to the man committing the act. She stared to her heart’s content at his body. “Did Joe do the wings on your shoulders?” she asked, tracing the edges with her fingertips. He was warm to the touch and small freckles dotted his skin.
One wing was white, spread over his right shoulder. The other was black with red tips, spread over his left shoulder. Annie had admired them all night, since he first took his shirt off, she’d just been distracted by other pieces of his ink, other parts of him.
His hands stilled and he lowered his head to let her explore. Ink stood out and he had so much of it. He wasn’t afraid to be who he was. He never had been. His bosses told him to keep his tattoos covered, her bosses never had that chance. She never let her guard down long enough for them to see her. Maybe that had been a good thing. Maybe not.
“They’re beautiful. Who designed them?”
“I did. Joe did the ink.”
Annie opened her palm over the black wing and spread her fingers, the ends just touching the edge of the red tips. Her hand looked small and fragile against the dark shading. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I hadn’t either. Angel’s wings didn’t seem to fit me. I looked through hundreds of drawings and images and photos of other tattoos. When I couldn’t find what I wanted, I drew it. Took me several weeks to get it right. Good, and evil.”
“Which side were you listening to tonight?”
“Both.”
“They were in agreement?”
Brax looked up and captured her gaze. “The good side said go with my heart. The evil side said go with my baser instincts. I did both.”
If she could’ve melted into the floor, she would have. Brax would be her undoing before the sun rose. “Cookies,” she said. “My evil side is saying cookies.”
Brax shook his head. “My evil side is saying forget the cookies and eat the girl.”
If you’ve picked it up already, thank you. If you haven’t, I hope you’ll be tempted enough to do so… I would appreciate any reviews you care to leave.
The Cupcake Cowboy will be available in November… There’s a Facebook page that has been created for the series. If you haven’t yet, please give it a Like!
And, if you are in the Charlotte, NC area, author Selena Blake and I will be meeting up and would love it if you could join us:
And one more thing… Starting tomorrow, I will be participating in the following blog hop! It’s going to be loads of fun…
Over on the sidebar, there’s a College Football countdown widget. If any of y’all know me, y’all know I love me some college football. I like the NFL too (don’t have a fave team, just certain players I follow), but my heart and soul with football is college ball.
Now, I’m not a huge Kenny Chesney fan, but he had a song, The Boys of Fall that hits me in the gut every time. For most people, you’re still looking at Summer. You’re counting down to when your kids go back to school, but at the same time you’re seeing Summer. Me, I’m itching for Fall. Cool weather, and football.
There are so many sports romances out there too. Hockey, baseball, racing, wrestling, and football. I don’t read many of them myself, but I do love that they’re there for you to read. I love that sports are not just for men anymore, that the female fan base is growing by leaps and bounds.
So, if you’re looking forward to Fall and looking forward to football, there’s a hot new contemporary romance from Selena Blake, Ask For It.
Trevor Wyatt has lusted for journalist JJ Fairchild since before he retired from the NFL. Now she’s back in his life and he’s not going to miss the opportunity to show her just how good they could be together.
Words may be JJ’s tool of trade, but when it comes to the bedroom, words escape her. Trevor’s an excellent teacher and before she knows it, she’s asking for what she wants.
But when outside forces threaten to expose dark secrets from Trevor’s past, can he overcome his suspicions and trust the woman in his bed?
When my friend Selena Blake asked me to participate in her Spring Fling Blog Hop, I just couldn’t say no. So, here we are…
Thinking of Spring for me is…flowers in bloom, mild sunshine, windows open to let in the breezes and fresh air after a Winter of being closed up, freshly mowed grass, bright colors in the closet, and loads of new fruits and veggies…
My two favorite seasons of the year are Spring and Autumn. However, Spring this year has been more like early Summer. It’s been in the 90’s, everything bloomed earlier than normal, and let us not forget those AWESOME allergies! Grins…
But, it is still technically Spring and we’re just gonna go with it!
For the blog hop, I am going to giveaway book which are not my own… 3 of them, in fact.
1. Amanda Usen‘s Scrumptious… Now who doesn’t love a hot man and 5 tiers of cupcakes?
2. Carly Phillips‘ Serendipity… Hot yummy on a motorcycle.
3. Bella Andre‘s The Look of Love…Because we all want that look from the man of our dreams.
I have interacted with all of these women. Amanda is turning into a dear friend. I do writing sprints with Carly and several other authors and they’ve been truly inspirational. And Bella is such a kind and amazing woman who is very open and generous with her time and thoughts even though she’s so incredibly busy.
In one way or another, these 3 authors inspire me, make me laugh, make me smile, and I wanted to share that with you through their books. This is also an international giveaway as I will send the books through Bookdepository.com.
To win: tell me what your favorite thing about Spring is! (this one IS mandatory to be entered)
And… (the following is not mandatory for entry, but would be AWESOME!)
If you do not follow me anywhere, I’d be really appreciative if you would… You can LIKE my Facebook fan page, FOLLOW me on Twitter, or SIGN-UP for my Newsletter. There’s also, the option of following my blog by email, Linky Friends, and Networked Blogs. All the information is on the sidebar. Look ——> aren’t those coffee cups adorable? (Scroll down to find the Linky Friends, Networked Blogs, and email sign up…)
And so, that’s it! I hope you have all kinds of fun during this hop and if you weren’t enjoying Spring before, maybe you will by the time the hop is over.
Once upon a time, there was a little bird named Samantha.
Now, Samantha was considered a wonderful and dear friend to Lissa and she knew how much Lissa liked to read male/male erotic romance.
Samantha, such a delightful friend suggested to Lissa that she should consider writing stories in this genre she loves so much. One thing, dear readers that you must understand about Samantha is the simple fact that she writes stories in this genre as well as the male/male/female genre and so coming from such an esteemed and successful writer, Lissa took Samantha’s suggestion to heart.
Over the course of a couple of months, some serious thought went into this idea. Lissa had considered writing male/male before, had even written a very short male/male free read, but had primarily focused on male/female contemporary. But Samantha had put a bug in Lissa’s ear to write male/male, to try her hand at it and Lissa couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t stop wanting to try and so she took her very short free read out of the storage closet, added a few words, polished it up, sent it off to a few friends to read, including Samantha (whom Lissa hasn’t heard back from yet…) Thoughts so far though on Lissa’s effort are good and positive.
Armed with a little confidence and a lot of nerves, Lissa is aiming to self-publish this little collection of male/male spanking stories, 5K each.
The End.
Grins…
I even have a cover, created by the wonderful Valerie Tibbs. I am working on the second 5K story and will then move on to the third one. I’ll keep y’all informed as to a release for it.
My favorite birthday cake actually isn’t one of my own. When I was little I attended a party of another girl whose cake was a doll. The torso, head, arms and hair were plastic, but the skirt of her dress was cake. And it was frosted in different colors. I loved it. It was so unique. So pretty. So creative and far more dimensional than any other cake I’d ever seen. In a world of flat sheet cakes topped with gooey roses, the doll cake was something really special. And it was pretty tasty too!
Speaking of birthdays…
Two months ago Darcy Evans had a little too much to drink and during a night of hot sex, admitted one of her most secret fantasies… to have two men at once. Today is her 29th birthday and her boyfriend Aiden Sinclair is ready to help her celebrate. In fact, he has a surprise in store that will make her fantasy a reality.
Warning: Includes two hunky males, a blindfold, decadent birthday cake, and a night of fantasy come to life.
It’s Halloween. And I’m being a bit of a scrooge, I’m afraid. I have candy, which my daughter made me buy (yes, made. have YOU ever dealt with a teenage girl? if so, you know what i’m talking about…). But, I’m not feeling much in the answer the door, hand out candy, answer the door, hand out candy… Rinse, and repeat.
Once Brax traded in his suit and law degree for part ownership in his best friend’s tattoo parlor, Love and Tattoos, he never looked back. Inked from head to toe, full of business smarts, and an affinity for classical music and hard sex, he’s got life right where he wants it.
