Starting next week I’m going to taunt you with snippets from Command Performance, since it comes out at the end of this month. 🙂

But today, since I’ve been on a historical romance reading kick, I’m going to share a snippet from my historical spanking work-in-progress, Disciplining the Duchess. If you like stern, handsome dukes and sweet, slightly rapscallion heroines, then you’ll definitely like this book. I’m telling ya, I’ve got a thing for those dukes!

This is a scene near the beginning. The heroine, Harmony, and her friends are discussing the impending arrival of a much-gossiped-about duke to their house party.

     “I believe he must be something worse than a rake.” Viola flushed. “Did you see the older ladies’ expressions when his name was brought up?”

     Harmony wondered what could possibly be worse than a rake. From the silent, uneasy pall that fell over the group, she supposed she wasn’t the only one.

     “What did the ladies mean by ‘uncomfortable habits?’” Lady Mirabel whispered the last two words.

     “I do not know,” said Lady Sybil, “but my brother spoke something of him to papa when he was considering the duke for my hand. Whatever he said, papa refused to repeat it to mama.”

     This elicited horrified gasps from the entire company.

     “Perhaps he has killed someone!” said one of the more fanciful girls. “A duke could get away with it.”

     “I bet he has the most cold and sinister eyes,” another girl said.

     “I’m frightened,” whimpered another. “Why would they invite him here among civilized people?”

     Lady Mirabel put down her cup with a tsk. “If he killed someone, do you really believe the Darlingtons would have invited him here? And a duke cannot run about killing people on a whim. Dukes are powerful, but not that powerful.”

     “Yes,” agreed Juliette. “How silly to leap from ‘uncomfortable habits’ to ‘murderer.’ As for his cold and sinister eyes, I thought he was considered handsome.”

     “I have seen him in town,” said Lady Sybil. “He is handsome. Dangerously so.” She raised a brow for emphasis. Harmony was not quite sure how one could be dangerously handsome. Perhaps women fainted just from looking at him.

     “He probably keeps dozens of mistresses.” Viola sighed, disillusioned.

     “Maybe he cannot keep even one, because he is so awful to them,” said the fanciful girl. “Maybe he draws them in with his handsome nature, and then trods upon their hearts.”

     “Or beats them,” suggested another. “Or kills them.”

     Harmony sighed as the young women all joined hands, promising to protect one another from the terrifying menace of his wiles.

     “Perhaps it is only that he drinks too much at dinner,” she drawled. “Or eats too much, and belches loudly and repeatedly. That would be an uncomfortable habit indeed.”

     As usual, when Harmony spoke, all the girls looked at her as though she were mad. Which she nearly was, after days of listening to them natter on about the stupidest subjects. She stared back at them until they all looked down at their plates.

I am really enjoying writing this book. The hero and heroine have come so alive in my mind and their story is very sweet and sexy. I’m guessing it won’t be out until January of next year but I’ll share more news about it before then. I can say for sure that if you enjoyed Lily Mine, you’ll like this book.

Thanks for reading!

I decided to do Owning Wednesday this week and whoa, nelly. I forgot about the hot, smexy opening scene.

The story begins during a threesome between Wednesday, the submissive, Vincent, her Master, and Daniel, another man he’s sharing her with–a man who eventually becomes a very big part of her life. I’ve always thought the whole sharing thing was super hot, and since Mercy and Owning Wednesday were my first two books, they both have sharing in them. The Mephisto books go a lot deeper into all that but those books were a few years down the line.

Like in the Mephisto books, the sharing in Owning Wednesday has a very emotional edge. This snippet is from the end of their threesome.

     [Daniel] pressed and touched all over her, urging her higher, higher. Her pussy throbbed, aching for release. He grabbed her mons and slid a finger between the slick lips of her sex. He started tapping her clit in a steady rhythm. The focused stimulation was too much—he was torturing her. Her pussy flared each time he touched her clit, and his ass-pounding strokes were pushing her closer and closer to orgasm. When she drew up taut like a bowstring, determined not to come without permission again, he leaned close to her, right next to her ear, and whispered, “Go ahead, come.”

     Seconds later she came hard and long, but she didn’t make a sound or any outward sign. All the arousal from her center broke wide, drowning her, and her ass clamped down on the hot fullness of his cock. The secrecy of it seemed to intensify her climax. Daniel came after her, pounding against her, and she let out a soft moan under cover of his cry. He fell over her, breathless, and nipped her on the back of her neck, just as she’d nipped his thigh. As if he was telling her, It will be our secret.

     Or maybe, Remember me, was what he’d actually meant.

     As if she could she ever forget him. Thanks to him she’d lapsed hopelessly from how she’d been trained. She’d felt too much, wanted too much, lusted too much, lost control of herself. She stayed where she was, trying to collect herself. After Daniel pulled away, Vincent yanked her up by her collar.

     “Wednesday, thank our guest.”

     She murmured quick, breathless thanks to the floor at Daniel’s feet. Then Vincent dragged her to the corner and hooked her cuffs to a bolt in the wall.

If I had to describe Owning Wednesday in one word it would definitely be emotional. If you haven’t read it, check it out!

Poor Firebird, it’s often lost in the shadow of my other, more controversial ballet-themed book, Mercy, even though Firebird has its own charms. Firebird is a very sweet romance, and it was the first book I wrote that was based on the romance of collaboration. (Cirque du Minuit was another one.) There’s something about working together with another person to create a work of art that is just sexy to the core.

Ballet, too, lends itself to eroticism and especially BDSM. Me and my reader Maryara (waves wildly) were talking about this dance/BDSM connection last week. Dancing with another person is always power exchange. Add the sadistic and masochistic elements of what they put their bodies through, and the discipline required to be successful, and the book practically writes itself. I have started on a third ballet-themed book tentatively called Waking Kiss.  So far it’s more Mercy than Firebird, but we’ll see how it all pans out.

One thing I love about Firebird is the way Jackson and Prosper try to keep things professional in the beginning when there’s such a strong undercurrent of desire underneath. For today, I immediately went to this scene that takes place during their first practice together as dancer and choreographer.

 

     She moved to the center of the room. It was called the small rehearsal room, but it wasn’t small, only not as large as the larger rehearsal hall where the company took class and where entire ballets were rehearsed in front of the mirror. This room was only mirrored on one side. He turned her toward it.

     “So you know the basic story of Firebird?”

     “Yes, pretty much. The prince finds her in a garden, dances with her—”

     “Captures her.”

     Prosper fell silent.

     “He captures her and refuses to release her unless she agrees to return when he asks.”

     “Yes.” She nodded. “A very practical monarch.”

     “Yes, practical, but also selfish. And driven to subdue a creature both weaker and more powerful than himself.”

     He watched as a blush crept across the back of her neck. My God, she was so close he could smell her, fresh soap and faint perfume.

     “But you’re not dancing the prince,” he said, collecting himself. “And really, his story doesn’t concern you. After you tell him the secret of how to defeat Kostchei and rescue his princess, you fly away, and he’s left with his safe, proper wife.”

     “Mmm.”

     “But I think he remembers the Firebird his whole life. Do you know why?”

     She turned her head, the blush spreading across her cheeks. “Why?”

     “Because she was the only creature of her kind he’d ever seen in his life.”

     She drew in a soft breath. He was going to lick her in a moment, all the way from her nape up to her staid ballerina bun. Focus. Show her what to do, instead of staring at her neck and imagining a collar there.

 

I love, love, love tension between characters at the start of a romance! If you haven’t read Firebird, check it out. It’s not hardcore kink but there are some very sexy BDSM scenes, and tons of delicious tension and drama. Firebird was a finalist for the Golden Crown award a few years back, and that was also very cool. Click the book cover below to read the blurb and find buy links.

So here’s the deal… It’s really hard for me to decide what to post when it can only be seventeen sentences long, plus counting sentences is tedious. So I decided I’m just going to post little snippets from my books every Sunday and not bother counting the sentences anymore. Ah, freed from my shackles. Snippet Sunday, ahoy!

I’ve had a laid back and peaceful kind of feeling all week so I decided to feature Lily Mine. To me, there’s something so comforting about their story. It’s so wrapped up in kindness and protection. There are hot parts too, of course, and tragic parts, but overall it has always seemed a very sweet story to me. Which begs the question, how did *I* manage to write it? HAHAHA.

Here’s one of my favorite parts, when he catches her reading his dirty books up in the attic.

     “Bring me the book. Show me what you were reading just now.”

     She hesitated, then shook her head. “No.”

     “It seems to have put you in fine fettle, whatever it was.” Finally he crossed to her, prying the book from her stubborn fingers. She shifted and turned, intending to flee the attic, but he shot his hand out and caught her arm. “You will stay. Kneel. Right here.”

     He pointed at the spot at his feet and Lily sank slowly to her knees. She felt the beginnings of a subtle unwinding, a letting go. His pointing finger was like a much-needed signpost. Do this. I say so. Of course, it was simpler that way. She was only angry and frustrated because she was trying to control things when he was master of that craft. She could hear him above her, leafing through the pages lazily. He gave her the book back.

     “Open it to the page you were just reading.” His voice brooked no resistance now, and she offered none. She turned to the story of the woman pleasuring her lover with her mouth and held it in her lap, her head bowed. He snapped his fingers and she handed it up to him. He looked at it a moment and then reached down to tilt her chin up. Still, she could not meet his eyes.

     “Look at me, Lily.” She looked up, her heart pounding. “Does this appeal to you? Are you curious about doing this?”

     “Well…I…it’s–“

     “‘Yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir,’ if you please.”

     “Yes, sir,” Lily said in a voice so soft as to be nearly unintelligible.

     “Louder. And damn it, look at me.”

     “Yes, sir,” she said, gazing up at him in entreaty. “Please, I just don’t know how– It’s difficult for me to–“

     “To what?”

     “To be as bold as you.”

     His fingers stroked her chin and released it. “Luckily for you, I am bold enough for us both.”

I do like the contrast of his power (in society) versus her relative lowliness. I love how it plays out in their relationship and mostly that he chooses not to abuse it. If you’d like to read a sweet love story with some bondage and spanking and hot-but-tender sex, you should try Lily Mine. Click the book cover to read the blurb!

I was so glad that Amazon finally marked Molly’s Lips: Club Mephisto Retold down to FREE this week! Not sure how long it will stay there but I hope I found some new readers while this novella was climbing the “free” charts. I decided to use it as my Seventeen Sentence Sunday book since I was so excited. Hey, it’s always nice to chart!

I chose this scene when Molly and Clayton are parting at the beginning. I think the two parts of the book that affect me the most emotionally are this time when he drops her off, and then the scene when they are reunited at the end. I always imagine how that felt to Mephisto, to watch that from the outside. One thing I love about the Mephisto books is the triangle of Molly, Clayton, and Mephisto, with all the complexity and tension underneath.

     Mephisto had many slaves he played with, but none of them were a full time responsibility like Molly was to Clayton. For just a moment, Mephisto’s confidence faltered. Could he do this? Could he deliver her back to Clayton without turning her into a total wreck?

     “I suppose I’d better go,” said Clayton. “She’s cutting off the circulation in my legs.”

     Under the table, her face was again pressed to her Master’s pant leg. Mephisto wanted to find it silly, but it was touching. “I’ll take good care of her,” he promised.

     “Well then, she’s yours,” Clayton said, handing over her leash.

     Mephisto watched Molly for signs of distress. Her eyes were wet, her expression bleak, but she was hanging in there. He tugged the leash to bring her up on her knees. “Bid your Master goodbye, kitten. You’ll see him in a week.”

     Clayton leaned down to give her one last squeeze. Their hug looked natural, like they did it a lot. She clung to him, her face buried against the side of his neck.

I hope you’ll read the rest of Molly’s Lips: Club Mephisto Retold to see more of Mephisto’s thoughts. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s FREE! At least I hope it stays free for a while. It’s always free at Smashwords.com of course. Click the cover below to visit the page with the blurb and various buy links.

And if you already read and enjoyed Molly’s Lips, I hope you’ll also read Burn For You, the novel-length conclusion to the whole shebang!

Here’s another sneak peek from Mason’s story. I’m still tweaking and editing but I hope to have this one out this fall!

     “I’m not that innocent.” Her throat was dry, her voice raspy.

     Mason chuckled, pulling her close to him. “You keep saying you’re not innocent, but you are.”

     “I’ve read dirty magazines before.”

     “Not like the ones I read. I’m sure of it.”

     She stared over into piercing blue eyes, leery of another seduction, but wanting it too. “Will you show me?” she whispered.

     He shook his head. “Not yet. It would scare you away.”

     “I don’t scare that easily.”

     He cupped her face in one hand. He was so, so close to her now, so close she could feel the brush of his breath, the heat of his lips. “Little liar. You’re scared right now, and I’m only going to kiss you.”

 

 

Well, it’s a book release week so I’m going to do the predictable thing and feature my new book!

Here’s the cover…click and you can find the blurb and buy links. As I said in a previous post, it’s vanilla but it’s not tame!

In this section of the story, they’re talking about why Charlotte agreed to fly over to the Caucasus to help Will out.

 

     “Well, Ivo begged me.”

     “I imagine he did. He’s desperate to know what’s in that book, and I’d like to catalog the language while I have the chance. Before it dies out.”

     She stared out at the mountains in the waning light. “Before I die, you mean?”

     “Yes.”

     They both fell silent. After a while, she asked, “Do you really think no one else on earth knows that language? Just me?”

     “Trust me, we looked. If someone else does, they’re like you. Hiding somewhere far off.”

     “I wasn’t hiding.”

     “Well, what were you doing?” he asked with that expression she couldn’t quite interpret yet.

     Charlotte thought a moment. “Waiting, I guess.”

One thing I really love about the book is Will’s view of language as a living thing, a living part of people. As a result, he doesn’t want any old languages to die. I love his drive and his strong feelings about words and language. There’s something about a guy who feels passionately about something. Passion for a good cause makes any guy instantly hot!

 

This week I’m featuring Cirque du Minuit for Seventeen Sentence Sunday. This is probably among my favorite books I’ve written, in large part because Theo is my dream bad boy. Reckless, sexy, demanding–with a French accent. And of course, the softest heart in the world underneath. Here, he introduces Kelsey to the art of aerial silks.

     “This tree is stronger than you can imagine. The silk is strong, I am strong.” He paused to wrap his leg in the silk as he hung beside her. “What about you? Strong enough, Kelsey? Brave enough?”

     She resisted the urge to look down, instead keeping her gaze locked on Theo’s darkly animated eyes. “I just need a little time to get used to this before you start scaring me again.”

     Theo blinked in innocence. “Scaring you? Moi? I don’t know what you speak of.” He reached out to her, pulling her close, both of them swaying thirty feet up, limbs wrapped in diaphanous silk. “You be a good, brave girl, and I’ll let you come back my place after, eh?”

     She always imagined him as dark, threatening, but up close he had light, tiny freckles on the bridge of his nose. His arm tightened around her. His lips were so close she could feel their warmth. “You want, Kel-zee?”

Yes, I know there are eighteen sentences this week. I’m a rulebreaker!

If you’re into demanding, slightly borderline alpha guys and the romance of collaboration, you’d really love this book. Hope you check it out! Click the cover below for a blurb and buy links.

Also…a bit of news while you’re stopping by. I’ll be uploading The Edge of the Earth to the various sales outlets by the end of next week. (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance ebooks, Smashwords.) The wait is over, Molly Joseph is finally coming. This book was years in the making, and even though it’s vanilla, it’s still by ME, it will still make you squirm and probably cause controversy. Spread the word!

Since I did Deep in the Woods last week, I think Fortune follows. 🙂

 

     She turned with a start to find a familiar set of dark eyes looking at her, then back down at her chart. The man from Masquerade was standing at the foot of her bed in a white lab coat. Shit.

     “So you really are a doctor.”

     “I don’t lie, Ekaterina. Ever. Yes, I am a doctor. A surgeon, actually, but let’s not quibble over terms.”

     Ekaterina. He knew her full name now, and god knew what else and he was looking down at her in full asshole-doctor mode. What the hell was his name again? Brian? Ryan? She gestured to her chart. “Why are you looking at that? That’s my private information.”

      “I’m the neuro specialist on call this morning, so for the moment you’re my patient.”

 

If you haven’t read the book, Ryan is a guy she met earlier at a nightclub. She scoffs and doesn’t believe him when he tells her he’s a brain surgeon. I love this scene because I love to imagine her face at that moment. OMG, it’s actually him. Oh, crap…

Fortune wasn’t a planned sequel. Originally Ryan was just Dave’s friend who I needed in order to treat Sophie to a menage in Deep in the Woods. (Ooh, that was fun to write.)

But around that time my friend Audrey met a guy who was into both shibari and origami. This guy introduced me to the concept of the senbazuru, or 1000 cranes, showing me a photo of a miniature senbazuru he’d created inside a lamp as a wedding gift for his sister.

I started thinking about how a guy like that would have to be really good with his hands. I’d already made Ryan a neurosurgeon in Deep in the Woods and I thought, wow, a neurosurgeon would be good with his hands! Ryan’s going to be into origami and shibari and get his own book!

By that point, Deep in the Woods had already been contracted by Ellora’s Cave and was in the editing process, but I was able to introduce the origami crane into the scene where Ryan says farewell to Sophie, and a sequel was born.

Fortune was one of those magical books where everything came to me like a gift of the universe. I remember at one point bawling my eyes out and thinking, Wow, this is good, while I more or less took dictation from Ryan and Kat. It helped that Ryan and Kat were both clear as day in my mind as characters. I knew them inside and out. It was definitely one of those really easy books to write.

If you haven’t read Fortune, please give it a shot. It’s sexy, emotional, and explores some of the deepest themes of life. You can click the cover below for blurb, buy links, and reviews.

A wonderful reader wrote to me this past week to tell me how much she loved Dave and Sophie from Deep in the Woods. It makes me so happy when a couple resonates with someone, and so I decided to use DITW as my Seventeen Sentence Sunday book. I’ve always loved this exchange between them:

     He was so unlike Barry. He wasn’t ruled by his temper, by strange demons she didn’t understand. He was controlled and responsible. She wanted him to kiss her. His fingers moved down over her forehead and down her cheek to caress her slightly-parted lips.

     “I’m sorry too, for drawing you into an emotional argument when I knew you were already punchy. I’ll try not to do that again.”

     “Th…Thank you, Sir. You are so wonderful. You’re so thoughtful with me.”

     “Why am I thoughtful with you, Sophie?”

     “Because you love me?” Even though she knew it was the answer he wanted, even though he told her many times a day that he loved her, the words still stuck in her throat, a wonder and impossibility.

     “Say it again, this time without the question mark.” Her gaze flew to his. He had that sweet, warm challenge in his eyes.

     “Because you love me,” she repeated.

Aww…”This time without the question mark.” *swoony* Dave is such a dreamboat.

I choose Deep in the Woods this week for another reason. I had a book blogger contact me on Wednesday for a sample of my work and as usual I reached for this book first. In fact, DITW is almost always the book I recommend when someone says to me, “I’ve never read you before but I’m interested. What should I read first?”

I don’t know why it’s the go-to intro book for me. Maybe because it’s a traditionally published book and I feel I make a better first impression that way. Maybe because the message is pretty hard to argue with. Maybe because it’s such a pro-BDSM book in many ways. Maybe because Dave is one of the few heroes I’ve written who’s 100% a nice guy. (My bad guys sometimes piss the uninitiated off.) Maybe it’s because there’s a big ugly dog on the cover, and how often do you see that?

For whatever reason, I’m really proud of this story, even though I HA-ATE the cover with the fire of a thousand suns. I think it’s my most heartfelt work as far as my relationship with the BDSM community, with the lifestyle, with all that. When I read DITW, I feel like I did justice to a lot of BDSM things, and I don’t ever want to be a half-ass ambassador for the lifestyle. I want every book I write to feel authentic and pro-BDSM, and I think out of all of them, this one comes closest to accomplishing that. Even with that god-awful cover. *gak*

Anyway, thanks for stopping by on this Seventeen Sentence Sunday. If you haven’t read Deep in the Woods, just click the book below to visit a page with a blurb and buy links. To all my readers: Thank you for your support.