If you’re an author who writes western romances and would like for us to PIMP your book on Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy, which occurs every Thursday, drop us a line with the information shown below including the cover at [email protected] and we’ll hook you up.
With that being said…our author on deck this week is Myla Lace’sBoots and Lace
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Western/Cowboys, BDSM/Kink, Menage a Trois
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Length: 109 pages
Summary:
She wants no strings…but he wants it all.
Ugly Stick Saloon, Book 4
After her philandering husband left her, Lacey Lambert found sanctuary, and a better class of friends, at the Ugly Stick Saloon. She learned that the best revenge—against her ex, and the “friends” who kicked her out of the Temptation Garden Club—is to live life to the fullest.
Now that her best friend is moving out of her apartment building, she’s feeling a little lonely. And more than ready for a little commitment-free sex with the hot new downstairs tenant.
Freshly divorced, Nick McBride isn’t looking for another failed relationship. But when the luscious brunette offers no-strings sex—with him and his brother—he can’t come up with a good reason to refuse.
After he gets over the shock that she likes it loud, long, and in front of an open window, he finds himself wanting more time with her. Maybe even on a permanent basis. But it’ll take every ounce of his cowboy charms to convince her to let him sweep her off her feet.
Product Warnings
Contains a motorcycle-ridin’ cowboy, a wild-and-free woman who doesn’t care what the town biddies think, and semi-public sex loud enough to set tongues a-waggin’!
The cowboy at the bar had captured Lacey Lambert’s attention from the beginning, with his dark good looks and an expression so somber it made her sad. He sat by himself, head down, staring into his mug of beer.
As Lacey waited tables in the busy Ugly Stick Saloon, her gaze wandered back to him more and more.
Fellow waitress Kendall Mason passed her carrying a tray full of whiskey shooters and beer. “Did you see him?” she whispered.
Lacey, on her way back to the bar with an empty tray, played dumb and asked, “See who?”
Kendall stopped long enough to throw a frown. “Seriously? The smokin’ hot cowboy at the bar. You can’t miss him.”
Lacey Lambert hadn’t missed him. In fact she could barely concentrate on her duties with the man sitting in the seat next to where she stopped to place her orders with Libby, the bartender. Every time she pulled up to the bar, her heartbeat fluttered and she forgot how to breathe.
All bad news as far as she was concerned. Flirting, having sex, playing around were all fine in her books, but getting involved? No way.
Lacey shrugged. “So, he’s cute.”
“Honey, he’s not cute, he’s…” Kendall fanned her face. “Va-va-va-voom!”
“Now, what would Ed think if he heard you talking like that?”
“He’d know I was only looking out for my best friend. He has nothing to worry about. I’m totally in love with my hunka-hunka-burnin’ love.”
Lacey shrugged. “So, the cowboy is easy on the eyes. He’s probably full of himself.” Her ex had been one of those. Easy to look at and easy with the women. Thus the “ex” part to the equation. “I’m not interested.”
“Such a shame. I bet he’s nice and nicer in bed.”
“Not many good-looking guys are nice. And most aren’t that great in bed.”
Kendall glared at Lacey. “Ed is. And Jackson and Luke and Mark from what Audrey and Libby say—”
Lacey raised her empty hand. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point. I don’t have time to flirt. I have an order to fill.”
“I’ll take your tables if you want to work on getting his number.”
A cowboy at one of the tables hollered, “Kendall! We gonna get those shooters sometime today?”
“Coming,” Kendall called out. To Lacey she said, “Think about it. You could use a man in your life.”
“They’re only good for one thing.”
“Sex?”
“Okay, two.” Lacey grinned. “Sex and taking out the trash.”
“You’re hopeless. What happened to the carefree, happy-go-lucky roommate I knew?”
“You moved out with a gorgeous cowboy.” Lacey sighed. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Same here.”
The customer yelled again. “Kendall!”
“Keep your pants on. I’m coming.” Kendall scooted away from Lacey.
Lacey sucked in her breath and proceeded to the bar.
A beautiful woman had planted herself in the seat beside the brooding cowboy. Her plain companion sat on the other side of her. In less than a minute, a man sashayed up to the prettier girl and asked her to dance.
She bounced out of her seat and led the way to the dance floor, the cowboy following.
Lacey’s dark cowboy glanced up briefly from his beer, his gaze going to the pretty girl’s not-as-pretty friend.
The woman sat facing the dancing, and heaved a sigh, a smile plastered to her face, her toe tapping to the beat of the music.
Lacey placed her order with Libby and made another pass through the saloon, delivering full glasses and collecting empties. When she returned to the bar, the pretty girl was just sitting down when another cowboy asked her to dance.
Off she went again, leaving her friend at the bar.
Lacey’s heart went out to the girl. She wasn’t exactly pretty, but she had a nice smile and just a few extra pounds.
All the while Lacey took and delivered orders, she watched the bar, the cowboy and the women beside him.
After the fourth time the skinny woman left her chunkier friend alone to dance with another cowboy, the dark-haired cowboy pushed back from the bar and stood, a frown creasing his forehead, the first change to his expression since Lacey had started watching the man.
He half-bowed, saying something to the sunny-faced big girl.
Her eyes lit up and she hopped off her barstool, lighter on her feet than Lacey would have thought.
The cowboy held out his arm, she took it, her smile widening as he led her to the dance floor. They took off in a lively two-step.
Lacey’s heart lightened for the girl, and then she frowned.
Damn. Kendall had been right. The brooding cowboy was nice. While all the other cowboys had passed the girl by, the dark-eyed one asked her to dance, giving her the thrill of her life.
When the song ended, the cowboy returned her to her seat and bowed over her hand, thanked her and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
The woman’s face flushed a pretty pink and she batted her eyes.
Double damn. Lacey had wanted to count him off as another pretty boy, all looks, no substance, and he’d proved her wrong.
Not long after, the women left and the man returned to his beer.
He’d been there for over an hour and Lacey hadn’t flirted with him once. Unusual for Lacey who’d shucked inhibitions when she’d filed for divorce. Still, the opportunity had passed and flirting now would be a little too late and awkward.
It being a weeknight, the saloon closed at midnight, patrons filtering out one by one until the only customer left was the cowboy at the bar. Lacey had let him sit there even after the saloon closed because he was handsome, he’d made a girl’s night and he looked as lonely as she felt. But the place was clean and the others would want to hit the road. No matter how good looking and nice, he had to leave.
Lacey sighed and leaned against the counter. “Sorry, cowboy, the bar is closed.”
He glanced up, his brown eyes so dark they looked black in the dim lighting. “I didn’t realize…” The man stood, settled his cowboy hat on his head and turned to leave.
“You can come back tomorrow,” Lacey offered. “It beats spending your evening alone…” she added beneath her breath.
His gaze captured hers and a smile quirked the corners of his lips. “Might just do that, and you’re right—it beats being alone.” The cowboy tipped his hat and left.
What was wrong with her tonight? Normally, Lacey would have flirted with the stranger and teased a smile out of him. But something had stopped her. Perhaps it was the way he’d kept to himself as if he wanted to be alone in a room full of people. More likely she’d steered clear because he was too good looking for his own good or hers. She had a hard time resisting a handsome face.
As her cowboy departed, Lacey sighed. So much for making it an interesting night. Instead of a one-night stand with a sexy hunk, she’d be going home to her empty apartment building.
“Place is clean enough. You ladies go home.” Audrey Anderson, owner of the Ugly Stick Saloon, stood on her tiptoes, shoved the last bottle of whiskey onto the glass shelf behind the bar and lifted her strawberry-blond hair off the back of her neck. “Holy cow. Could it get any hotter? I can’t wait to get home to a cool shower.”
“And a hot cowboy?” Lacey quipped.
Jackson Gray Wolf was one of the hottest Kiowa cowboys in the county, next to his twin brothers, Mark and Luke. Audrey had sampled all three and only hinted at how great they were, before she claimed the oldest, Jackson. “He is pretty hot, isn’t he?” Audrey grinned.
“Yeah.” Lacey sighed, her mind on the last cowboy to leave the bar.
Audrey had Jackson waiting for her at home. Kendall had Ed Judson. Libby had Mark and Luke Gray Wolf and Isabella had the O’Brien brothers. Which left Lacey where?
Alone.
Lacey straightened her shoulders. Alone was better than married to an ass, which her ex had been.
“You gonna be all right?” Kendall Mason slipped an arm around Lacey’s waist and squeezed. “I feel like I’m deserting you, leaving you all alone in the apartment building, and all.”
Lacey pasted a smile on her face and hugged her friend. “Just remember, if you and Ed ever need a third to keep the sex education lessons rolling, I’m your gal.” The offer was only superficial. Though she’d had sex with Kendall and Ed, she didn’t want to cause any strife between the pair. They were perfect for each other all on their own.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Kendall tugged the apron over her head and hung it on a hook. “I’m serious. You should stop by on your way home.”
“No, sweetie. I wouldn’t dream of horning in on your first night alone with Ed in your new house. Besides, Cory McBride is supposed to have moved into the apartment below mine today.” Lacey smoothed a hand over her hair. “I need to give him a proper welcome.”
“Lacey.” Kendall shook her head. “Just remember, he’s only twenty-one. A baby.”
“Like you?” Lacey’s lips quirked upward. “Old enough to be legal and young enough to have plenty of stamina. Besides, I’m only twenty-eight. Hardly a hag.”
“You’re by no means a hag. But don’t scare the poor boy. We need him here on Ladies’ Night. He draws a big crowd and he needs the tips to help pay for college. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him date any of the women who hang out at the bar. He might not be into girls.”
“Hot damn.” Lacey clapped her hands together and rubbed them. “A challenge.”
Kendall frowned. “I should have kept my mouth shut.”
“Don’t worry, Kendall, sweetheart. I won’t wear the boy out…much.” Lacey plumped her breasts and tugged up her cutoff jeans, showing a little more of her rounded derrière. “From the way the child dances, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a little more exercise. If he swings the other way, well then, no harm, no foul.”
“Lacey, you crack me up. When are you going to find a man and settle down?”
Lacey’s smile faded. “Honey, been there, done that, have scars to prove it. I’m thinking I might go for a woman next time. I have to admit, you were pretty damned tempting.”
Kendall blushed. “You know that if I wasn’t so into Ed, I’d be all over you.”
“Thanks, hon, but you’re the commitment type. You’d have me running screaming in the other direction. I’m all about having fun and no strings. You know me. Keep me hot and horny and the old biddies’ tongues a-waggin’ and I’m happy.” After the women of the Temptation Garden Club had snubbed her, she loved yanking their chains. Her chest still ached when she thought about how cruel they’d been to her when she’d been in the right to divorce her cheating ex-husband.
Kendall patted Lacey’s arm. “Someday you’ll have to get over what those old biddies did to you. They aren’t worth gettin’ your dander up over.”
“I know. It still galls me that they were supposed to be my friends.” Lacey sucked in a deep breath and pasted a smile on her face. “I’m fine now. Even better with the friends I’ve made at the Ugly Stick.”
“Well, the offer’s open if you wanna come over.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Lacey’s eyes misted.
“What happened with the cute cowboy at the bar?” Kendall waggled her brows. “With a little encouragement, he might have escorted you home.”
“I didn’t have time to flirt.”
“Ha! You always flirt.” Kendall crossed her arms.
Lacey shrugged. “He had a do not disturb sign written across his forehead.”
“That never stopped you.” Kendall’s eyes narrowed. “You really aren’t on your game.”
“Go home.” Lacey waved her hands at her friend. “Ed’s bound to be naked waiting at the door for you.”
Kendall grinned. “Yeah, he did that our last night in the apartment. God, he was cute. Guess I’d better get home before some ho bag finds him first.” She hugged Lacey and sprinted out the back.
Lacey left before Audrey could corner her and give her the third degree about why she’d walked around all night down-in-the mouth and glum. Kendall and Ed’s move from the apartment house to their new home had her in a funk so blue she couldn’t seem to climb out. The empty apartment house reminded her of how alone she really was in Temptation, Texas.
Her foot barely tapped the gas as she crept home to the empty house. Not until she pulled into the drive and parked next to Cory’s convertible did she remember that she wouldn’t be alone, if the new neighbor was still awake. And if the light burning in the window downstairs and the jumble of empty boxes stacked on the front porch were any indication, Cory was still up. If she hurried she could pop a frozen pizza in the microwave and be back down before he called it a night.
Cory was a little young for her, but any company tonight was better than going back to her apartment and being alone. Later, she’d break out her vibrator and satisfy that itch that had been growing since she’d let the hot cowboy at the bar go without coming on to him.
If you’re a GLBT author and would like for us to PIMP your book on Man-Love-Day which occurs every Wednesday, drop us a line with the information shown below including the cover at [email protected] and we’ll hook you up.
With that being said…our author on deck this week is Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton’sFamily Man
How does a man get to be forty without knowing whether he’s gay? That’s a question Vince Fierro is almost afraid to answer. If he is gay, it’ll be a problem for his big, fat Italian family. Still, after three failed marriages, he can’t help but wonder if he’s been playing for the wrong team.
There’s only one way to settle it, once and for all—head for Chicago’s Boystown bars, far from anyone who knows him. Naturally, he runs smack into someone from the neighborhood.
Between working two jobs, going to school, taking care of his grandmother, and dealing with his mother’s ongoing substance abuse, Trey Giles has little time for fun, let alone dating someone who swears he’s straight. Yet after one night of dancing cheek-to-cheek to the sultry strains of Coltrane, Trey finds himself wanting to help Vinnie figure things out—no promises, and no sex.
It seems like a simple plan, until their “no-sex” night turns into the best date of their lives and forges a connection that complicates everything.
Product Warnings
This book deals with alcoholism, broken promises, and overbearing little sisters.
The truth about Vincent Fierro’s sexual orientation came to him as he lay underneath a client’s sink, de-clogging onion skins from a busted garbage disposal in a two-bedroom condo on Aldine. I wonder, he mused, if maybe I’m gay.
The thought made him jerk his head back against the sink trap hard enough to give him a goose egg, and he swore under his breath as he tried to push the alarming idea away and focus on the job at hand. Though the job was tedious, it was uncomplicated, and no sooner had he dismissed the dark little thought it was back again.
It was stupid. Vince knew he wasn’t gay.
He blamed the onion fumes and his rumbling stomach, imagining them tangling with the knowledge he hadn’t had a date in a month and hadn’t been laid since Cara Paglia had taken him home to cheer him up after his last divorce, which had been in October. It had been too long since he’d given the old boy a ride, so long that answering a call for a gay married couple made him think for one idiot second that maybe that was his problem, why he had broken his mama’s heart with divorce number three. That maybe his problem was that he was looking in the wrong pasture.
Vince rolled his eyes at himself and pulled out more onion goop. It was middle age, that’s what it was. It was his sister-in-law the beautician suggesting at dinner the night before that he let her start coloring and highlighting his hair now while the gray was just barely noticeable. It was realizing a couple days a week at the gym and walking from Emilio’s to his brother’s house every other Sunday wasn’t enough to keep his three-year-old niece from asking if she could rest her head on his “nice squishy tummy” while they watched Tangled for the fiftieth time. It was finding out kids born the year he graduated high school were now legal to drink. It was his latest ex-wife leaving him for a twenty-eight-year-old.
It was not because he was gay. Because Vince wasn’t gay. You didn’t marry three women and sleep with how many others and then decide—with your head under a sink and your eyes stinging of onion—that since you were thirty-eight and single you must be gay. Sex with another man wasn’t just some random idea to try on when you’d gone through everything else.
Of course the little devil in the back of his mind had to whisper, It isn’t exactly a random idea, now, is it, Vinnie?
Clearing his throat and mentally drop-kicking the devil back to the rock he lived under, Vince pulled the last of the onion muck out of the housing, wiped his hands on a towel and aimed his flashlight at the naked unit. His brain was blissfully occupied now with assessing rings and seals, and he grimaced as he saw both the blade and the hopper would need to be replaced. Given the unit itself was almost old enough to drink, they’d be better off getting a new one. Pushing himself out from inside the cupboard, Vince adjusted his T-shirt and followed the sound of voices down the hall to give his clients the news. He stopped outside the closed door to the home office, however, caught up in the hushed tones of their conversation.
“—feel so stupid. Why do onion skins clog a sink? Isn’t that what a garbage disposal is for?”
“It doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s just old. Maybe the new ones can take it no problem. Don’t beat yourself up, sweetheart.”
“We don’t have the money for this, Kyle. Not with me laid off. God, but I wish—” The speaker broke off, and Vince thought he caught a muffled sigh.
“Shh. Hush. It’s going to be all right. You’re going to get another job. And if we don’t replace the disposal right away, then we’ll just do without for a little while.”
“That’s all we’re doing, living without. And it’s all my fault—”
The first man was quite clearly near tears, but Kyle only got calmer and gentler the more upset his partner became. “It is not your fault. It’s the slimy sub-prime mortgagers and those assholes who made trading their s**t a game who started this.”
“I should never have switched jobs. Never. If I’d stayed at First Union, I’d have seniority, and I’d still have a job.”
“Bill, stop. You’re making yourself crazy over a clogged sink.”
“That’s what I feel like! A clogged man.” Vince heard the speaker choke back a sob before adding in an angry whisper, “I don’t know what the f**k you still see in me. I wouldn’t even blame you if you went off with some hot young thing with healthy self-esteem, a full head of hair and a job.”
“If he had good health-insurance benefits and a low-mileage vehicle, I might be tempted.” On the other side of the door, Vince imagined Kyle lifting the other man’s chin and staring him in the face as he spoke. “Honey, I know this is rough. And I know damn well I’d be the same kind of wreck if it’d been me laid off for eighteen months. But you have to stop beating yourself up. You didn’t break the garbage disposal. It just broke. You didn’t make a bad move on your job. You just got screwed. And I don’t care if you lose every hair on your head and gain twenty pounds. I love you, I married you, and you’re going to have to work a lot harder than this to get rid of me.”
No more sounds came from the room into the hallway except the occasional soft smack of lips parting and reuniting at a new angle. Vincent slipped quietly back to the kitchen, where he leaned on the wall next to the fridge and shut his eyes against the strange ache inside him.
That. He wanted that. Even as he reassured himself that was just a healthy relationship he’d heard, not a magical gay relationship, he couldn’t stop the deeper, more aching whisper from rising up inside him. I want a man to treat me like that.
Pushing the thought away in a panic, he headed back down the hallway, louder this time, clearing his throat and rapping smartly on the wood. The taller blond man opened it, moving to shield his partner from view as he blew his nose noisily into a tissue. “Finished already?”
Vince cleared his throat a second time. “Here’s the deal. It’s an old unit. I’m not gonna lie. A good chunk of the guts are dull or near to useless. The clog didn’t help much, but all it did was point out trouble that was already there.”
The man grimaced. “I see. So we need a new unit.”
“Well, that’s the thing.” Vince rubbed the back of his neck. “It’d be best, yeah. But if you wanted, you could limp this along a bit longer, if you were careful. I can jimmy the blade a bit, buy you time. It’d mean you’d be putting a lot of junk you’d normally send down the disposal into the trash instead until you replaced it. No onion skins. No potato peels or carrot shreds. But soggy cereal, pasta—anything that isn’t stringy or sticky or hard—would be okay in small batches and with a lot of water. Give it extra time to chop, ’cause it’ll need it. And in the meantime, you can save up for what you want. Do some research on how powerful you want it and then watch for a sale. I’ll leave some names for brands to watch for and ones to avoid. When you get what you want, give us a call and we’ll install it.”
The blond man didn’t answer right away, meeting Vince’s gaze instead as he took it all in. A silent conversation seemed to follow.
Heard us, did you?
Yep. Just trying to help. Know what it’s like.
And you don’t mind that we’re gay, big burly Italian boy like you?
Vince shrugged and averted his eyes.
“Thank you,” the man said. “I believe we’ll take your advice and limp along until we can save up. That was very thoughtful of you to suggest such a plan.”
“Not a problem.” Vince jerked his head toward the kitchen. “I’ll clean up and do a quick job on the blade. You want to put a cake pan or something under it for tonight. It shouldn’t leak, but if it does, that means you start shopping right now.”
“I will,” the man promised.
Vince felt good about himself for helping people in a tight spot, trying not to think of all the crazy s**t he kept trying to think of instead. He was doing really well all the way up until he was scribbling brand names on the back of a business card and the blond man came into the kitchen holding out an envelope. “I want you to have these. They’re vouchers for tickets to a theater I manage down on Broadway.”
Vince held up a hand in protest. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I do.” The man smiled. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I know you heard us talking about money. And I also know you haven’t so much as batted an eye at the fact that we’re gay men.”
“Well, we are in Lakeview,” Vince said, voice heavy with meaning, and hoped he didn’t have to finish the rest of that sentence.
“You’d be surprised.” He thrust the tickets at Vince again. “Please. They’re good anytime from now until the rest of the year. Consider them a token of my sincere appreciation. And stop by the office if you use them. I’ll make sure you get good seats and complimentary drinks for the night.”
Not knowing what else to do, Vince took the envelope with a gruff nod.
The man caught his hand and squeezed it gently. “I hope someday someone gives you the kind of lift you gave me and my husband tonight. And be sure of it, I’ll be using Parino Brothers Plumbing from now on.”
Vince escaped shortly after that, leaving his card and a bill and accepting a check and two enthusiastic handshakes before heading back to the van. The strange flush of emotions and potential self-discoveries went back to the shop with him, and they followed him home as well, lingering through his solitary meal, a soak in the tub and all the way through two glasses of brandy.
If you’re an author who writes western romances and would like for us to PIMP your book on Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy, which occurs every Thursday, drop us a line with the information shown below including the cover at [email protected] and we’ll hook you up.
With that being said…our author on deck this week is Lorelei James’ Short Rides
Short Rides is an anthology compilation of two novellas and one short story in the Rough Riders world. These are NOT meant to be read as standalone stories, but are a peek into favorite character’s lives after the happily ever after…
The stories included in the Short Rides anthology are:
King of Hearts* – Deputy Cam McKay deals with a murder/suicide case on Valentine’s Day.
Rough Road – Chassie, Trevor and Edgard Glanzer spend a romantic weekend away from the ranch and kids celebrating their anniversary…only to return home to face their biggest challenge yet.
All Knocked Up – Keely and Jack Donohue are having a baby. Given Keely’s raging pregnancy hormones, will Jack need to wear a cup in the delivery room?
*previously published in the Guns and Roses anthology in 2012
The Naked Countess by Rachel E. Rice
Series: Seduction, Book Two
Publisher: Millennium Books
Genre: Historical, Erotic Romance, BDSM
Length: 107 pages
Summary:
“With the mouth, confession is made into salvation…” ~ Romans 10:10.
Elizabeth, a beautiful low-born girl of seventeen marries the Earl of Castlehaven, Edward McHugh, in Ireland in 1790. He hides a terrible secret from Elizabeth and proceeds to rid himself of the love of her life, Colum O’Neal by imprisoning him, thus informing Elizabeth that Colum has left for a life in England, her family has gone to the Americas, and she has no one but him.
A defiant Elizabeth is sent to Edward’s mother in London, where she discovers that his mother is ill and she has made arrangements for her nephew, Alexander, to take over her duties. Alexander is enthralled with Elizabeth and has no intentions of sending her back to Edward. Will Colum reach Elizabeth in time to save her from a desperate Edward and a deliberate Alexander?
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Arrogance settled into Edward’s thoughts. The arrogance of food, land, and money as others struggled, starved, and died. He continued with his nightly pleasurable routine with Beth as Elizabeth escaped his castle with Colum. If he had known of Colum’s intentions, he would have sent Elizabeth to London with his mother. Yet he mistakenly bathed in his beliefs that he had an insight into Colum’s mind. Colum steeped in tradition and wary of criticism by the upper class would never consider the low born Elizabeth as his bride and his lady.
His arrogance muffled Elizabeth’s steps as she crept out of her room, down the stairs, and out of Castlehaven to meet Colum O’Neal, the Earl of Tyrone. Edward’s arrogance couched him in Beth’s arms on the night he should have been sleeping with and comforting Elizabeth.
Edward consumed with desire and the need for sexual experiences, learned during his stay in France, there exist an alternative to the traditional ways of pleasing a woman as well as himself. The path he chose although dark proved satisfying. What choice did he have, he thought?
Some whispered about the cruelty of the last Earl in Ireland, not of the passionate handsome man with a heart. He had youth and he had needs. His needs overwhelmed him and he found himself in his dungeon of hell. Beth understood. When he tried to explain to Elizabeth that he had been wounded in the war, she was inconsolable and he thought her tears were of pity.
With Beth, it was different because she was his first love. It was Beth who helped him explore the only thing available that would give him sexual release as a young man who had no manhood.
Edward bent his strong, powerful, weak body forward, sprawled on all fours, and naked on a wool and silk red Venetian rug with Beth standing clad in a black leather corset brought from his stay in Paris. She leaned over Edward with a whip and a cat-o-nine tail lashing his pale buttocks with a wicked recessed smile, trailing the leather strap up his upper torso teasing his flesh until chills peeped through his skin. Then back again. Suddenly she gave him a violent “whack.” He trembled with sadistic pleasure.
With Beth completing this first round of abuse, Edward stood and walked to a wooden X with leather cuffs attached at the top and bottom. She fastened his wrist, first the left, she pranced around to his right wrist and tied it as he hung facing the wall. She stooped down to strap his ankles in place. Turning his head to get a quick glance, Edward swallowed hard from pleasure and excitement.
Beth knew the ritual. She moved to a large chimney to heat the cat-o-nine tail with coals until it was red hot. Suddenly she hit him with all her power. Her wrist shook, her hands trembled, her smile quickened. She peeped at Edward. His face smooth, his eyes bright full of life. His back and buttocks bruised and burnt. A low moan came from deep in his chest. “Oh, oh, oh.” His eyes closed, his mouth wide, his tongue circling his dry lips.
Close Encounters With The Night Kind, Read Between the Lines, Danica Avet, and a few of her crazy hotties from the Cabal of Hotness have come together to provide you with some BIG…FUN…LOL!
If the title doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what does.
The Big Cocks and Shamrocks Giveaway Hop will run from March 17th to the 24th.
So, come join in the fun with these wild and crazy ladies while entering a chance at not only a Grand Prize of goodies, but other goodies from participating bloggers like myself.
Are you ready to see what the GRAND PRIZE includes?
A Basket Full of Naughty from Cabal of Hotness:
Tickler/Flogger (one on each end)
Penis-shaped sour candies
Flask that reads “girls with class don’t need glass”
Author: Shanora Williams
On sale date: March 16, 2013
Category: Contemporary, Erotic Romance
Summary:
Natalie Carmichael thought that Bryson Daniels would be her world. She planned a bright future with him, cherished four years with him, and couldn’t have been any happier, but during graduation night, all of that changes.
Natalie walks in on Bryson cheating on her. One month after catching him in the act, she finally decides to make an escape by leaving for Florida.
She wants to start over, have fun, and be free while also finding a way to mend her broken heart but when she meets Nolan Young, her single-life escapade doesn’t last for very long. She tries to stay clear of Nolan and his desires but it’s impossible for her. Nolan will do everything that he can to have her as his own, but will Natalie accept Nolan along with the problems of his past? Will she let someone else into her heart that may be even worse than Bryson?
For Natalie, Nolan will be something completely new to her. And for them both, their desires will be completely hard to resist.
Teaser:
“Nolan?”
He pulls back, jerking his hands out of my shorts while looking into my eyes. “Yeah?”
“I don’t think tonight is really a good night for sex.”
He bites back on a smile before nodding his head. “That’s cool with me, babe.”
“You aren’t mad about it or anything, are you?” I ask, in hope that he isn’t. I don’t want it to seem like I’ve just turned him down.
“Bunny,” he breathes, pressing his hardness against me. I choke on my next breath as the rock in his pants makes the sweet spot between my legs tighten pleasurably. “I’m gonna have blue balls, yeah, but that doesn’t mean that I’m mad. I respect what you want. If you don’t want sex tonight, we won’t have sex tonight. Although, I was hoping for a good fuck against this tree.”
My mouth gapes as his eyebrows shoot up. “Right here?” I screech. “People could walk by and see!”
“I don’t mind.”
“You do know that sex in public is illegal, right?”
He chuckles and reveals all of his teeth. “It would have been worth it to break the law.”
Will Montgomery is a successful professional football player and seemingly has it all. He’s not used to being told no, and certainly doesn’t take no for an answer. So when he turns his charms on his sister’s sexy rocker-chick friend Meg, he’s not only turned down, but met with open hostility, piquing his curiosity and libido. He’s determined to show her that he’s not the arrogant jock she thinks he is, and to get her into his bed.
Megan McBride is not impressed with Will Montgomery, his fat contract, fancy car, or his arrogant public persona. She doesn’t have time for a relationship, and if she’s learned anything in life, it’s that loving means losing, so she guards her heart ferociously. But she can’t deny the overwhelming attraction to the sexy, tattooed athlete, and when Will starts breaking down her defenses and grabs hold of her heart, will she be able to admit her feelings for him, or will her troubled past cause her to lose the first man she’s ever truly loved?
Play With Me is the third book in the With Me In Seattle Series.
This is a brand new meme for those all to boring Monday’s. Book Blind Date is inspired by a Facebook post Adria from Adria’s Romance Reviews and Book Whore saw on Lawrence Public Library Page about a book blind date. This really got them thinking, what if the only thing you new about a book was what the story was about? No character names, no pretty covers to suck you in.
Here’s how it works, you know the old saying “never judge a book by its cover”? Well you won’t be able to, for this meme you are going to decide which book you would go on a “date” with based on the synopsis. Names have been removed just in case you have heard about these telltale heroines/heroes.
Book Blind Date #1
Sometimes it’s not just the tide that rises…
In the two years since her divorce was finalized, J***** life has become one long, boring routine. Work, home, repeat. She has her hands full as a single parent, and while she’s not looking for a serious relationship, she sure wouldn’t mind getting laid.
When her friend Z**** challenges her to make a New Year’s resolution for a second chance at happiness, J***** goes one better and creates the “Howl List”. Every full moon, she will indulge in a different sexual fantasy. Right at the top? Sex without strings.
Fate leads her to the Blue Moon bar in January. After all, what better place to howl? And when she meets J*****, the sexy bartender, and engages in some red-hot sex with a stranger, her year seems to be off to a great start.
At least, until J****** declares he wants all her full moons…
Warning: This is NOT the shifter story you are looking for. While the heroine howls during the full moon, she does it in naked, human form only. Sorry—no wolves, but there is a really sexy bartender and lots of red-hot fantasies.
Book Blind Date #2
J****** is too busy and content with her life to worry about a man, especially one N*******. If growing up with four brothers has taught her anything, she knows to stay away from sexy men with tattoos and motorcycles. That goes double if he’s your boss. During the one incredible night they shared, he violated the no fraternization policy…among other things, and it won’t happen again. J***** won’t risk her career for mind-blowing sex, no matter how much her body and her damn heart keep arguing with her.
N****** could give a shit about the no fraternizing policy. He wants J**** and he’ll have her. The rules could bend around them, or be damned. He’s not a man to be taken lightly, and J******* is about to find out just how he responds to being pushed aside after the best night of sex he’s ever had. She can fight all she wants, but he’ll have her in his bed in the end.
I thought that we’d make this a little more interesting. So, for your participation, one (1) lucky winner will receive an electronic copy of Book Blind Date #2. You must be honest with your answer and don’t choose Book #2 unless you really mean it. I’m not trying to persuade you either way, I just think that everyone needs a treat on Monday.
If you’re an author who writes BDSM or any book with a little KINK and would like for us to PIMP your book on Friday Night Special: Martinis & Cuffs, which occurs every Friday night @ 6:00 PM (CST), drop us a line with the information shown below including the cover and a hot excerpt if possible at [email protected] and we’ll hook you up.
With that being said…our author on deck this week is Sierra Cartwright’sWith This Collar
Title: With This Collar
Series: Mastered, Book One
Author: Sierra Cartwright
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing
Length: 174 pages
Summary:
Book one in the Mastered Series
If you enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by E.L James, or Bared to You by Sylvia Day, then this book might just be for you! Make this one of your top romance novels of the year!
Julia Lyle will have nothing to do with domineering men, no matter how tall, dark, and sexy. But Dom Marcus Cavendish will be satisfied with nothing less than collaring the fiercely independent Julia.
Nothing could have shocked her more…
Julia Lyle is invited to her best friend’s wedding and is stunned when Lana kneels to accept her husband’s collar. When Julia starts to object, firm, relentless hands land on her shoulders. The man behind her threatens to turn her over his knee if she interrupts. She’s outraged, but there’s no doubt he’s serious.
After the ceremony, he offers her a glimpse into her friend’s lifestyle, if she’s brave enough to accept.
Master Marcus Cavendish is everything she doesn’t want in a man—dominant, self-assured and arrogant. So why can’t she resist him?
Telling herself that learning about the lifestyle will make her a better friend, Julia agrees to submit to Master Marcus, but only for the evening. Firm and unrelenting in his handling of her, he introduces her to his tawse and the pleasure/pain of a spanking delivered by a competent Dom. The experience unnerves her, making her question everything she thought she knew about relationships, and his forced orgasms leave her shattered.
No doubt the scene seduced her, and that makes her doubly determined to avoid him. She has fought hard for her freedom and vowed only to date nice men, and Master Marcus is anything but safe.
Marcus is undeterred. Julia is a natural sub. The way she responded to his touch, his voice, his punishment proved it. Now he has to convince her to yield to him, submitting to his tawse as she kneels to accept his collar.
“And now, friends, Lana will offer her submission to her new husband,” Damien Lowell said.
Julia scowled. Submission?
Lana and Julia had chatted on the phone earlier in the week to discuss the final wedding plans. Lana had warned that the union would be a bit untraditional. She’d been vague about the details, but she’d made Julia promise to say nothing during the ceremony.
They’d been friends since they were ten, and there was no way Julia would miss the festivities, even if they were a bit odd.
Until now, everything had been what she’d expected.
Lana and Ben were being married at their friend Damien’s mountain home. Damien was also performing the ceremony.
About two dozen of the couple’s closest friends had gathered in the great room and, at dusk, Lana had descended the stairs of Damien’s picturesque home, carrying a single, beautiful, white rose to match her full-length gown.
The only gift requested had been a candle. In a romantic gesture, the pair had said they wanted all their friends to light their way into their future.
As Ben and Lana had joined hands and faced Damien, fat snowflakes had fallen from the cloudy sky. The vows had included the word obey, which was somewhat unusual among their circle of friends. But everything else had been normal. Lana had placed her rose on the mantel behind Damien before she and Ben had exchanged rings.
“Lana?” Damien prompted.
“Yes, Sir,” Lana said.
‘Sir’? Until tonight, Julia hadn’t met Damien. She knew he was a friend of the groom’s, and he was drop-dead, movie star handsome. The man had rakishly long, dark hair that curled at his nape, and he wore an indefinable air of command as easily as he filled out his charcoal grey suit. But still, for her friend to call him ‘Sir’…?
Lana cast her gaze at the floor and gracefully turned her back to her new husband.
Ben undid the row of tiny buttons that held her gown closed.
What the hell?
Ben drew the material from Lana’s shoulders and let the dress fall to the floor.
Lana, wearing stacked heels, a merry widow and stockings, stepped out of the dress, and another man scooped it up and laid it across a chair.
Like Damien, this man was also ridiculously tall. That was where the resemblance ended. This man had an olive complexion that hinted at a Mediterranean background. His head was shaved. He wore black jeans and a black T-shirt that revealed a number of tattoos. A thick, knotted silver bracelet adorned his left wrist, and a silver stud pierced his right earlobe. He could have been a pirate in a former life.
Suddenly unconventional took on a whole new meaning. Julia had never been more distressed. Part of her wanted to make an escape, and a bigger part of her wanted to shake some sense into her friend. But she was riveted in place by her promise to remain silent.
With a grace that spoke of practice, Lana knelt.
Jesus. All through college, they’d each vowed to keep their independence. They’d pushed against the glass ceiling, and they’d fought for their positions in corporate America. And now her friend was kneeling in front of her husband, almost naked, for their guests to see?
Julia wondered if she was the only one who was frozen in shock.
Lana spread her legs a bit farther apart, and she leant forward to kiss one of Ben’s shoes.
Julia gasped.
From the front of the room, Damien looked over his shoulder at her, his eyebrows raised.
Firm, relentless hands landed on her shoulders. Her heart rate increased with her panic.
“Be quiet,” a man whispered harshly into her ear.
“I—”
“I said be quiet.”
She gritted her teeth. The man’s tone was commanding.
He pulled her back a bit, and she inhaled the unmistakable—and sexy—scent of leather.
In that same rich and rough, for-her-ears-only voice, he added, “Or else I’ll haul your sweet ass out of here and turn you over my knee.”
For the first time in her life, she was rendered speechless.
“Lana’s doing this of her own choice,” he continued.
She struggled against his grip, but he dug his fingers deeper into her flesh.
“Surely she told you to expect some unconventional things.”
If you’re an author who writes western romances and would like for us to PIMP your book on Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy, which occurs every Thursday, drop us a line with the information shown below including the cover at [email protected] and we’ll hook you up.
With that being said…our author on deck this week is Delilah Devlin’s In Too Deep
Some things never change. And some things change everything.
The TripleHorn Brand, Book 2
Gabe Triplehorn can think of no better getaway from his heavy responsibilities at the ranch, than to go back to a time and place where he didn’t have a care in the world. When there was just a campground, a river and a girl.
When he gets to Red Hawk Landing, the campground and the river are still there. He just never expected the girl would still be there too. Only now she runs the place.
Lena Twohig can think of no better place to raise her young son than the family-owned campground that holds so many memories. Especially the romance with Gabe that lit up one long-ago summer like a wild electrical storm. Now he’s back, with a ranch-hardened body she knows she shouldn’t want so badly.
No amount of lies or the years that have passed can tame this tidal wave of passion.
Product Warnings
Contains a flash flood of passion between a cowboy who knows how to pitch a tent and a woman who isn’t afraid to get a little dirty.
Excerpt:
Gabe had spent the two weeks in cutoff jeans and barefoot. And he’d taken a shine to the old man’s granddaughter, Lena.
She’d come to spend the summer away from the city. She made breakfast every morning for the guests and then lent a hand with the chores, working side by side with Gabe.
Even though she was a couple of years older than he was, she’d been shy at first. Maybe she’d felt those two years placed him in the do-not-flirt-with zone, but he’d been persistent. Then one late afternoon, a couple of days before his dad and Colt had shown up to take him home, he and Lena Twohig had shed their clothes for a dip in the stream. For one sparkling afternoon, he hadn’t just been romanticizing about being in love. He’d sunk his toes in the mud and pebbles and fallen hard for a woman who’d taught him what real passion meant.
So what the hell was he doing now, heading back there? It was doubtful the old man was still alive. Even more so that the woman would still be there. She’d had plans for college, another life to begin in Dallas. But still, when he’d spoken to Zuri, his first instinct had been to go back there. The light, expectant glow that had sustained him for most of the trip began to fade.
At a bend in the road, he saw the sign nearly hidden by bushes because it tilted at an angle. Red Hawk Landing. Open Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The crackled, worn paint on the leaning sign didn’t bode well, but he took the turn anyway, his truck bumping along an uneven gravel trail that worked its way down a steep decline, heading toward the river’s edge.
When he made the clearing, he heaved a sigh of relief. The place was still in operation. Kids in cutoffs and swimming suits took running dives from the pier. Cars and pickups were parked in front of roughhewn wooden cabins.
He hoped like hell there was still one vacancy left for him and pulled up in front of the small lodge house. The place was clean but showing its age. Looked like the owner needed another handy man to help with a broken spoke or two in the wraparound porch and a window frame that appeared to be rotting away.
He put his truck in park and pushed down on the handle to open the door, but halted the moment she stepped onto the porch.
Lena Twohig. Sweet Jesus.
His breath caught, nostalgia blurring her appearance in a golden light that masked the years etched lightly into her features.
Sure, her figure was a tad fuller, her roots darker, but the feeling he got just looking at her as she lifted a hand to guard her eyes against the brilliant sunshine was exactly the same as it had been all those years ago.
A slow throbbing built in his groin. His body stiffened, going on alert. His gaze swept her womanly frame again, snagging on the generous swell of her bosom, the long, well-toned legs displayed beneath the hem of her shorts. Ten years had been kind indeed.
Then something glinted on one of the fingers cupping her eyes. A flash of white metal.
He remembered a slender band he’d given her. His last gift. A promise he’d never fulfilled. The desire he’d allowed to build while he’d ogled her began to slowly unwind. Lead settled in his stomach.
Lena was strictly on the look-but-don’t-touch list. What a cryin’ damn shame.
And how awkward. He considered backing out of the lot and heading to the coast to Corpus Christi or Galveston, but he couldn’t work up the interest.
Would she even remember him? He wasn’t the same tall, lanky kid with shaggy hair, all elbows and knees and horny, burning need.
His hair was darker, cut short. His face was tanned and toughened by the sun, the blades of his cheeks more pronounced, the corners of his jaw sharper. His body was filled out by years of physical labor.
His hand let go of the keys, and he felt a smile tug at his lips. So maybe he couldn’t hope for a lusty trip down memory lane, but how much fun would it be to pretend he’d never met her, never been here before? While never touching, he could tease and flirt using his intimate knowledge of her, and she’d never realize he knew exactly what he was doing.
And the mister? Well, he’d keep the games well away from him. He didn’t want to stir up trouble. Just wanted to have a little fun—a challenge that didn’t have a thing to do with cattle or balancing the ranch’s books.
He reached for the cowboy hat on the seat beside him, pushed open the door to his truck and stepped down to the ground. Once there, he put on his hat and strode toward the porch steps.
Her gaze swung his way, swept him briefly head to toe. She pasted on a smile of welcome, although he noted caution dug a line between her brows.
“Howdy, ma’am,” he said, touching the brim of his hat.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
Her voice was huskier than he remembered but still had a lilting quality that caressed his nerve endings. Damn shame she was taken. He’d like nothing better than to hear that voice greeting him in the morning from the pillow next to his.
The throbbing that had begun at his first glimpse of her tall, statuesque figure intensified. Inconveniently, because he couldn’t think past the urgency in his loins. He cleared his throat. “I was hoping you had a vacancy. One of the cabins.”
“I’m sorry. We’re booked up.” She gave him a polite smile. “All I have are a couple of rooms in the lodge.”
She’s hoping I’ll pass. He returned her smile with a grin that stretched slowly across his face. “That’ll be fine then.”
“We aren’t fancy,” she said, eyeing his Lucchese boots. “I do provide meals in the dining room, but we don’t have a lot of amenities. Most folks come on weekends to float the river. The cabins have added features, their own barbeque pits and small fridges, but you’d have to take your meals in the dining room, and you’d have to share a bathroom.”
Gabe gave her an easy smile. “I just came to fish. Do you have poles to rent?”
She raised her brows a little bit. “Of course. And we can provide bait, worms and crickets. The gift shop has some fancy lures.”
“I’m hopin’ I don’t actually catch much.” He gave her a brief smile. “Fishin’s man code for bein’ lazy.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed.
Had it been his smile?
“Well, you can register inside,” she said, pointing toward the door behind her. “Kayla’s at the desk. She’ll get you settled.” She cleared her throat. “How long do you plan to stay?”
“A couple of weeks, ma’am.” He looked around the clearing and then swept her body with a quick glance. “That ought to be long enough.”
He could see the questions in her eyes. And a hint of anxiety.
He hadn’t meant to make her worry and wondered at its cause—unless she was feeling the same lazy heat that was burning through him.
Damn inconvenient she was married, because he’d have loved to entice her into his bed. Gabe wasn’t the least shy about going after what he wanted, and he wanted her. At least to see whether she was still as hot-blooded and adventurous as she’d been all those years ago when he’d been a boy not yet sure of himself, and she’d been a girl ready to take on the role of sexual tutor.
Again, he touched the brim of his hat and walked toward the door. He fought the urge to glance back and see if she was still watching him.
Best not take this little game too far. The last thing he wanted was to walk into the end of a shotgun held by a jealous husband. That had happened to him once, and he’d been damn sure ever since that any woman he pursued was completely free.
He stepped through the lodge’s door and pulled the scents of Pine-Sol and lemon oil into his nose. Neither could quite mask the lingering floral scent of her perfume. He shook his head, wondering why he’d insisted on staying. There was nothing for him here. He’d have been better off heading straight back to the ranch, but then he suspected he’d just be surlier than ever since his expectations hadn’t been met.
Still, for a moment when he’d first seen her, he’d felt something inside him relax. At the very least, if he stayed he could satisfy his curiosity about her life. And maybe he could finally let go.
The Naked Countess by Rachel E. Rice
