Research Required

I’m very excited about my newest cover. Research Required will be available from http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8228-50-research-required.aspx on March 19th! Woo Hoo!

Blurb:

Ethan’s on the run from the mob. He’s in for a surprise when he knocks on the door of his sister’s neighbor. The last thing he needs is a distraction like Bailey. She’s sexy and sassy and dressed in skimpy shorts. He wants to take her where she stands.

Sex with a stranger? Bailey would never think of it. Ethan’s no stranger though. He’s her friend Jenna’s brother, so that makes him a friend too, right? Sex in the kitchen, sex in the bedroom, sex on the couch, it doesn’t matter. Bailey can’t get enough of this hot-blooded stranger.

Will Ethan’s past catch up to him and ruin any hopes for their future?

Excerpt:

“What’s your name?” she demanded.

“Ethan.” He smiled revealing dimples.

Bailey melted under his intense smile.

“I’m sorry, Ethan. I don’t know who you are or what your business with Jenna is, but I’m not going to give out any information about her to some stranger. For all I know you could be some rapist or something.” In fact hadn’t she just read somewhere there was a guy going around posing as a cable guy raping innocent woman. Fear knotted in the pit of her stomach. “I have to go.”

She kicked his foot, hoping he’d move it, but it didn’t budge.

“I’m Jenna’s brother. I’m not going to rape anyone.” He reached behind him and Bailey screamed.

“Whoa! What are you screaming for?” He pulled out his wallet.

“I thought you— I…” What could she say? She thought he might be reaching for a gun or a knife to hurt her with?

“Look,” he said, removing his driver’s license.

It read his name. Ethan King. Same last name as Jenna.

“Okay so you aren’t a murderer, but if Jenna was expecting you why didn’t she leave you a key or something?”

“I don’t know. I’m worried because it’s not like her to be late.”

“Ha! You don’t know your sister too well.”


“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Jenna will be late to her own funeral. She can’t seem to arrive on time for anything.”

“Are we still talking about the same Jenna? Because my sister has been punctual since the day she was born. Our mother jokes about how she even came on her due date and not a minute late.”

Bailey couldn’t help but laugh. He was funny and cute and oh-so-sexy.

Just then Kyle decided to make his arrival.

“Got your pizza, Bailey. Sausage and peppers on one side, pepperoni on the other.”

She could see Ethan looking at her quizzically.

“What? I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I ordered both.”

“Options. I love options.”

That twinkle in his eye didn’t go undetected. He was flirting with her.

“Thanks Kyle.” She handed him the twenty. “Keep the change.”

“Enjoy the pizza.” He bounced away happy with his tip.

“I’m going to eat my pizza before it gets cold. So if you’ll excuse me.”

“Look, before you go. I’ve traveled twenty-three hours in my cramped little car to get here. I’ve been outside Jenna’s door for another hour and I could use a soft chair to sit on.” His stomach growled.

She was under a tight deadline. She didn’t have time to make small talk with this stranger or share pizza. She had to dive back into her article while she ate. Then a thought hit her.

“I’ll feed you if you’ll answer a few questions for me. I’m working on an article for women. What men find appealing and what they don’t like.”

“I’m your go-to guy. I have a lot of experience in that field.”

Bailey hesitated. “Are you a player?” Because the last thing she needed was a player’s advice for her article.

His stomach growled again.

“Oh just come in,” she relented. She couldn’t leave Jenna’s brother on the doorstep waiting for her to come home, but if he was a player then he wouldn’t work for the article. She needed someone sincere. Someone honest.

She felt his eyes on her as she walked to the coffee table. Her skimpy shorts rode up her ass revealing she wore no panties. He must love the view she was giving him, no matter how unintentional.

“Can I offer you a beer or soda or something?” She placed the pizza on the table and turned practically bumping into his hard chest.

He was close. Dangerously close. If Bailey moved her head forward just a hair their lips would touch and she could find out what those sexy lips tasted like.

As if reading her mind he inched closer, reaching out to graze her lips.

Bailey licked the spot where his lips had met hers. She stood there mesmerized. She wanted more. She needed more. Her pussy lips swelled at the mere touch of his lips. She felt the electricity of his touch run through her down to the tip of her big toe.

Also the latest edition of my monthly newsletter is available. Sign up authoramberskyze-subscribe@yahoogroups.com if you’d like to read my latest news.

Share a Sexy Smile Day!

Okay...I cheated a little on this...I added the word "SEXY". But, hey...what else would a romance author do? Gotta get those hormones going and using the word SEXY will do it every time!
How often do you walk by people and (1) look away, (2) look down, (3) look up, (4) stare straight ahead as if you don't see them? We all do that...some of each of the above.


Sometimes my mind is whirling a mile a minute as I "head write" pages for a book or try to focus on my busy schedule. At those times, I may not even notice someone I pass, except in the vague recesses of my crowded mind.

 

Today, make a difference. Take the time to SMILE at someone. Doesn't have to be one of your famous SEXY smiles, just a casual one will do. People normally smile back...don't you? Look at these handsome guys and their winning smiles. You ARE focusing on their faces, right? Wouldn't you smile back?

In writing romance books, we tend to have our heroes and heroines smile. I have them do it frequently...and try very hard to come up with different ways of expressing that action. There's the full smile, the quirk to one side smile, the closed mouth smile, the teeth showing smile. The smile that curls your toes. That sexy smile, combined with eyes full of passion that gets your heart thumping and pounding in your chest.


Save those smiles for someone you love! For everyone else, the casual smile will be contagious. Try it. Smile. See how many people return the smile to you!


You'll be smiling if you're one of my two contest winners! Lots of goodies for two people will be given as prizes. To celebrate the release of my latest book, "Anything You Can Do", you can find two contests at my website: http://www.mariannestephens.net.

Visit http://www.mariannestephens.net for information about my mainstream romance books. "Anything You Can Do" is now available at http://www.breathlesspress.com as an ebook. "Gone to the Dogs" is now available at http://www.jasminejade.com/m-310-marianne-stephens.aspx
Visit http://www.aprilash.net for information about my erotic romance books. Ebook and print versions available at http://www.jasminejade.com/m-441-april-ash.aspx
Photos: Flickr: SSCusp, lucias_day, vividBreeze's photostreams. Rockshots.com

A new slurp of FALLING FAST, excerpt #3

Another tasty bite of FALLING FAST, out now at www.resplendencepublishing.com !

SUMMARY: Rodeo Manager Kade Stapleton wants to hire PR consultant Shana Carpenter to help him build up his rodeo—and fire up his nights. But can Shana do both with a clear conscience?

EXCERPT:

Shana wanted this job for more than one good reason. She stepped around the rickety desk to face him. Lifting her face to his, she admired his mouth and eyes, both with stress lines she wanted to eradicate. “ I’ll make your new job so secure that no one will ever mess with you again. You’ll become the most prosperous, most famous rodeo executive in Texas.”

Stepping near her, he wrapped his huge, warm hands around her upper arms. The electrical current between them buzzed and hummed, uniting them like magnets. “Are you sure the heat wave hasn’t fried your brain?”

“No, Kade. It hasn’t. What’s wrong with my plan? Rodeoing is a great business. Growing, too, since the sports’ cable channels show the competitions.”

“True. But your price is so low, I’ll be taking unfair advantage of you.”

Like I did of you. She stared at him, shocked at the force of her need to make her nighttime fantasy real. “Say you want me.”

He threw back his head and whistled. “Miz Carpenter. Shana,” he crooned in his darling bass and made her pussy pulse with wet demand, “how will your boss take it that you’re doing us such a favor?”

“Jeff won’t like the idea.” In fact, he’ll hate it, jealous as he is of anything in pants that comes near me. “But I want this.” I want you. “And I do live my own life.” I haven’t accepted his marriage proposal yet.

Kade Stapleton looked at her. Every feature. Every contour. And she felt caressed and consumed by him.

Beneath his breath, he cursed. “I’m crazy to even consider this.” He hauled her flush against his chest. And through the thin cotton of her tank top, she felt the overpowering strength of his body and the lure of his easy charm. “We need to shake on this deal.”

The urge to throw her arms around his neck was the most powerful impulse she’d had in years. And when she gave into it and felt him crush her closer, she knew she’d made the right decision.

“What if I don’t want to shake?” She grinned up into his gorgeous eyes, impatient to celebrate her victory.

He examined her as if he were going to have her for dinner. “What if I don’t want to talk?”

“What if,” her lips strayed over his, open and taking in his minty scent, “I’d agree?”

His fingers dug in to her waist and drifted lower to cup her ass. “I’d rather kiss you.”

“I’d rather you hurried.”

“Oh, lady,” he whispered as his mouth seized hers. His claim of her was nothing like she’d ever imagined him to be. He wasn’t gentle but was fierce as he swept his tongue around the inside of her mouth and ground her closer.

She could hardly breathe. She tore away, and her head fell back. “Is this lunch?”

Against her throat, he chuckled. “If you say so.”

“What’ll your assistant say?”

He whirled with her in his arms, her legs up around his waist now, as he took two steps to the door and twirled the lock.

“She’ll say nothing, darlin’.” He eyed her swollen mouth, and her disheveled hair. “What’re you gonna say if I tell you I want you here, now, on my desk?”

“I’ll say you better have me quickly, because I’m coming soon. I want you to come with me.” She barely made a sound as she added, “Come inside me.”

He growled and stepped to his desk. With one sweep of his arm, he sent things scattering across the top and dropping to the floor. Then, he laid her back as if she were made of new-spun glass. “You sure about this, Shana?”

She let each of her high heels thud to the floor then reached for the top button of his soft denim shirt. “Let me show you how sure I am.”

He bent, and she worked at the other buttons while one of his big hands cupped one of her breasts. “I want to see these. Taste them.” His green eyes shot to hers. “Look at me. Tell me if I go too fast and gobble you up? I don’t want to scare you.” He cupped her chin. “I scare myself I want you that badly.”

She trembled. “I’m terrified, but not of you and this.” She grasped his silver belt buckle then paused to cup his erection.

His eyes darkened with to an emerald joy. “Well, then, we better get you naked, darlin’, because I’m going to enjoy loving you long and hard.”

She scooted to a partially sitting position and, in a flash, reached down to strip herself of the top and undo her bra.

But his hands covered hers. “For me to do.”

Reverent in his care, he pushed her hands away from the cups of her bra, where her breasts overflowed the edge of the lace.

“Let me see these,” he whispered and reached inside the frilly fabric to lift out her breasts. Lurid, they spilled out. “Beautiful little apples,” he growled and brushed one nipple so that they both heard the zing of electricity caused by his touch. “I have to have a bite.”

Copyright 2010 Cerise DeLand All rights reserved.
FALLING FAST by Cerise DeLand
Resplendence Publishing
Feb. 23, 2010
www.resplendencepublishing.com

Joyfully Reviewed by Lisa!

"One minute Mari is gathering eggs for her sister and the next minute she wakes up on a cold floor in a metal cage surrounded by other cages, all filled with unconscious women. Mari manages to get to her feet; she is nude, cold and terrified. But when she spies two humanoid type beings down the corridor and one approaches, she gathers her dignity like a cloak and tells him what she thinks of him.

It turns out that males from the planet Attun-Ru have been making trips to Earth for over 25 years to capture females. The people of Attun-Ru are vegetarians, but beings on some of the other planets consider human flesh a delicacy. Bad enough that the women are sold for sex or slavery but food? Apparently other planets don’t consider the Earthers to be sentient, more like cattle, at best like pets.

Mari was a linguist back on Earth and slowly she’s learning some of the language of her Attun captors. One in particular, Ekkat Vom Baerkah Elae has taken an interest in her and can’t believe that she is sentient enough to learn some of their words and their ways.

Over time, Ekkat grudgingly acknowledges, at least to himself, that Mari and therefore her people are sentient. Can he with a clear conscience allow her to be herded with the other women to the sheds and then to auction? For her to become a slave, a pet, or a meal once she is sold off? For an Attun to have a relationship, especially sex with a human is a death sentence on his planet. Whatever happens next will change everything for Ekkat and Mari. Once the decision is made there is no going back.

Incredibly unique, Captured skillfully blends a sensuous romance with a dark sci-fi story. Captured is painfully brutal at times, but also mixes passion with heart pounding action. Mari and Ekkat are fascinating main characters with pain and angst in their pasts, yet never willing to give up or give in. Not only is the overall story compelling, there are little twists and turns throughout the plot which makes it really hard to put down. Eroticism, drama, action, heart, and soul – Captured has it all!”

New Cover!!

I'm thrilled with my new cover!!!

The artist at Resplendence captured my vision perfectly. Possessing Eleanor releases 3/23/10. I don't have an edited excerpt yet but here is the blurb:

Eleanor Lewis is perfectly content with her comfortable, quiet, relationship free life until she finds herself on all fours at the feet of Jackson Royce. Eleanor is stunned by her instant and intense attraction to the power and confidence radiating from the devilishly handsome building contractor. He scrambles her brain and heats her body to the boiling point.

Jackson always trusts his gut instincts. The ultra sexy woman sprawled on the floor is a sexual submissive. How intriguing that the all business, sensible shoe wearing office manager has absolutely no idea? The moment he takes her into his embrace he vows to possess her mind, body and soul.

From their first sizzling encounter, through a whirlwind courtship, Eleanor discovers being possessed by a man who loves her absolutely is what she had been searching for all along.

Tessie

www.tessiebradford.com

One Hundred Years And Counting.

1910 ~ 2010

Lately I’ve had the odd feeling that time is going by too fast and things are happening too slowly.

It’s already 2010, the future is now and we still don’t have sentient robot housekeepers, world peace and hover cars hovering over every garage. Are we behind schedule?

Maybe not.

Let’s pick up a magic kaleidoscope and look back one hundred years and think about what America was like in February 1910.

Only two of ten adults could read or write and only six percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

The average life expectancy was forty-seven years.

(No AARP junk mail.)

95% of all births took place at home.

(It makes sense most conceptions started at home. I’m assuming the other 5% of births were in haylofts, under the apple trees, on porch swings etc…)

The average wage was twenty-two cents an hour.

(Don’t spend it all in one place whipper-snapper.)

Only fourteen percent of American homes had a bathtub.

(The other 86% held their nose or braved a pan of cold water)

Only eight percent had a phone.

(How could you call and order a phone if you didn’t have a phone to make the call?)

Most women washed their hair once each month and used products such as Borax or egg yolks to shampoo their hair.

(It would take me at least a month to work up the nerve to attempt such a miserable task again)

Ninety percent of all doctors did not graduate from college. They attended dubious “Medical Schools” many of which were later condemned as substandard.

(Yes your child can grow up to be a doctor…)

Ninety-five percent of the taxes we pay today did not exist in 1910.

(Can Taxes be taxed? It could be a money maker?)

Heroin was promoted as a “complexion clearer” and praised as giving “buoyancy to the mind”.

(It worked for Keith Richards. I still see him being interviewed on the British book lovers shows. He speaks slowly but he’s still quite witty.)

Las Vegas Nevada had a population of thirty.

(And it was a long-shot gamble to live there back then. What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas unless “it” got on a horse and rode out of town.)

America had 8,000 automobiles and only 144 miles of paved road to drive them on.

(A tank of gas literally took you to the edge of nowhere)

230 murders were reported nation wide.

(And thousands were getting away with murder-those were the days…lol)

XXOO Kat

Chillin'

The DH and I took an overdue weekend away. We stayed in NH and traveled into ME. What a wonderful time. The weather was in the 50s. The people of Maine must have thought it was a heat wave. They were out in their shorts and t-shirts. We witnessed people playing tennis and the parks were filled with children. It was refreshing. It was a sign that spring isn’t too far away.

We shopped in Kittery, Portland and Freeport. I haven’t walked that much in a VERY long time.

In Portsmouth we ate downtown at a place called Friendly Toast. I have to say the food was fabulous. It’s very retro. There was an old Superman pogo stick, the RCA dog, and board games from 30+ years ago hanging on the walls. An old Borden’s Ice Cream sign too. The DH and I kept spotting things and saying – look at that. I don’t think two dishes matched in the place. LOL

The wait to get in was out the door both times we went. Yes, we went back, the food was that good.

We hated to come back, but the kids were going nuts. By three on Sunday afternoon we were getting calls and texts asking when we’d be home. LOL We finally broke down and headed home around 5ish. It was nice to sleep in my own bed.

Tomorrow I go back to work and the DH heads out to OK for a business trip. I’m looking forward to the distraction. I have soooooooo much stuff that needs to get done, but no desire to do any of it.

I want to finish Sliding Home my newest M/M by month end. I’m about 3-5k away. Then there’s the last sex scene of Shea Manor. I thought I finished this book, but as I was editing it I realized I left out the most important fantasy for the heroine. DUH!

So hopefully I’ll get some writing done today. Happy Tuesday.

Oh and I’m on the coming soon page for Research Required at www.jasminejade.com. March 19th is my next release date! Yay!