Evernight's 5th Anniversary!! (#giveaway - @evernightpub)

Evernight Celebrates 5 Years of Publishing!

Thanks to readers like you, Evernight Publishing has grown by leaps and bounds in five years so they’re pulling out all the stops and throwing an extreme BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BLOG HOP in your honor!

That’s right! It’s Evernight’s birthday but YOU get the presents… 

Prizes include:

Apple Watch Sport

NEW Kindle Paperwhite

Fitbit Flex

Evernight, Amazon, and ARe Gift Certificates

Plus, each author on the hop will offer his/her own special prize!

I’m honored to celebrate this momentous occasion with Evernight, and I'll be giving away a copy of King Stud & a $5 Amazon Gift Card. Leave me a comment to enter, and me n' Random.org will draw a winner when the blog hop is over. Thanks!

Here's my latest Evernight Release...

Danielle’s got three months to make her Grandmother’s rundown Craftsman house livable. Her game plan is to get in, get grubby, and get back home to L.A. She needs a carpenter, and her best friend’s younger brother is a good one. It’s hard to ignore the buffed body under Ryan’s paint-splattered sweatshirts, but her friend declares he’s off-limits so Danielle reluctantly agrees.

Ryan doesn’t have the cleanest record, anyway. His recently ex-ed girlfriend wants him back, and he has a reputation for brawling. He’s also had a crush on Danielle since he was a kid. Despite their nine-year age difference, he knows she’s worth pursuing.

Soon the paint under Danielle’s fingernails starts feeling more natural than the L.A. sunshine. She’ll have to navigate plumbing disasters, money problems, and one seriously cranky best friend to find something she hasn’t had before: a real home, and a man who loves her.

Amazon - Evernight Publishing - ARe - Barnes and Noble 

And here is a sneak peek from my upcoming Evernight release, 

The Secret of Obedience.

It'll be available in November.

The Secret of Obedience       NA - m/m
November 2015

Can a former college football player find love with a little Vietnamese hottie? It's all about the teamwork, baby...

Ronnie Durand is a country boy who transfers to the University of Washington after two years at Central. He'll have to give up playing football, though finishing his education at a major university in Seattle - and being out and proud without having to look over his shoulder - makes the sacrifice worthwhile. 

But finding friends at a huge school is tough, especially when the hottest guy Ronnie meets makes him doubt his own sanity.

Sang's been on his own a long time. He's only a couple steps away from living on the street, and he's got dreams so big they don't leave space for a steady boyfriend. Then he meets Ronnie, who just might be strong enough to break through his barriers....as long as Sang lets him in on one big secret. 

It’s a great time for an Evernight shopping spree because all 

Evernight titles are 25% off through October 9th at AllRomance eBooks!

Enter to win the Grand Prizes using Rafflecopter: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hop to the next stop here: 

I write romance: m/f, m/m, and v/h, where the h is for human and the v is for vampire…or sometimes demon...and I lean more towards funny than angst. When I’m not writing I take care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether I’m at home or at work. My husband is a soul of patience, my dog’s cuteness is legendary, and we share the homestead with three ferrets. Who steal things. Because they’re brats.

I can be found on-line at all hours of the day and night at my website & blog , on Facebook, or on Twitter. Come find me. We’ll have fun!

King Stud

Available from 

Amazon - Evernight Publishing - ARe - Barnes and Noble 

I'll be back with an actual post when the dust settles. Cheers...

Coming Soon: King Stud!

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Evernight

Length: 300 pages

So just last night I learned the release date for King Stud will be Thursday, July 16th. Woot! I'm pretty darned excited for this event, and to warm everybody up, I thought I'd share the cover because it's SO COOL! I love the cover art created for Evernight by their artist Jay Aheer, and what she came up with for King Stud just blows me away. 

As soon as I have more information - like links to where you can get your own copy and possibly a blog tour - I'll let you know. Until then, enjoy the pretty pictures (and the excerpt)!

Blurb

Danielle’s got three months to make her Grandmother’s rundown Craftsman house livable. Her game plan is to get in, get grubby, and get back home to L.A. She needs a carpenter, and her best friend’s younger brother is a good one. It’s hard to ignore the buffed body under Ryan’s paint-splattered sweatshirts, but her friend declares he’s off-limits so Danielle reluctantly agrees. 

Ryan doesn’t have the cleanest record, anyway. His recently ex-ed girlfriend wants him back, and he has a reputation for brawling. He’s also had a crush on Danielle since he was a kid. Despite their nine-year age difference, he knows she’s worth pursuing.

Soon the paint under Danielle’s fingernails starts feeling more natural than the L.A. sunshine. She’ll have to navigate plumbing disasters, money problems, and one seriously cranky best friend to find something she hasn’t had before: a real home, and a man who loves her.

Excerpt

A pair of headlights streaked across the front window, interrupting her bid war. A minute later, heavy footsteps crossed the porch. Then someone knocked hard on the door.

She jerked out of the chair, her confusion exacerbated by the heavy pounding of her heart. No one should be here. The door rattled like someone was messing with the lock. She made a sound halfway between a bleat and a scream when the door opened.

Ryan came in. "Hey, you're here," he said, dimples flaring.

"What are you doing? You scared the shit out of me.” She braced herself on the table, pulling in a deep lungful of air.

He just stood grinning at her, hands in his pockets, curls gelled into something close to order. The laptop streamed soft music that all of a sudden sounded romantic, and she panicked, hoping he wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

“Glad you think this is funny,” she said.

 “I thought you’d be out with Maeve.” He held up his hands, calming her, placating her. She really wanted those hands touching her.

Down girl.

“I just had to finish up a couple things.” She straightened up and rested her knuckles on her hips. Instead of his usual worn jeans and tee shirt, he was dressed in black pants and a light blue button-down shirt that looked like silk and made his eyes crazy bright. His tie was navy and he'd changed out his usual UW hoodie for a black leather jacket. "You look … um…"

"Company Christmas party." He spoke too quickly, like there was something going on under the surface.

"You should be out hanging with your crew." And not here torturing me.

"I need to take the clamps off those cabinets I glued up."

The expression on his face had nothing to do with carpentry. He took a couple steps toward the dining room, then veered over to where she stood, moving fast. She fell back, carried by his wave of energy, and in seconds he had her up against the wall, his hands bracketing her head, his hips pressed tight to hers.

"Ryan, no. What are you…"

He covered her mouth with his fingers. "Sh. Just let me be close to you for a minute."

She tipped her chin up and his fingers slid down her neck, stopping when his thumb hit the hollow at the base of her throat and his strong hand cradled her shoulder. He rocked forward, resting his mouth against her forehead.

She stood still, caught up in the heat of his breath on her skin and the soft woodsy smell of his aftershave.

"I know I'm not supposed to do this, Dani."

The scratch of lips against skin made her mouth water. "It's … okay. Just … we shouldn't."

His head turned and lowered. He meant to kiss her. If he succeeded, there was no way she'd stop. She wanted him so, so bad. He cupped her face with both hands, pinning her.

Crap.

His mouth closed over hers like the final piece of a puzzle dropping into place. She stilled, time stopped, the universe paused. She didn’t push him away.

Sometimes not choosing becomes its own choice.

Instead, she reached up and grabbed the collar of his silk shirt and hauled him closer. This was what she wanted. To hell with all the arguments against it.

He shoved a thigh between her legs, and his hands grew rougher, grabbing her hair to change the angle of her head. He tasted of mint and gum and beer. The heat rose between them, and oh my God she wanted it. Wanted him. He pulled back, flicked her lips with his tongue. The sound she made was nearly a sob. She drove her hands under his leather coat and pulled his shirt free. When her fingertips reached the warm, velvety skin of his lower back she almost sobbed again.

His kiss got harder, rugged, more demanding, and his hands dragged her ass closer still. Her body lit up, her core turning to liquid flame. He got under her sweatshirt, kneading her breasts. Her head rocked back against the wall and her laughter swirled out under the exquisite torture of his hands on her nipples. His lips and tongue mauled her ear and down her neck, and she keened a victory sound, tiny and high-pitched, her hips rocking slowly against the growing bulge in his groin.

She went to work on the buttons down the front of his shirt, ready to indulge in exploring his muscular chest, but he wrapped her hands in his and shifted his weight away from her.

When he spoke, his voice was rough, heavy. "I'm sorry." He turned slowly, moving like a man three times his age. "Jesus, I know you don’t want … I'm sorry, Dani."

She let the wall support most of her weight, breathing hard, all that warm liquidy goodness turning to ice. Her sweatshirt rode up around her ribs and her bra was off kilter. She tugged everything back into place, embarrassment verging on mortification washing over her. Why the hell did he stop? He'd acted on an impulse she felt just as surely as he did. Then he tipped forward a little, unsteady, almost losing his balance, and she put the pieces together. "How much did you have to drink tonight?"

He scrubbed his face with his hands. "A bit."

"A bit too much." She punched his shoulder. He reached out like he would gather her in for a hug, but she sidestepped him. "None of that, now. Let me get my stuff together then I'm going to drive you home."

"Nah, I'm fine."

"Um, right. Give me your keys."

After a brief staring match, he flipped his car keys in her direction. She'd seen pain in his eyes, hiding behind a whole boatload of frustration.

All emotions she could relate to.

Hot for Friday: First Kiss

For this week's Hot for Friday post, devised by the Book Boyfriends Cafe, the task was to post a snippet from the first time the hero & heroine brushed lips. I kind of loved that idea, especially since I'll be taking part in the No Kiss Blogfest come January 2nd. It's nice to get a little kissing in ahead of time, you know?

For the purposes of this post, I decided to go with Ryan & Danielle from my contemporary romance King Stud, a  novel that's out on submission and will hopefully find a home soon. Danielle's in her early 30s, with an old house to remodel, and Ryan's a carpenter, who also happens to be her best friend's younger brother.

Her much younger brother.

That's only one of the reasons they shouldn't get together, yet here they are in Ryan's kitchen after accidentally bumping into each other in the Home Depot...
Enjoy!

He took a long pull on the bottle and closed the laptop.  “I’m off work tomorrow. I could come by your grandmother’s house in the daylight and take a better look.”

The intensity in his eyes had her swallowing hard. “That’d be great.”

“Do you want to watch a movie or something? TV’s downstairs.”

“Sure.” But only if he picked something G-rated. Watching on-screen romance might just send her leaping into his lap.

“Throw Barnabas on the floor, babe. You look like you’re going to fall off that chair.”

The cat picked that moment to plant a paw on the small of Danielle’s back. One claw went through her sweater and dug into her skin. She jumped to her feet, hands flying. “What the hell?”

Ryan jumped up too, and swatted at Barnabas. “Git, cat.”

Barnabas jumped, squalled, and sprinted across the room.

Danielle and Ryan ended up facing each other about arm’s length apart.

“The cat…” she said.

“My roommate’s.” His gaze intent, focused, he touched her sleeve.

The room heated up, or possibly her blood was boiling from the friction between them. Her field of vision narrowed to the late-day scruff framing his mouth, and the full curve of his lower lip.

He lowered his hand to hers, interlacing their fingers.

She didn’t stop him. She curled her hand around his and her eyes slid half closed.

“C’mere.” Ryan tugged, and instead of backing away, she rocked forward, drawn to him by physics or hormones or old-fashioned need.

“Damned cat hates me,” she said, relishing his musky scent.

His free hand reached up strong and sure to cup her jaw. “Well, I like you,” he whispered.

His kiss was gentle, testing the water, giving her space to push away. He tasted malty and masculine, a flavor that could very well become an addiction. He moved closer, and then both his hands wrapped around her waist and she stretched full against him.

All of her reasons for stopping ran through her head on a continuous loop: Maeve and age and L.A. and Cherry, Maeve and age and L.A. and Cherry. He drew back so their lips were barely touching, and the scent of him and the warmth of his breath and the melting heat at the core of her body scattered those reasons like a flock of startled birds.

Jump HERE to see the list of all the bloggers playing the Hot for Friday game.