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So, about BEHIND THE IRON CROSS…
As part of “Let’s Make 2021 More Profitable,” I’ve been taking a good look at the books that don’t fit my usual subgenres of SF, fantasy, and paranormal romance. I’ve already split off the contemporary romance and romcoms to the Natasha M. Stark name, but that still leaves my *takes in a deep breath* poor redheaded stepchild of a historical BDSM menage romance Behind the Iron Cross out there twisting in the wind.
Unfortunately, Amazon listed it as erotica and I haven’t been able to convince them that yes, it really IS a romance with an HEA and everything. And despite being released during the centenary celebrations of the end of WWI it’s gone absolutely nowhere. A copy hasn’t been purchased on Smashwords or their assorted partners in over a year, and I’ve sold a grand total of 13 copies on Amazon in 2020.
The irony is, that book took me six years to write. I had to go to the British Library and study pre-WWII maps of Berlin. I bought books on the Weimar Republic and the economic and cultural effects it had on Germany. It’s still my longest book to date at 105,409 words (SHADOW OF THE SWAN is literally six words shorter at 105,403). And next to no one has read it, which gives me a sad because it’s a really, really cool story.
So I’ve decided to be proactive about it. I’ve pulled it from wide distribution and added it to Kindle Unlimited, in the hopes that fans of menage, BDSM, and historical romances will see the word count and say GIMME.
Surfacing, Yet Again
As you know, Bob, I had one more book to finish and release in 2020. This was the very much anticipated Cross Current, which is the fourth book in my Olympic Cove menage fantasy romance series (or as I like to think of it, “Gods and mermen and selkies, oh my!”). People have been waiting patiently for this book for about five years, but I couldn’t continue the series until I’d gotten the rights back for the first three book. That happened this year, which meant that Cross Current was a go.
After I finished King of Blades and released it at the end of November, I got to work on Cross Current. Now, I had about 20K of the book done so I figured, meh, maybe two weeks to finish, two weeks to edit, polish, and format, and I could get it out at the end of December. Being an eternal optimist, I decided to put it out for pre-order on December 1st because I would have more than enough time to get everything done, right?
Put a pin in this because we will be returning to this point later.
So, I started working on Cross Current, and promptly ran into two rather large problems. One, I was hurting. For reasons I didn’t understand every joint in my body was screaming at me, and sitting for any length of time (which you kinda have to do if you’re a writer) was problematic. And no, it wasn’t COVID for reasons I will explain later on. But writing when your joints are on fire is not fun.
Secondly, I was having one hell of a time getting the story out. I knew how it started, knew how it finished, but the the middle part was like pulling teeth. I was lucky if I could get 300 words out a day, in between trying to get my brain to get creative and trying to get my joints to stop screaming at me.
On December 7th, I’m starting to get mildly worried because I haven’t made sufficient progress on the book and the upload deadline would be 6:00 PM CST Christmas Day. And then my muse, drunken ho that she is, strolled in with a margarita in one hand and said, “You’re having problems with this because your story is angsty. Nobody wants to read angsty in 2020. Liven it up, make it fun.”
She had a point. I was kinda putting my main character Matt through hell, and I wasn’t really paying much attention to all of the members in his menage, all five of them. Remember this graphic?
So I scrap my original story and decide to go with a fun Ocean’s 8 style caper story, where Matt has to steal some nanotech with the help of a mer and three selkies, and hijinks ensue.
And I’ll be damned, but that worked. Suddenly the floodgates opened and I could see the story in my head, which is what tells me I’m on the right track.
One eensy problem–those 20,000 words I’d already written didn’t fit this new story. I was able to salvage the opening chapter, but 15K had to go in the cut file, which really put me behind the eight ball.
But that’s when my second Festivus miracle occurred. I ran out of a supplement that I take to keep my nasal mucus thinned out (remember, I live with five cats to whom I am mildly allergic), and a day later I realized I felt fucking great. My pain levels were way down, and I was only having the usual issues with ShitKnee. I looked up the side effects for the supplement and saw, “can cause joint and muscle pain” (unsurprising because it breaks up biofilm and scavenges fibrin in the blood system).
By this time it’s December 9, and I have to put pedal to the metal because I now have to completely rewrite my first four chapters and actually finish the rest of the book. I keep plugging away, but it’s December, which means the J Crew have to be taken into the vet for their shots, I have a dental cleaning, and a myriad of other holiday-related things all eat up my time until December 17th rolls around and I only have 25,000 words out of a projected 80,000. if you do the math, you’ll discover that this left me with 55,000 words still to be written, and I also had to get the book edited, proofed, polished, formatted, and uploaded to Amazon in eight days.
Sometimes, you have to realize that you can’t do everything yourself and ask for help. First, I took a deep breath and talked to Ramón, explaining that I couldn’t do the usual Christmas prep that I do every year and get the book done. Would he mind helping out, or if certain things get pushed back a bit?
I am blessed to be married to the world’s best writer’s spouse. He blinked and said, “Petal, 2020 blows chunks anyway. We can live with a meh Christmas. Don’t worry about anything, just focus on the book.”
Okay, that was out of the way. I then talked to my editor, throwing myself on her mercy. She agreed to edit the book in chunks — I would finish a handful of chapters, clean them up, and shove them at her for editing (she is a goddess, by the way).
Finally, I sat down with my brain and had a come-to-Jesus chat. In order to finish this book, I was about to have a very unpleasant week where I would have to write faster on a daily basis than I ever had just to finish the first draft, and then I would have to turn around immediately and edit/polish/format. If I could do this, at 6:01 PM CST Christmas Day I would get completely loaded in celebration, spend the rest of the night watching Wonder Woman 84 and Bridgerton, and the period from Boxing Day to January 4th would be devoted to rest and relaxation.
My brain reluctantly agreed. And so I sat down, wrote out a detailed outline, broke it down into chapters so that I knew exactly what I had to do in each chapter, and set out to write 10,000 words a day for the next five and a half days.
Yes, you read that correctly. And that wasn’t all; I would also be constantly shuttling completed chapters back and forth to the editor and incorporating her edits after I hit word quota for the day. But it was necessary because there was no way in hell I was missing this deadline and getting banned from Amazon pre-orders for a year.
So I did it. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. I fell into bed exhausted ever night, my dreams were pretty much related to the books, I gained five pounds despite my determination to get at least fifteen minutes on the treadmill every day, the only cleaning I did was sweeping and laundry, and the meals were pretty much reduced to, “What can I throw together in ten minutes?”
But I did it. And somehow, I produced a pretty damned good book. Part of my mind kept noticing how things just fell into place, the three act structure chugging along like it was on rails. Each member of my fivesome now had an identity and screen time, and I cheered for them all the way through the book. And I wrote the most physically challenging love scene of my writing career to date. I’m still damn proud of it.
The last edits went in at 5:30 AM this morning, and I spent two hours fixing a formatting problem before uploading the file to Amazon (I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until it was done, and I had this irrational fear that I’d die in my sleep and nobody would ever see the book that had killed me) and crawling into bed at 7:30 AM. After one of the best sleeps of my life, I got up, got dressed, played with the kitties, and just … breathed.
It was nice. Then I decided to give the file one last read-through, polish, and spell/grammar/punctuation check because I am an anal-retentive masochist, formatted THAT, and uploaded it to Amazon at 4:15 PM CST, an hour and forty-five minutes before the cutoff time. It’s now churning through the ‘Zon, and the seven lovely people who pre-ordered it will get it at 12:01 AM on Tuesday, December 29th.
And then I decided to wash the bedding so that we’d have crisp clean sheets for Christmas night and clean the library so that I could put up the tree. Get loaded and watch movies? Ho ho ho. Remember, anal-retentive masochist here. But I’m singing Christmas songs as I’m working, and I’m so very proud of myself for finishing Cross Current and getting it out into the world.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and may 2021 be a huge frigging improvement on this dumpster fire of a year.
It’s the little things in life
Like when the ‘Zon actually reads your email instead of sending you a boilerplate response and unblocks one of your series so that you can edit it.
Lemme ‘splain. KDP changed things about a month ago so that authors could edit their own series pages, instead of having to ask the KDP customer assistance team do it. Problem was, I misunderstood the email instructions when we were informed of this and tried to create a new Olympic Cove series page. KDP promptly blocked the series and sent me an email that said I would have to ask them to make any future changes.
Fair enough, it was my screw-up. But when I sent them an email last week informing them of the block on the OC series page and asking them to please add Cross Current, I got a response saying, “Oh, you can do all that yourself now — good luck!” I replied with the info that, er, no, I couldn’t, the series page was blocked.
The response? Crickets.
But I am resolute. Yesterday, I sent them a new email, politely reiterating that I needed to have the book added, and attached the original “You screwed up so you need to have us make any changes” email. This morning, I got a reply saying that the series was reviewed and successfully passed, and the updates would soon be available on Amazon. Translation: “Oh, we see. Okay, yeah, we’ll unlock your series.”
In other news, Cross Current is now officially listed on Amazon as book 4 in the Olympic Cove series, which is nice because that’s currently the only place I can put it up for pre-order (Smashwords requires too long of a prep period for me to do it on B&N, Kobo, or iTunes).
So that’s all to the good. Unfortunately, there are some new functionality changes on the otherwise superlative KDP Reports Beta page that removed the ability to see at a glance which titles you’d sold on a particular day (they used to have a bar graph with colors for each title — now the graph is one color and you have to drill down through a calendar function to find out which titles you sold on X day). But I also have Book Report running, so I guess I can keep that running in a tab and check there for daily sales.
As for Cross Current, I’m chugging along and should have the second draft off to the editor and betas by next week, which will give me a week to clean up and do any final tweaks before uploading it to Amazon on Christmas Day (probably before then, but that’s my upload deadline). The plot has changed significantly, but it’s also a LOT more fun (more of a caper romance than an angsty romance) now, so that’s all good.
And then I get to relax between Christmas and January 2nd. Ah, that will be swell…
Remember Olympic Cove? I’ve got some news…
As of last night I put Cross Current (Olympic Cove Book 4) on pre-order at Amazon. The release date is 12/29/20, which means you have something to look forward to between Christmas/Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve.
Is the book finished yet? Ho, ho, ho — of course not, because Nicola functions best when she has an immovable deadline ahead of her. But I I already have 20K finished and only need another 65K or so, and I will be dictating the bulk of the book this week, which will hopefully give me a first draft by this time next week. Then I can dig in and get it cleaned up and pretty before shipping it off to the editor and beta readers.
The big challenge with Cross Current is that it’s not only a menage romance, it’s a menage romance with five characters. And the main character, Matt, only has a romantic relationship with two of the other characters, who themselves have prior relationships with the other two characters (who are not in a sexual relationship with Matt but become found family members). Did I mention that those other two members are married to each other due to family requirements?
Hmm. Maybe this will work better if I diagram it out.
Yeah, I know, it’s complicated. But it’ll make sense in the end, I promise (I hope, she muttered darkly to herself).
So KING OF BLADES is live
And it’s selling briskly, so I’m pleased with that. I’m also amused that a writer friend of mine commented on FB, “So how did you get Don Draper to pose for the cover art?” Hey, I would not object to Jon Hamm posing for one of my covers, but I suspect his rates would be expensive as hell.
However, that did remind me of something that I kinda wanted to head off at the pass. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the model on the cover of King of Blades is the same one I used on the cover of Shifter Woods: Howl. Why would I do something like this, you ask?
Well, because I think he’s hot, whoever he is, and he worked as both my world-weary coyote shifter sheriff and my determined king about to become the father of twins. That’s the beauty of indie publishing — you have full control over the covers. And if I want to use this austere, muscled stunner twice, by God I will.
Speaking of publishing, I just got word a little over an hour ago that Blades was accepted into the Premium catalog at Smashwords, so it should be available at B&N by tomorrow morning and at Kobo and iTunes within a day or so. I’m working on the print version and that should be available by the weekend, and I also need to put it up at Eden Books tomorrow.
While all that’s in play, I’m also back at work on the fourth book in the Olympic Cove series, Cross Current (and isn’t that a lovely cover at right?), with a goal of getting that out on *checks calendar* 11/24/20. I’ll be setting that up for pre-order sometime this weekend, so if you’ve been patiently waiting for the next book in the series, mark your calendars and pre-order it. Here’s the (unedited) blurb:
Fresh from a divorce, high school history teacher Matt Taber retreats to a cottage on Olympic Cove to lick his wounds before school starts up in the fall. But the Fates have other plans for him in the form of a merman running from a deadly family history, three selkies who have to satisfy a royal demand, and a new career as the Oracle of the Waters. Can Matt adjust to his new life before the Mad Nereid comes calling?
And there’s more good Olympic Cove news — I’m completing the series next year. Books Five and Six (tentatively titled Riptide Bay and Hurricane Eye) will be completed right after the first book of 2021, Hidden Empire’s The Crimson and the Black. So for everyone who prefers their series to be completed, you’ll be able to buy the Olympic Cove box set sometime in July. But if you hate the idea of the series ending, don’t worry — there will be additional novellas set on the cove, as well as related books (I have this image in my head of a grumpy and very reluctant Hephaestus being dragged to Earth by Hermes to help him get the Olympic Wi-Fi working, and falling in love with a female blacksmith). So many books to write, so little time…
Nicola’s Sunday Shoutout: Doris O’Connor
Today’s Sunday Shoutout goes to Doris O’Connor, whose hot new BDSM menage romance Her Husband’s Army Buddy is now available from Evernight Publishing and other purveyors of fine erotic romance. And now, here’s Doris!
Thanks so much for hosting my new release today. Her Husband’s Army Buddy is out now, and the first in a new series called McLeod Security.
Like so many of my stories, this one started as a flash on my blog. Little did I know then, that it would evolve into a series. When I expanded the flash, it was to be a short story in honor of one of my reader’s birthdays. The Sandy in the story J
As I wrote it took on a life of its own, side characters popped up demanding their story to be told, and hey presto a new series was born. Book two is already completed and the next two are in the planning stages, so watch this space as they.
I should add that all stories will be Standalones, loosely connected through McLeod Security, some darker than others, with different pairings and D/s dynamics, and familiar characters will pop up throughout.
There should only ever be two people in a marriage…
Sandy McLeod has been perfectly happy in her D/s relationship with her husband Zane for the last ten years. Until his old army buddy re-enters their life.
Sean Manson is altogether too handsome, too virile, far too much of anything. The man oozes dominance, danger, and leashed aggression, and Sandy can’t help but respond to him. Neither can Zane. He walked away from Sean once. Now, he’s back, long suppressed feelings bubble to the surface and cannot be denied. When Sandy agrees to a threesome, happiness seems within their grasp. Sean’s demons, however, threaten to destroy everything they hold dear.
Sean never meant to come between husband and wife, let alone hurt either one of them. Surely, the only solution is to walk away from them both. When you’re the missing piece, however, walking is simply not an option.
Story Excerpt
“We need to get her out of this dress, Sir.”
Hearing her husband address Sean like that gave her a secret thrill, the likes of which she wouldn’t have thought possible. To know that she was at the mercy of two Doms, one of which was an unknown entity made this whole thing extra exciting. Whether it was the perceived danger Sean represented, the not knowing how far he would take things, her befuddled brain couldn’t quite figure out. She stopped thinking altogether when Zane unzipped her dress at the back, followed by the snap on her bra and slid his hands around her ribcage to cup her freed breasts.
“Let her go a minute so we can lose these contraptions.” Zane’s grumbled command pitched her need even higher.
Sean stopped kissing her, the pressure on her wrists ceased, and in the next instant she was naked, barring her soaked through thong, hold-up stockings, and the heels she still wore.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.” Sean’s deep voice showed his admiration of her body as much as his perusal of her as he stepped back and let his hot gaze roam all over. “Spread her for me, so that I can look my fill of our sweet cunt.”
The dirty words turned her on almost as much as her husband’s immediate response.
“Your wish is my command, Sir.”
Zane kicked her legs apart and held her wrists firmly behind her back. Sean, in the meantime, shrugged out of his shirt, and kicked his shoes and trousers off with a speed that left her dizzy. As did the size of his erection straining against the damp confines of his boxers. To know she’d done that to him was a heady aphrodisiac indeed, as was her husband’s erection pushing against her ass.
Sean divested himself of his boxers, too, and she gasped when his thick shaft bobbed up to his navel. She’d been right. He was huge. While his girth wasn’t as thick as Zane’s he had a good half inch in length, and Zane wasn’t exactly small in that department.
Heavily veined, Sean’s magnificent cock looked ready to explode all over again, the broad tip already glistening in pre-cum.
She wanted to taste him so badly, yet Zane’s grip on her wrists stopped her from reaching out. As though Sean had read her thoughts, he groaned and, taking his shaft in his hand, pumped a few times along its length.
“Soon, you get to suck my cock, sweet girl, but for now, I need to taste you properly.” With that he got to his knees. As tall as he was that action brought his head level with her breasts, and he wasted no time in taking full advantage of that fact. Sean held each breast in his large hand, and grinning up at her pushed them together, before he took both nipples into his mouth and sucked hard.
Sandy tugged at Zane’s restraints, and her knees would have buckled had Zane not pushed his thigh between her legs to keep her upright. Her head fell back against his shoulder, and she gave herself over to the intense sensations Sean’s talented tongue subjected her to. Her nipples had always been sensitive, a livewire straight to her clit, and with the dual sensation of Sean’s sucks and the gentle friction Zane’s leg created between her thighs, she climbed the rungs of arousal in record time. Her hips bucked against her husband’s leg as she sought to increase the friction she needed to go over.
A sharp bite to her shoulder coincided with Sean releasing his hold on her nipples with an audible pop.
“No coming without your Sirs’ permission, baby girl, or we’ll leave you hanging.”
Sure enough, Zane withdrew his thigh, while Sean grasped her hips to keep her steady. He kissed his way down her soft belly, interspersing kisses with little bites that left her hovering on the precipice. He bypassed her pussy and, flinging one of her legs over his shoulder, nibbled along the edge of her stocking.
“Hmm, as much as I love these, they need to come off. Look at me, pet.”
Sandy’s eyes flew open, and the sight of Sean between her legs made another gush of moisture trickle past the elastic of her thong. He licked that trail away, and she groaned.
“Please, I need to, please.”
Grinning, Sean blew a stream of hot air across her still covered slit, and her clit contracted in need.
“What do you need, sweet Sandy? Do you need to come?” He nudged his nose along her vulva, inhaling deeply, and Sandy jerked. Not that it got her very far because Zane’s hold on her wrists never lessened, and Sean’s fingers dug into her hips with so much pressure, she would surely be left with bruises. The thought of carrying his marks made breathing even more difficult, and she groaned her reply.
“Please, so close, I … God…”
She wasn’t entirely sure what pleas were spilling from her lips, and in truth she was far too gone to care. With Zane’s harsh breaths in her ear, and Sean’s dirty words she was a goner.
“So very eager. I can see your little clit push against this lace. You’re close, aren’t you, sweet thing? Such a turn-on. What do you think, Zane, should we let her come or torture her some more?”
Sean let go of her hips briefly to tear her thong clean off of her, and then he looked his fill.
“So very wet, and pink. Your hole is clenching, begging to be filled. What do you want in there, pet? My tongue? My fingers? My cock? Or Zane’s? Tell me, or I’ll leave you hanging and fuck your husband instead.”
Where To Buy
Evernight | Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Nook | Kobo
Smashwords | iTunes | Bookstrand
About the Author
Doris is a writer of sensual, sassy, and sexy tales involving alpha heroes to die for, and heroines who give as good as they get. From contemporary to paranormal, Sci-fi, BDSM, M/M, and Ménage, haunting love stories are guaranteed.
Stalk her in these places:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Evernight Publishing
Amazon | BookStrand | Barnes & Noble
Nicola’s Sunday Shoutout: Doris O’Connor
Today’s Sunday Shoutout goes to the marvelously prolific Doris O’Connor, whose smouldering new BDSM menage romance Her Best Friend’s Husband is now available from Evernight Publishing and other purveyors of fine erotic romance. And now, here’s Doris!
Thank you so much for having me on your blog today with my new release Her Best Friend’s Husband. Like so many of my stories the idea for this one was first sparked by a picture and the resulting tease on my blog.
The picture was a naked guy in bed, holding a wedding cake. How did I arrive from that to this story? Well, my muse works in mysterious ways, lol. The story slowly evolved and it was stuck in limbo for a long time, until I got the urge one day to pick up that manuscript, and the rest is history, as they say. J
I had such fun writing these three, and the intricacies of their relationship as they try to work out whether three is indeed better than two. So much so, in fact, that I’m planning a follow up to their story in due course.
For now, enjoy seeing Naomi struggle with her feelings for her best friend and his husband. To quote her. “Who does that?”
Naomi, for sure, and when she realizes the guys feel the same way…. Well… you might need a fan or a glass of water when you’re reading some scenes.
Your best friend’s wedding is not the time to realize how much you love him…
Wedding organizer Naomi Young is not only head-over-heels in love with her best friend, she lusts after his husband.
Which is all kinds of wrong—isn’t it? Maybe not. Especially when she discovers the attraction is not as one-sided as she thought.
Dom Dawson Monroe has never had a problem going after what he wants. Both he and his new husband Josh Garrison enjoy a woman’s soft touch, so who better to satisfy that need than the one woman Josh is madly in love with? Time to claim them both as his submissives.
Convention be damned. Happiness is to be found in the soft curves of Naomi’s body, as long as they can convince her that this is forever. Only time will tell if the loving twosome can become an even more loving threesome.
Story Excerpt
“Perhaps the boy’s timing was unfortunate, but he would only owe you an apology if you hadn’t enjoyed that kiss. And we all know you did. I’d wager you’re getting wet just remembering those kisses. I know I got hard witnessing it. You two look hot together.”
Naomi gasped and opened her mouth as though to protest, but one knowing smirk from Dawson meant she simply shook her head.
“Nothing to say to that, little one?”
That question, delivered in that deep, dark, gravelly voice—his Dom voice, as Josh called it—appeared to have the same effect on Naomi, as it always did on him. Her breathing sped up, and she tensed. While he couldn’t see them from his position in his back seat, Josh bet his next orgasm that her nipples were hard little beacons signaling her arousal as clearly as the moan she swallowed. It made him wish this infernal journey was over already. He couldn’t wait to see his life-long friend squirm in pleasure under his and Dawson’s hands.
His Master’s gaze dropped down to Naomi’s cleavage and Dawson’s grin turned positively sinful.
“Never mind words, your body gives you away. If I touched you now, I’d find you sopping wet for us, wouldn’t I? In fact…”
Dawson reached across and placed his large hand on Naomi’s knee. She jumped but didn’t stop him as he proceeded to pull up the hem of her dress, exposing acres of dark skin. The contrast of Dawson’s much lighter hand on Naomi’s thighs was startling. Josh groaned, and Naomi crunched the gear again as the traffic started moving.
“Please, I … don’t.” She flung an imploring look at Master and gasped when his hand briefly disappeared between her ample thighs. Josh balled his hands into fists to stop himself from grasping his dick, because seeing Master’s hand reappear seconds later, his digits glistening with the unmistakable evidence of Naomi’s arousal … fuck, that was hot.
Dawson grinned, licked one digit, and then held his hand out for Josh.
“Here, have a taste.”
His amber eyes darkened when Josh grasped Master’s hand. Naomi’s sweet, addictive taste exploded on his taste buds, made ten times more potent because it was mixed in with the familiar scent of the man he loved to distraction. Josh’s balls drew up in response, and he grunted as his dick jerked inside his pants.
“No coming without my say-so, boy. Besides, you make a mess in our girl’s car you’ll be cleaning it up.”
“Oh my God, you two are too much. I’m sitting right here, you know. Are either one of you going to actually ask me what I think?”
Naomi’s voice had risen to a shrill screech in her agitation. It served as an ice-cold dampener to Josh’s arousal, and he hastily released Dawson’s hand.
“Of course, we do.” He threw an imploring glance at his husband, and Dawson gave a sharp nod. Relief flooded through Josh, at that non-verbal confirmation that his Master was more than willing to step in.
“None of this will work without your consent, and communication is vital. I just don’t appreciate you lying to yourself, or us, girl,” Dawson said.
Naomi tensed further, and Josh could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. Any minute now she would explode in anger.
“Look, Naomi, what Dawson is trying to say—”
“Spare me, Josh.” Naomi glared at him through the rearview mirror, and in a move that wouldn’t have been amiss in a Bond movie, she pulled into the fast lane and put her foot down, as the traffic cleared. Dawson’s hand braced on the dashboard again, and when he looked all set to say something, Josh put his hand on his Master’s shoulder. Dawson glanced back at him, and his brows drew together in a frown at Josh’s shake of the head. He heeded his request, however, and didn’t say anything, as Naomi broke every speed limit in the land in her haste to seemingly get away from them all.
An awkward silence fell between them all, only broken by Naomi’s soft curses when she had to slow down for the inevitable traffic, interspersed by Dawson’s sighs.
Oh, Master was pissed and getting more annoyed by the minute. One of Dawson’s unbreakable rules was the need for his submissives to stay safe. Unwittingly Naomi was breaking that rule, and Josh knew he had to say something to calm this situation down.
“Slow down, sweet cheeks. Getting us killed will not get us there any faster. I’m sorry okay.”
Naomi gasped and glanced at him through the mirror. The sheen of tears in her eyes was like a punch to the gut, and he put his hand on her shoulder. He took the fact that she didn’t immediately shrug him off as a good sign. “I’m sorry I sprung this on you, but I’m not sorry I kissed you. I’m not sorry this is out in the open. We should have probably had this conversation before I got married, but there never seemed a right time, and I’m a fucking coward, okay? I was too afraid to lose our friendship, but we could be so good together. All of us.”
Where To Buy
Evernight | Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Bookstrand
About the Author
Doris is a writer of sensual, sassy, and sexy tales involving alpha heroes to die for, and heroines who give as good as they get. From contemporary to paranormal, Sci-fi, BDSM, M/M, and Ménage, haunting love stories are guaranteed.
Stalk her in these places.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest Instagram | Evernight Publishing
Amazon | BookStrand | Barnes & Noble
Wicked Wednesday Reads: Catching Faete
Welcome to another edition of Wicked Wednesday Reads, petals! Today I’m here with Elena Kincaid, Maia Dylan, and Sarah Marsh with their smouldering new fantasy MFM romance Catching Faete (Beyond the Veil Book 4), available from Evernight Publishing and other online purveyors of fine romance. Take it away, ladies!
They say that when one door closes another shall open, but when Erica made her choice to stop a madman, she couldn’t have imagined the price that she would have to pay. The future she’d risked everything for had just changed forever.
The existence of the Dark Fae and their Goddess comes as a shock, but the fates had one more surprise in store for Erica and her mates in the form of orphaned twin babies who steal their hearts, but these children are not like the Fae Erica is familiar with. They come with powers that she and her husbands know nothing about. Dark Fae council will watch over them to decide if they are capable of raising the twins, making Ben, Erica and Leo feel the pressure of having their every move scrutinized.
When the twin’s dark powers begin to emerge, will one Fae Queen and two warrior shifters have what it takes to navigate the uncertain waters of parenting? …and will the Dark Fae council decide to let them try?
Story Excerpt
Erica stopped in the doorway and turned to look back at her sleeping babies. The Goddesses truly did work in mysterious ways, she thought. She might not have had the pleasure of birthing the twins, but they were hers. She knew it with everything in her. They were hers!
“Come on, love,” Ben whispered in her ear as he urged her to lean back against him. “Leave them to dream of all the mischief and grief they will cause us over the next few decades. Now that they’re asleep, let’s make the most of this time we have alone.”
Heat swirled within her, and she nodded. They had been Mommy, Poppa, and Daddy all day. Now it was time for Mommy to get her some.
****
Leo had gone on ahead to the bedroom and lit all the candles they had, creating a golden glow that made Erica look radiant when she entered moments later with Ben. The smile on her face when she looked his way still made his heart skip a beat, just as it had the very first moment he’d seen her. He would swear that if he didn’t have a shifter’s strength, the sheer joy he’d felt since bringing the babies home and seeing Erica blossom as a mother would have made his heart explode.
He couldn’t have anticipated how two small little beings could instantly repair the gaping hole that had been ripped into their souls when the Goddess Allyria had told them the price they would pay for Alefric’s demise. But here they were, starting a new journey together, albeit, this one filled with much less danger, and much more need for an endless supply of wet wipes, but certainly just as important as anything Leo had ever done in his life previous. They would love and protect these children, and they would raise them to be the kind of people who made both sides of the Veil a better place.
“You look so resolved right now, Leo. What are you thinking about?” Erica stopped in front of him to gently caress his cheek with her hand.
“Just about how lucky we are … and how lucky you’re about to get.” He leaned in to kiss her as he landed a quick smack to her jean covered ass that made her yelp and laugh into his mouth.
“Now we’re talking,” Ben said. He quickly shucked off his own jeans and stepped up behind Erica to unbutton her top, revealing her soft, perfect breasts. He gently pulled back her wrists, using her top as a makeshift rope to bind them behind her. “How do you want it tonight, baby?”
Leo could tell from the quick increase in her breathing that she was in the mood for something a little edgier than “sweet” tonight.
“Mmm, I think I know exactly what our naughty little mate is looking for, don’t I, baby?” He cocked one eyebrow at her, and her eyes grew hooded as she bit down on her lower lip, indicating that she knew exactly the type of evening he had in mind. “Ben, get on the bed, sitting with your back against the headboard. You, my love, strip off those clothes for me, now.
Where to Buy
Evernight Publishing | Amazon US | Amazon CA | Bookstrand
About the Authors
Maia Dylan lives, loves and works in beautiful New Zealand. She married her best friend and they have two adorable, but stubborn children who obviously take after their father.
Maia’s career has featured a lot of travel, and she has filled her time at airports and in the air with books, books and more books. Her love of erotic paranormal romance has seen her amass a huge library. She has been an avid reader and lover of ménage romances since she read her first book in this genre about three years ago.
Outside of writing, Maia loves to eat, so she loves to cook! Her herb garden is legendary, but she still has issues getting tomatoes to grow. She’s been a performer for years, and has even sung on international stages, she would love to own a classic Ford Mustang one day and of course have the opportunity to race it on a race track without fear of a speeding ticket.
Although ultimately her dream is to be able to write full time on a sandy beach with a Mai Tai at hand, she is quite happy to fit her writing in when she can. As long as someone reads her books, gets a laugh and maybe come to love her characters and much as she does, then she feels that she is living her dreams no matter what!
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Sarah Marsh was born in British Columbia where she still lives. She has only recently began her writing career, finding it the perfect outlet for taking the edge off a nine to five office job. She’s been a science fiction and romance junkie for years and when her imagination started to take the characters she’d read about even further in their adventures, she decided to try writing something of her own.
Sarah’s also a former pastry chef and spends a lot of time cooking and baking for friends and family as well as painting and knitting. Her biggest weaknesses are animals of any kind … she even loves the ones that wake you up at four in the morning because they can almost see the bottom of their food dish.
When it comes to life in general, she’s a big believer that laughter is the best medicine and that there’s no such thing as too much love, which is why she’s such a sucker for a happy ending.
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Elena Kincaid is an award winning author. She writes Erotic Paranormal and Contemporary MFM and MF Romances. She developed a passion for reading and writing at an early age and loves to write what she loves to read and that is usually romance with a paranormal twist. Her desk is constantly cluttered with journals, sticky notes, and torn out pieces of paper full of ideas.
She was born in Ukraine and raised in New York, where she currently lives with her daughter. She graduated college with a BFA in creative writing and In addition to writing, she also started a graphic design business a few years after graduating. When not working, Elena loves to spend time with her family, travel the globe, curl up with a good book, and catch up on her soaps.
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An update, because I know you love those
This has been one fraught week, angels. Last week, Ramón learned that his mom had broken her thigh bone (ironically, it happened in the doctor’s office which she was visiting to determine why her leg hurt). She was taken to the hospital and received multiple scans, after which it was determined that she needed surgery to install a plate on the thigh bone to hold everything in place.
And then a consultant took a closer look at the scans to figure out what was causing the pain in the first place. He discovered a tumor. More were found, and suddenly we went into full “Get Ramón back home to see his mom NOW” mode, which was complicated by work duties and a very welcome house guest who just happened to show up at a difficult time. But the house guest is now on her way, the work duties have been fulfilled, Ramón is packed and I’ll be schlepping him to the airport in a couple of hours, and he’ll be landing in the UK tomorrow. Any good thoughts/prayers/white light/whatever you have directed to a very nice lady in Chesterfield would be quite appreciated at the moment.
In other news, I posted polls on Facebook and Twitter to ask people what series they would like me to work on next. To my surprise and gratification it turned out that Olympic Cove was the clear winner, so I’ve put the Pacifica Rising and Two Thrones books on hold and am back at work on Cross Current (Book 4). I hope to have that off to Evernight by the end of May, so for everyone who’s been waiting for the continuing adventures of the gods, mermen, disciples, and other residents of Olympic Cove and their battle against the Mad Goddess Thetis, you’ve got something good on the way!
Wicked Wednesday Reads: Atonement
Welcome to another edition of Wicked Wednesday Reads, angels! Today I’m here with Lydia Michaels and Allyson Young’s smouldering new ménage romance Atonement (Degrees of Separation 3), now available from purveyors of fine erotic romance. Take it away, ladies!
Beaten but not defeated, Austin faces his demons, encouraged by the return of his wife, December, and his best friend Cord’s constant presence. While accepting December’s feelings for Cord, Austin discovers some unprecedented emotions of his own… Pandora’s Box doesn’t close as easily as it opens.
Cord has kept a lifelong secret. But as his non-traditional love for Austin is exposed, he’s unprepared to trust his friends’ affection. Released from a self-imposed, emotional prison, he’s rewarded with both the man and woman of his dreams—yet he still harbors reservations.
December attempts to find a balance in her departure from conventional life and discovers new degrees of happiness intimacy in the non-traditional. With two men to love, her every need is met. But is she woman enough to satisfy their demanding hearts?
Story Excerpt
Cord shoved up from the bed and faced him. “Is it out of your system?”
“Is what out of my system?”
“Whatever you felt last night—and this morning.”
His mind halted at the fork in the road. Go right and everything went away, no therapy needed, no repeat performance. Turn left and… This time his mouth cooperated and the truth emerged. “No, it’s not out of my system.”
Cord drew back, surprise and something else written on his face. “Really?”
He dropped his gaze, unable to match Cord’s steady stare.
Although he commanded his household and ran several crews on the job, he couldn’t seem to out-master Cord when it came to this. This new dynamic between them he’d yet to name.
It wasn’t a simple step down from the top either. Every time he deferred to Cord it scraped and bruised, though maybe not as much as he might have thought. Sort of like a new pair of boots, uncomfortable at first, but with the promise of more support later.
Though he was still processing, he could at least confess he wasn’t giving up. “Really.”
His heart jogged into a gallop as Cord stepped closer, the soft press of his rough fingers on Austin’s chin made him flinch.
“Easy…”
Austin breathed through his nose as Cord leaned closer. How was he so natural about this? He held his breath as warm lips traced the stubble of his jaw. And damn his dick for firming up the second he breathed Cord in.
The heat of his friend’s body warmed him, his mind cataloguing every nuance. The wiry feel of another man’s chest hair. The sheer breadth and height of him. His earthy scent, so unlike Ember’s. His pure masculinity was suddenly alluring, when a day ago it was merely admirable.
Fuck.
His neck stiffened as Cord’s hand fit around his nape.
“It’s okay,” Cord whispered, leaning closer.
At the first brush of his lips, Austin panicked and made to jerk away but Cord’s steady gaze and strong grip calmed his instinct to flee. The heated press of his firm kiss slipped past his guard and Austin’s eyes drifted shut.
A dark, throbbing need took hold as he wrestled to deny how right it felt to taste another man. Not just any man. Cord.
Where to Buy
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks
About the Authors
Lydia Michaels
Lydia Michaels is the award winning author of 30 romance novels. Her novels from the darkly compelling Surrender Trilogy were iBooks Bestsellers and her work has been featured in USA Today. In 2015 she was the winner of The Best of Bucks Award and she has been nominated as Best Author in the Happenings Magazine two years running [2015 & 2016]. She is a four time nominee for the prestigious RONE Award. Her books are intellectual, emotional, haunting, always centered around love.
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Allyson Young
Allyson lives in cottage country, Manitoba, Canada with her husband of many years and numerous pets. She has written for many years and after reading an erotic romance, quite by mistake, decided to try her hand at penning one. A best selling Amazon author, she has now published three series and several stand alones in contemporary, sci fi, fantasy and suspense genres, as well as several novels under a different pen name. Allyson will write until whatever is inside is satisfied, until the heroes man up and the heroines get what they deserves. Love isn’t always sweet, and Allyson favours the darker side of romance.
Nicola Cameron Writes 