This week, I’ll pre-order a copy of my Berkley Heat erotic/contemporary/suspense Release (comes out Feb. 2) to one commenter this week at my blog. (Any blog entry comment qualifies you). And just a reminder that I’ll be previewing my video for Release next week and giving away one advanced manuscript of Release.
His need for her was so absolute, he agreed to share her with another man in order to possess her.
Genny loved her husband Max, but something was missing—a sexual charge that was instead ignited by his business partner, Sean. He was ruggedly handsome, with a heart-stopping smile and a slow, sexy New Orleans drawl that made Genny weak. The more time they spent together, the stronger the attraction between them became and when her husband offered to share her with Sean for one intoxicating night, both Genny and Sean were too tempted to refuse.
That night in the company penthouse, Max and Sean showed Genny the heights of ecstasy. But it was Sean who scored her very spirit, and one-on-one, they were red hot. But as Genny learns, there’s a price to pay for such impulsive pleasure. What began as a night of forbidden desire spirals into a whirlpool of murder, sensual submission, secrets, and a scorching passion that threatens to consume everyone it touches.
Excerpt
The blonde woman cried out in agonized pleasure as her orgasm notched back up again to its original potent blast.
Genevieve must have whimpered in mixed misery and arousal, because suddenly Sean’s head whipped around.
The woman continued to keen and moan while she gushed in climax, and Sean pinned Genevieve with his stare. His fierce, blue-eyed gaze hit her like a bolt of electricity. Her muscles jerked, the harsh movement awakening her from her trance.
The next thing she knew, she was flying blindly down the hallway. She heard him call out to her, his voice sounding flat with incredulity. He called out again, this time sounding closer . . . too near for her to make it all the way to the front door without him overtaking her.
She thought she might shatter into a million pieces if Sean put his hands on her at that moment. She fumbled for the master bedroom door and rushed inside.
“Genny. What the hell—”
His exclamation was cut off when Genevieve slammed the door and swiftly turned the lock. The handle jerked. His hand thumped on the door. She pressed her back against the wood, straining to hear in the taut silence that followed.
“Genny.”
She clamped her burning eyes shut at the softly uttered plea. It must be a hollow-core door, because she could actually hear him quite well. It sounded like he’d spoken with his forehead pressed against the crack between the door and frame. They were only inches apart—
“You picked a hell of a time to come waltzing back into my life,” he said, his low voice vibrating with emotion.
“I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Obviously.”
She licked her tear-spattered lips. For the first time, she realized her face was soaked. She must have been crying for a while now . . . maybe since she’d first heard Sean’s easy drawl resounding from the depths of the penthouse.
“Go away, Sean.” Her heart thundered in her ears in the pause that followed. The door gave slightly, as though he’d just pushed himself off it.
“I was here first.”
“You can go straight to hell second, boy.”
His chuckle sounded appreciative . . . amused.
Sad.
“Just give me a minute to tell her good-bye.” For a second, she thought he’d walked away, but then his deep voice penetrated the crack of the door again.
“Are you okay? Did something happen?”
She stared at the enormous king-sized bed in front of her—the bed where the three of them had become drunk on pleasure three years ago.
Did something happen? She’d say it had.
Genevieve had been forever changed on the night Max had offered his young wife to his super-sharp, second-hand man . . . the night she’d burned beneath Sean’s touch.
“I’m fine,” she said blankly, her eyes glued to the bed as vivid memories played before her mind’s eye . . . memories brought to the forefront by being in the room where it’d all happened.
“Yeah, right,” she heard him reply wryly.
“Will you just leave me alone?”
“That’s likely.”
This time, she sensed for certain that he’d walked away. A minute later she still hadn’t moved. They passed within feet of her.
“You’re acting very rudely,” the woman accused petulantly as she moved down the hallway.
“Yeah, I’ve been told I have a problem with that,” Sean replied evenly.
“Is there someone here? Who were you talking to?”
But then their voices faded. She heard the front door open and shut, and knew Sean was escorting the female out of the tight Sauren-Kennedy Solutions security. He’d get her a cab. He may have grown up poor, friendless, and fatherless, one of the ‘conduct disordered’ terrors of the mean streets of New Orleans, but Sean’s manners were impeccable.
Genevieve still hadn’t moved when he returned a few minutes later. She stood stock-still, her back against the door like she thought she was on the penthouse’s window ledge with the city looming below her toes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the handle turn. He spoke softly again near the crack in the closed door.
“You’d better open up, girl. You don’t really think that excuse of a lock is gonna keep me from you, do you?”
Her pulse threatened to leap right off her neck. She’d never heard him call another female gull, his drawl softening the “r” until it was only barely audible.
The sound of it on his tongue had always felt like a caress.
She spun around and flipped the lock. Her gaze remained fixed on the carpet as she stormed past him. She grabbed the bag she’d dropped in the foyer and reached for the handle on the front door. His hand rose behind her, shutting the door with a precise snap.
“What happened?”
“What makes you think something happened?” she asked irritably. She was hyperaware of him just inches away, leaning down over her. Heat resonated off his body.
“Don’t, Genny. Haven’t you punished me enough by avoiding me all this time? You know I’d never have wanted you to see what you just saw. Not in a million years.”
Her soughing breath was the only thing that broke the silence that followed. Her chin dropped to her chest.
She did know it. She may have her doubts about him, but she knew instinctively Sean Kennedy would never purposefully hurt her.
The havoc he’d wreaked unintentionally on her life was another matter altogether.
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I’ve read every Sherlock Holmes story. When I was twelve, I say Leonard Nimoy play Sherlock at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago, and he was brilliant. I adored Jeremy Brett’s quirky, raptor-like BBC Sherlock. The thing about Sherlock that fascinates me is he’s…well, screwed up, let’s face it. He’s a self-centered, cocaine-injecting genius. I’m thinking Robert Downey Jr. is a pretty damn good candidate, and I can’t wait to see what they do with Dr. Watson’s character. One thing is for sure, it’s not going to be a typical portrayal.
So…anyway…I have a weekend winner for Holiday Bound!! The random number generator says the winner is number 12, Eva S! Eva, write me from the address where you want your e-book copy of Holiday Bound sent to, and I’ll return the email with your free advanced copy of HOLIDAY BOUND! (bethkery@aol.com) Thanks to everyone for ‘playing’!
#24, Cecile! Cecile, contact me over the weekend with your address, and I’ll send you a copy of Dirty, Moonlight and Mistletoe and Fiona’s Dragonslayer!! www.bethkery@aol.com.
How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was relaxing and very nice.
I’m going to be away for much of the weekend, but I have a short novel coming out from Samhain on December 1 called HOLIDAY BOUND. I’ll give away one copy to a random commenter here next Monday! Read a NEW excerpt below.
HOLIDAY BOUND
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic
Length: Short Novel
Release date: December 1, 2009
Price: 4.50
The Oedipal Complex has never been so sexy…
Alex Carradine can’t believe his father wants to come and visit his ski resort. Could it be that after so many stormy years, “slick Mitch” Carridine wants to offer an olive branch? Maybe the old man is mellowing, settling down with the new lover he’s bringing along.
Then Alex realizes the acid truth. This is no warm family visit. His father’s latest conquest is none other than the woman of Alex’s sexual fantasies, meant only to dangle tauntingly in front of his face. At least an unexpected blizzard has frozen his father out of the picture entirely.
Angeline Kastakis was looking forward to taking the next step in her relationship with Mitch. Too late she realizes she’s been led into a familial battle zone. Now it’s Christmas and she’s marooned in a blizzard with an insolent, gorgeous hunk of man whose blazing blue eyes tell her loud and clear he wants her in his bed. Preferably tied to it with a bow.
There’s no escape in sight. But as Alex stirs her secret longing to be mastered by a man, escape is the last thing on her mind…
Excerpt:
She jumped slightly when, after several moments, he spoke.
“Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.”
For a few cowardly seconds, Angeline considered pretending she was asleep. But Alex was nothing if he wasn’t honest. She found she had no interest in playing games with him.
“Yeah,” she murmured, unmoving.
“I don’t have a Christmas tree here. There’s a big one up at Heavenly View.”
Angeline opened her eyes and stared as snowflakes danced around the dark window, their frantic movement calling to mind her rapidly skipping heart.
“A real one?”
“Yeah. A fifteen-foot Douglass Fir. I cut it down myself. Put it up in the Great Room of the Lodge. Macy—she’s the manager of the hotel—complained that she found a couple birds’ nests in it when she was decorating.”
Angeline imagined his shapely lips, set off to perfection by the short, dark goatee, tilting into a small smile. She recalled how she’d wondered if he could keep an employee, his manner was so surly.
But he sounded like he was fond of Macy the Manager. Maybe it was just Angeline who brought out the worst in him? Wasn’t that all the more reason for her to enjoy a casual conversation with him?
Only it wasn’t casual. Nothing about her interaction with Alex Carradine had been casual since he’d first barked at her while she sat in the SUV. Angeline knew all that, but she couldn’t stop herself from trying to make a connection with him, no matter how tenuous that connection was.
“My mom and dad put a real one up every year. They smell so good. I went with my dad every year to cut it down until I went to college,” she said in a hushed voice.
“What about your place in the city?”
“I put up a small one. Fake. I still like it, though. My mother gives me an ornament on Christmas Day. It’s a tradition. So I like to put them up every year. This will be the first year I’m not spending Christmas with my parents.”
“You were going to spend it with my dad, instead.”
The flames crackled in the taut silence that followed. If she’d let herself think about what she said next, she’d never have done it in a million years. But she wasn’t thinking. As she lay there in front of that fire with Alex, she was just feeling. And she was doing it more than she’d ever done in her thirty years of existence.
“Alex?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve never slept with your father.”
Sweat popped on her brow in the strained silence that followed. She felt a drop of it run between her breasts. How could she possibly have been nearly frozen less than an hour ago when her flesh now throbbed with heat? She closed her eyes when she felt his hand on her shoulder.
He rolled her onto her back. She opened her eyes. He’d scooted over in his sleeping bag and leaned down over her, bracing himself on his elbow. She stared, mesmerized, at flame-gilded muscle. His face looked rigid and stark as he stared down at her.
Something fell into place deep inside her, like the last tumbler turning to spring a lock.
“Angeline?”
“Yes.”
She groaned at the impact of his mouth taking possession of her own. She’d thought she was hot, but Alex was fire itself, his sleek tongue a fierce, demanding flame. A fever possessed her, burning away rational thought.
Hi all! Happy Thanksgiving Eve to fellow U.S.er’s. I’m writing and cooking today, so I’m on the computer a lot. As a result, I’m throwing an impromptu party at my yahoo group, Total Exposure and giving away two advanced e-copies of my Christmas-themed, super hot short novel from Samhain, Holiday Bound! I talked to Fiona, and she agreed to join the fun, so she’s offering up two giveaways of Dragonslayer today as well. (Both are e-books).
If you aren’t a member of Total Exposure already, here’s an invite to join. This isn’t a high volume chat group, but the people are very friendly and we do have a lot of fun. I won’t be offended if you go on digest or special announcements after the chat. Here’s the link to join Total Exposure.
Hope to see you, but if I don’t, Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to come back on Friday to see who won three books, including Fiona Jayde’s Dragonslayer! I’m also giving away another e-copy of HOLIDAY BOUND over the weekend, so plenty of chances to win with books.
Griall must find the woman who can release him from his curse before he
becomes a Death Beast like his father. Even if the man inside him craves
the Dragon Slayer’s touch, he knows she must destroy the beast who
shares his skin before it’s too late.
A Slayer’s Pride
*Xara cannot escape the lie upon which her life is built. A Slayer who
has never fought a dragon, she’ll never feel feel strong enough to be
the one Griall seeks. Surely, a Slayer wouldn’t allow herself to love a
beast! Xara must find a Slayer’s power to kill this dragon before his
curse destroys them both.
Excerpt:
She couldn’t breathe with his hands on her, couldn’t think with him this close. A dragon. An enemy. Her body did not care.
“Don’t touch me.”
He gave her a mocking, lethal smile. “What will you do to make me stop?”
She plowed her fist into his face, heard the crack of bone. Watched as that sensual mouth bled, those light eyes narrowed. Surely he’d shift into the dragon now. His scales, his teeth would cool the lust inside her belly.
She willed him to turn into the beast. Lifted a fist again. Froze mid-swing when he pulled her toward him, tumbling them both onto the grass. She rolled on top of him, struggling to push his arms over his head. The fire in her belly flared as she cradled him between her thighs, the heat of his arousal hot and urgent against her.
She arched toward him, as forbidden pleasure coiled. While her head screamed stop, arousal bloomed inside her as she struggled, pushing herself into him, wanting more, needing more contact.
Her hands were now above her head, his heat fueling the tension gripping every muscle. Watching her eyes, Griall took his weight off her, eased to the side, claimed both her wrists in one large fist while she struggled to breathe, to calm, to think.
Slowly, his free hand traveled up, those clever fingers brushing over her lips, tracing a dark path over her neck.
Hey there, how was your weekend? Mine was quiet, but productive.
Here we go again; the winner of last week’s Beth’s Book Give Away–Angela–did not claim her prize. Angela, I hope you’ll continue to visit and try to win. I know we all lead busy lives, which is why I loved Natasha’s fabulous tutorial (below) on how to use Google Reader over the weekend to help you track the blogs you love and the contests you have entered. Check it out if you haven’t already and show Natasha some love for her hard work.
I am very excited to say that I was lucky enough to get the most awesome, amazing, rocking video for my upcoming erotic contemporary/suspense, RELEASE, which comes out on Feb 2, 2009. Check out its debut here at my blog on Monday, Dec. 7, when I will also be giving away an ARC of RELEASE. :) (I’m so dang excited, both about this video, done by LEAF Book production–ever heard of it?–and for this book to come out, as well). I’m also looking forward to getting into the Christmas spririt next week–sexy Christmas spirit, of course–with the release of HOLIDAY BOUND from Samhain on Dec 1. I’ll be doing a special weekend giveaway of HOLIDAY BOUND over the weekend after the announcement of this week’s winner, so check it out.
On Friday, check out who has one the ROLLOVER prize of Moonlight and Mistletoe, Dirty and the book of the week….a download of good friend Fiona Jayde’s Novemeber release: Dragonslayer!Usually you qualifty to win Beth’s Book Give Away if you comment on any blog here during the week, but this week only, to comment to qualify to win THREE great books, please leave Fi a comment on her sexy, action packed new novella, Dragonslayer. Up next, a blurb and video (which Fiona did herself, of course; she’s a gifted artist in addition to being a talented writer).
It’s Friday, and that means the announcement of Beth’s Weekly Book Giveaway. GLORIA, if you write me between now and Monday morning at bethkery@aol.com, I will send you a copy of BOTH Mistletoe and Moonlight and Dirty!
You may have noticed that prizes go unclaimed occasionally at blogs. :) Luckily, Natasha is here to tell you how you can keep track of all your favorite blogs with a few clicks. My huge thanks to Natasha for putting together this easy to use article for using Google Reader. Hope you guys find it as helpful and informative as I did.
Take it away Natasha…
**************
Hi All! Beth asked me to write up a post for you all, after I made a comment about my love for Google Reader.
Google Reader is a web based tool that allows you to follow updates on some of your favourite sites. In order for the Reader to follow a site, it must have either a RSS or Atom feed (don’t ask me what that means! I just know a site needs it in order to follow it!). Wikipedia has a nice little write up about Google Reader here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Reader
To get an account, go to http://google.com/reader. If you already have a Google account, just log in. If you don’t already have one, then it should just take a few minutes to get through the process of creating one.
I use Google Reader to follow all of the blogs and websites I enjoy reading. I am following author blogs, review sites, crafty people, local news stations, and others. Whenever there is a new update, it appears in my subscription feed. Many of the blogs I follow have contests, and that is how this post came to be. In my comment to Beth, I said:
What did I mean by this? Well, it means that I was notified in Google Reader, as soon as Beth posted who the winner was to last week’s contest. The only time this doesn’t work, and you need to remember to go back and check, is when a blogger modifies a post instead of making a new one.
So, this is what Google Reader looks like:
Here is a quick explanation of the sections I have numbered in the picture.
1. This is where you add a subscription.
2. These are new items in your feed.
3. Here, you will see the subscriptions I am subscribed to. I currently have it set to show only UNREAD items. You can set it so that it shows all of your subscriptions.
4. This is a list of YOUR recent activity. Items that I have *Starred* (Basically I like this post, and want to be able to find it later), items I have shared with my contacts, recently read, etc.You can also see here that I have put all of my items into different folders. I have Books, Craft, Cute, Food, Learning, News, Toronto, etc. You can create as many as you want, and organize any way you want.
So, how do you know if you can follow a certain site or blog? Well, there are a couple of ways to check. When I first started using a reader, I would just grab a URL and see if I could follow it. Later I discovered that if a site has this symbol: it was followable. You can find this on the address bar of your web browser.
(Side note: sometimes, even if a site doesn’t have that symbol, you can still follow it)
You can then copy and paste the URL into the “Add a Subscription” button in Google Reader itself. Once you have done that, you can select the folder you want to place it in. At the bottom of the Feed settings drop down, there is an option for New folder, if you need to add another folder you don’t already have.
Other things you will see on this page:
Mark all as read – Sometimes, it just gets to be too much, and you have 100’s of unread posts… and you just need to make the cut. Mark all as read, will do exactly that, mark the post as having read it.
Previous item/Next item – This allows you to jump posts
I think I will leave it at that. Those are the basics (I think!). If you have any questions, just leave a comment and I will be around to answer them.
Time to share something pretty. Check out Lea’s new sprout for friend Julie Jame’s upcoming book, Something About You.
Very nice job, Lea, and Julie, splendid cover. I’m thinking the sprouts for Something About You and Release would look pretty together with all the gray and pink. :)
Here’s a bit about Something About You
FATE HAS THROWN TWO SWORN ENEMIES. . .
Of all the hotel rooms rented by all the adulterous politicians in Chicago, female Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had to choose the one next to 1308, where some hot-and-heavy lovemaking ends in bloodshed. And of all the FBI agents in Illinois, it had to be Special Agent Jack Pallas who gets assigned to this high-profile homicide. The same Jack Pallas who still blames Cameron for a botched crackdown three years ago—and nearly ruining his career…
. . .INTO EACH OTHER’S ARMS
Work with Cameron Lynde? Are they kidding? Maybe, Jack thinks, this is some kind of welcome-back prank after his stint away from Chicago. But it’s no joke: the pair is going to have to put their rocky past behind them and focus on the case at hand. That is, if they can cut back on the razor-sharp jibes—and smother the flame of their sizzling-hot sexual tension…
Happy Monday! First off, I’m sad to say that last week’s book–Moonlight and Mistletoe–was not claimed by the winner. As a result, this week, one lucky commenter will win BOTH Moonlight and Mistletoeand Dirty. (Now that’s an interesting combination of books, and even more interesting when you consider they both come from Harlequin lines)!! Remember, all you have to do is comment on my blog at least once this week, one entry per person, although you can comment as often as you like. The winner will be announced on Friday afternoon. To claim your prize, you need to write me at bethkery@aol.com over the weekend, or the book will roll over to the following week.
Next up–I finally got my cover for Holiday Bound!! Yee Haw! It comes out in two weeks from Samhain Publishing. If you’d like to know more, check out the link to the excerpt. So…what do you think?
I’ve long respected a story that isn’t just enthralling, but that really pulls at your heartstrings and makes you think about the vistas of life and your own potential.
This week, I’m going to try something different for the Beth’s Book of the Week Giveaway. I’ll give away a copy of talented author Megan Hart’s book, Dirty, to one person who comments along with a link to a video or short documentary to something that touched you. There’s no specifics here, it might be a music video, an old movie clip or a news documentary…anything, really, that moved you and you feel comfortable sharing. like this one I saw recently: (Page down to CNN video).
(Please note, that I reserve the right to delete any links that are not sent in the spirit of this post, or that potentially would offend a majority of the readers).
So…that’s the challenge, here’s the book if you choose to take it!
I met him at the candy store. He turned around and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children’s candy store, mind you — this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss’s wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Milwaukee. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
I’ve been hit on plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears. Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake.
The problem with wanting is that it’s like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don’t apologize for who I am or what I’ve done in — or out — of bed. I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven’t wanted anything else.
Until Dan. Until now.
Find out more about Megan and her books here.
Purchase Dirty here.
it was followable. You can find this on the address bar of your web browser.
