Thursday, November 10, 2011

Celebrating the release of Hotblooded & a GIVEAWAY!




Have you ever done something spontaneous and really regretted it? Or have you done something crazy and later felt it was the best move you could have made?





I’m not a super spontaneous person by nature. Mostly because I over-think stuff. I go through all the what-ifs and usually talk myself out of anything that isn’t rational and well-planned.




But, (you knew there was a but right?) there was this one time…
(a lot of really great stories start this way :))




There was this guy (of course it’s about a guy) and we’d been friends for a long time. A LONG time… six years actually. And it had never crossed into “that” territory. But there was always this vibe between us. So one night, after we’d gone to play together (no, I don’t remember which one), we were in the car in the parking lot of my apartment complex and I got up the nerve to kiss him. I didn’t think about it, I didn’t second-guess it, I just did it.
When I pulled back I said, “I think we should be more than friends.” He blinked, a bit stunned, and said “Me, too.”



Seven months later we were engaged.


That spontaenous kiss was eighteen years ago.



Yeah, maybe I should be spontaneous more often.




In my new release, Hotblooded, my heroine also acts spontaneously but it’s within minutes of meeting the hero. And almost immediately she’s sure it was a Really Bad Idea. But, by the end of the book, I think she changes her mind :). See what I mean…






She opened her mouth to tell him that she didn’t have a boss, thank you very much, when a brilliant realization struck. He didn’t know who she was. He thought she was— Well, she wasn’t really sure, but it didn’t matter.





She stared at the big hand holding ice against her knee.




He didn’t know who she was. He was a complete stranger. Not from here.




And she wanted to kiss him.




It was a thought completely contrary to what she was used to allowing herself to think. It wasn’t that she never had crazy, it’s-a-really-bad-idea-but-wouldn’t-it-be-great thoughts and impulses. But she was very good at resisting them. She’d had years of practice.




At the moment, however, it was very, very tempting to give in to it and worry about the consequences later.




It had been so long since she’d been spontaneous. So long since she’d had a chance to be. And it would be a long time before she had another chance. That fact reared its ugly head almost daily as she manned the clinic that her late husband had stuck her with in the last place on earth she wanted to be.




The moments were rare when she could crank up the music, put on her comfy clothes and let go. She always did so at the risk of someone finding out and disapproving.




But this guy was a salesman, passing through, on to the next town and the next potential sale by dinnertime. No one would know if she kissed him. Sure, he might talk about it to his buddies at the gym tomorrow or the next day, but no one in Honey Creek would know.




It gave her a little adrenaline rush just thinking about it.




She could French kiss the big, good-looking stranger right here in the clinic, right at the front desk
. Just imagining the shocked look on the faces of people in town made her want to do it. She knew the rebellious streak she’d inherited from her mother was some of her trouble here in Honey Creek, but just like telling a dieter they had to avoid cheesecake at all costs, the more forbidden it was, the more tempting she found it.




Just to test the waters, Brooke put her hands behind her on the seat of the chair and leaned back slightly, keeping her elbows straight.




“My boss won’t be back for a while,” she said. And it was true. The level-headed, do-the-right-thing Brooke she’d turned into over the past few years seemed to have stepped out for the time being.




He glanced up, and she was gratified to see that his eyes didn’t immediately make it past her breasts, which were thrust forward against the soft cotton of her tank top. And, in the spirit of really letting go, she wasn’t wearing a bra.




She watched him swallow hard and noticed that the hand on her knee seemed to have forgotten its job as the ice pack slipped to one side.




This was exactly the kind of thing she usually worked so hard to avoid. She’d inherited her mama’s looks, body and love of men. She could only assume that her self-control came from her father.




She’d never met any of the three men that could have supplied the other half of her DNA, but Brooke sure as hell hadn’t gotten any modesty or sense of appropriateness from Dixie. Still, it did do a woman’s ego some good to have a man—especially one like Jack Silver, who no doubt had women clamoring and strutting for his attention all the time—give her some good old fashioned lookin’-good-honey attention.




“My knee is feeling a lot better. You have the touch,” she said, her voice a little throaty without even trying. Flirting and teasing were natural for her—another Donovan trait. It was resisting it that had always been the challenge.




His eyes found her face and he gave her a half grin. “So I’ve been told.”




Oh, I just bet you have, she thought, as a little tingle in her stomach responded to that cocky grin.




“Are you married?” she asked. If he’d been around as many blocks as she was guessing, he’d know where that question came from.




He definitely didn’t react as if the question was odd. “Nope.” His hand remembered her knee then, but he let the ice pack slip to the floor and let his palm begin warming the skin as he kneaded the joint gently.




She didn’t ask about a girlfriend. She wasn’t planning on keeping him, after all, or even compromising him too much. It was just a little kissing. But she most definitely drew the line at married men, no matter how they made her knee feel.




Her skin was quickly regaining its ability to sense heat.




She pulled her foot from where it rested on his thigh, sitting forward on the chair seat.




He seemed reluctant to stop touching her and his hand slid down and around to the back of her calf where it began a slow, seductive stroking up and down.




“Gay?” she asked. Not that she cared. She was going to kiss him anyway. He just might not enjoy it as much as she would.




He laughed and stroked his fingers into the dip behind her bent knee, pressing gently and making heat zing through her.




“No.”




She leaned forward until her elbows rested on her knees and her face was less than an inch from his. “You do this kind of thing a lot?” she whispered.




His eyes dropped to her lips and she felt anticipation and awareness shimmy through her. He knew exactly what kind of thing she was talking about.




His breath was hot on her mouth as he whispered back, “Does it really matter?”




Then he kissed her.





Now tell me about a time you were spontaneous—for better or worse—and get entered to win a copy of the book! I’ll draw from all comments on Saturday! (Be sure to include your e-mail address!!)

Hotblooded is out now! You can find it in all e-formats at Samhain Publishing, Amazon, and all other major retailers!

12 comments:

Arianne said...

Time when I was spontaneous... Okay, when I was still going out with my ex, we decided to drive to San Diego out of nowhere. We decided to go to Horton plaza to check out some stores but ended up not going because suddenly, we had a craving for the 7-Eleven cappuccino. We literally went AROUND walking (did I mention I was wearing high heels? they were wedges so I was okay), I don't even know how many blocks we hit, until we found it. After we bought our cappuccinos, we set off to go back to the car and go home. Then we realized... 7-Eleven was right across the parking structure. How could we have missed that?!! It was one of the best times we had :)

email: cruz042@ csusm. edu

Eva's Flowers said...

I haven't done a whole lot as an adult, but I remember when I was in grade school, I hung around a group of 3 girls, they were Spanish speaking, so the whole school year it almost felt like they didn't want me to hang around my English speaking friends, so one day, I decided to not hang around with them and spent the day with my other friends...they didn't speak to me after that. I felt hurt, but in the long run, I met my bestie at the end of that school year and 30 yrs. later we are still friends! :)

Eva
evitap67(at)gmail(dot)com

Anonymous said...

ive got nothing :(

reginamayross@gmail.com

The Brunette Librarian said...

So this doesn't deal with my love life...but I spontaneously bought a car once. Saw it on a Thursday night...drove to the car dealership Friday morning and picked it up. I didn't get it for anything other than to be cute and for me to look cute in it. A wonderful thing...if a little costly!

rachie2004 AT yah00 *d8t* c0m

elaing8 said...

I am not spontaneous at all. I never have been and doubt I ever will be.
So I'm with Regina..I got Nothing :)

elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net

Na said...

Happy Anniversary to your blog! It's not everyday I am sponaneous but there was one time I decided to just chop my hair! This being odd because I like having medium to longer air and tying it back. I cut it so short I could barely tie it and though I liked the lighter weight of it I wanted my hair back. Thankfully it grew quickly. I tend to live spontaneously via books.

Cambonified(at)yahoo(dot)com

Jen B. said...

I am not a spontaneous person. Heck, I even like to check out restaurant menus before I leave the house so I can decide in advance. Probably the most spontaneous thing I have ever done was deciding where I wanted to go on my honeymoon with the man I am now married to. Thing is, we weren't engaged at the time. In fact, we weren't even dating. One day, while he was helping me study world geography, we just decided on the perfect honeymoon for us to take. Of course, it was another 9 years before we were able to plan it and afford it but it was worth the wait (we actually wend for our 5th anniversary).
jepebATverizonDOTnet

PG Forte said...

Spontaneity is good, but blogger seems to be biased against it. This is the third time I'm trying to leave a comment. lol! Anyway, love the book and the "first kiss" story. Congrats again on another fabulous release!

Erin Nicholas said...

What is with all the funky spaces in the post? :) Thanks all for stopping by!

All you un-sponataneous girls are cracking me up with your "I got nothin'"! I'm waiting for some of the Nine to fess up. I'm thinking PG, Juniper, Sky and Kinsey have some stories of being spontaneous! Kate, Kelly, Syd and Meg are much too level-headed and sensible. ;) Ha!

Erin

Anonymous said...

Well I'm a little odd, spontaneity and me usually occurs by a logical pattern. I think about it decide I want to do/try it then figure out how I can do it safely. This thought pattern is completed all in under a minute, and usually I do things just for the experience. Such as skydiving, did it found it cold and uncomfortable, so I won't do it again -of course the height thing wasn't an issue for me or the jumping from a plane-
So I'm logically spontaneous and most things I do purely for the experience. Which will probably get me in a lot of trouble one day, or more likely not since I'm a control freak and always have some way out of everything.

i-ve-b61AThotmailDOTcom

fcammer2 said...

I was spontaneous once and got a second piercing in my ears. Ended up getting infected and I had to let them grow back. LOL!

Erin Nicholas said...

Hi all!

reginamayross@gmail.com was chosen as the winner!!

Regina, I've e-mailed you! :)

Thanks for stopping and commenting everyone!
Erin