I’m there talking about holiday plans. Drop by, if you can, to share yours! ~DD
The link: Access Romance

I’m late posting, but the drama’s done for the day.

This morning we buried little Karmen.

My daughter, who’s as much of a night owl as I am, called me over for a cup of Barry’s tea last night. We sat on the stoop and watched the little dog as she did her business. We lost sight of her in the shadows next to the fence. When we got up to call her back, I saw her in front of the gate at the driveway. As I headed back into the house for my shoes to chase after her, I heard a truck barreling down the road. It was midnight. I’m sure we woke the neighbors calling after our little dog who had never, ever approached the road before. My daughter checked around the house while I headed straight for the road with a flashlight, heart in my mouth. I saw a shadow. Hoped that was all it was. But the closer I got, I recognized her little bat ears (she was half French Bulldog, half chihuahua) and the pretty little purple sweater she wore. She lay on her side in the center of the road, her belly split. Entrails spilling out. I know. TMI. But I can’t get the sight out of my head. I wanted to spare my daughter, but she was right behind me as I kept saying, “No, no, no.”

I picked up the remains, grasping Karmen at the scruff of the neck. She’d died instantly. That much was a blessing. We placed her in a box until this morning. Then my father dug a grave. A very small grave.

Karmen was a rescue dog. She’d been found in a shed with two hundred other dogs, living in a small cage with a foot of feces pushed against the sides. She’d been in four rescue homes before she found my daughter who had the patience to potty train her. She was the happiest, sweetest dog. We’ll miss her. I don’t think either of us could feel more regret, more guilt. Nor can we stop crying.

Very quickly, let me close out the last of the Cat Tails contests. The winner is announced at the bottom of this post.

I have my marching orders. I know what has to happen next in the story. Thanks for all your help! ~DD

Five days until Bottoms Up!

Coming from Samhain Publishing on December 28th
Pre-order at Amazon
Or Barnes and Noble

Whip me, beat me… feed me!

What’s my kink? Heroes who cook. Give me an alpha in the bedroom who can also serve it up in the kitchen, and I am a happy woman. And a generous woman. I let Destiny Blake, my heroine in Bottoms Up experience this special joy, too. As a sexual Dominant, Destiny isn’t used to letting a man call the shots, but when Dominant bartender Johnny Delcorral challenges her to submit to him for one night, she discovers he’s got skills to spare—and share—in the kitchen, the bedroom and the playroom. One night with him has her begging for more.

Excerpt:

“Sit down.” He pulled her down next to him on the couch, settling her so that her side was pressed against the length of his body. They faced the huge wall screen, now dark. It felt right to be sitting next to him while he fed her bites of cheese and bread with butter. Bizarrely date-like.

“Comic books, huh?” she teased.

“We all have our thing.” His smile was brief. “I need a minute to get dinner on the table.”

He stood and she watched him go into the kitchen, admiring the stretch of his tight black T-shirt across the breadth of his shoulders and the way his slightly frayed black jeans fit his ass. His feet were bare. He seemed comfortable cooking, comfortable having her there.

Perversely, she was uncomfortable. The food smelled great, garlicky and cheesy, but she’d been a walking orgasm waiting to happen since she woke up this afternoon and the ride downtown on her motorcycle had been…interesting, to say the least. Now he was making her wait, and that was making her cranky.

She followed him into the kitchen. “Johnny?”

“Yes?” He stirred the boiling pot of pasta.

“I want to come.”

“How bad?” He didn’t turn around.

“What, like on a scale of one to ten?”

“Sure.”

“About a seven.” She put her hands on her hips.

“You can wait.” He drained the pasta into a colander in the sink and put a large frying pan onto the stove. Fresh tomatoes, basil and a pile of grated Parmesan waited on a cutting board next to the sink.

“I could have taken care of myself at home, you know,” Destiny said.

“Now that would have been a shame.” Heady garlic filled the kitchen as he sautéed it in oil. He added wine to the pan and let it simmer, then added a big chunk of butter. Her mouth began to water again. Next came the pasta, then the basil, tomatoes and cheese.

“I didn’t know you were planning on playing hard to get.” Maybe she would masturbate right here, standing in the middle of his kitchen. That would show him. She fingered the button of her jeans.

His sly glance intercepted her gesture. “Don’t even think about it. I like thinking about you soaking your panties while we’re eating dinner. Are you wet for me, Destiny?”

“Maybe.”

“Show me.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I have a confession to make: I married a chef. Gotta keep my kink well fed, right? *giggle* Do you have a thing for heroes who cook, too? Or have you ever had a memorable meal with a lover? Please share!

If you need some inspiration, I’ve been posting aphrodisiac recipes on my blog (https://mirandabaker.wordpress.com) the entire month of December. Perhaps a little Naughty Hottie Chocolate will hit your spot. Let me know how it works out…

For a chance to win the first author copy of Bottoms Up, enter my contest at (www.mirandabaker.com/Lucky_Pick.html).
Or find me on Facebook or Twitter (@Miranda_Baker) if you just want to chat.

Big thanks to Delilah for letting me kick off my blog tour on her site! Bottoms Up is my first ever release, and I’m really excited about it. It’s the first in a series, appropriately titled Come Again. The second story, SoloPlay, will be released in the spring. I plan to keep the party going for a while, so Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Bottoms Up!

The winner of the Cat Tails poll #3 contest is…Susan R! Susan R, congratulations and email me the email address where you would like the certificate sent!

Psst! Today’s the last day to enter the Cat Tails Poll #3 contest! See Saturday’s post for details!

I know you have those books on your keeper shelf. The ones whose heroes make you hot and purr every time you open the pages and sink into that man. From my keeper shelf there are two heroes I most love.

First, there’s Wolf from Makenzie’s Mountain by Linda Howard. He’s so primal, so intense I melt from the very first line of the story—“He needed a woman. Bad.” He’s native american with a dark mysterious past. And yet he has a son he’s fiercely protective of. Yum!

Then there’s Challen-Ly-San-ter from Johanna Lindsey’s Warrior Woman—Seven feet of studliness and an other world male. So you know the author had license to make him the biggest, the baddest and the sexiest man alive.

Then there are the heroes I’ve personally written. Of my own heroes, whom you might already have read from my books, I would have been most attracted to the following:

Gunnar from Darkness Captured. I love smoldering intensity and a man’s man. Gunnar will save his princess or die. And once he has her, he’s not going to let her say no. Grrrrr….add a little fur (he is a werewolf) and there’s nothing sexier—to me.

Ezra Kinzie from Four Sworn and Breaking Leather. He’s built like a god (I like them big and burly). And his focus is homed with precision on his woman. The fact he’s got to be in charge of every sexual encounter is a huge plus.

You haven’t had a chance to read Ravished by a Viking yet, but my Viking king Dagr, the leader of the Wolfskin clan, would sit well on this list. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll introduce you to Dagr and his universe. I think you’ll fall in love. In the meantime…

Tell me which heroes you’ve written or read you’d most like to do. (They don’t have to be mine. I’m a reader too and am always looking for suggestions!)

Don’t forget! There’s still time to enter your vote on the final Cat Tails poll and win an e-gift certificate! See Saturday’s entry!

What a week! If you haven’t checked out my bog in a while there’s a lot happening. THREE CONTESTS are running right now. Be sure to enter them all. I really appreciate all your help getting the word out about my upcoming print release Ravished by a Viking. I want this book to do well because I would like to continue to write about my Vikings in space. Sounds like a strange concept, but just wait until you read the first book. I really think you’ll be hooked!

This week I finally finished the novella for the Harlequin Bite. The Warrior will be out in June 2011 and is part of the Time Raiders series. I had a terrible time writing that story because I was so burned out with the other two December 1st deadline books (Enslaved by a Viking and Girls Who Bite), but the two extra weeks it took to finish the Bite were well worth it.

In addition, I started a new short novella—a straight to Kindle project. It’s a western, so those of you who love the cowboys won’t have to wait terribly long to see it.

This week is of course the rush to Christmas. I still have a few gifts to buy, but I’m almost there. My sister’s family will be visiting for the holiday. We’ll have a full house, and knowing my sister, we’ll be huddling at the kitchen table brainstorming new projects for the new year.

I’ll be starting my countdown to my two January 4th releases this week. Both Ravished by a Viking and True Heart are set to debut on the same day. Of course, I will have to throw most of my effort toward the Berkley print book. My hope is that you will want them both, but Ravished just has to be a success. It’s my first book for Berkley and I want to write so many more for the publisher. Anything you can do to talk it up to get the pre-orders looking good would be very appreciated. Writing’s hard enough. Selling just isn’t in my skill set. That’s why I have to rely on word-of-mouth. If you love the book and tell someone else about it, then hopefully sales will generate. That sounds crass, but it’s the absolute truth that the first book out the chute will determine my fate. I put my heart and soul into the story. I wrote the kind of hero I fantasize about. I told a rousing tale filled with sex and danger and glittering new worlds. You’ll just have to see. 😉

**Winner announcement at the bottom of this post!**

I’ll be in Little Rock all day Saturday to attend a holiday party with members of my RWA chapter, so I might not get a chance to respond to you all until this evening. Enjoy! ~DD

In December 4th’s blog, I asked three questions I needed answered by you before I could continue writing my free, serialized story, Bad Moon Rising.

Poll #2 is now closed. The answer to the question concerning why Mason didn’t want to participate in The Prowl is:

Mason detests The Prowl and wants to wait for his True Mate.

So now we have the last question. It requires a little set up…

DiDi’s back at her aunt’s place, but she’s curious about the rest of the property. She hadn’t realized the dock existed that extends over the river where she and Mason last had sex before he took her there. Now, she finds a little flat-bottomed boat at the end of the dock and decides to head across the river/bayou to see what’s on the other side.

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I’m offering a $10.00 Amazon.com eCertificate as an incentive to get you to vote. I’d like all the answers to the polls nailed by Tuesday AM. Be sure to POST A COMMENT after you vote so I know who to enter in the contest.

The winner of Cat Tails Poll #2 is…Diane (Thursday’s comment #26)!
Diane, congratulations and email me!

Psst! You still have time to vote on Monday’s poll and enter the contest for the Amazon e-gift. I’ll close it tomorrow. ~DD

I’m honored, Delilah, to be guest blogging for you again today.

With the holiday season upon us, I started thinking about some of how my characters would celebrate Christmas. My heroine in ADDING HEAT, Giselle Sheridan, would be most likely to celebrate and decorate the way I do.

Giselle is a widow in her 40s who struggles to keep her late husband’s landscape business running and her two sons in college. She’s gutsy and determined and open to having a man in her life again, if only she had the time to search for one. So I gave her an early gift — a cougar cub of her very own.

She met CPA Conlan Trowbridge during the busiest season for them both—the week before the income tax deadline of April 15. But of course they find a way to get together.

Both Con and Giselle grew up in a semi-rural area in Pennsylvania and have traditional values. It’s important for them to have family gathered together during the holidays.

Much like in my own household, they will use traditional, indigenous decorations—fresh pine and spruce boughs and cones, holly, pyracantha and juniper berries, osage oranges and other natural elements gleaned from the acreage surrounding her home and business.

Because Giselle is in the landscaping business, their Christmas tree will, of course, be a live conifer, balled in burlap and resting in an old galvanized tub. They’ll plant the tree in the spring as a memento of their first holiday together. And I can see them starting a tradition that my own family has followed—each year giving one special ornament to the other.

Our tree was always decorated with wooden nutcrackers, hand-crocheted snowflakes, a few precious heirlooms of colored glass, sterling silver stars inscribed with meaningful dates. There’s a guy on skis, a wheelbarrow, a crocheted angel atop the tree, a needlepointed truck (yes, I actually designed and made it!). One year I received a set of Russian matryoshka dolls nested one inside the other. I treasure the tinkling glass wedding bells on a silver ribbon. We found a wooden farm couple: a man holding a rake and a woman with a pail. A replica of a steam engine and coal tender. Musical instruments. And more, but you get the idea.

Back to Giselle and Con, they aren’t always traditional, especially in the romance department *big grin*. Here’s the blurb for ADDING HEAT, a stand-alone story in the Cougar Challenge series from Ellora’s Cave.

Encouraged by friends she met at RomantiCon, widowed landscape contractor Giselle Sheridan decides she’s finally ready to take the cougar challenge and explore sex with a younger man. Except she’s too busy during planting season to go on the prowl.

CPA Conlan Trowbridge is battling the IRS deadline for his clients, but when Giselle saunters into his office with a tax question, all he can think of is sex. She’s all luscious curves and smoldering brown eyes, and he doesn’t care if she’s a dozen years older, she’s a wet dream come true.

Oh yeah, they’re both ready for some hot and heavy sex—in the tub, parking lots, their offices—anywhere and everywhere. But Giselle is afraid her age will eventually bother Con, and her longtime foreman also has designs on her, in more ways than one. When Giselle faces some hard decisions, will she ultimately be able to keep the heat?

Who is Cris Anson?

An older woman who still wants romance in her life. After my husband died in 2005, it took me a long time to come out of my grief. Because my marriage was long and happy, I wouldn’t say no to another love interest in my life. So I find myself writing cougar stories (although readers probably wouldn’t want to read about heroines as old as I am LOL). I’ve also written the four-book DANCE series for Ellora’s Cave as well as several novellas and Quickies.

Read excerpts of my books at www.crisanson.com

Find the entire Cougar Challenge series here: Cougar Challenge