Yesterday’s winner is Melissa P! Melissa, contact me to arrange delivery of your prize! ~DD

Gotta love male/male romance. The only thing that makes it better is throwing in another m or an f. Sexual tension increases enjoyment, because anything worth having is worth working for. In my PowerUp! series, about psychic ex-government agents now living as civilians, a large group of convoluted personalities mesh and grind…in more ways than one.

I write m/f romance, and I write m/m romance. The woman point of view is easy. I’m a girl. I write men from what I know of them. And I know a lot.

Pause.

That might not sound right. I meant that I’ve spent a lifetime surrounded by men. All my best buds growing up were guys. And my professional life was male-dominated. I was surrounded by men in the Marine Corps, where I spent five years as a communications officer. And then I went to work for a trucking company, managing drivers. Again, heavy on the testosterone side.

Maybe that’s why I like m/m romance so much? I don’t know. But I’m fascinated by strong male characters. Men like Avery Holton and Nathan Kraft, who rub each other the wrong way before they get it right, in Fortune’s Favor Avery was a major in the Marine Corps. Nathan worked for Uncle Sam learning secrets. He’s a touch-telepath, a man gifted with psychometry—the ability to know things by touching an object associated with the person who carried it. These men but heads and generally fight their attraction to one another. But when danger comes calling, they have to rely on each other. I love the whole enemies turned friend dynamic, so I decided to use it with these stubborn men.                       

I loved the characters, and I love the story. I hope you will too. One lucky commenter will receive an electronic download of Fortune’s Favor. Good luck! Contest ends tonight (August 17^th) at 9 pm. Winner announced then.

Nathan Kraft needs more than the life he’s currently living. Once an agent for the Psychic Warfare Program, he’s now reduced to helping civilians get in shape at the PowerUp! gym, where his buddies and he continue to train their minds in secret. He’s always up for some excitement, in the form of a job or a man, but lately he’s getting neither. Then he’s assigned a job, one like he used to do for the government, except this job involves his past.

Avery Holton has butted heads with Nathan since they first met a year ago when he joined the staff of the PowerUp! gym. Nathan gets impressions from touching objects. Avery sees the future. Nathan is fun, loves men, and craves adventure like a drug. Avery likes discipline, is quiet but not closeted about his bisexuality, and does the job like a professional, a carryover from his days in the Marine Corps. Thrust together on a mission that links to Nathan’s childhood, the pair will have to learn to trust each other. It will take all their psychic skills and an acceptance of their growing love to defeat an evil out to get Nathan and everyone he loves…before it’s too late.

Avery had matured past the point where boys kissed and told, and even at that young age, he’d never shared his personal life. He didn’t hide the fact that he liked men and women sexually, but he didn’t see the need to show it off either. Unlike Nathan, who had nothing better to do with this social life than parade an endless supply of pretty boys under Avery’s nose.

He scowled, remembering how each and every one of Nathan’s conquests had made him feel—annoyed, angry, possessive. The confusing need for Nathan made him want to go against his hard and fast rule of no fucking around with coworkers. Maybe if he’d gotten the man out of his system, he could react normally around him.

Then again, he and Nathan didn’t usually work together, not on PWP-type missions. The gym was different. Since he’d been put on the night shift, he and Nathan cleaned equipment, helped out gym-goers, and worked out themselves. Nathan had height and brawn but not a killer instinct. Oh, he boxed well enough, and he could wrestle with the best of them. But Avery instinctively knew best how to handle an opponent. With Nathan, he would muscle the big man down flat on his back. Then his fantasies intruded, and he’d see himself straddling Nathan’s face and shoving his cock in that warm, wet mouth. Read the rest of this entry »

Little Towns Big Hearts

Not everything is big in Texas, but what’s big…counts. Texas is the second largest state in the United States filled with a rich history and making more everyday.

It’s not the size of the state that matters, though. It’s the people. Small towns are full of people who know everyone and care about them. That’s pretty much any small town in Texas or anywhere else in the world. The people make it big in their hearts.

I modeled Temptation and Hole in the Wall, TX with that thought in mind. And The Ugly Stick Saloon brings  people together. It’s a place where you can make new friends, connect with old ones and get in a barroom fight if the situation demands one. The owner, Audrey Anderson might have been a stripper in her life before the Ugly Stick, but she knows hard times and helps those who need it. She has a habit of collecting strays who are down on their luck or need a friend.

Stop on by at the Ugly Stick Saloon and make a few friends of your own.

This biker chick longs for the open road…until two Kiowa cowboys shift her gears.

Eight months ago, Libby Jones parked her motorcycle in Temptation, Texas, to work at the Ugly Stick Saloon. Since then she’s grown to love the bar’s feeling of family, but now it’s time to hit the road. The longer she stays, the greater the risk her father’s investigators will track her down.

Yet she can’t resist taking the Gray Wolf twins up on their offer to go riding on their ranch. Even though getting involved should be the last thing on her mind.

Ever since Libby landed at the Ugly Stick, Mark and Luke Gray Wolf have been trying to capture her attention. She’s blown them off at every turn, until now. Their plan: expose her to the delights only twins can provide—and persuade her to stay for the long haul.

Libby’s longing for a life she can’t have makes her delay her departure just a heartbeat too long. Her hesitation gives her past time to walk through the saloon door, and all hell to break loose. Now the twins have a fight on their hands to teach her that being free doesn’t mean she can’t let go of her heart.

Warning: Welcome back to the Ugly Stick Saloon. Pull up a chair and set a spell, you’re gonna wanna hear this tale about two hot Kiowa twins and a leather-clad biker chick. Multiple partners, a little BDSM, and one skinny-dippin’ scene so hot it’ll make the pages sizzle!

Caution: Voyeurism and hot, kinky sex.

With ten minutes to cool her heels, Libby slowed and paused at the entrance to backstage. A flash of naked skin snagged her attention and she tipped her head to the side to get a better view of what was going on.

Libby’s heart fluttered at the sight of Audrey perched on a stack of boxes, completely naked except for her bright red cowboy boots. Her legs wrapped around Jackson’s equally naked body as his hips rocked, grinding against hers.

One of Audrey’s arms circled Jackson’s shoulders as she rode him, leaning close to kiss the side of his neck. In her other hand, she held a long leather whip. She glanced across the room, her gaze connecting with Libby’s. Audrey winked and flicked the whip, a loud crack splitting the air.

“Careful with that. You almost got me,” Jackson warned.

“Had I been aiming for you, I wouldn’t have missed. Now, ride me, cowboy,” Audrey demanded.

Libby’s breath hitched and she stepped back, just enough so she couldn’t see. Heat rose from her chest into her cheeks. She’d never spied on another couple having sex. But Jackson and Audrey had looked so very hot and sexy, and the kink factor of the whip made Libby’s blood burn.

Audrey’s moan drew Libby back to the entrance like a sailor to a siren. She couldn’t help watching as the couple engaged in hot and kinky sex.

Jackson shifted, turning himself and Audrey, giving Libby a side view of the action. His long shaft pumped in and out of Audrey’s cunt. The soft slurping sound of a well-lubricated channel interspersed with Audrey’s moans and Jackson’s grunts as he thrust into her.

Libby’s belly tightened. She pressed her hands to still the butterflies, her thighs quivering in anticipation of Jackson’s next thrust.

Audrey leaned up to whisper something into Jackson’s ear. He smiled down at her and then turned to Libby, his eyelids drooping down over his brown-black eyes. “Wanna join us?”

Weird People

My newest series, Miracle Interrupted, is set in the village of Miracle, Wisconsin, with only 629 residents. When I thought of the village, I imagined the people in it would be quirky and eccentric –both tactful ways of saying ‘weird.’

So far I’ve finished two stories and I’m revising a third. I live in a village, but mine is a large one, with a population over 11,000. And beyond my close neighbors and the lady in the liquor department at Piggly Wiggly, I really don’t know people in the area well enough to notice their eccentricities. (Just kidding about the lady in the liquor department.)

Before I started to write the books, I thought I needed to ask people from small towns for ideas for advice. But I’ve discovered that to find quirks, all I need to do is look at my own family and friends.

In fact, sometimes I can just look at the person in my mirror.

Who turns up the volume of their car stereo and dances in the driver’s seat while singing loudly?

Who keeps a secret stash of chocolate in their house?

Who talks to their pets? Who kisses them and calls them sweetheart?

Who drops food on the floor, then picks it up and uses the 3-second rule while popping it into their mouth? (Quickly, before the dog gets it.)

Who has friends who are constantly late? Friends who gossip? Friends who keep dating jerks out of a deep sense of insecurity?

Who knows their liquor store clerk well enough to… No, not me. Really. But the thing I’m getting at is people are odd whether they live in a tiny town, a big city, your house…or your head.

As you can see, I have a lot of weird people in my head.

Any quirks you’d like to add to the list? I’m giving away an e-copy of STARDUST MIRACLE to a commenter.

A miracle is going to happen…

Becky Diedrich is the cheesemaker’s daughter.
The minister’s wife.
The good sister.

What she’s not is her own woman.
What she can’t be is a mother.

And then she catches her husband with another woman.
And she moves in with her sister.
And she starts to see sparkles.

And this is just the beginning…

***

Becky ran across the grass and laughed at her brashness. She wore her tan trench coat – her church coat – over her red negligee. Tonight she felt free. With a sexual appetite and playfulness she hadn’t felt for a long time.

She couldn’t swear that what she planned had never happened in the church, people being what they were. But it had never happened in the church before with her and Jim.

Laughter spilled out of her mouth, and she only stopped because she was breathless from an overload of excitement. The need to experience something more with her husband had been building inside her for a long time. Now it was finally boiling over – leaving her lightheaded and unlike her usual self.

She liked these feelings. Liked this side of her a lot.

When she’d stepped out of the car tonight and looked up at the stars, something happened. Something changed. For so long, she’d been carrying a dark weight around with her. Going through the days and nights trying to say and do all the right things, when inside something had felt all wrong.

She’d lost the joy of life. Not fully living…just going through the motions. At only thirty-six, she’d felt old and dried up.

Now she felt young again. Free.

Jim wouldn’t know what happened to his proper wife.

She reached the church’s back door, using it instead of the front entrance because she didn’t want anyone passing by to see her. Not that there was anything wrong with going to see her husband. But if anyone mentioned her late night visit, her face would probably turn the color of a ripe tomato and give away what they’d done.

She slipped the key into the lock but it turned easily. She stepped inside. Jim must’ve come in this way and forgotten to lock the door behind him. He was always preoccupied with his work and his parishioners.

She admired that. She did. But once in a while, she wanted his mind, plus a few body parts, to be on her.

And not just when her body temperature was right for conception.

She started toward Jim’s office, and her heels clicked on the linoleum floor. Laughing under her breath, she stopped and took them off. She wanted to surprise Jim with a good surprise. No. A wonderful surprise.

His door was closed. Habit, she supposed, since no one was here except him. She heard him speaking. Couldn’t make out the words. Just his voice. Probably saying lines from the sermon he was preparing. Then his voice stopped, and she imagined him frowning at his computer screen while he wrote the next line.

She started to undo the buttons of her coat, then decided it would be sexier to do it inside with him watching. Kind of like a stripper.

Stifling a giggle, she turned the handle and flung open the door.

“Surprise!”

Edie Ramer
http://edieramer.com

Thanks, Delilah, for hosting me on your gorgeous blog.

I brought a friend.

Well, a creation–although by now Daniel and David Ho’omalu and their family feel more like people I met in Hawaii. Their South Kona Coast beach enclave, Nawea Bay, feels like an actual place that I can visit next time we fly to Hawaii for a spring vacation.

These larger-than-life brothers sprang to life on a visit to the Big Island two years ago.

‘Why don’t you write a story set here in Kona?’ my husband asked. He might as well have hit me over the head, so big was the impact of his statement. Wherever I go, I spin stories in my head. This talent has gotten me through many a long car trip, when the three males in my family converse about guy stuff—cars, trucks, guns, etc.

I’d already begun a story on our long drive up to Hawaii Volcanoes Nat’l Park, but I didn’t … oh, this is embarrassing! I didn’t take it seriously. I know, right? I’m a romance writer, how could I NOT take my imaginings seriously? Well, because although I had 4 books published I was still, in my own mind, an amateur.

Then this last year, God gave me two hard shoves toward turning pro. My step-father died, leaving my dear mom alone on her rural property in Central Montana. And my husband lost his sales job to the recession, leaving me the breadwinner in the family. Suddenly my writing became an important part of our family’s support system.

I gave up my favorite activities—shopping, golf, and leisurely lunches with friends. I still made sure to exercise, but when I wasn’t doing that or teaching, I was writing. Without even noticing, I’d turned pro. This is not a pity party, either. I believe God works in his own way to turn us the way we need to go.

Through the long rainy Pacific NW winter, I spun my Hawaiian imaginings into a romance saga. Hawaiian Heroes; Walking in Fire was published in April of this year, and Hawaiian Heroes II; Rolling in the Deep followed July 31^st. Hawaiian Heroes III; Blooming in the Wild will debut in November, and Hawaiian Heroes IV sometime early next year.

Let me tell you, I looked forward to going to Hawaii in my vast imagination every evening and weekend! Lush and beautiful, volcanoes soaring at your back, the surf lapping at your toes, the warm air heavy with the scent of plumeria … the beautiful Hawaiian people enjoying their home. Tourists relaxing in this carefree setting—the perfect milieu for sexy romance.

You can immerse yourself in beautiful Hawaii, too, just by picking up one of my Hawaiian Heroes books. And I promise the series will go on, and be followed by many other red hot romances. Because I am a romance writer … and a pro.

Here’s a taste of Hawaiian Heroes; Rolling in the Deep.

Desire as deep and dark as the sea…danger as close as a heartbeat.

Daniel Ho’omalu’s intimidating physique, tribal tattoos and mane of black braids frighten most women before they get close enough to discover he likes to play rough. Pile on his perilous vocation as one of a secret society of island guardians, and he’s painfully aware he may never find a mate.

One look at Daniel, and Claire Hunter knows she’s found the man of her sensual dreams. Without hesitation she sinks her teeth into the challenge of landing the big Hawaiian in her bed. But while he clearly wants her, he won’t bite back.

Daniel is certain the beautiful haole is too young and innocent to handle his dark sexual needs. Despite their determination to ignore each other, the island casts its spell, and in one explosive night, Daniel learns that Claire is more than a match for him in every way.

When Daniel must leave her side and dive to the depths of the sea to foil a gang of drug smugglers, Claire trusts that their powerful bond will bring her lover back safely to her arms. But his vow of honor to protect his people could be the one thing that breaks her heart.

Warnings: Big, hot, tattooed Hawaiian hero who likes it rough—in bed and on the beach. Going deep takes on a whole new meaning in this tropical heat wave.

“Your little outfit turns me on,” he said. “I’d like to eat you up. Just like a pūpū. Got it?” Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you Delilah Devlin for inviting me and my two main characters, Alex Donovan and Maddie Saunders from my latest contemporary romance, WHAT A GIRL WANTS to be guests on your blog.

I hope your readers enjoy my conversation with my two characters, as they sit and talk to me about their experiences in the book I created for them.

Selena: Thanks for jumping out of the book to join me today. Maddie, let’s start with you. What was your journey like in What A Girl Wants? 

Maddie: The plane trip from toHawaii was uneventful—

Alex: I have to interrupt here. Uneventful? Is that what you call it?

Maddie: Come on, Alex, even you have to admit it was classic. Besides, you laughed at the prank I pulled on you. Anyway, as for your initial question, Selena, I enjoyed the adventures you created for us, especially the humorous moments. Of course, what’s a romance without heartache, physical pain, angst and a ton of conflict?

Selena: Are you complaining about all that? Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks for having me, Delilah!

I’m both traditionally published (with Berkley Heat) and self-published. Both methods have their own advantages. With a traditional house, I’ve got a great editor I love working with and they give me fabulous cover art. Check out The Principal’s Office. I love it! The drawback is that it takes longer to get a book out. The exact length of time can vary, but usually a book will appear on the shelf between nine months to a year after I’ve finished it. So as you can see, one of the advantages of self-publishing is being able to put out a book very quickly. And that allows me to be responsive to requests from fans.

I wrote a naughty little foursome story called Kinky Neighbors, which you can find at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VS2T7O. Readers really seemed to enjoy the story. It was emotional, not just sex, sex, sex (though there’s nothing wrong with that either!). I did it first as a free read on my blog, a chapter a week. And boy, were people discussing it, what was going to happen, the characters they liked and disliked. One of the things that came out of the discussion and also out of emails I’ve received from readers was that they wanted to know what happened to the two couples after the story ended. You know, writers don’t always see the same thing that readers do, and for me, the story had ended. But the more I thought about it, the more I started to wonder, too! And boom, it came to me! So I’ve written it down for readers, Kinky Neighbors Two: Cat and Logan’s Just Desserts!

And that is the beauty of self-publishing. I can write that story and get it out to readers with a minimum of fuss. I’m going to the do the same thing as before, put it up chapter by chapter on my blog, www.jasminehaynes.blogspot.com. Chapter One is already up, so if you’ve read Kinky Neighbors, you can go to the Aug 6^th blog and catch up on Kinky Neighbors Two!  If you haven’t read it, well, the sequel is a hot little story, but you probably won’t get as much out of it. Plus it’ll spoil what happens in the first book! Ah well, I guess that’s the disadvantage of self-publishing, spoilers!

BTW, I’ve signed a new two-book contract with Berkley Heat. The books will be in the same vein as The Principal’s Office, with heroines over 35, and they will feature some elements of bondage. Actually I call it bondage lite, with a little spanking, a little tying up, that kind of thing. You can expect to see those books starting in the latter half of 2013. She’s Gotta Be Mine by Jennifer Skully (me!) is free on http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00688GE7Q, as is Beauty or the Bitch, a contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast (with a twist!) http://amzn.to/mTMny0. I’ve done this as a free read on the blog, too, but if you missed it, here’s your chance to get it for free!

London in Pictures

London is one of the world’s great cities, with something for everyone. In honor of the Olympics, I’m sharing some pictures of London sights.

If you’re a foodie, London might not be your first thought. But their food markets are wonderful. Harrods, the department store has beautiful displays of food to eat there or to go. Check out the candy display…

…and this fanciful cake.

The cake is actually for sale for 2,000 British pounds, about $3,000 US. Even the pizzeria is spotless and the big guy there was actually singing opera. Read the rest of this entry »