I thought it might be fun to share some my favorite scenes from books I’ve written, and scenes I get a lot of mail about because readers loved them too. This particular scene is one I laughed myself silly writing. You’ll see why…

Welcome to Honkytonk, the hottest town in Texas—thanks to its adventurous women, irresistible men, and sizzling sex…

Bound and Determined
Bar owner Tara Toomey is in the mood to serve bad boy Cody Westhofen more than a drink. What better way to capture his attention—and more—than to kidnap him for a wanton weekend? Tied to Tara’s bed, Cody is more than willing to cooperate…

Breezy Ridin’
When Joe Chavez and a sheriff’s deputy pull over a speeding motorcycle, it’s no surprise the county judge’s naughty daughter Sarah Michelson is behind the wheel—naked. And when she bribes them with a threesome, all laws are suspended as the men prepare for the ride of their lives…

Night Watch
Schoolteacher Amy Keating never planned to be a voyeur, but one innocent glance into deputy Logan Ross’s bedroom window has her hooked. Now she’s into a world of sexual play she never knew existed…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next afternoon, Amy was on her knees sliding out the shallow plastic box from beneath the bed, eager for a little dress-up. She’d already spent the day cleaning the house. Now she wanted to do everything she could to give herself a little boost in self-confidence before her date with Logan.

She’d pulled a dress from her closet, still wrapped in plastic from the store. The short navy sheath with tiny sprigs of pale gray and pink flowers had been bought on a whim and never worn. Too short for school, and with no man around to inspire in her the courage to actually wear it in public, it had stayed at the back of her closet. But not tonight. A pair of silver sandals, also never worn, would complete the ensemble.

The choice of dress and shoes had been the easy part. She hoped what was stored in the bin would solve the rest of her problem. She pulled the black thong panties and corset from the bin, and bit her lip, wondering if the corset was too much.

It was another gift from her happily married sister whose answer to all dating woes was the right underwear.

Amy dropped her robe on the bed and slid into the panties, enjoying the thrill of the narrow strip of fabric sliding between her buttocks.

She felt naughty and a little braver when she turned in front of the mirror to assure herself her butt didn’t look like a sumo wrestler’s.

The corset wasn’t as easy to don. The slender cords cinching the waist laced up the back. Before attempting to put it on, she fed the strings through the eyelets, leaving them loose, and then shimmied the silk garment up her long legs and tugged it over her hips. That was the easy part. Reaching behind her to draw the ends of the strings up and tighten them took a contortionist’s skill, but then it wasn’t designed for a woman to put on, or remove, by herself.

The thought of Logan seeing her in this drove her to persevere. She wanted to impress him. Let him think she was less of a mouse than she really was.

The thought of what he’d done last night, how he’d kissed her, what he’d said, had left her warm and pink-cheeked all day long.
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It’s finally here. Thanks for keeping me company these past days. I can’t wait to hear from all of you. I’d love to see those photos of the book on the bookshelf when you find it. Now, I’ll take a couple of days break and talk about something else before letting you know about two more releases coming in the next few days. In the meantime…

Today, my book starts shipping from the online bookstores, and I’m hoping the brick & mortar stores already have them ready to stock on the shelves.

I can’t wait to hear from all of you once you’ve had a chance to read it. Let me know what you like, what I could have done better, and most importantly, what you’d like me to do with the series in the future!

In the meantime, I still have one last prize to give away, so be sure to post today! I’ll name the winner late tonight! Now that the day is here, I’m hoping my excitement will die down so I can write some serious pages. I still have Lockdown to wrap up and more of the next Dark Realm story to create. Y’all take care! *smooches* ~DD

Progress so far on Texas Men for Kensington

*sigh*

My “progress” doesn’t even rate a single percentage point. Don’t get me wrong. I love new starts. At this point, the book’s wide-open for sexy possibilities. I have the opening scene in my mind, and it pulls heavily from my recent adventure at the Bachelor Auction (see previous posts)—all the funny things I saw, all the slavering women, the sexy and not-so-sexy men who strutted their stuff for a good cause. Can’t wait to get that down.

What always intimidates me is getting past the opening and plowing into the no-man’s land of the saggy middle of the book. Beginnings and endings are soooooo easy! Keeping it fun in the middle is the true test of a writer. And this book will have three tests because it’s a collection of novellas, interrelated, but all written by me.

To keep it interesting for me, I’m throwing in a topic I’ve never fully explored—namely BDSM. Sure, I’ve done plenty of spankings and some light bondage in my stories before, but this time, I have a Dom who will be featured in two of the stories and plenty of “equipment.” So, I’m doing some reading, visiting some BDSM blogs, and asking for lots of advice. Y’all have any good resources? If so, please share ’em!

Thought I’d start out with a bang and the cover of a collection of shorts Harlequin Spice will release next March! Don’t you love it?! That month is shaping up to be another crazy busy one for me. Darkness Burning (the third Dark Realm story from Avon), Texas Men (my next single-author anthology from Kensington) and now Size Matters, will all be out in the same month.

For those of you who talk with me online, you know I’ve been suffering Internet outages since the end of April that left me with intermittant Internet or email capability. Hopefully, yesterday’s repairs did the trick. I’m here for now, anyway!!

As soon as I opened my email yesterday, I found a message from my editor at Kensington asking if I’d like to be in the next multi-author “Cowboy” book (see The Cowboy and Only with a Cowboy to see what I’m talking about). Of course, I couldn’t resist the challenge. So you’ll hear me cursing cowboys for the next three months straight as I finish up Texas Men then plunge right into the cowboy book. Ack! (I act scared, but I actually do better under pressure, so take all my grousing with a grain of salt.)

Lastly, I have an agent. A great one. Don’t want to talk about it too much for fear of attracting negative mojo, but I’m quietly jazzed about the whole thing!

It’s been such a busy month for me. When I look back at my calendar, I’m amazed I accomplished so much.

I finished another story for Ellora’s Cave. I’m still wrapping up edits for the third Dark Realm story. On Monday, I slammed out a short story to submit to a foreign anthology—finished 25 pages and it wasn’t total crap! I attended a Bachelor’s Auction and gained tons of research on that event that will help me with my next project. I tromped through a graveyard with my Arkansas writer friends and came up with some wicked ideas to fill another tale. Oh, and I wrote another chapter to satisfy my MIK fans (or drive them nuttier, depending on how much you love Quentin!).

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog contest. I do have a winner. Many of your comments on the blog made me smile. And thanks especially to the volunteer readers who helped me shape the short story into something entertaining on Monday. I really needed the support to keep slamming those pages.

Once in a while, I need a challenge like that to blow out the cobwebs and to see something FINISHED. Most projects take a long time of thinking and dreaming, then weeks of writing. That one day marathon left me feeling flushed and victorious!

Back to the contest. First, here are the answers to the questions:

1) What’s the title of my latest release? Royal Bondage (at least on Sunday, it was!)
2) What’s the title of the book I’m giving away in my newsletter “for readers”, one chapter at a time? Knight Dreams
3) In Sin’s Gift, what police substation does the hero’s brother work in? The East Substation
4) In Seduced by Darkness, what waterway jumped it’s banks, flooding a cemetary and freeing a monster? Bayou St. John

The winner of the blog contest will get a tote with a stash of Romantic Times goodies (a couple of books included)! And she is…Stephanie[dragonstar1974@aol.com]! Steph, be sure to send me your snail mail address privately so I can get your package to you! Congratulations!!

| Damned, Delicious and Dangerous is out today! Includes“The Demon Lord’s Cloak”. Bound and naked, Voletta has every reason to fear the mysterious man holding her in his arms. Instead his brooding presence intrigues her, his hard body excites her—and his rough touch arouses her…

Men of darkness, men of passion…trapped by temptation and bound by desire. No woman can refuse their erotic invitation for sexual pleasure…

5 cups from Coffee Time Romance: “…A tale rife with passion, The Demon Lord’s Cloak will leave a reader breathless and counting the hours until their own true loves return. Be prepared for scintillating sex and delectable dialogue, Ms. Devlin writes her own brand of hot happily ever after.”