New Year’s Writing Goals!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Hope your holidays were joyous and peaceful, and that you rang in the New Year with plenty of kisses and bubbly.

Well, my 2013 goal of 500K took me up to the mid-300s with all of the WIPs, and I’m very proud of myself for getting that far, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not ready to start from scratch and see if I can hit that magic number this year!

Here’s the plan – we’ll see how far I get before it starts to collapse in on itself…LOL…There’s actually 740K on this list, and there’s NO WAY I could write all of that from start to finish, but keep in mind most of these are somewhat far along, so I’ll only count the word count for the new material that I didn’t include last year.

All dates are approximate, naturally, and the COMING SOON page will be updated with more details in a few days.  Any title you’re really looking forward to?

Hopefully they’ll all be fun, outrageous, and deliciously HOT.

Nick (The Kringle Boys #1) – 30K – JAN

Safe From the Storm (Bright’s Ferry #3) – 60K – JAN

Bright’s Ferry Box Set – 1-3 – JAN (no word count added)

Shadow of the Raven (Hearts of Stone – Prequel) – 30K – FEB

Ensnared (Hearts of Stone – Prequel) – 30K – MAR

Safe From the Wild (Bright’s Ferry #4) – 60K – APR

Kiss of the Wild Wolf (Wild Wolves #1) – 60K – APR

Shiny Things – 60K – MAY

Teach Me Tonight – Anthology (Two new stories – Show & Tell and With Flying Colors with Jane Gaudet) – 20K (new material only) – MAY

The Shattered Balance (Hearts of Stone #1) – 90K – JUNE

Safe From the Cold (Bright’s Ferry #5) – 60K – JUL

A Wave in the Heart (Untamed Elements #1) – 60K – SEPT

Touch of the Wild Wolf (Wild Wolves #2) – 60K – OCT

His to Pleasure – Historical!!! – 90K – NOV

Kringle Boys #2 – 30K – DEC

SPICY EXCERPT!!! Kringle Boys #1 – COMING SOON!

Have you missed our Monday excerpts?  Me too!!!  Here’s a hot one from Nick’s story – I’m in the last throes of editing, so this is coming VERY, very soon.  Think of it as a belated Christmas present. 🙂

It’s the last Monday of 2013!  Stay tuned for Bright’s Ferry updates and the plan for 2014 later this week!

Nick - SMALL

Nick Kringle is having a rotten Christmas.  A huge disappointment to his chilly, holiday-stomping father, Jack Frost, Nick’s punishment for his refusal to take on the family business is exile to the human world, no magic allowed.  Luckily, his North Pole relatives take pity on him, letting him run Santa’s big city candy factory and store.  But Nick never counted on having to deal with customers, vendors, or Santa’s nitpicky Candy Manager, the lovely but tightly wound Phoebe Winter.  He’s never had a sweet tooth before, but everything about her sweet little figure has his mouth watering for a taste, despite the fact that her lists threaten to drive him out of his mind.  All he wants is a hot holiday fling to heat up his cold world.

Phoebe Winter is determined to be the best Candy Manager that Santa has ever had, even though it means controlling her magical sugar addiction and her impossible attraction to Nick Kringle.  Santa’s nephew has no right to be so hot, especially when he claims to be as coldhearted as his chilly father.  But when a jealous rival threatens to destroy Santa’s magical candy cane supply right before the holiday, Phoebe and Nick must work together to save Christmas.  Can Phoebe melt the icy shell around Nick’s heart?  Or will the passion between them melt away when the holiday is over?

EXCERPT:

Nick wrenched his mouth away and she whimpered in protest as he scooped her up, striding toward the stairs.

“I am not going to fuck you on a mountain of sugar.”

Phoebe moaned, the image filling her scattered brain, and felt his chest rumble in a rough chuckle.

“At least not this time,” he said wryly, “Elves.”

She was going to retort with something snide, but he smelled incredible, like sugar and spice and Nick.  Clutching his shoulders, Phoebe leaned in for a taste, swiping her tongue over his collarbone, pleased when he tensed under her mouth and held her closer.

“Hang on,” he muttered, maybe to her, maybe to himself.

Phoebe didn’t pay much attention, too caught up in the delirious pleasure of lapping the sugar from his chest, feeling her nipples ache and her wet pussy throb with every stroke of her tongue.  She vaguely recognized the change in elevation when he started up the stairs, and then he was juggling her to get the door open, kicking it closed behind them.

“Sorry about the mess,” he muttered.

“Not a probl—” Phoebe’s voice left her in a squeak as he slid her down the muscled length of his body.

Nick grinned.

“Let me get a fire started,” he said.

Moving a stack of books, he urged her into an armchair near the hearth.  Phoebe gave the place a cursory glance.  The apartment above the factory had traditionally been used for storage – it had been years since a manager had stayed in residence. It wasn’t much, just a bedroom, a kitchen, and this main room with a couch and a couple of armchairs.  Every inch of available space was covered in dusty cookbooks and paper.  And it was cold.  Phoebe felt a little pang as she realized that Nick had nowhere else to go.

“Give me a minute and I’ll get this place warmed up,” said Nick, crouching by the fireplace and reaching for the woodpile to the side, “and then we’ll see about getting you warmed up.”

He darted a hot, blue-green glance at her that threatened to send her up in flames, no matches required.

Two can play at that game, thought Phoebe, and as Nick carefully stacked wood in the fireplace, she deliberately sprawled back in the chair, letting her knees fall open and slowly inching her skirt up, the shhh of the crinoline loud in the quiet room.

She knew the moment he noticed.  Nick froze in the act of setting a match to the paper, his gorgeous shoulders tight, all smooth muscle under warm, sugar-streaked skin in the glow of the tiny fire.

“Feel like being naughty, little elf?”

Oh yes.

Phoebe slid the skirt higher, spread her legs further.  Nick jumped as the match burned his fingers and abruptly went out.  He hastily lit another, touched it to the newspaper, and promptly dismissed the fireplace as Phoebe rubbed a fold of crinoline over her desperate clit, the roughness sparking delicious quivers along every nerve.  The fire whooshed in the fireplace behind Nick as he crawled to her, a big jungle cat stalking its prey.

“Show me how you touch yourself,” he ordered, and the demand had Phoebe moaning.

Her own fingers generally didn’t do much for her – Phoebe preferred toys or the real thing.  But the way Nick was watching her made the request so naughty, and her body responded with shocking enthusiasm.  Phoebe brushed her skirts aside and found the flesh of her pussy with her fingers, and her eyes were on his face as she stroked herself delicately, fingers slick with her juices, feeling his gaze on every swollen inch of her folds.

He stopped between her thighs and sat back on his haunches, running a hand over his mouth.

“Didn’t I give that greedy little pussy a good, thorough tongue-fuck just a few hours ago?”

He pressed her thighs wider with warm palms.

“But here you are, all wet and swollen again.  My mouth and my fingers weren’t enough to satisfy you?”

Phoebe cried out as he bent over her to flick her clit with his tongue, retreating quickly to watch her squirm and tremble from the sensation.

“Yes…no…please, Nick!”

“Think you can do better on your own?”

She couldn’t answer, since Nick placed his hand over hers , guiding her fingers down to her weeping core.

“All the way, Phoebe.”

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope you all had a lovely holiday if you celebrate it, and a day off!

Mine was hectic but satisfying, and I’m only slightly hungover as a result – eggnog…mmmm….

Today I’m going t hide away and edit NICK and crash through two SAFE FROM THE STORM chapters.  Stay tuned!!!

Holiday Wormhole

So, you know how it was JUST December 1st and now all of a sudden it’s the 18th???  I believe I stepped through some cosmic holiday wormhole and just skipped over the last two weeks.

What have I been up to?  Writing and editing and family and trees and presents and long lines at the mall and the post office.  The usual.

THE KRINGLE BOYS – NICK is looking great, so hopefully end of the weekend on that.  SAFE FROM THE STORM is getting there – hopefully for New Year’s, and then the fun of the 2014 writing schedule will begin!

But yes, it’s been nuts – non-writers never understand that long hours staring at the screen is actually still writing, LOL…so my family has this tendency to assume I’m not busy.  Joy! 🙂

And joy and peace to you all this holiday season.  Fun and naughtiness to come!  Stay tuned.  xoxo.

December!

Happy December!

I can’t believe how fast this year has flown.  I can’t believe how many WIPs I have to finish!  LOL…looking at my 500,000 word goal, the odds aren’t great, but since I never add to the tally until the WIP is done, I’m actually much closer than it looks – at the end of the month I’ll add in all of those unfinished epics I’ve been working on just for fun.

SO, I owe you a Kringle Boy!  Thanksgiving was lovely.  The mediocre sushi I ate Friday night was not, and as a result, spent the rest of the weekend worshipping the porcelain god and wishing I had a hot Kringle man of my own handy to hold my hair back and soothe my food-poisoned brow.  Sigh.  I am feeling much better today, so I’ll dive back in.

Holly is still free today, so don’t forget to grab your copy!  Also, my big push for the month is getting SAFE FROM THE STORM out, so look for updates and excerpts on that for the next few weeks.

Now, off to face Monday!

🙂

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And Happy Thanksgivingukkah to those who celebrate it!

I’m currently watching my family play cards as I sit here and try to digest the massive turkey dinner we all prepared.  Yum.  So full.

I still have a little more to do on my Nick Kringle story, but it’s close!  Tomorrow might be pushing it, so let’s say this weekend.  I’ve had so much fun revisiting the Kringle world and and thinking about the girls and their crazy extended family.  And now I have hot Kringle Boys to heat up your holiday nights, too!

Hope you all had a lovely time with friends and family, and now, on to Christmas!

NEW!!! More Than A Night – AVAILABLE NOW!!!

MORE THAN A NIGHT is up and I’m so excited!  It was such fun to write, though it took me much longer than I thought it would.  Hmmm…what to say about this book?  It’s probably the last standard contemporary romance I’m going to write for awhile – the Coming Soon list is all paranormal and suspense – but I must admit that I have a huge crush on my hero Henry, which is probably why there’s so much hot sex in this book…if you like that sort of thing…LOL…:)

Pick up a copy to keep yourself company in between basting the turkey and arguing with the relatives!  And if you have time, reviews on Amazon are much appreciated.  Meanwhile, I’ll be typing my little fingers off to get the first KRINGLE BOYS book on the shelf, and my holiday freebie will be up at midnight!  Happy Reading!

More Than A Night - SMALL

After a lifetime of isolation caring for her eccentric, chronically ill father in the middle of nowhere, Erin James suddenly finds herself extremely wealthy, but utterly alone. Her attempts to date are disastrous as she realizes that not only does she have no idea how to talk to men, but most of them only want her for her money. Determined to give herself the physical experiences she’s missed out on, she decides to use her new wealth to hire an escort – no messy emotional entanglements, no embarrassment over her lack of experience. Unsure where to find such a person, she turns to her sympathetic lawyer for advice. Luckily, she seems to know just the right man…

Henry Warren would do anything to keep his farm afloat, but he’s out of credit and he’s running out of time, with people depending on him. When his lawyer offers an outrageous suggestion – one night with a reclusive client of hers, he’s just desperate enough to agree. He doesn’t expect to find a sweet, funny young woman hot enough to drop him to his knees.

When one night isn’t enough for either of them, Erin proposes a deal that could save Henry’s farm forever, but will the money that brought them together wind up tearing them apart?

Thanksgiving Week!

Sure, I can deal with family descending on me for Thanksgiving plus a giant turkey plus all my lovely characters pleading for time.  Piece of cake.  Or pumpkin pie.

The weekend was stolen from me by the chaos of holiday prep, but fingers crossed, MORE THAN A NIGHT will go into the queue tomorrow night!  Look for it Tuesday morning. 🙂

My first Kringle Boy is right on track for Friday – and there will be a mid-week freebie, too!  Hopefully have another Kringle excerpt for you on Wednesday.  I love the holidays – plenty of chances to give books away.

Hang in there – it’s a short work week. xoxo

SPICY KRINGLE EXCERPT!!!

There’s a new Kringle book coming!!!

If you’ve read the rest of the series, you’ll know that elves’ relationship with sugar is deep and nurturing, but in our heroine’s case, it’s about to get a little out of hand…LOL…I am scrambling to have MORE THAN A NIGHT out this coming weekend, and have Nick’s story done for relaxing after a long day of shopping on Black Friday.  Here’s a little glimpse!

Nick - SMALL

Nick Kringle is having a rotten Christmas.  A huge disappointment to his chilly, holiday-stomping father, Jack Frost, Nick’s punishment for his refusal to take on the family business is exile to the human world, no magic allowed.  Luckily, his North Pole relatives have taken pity on him, letting him run Santa’s big city candy factory and store for the season.  But Nick never counted on having to deal with customers, vendors, or Santa’s nitpicky Candy Manager, the lovely but tightly wound Phoebe Winter.  He’s never had a sweet tooth before, but everything about her sweet little figure has his mouth watering for a taste, despite the fact that her lists threaten to drive him out of his mind.  All he wants is a hot holiday fling to heat up his cold world, and then he can put her out of his mind forever.

Phoebe Winter is determined to be the best Candy Manager that Santa has ever had, even though it means controlling her magical sugar addiction and her impossible attraction to Nick Kringle.  Santa’s nephew has no right to be so hot, especially when he claims to be as coldhearted as his chilly father.  But when a jealous rival threatens to destroy Santa’s magical candy cane supply right before the holiday, Phoebe and Nick must work together to save Christmas.  Can Phoebe melt the icy shell around Nick’s heart?  Or will the passion between them melt away when the holiday is over?

EXCERPT:

“WOULD YOU LIKE A taste?”

Nick poured the sticky mess onto the marble slab and started kneading it, adding powdered sugar as the caramel goo began to hold its shape.

“I don’t…sample,” said Phoebe coldly, her tone as frigid as the icy fields of home.

“Never?”

“No.”

She probably thought he was a total Neanderthal.

“Suit yourself.”

Shrugging, Nick reached for the sink to wash his caramel-coated hands, absently popping his finger in his mouth to suck the gooey goodness off his thumb, but a muffled squeak had him looking up.

He froze.

Phoebe’s eyes were wide and bright, flitting between his fingers and his mouth, her skin flushed, and she was doing a rotten job controlling her breathing as an excited little pant escaped her lips.  Nick didn’t know if it was him or the sugar, but the sweet and perky half-elf was nearly bubbling over with repressed arousal.  She looked ready to explode at the lightest brush of skin against skin.  Nick’s inner devil grinned.  Forgetting the sink, he moved around the counter.

“What are you doing?”

“Sure you don’t want a little bite?” he asked, holding up his hand, moving carefully, like a lion stalking its prey.

Phoebe stepped back until the doors prevented her from retreating further, her clipboard clutched in a death grip in front of her as though to ward him off.  Bells jangled above as she pressed herself flat.

“It’s good,” he murmured, “Warm, buttery, rich.  Perfect for drizzling all over your body so that I can lap it off, one delicious inch at a time.”

She moaned.  His cock tightened painfully.

Nick wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but something about Phoebe flooded his mind with sweet and naughty fantasies he was suddenly dying to make reality.  He was beginning to think he might actually lose his mind if he didn’t get his mouth on her within the next thirty seconds.  He’d never had a reaction to a woman like this, but didn’t have the brain cells to examine it, because she shocked him, grabbing his wrist in a firm grip and bringing his fingers to her mouth.

Oh God.

She was still holding back, breathing in the scent of caramel, watching it drip slowly down his hand, practically shaking.  Nick swiped her lower lip with one finger, spreading sticky sugar.

Soft.

“Open your mouth, Phoebe.”

Her tongue darted out to eagerly lick it away, and the sound she made was so hot, he shuddered in reaction, wrapping his free arm around her waist to pull her tight against him, his cock hard enough to pound nails, pressed into the softness of her belly.  Nick couldn’t even be insulted that she didn’t seem to notice, because that gorgeous mouth was on him now, savoring the caramel on his skin, slowly sucking his fingers inside, one at a time, and rooting for every little trace of sugar.  Her eyelids fluttered down as pleasure suffused her face.  It didn’t look like she was planning to release him anytime soon.

Nick absorbed each lick and hot little suck with greed.  He wanted her mouth on him, everywhere.  He wanted to feel her exploring his chest, his abs, with the same hunger.  He wanted to watch her take his cock down her throat, stretching her lips with each sumptuous stroke.

Nick groaned.

SWEET, SHE THOUGHT, SO sweet.

She lapped up the caramel, hungry for all of it, feeling the magic of sugar zing through her system.  And the taste of him was delicious – salty and hot and addictive.

There’s a reason I shouldn’t be doing this.

The frosted glass door was cold against her back, but her front sizzled from the press of his body, the hard bulge of his cock cuddling against her belly, her aching nipples pressed into his chest.  His fingers had found bare skin, tunneling under her sweater to stroke her waist.  It felt so good, and Phoebe shifted restlessly as he teased, tracing the waistband of her jeans before sliding up to cup her breast with a warm hand, nudging the bra aside to stroke her nipple with sure, toe-curling friction as it tightened under his touch.

The zap of pleasure that raced to her clit was enough to shock her out of her dreamy state, but she only had a moment to raise startled eyes to note the blue-green fire in his gaze before Nick’s mouth found hers.  If the sensation of tasting his skin had been delicious and sweet and naughty, the feel of his mouth was wicked delight personified.  She dropped his wrist and wrapped her arms around his neck while he took her mouth with a skill that turned her knees to jelly.  Her pussy was hot and swollen, her panties soaked as his fingers plucked her nipple while his tongue fucked her mouth.  Her knee slid up his thigh as she raised herself on tiptoe for a better alignment.

Just one more moment…