Hey, if you happen to be in the Menlo Park, CA area, I stopped in at Kepler’s Books and signed their copies of UNTAMED. Also, if you want to order them…they do ship their stock, so yay. Support local bookstores!

I know, I’m all over the place lately!

Today I’m going to be over at Sandra Barkevich’s blog talking about the need to just give yourself a writing break some days.

THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER

Pre-Order: Amazon.com · Barnes & Noble · Borders

Shibari…The ancient art of erotic restraint…Its finely-knotted ropes are a turn-on, a sexual experience… and for some, an absolute necessity…

At a San Francisco sex club called Pinnacle, Ava Gregory seeks something she cannot quite describe. But of one thing she is certain: the moments when feels her most beautiful and complete are when she is tightly restrained in the Shibari ropes. At Pinnacle, she’s paired with a master: Desmond Hale, who thrives on control… But something surprising happens when Desmond binds Ava’s willing body and takes her to the edge of ecstasy. And now, the two are taking their relationship out of the shadows of the club, sharing secrets unleashed and bodies unbound…

An art dealer and Shibari master, Marina has never hesitated to dominate anyone. Until she meets James, a dark, gorgeous, towering journalist who’s survived horrors around the world. James confesses that submission is the only way to clear his troubled mind, but Marina is instantly overwhelmed by his strength and magnetism. To share the pleasures of bondage, something must change between them. When it does, it will come with an explosion of unexpected pleasure—and a relationship that neither could have ever have imagined…

EXCERPT from THE BEAUTY OF SURRENDER:

He opened the door and led her through.

An enormous bed, with carved wooden posts soaring toward the high ceiling. More windows open to the incredible Bay view, letting the night right in: the dark sky, the glittering stars, making her feel all the more vulnerable, even though she was certain no one could see inside. The room was dimly lit by amber glass sconces on the walls. Music played quietly, something soft, meditative. And against one wall was a large wooden frame, like the ones she’d seen at the fetish clubs. But this one was beautiful, carved, with benches and bars padded in brown leather and shining brass hooks placed all over it. Next to it stood a tall rack with coils of colored ropes hanging from it: white, black, red, blue. Her breath stuttered in her chest.

He came to stand behind her, so she couldn’t see him. She could only feel his presence, the faint heat of his body. And his scent, warm and enigmatic, filling her senses.

“Do you know what this is, Ava?”

She nodded her head. “I think so. It looks like the bondage frames I’ve seen at some of the clubs.”

“Yes, that’s right. I can do complex web work here, full harnessing, suspension. Anything.” A short beat. “And I will.”

Oh, she was going to sink to her knees right now, right here!

“Ava, take your clothes off. All of them.”

She paused, opened her mouth, but found she had nothing to say. Everything he was asking of her was well within the boundaries she was used to, but for some reason she felt startled.

She wasn’t going to argue. She didn’t want to. But she was trembling all over, with excitement, and with a little fear still. She wasn’t afraid of him exactly. It was how he made her feel.

But she was doing it, slipping out of her dress, her bra, her high heels, and finally, her damp, white lace panties, which he took from her. He held the small scrap of fabric in his fingers, stroking the lace with his thumb.

“I love this; that you would wear something so sweet-looking. That’s one of the first things I noticed about you,” he told her as he set her clothing down on the dark suede coverlet on the end of the bed. “That air of innocence.”

She could hardly believe he was talking to her so calmly, while she stood naked in front of him!

“And this,” he said, his voice quiet, almost reverent. “This incredible skin.” He drew one finger between her breasts, and her nipples went hard immediately. She shivered all over. Moving in closer, he spread his fingers wide, his entire palm covering the skin between her breasts.

“I can feel your heart beating, Ava. I don’t mind telling you mine is beating just as hard, just as fast.”
He took her hand, placed it on his firm, muscled chest, and she could feel his thudding heartbeat beneath his black cotton shirt.

God.

She was melting all over, into his heat, into her own.

“This is why we’re here together right now,” he said.

He took a step back and she saw him pull in a deep breath. She was unable to speak, her mind beginning that lovely slip and slide, filled with nothing but his rugged beauty, his command, her own sense of submission. And overcome, she clasped her hands behind her back, bowed her head.

“Ah, good girl.”

Hot flash of pleasure at those words, at his tone.

“Stay just as you are while I get set up,” he told her.

She waited. Breathless. Dizzy with need, anticipation.

Then that familiar whisper of rope smoothing over rope, and in a moment he was back in front of her, taking her hands from her back, leading her forward.

“We begin now, Ava.”

I’m talking about writing Alpha Males as well as giving away a free copy of UNTAMED over on Michelle Lauren’s blog today.

SCANDAL SHEET by Gemma Halliday
book #1 in the Hollywood Headlines series

Tina Bender is the gossip columnist at the infamous L.A. Informer tabloid. She knows everything about everyone who’s anyone. And she’s not afraid to print it. That is, until she receives a threatening note, promising, “If you don’t stop writing about me, you’re dead.” Teaming with a built bodyguard, a bubbly blonde, and an alcoholic obituary writer, Tina sets out to uncover just which juicy piece of Hollywood gossip is worth killing over.

Places to Buy: Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | Book Sense

EXCERPT:

TEEN SENSATION ON MORAL VACATION:
LAST NIGHT THE INFORMER CAUGHT EVERYONE’S FAVORITE TEEN ACTRESS, JENNIFER WOOD, AT THE HOLLYWOOD MARTINI ROOM WITH A MEMBER OF A BOY BAND IN ONE HAND AND MARY JANE IN THE OTHER -

“Sh*t!”

“Tina!”

I swiveled in my chair to face my boss, Felix Dunn, standing in the doorway to his office, hands on hips.

“What?”

“Swear Pig.”

I pursed my lips together. “That doesn’t count.”

“I just heard you say ‘sh*t.’”

“It was computer related. Everyone knows computer related swearing doesn’t count.”

He narrowed his eyes. Clearly my argument wasn’t cutting it.

“It’s your own fault, you know,” I protested, changing tactics. I looked down at my computer. I’d been working on a juicy tidbit about the It teen actress who’d been caught with a joint in her hand at last night’s afterparty when my backspace button stuck, taking out one very cleverly worded line, even if I did say so myself. “I mean, how many centuries old are these things anyway?” I went on. “Would it kill you to buy some new hardware once in a awhile?”

He shook his head. “Swear Pig, Bender,” he repeated. Then disappeared back into his office.

“Sh*t.”

“I heard that!”

I stuck my tongue out at his door and dropped two quarters into the purple piggy bank on my desk. Somehow our newly appointed editor in chief was under the impression that yours truly swore too much. I have no f*cking idea where he got that impression. But, he’d set up the Swear Pig as a way to break my bad habit. Personally, I was fine with my bad habit. It’s not like I was shooting heroin or anything, ya know?

Which brought me back to my story.

I swiveled around, pushing my glasses back up onto my nose and put my fingers to keyboard, recreating my perfect line.

IT MAY BE ONE JOINT TODAY FOR OUR FAVORITE FAIR-HAIRED TEENY-BOPPER, BUT WITH THE WAY HER LIFE IS SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL, CAN COCAINE, METH, OR EVEN HEROIN BE FAR BEHIND? HOW MANY BLONDES DOES IT TAKE TO SPELL “REHAB?”

I sat back in my chair, surveying my work. Okay, so it was a little mean. But, seriously, she played a perky cheerleader in a tween cable show. This was tabloid gold.

I hit “send” letting my daily gossip column zip through the L.A. Infomer’s network to Felix’s inbox, then gave my knuckles a satisfying crack.

I glanced at the clock. Quitting time. And somewhere there was a big beefy burrito dinner with my name on it. I grabbed my Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox that doubled as my purse and made for the exit.

Unfortunately, not before Eagle Eyes Dunn could catch me.

“Bender?”

I thought a dirty word and turned around. “Did you want something, chief?”

“You finished up that Wood piece yet?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe of his office.

“Just emailed it to you.” I loved it when I was one step ahead of the boss.

“What about Pines?”

“Pines?” Edward Pines was the director who’d recently been arrested when, after a routine traffic stop, a stack of pornography had been found under the seat of his car. Not that naked bodies were a novelty in Hollywood, but these particular magazines had included photos of thirteen year old boys in the buff. I don’t care how much his last action pic grossed, that guy was total Hollywood road kill now. “What about him?” I asked.

“Being arraigned today. It’s your story, right?”

Damned straight. My headline the morning after Pine’s arrest had read: PINES PINES AFTER PINT-SIZED PRE-TEENS. What can I say? I had a thing for alliterations.

But as much as I was relishing the story, I wasn’t thrilled with the timing.

“He’s being arraigned now?” I asked, my stomach growling. “It’s dinner time.”

“The news waits for no one, love. Cam’s meeting you at the courthouse,” he said, ducking back into his office.

So much for my burrito. “Sh*t.”

“Bender…”

“I know, I know. ” I reached into Strawberry Shortcake and pulled out another quarter, dropping it in the ceramic pig on my way out.

At this rate, I’d be broke by Christmas.