So, I’ve mentioned around the interwebz that I took a few classes in order to learn to knit. In the last two weeks I’ve finished my first two projects. Of course, I took some pictures.

Both of these are neckwarmers, i.e. short scarves that go around the neck once and button rather than wrap around a bunch of times and dangle.

The first one is a pattern called “the Pidge”, no idea why, but that’s what it’s called. I took some flat pics on the coffee table, but figured that didn’t really show how they looked, so I modeled them in the bathroom. It’s more complicated than you think to get a decent neck shot while self-photographing. Warning: I am wearing no make-up in these pics. Look at your own risk of blinding by my pasty whiteness.

A picture from the front.

And a picture from the side.

This one is a pattern I sort of made up by cobbling together about 4 different patterns I found online. The flat picture turned out with weird colors, but you can see all of it. The self-pics are more true to life on the color, which is a blue-green with some creamy yellow mixed in. The yarn is thick and crinkly. Don’t fall too much in love though, this one is for a friend’s birthday soon. It’s not mine to keep.

The front shot.

Side shot.

Next project: a long scarf for the Prof. Moriarty in a nice blue-gray yarn he picked. I dragged him to the yarn store to choose his own. What? It was only sort of cruel and unusual to make him go in there. And he gets something nice out of it!

I put up a new little short story on Smashwords and Kindle. It’ll be on Nook and Sony, etc, in a little while, but you can get those formats from Smashwords if you don’t want to wait for the direct download from your ereader site.

I made the cover myself, which makes me love this story even more. Here’s the info…

Marion’s all tied up over Kurt. Why? Because she wanted a little thrill in her small-town life and got it by dating the town bad boy. Only it went way beyond a mere thrill in under a week. Now, a year later, she wants to know when they’re going to take it to the next level. She wants it all and she wants it with him. So she asks him to marry her. When he doesn’t react at all, she walks out, realizing that her mother was right…the bad boy isn’t the marrying kind.

But Kurt’s not about to make it that easy for her to leave. He’s had a week to get angry over her stomping off. So what if he has to tie her to the bed to get her to listen to him? He won’t let her avoid him forever, and if this is what it takes to get her attention, so be it. He’d never thought Marion wanted anything other than to burn up the sheets with him, but he’s thinking about it now…and he’s ready to be all tied up over Marion. Until death do them part.

Smashwords
Amazon Kindle

—-Excerpt—-

“This isn’t funny. Let me go, Kurt.” Marion twisted against the silk scarves that bound her to the bed. Her silk scarves. It just added insult to the injury of having her ex-boyfriend strip her nude and truss her up like a turkey at Thanksgiving.

He chuckled, his deep voice a silken caress over her nerves. “Really? And last week it was marry me, Kurt.”

“Don’t rub it in.” She closed her eyes against the painful memories. Her mother had said Kurt wasn’t the marrying kind, but Marion hadn’t listened, determined that she could tame the town bad boy. She’d fallen hard and fast for him a year ago. He just…hadn’t fallen with her. Tears pressed against her lids and she blinked rapidly to keep them from escaping.

He didn’t want her, not really, and she wouldn’t let him see her cry.

“Do you really think I’m here to rub in an ugly fight?” He arched a dark brow at her. She could feel the textured fabric of his jeans, the softness of his flannel shirt as he moved against her. His rough carpenter’s hands slipped up her legs.

Every nerve ending in her body lit on fire, and she fought the automatic need to arch into his touch. Wetness flooded her pussy, readying her for anything he had in mind. God, she wanted him. She always wanted him. Pulling in a deep breath, she tried to push the desire away. “I don’t know why you’re here, but I wish you’d leave.”

“Not going to happen, sugar.” His fingers inched higher.

She clenched her jaw against a moan of wanton lust. “Why? You made it pretty clear where we stand last week.”

He sat back, and her body bowed towards him against her will. He shoved his dark hair out of his face. “You sprung marriage on me out of the blue, then stomped off when I didn’t give you the reaction you wanted. Then you stopped returning my calls. What did you expect me to do, Marion?”

She’d expected him to want to marry her, and she’d spent the last week kicking herself for thinking what they had meant as much to him as it did to her. She was a fool. And everyone in town knew she’d just been fooling herself, which made it sting even more. Swallowing back a fresh wave of tears, she stared at the ceiling over her bed. “I don’t expect anything from you.”

“So, what? That’s it? We’re done?” He lifted an incredulous brow at her, anger simmering in his dark gaze.

So, I just got a delivery of my books in the mail. But let’s face it, I live in a one bedroom apartment and there’s only so much room for this stuff. So, I’m giving a bunch of them away.

Facebook has some weird rules about contests now, so in the tradition of my friend Dakota Cassidy, I’m having a schmontest.

What do I want in exchange for giving my books away for free? More people who like my fan page on Facebook. I’m at just under 300 right this second, so for every 10 new fans, I’ll give a book away. The contest will cut off whenever I reach 700 fans. Yep, you did that math right–I’m giving away 40 print books. Already a fan of mine? There are ways you can be entered too (see how nice I am?).

To enter, just like my page and leave a comment about which of my print books you’d like if I picked you.

Sorry, ebooks don’t help me clean out my storage closet of books, so print only. There’s a list of print books right here, if you’re not sure which stories are in which format: http://www.crystaljordan.com/books/#print

If you already like my fan page (or if you like it during the course of this contest), you can also send your friends to like my page and have them leave a comment about who recommended them. Then you’re both entered! That’s right, sending friends can mean multiple entries and more chances to win.

Let the games begin!

http://www.facebook.com/CrystalJordanFanPage

My new Spice Brief is out today, and if you want to enter a contest for an Amazon gift card and a pretty necklace, which I’m holding to celebrate my release, stop by the Smutketeers website!

WANTON

Two years after her lover died, Lynx Jenise finally feels ready to indulge the consuming urge to mate at the shifter gathering known as the Wild. Though her very human heart was broken, her animal instincts can no longer be suppressed.

But even as she finds the rough pleasure she craves with other Lynxes, another instinct haunts Jenise—the feeling that another mate is near….

Find the ebook:
eHarlequin Store
B&N Nook
Amazon Kindle

Excerpt:

She was being hunted.

A small smile curved Jenise’s lips, and her heart began to pound with heady anticipation. The cold mountain air of the Sierra Nevadas kissed her naked flesh, curling between her bare legs to stroke the heated folds of her sex. She shivered, her nipples tightening to an almost painful degree. The slightest rustle of a cat’s paw on dew-covered grass whispered in her ear.

He was catching up with her. Her hunter. The Lynx within her nearly purred as the excitement built higher. She couldn’t wait for him to fuck her, but he’d have to catch her first. Her smile widened. The first week of Spring every year was the Wild time for her kind. Every female went into heat simultaneously, and every Lynx on the continent gathered here. To connect with their animalistic nature, to rut until the heat burned itself out.

It was the last day of Wild. She could feel the heat easing its grip on her body. Tears pressed against her lids at the prospect of this time away from time ending. She clenched her jaw, shoving the thought away. No. She would enjoy the now, squeeze every ounce of sensation out of what time remained to her. Her grin sharpened, showing her truest nature. Feral woman.

Shivering again at the cool breeze licking at her flesh, she shifted into her Lynx form. Her body flowed into the new shape, bones and sinew remolding into those of a feline. Spotted fur soon covered her skin, protecting her from the chill wind.

She wound through the tall trees, padding lightly on her paws as the underbrush thinned and gave way to the rocky shore beside a flowing river. The last rays of the fading sun sparkled on the water as it gurgled around and tripped over larger rocks. The breeze fluttered through her thick fur, bringing with it the scent of her pursuer.

Soon. Soon, she would have him as she had had so many others this week. A pang struck her, and her heart clenched in her chest. Guilt twisted inside her, choking off her breath.

Two years had passed since Shane died. Her mate. The first year, she hadn’t been able to make herself attend Wild. The loss was too raw, too new. Alone in her house, the cravings of her body had eaten her alive until she’d screamed from the relentless want she couldn’t stop. She was in heat, she needed to fuck. Those animal instincts didn’t care that her very human heart had shattered, that half of her soul had been ripped away, leaving her empty and barren. Broken.

Lost.

She couldn’t face her Wild time alone the second year. She just . . . couldn’t. The need had clawed at her too deeply, slicing through her control. She swallowed and twitched her ears, trying to ignore the guilt. Shane was possessive, as all males of their kind were. He would hate knowing that she craved the touch of another man, any other man who might want to stroke his fingers down her naked skin, who might be willing to thrust his long cock into her overheating body. Anything to assuage the need, to ease the carnal torment for even a single moment.

He would never have understood.