On the fourth day of Kissmas...Mary Winter

AU NATUREL

by Mary Winter
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Contemporary Erotic Romance
RELEASE DATE: November 9, 2007
Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.

BLURB:
Reba Dailey thought she had everything she wanted…until a heart attack brought her face-to-face with death. No longer able to continue her high-powered, high-stress job as an advertising executive, her weakened body and near-empty bank account challenge her to discover what—and who—she really wants.

Disappointed more than once by modern medicine, Todd Thorpe owns Healing Hands, a natural healing center where he helps people make the most of their natural energy. People like Reba Dailey. One heated kiss a few years ago told him they’d be explosive together. And he’s hungered for her ever since.

Now she’s returned, and Todd aims to prove love and happiness are far more fulfilling than money and success. He also plans to teach her how good natural healing can make her feel. One carnal night at a time.

EXCERPT:
“Todd, I’m not the same woman you met at Hope’s Christmas party. Back then I was working my way up the corporate ladder, sending out feelers to see if I could start my own business. Four months after we shared that kiss, I had a heart attack. A near-fatal one. If I hadn’t been at the office, I probably would have died.” Her voice grew soft. “The very thing that nearly killed me saved my life.” She released a breath in a whoosh of air.

“I didn’t know,” he said quietly. “Hope had mentioned you were having some health issues, but nothing that bad. I’m sorry.” He reached forward and cupped her shoulder. “If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”

He meant it. Reba blinked. “After the way I treated you?” The question popped out of her mouth before she could censor it.

Todd chuckled. “Look, the past is the past. Neither one of us can change it…all we can do is look forward. You were busy, and then you went through a life-changing experience. I was busy too, getting my business up and running.” He shrugged. “Things happen.”

“Yeah, they do,” Reba agreed. She swiveled to face him. “The thing is, as much as I want to pick up where we left off, I’m not sure I can. My health is tenuous at the moment. I haven’t even discussed with my doctor whether or not I’m able…to be intimate.” She blushed slightly, swallowed hard and waited for him to run.

He didn’t. His hand still rested warm and comforting on her shoulder, his green eyes holding not the pity she expected, but compassion. “Then maybe that should be the first thing you do. I’m still very attracted to you. I won’t run, Reba. Not this time.”

His words sent shivers of promise down her spine. She nodded, her throat too constricted for words.

“What about you, Reba? Will you run?” he asked after long moments of silence.

She shook her head. “No, I won’t run,” she whispered. Picking up the mug, she sipped the cooling tea, thankful to have something to occupy her hands. Returning the topic back to his metaphysical theories seemed far safer than discussing their relationship. “I’m not sure I believe in all of that New Age stuff, though.” She met his gaze, a shade of the tough advertising executive in her eyes. “We make our own realities and our own truths,” she said, setting her mug down once again.

“I won’t argue with that, but don’t you think we do so in accordance with some grander plan, some larger cycle of life?” Reaching out, he caressed her lower lip with his thumb.

The soft caress sent flutters to her womb. For a moment she stiffened. Hadn’t she just told him she hadn’t discussed sex with her doctor? But sitting here on the couch wasn’t having sex. Perhaps she should just loosen up. Breath catching, she slipped her tongue between her lips to caress the edge of his blunt digit.

His thumb stilled. “We move in shades and patterns. It’s up to us to discern the larger picture.”
Reba closed her lips and leaned away, breaking contact. “I never had much time for pictures.” Not even my own. Her lips twisted, turned sad, and she shoved regrets aside. Too late for regrets now, when her heart fluttered in her chest and the frailties of her flesh had gotten her into this situation in the first place. Todd had her so shaken she didn’t know which way was up anymore. “And now I have too much time.” She reached for her tea.

Todd closed his fingers around her wrists. “Isn’t there something you’ve always wanted, yet never reached out and grabbed?”

His question probed too close to wounds she’d picked at during her convalescence. The image of her latest painting, half-finished and probably always would be, leaning against an easel in her bedroom filled her mind. “I’ve taken everything I wanted, and I’m damn proud of it. Or at least I am when I don’t think too much.” Chin lifting, she stared at his fingers against her wrist. Her pulse pounded, thoughts of the one thing she wanted—yet had been too chicken to act upon in his office—swirling in her head. No one ever called Reba Dailey scared. Not when she faced down tight-fisted executives across the boardroom table, and certainly not in pursuit of a handsome man. A smile curved the corner of her lips. “Is there something you want?”

“We’re not discussing me.”

“No, you’re discussing me, but one thing I’ve learned is that people generally find failings in others that they also have in themselves.” On the offensive, Reba faced him. Curling her toes into the plush carpet, she contemplated walking them up Todd’s leg, curling her digits over the ridge she saw in his jeans and seeing if he was as hard and thick as he looked. Two could play the “what do you want” game, and she had no doubt in the end she’d win.

“So what do you want, Reba?”

His husky voice scraped across nerve endings worn raw from her unfulfilled desires and her need to change her life. She tensed her thighs, thinking of rising up to push him back, straddle him and show him exactly what she wanted. Here, in his home, the intimate atmosphere bound them together far closer than his office could have.

“What do you want?” Reba asked. She reached for him, smiling when her fingers connected with the soft knit of his sweater. In his living room, the woman with a heart condition ceased to exist. This dance she’d played before, and her body screamed that it was time to resume the steps.

Todd grabbed her other wrist. In a flash he pulled her arms over her head and pushed her back against the arm of the couch. His body covered hers, shielding her from the sight of anything but his broad chest. “If I take what I want, will you go after what you want?” He lowered his head, his lips just inches from hers. Each breath scraped her breasts against his chest, and even through layers of clothing electricity zinged between them. She snaked a leg around his hip, her heel pressing against the back of his thigh. “You want me to bare my soul and get all touchy-feely, all New Age? I don’t work that way, Todd. I’m a little more real, a little more now. Almost dying does that to you.”

She’d discarded her shoes at the door and as her sock-clad toes curled into a buttock, she watched a shudder race through him. The woman crawling out of her skin reveled in the release from hibernation.

“I’m not going to fuck you. Not tonight and not until you talk to your doctor.” He eased his grip but didn’t release her.

“Why not? Are you afraid?”

A husky chuckle worked its way from his throat. “No, I’m not afraid. And I have no doubt we’ll have sex. But you’re using this to avoid the issue. And the issue is—what does Reba Dailey want, both in life and love?” He released her and sat back on his side of the couch. “And until you answer that question, whatever this is between us goes no further.”

One the first day of Kissmas....Kate Douglas

Wolf Tales V by Kate Douglas
Kensington Aphrodisia
ISBN 978-0-7582-1870-4
Available now

Manda has spent the last twenty-five years trapped as half woman, half wolf. She was abused and raped repeatedly during that time. Now fully woman, she is still terrified of sex, but Baylor, the shapeshifter who would be her mate, has enlisted packmates Shannon and Jake to show Manda how good sex can be. She participates in their ménage via mindlink—essentially experiencing sex without fear for the first time.

Bay leaned over and kissed her, hard. Then he crawled over her legs and knelt behind Jake. He patted Jake’s left hip. Jake looked back, cocked an eyebrow and wiggled his butt.

Manda knew she must look bug-eyed as Bay found a condom in the bedside table and casually slipped it over his erection. Then he grabbed a tube of what looked like some sort of cream.

Do you want to help?

Manda nodded, mesmerized by the sense of the forbidden, the feeling that all the rules she thought she’d known had just blown out the door. She moved close to Bay’s side and took the tube from him. Squirted some in her palm and stared a moment at the clear, cool gel that was obviously a lubricant. She lifted the solid weight of Bay’s erection in her free hand. Spread the slippery stuff over the latex covered crown of his cock. Is that okay?

What about Jake?

Manda’s breath caught in her throat. You want me to put some on Jake, too?

Inside. So I don’t hurt him.

Manda’s skin went hot, then cold all over. She realized Jake had quit moving. She sensed his anticipation, his body’s desire for her touch. She scooted close with the small tube in her hand and touched the taut muscle of Jake’s right cheek. The skin jumped and he arched his back. Manda hissed in a quick breath.

It’s okay. Go ahead.

She shot a quick glance at Bay, took a deep breath and squeezed the cool gel into her palm. Jake kept his face turned away and it all felt somewhat anonymous, moving closer, running her finger along the crease from his tailbone to the tight ring of muscle guarding entry.

So intimate, touching him there, watching the pink flesh pucker and then soften. She pressed with her fingertip, ran her fingers past and down until she found the sensitive area of his perineum, then back up along the narrow crease of his ass.

This time she pressed harder, gained entrance and withdrew. He felt hot inside, and the ring of muscle clasped her finger. She thought of the play she and Bay had done for the last week, the touching and teasing that, so far, had not led to more than occasional shallow penetration.

There was no risk for Manda here. Jake obviously wanted her to relax the tight muscle and ready him for Bay. She pressed again, with more lube this time. One finger, in and out, then two. She felt the tension ease and her fingers slipped inside all the way. Jake moaned and pressed back against her hand. Manda added a third finger, twisting this time. She felt a shudder go through Jake’s body.

Guide me inside.

Once more Manda shot a quick look at Bay. He wasn’t smiling anymore. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face. The intense look on his face made her gut clench with a hollow spike of need. As if she moved in a dream, Manda lifted his heavy cock in her hand and pressed the head against Jake’s ass. Bay held perfectly still. Shannon lay quietly beneath Jake.

Jake had begun to tremble. Manda opened her thoughts. Once again, she’d been blocking without realizing. Now her mind shuddered beneath the sensual onslaught. Images and sensations, the seething mass of their combined arousal. Shannon, her sex gaping in wait with Jake’s cock poised at the mouth, Bay’s struggle for control as he pressed against the slick entrance to Jake.

The most powerful sensations of all, the greatest needs, were Jake’s. Aroused to a shivering frenzy, body tense and ready for both penetration by Bay and the need to fill Shannon, he shared his arousal, filled each of them with his needs, his visceral craving for completion.

Caught up in Jake’s powerful shared images, Manda wrapped her fingers around Bay’s cock and pushed him hard against Jake. Both men groaned as Bay slipped past the tight ring and drove deep inside his packmate. Then Manda guided Jake’s cock between Shannon’s legs. Shannon arched into his thrust and the three of them pressed together with Jake in the middle. Manda sat back on her haunches, feeling a part of, yet separate from the writhing bodies on the bed.
Once again she realized she’d closed out their thoughts. Once more she found that window and opened it wide.

Manda doubled over beneath the wave of impressions. Sensation! So many feelings from three separate minds. Flooded with awareness and images, with the powerful love and respect each of them felt for one another, finding herself, for the first time ever, included in the whole.

She experienced everything—every touch, every thrust and probing penetration—as if it happened to her. The fullness of Bay’s cock inside Jake, the heat and tightness Bay felt with each deep thrust along Jake’s tight channel. She was Shannon, penetrated all the way to the hard mouth of her womb when Jake plunged deep inside. Manda slipped back into Jake’s mind. He was the most highly aroused, the one experiencing both Bay’s powerful thrusts and Shannon’s warm, clenching pussy.

Shannon was the first to climax. She reached for Manda’s hand and held her tightly, arched her body against Jake’s and cried out. The added physical touch strengthened the mental link, tugged Manda into the maelstrom of feelings, of clenching muscles and rippling flesh.
She felt her own orgasm spiral out of control. Cried out with the shared feeling of Jake’s cock filling her, pressing hard against the mouth of her womb, filling her with hot bursts of his seed as her vaginal muscles clamped down on his thrusting shaft.

Penetration without fear. A climax from both Shannon’s point of view as well as Jake’s. Long moments later, Manda blinked herself back to the present, realized she still knelt beside her three packmates, but now the fingers of her left hand were buried deep inside her sex and her right still clasped Shannon’s hand.

Manda shook her head to clear her thoughts. Bay’s hips slammed against Jake and both men groaned. Manda still trembled in the aftermath of orgasm. She’d not had sex, but her body didn’t seem to care. She’d still participated, still wanted more.

Whether it was the wine or the sex toys or merely the fact Manda felt more loved than she ever had in her life, whatever combination of events and happenstance it might be, she had just experienced sex without panic. Wanted more. Wanted to feel the length, the heat, the solid weight of Bay deep inside.

Now she watched. Her body and mind experienced. She shared feelings and sensations. As if immersed in virtual reality, Manda became Jake. She felt the dark slide deep inside her bowel, the growing pressure of a second climax building.

Shannon had separated herself from Jake, turned around and now took his heavy erection in her mouth. Held his sac in her palm and his cock between her lips.

Manda felt Shannon’s tongue, the pressure of her lips and teeth, the heat from her mouth. She cried out when Bay thrust hard and deep, and arched her back as Jake’s need spiraled from spine to balls to explosive ejaculation.

Jake groaned. Manda’s reality shifted. She was Bay. Surging forward, buttocks clenched, cock plowing deep inside Jake. She experienced the heat, the pressure, the convulsive tremors milking her cock. When Bay shouted his release, Manda sobbed her own. When Jake collapsed and rolled to one side so as not to crush Shannon, Manda toppled to the bed.

And when Bay slowly fell forward, his arms wrapped tightly around Jake’s waist, Manda crawled close and laid her head upon his thigh. The four of them, replete, exhausted, satisfied, a single unit, no longer separate, one from the other.

Manda’s body trembled, but so did Bay’s. She felt a hand sweep through her tangled hair and recognized Jake’s gentle touch. Felt lips on her shoulder and knew Shannon kissed her.
Felt strong arms pulling her close, warm lips on her own, a heart full of laughter spilling into her mind.

Bay. Loving her. Ready to take the next step. Together.

PG Forte is in the house!

Love from A to Z

Total amnesia is not what Richie Valenzuela had planned on when he drugged his cousin. A few missing hours, which could easily be blamed on April’s having had too much to drink, was all he was aiming for. And he certainly never expected the reclusive heiress to slip out the club’s back door with the sexy guitarist she’d been making eyes at all night.

Zach Harris is sure the girl he’d picked up the night before had told him her name was Angel. Too bad she didn’t tell him anything more about herself, because, this morning, it’s not just him she can’t remember, she doesn’t even know her own name!

What April views as a problem, however, Zach sees as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; a chance for her to discover who she really is. Not her name or her address, but the important stuff. Her personality. Her likes and dislikes. Her preferences—in and out of bed.

Please visit her at: www.pgforte.com.

Go Pink for October and Win a Victoria's Secret Gift Card

Many of you know October is Breast Cancer awareness month. As a woman who has fibrocystic breast disease, surgical biopsies and cyst removals, this disease is never far from my mind. But so far, I've been one of the lucky ones whose "lumpy-bumpy" breasts are noncancerous.

With all these things on my mind, I wanted to give away four Victoria's Secret gift card to just celebrate all things feminine. No, no purchase necessary. Just stop by and leave a comment on any of my blogs and that will do. I'll draw a name each week.

And remember, think pink!

Sylvia Hubbard Guest Blogger for April

Folks, powerhouse romantic suspense author, Sylvia Hubbard, will be the guest blogger for the month of April. If you want an idea of her writing style, check out her novel, Mistaken Identity!

Who knows what she will bring to the table next? Get ready!