Wheee! It’s saturday!!!! 

And it’s Saturday Snippet again. This week it’s all about the fights and boy do I love to write me some fights. I also love the action/adventure genre so it makes sense that a lot of my paranormals would have physical fights in them. But since Fire & Desire is about to come out at Phaze books and its a contemporary bdsm, I am going with a verbal fight/argument instead for this weeks pick.

While the scene is an argument between Ruby and Zane, what Ruby is fighting is a lot deeper than the man sitting next to her.

Excerpt:

She pushed against his chest. “Let me up.”

“No.”

Her brow arched. “Excuse me. Did you just say no?”

“Yes.” The fiery anger lit her eyes and he waited for the backlash. That she had gotten riled up over the conversation was a clear indication she was getting back to normal.

“Don’t you even understand what happened to you? You need to rehydrate and take it easy for a while.”

“I’m not a child, and I hardly think a bout of low blood sugar is cause for all this.” She waved her hand around the car and he bit back another smile. Jesus, he loved her spirit, her determination.

“No, you’re definitely not a child, and I’d like to suggest again you stop squirming in my lap.” His cock twitched against her bottom and she looked at him with sheer horror.

“What? I’ve got a beautiful woman sitting in my lap who, as I recall, masturbated in front of me and who knows who else just a short while ago.”

“Ohhh—” She fought powerfully against his hold and pushed herself from his lap to the seat next to him with just her wrist manacled by his hand. “You son of a bitch. Let me go.”

“I already said no. I’m going to make sure you are okay and then we’re going to see about getting you satisfied.”

Wild fear filled her gaze as she twisted her head to Gabe and back again. “What? Have you lost your mind? I need to get back to work and then when everything’s all cleaned up I’m going home. Alone.”

“You’re not going back to work tonight. Everything’s already being taken care of,” Gabe broke in. “Zane’s right. You may think you’re fine, but twenty minutes ago you scared the hell out of several people.”

Ruby sighed, some of the anger deflating. “I’m not sure what happened and I’m sorry if it freaked you out, but really, I think I’m fine now.

Zane tugged on her wrist and pulled her a little closer. “I’m not leaving you alone tonight, so you decide. We can either go back and spend the night in a playroom, or you can come home with me. My preference would be a warm bed at my place where you’ll be comfortable, but it’s your choice.”

Silence stretched out between them while she thought about his offer. He’d known she wouldn’t like her options.
“I don’t like being manhandled.” She leaned forward to the front seat. “And as for you, I don’t even know what to say. How about we take door number three and you can take me to my place.”

He pulled her back against the leather. “No, not an option. You didn’t have a blood sugar issue back at the club, so clearly you either have no idea what you’re doing when you get involved with fire play or you’re in some major denial.”
Suddenly her elbow connected with his gut and his breath whooshed from his lungs. She’d caught him off guard just enough to again slide away from him. He’d tensed, readying himself for a fight when she turned her head to gaze out the window, not saying a word. They rode like that for a few minutes until Gabe pulled up to his building and killed the engine. For a few long minutes no one spoke as the tension in the car rose.

Yet Ruby didn’t look mad anymore, she looked…sad.

“I know a lot about this kind of thing…first hand. I grew up with it.”

“You discovered your fire fetish when you were young?”

“Yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I didn’t understand the attraction to heat, and it took years before the craving for it started to twist me up inside.” She ran her hand along the edge of the window, her movements slow and distant as if she were lost in thoughts or memories.

“Let’s go inside and you can get comfortable. Then we can talk about what happened.”

She looked at him then—a blank look in her eyes. “I can’t be what you want,” she whispered.

Don’t forget to follow the trail for more snippety goodness…

Emma Petersen
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Lissa Matthews
McKenna Jeffries
Shelli Stevens
Mari Carr
Elisabeth Naughton
Lauren Dane
Taige Crenshaw
Shelley Munroe

Just got cover art this week for my demon novella, Dirty Deeds, which will be out with Loose Id on April 27, 2010

Created by the fantabulous Christine Griffin

Interested in knowing more about the story?

Here is the VERY unoffical blurb:

Five souls in five days…What’s a girl to do?

As a newly turned Demon, Melody loves being a bad bad girl. Sex is her weapon and she knows how to use it. But when her boss demands five souls in five days, she’s in an awful fix. Desperate to find those souls, in as easy a way possible, she heads for The Dungeon. The hot new BDSM club in town where she’s bound to find just the kind of man she’s looking for.

Drake is the Master here in the Dungeon. Anything and everything he wants is for the taking…until he meets Melody. But despite his need to master the strong willed Demon, he harbors a secret that threatens their bond, Melody’s soul, and even Immortality.

Excerpt: (yeah, you need to be an adult cause I like dirty words. *g*)

“I tried to tell you I wasn’t cut out to be a soul-sucking bitch.” Melody cast her gaze down, evading her boss’s compelling eyes, afraid of the look. A summons to the depths of hell for an impromptu job performance review wasn’t her idea of fun. She had ignored the warnings she’d received before, so when her body dematerialized in midstroke, she hadn’t been all that surprised. What pissed her off was being pulled from her lover’s embrace when she’d been about to reach an orgasm. That had just been mean.

“Well, Melody, if you don’t want to meet your soul quota, how about an extended period of time in the Lake of Fire instead? Say a century or two for starters. Maybe that would change your mind.”

She cringed. Been there, done that, seen the movie, and don’t want to do it again.

“Isn’t there anything else available more suited to my tastes? Say like greed or gluttony or something like that?” She kept her gaze focused on her lap inspecting her nails, thinking about getting a new manicure. Anything to keep from looking into his eyes. Her demon boss was an ancient who, with one direct look, could make a person give up all control, making anyone do all manner of very bad things.

“No!” Harold’s gnarled hand pounded on his desk.

She flinched, raising her head, barely remembering to avoid his eyes.

“I’ve told you before, so I shouldn’t have to keep reminding you. Assignments in hell are permanent, and either you accept the job I gave you and perform it well, or suffer along with the rest of the residents.”

Melody took a deep breath. She’d heard this speech many times before, and she knew there was no other choice. She’d made her bed; now it was time to lie in it…literally.

“Look at yourself, Melody.” A handheld mirror appeared in her lap, and she picked it up to view her new self once again. “This is what you traded your soul for. You begged and pleaded for a beautiful human form, and I granted your desire for a price. One that you agreed upon.”

She put the mirror back down on her lap. She didn’t need a mirror to know how much her appearance had changed. Gone was the overweight, dishwater blonde virgin librarian she had once been. Instead she’d become the goddess she’d always dreamed of.

At five foot seven inches and one hundred twenty-four pounds, she had just the right amount of hips and curves to attract any man she desired. Her blonde hair was a lush golden mane framing her heart-shaped face and showing off her green eyes and pouty lips to perfection. Every man she met wanted to fuck her and her sex life had gone from nonexistent to nonstop since the change. It didn’t hurt that she could sense their true desires if she wanted to. This private knowledge made her job of getting them into bed even easier than she’d ever imagined.

Problem was, every time she fucked a man, Harold expected her to do so with one whose soul was ready to be taken. Harold created her power so when the object of her desire, be it man or woman, achieved orgasm, she could reach in and absorb their marked souls from their body.

She’d managed to do it a few times. And everything had been awesome right up until she reached in and grabbed their blackened souls. It felt just like reaching into a tub of black and green slimy sludge. At least that’s what she imagined it felt like, as she hadn’t actually stuck her hand in a tub of sludge. She shivered at the memory.

“Melody! Are you listening to me?”

She jerked back to her boss, Harold, meeting his gaze head on. Fuck. I’m a goner now.

“You’ve had more than your fair share of warnings, dear. I should have punished you long before now. But for some reason, I like you.”

A heated blast of air hit her torso, tightening her nipples to sharp points. Between her legs, her sex heated and clenched in anticipation. A little side effect Harold failed to mention when they forged their agreement. Everything made her horny and she was damn near helpless to resist it.

Her boss, however, had never once made any moves on her, so this was rather unexpected. A slight brush against the sensitive skin of her breast tore a low groan from her mouth. Invisible hands plucked at her nipples, pinching to the point of erotic pain, yet Harold hadn’t moved and no one else was in the room. Her eyes couldn’t leave his to investigate her surroundings and honestly, she didn’t care. Her boss’s power enthralled her as her body heated up with the delicious expectation of hot sweaty sex and the release she craved. Light fingers traveled up the inside of her legs and underneath her short red skirt. The gentle graze across the tops of her thigh-highs sent chills over her skin. She arched into the pressure at her breasts while wiggling her hips closer to the featherlike fingers moving toward her now aching pussy.

“Melody, are you ready to do your job?”

She nodded, lost to the sensations enflaming her desire.

“Are you going to start meeting your quota immediately?”

A breathless yes escaped her lips as the tips of the fingers on her thighs slid along her moist folds, barely grazing the hardened little bud of flesh that would rocket her to climax with a tad more attention.

“Aaaahhhh.” She lifted her bare butt, pushing the fingers farther into her moisture. Just a little more. A little more pressure.

Harold released his power, the touch on her body disappearing as quickly as it had started. She slumped in the chair, bereft from the near orgasm once again. Frustration boiled inside her as she bit back the desire to scream at him.

“Melody, you have five days. Five days to meet this month’s quota, or else.” She didn’t want to know what the “or else” was. She knew for certain it would be far worse than anything she could imagine. “Do you really understand this is your final opportunity? Either you become the productive little Sex Demon you were made to be, or I’ll be forced to terminate your contract and turn you over to the gatekeeper for the appropriate eternal punishment.” He scribbled something in a folder and then slammed it shut.

She didn’t need to hear anything more. She may not want to steal the vile souls required of her, but the other option would be far worse. “Yes, sir, I understand.”

“Good girl.” His puffed up and twisted lips curved into a bit of a smile as she got up to leave. “You go on back home now and take care of business. Five days, Melody. I’m not kidding about this.”

Right. Five days to collect five souls, or I’m going to find out that hell does have more fury than a woman scorned.

Today’s snippet theme is family and I love to write about brothers in my paranormal series. First in the Pentacles of Magick with four brothers who make up two sets of twins and now in my Black Cougar series with Lucas, Kane and Malcolm. I love the dynamics between a group of siblings and its fun to explore.

In today’s snippet I am pulling from the final book in the Pentacles of Magick series, The Revealing. Finally all four brothers are reunited in their need to defeat the prophecy that has ruled their lives. They don’t get to spend too much time together before complete chaos erupts as you’ll see in the scene below.

Excerpt:

As everyone moved around them—finding a seat, getting drinks, and waiting to hear what Rena said—Noah could only think about what he’d been about to confess to Jessie before they’d been interrupted.  He loved her and he needed to tell her. He was even tempted to blurt it out now, but knew how inappropriate that would be.  She seemed skittish already, so he would wait until they were alone again later tonight. But like it or not, she didn’t get to run this time.  She was his and he had every intention of holding on to her.

He pressed his lips to her silken hair, loving the soft feel of it against him.  Just holding her like this got his body hard and ready.  Would he ever get enough of her? He doubted it.

“Hey, do you two need to get a room?” Noah shot his twin a look over Jessie and had to choke back a laugh when he saw the stricken look on Jake’s face.  Guess her big brother wasn’t ready to handle thoughts of his sister having sex with a Scott twin.  Especially considering his own relationship with Denn and Raven.  By now Jake knew exactly what kind of sexual appetites all the Scott brothers had in common. He’d bet he didn’t know that his sister fit that appetite just perfectly.

Noah led Jessie to the far corner of the room, far enough away to give her a small sense of freedom and close enough to see and hear what Rena had to say.

“As you all know, I’ve been studying the family Tarot for weeks now, hunting for clues to help us figure out what would come next and what we could do to prevent anything tragic from happening.” She picked up four of the cards from the table. “These pentacles cards seem to coincide most with the pieces of the prophecy that have been found.  Yet we still don’t know exactly how to handle our latest situation.”

“Are you talking about what happened to Jessie?” Jake questioned.

“Yes, exactly.  For a while there we thought that the Reverend knew exactly what the prophecy said and that he was acting against it trying to kill one or all of the brothers, but we didn’t have any real proof of that until now.”

“She’s right, it seems pretty clear that if he knew enough to take Jessie prisoner and try to keep her from Noah, then he’s known all along, and his steps have escalated with each attempted failure,” Graelen interrupted.

“From everything I’ve read and studied, all four have to connect to their mates, and I’m not sure how well that will work as long as Jessie is connected to the Reverend through the branding ritual and the demon magick,” Rena said.

“Yeah, that demon magick I took out last night was some pretty powerful stuff.  About knocked us both on our asses,” Noah said.

“You got your magick back?” Jake’s face lit up. “That’s awesome. I don’t see how he could stop you now.”

Jessie’s body went stiff as a board against him and fear radiated out of her like a radio broadcast. His own body went on high alert, the hair prickling on his skin.  Something wasn’t right. He was missing something.

Jake smiled broadly. “I mean, not to short the magick of each one of you, but her demon side is scary powerful.  I don’t imagine there is much she can’t handle.”

Everyone turned to look at them, and even Noah stared down at the woman in his arms.  Instinctively his arms dropped and he took a step back away from her as the shock of Jake’s words fell away, rage wound its way through him, red hot and burning through his veins.  Flames licked at his skin as the emotion allowed his magick to break free from his control, building until the heat surrounding him had everyone take several steps back.

“Noah, you need to calm down.  Let’s discuss this.” Denn moved toward him, steady and controlled, his earth magick tamping down on his fire.

“It’s true then? You knew?”

Denn opened his mouth to answer but the windows at the front of the room, overlooking the front yard and water beyond, exploded, sending thousands of shards flying into the room. Bodies ducked and ran for cover as total chaos erupted around them.

Don’t forget to follow the trail to more snippety goodness.

Leah Braemel
Emma Petersen
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Lissa Matthews
McKenna Jeffries
Shelli Stevens
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Jody Wallace
Taige Crenshaw
Mari Carr
Elisabeth Naughton
Juliana Stone

Today’s theme is Lost Loves and I actually have several reunion type stories. For me as a reader I love to read the stories of lost loves reunited. In fact I’m sort of writing a new one.

So I’ve chosen The Revealing which is the fourth and final story in my Pentacles of Magick series. Noah and Jessie were a lot of fun to write.

Excerpt:

“C’mon, Jessie, we have to go now, our time is up.” His magick hummed, sensing other users nearby. When she came out of the bathroom carrying a duffel bag with her, she took his breath away.  A night of rest and a shower had made a world of difference, and now she looked more like Jessica.  Silky brown hair fell just below her shoulders, the perfect length for grabbing onto. The almost too short denim shorts and tight green t-shirt she’d chosen from the clothes that had been delivered first thing this morning showed off every inch of her luscious body.  Not exactly subtle nor disguise material, but dayum she looked good enough to eat. Even the plain white tennis shoes on her feet seemed sexy to him.

When he finally let his gaze meet hers he could have sworn he saw the same heat in the normally cool blue depths of her eyes.  Shaking his thoughts loose, he opened the door and ushered her out and down the stairs to his waiting vehicle. She was turning into a distraction neither one of them could afford.

“Where are you taking me? To see Jake?” She slid onto the seat next to him, looking at him for an answer.

“Not quite yet.  We still have some trouble to deal with, and I don’t think either of us wants to involve more people than we have to.”

“Then where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe.”

She glared at him, waiting.

“How familiar are you with the bayou?”

“Probably not enough, guess it depends on what you have in mind,” she blurted.

Ignoring the jolt in his groin from the look she threw him, he continued. “We need to hide for a while. Somewhere I can protect you.  I know of a place deep in the swamps that will fit the bill.”

“Should I be nervous? I mean, I’m not your favorite person these days, and going deep in the swamps with someone who doesn’t like you sounds like a recipe for big trouble.”

“I’m not the one that left in the middle of the night, Jessie.”

A dark cloud passed over her features, making her look sad. Seeing her like that made him feel like shit. Which really pissed him off since he had nothing to feel bad about.

“I know.” She turned toward the window and settled in for the ride.

He pulled the SUV out of the parking lot, watching everything around them despite his preoccupation with the woman beside him. Obsession is more like it. He took a deep drag of air into his lungs, held it until it burned, and then let it out as slowly as he could.  He needed to be in complete control of this situation and couldn’t afford to be distracted.

He knew as soon as he left this section of the Quarter the veil of voodoo they had been hiding under would dissipate.  Denn would be doing his best to aid them with his own spells, but whatever new source his uncle had harvested was some pretty powerful shit.  That worried him the most.  If his uncle had gained some additional power he either had a coven working for him or something far worse. Demons.

His brothers were currently looking into what was brewing in this region, which was a good thing, but Denn had been hiding something from him this morning. That had him worried.  He’d thought about pushing him on it, but hadn’t had time.  He and Jessie needed to get out of New Orleans, and fast.  He wasn’t sure he could take on an army.

Crossing the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, they quickly left the city limits of New Orleans, headed for the middle of nowhere. They drove in silence as the empty road and occasional car went by them until he heard a growl that had to have come from Jessie.

“Are you hungry?”

She nodded her head. “A little, but I’m fine.  I’ve gotten used to living on very little.”

His stomach heaved at that thought.  His imagination could have run wild with possibilities of just what she had endured. “Once we get settled in a safe place, you’re going to have to tell me exactly what happened to you back there.”

“It’s over, Noah, we need to just let it go.”

“Uh-uh, cherie, it’s far from over.  In fact, we likely have a long, tough road in front of us.”

“What do you mean?” She looked confused.

“According to my brothers, Uncle Scott has quite a plan going on.  Something else we are going to have to discuss soon enough.”

She shifted closer to him in her seat. “Why not tell me now? I think we have time.”

“Not yet, Jessie, for now I have to stay alert and focus on getting us away from here safely.”

She crossed her arms against her chest, pushing her breasts up and against the already tight fabric.  His mouth watered when he saw the peaked nipples poke against the shirt. The pouty look on her face only inflamed him further, challenging him to take her over his knee and teach her a lesson or two. He loved the lure of a woman with an independent streak and Jessie was just his type—it’s what had drawn him to her in the first place.

For years he’d pursued the meeker and submissive women for his darker tastes, but Jessie had taught him the sweeter pleasure of submission with spirit. Despite her lack of enthusiasm toward his lifestyle, she’d responded immediately and with such intensity he’d thought his heat would combust them both. As it turned out they’d both been surprised with each other’s response. Their time together had been hot and brief, and her ultimate disappearance had driven him mad for a while. His pride prevented him from searching for her, so instead he’d indulged himself in every vice he could to forget about her. Work, sex, tequila and eventually he’d moved on. Until he answered his brother’s call.

Be sure to follow the trail for more snippety goodness!

Emma Petersen
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
Lissa Matthews
McKenna Jeffries
Shelli Stevens
Mari Carr
Lauren Dane
Vivian Arend
Elisabeth Naughton
Juliana Stone
Shelley Munro
Leah Braemel