Blurb:
When Clay “Raven” Nighthorse is offered a job as bodyguard to a woman being stalked by her vengeful ex, he’s ready to turn it down. Until he discovers that she is the woman he met on a beach three years ago. The woman with whom he felt an instant connection. The woman who has been haunting his dreams ever since.
Leah Stanhope has never forgotten the day she surprised her husband in bed with another woman. Nor has she forgotten the kindness and compassion of the complete stranger who’d simply held her in his arms and let her cry herself out on a public beach. She despairs of ever seeing him again until fate brings them together in a conflagration of desire and smoking hot
passion. Can Clay convince Leah to risk her heart? And when her stalker finds her, will Clay be able to stop him in time?
Adult Excerpt:
Lifting his hand, he placed his fingertips against her cheek.
She jerked her head away, but otherwise couldn’t move. It was as if she’d been turned to stone. “Don’t touch me!” She’d meant it to be an icy command, but instead it came out a choked, frightened whisper.
Ignoring her, he sent his fingers on a journey along the line of her jaw, down the slender column of her neck. He paused at the base of her neck, holding the tip of his index finger over the pulse hammering there, betraying her agitation. The journey continued down over her collar bones, across the creamy, sloping mound of her breast to the edge of her modest bathing suit top. When she made no move to stop him, he hooked his forefinger into the stretchy material. When she still didn’t move, he allowed his fingernail to scrape against her tender flesh as he traced the outline of the fabric down to its lowest point—the point where it stretched across the shadowed valley between her breasts.
“Don’t—” It was a choked whisper. She closed her eyes, but she made no attempt to remove his hand. She was trembling, every clamoring nerve aware of his nearness, the potent sexuality of his hard, male body so close to hers. "I-I’m engaged to be married.”
“Ah, yes.” His lips twisted. “The ever-devoted fiance. Tell me, Leah,” he tugged her toward him, the weight of his hand pulling the stretchy, jersey top outward, threatening to release the rounded fullness of her breasts. “Tell me about him. What’s it like making love to an old man?”
She should have pushed him away. She should have stepped back—anything to put distance between them. Except she wasn’t standing. She was floating in the water, anchored by her elbow on the pool deck and his finger hooked in her bikini top. Unable to get away, she stared up at him helplessly, trapped as much by the confusion leaping within her as she was by the sensual spell he seemed to be weaving around her like a web.
Resting his left elbow on the underwater shelf, he released her top and lifted his hand to shape the back of her head, those long, lean fingers threading through the damp silk of her hair. “Does his touch arouse you?” Slowly, sensuously, he pulled her toward him, closing the distance between them, until his firm, mobile mouth was less than an inch from her own, his breath warm against her lips. “Does he set you on fire?”
The hard contours of his body brushed tantalizingly against the softly rounded curves of her own as the cool water undulated against them.
“Does he kiss you like this?” Clay persisted, dropping a warm, feather-light kiss near one corner of her trembling mouth, “like a father? Or perhaps like an uncle or older brother, like this,” he pressed his lips first to her cheek, then, tilting her head down, her forehead. “Or does he kiss you like a lover? Like this—” and his mouth closed over hers in a dark, golden storm, his lips expertly parting hers to admit the probing sweetness of his tongue.
Leah stiffened and tried to pull away, but it was too late. The flame ignited by his touch was all-consuming. Without volition, her arms went around his neck, her legs circled his waist, ankles locking behind him. The sheer size of the erection pressing against her sex made her gasp. Her belly plummeted, sending moisture gushing out of her pussy onto the strip of fabric that was the bottom of her two-piece. She’d never been so aroused in her life. Her traitorous body arched toward his, her hips grinding her sex against his cock. She moaned into his mouth as his arms went tightly around her back, crushing her soft breasts to his hard chest. Locked together, they sank beneath the surface of the water. Instead of panicking and struggling to break free, Leah wound her arms tightly around his neck and held on, trusting in his care of her.
Without breaking the kiss, Clay pushed off the deep end of the pool with a powerful thrust of his muscular legs, gliding swiftly through the water to the center of the pool, where he could stand up. They broke the surface still locked together, their mouths tearing apart only long enough to drag air into their oxygen-starved lungs before crushing back together, tongues dueling passionately.
Leah loosened her hold on his neck, running her hands wonderingly over his shoulders and back, savoring the power of the muscles flexing beneath his satin-smooth skin, delighting in the heat of his body beneath the cool slickness of the pool water. In spite of the pervading smell of chlorine, she could still smell his clean, masculine scent. Losing all reason, she broke off the kiss to bury her face in the side of his neck, where it curved into his shoulder, inhaling that scent deep into her lungs. Daringly, she put out her tongue and took a tiny lick of his warm, moist skin. God, he tasted so good! He felt so good! She couldn’t stifle the groan that ripped from her throat. Her hands curved around to the back of his head, her fingers gripping the thick, wet mass of his hair, holding his head still. She drew a shuddering breath, trying desperately to get herself under control. This is a mistake! This is a colossal mistake!
Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RY1643K
Here's a peek at the second book in this series:
Blurb:
Kylie Ferrell’s nightmare begins when she discovers her boss dead from a bullet to the head. In less than twenty-four hours, she endures a police interrogation, finds her boyfriend in bed with another woman and her house explodes.
Terrified, she does the only sensible thing. She runs. Right through broken glass.
When Simon Rafferty finds her sleeping in her broken-down car by the side of the road near Passion Lake, Virginia, the connection between them is instantaneous and combustible. He recognizes her as the woman he and his two brothers have been searching for all their lives. Their lifetime submissive. And the fact that she’s homeless, injured, and targeted by the mob? Minor details.
Identical triplets and former spec ops soldiers, Caleb, Simon, and Ash Rafferty are more than capable of handling anything life throws at them. Including a sweet, sexy, lusciously curvy woman who has sworn off all men and who is clueless about the darkness of their needs and desires. Clueless…but intrigued. These dominant alpha males will do whatever it takes to get her into their bed, their hearts, their lives…and their dungeon.
But Kylie has secrets that put them all in deadly danger. And when that danger catches up with her, Caleb, Simon, and Ash must launch a desperate search to find her before she is ripped from them forever.
Interview:
Mellanie: What inspired you to write your first book?
Julie: Nancy Drew. And oddly enough, my very first book was about a girl detective with two best friends as her sidekicks, who liked to solve mysteries. I was ten. It was a total rip-off of Nancy, but, hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?
Mellanie: Do you see writing as a career?
Julie: Well, with five books published and around a dozen more planned, I’d have to say yes. However, since I’m retired, it’s an entirely new career for me after spending the last thirty years working with young children as a professional storyteller and puppeteer. The leap from that into BDSM erotic romance is rather unusual, to say the least. Not your usual career path. Obviously there was a part of my psyche that working with young children simply wasn’t addressing, lol.
Mellanie: This book is the first in a series. Do you prefer to write single title or series? Why?
Julie: I have found that I prefer to write series, mainly because I fall in love with my characters and can’t seem to let them go. Readers met most of the Doms of Passion Lake in my first three books, Loving Sarah, Owning Sarah, and Keeping Sarah. Those were originally intended to be one book. But I couldn’t let those characters go, so they turned into a three-book series. Then I realized that most of the minor characters who played such important roles in the three Sarah books deserved books of their own. Readers thought so too, and many of them asked for that very thing.
So I came up with the premise of having this group of former SEALs all go in together to buy a bankrupt town and turn it into the thriving tourist destination of Passion Lake. Each book in this new series is a stand-alone book, although the Doms do appear in each other’s books, along with a host of other recurring, colorful characters who live in the town. And by locating Passion Lake less than thirty miles from Marshall’s Creek, where my original characters Jesse Colter, Adam Sinclair, and their wife Sarah live, they can make guest appearances in the new books, too! Every book is like a family reunion. I am having a blast writing this new series!
Mellanie: How did you come up with the title?
Julie: Well, since the name of the series is The Doms of Passion Lake, I decided to make the title of each book in the series Passion’s something. After a brief encounter three years ago, both Clay and Leah have been dreaming about each other ever since. So Passion’s Dream seemed an appropriate title, since their overall theme is that dreams do come true. I also decided that the title should be something that can be represented by a specific flower. The floral symbol of a dream come true is a red rose, so there is a red rose on the cover of Passion’s Dream.
Book Two of the series, Passion’s Fury, features a purple petunia on the cover, the floral representation of anger. Anger toward not only the heroine’s abusive father, but also the villain of the piece, who is totally reprehensible. But don’t worry. There’s also plenty of deep, abiding love. And, of course, a happy ending.
Mellanie: I usually get plot ideas in the shower and while driving. When/where does inspiration strike you?
Julie: I get ideas from everywhere, so I carry a notebook and pen with me to jot them down. I should carry around a little voice recorder, too, because, like you, I get a lot of inspiration while driving and writing while driving is frowned upon by the authorities, so a lot of those ideas are, alas, lost. But I also get them while reading, watching TV, talking with friends, and just thinking about stuff in general. Jill, my beta reader and critique partner is constantly sending me ideas SHE’s come up with, all of which are excellent, and many of which have already wound up in my books.
Mellanie: What new stories are you working on?
Julie: Passion’s Fury, Book Two of the series, is about identical triplets Caleb, Simon, and Ash Rafferty and the love of their life, Kylie Ferrell. Caleb made an appearance in Keeping Sarah. Look for Passion’s Fury to be available for pre-order around the first of February and for purchase around the twelfth of February, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Passion’s Hope, Book Three of the series, is about Nikolai Rostov and Jay Gillespie, who made appearances in all three of my Sarah books. They discover their forever sub in Charlotte Fielding, and their story will be out around the middle of March.
Passion’s Forgiveness, Book Four of the series, will be about Ted “Solo” Solomon and the love of his life, Cassie O’Rourke. Ted played a major role in Owning Sarah, and Cassie appeared in both Loving Sarah and Owning Sarah. It should be out by the end of April, middle of May.
Passion’s Innocence, Book Five, is about Doctor Lucas McKay, his brother Alex, and the new town librarian, Lily Graham. Lucas is a former SEAL buddy of Jesse and Adam of the Sarah books, although he didn’t make an appearance in any of those. Look for it by the end of June or middle of July.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten in this series, but as of yesterday, I had no ideas whatsoever beyond Book Three, so I obviously haven’t run out of inspiration yet.
Bio:
A career as a children’s librarian eventually led to her dream career as a freelance storyteller and puppeteer, a business she operated successfully for twenty-five years. During that time she created and wrote all the original material for a monthly language arts newsletter full of poems, songs, puppet and flannel-board stories, fingerplays, and other resource material for early childhood educators. For that endeavor she won the prestigious EDPRESS Award for the best educational newsletter of 1982. She has also written other resource materials for preschool and early elementary teachers.
Julie lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Now widowed and retired, she once again has time to devote to her two favorite things—reading and writing. “What’s not to like?” she asks philosophically. “It’s indoor work and doesn’t require a lot of heavy lifting.” You can learn more about Julie and her works at the following links. Visit her website to find out what’s coming up in the Doms of Passion Lake series.
Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/IEAADL
Website: http://bit.ly/Nn2gPE
Facebook author page: http://on.fb.me/19nGsh2
LinkedIn Profile: http://linkd.in/1gYBG9p
Twitter: @JulieCShelton
Readers, thanks for stopping by and be sure to comment by midnight (EST) on Wednesday, January 28, for a chance to win one of three copies of Passion's Dream! And thank you, Julie, for sharing your new series with us!
Mellanie Szereto
Romance...With A Kick!
