Jan Irving's Blog, page 3
April 5, 2012
first review of The Viking in My Bed
April 2, 2012
The Viking in My Bed out today!
The Viking in My Bed is out today here . This is the first in a series called Lightning Strikes. It's funny and sexy. I had a lot of fun writing these. I actually just finished the third in the series The SEAL in My Attic.
Later this month The Alien in my Kitchen will be out. It's already available for preorder here .
Here's the blurb for Viking:
Book one in the Lightning Strikes Series
Wise-talking college student Bailey Moore saves his romantic side for the historical romances he's secretly addicted to—until he wakes up crushed under six foot plus of sexy, aroused ancient Viking.
Bailey Moore is a cynical, wise-talking college student who saves his mushy, romantic side for the historical romances he's addicted to-until he wakes up crushed under six feet three inches of aroused Viking warrior.
At first he takes Freyr Grímsson as a glorious odd ball obsessed with Medieval role playing-down to his rough hewn sword, but Frey insists Bailey is his guide in this new world and when Bailey is attacked by a mysterious creature, he's convinced that he and Frey have to wage a battle to drive evil forces off campus. But when his Viking conquers him in bed, Bailey is afraid Frey will also lay claim to his secret, vulnerable heart.
Find it and an excerpt here .
March 20, 2012
New radio interview
It's here .
March 4, 2012
Blogging about being slightly outrageous
March 1, 2012
Free Story--Madam President
I wrote a free story called "Madam President" for the March TEB newsletter. It has a bit of a feminist twist. Enjoy!
In a futuristic white house, widowed President Marnie Coleman is the most eligible bachelorette in the world, a role she hates because there is only one man who intrigues her, her secret service protector Jake Reardon.
“So the refugees are safe?” President Marnie Coleman demanded, taking off her old-fashioned reading glasses and pushing her ash blonde hair out of her eyes. It was four-thirty in the morning and she was wearing her yoga gear, having hoped she would have time for a workout after this current crisis came to a boil. She’d at least had time to get into her outfit, but she was yet to hit the White House yoga suite.
“Yes, ma’am.” General Marshal’s voice made it sound like he was right in the room, a side effect of the three dimensional conference call.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Muscles that had been tight for hours ached like red cables in her neck. But the women, children and men who had been in danger of being shot for crossing the wrong border were safe. “Good work, people,” she praised.
The call ended and her chief of staff walked with Marnie briskly as she left the oval office and headed for the private residence. Jenny Munroe had been her college confident and had morphed into a brilliant political advisor. Now in the third month of her presidency, Marnie would be lost without her and the rest of her staff. The job was just so much more than she’d ever dreamed. Some nights when anxiety ate at her gut, she wasn’t sure if she’d have fought so hard for it if she’d known how much it was going to demand of her.
Or maybe not. Marnie had been a fighter pilot for seven years in the Navy. She was used to looking her fear in the face and then doing the job anyway.
“I cleared your morning appointments up to eleven-thirty,” Jenny was saying. “Just try not to lose your patience with those bankers.”
“I won’t have to talk golf again, will I?” Marnie asked. “Give me baseball any day.”
“I’ll try to keep it in mind.” Jenny gave her a severe look and Marnie grinned at her, unrepentant.
“Marn… You really need to try to unwind,” Jenny said.
“Hey, yoga gear!” Marnie swept a hand at her loose fitting clothing. “I’m going to spend some time doing downward dog. It’s very humbling when your arms start to shake.”
“That’s not the kind of unwinding I had in mind,” Jenny said. “You turned down another date with Drake Albertson.”
“He escorted me to that benefit at the Kennedy Center. Now the gossip columns have us practically engaged.”
“It’s the life of a widowed president,” Jenny said, but not without sympathy. Marnie’s husband, Ken, a police detective, had been gone for eight years. She’d not seriously dated anyone in that time, preferring to focus on raising their teenage daughter, Aurora. “But you’re young, attractive and the most eligible bachelorette in the world.”
“Please.” Marnie grimaced. “I hate that crap.”
“Good evening, Madam President,” a familiar, deep voice greeted her as she arrived at the yoga studio she’d requested when she’d taken office. Marnie’s body tightened on hearing that voice. Jake Reardon, the secret service agent who typically watched over her with his team in the evenings. She’d seen a lot of Jake in the past three months. There wasn’t much uninterrupted sleep in her job.
“Jake,” she said, nodding up at him.
“Hey, Jake,” Jenny said. “Try to encourage the President to go to bed sometime before her appointments later this morning?”
“I don’t make that call, ma’am,” Jake told Jenny, his Texas drawl slowing the words to down-home honey.
Jenny squeezed Marnie’s arm. Bent close to her and whispered, “I’ll leave you with your hot cowboy. On second thought, I can see why you aren’t interested in another gala with Drake.”
“Jenny…” She had too much self control to blush, but she did give her friend a warning look. Conscious of Jake’s presence, she didn’t say more. The White House reminded her sometimes of a visit she’d made to Topkapi Palace in Istanbul a few years ago. Like the White House, that place must have been a beehive of gossip in its day, all centred on the ruling family.
“Alone at last, Jake,” she huffed, with far more confidence than she felt as she spread out her yoga mat.
“Yes, ma’am.” He was wearing a t-shirt with ripped off arms and sweats. Marnie insisted if he was going to stick close to her while she did her yoga and dance routines that he had to at least work out with her. The down side of that was that she had to try to keep her attention off Jake, not easy to do as he sat down on a bench to do some arm curls. His body rippled with silken muscle and his neatly cut hair only emphasised the hard bones in his face.
His blue eyes held hers calmly as they both began to warm up.
“How’s the new puppy?” Jake was also a single parent and he’d recently given in to his daughter Petra’s pleas for a pet.
“He needs a diaper. Good thing our apartment has hard wood floors,” Jake said.
With all the electronic gear used to protect her, Marnie really didn’t need an old-fashioned human guard in the yoga suite, but you didn’t argue with tradition and Jake’s presence was soothing. She was ruefully aware that she was doing more than her usual three days a week of asanas. She was in her studio every night. And most nights so was he.
The atmosphere was comfortable but also crackled with the lightning of everything unsaid between her and Jake.
She couldn’t keep her gaze from returning to him, to the long legs with sandy hairs and the wide shoulders. He had a scar by his left eyebrow. His eyes seemed to burn her when they met hers and then fell away.
And so their dance continued.
“Ma’am, there’s something I need to tell you,” Jake finally said.
Surprised by Jake’s tone, Marnie pulled out of her bound ankle pose and gave him her full attention.
“I’m going back to regular law enforcement. I’ve been honoured to be on your team, but I miss being out on the streets.”
Marnie’s throat tightened. “I see.”
Jake wouldn’t meet her gaze. It was so unlike his usual direct manner. Heart thudding, Marnie had a sudden hunch. If she was wrong, she’d embarrass both herself and Jake and possibly end their tentative friendship, but if she was right…
Marnie’s face hardened. She hadn’t come as far as she had by being timid. She got up silently and walked to Jake, waiting until he looked up at her.
“I can respect you miss your old job and want to return to it, but is there more to it, Jake?” she asked him, hands on her hips.
He smiled as if he was thinking of her old call sign as a pilot—gunslinger. “You could say so, ma’am.”
She cocked a brow. “All right, I’ll go first. I haven’t dated the same man twice since I came into office because there’s only one man I want to spend time with. And he’s right here in this room with me.”
He lowered the weight he’d been hefting. “Now you’ve done it,” he said, very softly.
Though he did nothing but look steadily at her, Marnie’s heart began to pound.
He tapped the implant in his wrist and held it to his lips. “This is Reardon. I’m signing off now. You’ll want someone on the door to the president’s yoga suite.”
Her eyes misted. No matter what, Jake always put her safety first. “Jake…”
He stood and offered his hand, which was large, palmed and scarred from the home carpentry projects he worked on in his free time.
Swallowing thickly, Marnie took his hand, aware that hers was trembling.
The moment their hands clasped something happened, some kind of internal explosion that detoured polite dating and conversation and all the adult bypaths she’d expected they’d navigate.
Jake lifted her so she was level with him and then took her mouth.
All Marnie managed was a gasp while her legs wound like hungry vines around Jake’s waist.
“Oh, God!” Marnie choked as Jake bit the side of her neck. He was both ferocious and totally in control.
Suddenly all the years of denying herself caught up, like a pent up storm. She needed Jake.
“Don’t take it the wrong way, but you are such a man,” she growled, not knowing how else to express the primal female way he made her feel. She tugged his T-shirt so she could dig her fingernails into the bulging muscles of his back.
“Christ, you bring it out in me.”
A serene photograph by an award-winning photographer of a floating water lily shuddered as Marnie’s back hit the wall. She was gasping as Jake’s hands stripped off her yoga pants. He left the frilly red panties. “Why don’t you stay there a while, honey?” he muttered.
“Ummmm.” He lifted her so her legs were around his shoulders. She had a clear view of a slight crack in the moulding that circled the room as she braced herself. And then his lips pressed against where she was damp, the thin silk no shield against the hunger of his mouth. “Jake…” she moaned, quivering.
He continued to ply her through the maddening barrier of her underwear, while two fingers slid underneath it and speared inside her.
Marnie screamed as she came.
“That’ll get the edge off. Hang on now…” He slid her down onto her wobbly legs and then spun her so she was facing the wall. Jake knelt between her legs, yanking down the panties but not completely removing them. They created an odd kind of hobbling effect, so she felt almost bound for him. “I love your taste.” He opened her cheeks, tonguing her thoroughly as he traced a path back to her swollen pussy.
She clenched, almost driving herself to pleasure again just with her hot, jagged need.
But Jake wouldn’t allow it. His hands held her spread as he delved into her every secret, licking her into submission like a connoisseur, taking his time even as she whimpered and scrabbled at the wall. She was so hot she felt like her skin would explode if he didn’t let her come again.
When one rough finger thrust inside her, she gave a choked off scream, coming for him as he squeezed her ass in approval. “That was nice. Do it again.” He was relentless, bringing her to climax again and again until her body felt scalded from his touch.
When she finally collapsed, panting onto the mat next to him, she gripped his arm. “What about you?” Her voice sounded low and husky. She hadn’t heard herself sound that way in too long.
He picked up his T-shirt from the floor and wiped his spend from his thigh and the wall. “I’m fine and dandy, ma’am.”
She smiled weakly, leaning against him. “You so are.” She was ready to sleep now, her body limp and relaxed. “I wish you could stay tonight,” she added wistfully.
He nodded, understanding that her public life would make it a difficult balancing act while they dated. “Why don’t you and your girls come over for a game of basketball on Sunday night?”
“I… Can I do that?”
“I’ll find a secure location,” he said. His blue eyes were hot again as his hand moved between her vulnerable open legs and squeezed. She cried out in shocked pleasure. “But right now, ma’am, you might want to brace yourself.”
Copyright: Jan Irving
February 27, 2012
Forbidden Fire out today!
Coffee shop owner Sian Blaine is firefighter Luke Cade's step sister. He knows the shy older woman will never allow herself to see him as her lover, even after a sexy calendar is hung in the back room of her work place with Luke featured as Mr. February sporting nothing more than his surf board.
Luke has always been forbidden to Sian, but one night when she comes home from another endless, empty date, he finally stakes his claim, making her his woman. Now Sian must deal with the consequences of giving in to the beautiful, persistent younger man she's always wanted...
To read an excerpt and purchase the book go here .
I blogged about it and shared a longer excerpt at Maggie Nash's blog today. One reader who comments there will win a copy of the book-- here .
February 3, 2012
Forbidden Fire available for pre order
January 30, 2012
A Cowboy in Ravenna out today
Find the excerpt and the new book out here: A Cowboy in Ravenna .
For those reading the series, I wasn't sure what I'd do next after this one and then the first book, which has no shape shifting subplot, began talking to me, so I started The Cowboy Who Listens recently. No idea when that will be done. It's Jeff Ryan's story, the younger deaf half brother of the hero of Straight Cowboy.
January 20, 2012
Cover art for The Alien in My Kitchen and news
I got my cover art for the next book in the series right on top of Viking.
Lightning Strikes Book Two
Mitchell Blake has given up on romance. At least the equations in his scientific experiments add up, unlike his charming, lying jerk of an ex. But he's still saddened when brooding tattooed poet Jaden Ross is killed in a freak motorcycle crash--until Jaden shows up in Mitchell's kitchen and tells him a crazy story that he's been assigned as an unearthly warrior guardian to watch over Mitchell.
Jaden is more than human. He's come from a galaxy far, far away and it's not, unfortunately, just to share his out of the world body with Mitchell. Despite Jaden's fear of appliances--they have moving parts and are very primitive--and his burning curiosity about human mating rituals, he is determined to keep Mitchell safe from the killer stalking him.
Coming from Total E Bound late April.
So wow, I feel like I should have The Navy SEAL in my Attic done but things happen in spurts.
For those who follow the Uncommon Cowboys series, A Cowboy in Ravenna is now available for preorder here .
January 19, 2012
A Viking in My Bed cover art
Well, here it is, a peek at the new series that's debuting in April.
Here's the blurb:
Lightning Strikes Book One
Bailey Moore is a cynical, wise-talking college student who saves his mushy, romantic side for the historical romances he's addicted to--until he wakes up crushed under six feet three inches of aroused Viking warrior.
At first he takes Freyr Grímsson as a glorious odd ball obsessed with Medieval role playing--down to his rough hewn sword, but Frey insists Bailey is his guide in this new world and when Bailey is attacked by a mysterious creature, he's convinced that he and Frey have to wage a battle to drive evil forces off campus. But when his Viking conquers him in bed, Bailey is afraid Frey will also lay claim to his secret, vulnerable heart.
Coming from Total E Bound early April.
The series will have four books. Two are written now. A Viking in My Bed and The Alien in My Kitchen. I started The Navy SEAL in My Attic and the last in the series would be The Angel in My Basement.
