Beth D. Carter's Blog, page 6

The Evernights Blog Challenge - Week 28

Ever Read a Book More than Once? Which One & Why?
I think the easier question would be which book in my personal library that I haven't read more than once. Everything in my library are books I've read more than once. I think It'll be easier if I have pictures instead of writing it all out....




So...there you go. All the books I've read many, many, many times. 

The Evernights Blog Challenge - Week 28 (unfinished)

Ever Read a Book More than Once? Which One & Why?
I think the easier question would be which book in my personal library that I haven't read more than once.

The TBR Pile Contemporary Romance Week Give-a-way!

When Heather Hart was a young girl she met cowboy Tristan Roger and promptly lost her heart to the young rodeo clown. Twenty years later Heather has been summoned by her dying grandfather to determine if she is worthy, being the last of the Harts, to inherit the family ranch.   

Only the man she’ll be competing against is none other than Tristan Rogers.  She has one month to learn five things about the ranch and Tristan is given the task of “showing her the ropes”, so to speak.  Heather recognizes her adversity and uses all the weapons in her arsenal to fight for Hart Ranch, namely sex appeal and attitude aplenty. 

But Tristan can’t help but remember the young girl who had been more innocent and shy than this hellcat on high heels.  As he tries to figure out what embittered her, Heather must transform into a woman worthy not only of her grandfather’s approval, but her own.

 

Enter HERE for chances to win!

July 8th

9am – Beginning post

                Prize One: $20 Amazon card

                Prize Two: Print copy of Chick Magnet by Mary Martinez (US only)

 

1pm – The Devil’s Cum in His Eye by James Cox

                Prize One: $20 Amazon card

                Prize Two: Digging Deep by Jay Hogan

                                Stealing his Dangling Jewels by James Cox

                                Catch a Tiger by The Tail by Gabbi Grey

                                A Madness Most Discreet by Laura Lascarso

                Prize Three: Stealing his Dangling Jewels by James Cox

                                The Devil’s Cum in His Eyes by James Cox

 

July 9th

9am – A Silver Lining by Beth D Carter

                Prize One: $10 Amazon card

                Prize Two: Chasing Ginger by Marie Lavender

                                Finding Euphoria by C. Becker

                                The Twin Contract by Ceecee Fields

                                Spontaneous Combustion by Barbara Kurtz

                Prize Three: Finding Euphoria by C. Becker

                                Lightning over Bennett Ranch by Amber Daulton

                                The Twin Contract by Ceecee Fields

 

1pm – Death by Dick by James Cox

                Prize One: $10 Amazon Card

                Prize Two: Acts of Service by Jessie Pinkham

                                Stealing his Dangling Jewels by James Cox

                                Can’t Let Go by MJ Calabrese

                Prize Three: The Devils Cum in His Eye by James Cox

                                Stealing his Dangling Jewels by James Cox

                                A Madness Most Discreet by Laura Lascarso

                                Digging Deep by Jay Hogan

 

July 10th

9am – His Holiday Pact by Ayla Asher

                Prize One: $10 Amazon Card

                Prize Two: Finding Euphoria by C. Becker

                                Lyrical Embrace by Amber Daulton

                                Chick Magnet by Mary Martinez

                                Venom by Harley Wylde

                Prize Three:  Romance and misconceptions by Mary Martinez

                                A Silver Lining by Beth D Carter

 

1pm – Jay Hogan post

                Prize One: $20 Amazon Card

                Prize Two: The Devil’s Cum in His Eyes by James Cox

                                Digging Deep by Jay Hogan

 

July 11th

9am – Dingo by Harley Wylde

                Prize One: $10 Amazon Card

                Prize two: Dressed for Success by Maggie Blackbird

                                An Artists Kiss by Suzy Shearer

                Chick Magnet by Mary Martinez

 

1pm – Into Something Good by Stanalei Fletcher

                Prize One: $10 Amazon Card

                Prize Two: Romance and Misconceptions by Mary Martinez

                                Unexpected Adventures by Laura Baird

                                The Twin Contract by Ceecee Fields

 

July 12th

9am – Jay Hogan Post

                Prize One: $10 Amazon Card

                Prize Two: Digging Deep by Jay Hogan

                                The Devil’s Cum in his Eyes by James Cox

 

July 13th

9am – Todd by Sean Michael

                Prize One: $10 Amazon Card

                Prize Two: Digging Deep by Jay Hogan

                                The Devil’s Cum in his Eye by James Cox

                                A Madness Most Discreet by Laura Lascarso

 

1pm – Beauty has Balls by James Cox

                Prize One: $10 Amazon card

                Prize Two: The Devil’s Cum in his Eye by James Cox

                                Digging Deep by Jay Hogan

                                A Madness Most Discreet by Laura Lascarso

                                Catch a Tiger by the Tail by Gabbi Grey

                Prize Three: The Devil’s Cum in His Eyes by James Cox

                                A Madness Most Discreet by Laura Lasarso

                                Digging Deep by Jay Hogan

 

July 14th

9am – Contemporary Romance Week End Post

                Prize One: Fire 7 Tablet (Each comment during the week counts as an entry into this prize)

                Prize Two: $5 Evernight Publishing Gift Card

                Prize Three: Print copy of Romance and Misconception by Mary Martinez (US only)

 

July 15th

Winners announced.

New Release from Stefania Hartley!

Sonia believes that men equal heartache and disaster. Brad has sworn never to love a woman again. It’s a pity they’re so irresistibly attracted to one another.
After her traumatic teenage years, Sonia’s teaching job would be the best thing that has happened to her if it weren’t for Brad Wilson. Her arrogant, standoffish colleague never fails to rub her the wrong way. But when she’s faced with the choice between canceling the school trip to Sicily or accepting his ungraceful help, she swallows her pride and resigns herself to spending an entire week in close quarters with him. Little does she know just how close.
A tragedy from his past still haunts Brad, and he’s sworn never to let his heart be shredded by grief again. Loving another woman is not in the cards. That’s why his petite olive-skinned colleague is so very dangerous.
What could possibly go wrong when their mutual destination is one of the most romantic places in the world?
Reader advisory: This book contains references to teen suicide, accidental death and abortion.

Hello Stefania!  Thank you so much for visiting Written Butterfly with me today!  It’s such a pleasure to chat with you.  So tell me…

Q) What type of research did you do for your book?

Like many new writers, I’ve put a lot of my own personal experiences into my first book. Sun, Stars and Limoncello is set in the country where I was born and grew up until the age of twenty-one—Sicily. A lot of the settings are places which I have visited or lived in for many years.

The hero and the heroine are both secondary school teachers in England, which is what I’ve been for a few years before starting to write.

There were still things I had to check and research (for example, I had never taken a class on a school trip abroad), and I looked them up online or I asked friends and family.

Q) What made this story special to you?

This story is special to me because I’ve poured all my love for Sicily into it. It’s bursting with the sounds, the colors, the smells of the places where I grew up and which I love. The sparkly Tyrrhenian Sea, the rugged Etna volcano, the roaring of Sicilian scooters… And I have fallen in love with the character so much that I feel for them and what they’re going through.

Q) Do you have a writing quirk, or habit when you write?

Sometimes, when I get stuck on a piece of dialogue, I get up from my desk and I go downstairs to the kitchen for a snack. As I go, I repeat aloud my characters’ last words. Believe it or not, by the time I get to the kitchen counter (it’s not far, but I walk very, very slowly) I usually come up with the next line of dialogue and I’m unstuck, so I run back upstairs and continue writing. If I don’t come up with the answer before I get to the counter, I console myself with a little snack. Not a healthy writing habit, so I don’t recommend it!

Q) What do you think is your strongest asset as a writer? …what is your weakest factor as a writer?

People have told me that I’m a very descriptive writer, and I guess that it’s because I always set my stories in places that I love. I have lived in many places and, although it’s not always been fun or pleasant, the experiences I’ve had have given me a wonderful bank of memories.

My weakest factor as a writer must be the fact that English is my second language. Growing up in Italy, I learnt basic English in school and when I went to the UK for a year as an exchange student, I struggled a lot with the language. It’s taken me many years to become fluent enough to dare imagine myself as a writer.  

Q) Do you write in a linear fashion or do you jump from scene to scene and then go back and “fill in the blanks”?

I write in a linear fashion but that means that sometimes, when I get stuck on a scene that isn’t working, I’m unable to jump it and go ahead. What I do, instead, is work on another book and return to the first one when I’m fresh.

Q) What are your upcoming projects?

I have a novella entitled Plenty of Fish in the Sicilian Sea due to be out in December with Totally Bound/First For Romance. Like Sun, Stars and Limoncello, it’s set in Sicily, but it’s got more of a rom com feel to it.

Thank you for having me here on your blog x




ExcerptSonia felt like she’d sped straight into a wall, even though the broken leg wasn’t hers. Kate would not be coming on the trip. The staffroom was plunged into silence as the other teachers pondered the impact that their colleague’s sick leave would have on them.

“Then there’s the Sicily school trip to cover,” Mrs. Ashcroft continued, “because even though we all know that Sonia would happily take twenty-eight Year Sevens to Sicily all by herself…”
Yes, she wouldn’t think twice about taking the kids on the trip on her own. She’d do anything for them. She curled her fingers tighter around her mug.

“It wouldn’t be legal. Our school cook and his wife are going with her, but we need another teacher. Unless, Sonia, you wish to cancel the trip?” Mrs. Ashcroft turned to her and all her colleagues’ eyes swiveled in her direction.
Cancel the trip? After her students had worked incredibly hard on their Italian, baked and sold cakes and washed cars to raise money? She had fought tooth and nail for the grants that would allow even the less-well-off to come. Then there was Charlotte Rogers, who had fixed her with her big, sad eyes and thanked her for this trip, because it would give her respite from her warring parents. No, I can’t cancel it! She wouldn’t, even if she had to pay someone to go with her. “Absolutely not,” she answered resolutely.
“Then we need a volunteer to go with Sonia,” Mrs. Ashcroft confirmed, scanning the staffroom. Bums shifted on chairs, hands crept to watches and the wind whistled outside the windows. All eyes were pinned to the floor except one green pair. Even though she didn’t dare look in that direction, Sonia felt them on her.
No, not him. Please, not him.
“The kids going are a lovely bunch of Year Sevens,” Sonia said, trying in vain to make eye contact with her other colleagues, “and Sicily is very beautiful in April—not too cold, not too hot.”
Eventually, Rachel looked up. “I’m sorry, Sonia. I’d love to come, but I haven’t got anyone to look after my kids.”
Mildred explained that her knees were giving her trouble and she couldn’t walk far. Alistair had just had his first baby. Grumpy old John muttered some excuse. Anyway, Sonia knew that he wouldn’t give the school a minute more than his contracted time. Chantelle had already booked her Eurostar ticket home, and Sonia delicately avoided sending a glance in Bernie’s direction. During the holidays, she’d be going for another IVF attempt. One after the other, all the remaining teachers declined the invitation. When even the head felt the need to excuse herself—a crucial meeting with the school governors—Sonia felt her last drop of hope drip away.
The only member of staff left was the owner of the jade eyes that had followed her from the beginning of the staff briefing, but Sonia avoided looking anywhere near that direction. She had absolutely no wish to travel with him, and she was utterly confident that her feelings were fully reciprocated. Brad Wilson had gotten under her skin like a freezing cold shower from the day he had started at the school. He seemed to have no normal, friendly way to look at her. He either averted his gaze or pinned her with one of his icy stares—unsmiling, as if he were about to dish her a detention. The first few times, she had checked her reflection in a window. Was her décolleté too low? Her skirt too short? Eventually, she had concluded that he was just a miserable wet blanket.
She could put up with Brad Wilson in other circumstances but not on this trip. She had cajoled the newlywed cook, Jake, to come along with his wife, only under the promise that it would be as close to the honeymoon they hadn’t been able to afford as she could make it. When Kate had been going with her, Sonia hadn’t minded the idea of giving the couple space, provided they were available in the event of an emergency. But if Brad took Kate’s place, the setup would be much too much like a double date. The idea was totally cringeworthy, especially as there wasn’t a single female member of staff who wouldn’t swoon over Brad Wilson.
Not that she was in any way attracted to him. No way. She was done with men. Made the mistake, got the T-shirt, learned the lesson. But being pushed together with the staff’s heartthrob would be uncomfortable, if not utterly unpleasant.
Sonia felt his brooding presence and, out of the corners of her eyes, she could make out his tall figure leaned against the door jamb, detached from the rest of the staff, his mug in one hand, laptop carelessly held under his other arm. She kept her gaze trained on the ground, but she could feel his gaze needling her. Do not make eye contact. Do not look at him or at anything near him. If she could have made a sign flash on her forehead with the words Brad Wilson need not apply, she would have.
“How about you, Brad? Could you go with Sonia?”
Mrs. Ashcroft’s words made time slow down and blur like a bullet in the movies, only there was no way Sonia could dodge this bullet if he said yes.
Please, say no. You must have a holiday booked, a girlfriend waiting or a wife and children at home. Please, be busy.
He clutched the mug to his chest like it was a miniature shield and contorted his face into a pained frown.
Please, say no. Make up an excuse.
“I suppose I should.” He sighed.
A flood of angry adrenaline restarted Sonia’s internal time at a galloping trot. That was the unkindest acceptance he could have ever conjured up. ‘I suppose I should.’ Was there a more convincing way to make it clear beyond a doubt that they were twisting his oh-so-handsome-and-muscly arm? He was going to oblige, but only out of duty, and he would do it with as little grace as possible—and even less enthusiasm.
Before Sonia had a chance to refuse his ‘offer’, Mrs. Ashcroft replied hastily, “Thank you, Brad. That’s very kind of you.”
’Kind’ was the last word Sonia would have used to describe Brad Wilson.
Buy links
https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Stars-Limoncello-Stefania-Hartley-ebook/dp/B088FX5FKK/

https://www.firstforromance.com/book/sun-stars-and-limoncello

https://www.totallybound.com/book/sun-stars-and-limoncello


About the Author
Stefania Hartley, also known as The Sicilian Mama, was born in Sicily and immediately started growing, but not very much. She left her sunny island after falling head over heels in love with an Englishman, and she’s lived all over the world with him and their three children.Having finally learnt English, she enjoyed it so much that she started writing stories and nobody has been able to stop her since. She loves to write about hot and sunny places like her native Sicily, and she especially likes it when people fall in love.

Her short stories have been longlisted, commended and won prizes. Sun, Stars and Limoncello is her first novel.

You can find out more about Stefania on her website(http://www.stefaniahartley.com/)
Twitter (https://twitter.com/TheSicilianMama)  
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/StefaniaHartley/ ) 
and you can also listen to Stefania's The Sicilian Mama podcast (https://anchor.fm/stefania-hartley). 

My New Book...Dreamland!

Dicen Burke had it all.  As lead singer in the world famous rock band,Dark Army, the world lay at his feet. 
But the path to super stardom warred with a painful past and during a
performance the demons haunting him finally descended.  Unable to stop the self-destructive path of
alcohol and drugs, when he fell, he fell hard.

He wakes up in a world he doesn’t know.  The Twenty-first century rocker is now in the1920’s, lost and bewildered. 
He’s takenin by Juliet Fox, a beautiful woman trying to be a positive influence in her
brother’s wild lifestyle among the Hollywood Motion Picture elite.

Dicen does his best to adapt, and with Juliet by
his side, he discovers a world that offers him a clean slate.  But when he’s pulled back to the present,
separated by time from the one person that gives him a reason to live, will he
find a way to push past his demons as well as find Juliet again?

Buy Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2ZHel9F

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2Zq2uMZ

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2VDlGpo

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/2Ajug54

The Evernighties Blog Challenge - Week 27

What is the Most Valuable Trait to Teach Children?

What an interesting question. There are so many important traits to teach kids, especially in the modern day world of today. There's so much hate and confusion and pain. You'd think as humanity expanded and gained knowledge, we'd treat other humans with respect and love. So while the question is about "children", I'm going to focus on just one...my child. My son, Hadrian.
I've talked about him before. He's such a soft-hearted and tender kid and this world is such a scary place...what I've always taught him are the basics:
1) Love is love
2) We need to listen when people are crying out in pain3) Treat others as we want to be treated
Children are not born with hatred, bigotry, and racism. They are taught, and if this world is going to survive...if WE'RE going to survive as a human race, then we need to teach love. We need to show that it doesn't matter who you love or what religion your neighbor practices. It doesn't matter the color of someone's skin. 
Kindness. Love. Charity. Compassion. Empathy. 
Those are what I'm teaching my son and it is what EVERYONE should teach children. 

New Release from Lacee Hightower... Book 2 of Sugar and Sin Series!

Hello Lacee!  Thank you so much for visiting Written Butterfly with me today!  It’s such a pleasure to chat with you.  So tell me…

Q) Is your book part of a series?  If so, can you tell us about it?

 This is book 2 in my Sugar and Sin series.  This book is a continuation of four life-long friends.  One of the friends dies suddenly, yet the other three continue a strong friendship that turns into a great three-way love affair. As with most small towns, bias toward this kind of relationship is very strong and this duo goes into the trials and tribulations of that very thing.  Of course, it all ends up with a lovely happy ending, yet it took nearly two decades to get there.

 Q) What made this story special to you? 

 This story was very special to me. The small town I speak of, along with all four main characters, the park, and the museum, are all true to life characters and places from my past. The town name is obviously changed, neither of the male heroes are bisexual, and the one that dies in book one is well and alive and doing great in life.  I wrote this series based on an true experience in a park that happened with me and three of my closest friends. Of course, all the sex, etc., is total fiction, but a lot of the happenings in the book are taken from true experiences in my childhood.

Q) Do you write in a linear fashion or do you jump from scene to scene and then go back and “fill in the blanks”? 

Unfortunately, I jump from scene to scene and then go back and fill in the blanks.  I’ve tried the whole “outline” way of writing and for me, it just doesn’t work.  I wish it did.  I basically come up with an idea and just sit down and start writing and see where it takes me.  I have five stories I started that way and have never finished.  Maybe one day I will.

Q) What are your upcoming projects? 

Right now, I’m playing around with a “Dexter meets erotic romance” kind of story.  It’s a little different from anything I’ve read lately, which is what I’m aiming for.  Hopefully, I’ll figure out exactly which direction it needs to go and type ‘The End’ sometime in the next couple of months.

 

 

Michael Bassey Johnson once said, “People will walk in and walk out of your life, but the one whose footstep made a long-lasting impression is the one you should never allow to walk out.”

When my dad told me we were moving to a little shit hole of a town called Springhill, Texas, my first day at school was filled with nothing but anger in my head and a huge chip on my shoulder.  I never realized that one move would change my life.  Never contemplated returning some nineteen years later torn between what was most important—a daughter—and the man and woman who still ached for me just as deeply as they did one another. 

But someone is stalking the woman I love, the mother of my daughter.  Her museum has been burned to the ground, her Jeep vandalized, and confidential suggestive photos sent to her family.

 Secrets will be exposed.

Truths will be unveiled.

Lives will forever be changed.

Will these revelations bring us closer … or will one person from our past ruin everything and destroy our chances at forever?

 

  Excerpt:

Keith doesn’t speak another word for a few hellish seconds and neither do it. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is really the end. Fuck, maybe it’s best.

With the vein in his forehead popping and my insides a sea of nerves, he finally breaks the agonizing silence. “Just how badly do you need me? Enough to stand by and watch me suck the cum, your cum, from my wife’s pussy? Enough to watch her ride my cock until she screams my name? Or fuck her ass until I’ve fucked every last drop of you out of her? Let’s hear it. Just how bad do you really want me … boy?”

Consumed and mesmerized by the exquisiteness of his influence, when his heavy gaze slides down my body, I can’t help myself. I walk his way, driven and unfaltering, and take the empty glass from his hand. Then I pull his body from the sofa and against mine. I push my lips to his. I stroke deep, tasting mint, scotch, male, and a hint of the woman we both love, and relish in a kiss filled with endless years of undying love and dedication shared between two men that hasn’t subsided in close to twenty years.

My cock swells. My body is dying for his touch, aching for his control. I’m so fucking desperate and hungry that I’m borderline miserable. I press closer and sway into him with an insatiable raw urgency to take anything he offers. Any way he needs. Anywhere he wants.

His hands tear through my hair and a growl rises up his throat. This kiss isn’t filled with passion. Nor is it a kiss of affection. This is a building storm. It’s power and rage. It’s discipline.

It’s a man kissing away every last trace of his wife’s honeyed essence.

Before I think twice, I drop to the ground and kiss the toe of his boot, then look up at him helplessly. I stay completely still for a few seconds with my heart thundering through my chest. “Please, Keith,” I say without the slightest qualm. “Tonight is about you. Let me be your boy and you my master. Please.”

 When I expect him to tug his zipper down, force my head forward where he can ram his erect cock down my throat with no compassion, no mercy or tenderness, and fuck into my mouth until I’m choking on his release, he does none of those things.

“Stand up, boy,” he commands with his eyes black as a starless night, his jaw tweaking, and his cock deliciously erect. “Tonight is going to be you naked, motionless, silent, as you watch me suck on my wife’s pussy until every remnant of you is gone. Then, you’re going to watch her ride my cock perhaps with a nice medium-sized plug in her ass, until she screams and pleads with me to let her come. You still want it, boy? If not, you know where the front door is.”

Buy Links:

Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3hWL8jj

Nook:  https://bit.ly/2Z4uG7P

Apple: https://apple.co/2Yxsyqh

Smashwords:  https://bit.ly/2CEllMv

Kobo:  https://bit.ly/2BxKZSy

Evernight:  https://www.evernightpublishing.com/call-me-sweetheart-by-lacee-hightower/

About the Author:

Lacee Hightower is an American writer and romance novelist, referring to her style as dark, contemporary romance with a nice big pinch of kink.  Living in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, she describes herself as a foodie that can’t cook, a large lover of fashion and shoes, and an enormous hopeless romantic.  Since she was old enough to know what the word meant, she loved the whole concept of romance and happy endings. Even though she has always enjoyed writing, life got in the way and she never really thought of pursuing it seriously until she decided to write her first book after both her children were grown in 2017.  Now with a nice glass of wine in hand, or not, she is learning to love bringing the characters in her head to life on paper for those who enjoy peeking into another world.

  Social Media Links:

Website:  www.laceehightower.com

Facebook:  Facebook

Twitter:   Twitter

Instagram:  Instagram

Website:   laceehightower.com

BookBub:   Bookbub

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15905270.Lacee_Hightower

 

New Release! Stolen Wife by Carina Blake!

I’ll do whatever it takes to get her in my arms, even kill my brother.

 I’ll do everything in my power to destroy all who came between us.

 The second I held the wedding photo of Giada with my brother, my revenge became tainted with possessiveness so profound that I grew colder. Calculating. Obsessed.

 I’d do anything to get my desire. To taste her.

 Giada is mine, and it didn’t matter the how or why, because she just is. I'll play her name in my head—my sirens song—as I remove her from my brother’s grasp and take her for my own.

 One by one, I’d get my vendetta on those who sent me away while claiming what was never theirs.

 

Buy Links:

Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/mgZJlx

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2BOypOI

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2A7RLhp

iBook: https://apple.co/2ZcBPTO

Nook: https://bit.ly/3i8ndxd

Excerpt:

I wake up groggily with my head fuzzy, but from the looks of it unharmed. Maybe last night had all been a dream. Did I really dream about Santino kissing me? I’m glad Rafael didn’t come in and hear me if I did. I roll over onto my back when I hit a large frame. A frame much larger than Rafael’s. I reach out and feel a muscular chest. I open my eyes and see Santino with his elbow propping him up as he looks at me.

“Good morning.” The smile on his face almost makes me forget the danger we’re in.

“Good morning? Are you nuts? What are you doing in my bed? Rafael will kill you. Oh my goodness. I wasn’t dreaming.” My heart’s racing as fast as my mind is. I can already picture Rafael and his goons busting down the doors and shooting up the place on principle alone. Or maybe they’ll just torture us to death. I look into his eyes and all I see is mirth, which pisses me off as much as it turns me on.

“You thought you dreamed of me, baby?” He slides his hand over my hip and under my nightgown. My skin tingles from the gentle grip he exerts. God, how am I getting turned on?

It makes me mad how hot he is, and I become flustered with his touch. I shove his hand away and glare at him. “That’s not what I meant.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re not in your bed at the compound. You’re in our bed in my home.”

“What?” I flip around and look. This isn’t my room. The room is made of clean lines, greyish-blue walls with a large television mounted to the wall. I’m confused and taken aback by this. Slamming my eyes shut, I take several deep breaths and then pinch myself.

“You’re not dreaming. I took you, and you’re here. End of story.” He sits up in the bed, and it’s the first time I notice that he’s ripped from his shoulders down to his…oh my goodness. He’s extremely hard right now. I turn to look away. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m not sure,” I respond with a barely audible whisper. My confusion has only grown. I stand to get some space between us and then it dawns on me that I’m not in my nightgown anymore. Instead, I’m in a big tee shirt with my hard nipples pressing against the letters.

“You took off my clothes? Are you trying to get us killed?” I cover my chest, like it does me any good. The man took off my clothes last night. Did he do anything else to me?

“I’m not afraid of any of them. And yes. Do you think I’d let you wear something my brother probably has fucked you in? I don’t want anything of his tainting my home.” I’m seeing a change in his mood. His temper’s slipping past that cool, calm, sexy façade. It’s as if my heart’s breaking, which makes absolutely no sense since I’ve never had a chance for love to come and tear it apart.

I glare at him and test his actions. I have to know who I’m dealing with. “Well, then, I should go, since I’m his.” He jumps off the bed and crosses the distance between us. Unable to stop myself, I flinch, waiting to feel the sting. He’s much larger than his brother and father, and I know this will hurt more, and not only physically.

“I’m not him and you’re not his,” he growls, dragging me with one arm around my waist and the other in my hair. His mouth slams down on mine. God, that kiss had been real. Before I can melt into him, he pushes off of me.

“That was wrong,” I say as I watch him get dressed. Santino slips on a white undershirt and a pair of grey dress slacks before sliding on a crisp white dress shirt.

He turns around to face me with the shirt still wide open. I’m amazed by the feral look in his eyes. From head to toe this man is perfection, but his mouth on mine was the most insanely sexy thing in the world I’ve ever experienced.

He stalks toward me, but this time I don’t flinch because I’m ridiculously hoping for another kiss. He tips my chin with his thick thumb, pulling my bottom lip from under the grip of my upper teeth. “Felt fucking right to me.” My body heats up and I breathily look up into his eyes that are trained to my lips, waiting for more. Instead, he steps back and says, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a call to make. Please eat.” He points to the trays on the table that’s in the middle of the room.

“So you’re going to leave me up here locked away?” I ask, changing one cell for another.

“Damn right,” he growls, nodding his head as he grabs his phone and gun.

 

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The Evernighties Weekly Blog Challenge - Week 26

Your Characters: Full Figured or Always Slim?

The title of this challenge may target "characters" but it's really about the heroine. Unfortunately, we still have a stigma about the size of women, perpetuated by a myth that only thin women are sexy. There are some authors out there that are trying to break that stereotype, like Sam Crescent, who's heroines are always full figured. She's found a niche in the genre that had been overlooked, and women flock to her books for great story-telling and relatable heroines living out a fantasy.
Most of the time I try to write normal females, which the average weight is about a size 12, but sometimes you have to write what the story dictates. For instance, if you're writing an apocalypse story, where food is scarce, more than likely you're not going to have a heroine that's full figured. And on the flip-side of that, think of the movie "Wall-E"...where everyone lived on floating platforms and never walked. Evolution diminished their bones and rendered them large people unable to get up if they fell off their beds.  
The way your characters look in context of your story is just as important as their mental and emotional development. If you're writing a historical, set in the past, the women back then were shorter and thin. Modern day has brought processed food, ready made deserts, and a softer living...so if your heroine is from the 1700s, thin is more appropriate for that time period.

The Evernighties Weekly Blog Challenge - Week 25

Your Characters - How do you Build them & Flesh them out?
Character development has be organic. A lot of the time, I will have an entire background of a character fleshed out before I begin writing him or her. These little details, although they may be unimportant to the overall story, does help bring definition to your character.
The best way to write a story is to establish motivation. If a hero/heroine is angry, then why? If they're seeking revenge...why? You can apply this question to every emotion and facet of your character and this gives depth to any situation. It's what readers want and what they expect.  Characters should have flaws, whether or not they are physical imperfections or emotional, because scars give context. No one is cookie-cutter perfect.
So here's where I plug one of my books by giving an example.  In my latest story Come With Me, the heroine Lainey has survived for a year in the apocalypse because she'd been alone her whole life. She grew up in the foster care system, never had anyone close, so when a virus comes along to wipe out humanity, she has the tools in place to survive by getting away from everything and every body. She doesn't need human interaction because of the tools she learned growing up.
When you write a story like that, you have to ask yourself lots of questions. Why was she in the foster care system? What career could she take on that reflects her isolation? Is she capable of taking a life? Does her background make her stronger in this area but weaker in others? 
Another way to flesh out your characters is to place yourself in their shoes. If I were Lainey, what would I do? 
The key to character development is really thinking about their motives. You can NEVER overthink. If your characters are real to you then they'll be real for your readers.