Monday, February 25, 2013

Top Cowboys of Film

Hi, everyone. I've got special guest Em Petrova for you this week, talking about hunky movie cowboys (and I'm a huge Kurt Russell fan, Em!) and giving you a sexy excerpt of her new release, Hard Ridin'. Whew, it is hot!   And away we go, Em!   Cowboys have their own style and attitude, which is exactly why I wanted to spend time writing them. Now I can officially say I’m a sucker for a cowboy hat and a rugged pair of Wranglers. Yep, ladies and gents, I’ve crossed over! Yeehaw!

While I was writing my latest ménage, Hard Ridin’, I spent some time researching all things cowboy and western. That means I watched some damn good movies. Here are some of the best of all time.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly—a total classic. Anyone who hasn’t seen this is missing out. Nothing beats the one-word answers or the bad-ass glares of Clint Eastwood!

The Outlaw Josey Wales—since we’re talking Clint Eastwood, this is a must-see.

Young Guns—What the story might be lacking, is made up for with a hunk cast of actors like Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, and Casey Siemaszko!

Tombstone—this movie packs a powerful punch. I’m not a huge fan of Kurt Russell, but who could ever be a better Wyatt Earp?

Hell on Wheels—this modern western sucked me right in. The brooding Cullen Bohannen is one hot leading man. I have to admit, I didn’t catch this series until the last two episodes of the season. But I’ve since snagged it on Amazon for more inspiration!

Now I’ll leave you with a very hot excerpt of Hard Ridin’. Thanks for stopping by, and thank you to Jasmine for hosting me!



Excerpt rated STEAMY ADULT:

Holden bounced off the doorjamb but never released Laurel’s mouth. She cupped his face, rasping the hair on his jaw with her fingertips and reveling in the sound. She lost herself in the velvety stroke of his tongue, so different from Jens’s, but no less exciting.

What am I doing? Kissing two men in the same day was stupid. Kissing two men within five minutes? She’d lost her fucking mind.

As Holden swept her up the staircase in his arms, Jens’s words swam through her psyche. Rather share than lose you. Date both of us.

And his final words, whispered after that knee-weakening kiss. “Go to him, but come back to me. I’ll come up to the house tonight.”

While her mind screamed that this was not right—that she’d regret allowing herself to get carried away—her body succumbed absolutely. Eight months of longing for Holden sliced through the last threads of self-control.

“God, baby, I can’t get enough of you.” Holden nipped her lower lip and drew her mouth back. She swirled her tongue over his as he navigated the hallway to what must have been his bedroom.

She’d never been upstairs in this house. When she and Holden had dated, they always ended up in her bed. And she and Jens hadn’t made it this far.

Guilt sluiced through her, and she withdrew from the kiss. Holden reclaimed her mouth as he kicked open the door. The wooden slab crashed off the inner wall. In five steps, they reached the bed.

“I want you, and this isn’t going to be gentle.” He tossed her onto the bed and blanketed her with his body.

A dark heat wove through her belly, and her pussy throbbed. Countless times she’d fingered herself to this fantasy—of joining with Holden when he returned from Alaska.

Every alpha inch of his body flush against hers as he demanded she give in to her passions.

But she’d also thrust her fingers into her pussy to dreams of her first time with Jens. She imagined Jens to be a gentle but thorough lover, able to continue long into the night.

Holden began to strip off her clothes, throwing them over his shoulder piece by piece.

“Look at me, Laurel. I have to see your eyes.”

A tremor racked her. She didn’t think she could really let herself go. Yesterday she’d been in Jens’s arms—Jens’s girl. Today she was both Jens’s and Holden’s?

“I don’t—I can’t—”

“Shh.” Holden spattered kisses over her throat and down to her breasts, which were bare. She wore only low-slung jeans, her belly dipping with each excited breath.

Jens stoked these fires, and now Holden will bring me to completion?

Holden licked a path over her collarbone. “Let yourself feel, Laurel.”

“And what happens afterward? When Jens claims his turn?”

A spark lit Holden’s hazel eyes, illuminating the gold flecks. “Then you let yourself feel then too. That’s the deal, right?”

She sucked in a breath and he simultaneously captured her nipple between his lips. Clamping down, he exerted the perfect amount of pressure even as he flicked his tongue over her straining bud.


On Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMIIFQQ

Em Petrova
~where words mean so much more~
www.empetrova.com


Monday, February 18, 2013

Somebody's Wife

Happy President’s Day and Happy Valentines! I hope you’ve got the day off for the holiday!
 
This week I’ve got the final chapter in The Jackson Brothers trilogy, Mitch and Connie’s story in Somebody’s Wife. Thanks once again to Rae Monet for the fabulous set of covers! I love them all. Just to remind you, we had Jace and Taylor’s story in Somebody’s Lover, then David and Randi in Somebody’s Ex. And now middle brother Mitch and his wife Connie. I really enjoyed writing about a married couple. Most romances (many of mine, too) end when our hero and heroine fall in love, get married, and have babies. But we all know that in real life, things aren’t always perfect. And in Mitch and Connie’s story, I explore how things can go wrong, how people grow apart, how their needs and expectations can change. Then we have to ask ourselves if those things can be fixed. Or if they can tear us apart forever.
Sit back for a blurb and an excerpt of Somebody’s Wife, The Jackson Brothers, Book 3
 
A family torn apart by tragedy...
 
Three years ago, Lou Jackson, eldest son, died in a work accident. And nothing has been the same since for the Jacksons. They lost their heart and soul the day Lou died, even as matriarch Evelyn tries to keep them together. But things are changing and the family will either find their way back to each other. Or they’ll be torn asunder.
 
Connie Jackson wants another baby, but her husband no longer desires her. She’s beginning to suspect he’s having an affair. Once the woman with the smartest kids, the happiest home, and the best marriage, now she’s just somebody’s wife whose husband is cheating on her.
 
There’s only one thing to do. Connie’s going to have to seduce her husband back into her bed.
 
Mitch Jackson loves his wife too much to ever look at another woman. But his brother’s death has taught him that life can fall apart in the blink of an eye, and the fear of leaving his family defenseless if he’s gone has robbed him of a decent night’s sleep for the last three years. And now his wife wants another child they can’t afford.
 
When Connie pulls out all the stops, she becomes the seductress he can’t resist. Mitch has only one option, but if Connie figures out what he’s up to, it could mean the end of their marriage.
 
Somebody’s Wife, The Jackson Brothers, Book 3
Copyright 2013 Jasmine Haynes
 
She certainly couldn’t look for what she wanted in Willoughby. Not that she thought she’d find it, but just asking would set the town tongues wagging. This might be California, but small towns were small towns with everybody’s business being everybody else’s.
She’d have to drive into Saint Lucia, which wasn’t much larger than Willoughby, but it wasn’t her town. Besides, she’d heard about that new shop, everyone had heard about it. Surely she’d find what she wanted, no, needed. And she had until two-thirty when she had to pick up Rina.
“Shop till you drop,” she quipped, parking the station wagon in the next block over from the store. The engine knocked and pinged for fifteen seconds after she shut it off. She really had to convince Mitch they needed a replacement.
The store wasn’t obtrusive or garish. Its window displayed a tasteful arrangement of feather masks, which could be used at Halloween two and a half months away, assorted beauty products like lotions and soaps, and a mannequin in a pretty, gauzy summer skirt and spaghetti-strap camisole. Up and Coming, the shop’s name arched in gold letters across the window and front door.
Up and Coming. Connie snickered. It was quite a play on words considering what the shop stocked in the back room.
A bell tinkled overhead as she opened the door. The interior looked like any old Victoria’s Secret at the mall. Lace, satin, and silk hung on gold racks, lotions and sprays sat on glass shelves along the wall, a selection of makeup beneath a counter, flowered curtains adorning dressing rooms. Candles burned, scenting the air with...well, what was that smell?
“Oleander,” came a voice from behind her.
Connie realized she must have been sniffing the aroma.
“It’s good for relaxing all the muscles.”
Gorgeous red hair flowed over the sales woman’s shoulders. Geez, why couldn’t she have hair like that? It didn’t look dyed, with shades of gold and strawberry glittering through it. Her makeup was lightly yet expertly applied, which enhanced the disgustingly perfect features God had given her. Sparkling green eyes, plump, red lips, which weren’t all bubbly with collagen, and full breasts that fit her Marilyn Monroe hourglass figure. Silver ankle bracelets jingled as she crossed the tasteful rose-hued carpet. With the grace of a voluptuous fifties beauty queen, she was no skinny-minnie by any means, but why couldn’t Connie’s pounds fall into perfect place like that?
“Can I help you find something? We have some lovely lingerie.”
Lingerie had not worked, and Connie would have felt inferior with this perfect woman enticing her to buy more frilly stuff that wouldn’t work.
“I’m more interested in what you have in the back room.”
The woman smiled like Eve picking the apple off the tree. “We don’t call it the back room. It’s the boudoir.”
Who was this “we” anyway? There were only the two of them. “The boudoir would be fine.”
The woman held out her hand, indicating the way through a doorway decked with pink and blue beads acting as a curtain.
“May I ask how you heard about us? Since we’re fairly new, I like to get an idea of which promotion worked.”
Connie laughed. “You’re kidding, right? This place is the talk of the area. Everybody’s heard about Up and Coming.” Following the woman through the beads, she added, “Did you really intend the name to mean what it sounds like it means?”
The proprietress had a very sexy laugh. Connie wondered if she could imitate it without sounding like a braying donkey. Besides, dealing in...the things she dealt in, the woman probably practiced her walk, her laugh, even her speech modulation. The impression given when a customer entered was everything.
“This isn’t a sex shop you’d find down some filthy big city alley. Up and Coming celebrates femininity in all its forms.”
“But you do have sex toys, right?”
She smiled. “Of course. Quite a variety. My name’s Jensen, by the way.”
Connie gaped. She didn’t have to give her name, did she?
“It’s all right. We don’t deal in brown paper bags here, but everything is confidential.”
Geez, it wasn’t as if she were visiting the doctor for some female complaint. What harm could giving her first name do?
“I’m Connie.”
Jensen lightly touched her arm, subtly directing her deeper into the “boudoir.”
“Do you have a specific toy in mind?”
“Not really. I was just sort of wanting to look around.” She hadn’t been expecting a guided tour, which might end up being a bit embarrassing. But after looking at the sizes, shapes, and colors ornamenting the walls, countertops, and display stands, Connie did need a little explanation. “What’s that?”
Blue and rubbery, it looked like a donut with nubs on it.
“That’s a pleasure ring. It’s placed around a man’s penis. It enhances the man’s pleasure, allows him to maintain an erection longer, and the nubs stimulate the woman’s clitoris during intercourse.”
“Oh.” Connie didn’t have much more to say on the subject.
“You’ll see these on the Internet, but please, never buy stainless steel. Swelling can occur, making it impossible to remove. A man once had to have it cut off with a diamond saw.”
“Umm, gee, guess I’ll skip that then.”
“Perhaps you’d like to try a pair of handcuffs. We carry an assortment from fur-lined to leather to a replica of what the police would use.”
“My husband and I aren’t into S&M.” Connie knew all the appropriate lingo.
“Not to worry, we entertain married couples wanting to spice up their love lives. A little restraint and blindfold can be quite enjoyable.”
Connie considered it. Seriously. Would Mitch let her handcuff him to the brass rails of the headboard? She thought about being handcuffed herself and having her eyes covered. She couldn’t wriggle away when his tongue got too intense. The idea sent a thrill between her legs. Which made her feel extremely uncomfortable with company around.
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Perhaps you’d like to look at our selection of vibrators?”
She shook her head. “I want something we can use together.”
The woman laughed again, throaty. “Vibrators aren’t simply a solitary tool. They can be put to good use by both parties.”
“Oh?” Connie quickly held up a hand. “Please don’t tell me. That would be too embarrassing.”
“In that case, we offer a very useful instruction pamphlet to accompany the purchase.” She crinkled her nose. “With some helpful hints for getting the maximum benefit.”
Connie found herself following Jensen to the opposite wall as if she were the Pied Piper.
“This model has dual ends which can be used...” Jensen glanced at Connie, obviously gauging her word choice. “It has dual penetration capabilities.”
Leaning closer, Connie examined the brown device. It was curved and had two heads. Mercy, they looked like penises. Then it dawned on her exactly where one was supposed to insert the two heads. Ewwe.
“No, I don’t think so.” She wasn’t letting anyone use that thing on her, not even Mitch.
“How about something more standard?” Jensen pulled a purple silicon penis-shape from the wall bracket. “This particular model is equipped with three speeds and the ability to rotate and vibrate at the same time. One partner can be in charge of the controls while the other...submits.”
“You mean...” Oh my. She felt another little thrill at the thought of Mitch putting it inside her and...pumping it.
“I think you understand. Manual stimulation can be used in conjunction.”
My. Oh my.
“Batteries are included, of course.”
Connie just stared. She wasn’t a prude. She and Mitch used to experiment with position and location and created their fair share of interesting techniques. She’d read Cosmo magazine and learned a few tricks Mitch found quite impressive. But she’d grown up with a prudish mother, gotten married young, moved straight from her mother’s house to Mitch’s apartment, and certainly, after looking around Jensen’s shop, her education seemed a bit lacking now. She felt almost generic.
“How much is it?”
“It’s actually a mid-range since it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles you find on some of the others you see here.” Then she named an astronomical price.
Well, it wasn’t really all that bad except when Connie considered how Mitch watched every penny. A few pieces of lingerie stuffed in the drawer had cost more. But he made her feel terrified of spending a dollar on a cup of coffee, for goodness sake.
“I’ll include the instruction pamphlet for free.”
This was about their marriage. About getting back the fire they’d lost. About not being afraid he might turn to another woman because she didn’t satisfy him anymore.
Money was no object in light of her plan’s importance.
“I’ll take it.”
Jensen smiled. “If you’re not happy with it, please come back for a refund which can be used to purchase something that might better meet your needs.”
“You mean I can return it?” No. No, no, no. That seemed sort of disgusting.
Shaking her head as if she were dealing with a child, Jensen carried Connie’s new vibrator to the register. “Return, no, but I want my clients to be happy when they’ve taken my advice about a purchase. If they’re not, it’s my obligation to fix that. You can pick out something that will work better for you.”
Well, maybe the handcuffs. And the blindfold.
Now, where was she going to hide the purple monstrosity so the kids didn’t find it and ask Mommy what it was?
 
I hope you enjoyed this excerpt of Somebody’s Wife. You can read a different excerpt of the story on my website. Somebody’s Wife is available now on Kindle Kindle UK Nook Nook UK Kobo All Romance Smashwords. If you missed the first two stories, you can find Somebody’s Lover on Kindle Kindle UK Kobo iBookstore iBookstore AU iBookstore UK All Romance Smashwords and Somebody’s Ex on Kindle Kindle UK Kobo Nook Nook UK iBookstore  iBookstore AU iBookstore UK All Romance Smashwords. And thanks to my wonderful husband for doing all the proofing on this series.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Somebody's Ex!

This weekend, All Romance is offering Somebody’s Lover, The Jacksons, Book 1, at a 50% discount ($1.49). So if you haven’t tried it and you’d like to, here’s a chance to get Somebody’s Lover at a discounted price! http://bit.ly/XtizYO Sale is through Sunday, 2/10, 9:00 AM PST. Revenge Sex, West Coast Book 1 is still free. Okay, let’s face it, I’m a slacker and haven’t found time to go into the systems and change the pricing! So that’s to your advantage! You can find it on Kindle Kindle UK Kobo Smashwords All Romance iBookstore US iBookstore AU iBookstore UK.

And now we get to Book 2 in The Jackson Brothers trilogy, Somebody’s Ex. Thanks to Rae Monet for the fabulous set of covers! You met David Jackson in Somebody’s Lover, Book 1, (Jace and Taylor’s story). You might remember he was not a happy camper. After his eldest brother’s death, David took responsibility for holding the family together. But somehow, he seems to think he’s failed. Enter Randi Andersen. Randi’s got a story of her own. Born of Norwegian immigrant parents, she works at her family’s store. And did I mention her spectacularly unsuccessful attempt at marriage? Now she’s just somebody’s ex, at least in her own mind. I especially love this story because it featured my very dear Norwegian Elkhound Star, though I changed the name to protect the innocent! Star was a wonderful dog and she made a wonderful character in the book. Another reason for fond memories of writing this story was the help my father-in-law Per gave me on all things Norwegian. He even helped me choose Randi’s name, something Norwegian but also pronounceable for my readers. My husband and I lost Per a year ago to cancer, and somehow I feel that reissuing this story now is also a tribute to him. We miss you, Per!

Sit back for a blurb and an excerpt of Somebody’s Ex, The Jackson Brothers, Book 2.

A family torn apart by tragedy...

Three years ago, Lou Jackson, eldest son, died in a work accident. And nothing has been the same since for the Jacksons. They lost their heart and soul the day Lou died, even as matriarch Evelyn tries to keep them together. But things are changing and the family will either find their way back to each other. Or they’ll be torn asunder.

Randi Andersen has a thing for bad boys, tall, dark, sexy, and handsome. But bad boys invariably make for bad relationships. She’s tired of being somebody’s ex, ex-girlfriend, ex-lover, or ex-wife. Now, if she could just fall in love with a nice guy.

David Jackson has lived under the crushing weight of responsibility for holding his family together since his brother’s death three years ago. Randi is too sexy to resist, but the last thing he needs now is a relationship. Too much is at stake with his family falling apart.

Can they each forgive their own past mistakes in order to take the leap of faith that love demands?

This excerpt is a continuation of the excerpt on my website. So if you’d like, pop over there to read the beginning, then come back for a bit more here! Two excerpts for the price of one!

Somebody’s Ex, The Jackson Brothers, Book 2
Copyright 2013 Jasmine Haynes

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

She sure as hell had, David hoped. He’d lost his irritation the minute she’d bent down to button her skirt.

She was a wet dream come true. Long blond hair, brilliant blue eyes, plump cherry lips, and a pair of ta-tas the sight of which damn near knocked him upside the head. And if he looked at her bare legs one more time, he’d expire in unfulfilled lust.

It didn’t matter a whit that she was ditzy. He could have killed her. The thought of that beautiful chest crushed between his bumper and her door gave him heart palpitations. He still hadn’t come down off the adrenaline high, which explained his explicit wayward thoughts.

A man, however, couldn’t be blamed for becoming fascinated by such a lovely creature, especially with that pretty blush blooming on her cheeks.

David pulled his thoughts out of his shorts. “Stopping almost in the middle of the road probably isn’t a good idea.”

She rolled her eyes, her long lashes catching his attention. “I didn’t do it on purpose.” She looked at the side of her dusty, beaten truck. It might have been rust-colored or a long-since faded red. “I ran out of gas.”

Ahh. Why did women seem perpetually out of gas? He eyed a can in the truck bed.

She quirked her mouth wryly. “I’m pretty sure it’s empty.”

He hefted the container and sure enough, it weighed almost nothing. “Might be a good idea to keep it full.” He glanced at her face. “For emergencies.”

She closed her eyes and heaved a sigh, scrambling his thoughts all over again.

“If one were prepared for every eventuality, life would be like having to watch Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman every day. Not that Pretty Woman is bad, but once in five years is enough.” She tipped her head, her hair falling across her breasts. “Gives you a chance to forget the ending.”

He agreed with the chick flick assessment. But how could she forget the ending? Didn’t all chick flicks end the same way? She went on, though, before he had a chance to ask.

“Then again, if it were Vin Diesel in Pitch Black...” Eyes closed, arms held slightly away from her body, she shuddered. He almost lost control as her husky voice swept through him. “Well, twice a day wouldn’t be enough.”

Pitch Black. Definitely sounded like a movie to have a girl watch on a Friday-night date.

She shook herself. “Where were we?” Then she batted her pretty blues. “Oh. I was going to ask if you could help me.”

He squeezed between her truck’s rear and his bumper to set the can in his bed, then opened the passenger door. “Hop in.”

She glanced back at the dog face staring at her through the rear window of her truck. Some sort of Husky breed, he presumed, wearing a beseeching expression.

“I can’t leave Royal.”

“He can hop in the bed.”

She tipped her head from side to side, then said, “She is strictly an in-cab girl. You know, dust and dirt in her poor little eyes. I can wait here”—she did that batting thing again—“if you wouldn’t mind bringing the gas back.”

He’d have to come back anyway, unless he forced her to walk, and he wouldn’t leave her. Mom would flay the flesh from his bones if he did.

He slid his eyes to his cab-plus. “Bring her on.”

She smiled. Whoa, Nellie. The knock-em-dead beam almost blinded him with its brilliance. With that smile, the lady could get a man to do for-freaking-sure anything.

She yanked hard on the door, and the dog sprang out, its leash trailing, to bounce all over the concrete. “Bli,” she said. Obviously a command, the dog now froze in place.

Not a Husky, much smaller, he wasn’t sure of the breed, but she was pure something. Just like her owner. The woman grabbed her backpack, then the leash, and led the animal over. Sniffing a boot and a pant leg, the dog seemingly pronounced him trustworthy and started snuffling the truck tires.

“She’s really very good. She won’t drool all over the seats. This is Royal.”

The dog actually looked at him as her name was said, as if she understood she was being introduced. “What breed?”

Leaning over, she put the dog’s paws on the bottom sill of the open door. “Hoppe,” she murmured in that odd dog language, then patted the interior carpet. Royal scrambled into the back behind the seats. “She’s a Norwegian Elkhound.”

“Never seen one before.” But it explained the lilting commands the woman used. He’d have guessed Swedish, but presumed the two languages were similar. Multilinguistic. Maybe the woman wasn’t as ditzy as he first assumed.

“So you speak to her in Norwegian?”

She huffed, hands on her hips. “Well, duh. That’s the only language she understands.”

Was she kidding? The blue sparkle in her eyes said yes. “And you are?”

“Randi Andersen.” She gripped his proffered hand firmly.

The warmth of her skin left a lasting impression with him.

“David Jackson.” He flourished his hand. “Hop in.”

She looked at the height of the sill, and he had the perverse vision of helping her in the way she’d helped the dog. His hands on her hands, his body pressed to her backside.

“You need a hand?” Oh man, he’d give her one.

She raised a brow. “I’m fine.” She waited expectantly.

David didn’t move, entranced by her blue eyes.

“All right. I can see you’re going to make me say it. Unless you want the shock of your life, I am not getting up in this truck until you back off.” She looked down pointedly at her short skirt, then the height of the truck’s sill.

Shock wasn’t what he felt, but he was a gentleman, at least in deed if not in mind. He backed off and rounded the end of his truck, the image of the snaps on her skirt popping open.

His body might never recover from the vision.

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt of Somebody’s Ex. It’s available now on Kindle Kindle UK Kobo Nook Nook UK All Romance Smashwords, iBookstore coming soon. If you missed Jace and Taylor’s story, you can find Somebody’s Lover on Kindle Kindle UK Kobo All Romance Smashwords. And don’t forget Somebody’s Lover is discounted on All Romance through Sun, 2/10, 9:00 AM PST. Somebody’s Wife (Connie and Mitch) will be out later this month (hubby is working on the proofing and formatting for me!).


 

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