Blog Hop--Hot Kisses!

I’m participating in the Book Boyfriends Café HOT FOR FRIDAYS Weekly Blog Hop. This week’s prompt was “Our Characters Share A Hot Kiss.” Below is an excerpt from my book, Miriam’s Surrender.

He leaned his face toward her and she forgot to breathe. Would he kiss her? His irises darkened and focused on her mouth, as if there was nothing else worth looking at. This would not be another kiss on the cheek. His arm grasped hers and pulled her close. His hand cupped her elbow and his fingers stroked the back of her arm. Even through her coat, the pressure of his touch built and she wanted more of him. The movement of his fingers against her coat sleeve created a rasping noise, or was it the sound of her own breath?

She pressed against him and fought the urge to whimper. His body heat warmed her and her knees shook. This close to him, she could see the slight shadow of stubble forming on his jaw. She raised her hand and stroked his cheek. His skin was smooth, yet unlike her own. Her hand slid around the back of his neck and teased the soft hairs at his nape as he tipped her chin and brought his mouth to hers.

Finally.

His lips pressed against hers. They were firm, yet soft and she wanted to taste him. He kissed her as if his entire purpose was to give her the perfect kiss. He nibbled her bottom lip and she opened her mouth. With the slight bit of encouragement, his tongue traced where he’d nibbled and dipped inside her mouth. Their tongues danced, their breaths mingled and she tasted traces of vanilla from his shake.

His hands slid down her arms and rested at her waist and she melted against him. He traced little circles with his thumbs and tingles ran up her spine. She played with the soft down at the base of his skull and fingered the hollow at the back of his neck. She flicked his ear and he groaned. Desire coursed through her and she reveled in her power to make him moan. Their noses touched and he reached behind for her hand and held it in his. He was warm and masculine and she wanted him. She inhaled and smelled his spicy aftershave.

He pulled away and traced kisses along her jaw. She shivered and licked his neck. It tasted salty and his pulse beat beneath her mouth. He hugged her tight against him and she slipped her arms inside of his coat and around his waist. Their bodies were so close it was as if they were one. Still, she wanted to be closer.

She tipped her head to the side to give him better access to her neck and his whiskers scraped the sensitive skin behind her ear. She whimpered and he trailed kisses from right below her ear to her jawline. When he pulled away, his breathing was heavy and matched her own.

Their gazes met and she smiled.

“How do you feel?” he asked and rested his head against hers.

“Like I have been thoroughly kissed.”

“That’s funny, I feel the same way.”

“What a coincidence,” she said with a smile.

Did you enjoy that? I hope so. For more “hot kisses,” or to participate in next week’s bloghop, follow this link to Book Boyfriends Café. And if you’d like to read this, or any, of my books, you can follow this link.

The Oscars

I didn’t watch the Oscars last night.

I know, I know, that’s horrible. It borders on un-American. And it’s certainly isolating as news and social media is filled with commentary about what happened, while I remain blissfully ignorant.

I did check out some of the gowns. I scrolled through the People website so I could take a look at them. Most seemed elegant and a majority were white.

When my husband and I were dating, we went to the movies almost every weekend. We were up on all the latest and it was one of our favorite activities. Once we had kids and limited babysitting, we fell out of the movie routine.

So then he started recording them. And I’ll confess, we watched a lot of them at home. But lately, I haven’t had much of a desire to watch movies. I’d rather watch TV shows. Movies are one and done. Whatever connection I feel to characters or story is fleeting. With TV shows, though, I can come back every week and see what’s happening to characters I’ve invested time and thought in.

I don’t get that as much with movies.

So the Oscars have little appeal to me. And the speeches? Most of them I find horribly embarrassing. You know how some people, when they watch scary things, cover their faces with pillows (seemingly to forget they have eyelids)? Well, that’s me with awards shows. I hate the speeches. They’re either stupid or so emotional, they’re meant for the privacy of their family, not the public venue of a show broadcast to millions of viewers. I cringe for them as if I’m the one putting myself on display.

I didn’t watch the Oscars, I’m not sorry and I’ll have to smile blandly during conversations about what happened. That’s okay. I hope you enjoyed them!

The Princess is Driving

The Princess is driving. Like, an actual car. On the roads. And she’s good!

Although I can’t believe she’s old enough to do this, I’ve been looking forward to this for months. I’m not sure why. I’m pretty cautious when it comes to safety. For the past year, I’ve been telling her that allowing her to get behind the wheel of a car is the equivalent of giving her access to a lethal weapon and allowing her to use it. I’ve talked about why driving is dangerous, why she can’t drive with other people and why other people can’t drive with her.

Being the Princess, we’ve also had multiple discussions, initiated by her, about why she has to drive my husband’s old car, which she thinks is ugly, rather than get a brand new car. His car is safe and she’s not getting a brand new car. End of story. But she keeps trying. She’s nothing if not persistent.

As the date of her birthday got closer, she started getting more nervous about driving. I think that’s great. I want her to be nervous. I want her to realize the awesome responsibility being handed to her and not take it lightly. But some of her friends are terrified of driving and are refusing to learn. Fear feeds on itself, and after trying unsuccessfully to get her to call the driving school, I made the arrangements myself. She needs to learn now and she needs to learn before everyone else’s fear takes over.

She pulled into the driveway after that first lesson and I cried. I was hiding by the front window because I wanted to get pictures of her driving and had been told I wasn’t allowed to take any photos of her behind the wheel. But I did want to get evidence. Plus, since the car wasn’t dented, I decided that photographing it wouldn’t be a bad thing. But when she pulled into the driveway, I had visions of my six-month old baby sitting on a blanket on the grass in the sun and I cried.

She’s now finished her six hours of lessons—as a kid, that seemed like an endless amount of time; as a parent, holy cow, they think she’s ready to drive???—and we’re now practicing together. To quote her, she hasn’t killed anyone yet. The car is still in one piece and I haven’t had a heart attack.

Although she currently seems to take after her mother in her parking abilities (straight on, not parallel—she’s amazing at parallel parking, go figure) and her directional sense, I’m hoping those are temporary glitches that will disappear with time. She’s actually quite good with the rest of it—she looks around and past the hood of the car, she basically stays in the center of her lane and she turns pretty well.

She needs practice, but I think we’re going to be okay. If only I could stop seeing this when she drives:

Cover Reveal

Rebel Ink Press is re-releasing my second book, Skin Deep, and I have a new cover! It’s completely different from the old one, and reflects the grittier nature of this book. Here it is.

I’m currently doing a last round of edits on the book, tightening things up and fixing any errors that slipped through the last time. Here’s the blurb:

The last thing Valerie needs, after escaping an abusive marriage to an alcoholic and rebuilding her life, is a broody, secretive, standoffish man. But that’s exactly what she gets when she becomes a makeup artist on the set of a hit sitcom and draws the attention of the series’ star.

John Samuels hides a terrible past—a life of abuse and neglect. A successful acting career and the affection and support of cast, crew and friends, does nothing to convince him that he is anything other than an unlovable monster.

Will he learn that the life he’s been living has been built on a lie or will he be doomed to repeat the sins of his father?

Look for Skin Deep on Amazon and other online retailers March 10.

Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day. I’m sorry, but that has to be the stupidest holiday ever. The one day a year when normally intelligent people decide to let a rodent take precedence over science. Seriously? Seasons are determined by the Earth’s spin axis tilted with respect to its orbital plane, not by rodents. Spring ALWAYS starts on March 20/21. For those of us who know how to count, that is LITERALLY six weeks away. So spring will start in six weeks, REGARDLESS of what the weather itself is going to do and whether or not a stupid rodent sees its shadow. And the only ones who know what the weather is going to do are meteorologists (and then only some of the times). So if we’re going to celebrate the day, let’s find other reasons.

Such as…

Today is Monday. The beginning of the week. My favorite day of the week, because I get some much-needed alone time. Not that I don’t love my family. I do. But after a weekend of all of us being together all of the time, the introvert in me needs a little space. Just a few hours to breathe. And the anal part of me needs to get back to my schedule in order to make sense of my world. It’s like hitting the Do-Over button every week, the ability to start over and try something new. Last week was awful? Okay, this week will be better. Didn’t get to something before? Let’s try it again now.

Today is a snow day. Because it’s winter, and winter means snow. No matter how much I may complain that I’m cold (technically, I’m cold nine months out of the year, and occasionally the other three from too much air conditioning), it’s supposed to be cold this time of year. It’s supposed to snow. This is normal weather for the season. So as much as I may not like it, I really do have to deal with it. And I have it pretty easy since 95% of the time my husband is the one who does the snow blowing. But the kids are home, again. And my husband is home, although that one was my doing (I figured it was easier than hearing about how his coworkers bet on when I’d make my usual call to “request” that he comes home due to bad weather). And the dog is most displeased with having to go outside in the snow. But rather than complain about it, let’s enjoy ourselves. It means we get to throw our calendars out the window and sleep in and hang out together. Snow days are fun, even if they do throw everything out of whack.

Do you need other reasons to celebrate today? How about:

• New Amsterdam (later New York City) became a city on this day in 1653.
• In 1709, British sailor Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being marooned on a desert island for 5 years, his story inspires "Robinson Crusoe."
• 1st ship load of Chinese arrive in SF in 1848.
• In 1852, 1st British public men's toilet opens (Fleet St London).
• Samuel Clemens becomes Mark Twain for first time in 1863.
• In 1893, 1st movie close-up (of a sneeze), Edison studio, West Orange, NJ.
• NYC's Grand Central Terminal opens in 1913.
• In 1922, James Joyce's "Ulysses" published in Paris (1,000 copies).
• Ethyl gasoline 1st marketed, Dayton, Ohio in 1923.
• In 1932, Al Capone sent to prison (Atlanta, Georgia).
• President Harry Truman urges congress to adopt a civil rights program in 1948.
• In 1950, 1st broadcast of "What's My Line" on CBS-TV.
• US female Figure Skating championship won by Dorothy Hamill in 1975.
• In 1977, Radio Shack officially begins creating TRS-80 computer.
• South Africa's Pres FW de Klerk promises to free Nelson Mandela & legalizes ANC & 60 other political orgs in 1990.

Please, ANYTHING but Groundhog Day!