While The Cat’s Away Countdown – Day 9…

One little bit of news before I get to today’s release. Yesterday, right before I started packing, my new editor at Samhain offered me a contract on two related cowboy stories, Unbridled and Unforgiven. Now, I just have to come up with a series title because I know I have at least one more story to follow that thread. So put your thinking caps on! The stories all involve cowboys and are set in Texas!

If you’ve read me very long, you know I love to experiment, whether it’s with genre or sexual diversity. Today’s release features fifteen lesbian adventures from some of the best erotica writers out there, all centered around an American icon—the cowboy.

“Cowboy” is a calling, not a gender—and some of the toughest cowboys aren’t boys at all. “Cowboy” is also a legend, an attitude, and a state of mind. With stories that are edgy as shiny spurs and tender as broken-in leather, these lesbian cowboys work hard, play hard, and love hard, in the saddle and in the bed. They know what they want and take it, and give back as good as they get. The settings range from Australia to New England to the Great Plains and the Rockies and span the decades from the romance of the Old West to today’s torrid tales.

Contributors Radclyffe and Jove Bell depict today’s fearless femme rodeo riders, holding their own against the men in the limelight—then holding another woman close at night. Cheyenne Blue shows the conflict between traditional cattle ranching and the new environmentalism in the wilds of Australia while Delilah Devlin’s lesbian cowboy is every inch a woman and more than a match for any man. Sexy, steamy, and crackling with erotic energy, these stories are sure to rivet.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Footsteps scuffed across the planked porch, and Ariana lowered herself beside me on the bench overlooking the paddock. From the corner of my eye, I noted the damp hair and the bare expanse of skin that shone like warm honey beneath a pair of cutoff shorts. She’d bathed and smelled faintly of flowers.

I intended only a quick glance at my companion, but my gaze landed on another thin tank top, this one buttoned down the front with the upper two opened. The shadowy wedge of skin between her breasts was bare. Nipples, unfettered by any bra, sprang against the pink cotton.

“Thought since it was just us girls…” she drawled.

With heat flooding my cheeks, I turned away, unable to meet Ariana’s lopsided smile.

“Guess it can get a little lonely out here,” she said softly.

“It can,” I said, feeling a little breathless. “But I like the quiet.”

“Seeing anyone?”

My head swung back.

Ariana’s brow was arched. “Just wondering. Pretty woman like you living all alone out here…seems a waste.”

“Like having a man underfoot to feed and please would make my life easier?” I’d tried that and failed miserably. The breakup had nearly broken me and devastated my bank account.

“Sorry, didn’t realize I’d struck a nerve.”

“Well, you did. How about we just drop it?”

“So, there’s no one steady in your life…?” I shot her a hot glare, which had her lips pursing in a silent whistle. “Look, I know you’re not comfortable around me. Want me to guess why? Or how about you just tell me instead of making me play ‘twenty questions?’”

“Like you said,” I murmured uncomfortably, blood starting to pound against my temples, “It gets a little lonely out here. For the most part, people only come to ride on the weekends.”

She snorted. “Ever have a girl?”

Shock had me stiffening and wondering if I’d jumped to a wrong conclusion about where this was heading because my mind was already in a very nasty gutter. “Do you mean, working here?” I asked, knowing I sounded like I’d strangled on something. “No.”

Her gaze narrowed. “I meant…ever have a girl…in your bed.”

My breath caught. Was she taunting me? “No.”

“Not once? Funny, I thought…” Ariana shook her head. “I didn’t mean to offend.”

We sat in silence for a few strained minutes. But I, who never felt easy in my own skin, never knew the right words to explore a possibility so ripe with dangerous undertones, cleared my throat. “What did you think?”

“That you liked what you saw.”

My lips parted. And unexpectedly moisture filled my eyes. “You must get all kinds of people coming onto you.”

“All kinds, both sexes.” Her lips curved. “But I don’t mind you looking…” Her head fell back, and she shook out her wet hair. The action made her breasts shiver in a delightful way.

I bit my bottom lip and stared as Ariana’s nipples spiked hard, elongating as I watched.

Her arm reached out slowly and draped across the back of the bench. Her fingers played with a lock of my hair. “You do it with all your hired hands?”

There was no use playing like I didn’t understand her meaning. “Of course not.”

“But it’s nice, isn’t it? The convenience of it?”

“It’s only convenient if the cowboy understands rules.”

Her finger slid along the outer curve of my ear. “Do you have special rules for a cowgirl?”

I closed my eyes briefly, and then aimed a glare her way, hoping she didn’t see how unnerved I was becoming. “I’ve never had a female hand.”

Ariana’s hand slipped over my shoulder and reached down to palm my breast through my shirt. “Is it so different? A man’s hand?”

“As night and day.”

“Really? It’s just a hand with fingers…” Her thumb and forefinger plucked at my nipple.

“Completely different,” I said, clamping my lips against a tiny sigh. “I’ve never felt so…”

“Hot?”

“Uneasy,” I blurted.

“That’s not good. Want me to stop?” she said, giving my breast another tentative caress.

I opened my mouth to tell her yes, but instead found myself whispering, “I want you to take off your shirt.”