Four things I love: croissants, France, the sea, and sexy athletes in spandex. So… why not have all those in a book? Why not indeed, and here it is. From the south of France, complete with pain au chocolate, a seaside view and pages full of ultra-fit professional cyclists in spandex, RACING TO YOU is a sexy summer read that will transport you on a European vacation without the cost of a plane ticket.

Bon voyage and happy reading!

Love—the one roadblock they never expected.

Aurelia is living her dream, teaching for a year in the south of France. Except it’s all going wrong. The carefree culture is challenging her academic goals, and her students are so difficult that she wants the unthinkable: to give up and go home.

Meeting Terrence doesn’t help. When he’s not training for the Tour de France, the cocky pro cyclist is flirting with Aurelia, but she didn’t cross an ocean to hook up with an American jock, even if he does have killer dimples and looks hot in spandex.

Until the jock sets out to prove he’s more than mere muscle. He wants to teach her what having fun really means, which could be as dangerous to her structured life as it is to her heart.

As life hits unexpected roadblocks, they turn to one another for support, and flirtation becomes game-changing love. But Terrence is chasing his dream of being the fastest man on two wheels, and she isn’t sure how far he’ll go to win…or how far she’s willing to follow.

Warnings: Includes a hopelessly romantic hero, a guilt-free sex proposition, a lot of orgasms and, of course, croissants.

Excerpt:

The American guy shifts his feet, and his thigh contracts, bulges, like the muscle beneath the spandex is a singular living thing. It puckers around his knee cap. A physical manifestation of explosive power.

My cappuccino cup suspends in mid-air, all pretense of drinking it gone. I’m not someone who goes starry-eyed over guys. They’re just muscles. He’s just a man, but I can’t seem to help my gaze shifting upward, crossing over his crotch, where if I look too closely, I’ll notice things I don’t want to. Or I do want to. My throat works, and I might be turning scarlet, but the dizzying pizzazz of his uniform draws my eyes up and up.

I reach his face, and I jolt.

His light-brown eyes glow like amber, and one winks at me. “Do you speak English, sweetheart?” He has this dimple that divots in one cheek. If he were in a museum, I’d stare at him all day.

Maybe if I don’t respond, he’ll think I really am French and don’t understand his English. Unlikely. I’m totally missing the French je ne sais quoi. I’m not stylish, I’m not skinny, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t affect their suave manner. And since my parents are Filipino, add in my skin and features… Not many people mistake me for French.

Wait, he called me “sweetheart”. I am not sweet. I cement my eyes back to my book and mutter, “Go away, sweetheart.”

“Is that a yes?”

Damn it. I need my “social leper” sign. It doesn’t matter if I want to talk to him; my propensity to say the wrong thing has gotten me laughed at more than once.

The barista tattles on me. “Elle est américaine.” His thin lips stretch in a wry smile.

“Really?” The jock walks toward me. His shoes clap on the floor, but his swagger is louder, with more cockiness and attitude than a star footballer.

My heart lurches into panic mode.

He stops in front of me and rests his helmet against his hip. “What’re you reading?” He gestures with his espresso cup at my book.

I need relief from the nerves fusing in my gut. “Leave me alone.”

Jeers come from his teammates by the door. “Braker burns,” one says.

Braker. That’s a weird name.

He watches me, like he’s waiting for me to say more. The need to speak with someone from the same country as me wings like a caged bird in my chest. I want to say, “I’m Aurelia. Where are you from? What’s with the bike riding?”

His finger doodles on the page of my book, soft and swirling. It’s such a man’s hand, even his knuckles are muscular. “All right, Frenchie,” he says with mock forlorn.

“Frenchie?” My eyes flip up.

His lips curve in a smile so contagious that mine lift like he’s tugging them on a string. It’s been a long time since I smiled, as in full-face, cheek-bending, real deal smiled.

It somehow unravels my tongue. “How come you’re not having a croissant?”

“They’re good, huh?” He licks his finger and glides it over the crumbs on my empty plate. The leftover flakes stick to his finger. He sucks them into his mouth.

He has a mouth. And lips. Delectable and soft.

Duh, of course he has a mouth. My brain is pudding.

“Braker, let’s ride,” his friend says up front.

His eyes travel my face, like he’s searching for something. “See you tomorrow.” Then, with a wide walk and clapping shoes, he follows the other cyclists out the door.

About the Author

Robin Lovett writes sexy contemporary romances, and Racing To You is her debut through Samhain Publishing. Her next series, Bad Boys of Blackmail is scheduled for release the summer of 2017 through SMP Swerve.

She enjoys writing romance to avoid the more unsavory things in life, like day jobs and housework. To feed her coffee and chocolate addictions, she loves overdosing on mochas. When not writing with her cat, she’s busy embracing untamable curly hair, cycling with her husband or adventuring in the outdoors with a laptop in her bag and a book in her hand.

You can add Racing To You to your TBR Goodreads list or add it directly to your Kindle. Other purchase links and more sexy excerpts from her book are available on her website www.RobinLovett.com. She loves to chat on Twitter @LovettRomance, and you can find her every Sunday evening with other romance writers at #RWChat. She’s also on Facebook www.facebook.com/LovettRomance.

UPDATE: The winners are Melissa Packett and Pat Freely!
See comments for instructions!

* * * * *

All you SEAL lovers—get ready to get your freak on! And yes,
I’m hearing Missy Elliott’s song in my head! 🙂

Military Super-bundle of eleven novellas and novels by New York Times, USA Today and award-winning bestselling authors: Lynn Raye Harris, Cora Seton, Zoe York, Kimberley Troutte, Jennifer Lowery, Elle James, Delilah Devlin, Kat Cantrell, Anne Marsh, Kate Pearce and Amity Lassiter.

Get your copy here!

HOT SEAL RESCUE (HOT SEAL Team) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author LYNN RAYE HARRIS. Navy SEAL Cody “Cowboy” McCormick gets a whole lot more than he bargained for when a gorgeous woman with a gun abducts him in broad daylight.

A SEAL’s OATH (SEALs of Chance Creek) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author CORA SETON. Wanted: one wife, one baby. Love not required. Navy SEAL Boone Rudman has six months to find a wife and get her pregnant or he’ll lose his chance to win 1500 acres of prime Montana ranch land. So when he discovers Riley Eaton living on his new ranch, all grown up from the tomboy she used to be, he decides she’ll do for his bride–whether or not she’s got other plans.

FALL DIRTY (SEALs Undone) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author ZOE YORK. Navy SEAL Hunter Dex is a man on a mission–to discover all of his beautiful new girlfriend’s deepest desires.

BRING THE HEAT (SEAL EXtreme Team series) by RITA-nominated NYT and USAT Bestselling Author KIMBERLEY TROUTTE. When hostiles ambush an Army convoy with top-secret weapons and hold his wife hostage, Navy SEAL Tavon Sting faces an impossible choice–protect the White House and his team or save the woman he loves more than life.

A SEAL’s PROMISE (Book #4, SEAL Team Alpha) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author JENNIFER LOWERY. Brogan Steele is a hard-as-nails Navy SEAL. Inheriting half of a spa doesn’t fit any part of his life. His attempt to be a silent partner bombs when he falls for his beautiful partner.

SEAL’S DECEPTION (Take No Prisoners Book #8) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author ELLE JAMES. A Navy SEAL poses as bodyguard to a sexy CIA operative undercover as the arranged bride of a Saudi prince in search of the biological weapons sale traced to the Prince’s palace.

BABY, IT’S YOU (Uncharted SEALs, Book #5) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author DELILAH DEVLIN. Carter Vance, Jr. stands at the fork in the road. Wounded in action, the Navy SEAL has a decision to make: whether to find work with a spec ops unit, or return to his family ranch in Texas and repair his fractured relationship with his dying father and the woman he wronged. Complicating the decision is his reignited attraction to Melanie Schaeffer and his confusion over his feelings for his dead brother’s little girl, whom Melanie has raised since his brother’s and her sister’s deaths by a terrorist’s bomb.

COMMANDING HER SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights) by award-winning author KAT CANTRELL. Lieutenant Commander Charlie St. Croix needs some downtime to decide if he should reenlist. What better way to recharge than with Audra Reed, a hot redhead who’s a self-confessed adrenaline junkie?

The TROUBLE WITH SEALS (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author ANNE MARSH. A quick, straightforward business transaction rapidly becomes something else when a Navy SEAL butts heads with a beautiful woman over a piece of paradise.

ONCE A SEAL (The Morgan Ranch series) by NYT and USAT Bestselling Author KATE PEARCE. After an eventful career as a Navy SEAL, Jay Williams returns home to Morgantown, California to take over the running of his family’s bar. After being rescued from a hostage situation and barely emerging alive Erin Cooper definitely has trust issues… There’s only one person who will tell her the truth. Her mystery SEAL might not know it, but he’s her last chance…

A COWBOY SEAL’s BRIDE by Bestselling Author AMITY LASSITER. Navy SEAL Lane Sutton wants to retire to the ranch his grandfather left him and battle his demons in peace. Too bad the only way to legally claim the ranch is to marry a woman from his past. A woman who once rejected his proposal and will surely be hell bent on doing so again. But this time, there’s no way Lane’s letting her–or his ranch–go without a fight.

Contest

If you’d like to catch up on the rest of my Uncharted SEALs, you can check out the titles by clicking on the covers here. Two lucky commenters will get a chance to start their reading adventure, because I’ll give them their choice of one of these stories!

  

  

 Happy Fourth of July! I hope tonight you’re sitting on a blanket with the man of your dreams overlooking a lake and watching the fireworks fill the sky with your sweetheart holding you tight. In Canada, we celebrate on the First. No matter what country you’re from, this holiday weekend celebrates independence. It didn’t arrive without its struggles. And maybe we still have to fight sometimes to keep dark things at bay, but it’s worth it when we spend the day at the beach, the delicious smell of hamburgers wafting from the hibachi while our children are laughing and playing on the sand.

You might be spending this weekend with family at a cabin, or friends are coming over tonight for cocktails and a quaint dinner on the deck. Maybe you’re taking your folks out for a sunset cruise! (Be careful, I work for the Coast Guard and I don’t mind sitting around doing nothing. It means you’re safe.)

When I look at the peaceful relationship that Canada and the US have being neighbors, I hope that one day countries in the Middle East will mirror our union. Our two countries are the same but different. Independent but joined when disaster or war raises its hand to threaten either of us. While we bask in the sun this weekend and enjoy all our comforts and freedoms, we have to nod our head at the struggles it took to get where we are. Over the years, there were voices that rose above all others to say, “Peace is far better than war.” And we listened. To gain independence in the past, men and women gave their lives, and although we mourn for lost loved ones, we’ve grown from each experience. The Fourth of July may have its roots in the signing of Declaration of Independence, but the words were only a guideline to strive for and live by. Our actions since 1776 are what brought us to 2016 as an abundant nation with opportunity to do better each day.

Each year when July 1^st and 4^th roll around, I hear these words: Apart we are strong, but together we’re stronger.

Happy Independence Day America.

Love, Hope and faith

Natasza Waters
Award winning and bestselling author
Writing stories with a cup of romance and a twist of steam.

If you love an alpha hero, you’ll enjoy my award-winning SEAL series.

You’ll find all my books on Amazon. Click “follow” https://www.amazon.com/Natasza-Waters/e/B006HYRTGQ/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1467247104&sr=8-2-ent

Check out my newest release Twila’s Tempest

Book Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JChk2MFsL4A

Sign up for my quarterly newsletter for giveaways and be the first to know when I’m releasing a new book.

https://nataszawaters.com/subscribe-to-my-newsletter

Hi Delilah, thanks for hosting me. My post today is a little different. Instead of plugging my work, I’m asking your readers to help me spread the word about a charity anthology. There is also a charity-based contest at the bottom of the post.

When my oldest daughter, Turtle (nickname, obviously) was only a week old, she went through the kind of medical hell no child should ever go through. First, she nearly died from a bacterial infection. Two days later we learned she’d also had a stroke. Our lives shrunk to our daughter’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit room as we measured her life in hours. Celebrations like her first Christmas and first birthday seemed like impossible goals.

Not long after Turtle turned a corner and came off the ventilator, our nurse came into the room with a hat and a blanket. She told us that they’d been donated to the hospital’s Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units by Project Linus for babies and children in crisis. It was a small gift, but in the midst of hell, it was a ray of light.

Since then I’ve made a point of donating to Project Linus annually in Turtle’s name.

We are one of the lucky families. There was a small bit of white matter damage from the stroke, and Turtle needed a foot brace for under a year. One of her kidneys permanently failed, but the other is healthy. As you can see from the photo, she’s like many other seven year old girls—obsessed with ballet. She’d like to be an artist when she grows up.

There is a series of charity anthologies run by a company called Coming Together. I find the idea of giving back by writing erotica inspiring, and I’ve participated in four anthologies as a writer. When there was a call for more editors, I was inspired to volunteer. Coming Together: Under the Mistletoe was born, with all proceeds going to Project Linus.

Submission Call

Deadline is September 1, 2016

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow because we’ll be heating up this sexy December anthology.

I am looking for your best winter stories. Are your characters cuddled up inside while a blizzard rages, or are they snowbirds spending Christmas Day on the beach in the tropics? Who belongs on Santa’s Naughty List? Is your billionaire a Scrooge? Is this the year they come out to their family? Do they have a special someone to kiss when the ball drops?

While the theme is winter, you may also add in your favorite December holiday, but this is not mandatory. I’m looking for compelling stories with compelling characters and a rich plot as well as beautiful poetry.

Guidelines

• Your story should be set between December 1 and December 31 whether explicitly or implicitly.
• All orientations, ethnicities, pairings, and interpretations of “winter” are encouraged.
• All sub-genres and time periods welcome (contemporary, historical, paranormal, sci-fi, steampunk, you name it).
• All heat levels from sweet and romantic to down and dirty—as long as it is plot driven.
• HEA/HFN preferred, but not required.
• Stories up to 7,500 words
• Poetry is welcomed and encouraged
• No underage, no scat, no non-consent, no incest

Coming Together is a charity organization. You retain all rights to your stories, and previously published stories and poetry are welcomed (as long as you hold the rights).

Please use Times New Roman font, size 12, and double spaced with one inch margins. No extra lines between paragraphs. Set indentations to .5 – do not use tabs or spaces to indent. Use .docx, .doc .rtf formats only.

Only submit your final, best version of the story to delilahnight@gmail.com with the subject line “Under the Mistletoe insert your title insert your name”

Do not send multiple versions of the same story. Up to two stories/three poems will be considered from each author. Include your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable and be clear which one is which), mailing address, and up to 250 word bio. Do not paste your story into the body of your message.

You will be notified as to the status of your story by no later than October 1, 2016.

Coming Together is a non-profit organization, and all Coming Together authors and editors have generously donated their talents to various causes. Compensation for inclusion in this work is a PDF contributor copy of the finished product and your name on Santa’s Nice List (or Naughty, if that’s your preference). You retain all rights to your story. All proceeds go to Project Linus, which provides home-made blankets and hats to children in crisis.

Questions? Email me at delilahnight@gmail.com

Contest

The first five (5) readers who share the submission call on their websites will get a ten dollar usd ($10 usd) donation to the charity of their choice. I’ll also send you a pdf copy of your choice of the four Coming Together anthologies to which I’ve contributed—Coming Together: For the Holidays, Coming Together: Among the Stars, Coming Together: Strange Shifters, or Coming Together: Keeping Warm.

My link is posted here at the Erotica Readers and Writers Association, and I have a dedicated page on my website. You can cut and paste the call, or write a short blog entry about why you would encourage people to submit to the anthology (feel free to cut and paste/use any information and photos I’ve used in this post and then add a link to the call).

Email me at delilahnight@gmail.com with a link to your post and the name of your charity (no political or religious organizations). I’ll provide you with a screenshot to prove that I’ve made the donation.

UPDATE: All commenters were winners!
This contest is closed!

* * * * *

Howdy, everyone. I’m so glad to be back on Delilah’s blog today to talk about my latest release, Cowboy Player. It’s the third book in my Cowboy Cocktail novella series, starring the lovelorn MacKinnon brothers and the smart, feisty women who fall for them.

Cowboy Player is a friends-to-lover story starring brother number three, Clark MacKinnon—player, prankster and enormous flirt. Melody Santos, his longtime platonic friend, has zero time for his brand of shenanigans…or does she?

To celebrate the release of Cowboy Player, I’m offering a giveaway of all three Cowboy Cocktail books in your preferred e-book format. See below to play!

Thank you for reading!

This cowboy and cowgirl sell the steak and the sizzle.

Cowboy Cocktail, Book 3

For eight years, Melody Santos played the game of love and lost—big time. Now she’s back in her tiny hometown looking after her younger sister, making ends meet with an assortment of odd jobs. When her childhood best friend hires her to help him sell his family’s grass-fed beef, the last thing she anticipates is falling in lust with the legendary, brown-eyed player.

To put his family’s cattle ranch back in the black, Clark MacKinnon has his sights set on big contracts—gourmet chefs and restaurateurs. If that means long hours traveling from farmer’s market to farmer’s market, Clark doesn’t mind. Particularly since his new assistant is his childhood crush, all grown up and sexy as hell.

One night in bed leaves them breathless and hungry for more. But when his love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation collides with her trust issues, Clark and Melody must face the truth about what they’ve become: not friends, not lovers, but players in a game that’s impossible to win.

Warning: Contains filthy banter, raunchy sex, excessive Johnny Cash references, and hundreds of pounds of raw beef.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING

“What a sweet and steamy read!…I am intrigued by those Mackinnon brothers and am anxious to read each of their stories.”
—Goodreads review, 5 stars

“Great read. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. I found the characters easy to fall in love with and the pace didn’t lag at all.”
—Goodreads review, 5 stars

“This is a quick, hot read. [Melody and Clark’s] connection to each other is strong, based in friendship, and becomes a stronger love. The end of the story brought tears to my eyes. I highly recommend this story. I plan to read more of Mia Hopkins.”
—Goodreads review, 5 stars

BUY THE BOOK

 Amazon | Kobo | iTunes | B&N | Samhain | AllRomance | Google Play | Books-A-Million

EXCERPT

With a grimace, Melody swallowed down the last of her gin and tonic. One of the bartenders whisked her glass away and asked if she wanted another. Even though she did, Melody shook her head.

Something touched her bare arm. A warm fingertip grazed her skin from elbow to wrist. She looked up.

“Lost in thought again?” Clark leaned close and kissed her cheek, just as he had hundreds of times before. One of the Silver Spur’s waitresses put a beer down in front of him and flashed a sexy grin. He smiled at the woman briefly and turned his attention back to Melody.

She shook her head. “It must be hard to be you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Women. The endless parade of women fighting for your attention.”

“Oh, it’s not so bad.” Clark took a sip of beer.

“Where are all your brothers? They usually help carry the burden.”

“I’m on my own tonight,” he said. “But let’s talk about you, not me. Why so blue, Mel? Baby sister all grown up?”

They turned to look at the crowd in front of the stage. Harmony had found herself a cowboy admirer. The lucky fellow was holding her close and nuzzling her neck as he led her around the dance floor.

Was Melody sad that Harmony was growing up? No, not exactly. Nostalgic, more like—for a version of herself she wasn’t sure ever existed. Had she ever been that young and optimistic? Had she ever let herself be that free?

“I’m proud of her,” Melody said at last. “It’s been hard. Seeing our mom get sick like that. Lots of kids would’ve dropped out. But she finished school with a 3.8. This is her first night out in a long, long time.”

“A smarty-pants, just like you.”

“Smarter than me,” said Melody. “She learned something useful. Solid paycheck, helping others, all that good stuff.”

“You’re a brilliant teacher, from what I’ve heard.”

“Diagramming sentences isn’t exactly going to save us from the zombie apocalypse, now is it?”

“If there’s a zombie apocalypse, nothing will save us, Mel. The only thing left to do is get drunk and screw.” He held up his beer mug and winked at her. An honest-to-goodness wink.

Melody shook her head. “You can’t help yourself, can you, MacKinnon? You’re a hopeless flirt.”

“Flirting? Thought I was just drinking beer and being myself.” He looked down at the empty coaster in front of her. “What about you? What are you having? Gin and tonic, right?”

He remembered her favorite drink. Melody smiled. “No, I’m good. I’m on sister watch tonight. She really wants to cut loose. Someone’s gotta hold her hair back when the vomit flies. Which it inevitably will.” She waved her hand at him. “You should go have a good time. Get yourself a nice piece. Enjoy your Saturday night.”

Only Clark could make a shrug look so sexy. “But I’m already enjoying my Saturday night.”

Something about the way he said those words made Melody’s skin tingle.

As an experiment, she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, resting her arms on the bar. For a nanosecond, Clark’s dark eyes darted to her cleavage before resting on his beer. A sudden, electric thrill shimmied down her spine. Her body clenched with pleasure, knowing she could still get the attention of a man as insanely hot as Clark MacKinnon.

But then…guilt.

That’s Clark. Don’t flirt with Clark.

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate the release of Cowboy Player, I’m offering a giveaway of all three Cowboy Cocktail books in your preferred e-book format. To play, answer the following question in a comment below and PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS…

Clark MacKinnon is a prankster. What is the best prank you’ve ever witnessed? You can change names to protect all parties involved.

I’ll select one winner at random. Contest closes Tuesday, July 5, 2016 at midnight PST. Good luck!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mia Hopkins writes lush romances starring fun, sexy characters who love to get down and dirty. She’s a sucker for working class heroes, brainy heroines and wisecracking best friends. Connect with her on Twitter @miahopkinsxoxo or visit her website at miahopkinsauthor.com.

It’s heeeerrre! 

The Pleasure Bot is a story I loved writing. I smiled my way through it. The story has some of my favorite tropes—mistaken identity, hiding in plain sight. Add a playful and annoying personnel computer, a pirate with a sense of humor, and a woman who thinks she only wants to get off—and you have it.

The story played well with reviewers:

• Nominated for Best Erotic Romance and 4 ½ Stars and TOP PICK! from Romantic Time BookClub Magazine, “…Hot sex, sidesplitting humor and an out-of-this-world story set this erotica apart from the rest!”
• Also, 5 Flames from Sizzling Romances; 5 Stars from Just Erotic Romances; 5 Stars from eCataRomance

Give it a go! The Pleasure Bot is book 4 in the Planet Desire series, but is completely standalone. It exists in that universe, but the characters never cross paths. It’s free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers! And isn’t that cover just lickable? Thanks, sis!

The Pleasure Bot

4 ½ Stars and TOP PICK! from RT BookClub Magazine, “…Hot sex, sidesplitting humor and an out-of-this-world story set this erotica apart from the rest!”

Bringing new meaning to battery operated boyfriend…

Priscilla Potter rents the latest sex toy, a better-than-lifelike pleasure robot, for a little weekend R&R. However, her fantasy companion isn’t quite what she expected. He’s unshaven, uncouth, and doesn’t seem to understand she’s in charge of her own pleasure. But she soon decides the on-line shop got the order just right. As the weekend draws to a close, she has to find a way to keep her robot past its return date.

Bootlegging “entrepreneur” Declan O’Hanlon needs a place to lay low until he can figure out how to liberate his crew and ship from Customs impound. The “uninhabited” house he picks for his hideout actually belongs to a sex kitten who mistakes him for her latest toy. Intrigued by the idea of being a woman’s fantasy come true, Declan does what any red-blooded man would do–he pretends to be her acquisition. But he doesn’t count on Priss being quite so irresistible. As the time depart nears he wonders how he can ever leave her behind.

Get your copy at Amazon!

The Contest

I’ll give away a free download of any of these three stories to three lucky commenters! Wish me luck with my new release, and let me know if humor is something you like in a story!