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CM McCoy: Channeling your inner Miss Piggy on Twitter
Monday, February 27th, 2017

Channeling your inner Miss Piggy on Twitter
An anxious author’s meditation – by CM McCoy

Hello. My name is Colleen, and I’m an anxious author.

By “anxious author,” I mean I live with anxiety, which sometimes scatters my brain with worry and ofttimes devours my very last scrap of moxie. Functioning like a normal human requires wrangling that anxiety into submission, and wrangling that ubiquitous beast into submission requires a special weapon.

My weapon of choice in this matter is meditation, which takes many forms. There’s yoga, prayer, showers, toilet time… (Oh please tell me I’m not the only Earthling who gets their best ideas shortly before a flush. (No really, please tell me!)

Thankfully, there’s writing, which, though far from “drafty,” is far more comfortable and far more schedulable. I love meditation through writing: journals, novels, short stories, blog posts, but my absolute favorite writing meditation is the Twitter story.

Twitter stories are great because they force your gray matter into succinctness. You get 140 characters per “scene” to create a mood and move an anecdotal plot forward. They’re a TON of fun! But they require confident snippets of huge character, à la Miss Piggy.

Today I wanted to share 2 of my favorite Twitter stories, 50% of which are almost 50% true. 🙂


CM McCoy Twitter Story #1


1) He said: We’re meeting the King and Queen for dinner in Sweden
Me: Really?
Him: Yeah, so try not to do that thing you do with your foot

2) Me: You mean dance?
Him: No the other thing
Me: *blink blink*

3) Him: …the one where your foot jumps in your mouth, and you spit it out with an f-word.
😯


CM McCoy Twitter Story #2


1) The neighbors won’t talk to me. They think I’m contagious. (I’m not, I’m just a terrible panic-liar)

2) I weigh 99 lbs. When I go to the base gym, the SEALs side-eye me.

3) Please… I can do your “workout”. <– I don’t say this out loud, but I do set my jaw and grab a dumbbell.

4) Fifteen minutes in, I rename their “Man Town” circuit “Man Down”, drop the dumbbell, and crawl away, humbled by their man-strength.

5) Easter morning, I find someone in the next pew to ponytail my hair, b/c these arms haven’t moved since exercise 6 of 10 in “Man Down”

6) As legs also turn to lead, hot church guy notices a limp & offers his hand, but I can’t take it. (see #4)

7) Me? Sore? Pfft…no… Lame excuse follows, and now hot church guy thinks I’m under Ebola quarantine from a trip I didn’t take to Africa.

8) Since we’re in church he thinks I’m serious.

9) I wouldn’t consider this a small town, yet when I pull into driveway, neighbors scatter like cockroaches. They’ve “heard”


Author CM McCoy (Colleen) recently interviewed with INSIDE EDITION (airs in Feb or Mar 2017) wherein she discussed writing as a part of healthy living and stress management.


Colleen’s Book, EERIE (YA fantasy with romance)


EERIE
by CM McCoy
Genre: YA fantasy with romance
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Omnific

Summary

Featured in PEOPLE Mag & on INSIDE EDITION — Hailey must survive her supernatural classes, avoid the pants-stealing campus poltergeist, & live with a roommate from Hell. At Paranormal University, this much is certain: if her classes don’t kill her, the guy she falls in love with just might.

Hailey Hartley has just enrolled in the world’s premier supernatural university. It’s a school she’s never heard of, located in a town called The Middle of Nowhere, and run by a creature that’s not supposed to exist. But at least she got a scholarship…

Hailey’s dreams have always been, well…vivid. As in monsters from her nightmares follow her into her waking life vivid. When her big sister goes missing, eighteen-year-old Hailey finds only one place offers her answers–a paranormal university in Alaska. There, she studies the science of the supernatural and must learn to live with a roommate from Hell, survive her otherworldly classes, and hope the only creature who can save her from an evil monster doesn’t decide to kill her himself.

★ Watch the EERIE book trailer: https://tinyurl.com/qzszesl

Buy the Book

AMAZON | B&N | iBOOKS | KOBO | BAM | GOOGLE PLAY | WALMART | GOODREADS

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eerie-C-M-McCoy-ebook/dp/B0176M6MA6
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Eerie-C-M-McCoy-ebook/dp/B0176M19RM

About CM McCoy. CM McCoy has one pointed ear, a 70-pound puppy from Hell, and a very active imagination. She’s well aware nobody can say or spell her real name, hence the pen name. You can call her Colleen. She’s the PR manager for Inklings Literary Agency. When she’s not chatting with her imaginary friends, she’s interviewing with PEOPLE Magazine, ABC’s 20/20, the local morning news show, or INSIDE EDITION, where she promotes writing for mental and emotional health. She also mentors pre-published authors through workshops and contests. Though she’s a retired Air Force officer with a BS in both Chemical Engineering and German, she’s far happier writing near misses and awkward kisses. Some of her off-the-wall talents include speaking in 10-codes (which she learned working with Alaska State Troopers), flying helicopters, and Irish dance. Subscribe to Colleen’s Just North of Normal Blog 🙂

Social Media Links:
WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | |INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | AMAZON

Ann Major: Why Sexy Texas Cowboys Will Always Possess my Heart (FREE READ)
Sunday, February 26th, 2017

Even though I’m a city girl, I often write about cowboys and Texas…maybe because I grew up in South Texas where cowboys and ranching loom large. My cousins had ranches and horses they let me ride whenever I visited them in North Texas. I attended camps that had rodeos, so I performed in those rodeos and went to rodeos frequently. My brother and I had toy guns, holsters, ropes and our brooms were our horses.  When I grew up and married, I married a man who wore Levis and boots and owned guns and land in the Texas Hill Country.  The Texas mythology was as much a part of him as it was of me.

Many of our friends have ranches or grew up on ranches. Two of my neighbors are the heiresses of two huge legendary South Texas ranches. Yesterday I visited a girlfriend out on her ranch, La Mota. Her father once owned a creamery in South Texas that made locally famous butter. He put together a huge ranch (nearly 500,000 acres). But time and downturns in the economy forced the family to scale down. They still have their homestead which was built in a beautiful Texas oak mott.

In South Texas the land is mostly a coastal plain which was part of the sea. Mostly it is just brush country. But every now and again, hundreds of oak trees clump together into a stand of trees we call an oak mott. Many ranchers build their homes in an oak mott to get a relief from the blistering South Texas sun.

Nestled inside gorgeous live oak trees, my friend’s home feels like a bird sanctuary.  Inside, the house is filled with ranching antiques, heavy Spanish or German furniture from the 19th century. On the eastern side of her home, she has a lovely high-ceilinged screened porch with birdfeeders hanging from its eaves outside. In a distant pastures hundreds of wild turkeys cackled excitedly as they gathered to get ready to roost in the spreading branches of her oaks for the night. In another pasture sandhilled cranes were landing with a similar goal in mind.

In my 8-book series, Texas: Children of Destiny, I try to make South Texas and its larger than life cowboys and their brides come alive for my readers. Passion’s Child (Book 1) is free.

ANN MAJOR, author of Passion’s Child, Destiny’s Child, and Night Child (Books 1, 2 and 3 of TEXAS: CHILDREN OF DESTINY series) and Love With An Imperfect Cowboy (Book 1 Lone Star Dynasty)

www.annmajor.com
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A. Catherine Noon: Peacocks
Friday, February 24th, 2017

I have a confession to make.  I adore peacocks.  I don’t mean just as images for art, I mean the bird itself.  I’ve spent many visits to our local Brookfield Zoo, following their flock of free-roaming peacocks around.  I’m not the only one; the birds are a popular attraction for the zoo.  So much so, that their zookeeper Jamie wrote about the birds here).

How is this relevant to me and my books?

Well, I like to write in many different places.  I use pictures for inspiration, and animals, and people.  And I got to thinking, when we buy our house (which is a project that is about as big as writing a book, isn’t it? Oi) I want to get some peacocks as pets.

That’s where I ran into my first snag.

“They sound like women screaming!” my husband said.

“But they’re pretty!”

“OOOO-oooo-OOHHHH!”

Very funny.

So I enlisted my coauthor, Rachel Wilder, in my quest to find myself a new pet.

“They sound like women screaming!” she told me.

Hmph.

So maybe I’ll content myself with looking for knitting patterns for shawls based on peacock tails (if you like textile arts, search Ravelry for that – you’ll get sucked in, fast).

But what about you, Dear Reader?  What’s one of your guilty pleasures that no one around you “gets”?

*Image used under Creative Commons license.  Accessed 02/18/2017 from the following link: https://pixabay.com/p-90051/?no_redirect

* * * * *

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
– E.E. Cummings

My links: Blog | Books | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora

Knoontime Knitting:  Blog | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Join my Writers Group, The Writer Zen Garden:  Blog | Website | Forum | FB Group | Twitter | Meetup
Join my Readers Group, Nice Girls Writing Naughty:  Blog | Website | FB Group | Twitter
National Novel Writing Month: NaNoWriMo | ChiWriMo | Blog | FB Group | Twitter

Elle James: New Books, New Readers!
Thursday, February 23rd, 2017

Today, I’m on my way to San Antonio, Texas, for the Wild and Wicked Weekend where authors and readers collide for a fun-filled weekend. And the best part is that I’m going with my sister, Delilah Devlin! I love traveling with her. We laugh, we plot and we share information all the way. And it’s been too long since our last trip together.  And when we get there…let the good times roll!

Over the years, I’ve made lots of friends of authors and readers. It’s fun to see them and catch up. It’s also fun meeting new to me authors and readers. We all share the common bond of loving books. All authors started with their love of reading. We were readers first, so we can relate. I wish you all could be there this weekend. If you are in the area, be sure to stop by on Saturday at the Menger Hotel for the book signing. It’s open to the public.

MONTANA RANGER – Brotherhood Protectors Series #5

Amazon | Nook | Kobo | IBooks | GooglePlay | Print

Former Army Ranger’s first civilian assignment is to protect a spunky physical therapist from an unknown threat at a rehab ranch for disabled veterans

Forced into medical retirement, Army Ranger Alex “Taz” Davila takes a job in the wilds of Montana with the Brotherhood Protectors. First assignment: undercover protection of a pretty physical therapist on a veteran’s rehab ranch.

Living her dream job, Hannah Kendricks helps wounded warriors and abused horses at a rehab ranch for veterans. Finally in a position for a little romance, she suffers a set back when strange accidents nearly get her killed.

Her lagging libido gets a kickstart when a sexy new patient starts following her, always there when she turns around. Before long, she realizes he’s the only thing standing between her and whoever is after her.

Accepting his offer to protect her, Hannah encounters a new problem. She’s attracted to the man! Together they struggle to determine who wants to hurt her and why, while fighting the growing attraction they are helpless to resist.

N.J. Walters: Sibling Rivalry
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017

I have a sister who is less than two years older than me, but we never really had any sibling rivalry. I think it’s because we were so totally different. She was outgoing, I was a quiet homebody. If she liked something in clothing or jewelry, chances were I hated it. So we never borrowed each other’s clothing. She was a night owl, I was a morning person. We actually got along well for sisters and often hung out with one another. We still do.

I also have a younger brother. He’s almost ten years younger than I was. There was never any resentment when he came along, even though I’d been the youngest for almost a decade. My sister and I were thrilled. We had a real live doll to play with. LOL I can remember my sister and I arguing over whose turn it was to take him for a walk in his carriage. Today, my brother and I are great friends. We often have breakfast out on Saturday mornings and hit the thrift stores together.

So although a lot of people talk about sibling rivalry, it’s really something I can’t relate to. I love my siblings. But as much as I love them, I can’t even begin to imagine what it must feel like to be part of a set of twins—the closeness, the connection. But that’s exactly what I’ve done in my Salvation Pack series.

Sage and Reece Gallagher are not only twins, they’re werewolves. Well, they’re half-breed werewolves. (Three-quarter-breeds if you want to get technical.) Reece can shift while his brother can’t. They have no idea why. That’s a huge difference, but it’s never come between them and the bond they share.

Will a woman be the one to come between them? Reece has finally found the woman he wants to mate with—a half-breed living on her own in the city who is being hunted by a killer. What will happen if she decides she can’t live with his pack? And then there is the not so little matter of the killer to deal with…

Wolf in her Soul

She’s ready to run, but so tempted to stay…

Salvation Pack, Book 8

Detective Reece Gallagher is a long way from Salvation, North Carolina. He’s spent a decade in Chicago searching for her—the elusive red-haired woman who haunts his dreams. He knows nothing about her, only that she’s in trouble. After ten fruitless years, he’s ready to give up and go home.

Hannah Burdette is burdened with a secret that won’t allow her to get close to anyone. She’s a half-breed werewolf, targeted by a stalker who wants those of impure blood eliminated.

There’s something different about the arson/murder case Reece and his partner are working on. His heightened senses tell him there’s a werewolf involved. Even more shocking, it’s related to an assault case involving a beautiful redhead in trouble. A scared, wounded woman his wolf wants to protect as his own.

But first Reece must convince her she doesn’t have to be alone anymore. And he’s going to have to talk fast, because the killer has upped the ante—and now they’re both in danger.

Amazon: https://amzn.com/B01MUFGTWR
Samhain Publishing:
https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5861/wolf-in-her-soul
Barnes & Noble: https://goo.gl/t50uEp
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/wolf-in-her-soul

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Website: https://www.njwalters.com
Blog: https://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

Donna Michaels: Want more cow bell?
Monday, February 20th, 2017

Hi, everyone! I’d like to thank Delilah for hosting me again. It’s always fun to play on her blog! Today I thought I’d talk briefly about secondary characters and how they sometimes steal the show, book, movie…etc.  Don’t you love them? You know who they are. R2D2. Jack the monkey from Pirates of the Caribbean. And my favorite, Niffler in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

This past November, I released IN A RANGER’S ARMS, my first book with Entangled, and also the first book in The Men of At Ease Ranch Series. It’s part of their Lovestruck line, which is a romantic comedy. They thrive on fun meet-cutes, where the Hero and Heroine first meet. I already knew my heroine was sent to Texas to sell gluten-free vegan food to meat lovers, but when it came to the meet cute, I immediately had a flash of black and white. That’s right. A cow.

Enter Lula Belle who seems to have stolen the series. She is lovesick cow with a crush on my hero, and she does not want Jovy in the picture. Lula Belle has such a personality it is hard to curb it. So I don’t. 🙂 She had free reign to trickle through Books 2 and 3 as well. And there may be more, so you can bet the cow will make an appearance in all of them.

Book one is currently on sale for only .99 cents. I’d love for you to get to see Lula Belle in action.

In a Ranger’s Arms

No amount of training could’ve prepared him for her.

Former Army Ranger Stone Mitchum doesn’t have time for sex. Since starting a company with his brother and two buddies, he’s had more important things on his mind. Like transitioning veterans back into society. But when his curvy new tenant falls into his arms—literally—his libido snaps to attention.

Jovy Larson has four weeks to prove she’s worthy of taking over the family business. Her challenge? Sell gluten-free, vegan food—in the middle of cattle country, Texas. It’s a tough task, but not half as tough as fighting her attraction to her sexy, surly landlord.

Before she knows it, Jovy’s tangling sheets with the hot cowboy, stalked by a jealous cow, and strategizing ways to help Stone’s ranch. But by the time her lease runs out and the test is over, she’s faced with a new challenge…competing against Stone’s sense of duty to win his heart.

Get your copy here!

Excerpt:

When Jovy Larson’s grandfather had sent her to the middle of cattle country USA to open a gluten-free, vegan café in a contest to test her business skills against her cousin, she knew she would have to deal with some tough, and often unexpected, situations. Becoming a hit-and-moo victim of a rampaging cow had never made the list. Bovines weren’t exactly a common fixture in the City of Brotherly Love, despite the fact that Pennsylvania was one of the top five U.S. dairy farm states with over eight thousand farms. She’d never seen one up close. The clanging of the bell grew louder.

That was about to change. And fast. Mad-cow-charging fast.

With a startled gasp, she tried to scramble down the ladder, but it teetered under her feet and her hands ended up windmilling instead. Jovy’s last thought as she flew backward toward the large plate-glass storefront window was if she didn’t die, her cranky landlord was going to kill her.

Fully expecting to smash through the glass, she was shocked to hear a deep, sexy, panty-melting baritone claim, “I’ve got you,” a second before a tall cowboy appeared out of thin air to catch her with his rock-hard body. Two strong, muscular arms clamped around her before the momentum knocked them both to the ground.

Her mind was processing the fact that she was uncut and still alive, sprawled over the sexiest man she’d ever seen, when the stranger rolled them over to shield her from the falling ladder. The impact vibrated through his stiff frame.

Holy cow. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Warm breath rushed over her neck and shoulders as he drew back to stare down at her. During the tussle, his hat fell off to reveal short black hair that didn’t quite reach his collar. “What about you? Are you all right?” Gray eyes, the color of a child’s prized marble, blinked at her in a worried frown.

Increasingly aware that she was now underneath the tall, sexy stranger, whose big, warm, firm hand was cupping her ass—and she liked it—Jovy cleared her throat. “Define ‘all right.’”

“Are you hurt?” He removed his palm from inside her shorts, the warm, tingling feeling dissipated along with his touch, until he shoved the ladder aside, sat up, and began to run both hands efficiently over the rest of her body.

Her sorely neglected body. A body doing an all hail Mr. Gray Eyes tremor. Lord have mercy, her good parts hadn’t been in contact with a male like this in over a year. Not since…

“Hey, miss? Answer me. Are you hurt?”

Hurt? She stifled a hysterical giggle. “No.”

Aroused? Oh, yeah. Big-time. And completely embarrassed by her reaction to the total stranger. She could explain away the tremors racking her body as shock, but not the beaded nipples plainly visible through her bra and tank top.

If he noticed them, he didn’t let on as his hands skimmed over her chest, neck, and shoulders.

She gritted her teeth, enjoying the scrape of his callus-roughened hands on her skin, doing her damnedest not to embarrass herself further by moaning.

Dumb body.

“You feel okay to me.”

Sitting up, she snickered. “Thanks, but…shouldn’t you buy me dinner first?”

Her Secret Ranger

As much fun as book one was to write, I have an even bigger blast with book 2. HER SECRET RANGER releases right around the corner on March 6th!!  And as I said, Lula Belle makes an appearance in here a few times, too.

Kissing the sexy soldier was a dare she couldn’t resist…

By-the-book event planner Beth Brannigan’s best friend dared her to kiss a cowboy. She should have said no. Instead, she said please…again and again. If her brother finds out she’s dating—okay, kissing—okay, sleeping with—one of his military buddies, he’ll kill her. Assuming he doesn’t kill his friend first.

Former Army Ranger Brick Mitchum isn’t a relationship kind of guy. But then he meets Beth and starts to wonder if maybe it’s time he settled down. She’s mysterious. Unpredictable. Curvy in every way he needs… And hiding something. He’s just got to figure out what.

You can find all of these military cowboys at my website:
www.donnamichaelsauthor.com

Who are some of your favorite secondary characters? I’d love to know.

A big thank you to Delilah for hosting me!

Thanks for reading,

~Donna

ABOUT DONNA MICHAELS

Donna Michaels is an award winning, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of Romaginative fiction. Her hot, humorous, and heartwarming stories include cowboys, men in uniform, and some sexy, primal alphas. With a husband in the military fulltime, and a household of nine, she never runs out of material to write, and has rightfully earned the nickname Lucy…and sometimes Ethel. From short to epic, her books entertain readers across a variety of sub-genres, and one has even being hand drawn into a Japanese translation. Now, if only she could read it.

If you’re interested in keeping up with Donna’s news, and exclusive contests, please sign up for her newsletter here:  https://tinyurl.com/zaxbqe6

You can also find her here:
Website:  www.donnamichaelsauthor.com
Like my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DonnaMichaelsAuthor
Follow my Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Donna-Michaels/e/B008J24XR2/
Follow me on Twitter: @Donna_Michaels  https://twitter.com/Donna_Michaels
Follow me on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Donna_Michaels
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/donnamichaels/

Brenna Zinn: Unmasked Secrets – BDSM and Male Strippers Do Mix!
Sunday, February 19th, 2017

Here’s a little secret about Austin, Texas that one might not know about unless you’re a lady actually living in or around Austin… Austin does NOT have a strip club for women.  Yes.  You read that right.  There are zero, nada, zip, zilch strip clubs for women in Austin, Texas.  Sounds crazy, I completely feel you, but it’s true.

I found this information out the hard way.  It was late. I was at a big birthday party for a girlfriend, and we all decided that a trip down to the local strip club would be an excellent way to wrap up what had already been a pretty fabulous party.  After looking everywhere on-line for a club, we concluded we were SOL (shoot out of luck).  A true downer and quite a shocking surprise.  After all, Austin is a good-sized city loaded with women.  How could it be that the city would have several clubs for men to see women dancing, but none available for women?

From this experience, an idea was born.  Why not create a fictional strip club for women based in the heart of Austin – South Congress Avenue? Imagine the fabulous characters who can work in the club or visit the club, I told myself. Why, there would be enough characters and situations to write an entire series of stories!

And I was right. There ARE loads of interesting characters and situations that I’ve invented for a new series, the Iron Rods Strip Club Series.  In Unmasked Secrets, a standalone book (book 2 in the series), readers meet the masked stripper whose stage name is The Dom. He uses a riding crop in his act and gives out pink collars studded with rhinestones to those ladies who hire him for private lap dances.

What readers discover in this book is why our hero needs a mask, as well his journey into the world of BDSM.  Here’s a the blurb…

Hannah Armstrong, the new principal of Santana High School is a complete ball buster, so Mack Garner, her drama teacher, thinks. Her cutbacks to his department’s budget will force him to scrimp on his students—something he refuses to do. The stubborn woman won’t listen to reason so he’s taking matters into his own hands. He devises a plan to secretly replenish the money that is surefire, as long as he’s not found out. By stripping under the stage name The Dom and using an ironclad disguise at Iron Rods, Austin’s only strip club for women, he and his hard body will have his program flush again and soon.

But Hannah Armstrong has secrets of her own. The rigid, by-the-rules school administrator harbors dark desires to surrender to the titillation of BDSM. She needs a man—a real man—who can melt her inhibitions and master her. Exploring the lifestyle is a dangerous proposition for a small town principal though. Any whiff of scandal would destroy her career. She’s nearly given up on the dream until she meets a masked Dom at Iron Rods. The gorgeous male stripper so far away in Austin seems like the perfect solution. Is there a chance she can satisfy her furtive fantasies without being discovered?

**Warning – this book contains BDSM elements, graphic sex and touches of humor.

This series, the Iron Rods Strip Club Series, is truly one from my heart, as well as my imagination. Austin, Texas, one of my favorite cities in the world, is key to the series.  If you’ve ever been there, perhaps you can understand my love for the place I hope stays weird forever.

Click a link to order your copy Unmasked Secrets.
Amazon
Kobo
Smashwords
iTunes

Here’s an excerpt from Unmasked Secrets.  If this doesn’t get your engine revving, then seek emergency medical help because you might be dead. *grin*

Unmasked Secrets  by Brenna Zinn.  All rights reserved.

“Please tell me,” she articulated each word slowly, ignoring his comment. “What will it take to get you to agree to teach math classes this summer?”

“Now that is a very interesting question. Yes, indeed. I need to give this a little thought.” He raised his head and brushed at the light stubble under his chin. “Hmm… This may take a little while. When do I need to get back to you?”

Hannah flattened her palms on the top of her desk, pushing her face within inches of his. “Take as much time as you need.”

Garner tapped the pad of a finger on his ripe lips. “I think I know.”

“Yes?” She prepared herself for what he might possibly dish out. A raise? More money for his program?

Sex?

Her lower extremities spasmed at the inappropriate thought. The scandalous ache in her breasts returned. Aside from the silent scream from her nipples to be suckled and bitten, the muscles in her bottom flexed with the desire to be spanked. The handsome blond with enticing blue eyes must surely be phenomenal in bed. All rough handling and forceful thrusts…

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!

Her fantasies were rising too close to the surface. In her office during school hours was not the place or the time for imaginings of teeth bearing down on her skin or having her backside reddened. She absolutely had to stop reading those erotic books. Either that, or she had to find the kind of man who could properly relieve her sexual misery. The sooner, the better.

Garner snapped his fingers in front of her face. “You okay?”

Hannah blinked several times and shook her head. Goodness gracious and heaven above. She’d zoned out. Zoned out at work! Things were worse than she’d feared. “Absolutely,” she lied, fighting both her headache and the erotic charges surging through body. “You were saying something about what you want.”

“I want you to beg.” He offered a sadistic smile. “I want you to beg me to teach math this summer.”

“Beg?” A wash of cream flowed way down below, soaking her already moist panties. Her blood, heated and charged with arousal, sprinted through her veins. Was she dreaming?

Was he serious?

Had Garner somehow divined her dark secret?

Impossible.

She’d been so careful, saying absolutely nothing to anyone, not even her closest friend or sister, about her wicked desires. Which was exactly how things had to be. If anyone discovered the principal of Santana High School had anything to do with the world of bondage and submission, she could lose not only her job, but her career.

“Yes. I want you to beg.” His gaze bored into hers. “I want you to know how I felt when I came into this office and pleaded for you not to take money from the theater arts program.”

Though his demand raised the hackles on the back of her neck—how dare he, her subordinate, think to challenge her—an odd sense of relief mixed with sexual awareness swept through her body. His demand, arrogant and self-righteous, was far better than his having guessed her hidden desires. It also had her legs quivering with excitement.

Would she give in to his extreme bidding?

Did she have a choice?

Yes, of course she had choices, but none that worked as well. And, truth be told, did she really she want one?

A full beat passed, feeling more like minutes than seconds.

“Tick-tock, Ms. Armstrong,” he pressed.

She licked her lips as her mental debate continued.

Garner pointed to his watch. “You’re wasting my prep period.”

“All right, “she said on a sigh. “As you wish. Please, please, please teach math this summer.”

“No, no, no. You have to put some heart behind it,” Garner insisted, his fist pounding her desk. “I won’t agree to do anything unless I believe you’re sincere. I’m a trained actor, so it had better be good.”

“Seriously?”

“I want to be convinced you really mean it. Otherwise, no deal.”

The muscles in her back and shoulders tightened. Oh, I’ll give you convincing, all right. You want me to beg? I’ll give you the begging performance of the century. You’ll hand me an Oscar when I’m through, you insolent son of a bitch. She regarded the man so many people adored and reminded herself of her primary mission—dig the school out of its “Improvement Required” status—then closed her eyes.

Drawing in a breath, she cleared her mind of everything except the one man who had already mastered her in many private fantasies. The elusive being to whom she would willingly submit. Willingly beg.

The Dom of her dreams.

He, the powerful male both strong and gentle, waited in shadowy relief in her mind’s eye. Though darkness masked his face, she could make out the flogger in his hand. Its many strips of leather dangled from a wooden handle.

Her Master raised the tool.

“Touch the tresses. Feel how soft they are.”

His voice, low and steady, enveloped her as if being wrapped in a comforting blanket, shielding her from any doubts and fears.

“Yes, Sir.” She leaned forward, her arm outstretched.

“On your knees,” he instructed. “When I hold this flogger, you must always be on your knees to touch it. You will show my most favorite tool proper and unfailing respect. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.” Naked and unafraid, she fell to both knees before him, and then ran her fingers through the long pieces of lambskin. Unimaginably supple, the tresses were like velvet to the touch.

“Place your hands on the floor.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, she did so, splaying her fingers and bracing herself.

Her shadow Master moved behind her, trailing the ends of the leather strips down her bare back and onto her ass. Her nerves, heightened and tingling with expectancy, danced beneath every inch of her skin. Her body ached, truly ached, to feel the biting sting of the tresses.

“Now beg,” he ordered. “Beg me to do what I know you want. What I know you need.”

Hannah’s eyelids flew open, taking in Mack Garner. As though still in her dream, her mouth moved unbidden and gave voice to words originating from her very soul.

“Please. Oh, God, please,” she pleaded on an exhale, desperation tingeing her tone. “I want this so badly. I need this. Please, do this for me.”

The smirk on Garner’s face melted. His cheeks sagged. With the exception of the dazed look glazing his eyes, which were now the size of baseballs, his face transformed to a blank slate.

“Sincere enough for you, Mr. Garner?” she asked.

About the Author

Brenna hails from the Lone Star state where she lives with her husband and four dogs, three of which are as big as long horns.  She’s a fun-loving writer who likes nothing better than to explore while she travels (no planned excursions, please!), eat what others cook (it works out better for everyone that way), and avoid the gym whenever possible.

Her journey through life has taken her all over the United States, as well as many places throughout the world. Using her travel experience as a guide and peppering in interesting characters she’s met along the way, she loves nothing better than weaving tales of romance and leaving readers yearning for adventures of their own.

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