KB Alan

D. Renee Bagby Presents First Chapters posts the entire first chapter of romance novels. Isn’t that an awesome service? I love being able to read that first chapter before deciding to buy. If you haven’t read Bound by Sunlight, here’s your chance to read the entire first chapter.

Now the site is hosting a contest of all the August postings, which includes Bound by Sunlight, to see which Cover, Best First Line, Best Last Line, and Best Overall First Chapter, you like the most. The first 100 voters will be eligible to win an e-gift card  Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Borders or All Romance eBooks (winners choice). The contest is here, and my favorite entry (cough, cough) is here. 😀 Good luck!

Those lovely folks over at Excerpt Monday are promoting Bound by Sunlight and some other great looking May and June releases. For them, I’m posting the excerpt from Bound by Sunlight, for my regular readers, I say go check out the other new releases, I will be! 😀

Excerpt from Bound by Sunlight

“You’ve never been bound?” he asked, picking up the straps of her tank top.

“No.” It was more of a breath than a whisper, but he seemed satisfied with her answer. She felt a soft spark against her shoulders and looked down. He’d severed the straps of her top, which were left to dangle above her breasts. Magic. He’d used magic. A tiny niggle of fear tried to work its way through her. He seemed to know and brought his warm hands back to her face, tilting her head up enough that she knew she was supposed to meet his eyes. Why did she find that so difficult? She forced herself to follow his unspoken demand.

“I will not harm you tonight. Not with magic. Not with anything else. I will bring you pain, but only as much as will pleasure you. Do you understand?”

She saw patience and assurance in his eyes, wondered what he saw in hers. Shame washed through her now—that she had come to him so unprepared, unworthy. He shouldn’t have to deal with a novice when he was used to those at the club. His fingers on her chin tightened.

“Do you understand?” he asked again.

“Yes.”

He knew there was more, she could see it in his face, see him trying to figure it out. As long as he didn’t ask, she wouldn’t have to admit to her insecurities. He cocked his head as he studied her.

“What distressed you now?”

She wanted to look away. The feeling of easy surrender had vanished. But she had to answer him. Had to keep meeting his eyes. Not just because of the compulsion, but because she had asked for this. Asked him to help her. He deserved to have as much of her courage as she could muster.

“I’m sorry. I’m not very good at this. I don’t know what to do.”

“You don’t have to know what to do. That’s what I’m here for. You’ll do what I tell you, when I tell you. Won’t you?” His voice was hard, uncompromising.

“Yes.”

“Then there’s nothing for you to fail at. It’s my responsibility to make sure this goes right, not yours. Your only responsibility is to tell me if I go too far.” He stepped closer, allowing his heat to envelope her. She felt moisture gather in her pussy and it got a little bit harder to draw breath.

“Let’s start over.” He pulled her chin up higher now that he was closer to her. Her neck ached a little at the strain. It felt…good.

“Do you believe that I won’t harm you, even though I have every intention of bringing you pain?”

“Yes.” She didn’t know why, and it might be foolish, but she believed him. It was the reason she was here.

He rewarded her with a small kiss to her lips. She opened for him but he drew away. She sighed.

“Do you believe that I will bring you pleasure?”

“Yesss.”

This time he smiled as he kissed her. She tried to chase his lips, but his hands kept her in position.

“Do you understand what you’re supposed to do?”

Uh oh. What was she supposed to do? Hadn’t he just told her—oh.

“Yes.” Another kiss, she wanted another kiss. A real one this time, damn it.

“Tell me.”

“Whatever you tell me to do.” She parted her lips in preparation. She would have to be fast this time.

“And?”

No kiss? What was he doing to her?

“And…umm. Oh, and use my safe word if you go too far.”

“Good girl.” He met her lips with his, but it wasn’t gentle this time. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, taking what she had tried to take, giving what she needed. She whimpered when he pulled back.

“Tell me your safe word again.”

She didn’t want to, didn’t want to ever say that word again. He seemed to understand.

“Choose another word. It doesn’t need to be that one. Shouldn’t be something you don’t want to say.”

“No, it’s all right—”

His fingers tightened against her skin again, reminding her who was in charge. He wasn’t asking. He was telling.

“I, maybe…Snowball!” God, all she could come up with was her childhood cat’s name. Was he smirking at her? She narrowed her eyes at him but his face had gone expressionless again. He leaned down and gave her another quick kiss. Then he let her go, stepped back, taking his heat with him.

“If you use your safe word, I’ll stop what I’m doing so we can talk about it. Don’t be afraid to use it, it doesn’t mean I’m going to send you away.”

She managed to nod her understanding.

“You have a lovely body.”

She didn’t. Her size eight curves weren’t quite proportioned the way she’d like and—

He smacked her ass and she jumped as much as the chains would allow, which wasn’t much at all. Why she should be shocked she had no idea, but she looked at him for an explanation.

“You.” He put his hands on top of her head then ran them over her face, rubbing her eyebrows, exploring her cheekbones, tickling her ears and caressing her chin.

“Have.” Her skin tingled as his hands moved down her neck to her now heaving chest.

“A lovely.” His fingers molded to her breasts, giving a sharp, barely painful squeeze before continuing their journey.

“Body.” He reversed his hands so that his fingers led the way over the curve of her stomach to the juncture of her thighs. He folded his hands along the curve, careful not to touch the part of her that needed touching the most.

“Oh,” she managed to whisper. Her whole body shuddered at his intense look and careful caress. The desire in his words and his eyes did more to relax her than anything else he could have done. She didn’t realize how worried she’d been about the fact that by presenting herself to him, rather than having him choose her, she would have a hard time believing he wanted this, even a little bit.

She looked down at her top. He was running a finger down its center, from neck to hem. As his finger slid past, the fabric parted, splitting down the middle. It was almost like a breath of heat, but maybe she was imagining that. It didn’t take long for the whole top to fall away.

Her naked breasts were damp with sweat, her nipples somewhat swollen. He ignored them and brought his finger to her pants, performing a similar magic to remove them in less than a minute. He took a step back, observing her dressed only in plain cotton panties. It looked as if he was fighting a smile. She tried not to blush and failed. Why hadn’t she dressed up for him? She had the clothes, had been provided with the types of outfits that were supposed to entice him. Black leather, lace garters and more. Much more. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them, but she would have felt like a spy wearing them, like a fraud. So she’d come in the most Kyriana-like clothes she had.

He walked behind her, hooked a finger in the waistband and snapped the elastic against her skin. It didn’t hurt, but it startled her. She hung her head as she tried to fight off the shame and misery working their way through her.

“Just checking to see if your name was embroidered in the back.” His teasing words were spoken against her neck. She choked on her laugh as his lips moved down her neck to the top of her spine, where he bit, hard.

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published
books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t
have to be published to participate–just a writer with an excerpt you’d like to
share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday
site or click on the banner above.

Ok, this is the first excerpt of my next book, Bound by Sunlight. It’s going to be short, sorry. I couldn’t figure out a good break point after this.

A reminder that this is a contracted book that hasn’t been edited, so it’s entirely possible it will change before the release!

A shiver raced down Kyriana’s spine. She wanted to blame it on the cold, rather than nerves, but the study she waited in wasn’t really chilly. Still, she pulled her feet up to rest in front of her on the chair’s wide leather seat, her toes curling over its edge, her arms wrapping around her legs. She studied her bare feet. Damn. Damn, damn, damn. What had she been thinking to wear the simple sleep pants and tank top? She had an assortment of seductive outfits to choose from, all of them including four to five inch fuck me heels. But here she sat, feet bare, toes not even painted, sans makeup.

Despite her self-chastisement, she made no move to get up and go change. There was no question in her mind that if she left the room she wouldn’t be coming back. Breaking into the study had taken all of her meager skills as a mole and every bit of her courage. It was one thing to spy on a superior mage such as Connul Gracyn. It was another thing entirely to break into his private study and wait for him to find her. If he didn’t give her a chance to explain, or worse, didn’t agree to her plan, she was dead. At least, she hoped he’d kill her. Because there were worse things in life than death, and if he didn’t help her, and he didn’t kill her, chances were pretty strong she’d be able to catalog those worse things with intimate detail.

Another shiver raced through her. God, she was such a coward. Which was exactly how she’d gotten herself into this mess in the first place. Dropping her forehead to rest on her knees, she swallowed back the tears that threatened. It was good to remember, actually. Good to remember that her cowardice had gotten her into this mess, so playing it safe wasn’t always the smart option. Tonight was an excellent night to keep that in mind.

Links to other Excerpt Monday writers

Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and
be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site or click on the banner above.

***

This is another excerpt from my work in progress, Keeping Claire. It’s a bit further along than the previous excerpt. Just a reminder, this is a work in progress, so it hasn’t been edited! I worked on this scene in a great online workshop at Liquid Silver’s forum, and I just love it, so I had to share. Feel free to let me know what you think.

“What’s your name?”

“Claire Fiordalisi.”

“You’ve already admitted you lied about your name on your application.”

“It’s my name right now.”

He was pretty sure he managed to keep the growl from escaping his throat. “Fine. What was your name before that?”

“Sara Lancaster.”

“And what was the name you were born with?” He had to unclench his teeth to get the sentence out, but somehow managed to keep his hands from strangling her.

“None of your business.”

“I think it is.”

“I can’t really help what you think.”

“Maybe not, but you can’t leave until I’m satisfied, either.”

Her breath hitched at that and she glanced at the clock, her face paling. Was she supposed to be somewhere? Meet someone?

She took in a deep breath, which he recognized as a concession on her part. She was letting them see that she was tired and frustrated. Was she going to stop hiding? Stop pretending?

“All right, look. I didn’t mean to be contrary, but the truth is, as I said earlier, I lied about who I was but I did my best for this company. Nothing else matters. I’m going to leave. If someone comes looking for me, tell the truth. I was here one day and gone the next.”

Her move to stand this time was slower, but when she gained her feet without any apparent dizziness she looked at him, then Jacob. “I’m very sorry if my actions bring any trouble down on you, but it’s best for all of us if I leave immediately.”

She stepped around him and walked to the door, slinging her purse up on her shoulder.

He was beginning to wonder how much of the meek and compliant thing was an act. Sure, she’d come quietly when they’d gone to get her. She’d let him search her and been polite even when telling them to shove it. But her instinct when waking up had been to come up swinging and she’d managed to tell them essentially nothing so far, despite that acquiescent attitude.

When she reached the door, he held his breath, strangely eager for her reaction. She didn’t disappoint.

…

No matter how much she pulled, the office door refused to budge. It wasn’t locked, the knob turned freely and there was no deadbolt, but the door remained closed.

“Fuck! What part of I have to leave to keep you two asshats and your fucking company safe are you not understanding?”

Was that a snicker she heard? Whirling around she found both men right where she’d left them, faces solemn. She narrowed her eyes, too furious to keep her expression guarded any longer. For fuck’s sake, how was she supposed to keep them safe if they wouldn’t let her go? Ryan, it had to be Ryan who’d laughed. He was trying too hard to look innocent.

She advanced on him, finger raised.

“I am trying.” She poked her finger into his chest. He raised his eyebrows at her.

“To help you.” Another poke.

“To keep you from becoming the target.” Poke. Poke. “Of some seriously deranged motherfuckers.”

Tiny little crinkles appeared next to his perfect lips. He’d been pissed before, but now he was laughing at her? He’d better keep it inside or she was going to test out her knee-to-testicle coordination.

Ryan’s warm hand gently enfolded hers and brought her still pointed finger to those damnable lips. Her eyes bugged out in shock as he laid a gentle kiss on the tip before bringing it back down and urging her whole hand to lay flat against his chest. His rock hard chest. Wait, that wasn’t the point. He—

“Careful. I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” he said, allowing a tiny smile to form.

Oh no, he didn’t! “Arrrrggghhh.”

Not exactly articulate, granted, but the phrase perfectly expressed her feelings at the moment. She tried to pull her hand free but he held firm.

Fine. On to plan B after all.

Careful not to telegraph her move, she brought her right knee up sharply. Only, she didn’t connect with his gonads as she’d expected. Instead his other hand caught her neatly below the knee which he moved to the side as he stepped in close.

The sound of a throat clearing reminded her that Jacob was also in the room. Ryan didn’t move however, and she was unable to.

“As entertaining as this is,” Jacob drawled with a hint of an accent she hadn’t really noticed before. “Perhaps we could get back to the matter at hand?”

Claire swallowed hard as Ryan let her leg drop, his hand running along her thigh, pressing it into his own leg as she lowered it. She found herself practically straddling his leg, his hand on her ass.

“Links to other Excerpt Monday writers

Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

This weekend I finished the first draft of Keeping Claire. I didn’t set up a reward for myself this time. What do you think, another massage? Or an extra nice dinner out? Must decide soon, or it doesn’t count! In the meantime, I’m excited not just for finishing, but because it means I get to go back and do the revisions for Bound by Sunlight. It’s been more than a month since I finished it, and lately I’ve been thinking about all the things I want to do with it, not to mention missing Connul and Kyr. I’ll let Ryan and Claire rest while I revise BbS. By the time that’s done, I should be itching to get back to them, lol. Now, another decision, this one for the upcoming Excerpt Monday. I have to decide if I want to do another excerpt from Keeping Claire, or introduce one from Bound by Sunlight. There’s a scene just a bit further along than the one I already did for Claire that I really love, so I’ll probably do that. Plus, I did a lot more versions of Claire than BbS, so the early pages are much more polished. BbS just sort of came out in one long effort, where I have about six versions of Claire.

While I’m here, I’ll pimp a new release from a fellow Romance Diva. I haven’t had a chance to check this one out, but it looks yummy.

Brush Strokes
Jax Cassidy

For Sage, attending the Parisian sex club, Plaisirs Sombres, was the ultimate fantasy. So when the conservative gallery assistant is cloaked behind the velvet mask, she never expected to be the object of the club owner’s desire. Spurred on by D.S. Gregoire’s erotic and sensual brush strokes of the exclusive club, she gives into a brief liaison that leaves her breathless and wanting.

For Damien, known to the art world as D.S. Gregoire, his art has always been an adrenaline rush. But when an exotic and mysteriously uninhibited ‘sex club virgin’ enters his establishment, he is willing to break his club rules for another taste of the dark pleasures she brings him.

Enjoy!

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate–just a writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site or click on the banner above.

So, I’ve enjoyed doing Excerpt Monday, but so far have only posted excerpts from published books. As in, books that I’m certain at least one person that I trust (my editor) likes. There’s also the fact that she’s, you know, edited it. However, I’m all about pushing my comfort level as a writer (or something like that), so here goes. Please, be gentle.

This is the first scene of one of my works in progress, Keeping Claire.

Movement in the doorway to her office had Claire lifting her head. Her stomach clenched tight with the effort of not reacting to the sight of Ryan and Jacob standing in her doorway. Clearly, the shit had hit the fan. There was no good reason for the two owners of the company to have come looking for her, a hard working but mid-level paper pusher.

Ryan Diel, took a tiny step forward, his hard body stiff with anger. Shit, shit, shit. She’d kept to herself and worked hard for the company, her small way of making up for any trouble she might inadvertently cause them. Their complete collapse, for example. Which meant the only reason for his rigid stance was that they’d found out something about her. And there was nothing good about that possibility.

She rose, slowly pushing her chair back with her legs. Ryan took another step forward when she opened the desk drawer, so she angled her body, allowing him to clearly see the purse she pulled free. He held out his hand and she gave up the bag without question. Oh yeah, this was bad.  Lips that she’d fantasized about tightened as he studied her face. She made certain he saw only the blank expression that she’d honed with years of practice. Which unfortunately seemed to piss him off. He narrowed his bright green eyes for a minute before turning and walking out of the room.

She allowed a tiny hiss of breath to escape before squaring her shoulders and leaving the office. Focusing her attention on the taut ass in front of her helped tune out the sights and sounds of her coworkers as they watched her being led to the large office Ryan and Jacob shared. She needed to get out of the building fast, but it was suddenly occurring to her that the brilliant idea to work for a security company had been about the stupidest move she’d made in five years.

At her previous jobs, if human resources or management had called her into the office for an unexplained reason, she would have just left and been in a new city with a new name in a matter of hours. Only now did she realize that cardboard box manufacturers and small bookstore owners were going to react differently than security specialists. Damn it! What had she been thinking? Clearly she hadn’t been thinking enough. Maybe five years had worn her down and she was more tired than she’d realized. She remembered hitting town and walking past this building three or four times before thinking that maybe if she were at a company whose records couldn’t be hacked she would be safer. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Realizing where she’d gone wrong was not going to help her now and she was an idiot to be wasting time thinking about it rather than how she was going to get out of this building. Regret caused acid to churn in her stomach. Though she’d been careful not to make friends, Teck Security was a good company with friendly, helpful employees and caring owners. She should have left three weeks ago when she’d found herself joking with the receptionist as they walked out to the parking lot. She rarely interacted with her coworkers, leaving them with the impression that she was a bitch. She probably was a bitch, but not the way they thought. It just made it easier for everyone when she had to leave without notice.

Ryan entered their office and she followed, Jacob close on her heels. That the blinds had already been pulled was about all she had time to notice before she was pressed up hard against the now closed door. Her whole body went stiff but she concentrated and relaxed her instinct to fight. Ryan’s hands searched her expertly but she was shocked to feel a tingle in her breasts as he passed over them. There was nothing inappropriate about the way his hand brushed between her legs, but her stomach clenched, and it wasn’t in fear.

The heat of his body left her in a rush as he stepped back. She had to lock her knees to keep from trembling, though from adrenaline or fear, she wasn’t sure. Jacob gestured to the couch and she forced herself to walk to it slowly and sit as if she’d been invited to a meeting, not thrown against the door and searched like a criminal. If there was one thing she knew how to do, and do well, it was pretend that a crazy situation was perfectly normal.
Links to other Excerpt Monday writers

Note: I have not personally screened these excerpts. Please heed the ratings and be aware that the links may contain material that is not typical of my site.

So, as you may have noticed, I have a new book coming out. (Just give me a second here to SQUEEEE. Ok, better now.) I got the release date for Alpha Turned, made the book page, and had to include an excerpt. Well, I suppose I don’t have to include one, but I believe very strongly that every book should have an excerpt on the authors website. Which should be easy, right? Well, no.

For some reason, I have a really hard time picking them out. I keep wanting to explain what the reader should already know, if they had started at page one. I cut and paste one section, then delete and try another. Seriously, it’s like a sickness. Of course, when I read other people’s excerpts, I completely understand that it’s just a taste and that I don’t need to understand everything that’s happened. But I have a hard time letting go, I think.

For Perfect Formation I just used the excerpt my fabulous editor picked out. Actually, she made a couple of suggestions and I just agreed with one of them. It was my first release and I had no idea what I was doing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s the same scene the publisher used on their website, and as a reader I like to have a couple of different ones to read. So I was determined to use a different choice on my site this time. I finally decided that since the one the publisher is using is in the heroine’s point of view, I would give my man Zach his chance, here. Maybe next time I’ll give out advanced copies with the expectation that the readers pick out a scene they think should be the excerpt? *Sigh* I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be the easy part. 😛