How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Yes, it's true. I haven't been around much since June, but as my life online and my writing career has been on hold, by days IRL have blossomed. I spent one exceptional summer with my son. My lovely child--and as my reproductive future looks bleak--my only child. Together we discovered how to make it rain in a mason jar (it only takes some boiling water, plastic wrap and ice cubes). We rode roller coasters, flew with Harry Potter, went kayaking, read about Wimpy Kids (thanks to Jeff Kinney) and rhinoceroses for sale (because Shel Silverstein is brilliant). We stayed up late and ate too much candy. We rose early to watch the sun rise. We visited the beach and sank our toes in the sand and built castles replete with giant squid. We met up with my old friends and made new acquaintances with which to share freshly roasted s'mores. We laughed and cried and conquered a few times tables (3's and 4's most notably). It is, I hope, the summer by which his childhood is measured. The summer he will look back on and laugh and say, "Mom, remember when..."

Did I miss my quiet time, my time to imagine and dream and dare to pursue one perfect turn of phrase? Not as much as I would've thought. It was an exceptional summer. One I won't soon forget.

Summer Vacation Blog Tour--Day Six

Welcome Jaime Samms today and her sexy book Muse's Vacation!

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So, today it's my turn on the blog tour, and I thought you all might like a bit of m/m lovin' set in sunny Greece. This is an older title, but I thought a bit of Christmas out of season was nice, since these guys only ever want each other, anyway!

Enjoy some of my Muse's Vacation: One writer, plus one nasty bout of writer's block, makes a sub willing to risk punishment and take things into his own hands to care for his lover's well-being, but has the power shifted too far this time?

Patrick is pretty new to the idea of having a Dom. When Leo gets trapped in that endless cycle of word-lock, and the inspiration just doesn't come for his writer Dom, Patrick decides discretion is better than taking his needs and frustration to Leo and asking for what he wants. Leo is not pleased to find his sub trying to satisfy his own desires, but even giving Pat what he needs doesn't break through the block, and Patrick knows drastic measures are in order. He has to drag Leo half way around the world before the writer realizes it's time to put his muse, and his sub, in their places

Excerpt:

Leo moved the wine glasses and the candles out of his way so he could reach across the table and cup Patrick's face. "You are allowed to ask for what you want. Never doubt that."

"I know. But you seemed so..." Desperate and fragile were not words Patrick generally associated with his lover, but he couldn't think of any other way to put it. He tried to move his face away, but Leo slid his fingers back into his hair, leaned over the table and kissed him.

The wine-flavoured brush of lips against his sent Patrick's pulse up a notch, but Leo dropped back into his chair.

"I hope you do know you can talk to me. I don't want you to ever think your needs have to wait on me." Leo grinned. "Don't worry. You know I don't make a secret of wanting you. You should come to me when you need something." His eyes glittered over his wine glass as he peered past the rim to look at Patrick. "Whatever you need."

Patrick nodded dumbly, suddenly tongue-tied over his thumping pulse and growing desire. Leo watched him with a greedy expression as he sipped his wine. It seemed to take forever for dessert to make it to the table. Patrick's appetite had gone south by then, but Leo only moved his chair around the table to be nearer. Ostensibly so he could share the dessert, but also where he could slide his hand under the table cloth and into Patrick's lap.

"Oh my." He levelled a look as his fingers glided over Patrick's hard on.

Patrick groaned and crossed his legs, dislodging Leo's hand from his crotch. "Stop it!"

"Is that an order?" Leo's voice teased, but his eyes pinned Patrick, riveting him with their bright glare.

"No, sir." He whispered the concession and picked up his fork, uncrossed his legs. Heat slid up into his cheeks as Leo's hand resumed the light caresses. After he'd choked down two or three bites, he put the fork down again. "If I come in my pants, it's going to be an awkward trip back up to our room," he hissed, glared at Leo.

In return, he got a placid smile. "Then don't come, Baby." Leo picked up the fork with his free hand, daintily sliced off a bit of the rich chocolate and ate it, deliberately taking his time to lick the icing off the tines.

Patrick moaned under his breath and closed his eyes. "You are an ass."

"And you are absolutely gorgeous all flushed and wanting to be fucked."

"How do you know—"

"I know you." Leo leaned close and kissed him, uncaring if anyone disapproved of him sliding his tongue into Patrick's mouth.

Patrick moaned, and when Leo pulled away to look at him, he only could meet his eye for a breath of an instant before he bowed his head. "Can we go upstairs? Please?"

"Why?" Leo's husky voice didn't create even the air of innocence around the question.

"Why do you think?" Patrick snuck a glance at his lover and sighed. "I want you."

Leo waited, his fingers still idly working over Patrick's hard cock through his pants.

"I want you to fuck me. Please, sir." If he'd been blushing before, now his cheeks burned. Impossible to think anyone in the restaurant didn't know what was going on, or how desperate he felt, but he didn’t care.

"Not so hard, is it?"

Patrick shook his head. "Can we please go now?"

Leo called for the check and a few minutes later, they were in the elevator headed up, with Patrick pinned firmly against the back wall, staring up into his lover's eyes. "You're a very cruel man."

Leo lifted his brows, pushed his hips against Patrick.

"Sir."

A slow grin spread across Leo's face. "I am, at that."

You can buy this story from Lovyoudivine: http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&products_id=594&number_of_uploads=0&zenid=5e7694a81ca723a55c694ccad7ec6650

You can find more of my work there, as well, and if you'd like some free reads, or to find my other work, available from Freaya's Bower, Total E-Bound Books, Pink Petal Books and Dreamspinner Press, please visit my website: www.jaime-samms.net

Freya's Bower: http://www.freyasbower.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=49

Loveyoudivine Alterotica: http://www.loveyoudivine.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6_62

Total E-bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/authordetail.asp?A_ID=133

Pink Petal Books: http://pinkpetalbooks.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=26

Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_308

Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/JaimeSamms or friend me on Facebook

The next vacation stop on your tour is: http://themorgandiaries.blogspot.com

Enjoy your stay!

Summer Vacation Blog Tour--Day Five

Welcome to day five of the Summer Vacation Blog tour. Today we travel in time with Keta Diablo...

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Dust and Moonlight by Keta Diablo

Time-Travel/Fantasy

Blurb:

Escape to a world where wizards, magick and sorcery rule . . .

Kira Barton swears an oath to the dead girls she’ll find the serial killer that snuffed out their lives. She didn’t count on being hurled into the past when she finally corners the maniac. The very distant past.

Balion, Prince of Locke Cress, knows the forest nymph with the violet eyes will come to him. He dreams of her every night, and of late, she’s been running through a forest ... his forest.

Tension mounts in the strange called Locke Cress, and soon danger, intrigue and passion collide. Kira must finally choose—her world or one where the man who’s stolen her heart resides.

Excerpt:

They heard the scurrying of feet, tormented screams, and the echo of giant paws pounding the hard ground.

Balion slid from his horse with crossbow in hand and sprinted toward the forest. “On the other side of the trees!”

Tall, broad of shoulder, and faultless with the broadsword, Jarlock ran behind him, his keen eyes peeled on the surrounding terrain.

Another deafening yowl screamed through the woods. “The Pantherinae,” Balion whispered, leveling his weapon.

“Aye, I see him now, me Prince,” Jarlock said. “Straight ahead and to ye’re left.”

Chased by a beast with a coat of clouded spots, a woman stumbled forth. With one eye closed, a curse fell from Balion’s lips. “Get down, ye fool! Drop!”

The woman teetered for a timeless moment and then tumbled to the ground. With graceful agility, the Pantherinae leaped into a tree and watched them. Watched her. The beast let loose a savage roar, his white fangs glistening beneath a shaft of sunlight. Balion’s arrow whined through the air, but the wily cat had already sprang from the tree and vanished into the dense underbrush.

“By the Saints.” Jarlock dropped to a knee and studied the still form. “He‘s punctured her neck but didn’t kill her.”

Intrigued by the delicate features and the flawless skin, Balion joined his friend. Her small breasts rose and fell with a steady rhythm. A scent filled his nostrils, a familiar, heady aroma that called forth his dreams.

Jarlock’s words cut into his carnal fantasies. “Me Prince, are ye going to spittle over her all day?”

Drawing his scrutiny of the lovely creature to an end, Balion probed the soft flesh around the wound on her neck. “Tis not from a beast’s bite.”

“From what then?” Jarlock asked, scratching his head.

“Curse the Gods if I know,” Balion answered with a shrug.

“Do ye think her bones broken, me Prince?”

Hauling her up gently, Balion held her in the crook of his arm and felt his heart launch into a rapid beat. The woman opened her eyes for a brief moment and then they fluttered shut. He’d never seen such a color—violet like the flowers on the wild bushes outside the Keep. Long, spiky eyelashes brushed her pale skin, and her full, pink lips were slack now, reminding him of a child‘s in slumber. A mass of hair almost touched the ground in a flood of burnished silk. How he longed to crush the locks between his hands.

At a loss to explain the bodice fastened with tiny pearl stones she wore, he glanced at Jarlock.

Jarlock raised a shoulder. “She is a strange lot, that’s for sure.”

Balion slipped a hand beneath the garment and trailed his fingers over her ribs. Her skin was velvety soft, reminding him of the underbelly of a kitten. His hand came in contact with a metallic object between her breasts, and a surge of familiarity rushed through his blood.

With creased brow Jarlock asked, “Are they broken, man?”

Balion shook his head and continued his examination, skimming his hand over her flat abdomen and next her thighs. Her narrow hips were covered in a heavy blue fabric, and at the end of her long legs, an odd manner of shoe hugged her feet.

“Do ye think she hails from across the sea?” Jarlock asked.

“A mermaid are ye thinking?” Balion‘s gaze returned to her pale face. Perfection, I can think of no other word for it. “Nay, I think perhaps she is a spy.”

He cocked his head for closer inspection. “She does not have the look of one.”

The thunder of hooves reached them. Jarlock readied his broadsword. “Remnants of Umargo‘s henchmen or mayhap a band of outlaws.”

“How far?”

“Over that ridge,” Jarlock said, pointing.

The time for action had come. Leave the woman or take her back to the keep. How could Balion leave her once he’d looked into her eyes, run his hand over that silken skin? “By the Saints, Jarlock,” he said and picked her up. “Gather my crossbow.”

With the girl tucked under his arm, Balion mounted his stallion and pulled the girl against his chest. Jarlock tossed him the weapon, mounted and they sped through the forest without looking back.

Balion would have preferred to stay and fight the remnants of Umargo’s army, but he couldn’t risk the girl’s life. One day he’d rid the land forever of the Jangamoors. Soon. It would happen soon.

Certain no one had followed them; Balion turned to Jarlock and found him grinning. “Ye find humor in the chase?”

“Nay,” the giant said. “I wait to see the look on Gwyneth’s face when ye ride into the keep with a woman that makes the Gods weep."

Buy-it-now: Amazon Kindle - http://tiny.cc/9kr6v

1 Romance Ebooks - http://1romanceebooks.com/fantasy/dust-and-moonlight/prod_38.html

Author links:

website
http://www.ketadiablo.com

Facebook Fan page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keta-Diablo/88641942024#

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Join us tomorrow when Tabitha Shay hosts Denyse Bridger

Summer Vacation Blog Tour--Day Three

Join Juniper Bell on FL Bicknell's blog today!

http://faithbicknellbrown.com/blog/

Summer Vacation Blog Tour--Day Two

Drop by Juniper Bell's blog today to read all about FL Bicknell's newest release! Take us away, Faith and Juniper!

http://authorjuniperbell.blogspot.com/

Bella Signorina--Denyse Bridger--Summer Vacation Stop One

Tour romantic and elegant Rome with us and Denysé Bridger in her book Bella Signorina.

Blurb:
In one of Rome’s trendiest caffè’s, Bianca comes to dance, and escape the loneliness that haunts her world. For many weeks she's been watching a special man, a handsome, charming stranger who dances, flirts, and leaves alone. Bianca is not anxious to fall in love, and yet…. Something about the enigmatic Stefano has captivated her heart, and she is drawn to him in spite of herself. When she finally gathers her courage to ask him to dance, little does she know her entire world is about to change.

Excerpt:

They come to dance and find romance in via Roma

In every bar a sweet guitar and sounds of laughter

Café Rosati was crowded again, as it was most summer nights. Bianca Marino closed her eyes and sighed inwardly, absorbing the cacophony of sounds and emotions that pulsed all around her. Only an hour before closing, but the energy that permeated the café made you feel like a lifetime could be packed into a single hour.

Or a single dance, with the right partner.

The ambience here was unique, even in Rome. People from all walks of life socialized with no discrimination. Glittering diamonds adorned graceful bodies, the cars outside were worth a king’s ransom, and every designer in the country was well represented by the fashions on display.

But it wasn’t the wealth or the fashion that had kept Bianca coming back to this particular café night after night. The pull was the beautiful young man who turned up toward closing time. A tingle woke at the back of her neck, and for just a moment, she savored the sensation and let it fan outward, washing over her senses like a caressing whisper until it became a tremor of excitement. Then she opened her eyes and turned, instinct bringing her gaze to the precise spot where he now stood at the bar.

Her look drifted, brushing over him with the adoring sensuality of a lover’s touch. He was almost six feet tall. His short, dark hair was perfectly coiffed and combed, but one stubborn lock refused to stay in place, perpetually falling onto his forehead. His smooth, lightly tanned skin was flawless, his dark blue eyes sharp and observant. He had long fingers, artistic hands that moved with casual grace as he spoke. His physical presence wasn’t imposing, yet an energy around him made it impossible to pull your gaze away once you’d noticed him, as though music pulsed through his veins, an integral part of his life’s blood that touched everyone he looked at, as well as everyone who looked at him.

Tonight he wore the mix of easy elegance and style she’d come to expect. Dark, tailored pants, snow-white shirt, polished shoes, his jacket was on the bar. Around his neck was the glitter of gold, a simple cross that fit him as naturally as everything else. Gold watch on the left wrist, ring on the right hand, gold rope bracelet on that wrist. He laughed at something that was said and turned to order a drink.

Bianca hugged herself for a moment, and wondered if tonight would be the night she stopped looking and actually spoke to him at last....

Buy-it-now:

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/bella-signorina-p-726.html

Author's links:

http://denysebridger.com/

http://www.facebook.com/denyse.bridger

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Romance-and-Fantasy/458701180391

Don't forget our next stop tomorrow: Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia with me writing as CJ Elliott at Juniper Bell's blog!

http://authorjuniperbell.blogspot.com/

Come Away With Us--Summer Vacation Blog Tour

Join us for your summer vacation. We know times are tough, but you can still travel to exotic and sexy locations with the Summer Vacation Blog Tour! Join me tomorrow in Rome with the incomparable Denyse Bridger. One lucky tour commenter will receive lots of goodies--a collection of ebooks from the Summer Vacation Tour authors! Keep up and come away with us!

8/18 http://cindyjacks.blogspot.com/

8/19 http://authorjuniperbell.blogspot.com/

8/20 http://faithbicknellbrown.com/blog/

8/21 http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com/

8/22 http://jaimesamms.blogspot.com/

8/23 http://tabithashay.blogspot.com/

8/24 http://themorgandiaries.blogspot.com

8/25 http://fantasy-pages.blogspot.com/