Welcome to another Snippet Saturday!

Today’s Snippet Saturday topic is First Kiss. Be sure to read everyone else’s snippet by following the links below my post. :)

So the first kiss. Probably one of the most pivotal scenes in any romance book whether the kiss be soft, hard, passionate, angry or blah. LOL. I’d like to think you have to build up the attraction between the characters first, but then again, sometimes that first kiss arrives like a freight train and there’s not a damn thing they can do to stop it.

My snippet is from Hell for Leather, my spin-off book from the Malloy series. The hero is Kincaid, the gunslinger with the shady past (don’tcha just love them?) who creates a new identity as Cade Brody and tries to hide in the mountains in New Mexico.

Why should life leave him alone? LOL. Nope, I’ve thrown in many obstacles for him, including the wonderful, smart and lonely heroine, Sabrina. They’ve danced around each other a bit, and now without further ado, the first kiss…

Snippet:

A spark of something hot jumped between them. It traveled up her arm, then spread through her whole body. She’d only touched him once before and now she knew she shouldn’t have ever touched him. She sucked in a gasp, which was echoed by Cade.

Sabrina opened her mouth but nothing came out, and for some reason, she couldn’t pull her hand away. It seemed to be content to rest on his muscular, warm leg. Sweet heavens, he was even wearing the trousers she’d sold him.

The air between them grew heavy, and Sabrina’s blood flew around her body as she heated between her legs. Cade was a handsome man, a sexy man. Although she’d seen many good-looking men, something about him struck a chord within Sabrina. It resonated strongly as pure need slammed into her.

“What’s happening?” she whispered.

Cade’s dark eyes looked even darker as his pupils dilated and his nostrils flared as if scenting Sabrina. “I don’t know.”

“Come into the store.”

He shook his head even as he dismounted and secured the horse to the hitching post in front of the building. Sabrina trembled with the need to kiss him, touch him, absorb him. She hoped Ellen had taken herself upstairs for at least an hour, because Sabrina didn’t think she’d be able to stop once she got started.

As soon as they stepped inside, Sabrina kept walking, leaving him to close and lock the door. At that point, she was possessed by hunger and only Cade could satisfy the craving.

Sabrina walked behind the curtain that hid her office. It was a small room, but it held a potbelly stove, a desk and chair. She didn’t bother to light the lamp, the darkness felt soothing to her sizzling skin. One time, she and Eric—

She cut the thought off before it could completely invade her mind. This was not the time to think about anything, it was only time to feel.

Within seconds, Cade was there in the shadowy office behind her. His long, lean body pressed against her, and her entire body sighed with relief.

“What are we doing?”

Sabrina whipped around, and instead of answering his whispered question, she pulled his head down and kissed him. Oh Lord, his lips were as hard as she expected them to be. She used every meager trick she had to soften them until finally he relented and his arms wrapped around her. Sweet, long, open-mouthed kisses followed. Sabrina could’ve kissed him for days on end. He had the most intoxicating, sensual lips she’d ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

His hands were busy roaming up and down her body, leaving goose bumps in their wake. He pulled her closer to him until she cradled his erection against her soft belly. Tingles spread out from the contact, heightening her already-burning arousal.

Sabrina clenched her eyes shut as the sensations almost overwhelmed her. It had been so long since she’d been intimate with a man, and this one engendered more feelings than she ever thought possible. Eric had been gentle, sweet and undemanding in their marriage bed.

Nothing prepared her for the onslaught of sensations when she was in Cade’s strong arms. She immersed herself in the absolute pleasure with more abandon than she’d known she had. Her nipples grew hard enough to ache for his touch, but since she still had her clothes on, she had to settle for pressing them against his chest.

Their kisses grew longer, hotter, deeper until Sabrina had trouble remembering her name. She needed more than just their mouths touching though, much more.

Cool air hit her legs as he raised her skirt, his large hands cupping her behind. Her heart raced with anticipation of what she was about to do. She’d never been so impulsive, so naughty in her life.

It felt good.

***

Don’t forget to read the rest of the First Kiss Snippets!

Lauren Dane

Cynthia Eden

Vivi Anna

Sylvia Day

Moira Rogers

Mandy Roth

Anya Bast

Viv Arend

Elisabeth Naughton

Michelle Pillow

Jaci Burton

Taige Crenshaw

McKenna Jeffries

Victoria Janssen

Shelli Stevens

Maggie Robinson

Juliana Stone

Sasha White

Maura Anderson

Shelley Munro

Jody Wallace

Eliza Gayle

Kelly Maher

So the Powerball lottery, of which NC is one of the 13 or so states who participate, is up to approximately $257 million.

Two hundred fifty-seven MILLION.

The mind boggles at the possibility of winning such an enormous jackpot. Hell, I’d take a measly million! LOL.

One of my favorite, and most silly, things to do is think about what I’d do with that much money. So what would I do? First, pay off all my bills, debts and loans. Second, give my parents a million and give my in-laws a million. Probably gift each sibling as much as I could without making them pay taxes on it. Then put away enough college money for each child, probably $200,000 each.

Then what? Hm, quit my job! Wow, that would be so amazing… I don’t think I’d move because I love my house, but I’d hire a lawn care service, a maid (hallelujah!), and build a two car garage out back for DH’s workshop.

Next would be vacation. Don’t know where I’d go first… perhaps Hawaii for two weeks. Now that sounds perfect.

What about y’all? Any lottery dreams out there?

Holiday weeks always confuse me. I always forget what day it is, same as last week when I was traveling earlier in the week.

eek!

Perhaps I’m losing my memory a lot sooner than I thought. Now that would suck!

I don’t have much to share with y’all. I started dictating my writing in the car again as I drive to work and such. Now I’ve got to transcribe them but it will give me extra writing time, so to speak, and bump up my word count.

Last night was a bust for actual writing time which is why I used my digital recorder. My 17 YO had his last concert of the year and it was just wonderful. Gads, those kids are so talented! I controlled the urge to cry, although when my DS did a solo I almost did. I’m so proud of him.

Anyhoo, I’m off to work (again) with my recorder in hand. Good thing I have a 30 minute commute. LOL.

Eh, Tuesday. :( At least it’s not Monday but I still have to go back to the real job today. *sigh* I very much enjoyed sleeping late for three days – righteously wonderful compared to getting up at 5 am every day.

Two weeks until school is out, then I get to sleep until 6 – oh yeah baby! Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to a break from the 5 am’s every day. Some day, my kids will be gone then I’ll wish I did have the 5 am wake up!

I’m still plowing along on Lee’s story – didn’t get nearly as much done as I needed to this weekend but I didn’t feel well all yesterday. I totally need to go to my doctor and be tested for Celiac’s – ugh, I’m so tired of having symptoms that no one can pinpoint a diagnosis for. It’s not allergies according to the blood test, which means it’s Celiac’s.

I’m off to make coffee and contemplate life without beer (as in gluten free for real). *double sigh* I can still have distilled liquor though, like vodka, gin, whiskey. But I really will miss cold beer and pizza. :(

Gloomy aren’t I? Must be the cloudy, on and off rain we’re having. Weirdness! I hope y’all have a good Tuesday!

Happy Memorial Day y’all! Today is a day we pay tribute to all those who’ve fallen in the line of duty for the USA. So today’s eye candy is a celebration for a handsome American soldier. Salute!

Today is the inaugural Snippet Saturday blog chain. I’m excited to be participating with my fellow authors as we all post about the same topic. A snippet of everyone’s excerpts can be found at all the blogs below!

Topic: Defining Moment

The defining moment for a character can be the toughest thing to write – it’s that exact scene that truly changes or influences your character. I’ve chosen a scene from The Education of Madeline for my snippet.

Madeline is a very strong, intelligent woman but she’s never truly realized just how amazing she is. People, particularly men, have kept her from that realization. Her defining moment comes after discovering the man she had fallen in love with, Teague, has betrayed her and conspired with others to destroy her.

****

Madeline wept until she couldn’t weep anymore. Her mind and body were numb, but her heart, oh, her cursed heart, was howling like a coyote at a full moon. Howling in pain and misery.

“Who did this?” she asked.

“The sheriff and that fool judge. There are a couple more, too, but I believe those two are the brains behind the plan.”

Madeline stepped away from him and finally looked him in the eye. Then felt like crying all over again. Teague’s battered face was awash in as much pain as hers. She couldn’t trust it was real. What she really couldn’t trust was her heart. So she had to think with her head.

“I don’t trust you anymore, Teague. I hope you understand why.”

He nodded, his jaw clenched tight.

“I want to find out what they’re planning. Are you willing to help me?”

“Yes,” gusted out of him before she even stopped speaking.

“If this happens, whatever they’re planning, I will probably lose everything I have.”

She had to face that. Obviously being an independent woman was more than a town full of men could take. A woman with money owning half the town was worse. Leaving her home behind would be hard, but it would be the people she helped that would suffer the most. She shuddered to think what would happen to Eppie. She had not guarded her tongue, and many folks didn’t care much for her. Fact is, most didn’t like Eppie. Her outspokenness was one of the very reasons Madeline loved her.

Madeline wasn’t going to roll over and die. She was going to fight.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Maybe. If we feed them false information perhaps it will come around on them.”

He touched his split lip. “It might work.”

“What kind of information were you supposed to find?”

He sighed and shuffled back to the bed. “Evidence of you squandering money, using it for improper stuff, hording cash here at your house, giving it away to people. Anything odd or eccentric, particularly about money.”

“They want to prove me insane.” Madeline was getting angrier. “I am one of the most sane people in this town.”

“That’s the truth. Plum Creek is full of crazies.”

Madeline sat down next to him heavily. “You broke my heart, Teague.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Maddie. I can’t tell you how much.”

She bit her lip to keep in any tears. No more crying. “Was it all part of the plan?”

“What?”

“The lessons,” she swallowed. “Was it part of the plan?”

“Oh, Jesus, no.” He folded her in a hug and rocked back and forth. Madeline cautioned herself against trusting him again, although his arms felt like heaven. They felt so safe and warm.

“I want to believe you, but …”

“I understand. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am that I found that stupid horse.”

“I’m not. Even if my world crashed down around me, the last two weeks were the most alive I have ever been in my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” Madeline confessed.

Teague kissed her forehead.

“You’d best get back to the bank, Maddie. You don’t want to give them any more ammunition to shoot you with.”

Madeline stood and left the carriage house without another word to Teague. She had to wash her face and try to look as if she hadn’t just had her heart broken and her life torn asunder.

Madeline had to get ready for battle.

****

Be sure to read the other Snippets too!!

Lauren Dane

Cynthia Eden

Vivi Anna

SJ Day

Moira Rogers

Leah Braemel

Mandy Roth

Anya Bast

Viv Arend

Juliana Stone

Savannah Foley

Elisabeth Naughton

Michelle Pillow

Jaci Burton

Taige Crenshaw

McKenna Jeffries

Sasha White

Oh, happy weekend, y’all! I’m excited to see Friday arrive and with it, the promise of a 3-day weekend. Yes, indeedy, I am a happy camper even if I have to write my butt off this weekend.

Before I get to today’s fun, which is a quiz (woot!), I wanted to let y’all know about something special that kicks off tomorrow called “Snippet Saturday”. A group of authors who blog are posting snippets of their books each Saturday starting tomorrow with the same topic. Tomorrow’s topic is “Defining Moments” – be sure to swing by to read mine and then follow the links to everyone else’s you’ll find in my post.

For today’s fun, let’s see what I can find… sweet! A quiz about shoes, one of my favorite subjects. :)

You Are Platform Sandals

Funky and urban You've got a cutting edge style that everyone envies A little bit downtown, a little bit euro, and whole lot of sexy!

I swear I had no idea today was Thursday. It still comes as a surprise even when I write it down! Traveling always makes my inner clock, the one that’s supposed to keep me apprised of the date, day and time, go haywire. *sigh*

The good news is, it’s Thursday! LOL. And for those of us in the USA, it’s Memorial Day weekend – on Monday we remember all the fallen ones who have died for their country. Lots of parades, barbecues and around here, beach trips.

We’ll be staying in town, probably cooking steak on the grill instead of hot dogs and hamburgers (since my kids and DH prefer steak to traditional BBQ stuff). I’m spending the day Saturday with my sister, my mom and my 19 YO niece. We’re going shopping (woo yeah!) for the day and doing some female bonding.

Favorite activity!! :D

Anyhoo, I’ll also be writing like a fiend this weekend as I close in on June 1 – my deadline for DOH: Lee. I plan on emerging from this weekend with a boatload written. Wish me luck!

I hope y’all have a great Thursday! I’m off to work!

I’m up in Vermont (yes, I made it this time unlike my previous attempt) for a couple days for work. It’s beautiful, green and quite cool. There was a frost warning last night!

Anyhoo, I am still wearing my writing cap. I was up at 4:30 again this morning (ugh) and now I’m showered and ready to write before going to work. Of course, I’m headed downstairs to get coffee first! LOL.

Have a great Tuesday y’all!

Today’s eye candy for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to catch me over at Emma’s blog today! She’s doing a wonderful month long tribute to historicals of all genres.