On the Third day of Christmas

My kids are FINALLY outside. The snow came down for two days straight and is still going strong today. Tomorrow the sun will be out, but for today, everyone is enjoying the soft, wet, fluffy mess. :)

This Christmas was bittersweet as we spent it with my widowed mother-in-law. It's so strange that my father-in-law isn't here. It's no wonder the holidays are hard on families. It's a time for giving extra love and sharing extra joy. Hopefully, being here made it easier on my husband's mother. She'll be flying herself back to the warmer south tomorrow morning.

Then....

it'll be TIME TO WORK!

• Go through extra toys and toyboxes, find room for the new stuff. Find the stuff that no one even looks at anymore.
• Finish my current WIP. Take a really big bite out of that story so that when the new year hits I can start subbing it through my crit group. I just love being excited about a story. :D
• Oh, and exercise...see, I've put on a few holiday pounds...or are they fall pounds? No, more like 2009 pounds that 2010 wants nothing to do with. ;) haha.

Are you listening?

I'm going out with my hubby tonight. :D

Need I say more? My mother-in-law is going to watch the kids for a couple of hours.

*sigh*

YAY!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

My kids are watching that great old movie starring a car who can race, swim and fly! I think watching movies growing up formed my sense of valor and romance at an early age. Happily Ever Afters were a way of life, not the exception. It takes but a spark in a child's mind for the flame of story telling to erupt into...well, there's no telling. Perhaps in one it might be through a painter's brush. For another, through ink in a pen. And still more bring that flame to the stage or the silver screen.

Stories bring life to life.

Tell me, what was your favorite movie? or book? or song? What makes you wish for a Happily Ever After?

Excerpt Monday

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=2 0don’t have to be published to participate–just an 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.

~*~*~

Nathan woke to heat. With a pounding head and groggy eyes, he shifted away from the source only to have the source follow him. Clammy hands on his abdomen and moisture from her skin against his thighs sent his body into early morning alert. Almost twenty years. You'd think he would be immune. He should be immune.

Stacy.

She'd curled into his side during the night and was wrapped around him.

5 a.m. Too fuckin' early, but too late to reclaim any sleep. Geez. He should have slept in the second bedroom. As was his practice lately, he slid out of bed and jumped into a cold shower that hardly relieved his arousal. Twenty-nine days was a long ass time.

But necessary if he wanted to ease back.

Dressed—armed—for the day in his blue and pink floral jams and his muscle t-shirt, he hit the kitchen for a quick meal. He made oatmeal, not because it was his favorite, but because it was supposed to lower cholesterol. He figured he better try to stay one step ahead of the grim reaper. Forty-four had snuck up on him like a damn snake and sunk its venomous teeth into his heart.
“Nate! For the love of God.” Stacy rushed to the stove.

He swung around to her and watched in horror as she reached for the pot of boiling oatmeal. Swift as he could, he snagged her around the waist.

“Ow!”

The sticky, thick liquid glooped down the side of the metal and hit the burner where it sizzled and burned. Shit.

“Put me down, you idiot.”

When he dropped her, she stumbled against the table, but he was already grabbing a towel and tossing the pot into the sink. “Did you touch it?” he asked, his heart pounding against his ribcage.

“No.” As she straightened her spine, his awareness that she was going to spew more needs all over him peaked—a result of eighteen years of marriage. “Nathan. I scheduled us to go deep sea diving today.”

“I ca—”

She lifted a hand, successfully succumbing his excuses. “Since you have work, I'll be going by myself.”

Stacy was typically a calm woman. Paired against his own temper, they'd made a good match, but it was times like this when he would give anything to see her fight. Sometime since yesterday afternoon, she'd lost her spark.

He bit his tongue on the urge to ask her about it.

Silence between them had never been awkward before. Now, he didn't think he could get out of there fast enough. He couldn't do this right now. Not when he had a team waiting on him in the Philippines, not when every encounter with her weakened the wall he'd built in order to protect her.

“Nothing?” She strode to the sink and turned on the water. “You have nothing to say. Great, just great. You're unbelievable, you know that?”

Nathan froze. There was no winning in answering, but she expected something. “I have to work. I know this vacation is important to you—”

“To us!” She yelled, dropping the pot so that water sloshed from the sink and drenched her sleeves. “Us. I didn't plan this getaway on my own a year ago. You were there too. We decided to come down here while the kids were in Germany.

“But here I am, by myself even after the sun goes down. And alone when I wake up, too. And you! What do you do? Nothing!” She turned to him, sending poisonous darts with her cold blue eyes as her voice rose. “I need more than you are giving.”

Nathan's shock meter shot through the roof as Stacy grabbed her breasts, squeezed them as if offering them to him. “I want sex, damn it, and you can't even find it in you to roll over and wish me goodnight.”

~*~*~

“Links to other Excerpt Monday writers

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Holiday Traditions

Christmas Trees and stockings. Cookies and milk.

I can't help but write at least one little blog about this great season.

Bringing family together--let's be realistic--can certainly TRY a person.

Maybe Uncle Reggie's drinking gets out of control.

Maybe Sally brings home a total loser and expects everyone to welcome him with open arms.

Perhaps, little Ted is sick this year or Grandma just passed away last month.

I've been getting to know Stacy Gerard over the last few weeks. She was telling me about her and Nathan's first Christmas ever.

Let's face it, Penny, she said. Blending two lives is never easy!

He wanted to go camping! Was I game? Not really. I like camping enough, as a matter of fact, I enjoy it. But this was Christmas. I wanted a tree that I could decorate, stocking to stuff. My parents to visit and a nice meal.

Things went in my favor that year. There were still hearts in his eyes, I guess... maybe he was just blinded by lust! :D [her infectious laugh filled the phone line] But next year, his vision was clearer, and we did end up camping.

You know what? It was fun, and it was for us... no one else. A new tradition that we could share with the kids who came that year. Don't get me wrong, we don't camp every year. At first we went back and forth. Then as life got busier and Nathan was traveling more for work, we just did it when we could.

We bring one bag of presents to share and cook the family meal over an open fire. Some coffee and a good dose of Bailey's keep us toasty warm through the night and into the next day. If the weather is good, we pull out our hiking boots and find a place to picnic on Christmas day.

It's been a while since we've done that... I think three years ago.

I'm hoping for another trip this year. It would be the perfect end to an otherwise, surprising and unsettling year.

I wished her a Merry Christmas as our conversation ended.

She is right about new traditions and family.

Maybe it's time for me to start something new, too!

Fast Forward

Have you woken up next to the same person so many times, you don't even have to touch them to know if they want you?

Falling in love is exciting and thrilling. Every new experience opens your eyes, and heightens your awareness of that person. Long looks, holding hands, gentle kisses...

Tentative touches, beating hearts and a passion that could last a lifetime.

Fast Forward

When the long looks have become secrets that make you laugh and holding hands includes a little one. Gentle kisses are stolen, then savored until next time.

Touches are familiar and desire comes quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~

Fast Forward

Knowing someone so well, there absence leaves an indelible mark. The short temper no longer leads to loving and the uncertainty eats at your stomach.

Love no longer taken or returned petrifies to stone.

The Sledgehammer

One word: LOVE

When the thought of never being with your lover again sets your soul to running. Running back to the safety of a love given and needed. Relief, a tidal wave crashing against the shores of a broken heart. Forgiveness washing away the stain of imperfection.

John Gerard

John. You've been in Germany for the past few weeks. What is your favorite part of being in Europe?

J: My Grandparents have a summer home in the mountains. I love coming here because of the history.

History, huh? You're a little young for someone interested in history. What's your favorite era?

J: *smiling* It's a toss up between the Victorian--I always wanted to be a pirate when I was a kid--and of course, World War II. My father, his father and my great grandfather all served in the Army. Here, I get to really jump in, you know? It's not just the museums and memorials. It's real life. The pubs, the people, libraries, churches--

A living history, John?

J: Yes!

Do you think you'll follow in their footsteps? Join the military?

J: Hmm. I don't know. It's hard, you know? My dad, he works alot, even now after being retired for the last five years. He's gone alot. It's hard on my mom.

You have two siblings, right?

J: Julia and Josiah, trouble and terror--respectively. *grin*

Do you travel with them often?

J: This is our first time without my mom. I guess Mom and Dad needed a break. *snort* Like we don't know what that means, right?

They get along, your mom and dad?

J: Yeah. I've seen them argue, hard. My mom, she's the quiet one and my dad really knows how to let lose, but they've never not worked it out...

You worried about them this time?

J: *pause* Nah. Whatever it is, they'll work it out. They have to...

Tell me what you do for fun. I wanted to change the subject, just to ease the moment.

J: I love soccor. I spent a lot of time abroad as a kid and soccor just stuck with me. I've been working out four times a week while we're here--running, mostly. One thing about Germany, and Europe: there's no Gold's Gym on every other corner. Well, I like to lift when I'm home, but aside from my studying, I just keep busy. And Dad puts me to work.

He's a real slave driver?

J: He's old school, right? We live in the mountains, and staying warm in the winter means swinging an axe for wood. *grin*

When we're interrupted by Josiah, I put my pen aside to greet him.

josiah: I hate to swing an axe.
J: That's cuz you're lazy doofus.

The interview wraps up quickly, and I smile at the brothers who obviously have a great affection for each other even if it does mean taking a ribbing. As my thoughts swing back to the man who should have loved me forever, my heart breaks a little at the thought of tearing these boys' home.

I'm just about to leave when the daughter stops me with a suspicious narrowing of her eyes, and she asks me when they can expect to see an article in the American magazine I work for.

Soon, I tell her before I drive away...

And the consequences will threaten everything you know.

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Love is the wiliest thief of all.

A Tale of Ithian

Malachy and his sister rely on his talents as a thief to survive the dangerous streets of Klathport, former capital of the once-great kingdom of Ithian. Stealing a few papers should have been a simple job. Instead, it nearly costs their lives and throws them into an improbable alliance with a shape-shifting official, a desert tribeswoman, and a healer of enchanting beauty.

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Isn't it gorgeous!!! The Tickle My Fantasy anthology is out in print today!!

Go ahead. Try to resist the magic. We dare you!

Carolina Wolf by Sela Carsen (psst! This is me!)
Debra knows that the teensy amount of witchcraft in her veins isn’t worth getting excited about. Yet someone—or something—thinks it’s worth attacking her. Rescuing her seals Maddox’s fate, but only if he can protect her from a rogue of his kind. A werewolf with a nasty streak…and a preference for raw meat.

The Ghost Shrink, the Accidental Gigolo and the Poltergeist Accountant by Vivi Andrews
Lucy is doomed. Not to death. To nightly visits from recently deceased Casanovas without the bodies to scratch her itch. Then a living fantasy arrives on her doorstep. Is her dry spell at an end? Not hardly. Jake has been sent to prevent her from getting laid until a particular horny phantom—and key witness in his investigation—pays her a visit.

ParaMatch.com by MK Mancos
Even though she lives without a paranormalady, Lucille has managed to carve a niche for herself with a paranormal matchmaking service. Enter Jager, deposed king of the Titans and successful paratrader. She can match anyone, except him. She doesn’t know that he’s out to negotiate the deal of a lifetime—a future with her.

Witches Anonymous by Misty Evans
Amy is done with Devil-worshipping. After swearing an oath never to use magic again, she’s in the market for a normal guy to complement her new lifestyle. And Adam looks like perfect hero material. Lucifer, however, isn’t about to be nice about letting her go…

Warning: This book contains hunky werewolves, smart-A** women and men who think that’s sexy, magic, angels, medieval legends, inter-species romance, disco music and flatulent Boxers. (The dogs, not the underwear.)

Read An Excerpt Online