Top Ten Tuesday : Sexy Songs

The book that I'm working on now (27,000 words and counting!) has a musical thread to it just like The Low Notes did so I've been rather musically obsessed lately. This book is also quite a bit spicier than anything I've written before. It's not quite erotic romance but the plot has a sexual awakening element to it and the writing it definitely a lot more adult. So with that being said, my playlists have taken a bit of a sexy turn and I thought it would be fun to share my top ten sexy songs! These aren't all necessarily on my playlist but they are all the kinds of songs that would put me in the mood to write something that would put a reader in the mood....

10. Boom by Anjulie

9. #1 Crush by Garbage

8. Gorilla by Bruno Mars

7. When I Get You Alone by Robin Thicke

6. If I Didn't Know Better by The Civil Wars or The Cast of Nashville

5. When She Turns 18 by Christian TV

4. Meant by Elizaveta

3. Seduces Me by Celine Dion

2. Feelin' Love by Paula Cole

1. Stay by Sara Bareilles


Have a listen to some of those and...well...read a book, maybe?

Book Spotlight : At Your Service :Tammer by Lila Munro

Thank you very much for hosting me today and allowing me to share my latest release, At Your Service: Tammer, with your readers! It’s book one in a brand new line I’ll be rolling out throughout 2013.

Assassin. The first word which comes to mind when Nina Prescott opens her door not to a Thin Mint toting Girl Scout but a rugged stranger dressed in black sporting a smirk that has her slamming it in the man’s face. With her instincts in a tailspin, her head tells her to run. Has her husband’s occupation finally come home to roost?

But when the stranger who acts more like he’s come to gather her for a date rather than kill her corners her and produces his calling card, the truth of what he really is, is even more shocking than the thought of him being a hit man…

At Your Service…Providing all your kinky needs with none of the strings. For more information or to schedule a consultation...

Nina can’t believe Joel has actually hired a service Dom. With his job keeping him away more than he’s home, Nina’s found it all too easy to weave from their established rules. She knows she does things she convinces herself Joel is none the wiser of, like working fourteen hour days when she knows good and well her Master would bust her ass for working a minute over eight. But a sub-sitter? While she realizes their once rigid lifestyle has been slowly disintegrating, it seems a bit extreme. But Nina still loves Joel and is determined to obey the one rule he never bends…try anything he asks of her at least once before deciding she doesn’t like it.

And really. Would one turn on the ride named Tammer J. Weston be so bad?

Excerpt:

“Nina Prescott?” the man standing there poised to knock again rumbled out in a honeyed, baritone which plucked at a nerve or two as it skittered down Nina’s spine.

Nina looked up and up over hardened thighs beneath black denim, rugged abs seeping though skin tight cotton, and a chiseled olive chin dusted with just a smattering of dark five o’clock shadow. His piercing indigo eyes bled authority from beneath long, envy worthy lashes.

Almost every instinct in her yelled, “Dom, kneel!”

The other’s urged, “Stranger, caution.”

She was pretty sure her marine husband and Liege would have her strapped to a cross for ignoring the second voice, but he’d gone off on mission again and disrupted her carefully plotted out life. Again. Although she’d never entertain the idea of cheating on Joel because she sure wasn’t that kind of wife or sub, he hadn’t said no flirting as he reminded her of the rules on his way out the door.

“Who are you and what do you sell? Have any cookies in your bag?” she asked, eyeing the black, leather duffle draped over one of his broad shoulders which bested her height by at least six inches and licking her lips. Her heart refused to stay still as she imagined what he just might indeed be carrying with him.

“No cookies. I’m from the service?” he said, raking Nina with those smoldering eyes and sending heat out to her extremities.

“Which branch?” Nina withdrew the fifty, tucked it behind her back, and poked her head out noting the black Ford F-250 parked in front of her quarters. If he’d managed to come into housing he had to have a base sticker from somewhere.

“No, no. I’m from the service, not in it. You are Nina Prescott, right?” the man pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. “Nina Prescott, wife of Master Sergeant Joel Prescott, lives at thirteen twenty-three Minnesota Avenue, play night Thursdays, political speech writer…”

Nina gasped and tried to slam the door in his face, her cookie money floating to the floor as she let go of it. Toy bag on his shoulder her ass, he was an assassin. Who the hell was Joel’s current assignment that they’d sent someone after her for payback? And where the hell was her cell? On the damned catch all in the back? The MPs…9-1-1… “I’m going to call the MPs, asshole,” she shouted, finally managing to get the door shut despite his best effort to keep it open and turning to bolt down the hall with her heart in her throat. 

You can purchase this title at Amazon  and  ARe

 

Lila Munro currently resides on the coast of North Carolina with her husband and their two four-legged kids. She’s a military wife with an empty nest and takes much of her inspiration for her heroes from the marines she’s lived around for the past fifteen years. Coining the term realmantica, she strives to produce quality romance in a realistic setting. Her genre of choice is contemporary romance that spans everything from the sensual softer read to BDSM and ménage. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches. Her works include The Executive Officer’s Wife, Bound By Trust, Three for Keeps, the Force Recon series, the Slower Lower series, the Identity series, and the Private Collection. Currently she is working on two new series set to release summer of 2013, the At Your Service line and the Steele Image line. She’s a member in good standing of RWA. 

Ms. Munro loves to hear from her readers and can be found at Realmantic Moments,  Facebook  Goodreads   Twitter You can also contact her via email at lilasromance@gmail.com and you can find all her works at: Amazon   ARe  Nook    Bookstrand

Thank You, Thank You!

What an incredible week?! I still cannot believe it's been a year since I officially became an author. This week has been so much fun looking back at the year and looking ahead to another release.

Thank you to everyone who graciously hosted me this week on my anniversary tour! You are all amazing people!

Special thanks to:

Boekie's Book Reviews

Author Lisa J. Hobman

Smardy Pants Book Blog

Author Melissa Keir

Author Lila Munro

Author Jennifer Wilck

Becca The Bibliophile

Author Britni Hill

Author Jane Wakely

Author Joanne C. Berroa

Author Josh Zimmerman

The Boyfriend Bookmark

The Low Notes is still on sale in e-book form for .99 cents on Amazon just until the end of today. Share this information with your friends who have yet to get a copy.

And again thanks to my readers, fans, fellow authors, publishers, bloggers, friends, family and supporters for a great week and a wonderful year for me and The Low Notes!

Who Likes Prizes?!

It's time for prizes!!! Enter with the Rafflecopter below to win some cool The Low Notes swag in honor of its 1st birthday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's my last stop on the anniversary blog tour over at The Boyfriend Bookmark! Check it out! 

And don't forget you can get an e-book copy of The Low Notes for 99 cents on Amazon today!

One Year Later...

The following is a work of fiction based on characters in the novel The Low Notes. It contains SPOILERS to the novel including the ending!

 ***

Walking into The Black Jewel I can’t help but smile. The place I’ve heard about so much is exactly how I pictured it. It’s dark but not dank, old but not dated. The stage is dim as music is piped through the speakers from some unknown stereo system. Down the few steps to the sunken sitting area I search the room and they are easy to spot. The strikingly beautiful young woman with the long black hair that seems to melt into a lighter caramel color (I believe they call it ombre) is sidled up close to her man at the small round table. He is handsome with dark hair that is cut shorter than I had pictured but it suits him well. He wears a bit of stubble along his jaw and a beaming smile on his lips as he looks at her while she says something to him that I can’t make out. There’s no doubt they are in love. But it’s not my job to see the sparkle in their eyes for one another…it’s my job to talk about how it all happened.

Reporter:  It’s been a year since you two found each other again…can you believe it?

Kevin Reed: [laughs and glances at Nina] There’s a lot I can’t believe about our story. Some days it feels like I might still be dreaming.

Nina Jordan: I can believe it! So much has changed, so much has happened. It’s been a good year.

Reporter: What has happened since we last saw you? 

Nina: After we ran into each other in New York, Kevin came home with me to Wexley for my sister’s wedding and…honestly it was like no time had passed between us. We kind of picked up where we left off senior year only we didn’t have anything to worry about anymore. 

Kevin: I made the move to New York to be closer to her while she finishes school. We’ve been looking at apartments hoping to move into together this Fall. I’ve been freelance writing and staying busy and this amazing woman to my left just landed an internship at a record label.

Nina: [rolls her eyes with a grin] He just loves to gush. I basically just get coffee for people. It’s a cool experience but it’s not like I’m producing music or anything. I’m a gopher.

Reporter: It’s a step in the right direction! How did your family and friends take it when you came out of the closet as a couple?

[They meet eyes meaningfully and it’s easy to see the weight of their stares]

Nina: My sister Greta was cool with it right away. She and I have become so close in the last two and a half years. It took my dad a little while to understand but he says he’s happy if I’m happy. And I am. My best friend James is very supportive now. He was skeptical at first…

Kevin: [laughs] Skeptical is putting it mildly! He had to do the whole big brother thing and tell me how bad I hurt her and that if I ever pulled any of that [expletive deleted] again I’d be a dead man. I couldn’t blame him. He had the unique experience of seeing us through it all so he knew the whole story in a different way. But I would consider James one of my closest friends now. He’s like family.

Reporter: And your family, Kevin?

Kevin: At first I didn’t think my cousin Jeff was happy for me but he was just going through some stuff of his own. He and Jennifer are separated now and I think he was having a hard time being happy for me while he was first making a decision about their relationship. He’s totally cool with us now and he’s come out to the city a few times to visit. 

Reporter: What about Wexley Falls? I assume you come home occasionally…is it small town gossip or did anyone really notice?

Nina: [puts her head in her hands and stares at Kevin] Remember the grocery store?

Kevin: Jesus. The day after her sister’s wedding we went the grocery store to get food for my house since I’d been in New York a few days. We’d had a really great night—

Nina: Kevin!

Kevin: Well! [both chuckle] So we were holding hands and maybe a little ridiculous with the PDA because we could and who did we have to run into in the store? Principal Andrews. I thought my heart stopped. He didn’t even say anything to us. He just shook his head. I wanted to deck him because he gave her this once-over that was so….

Nina: People can think what they want about us and Principal Andrews is no exception. I lied to his face so I get why he looked at me like that. 

Kevin: It’s hard for people to understand, I know. But when people assume I’m a predator or she’s been duped—

Nina: Or that I’m some kind of slut.

[He sighs and they look at each other with another heavy stare]

Reporter: On to a happier topic, Kevin, looking back when do you think you first fell in love with Nina?

Kevin: God. Sometimes I think I fell for her with that first kiss but with everything that happened after that my emotions were so mixed up. But the first time I thought it for a split second was the night I made her dinner when she got her acceptance letter. I pushed it out of my head fast—but that was it.

Reporter: Nina, did you ever imagine you would have a second chance with Kevin?

Nina: I’m a hopeless romantic so I guess in the back of my mind I always hoped we would get another shot but I couldn’t have dreamed that he would walk into that hotel bar. That—that was fate. That was the universe paying us back for all the hell we went through.

Reporter: It seems like you two are pretty solid. Has it been an easy transition getting back together?

Nina: I thought it was easy at first but then it got harder [laughs]. We had a lot of things to deal with and talk about. I didn’t think I was holding any grudges against him for sneaking off but I was. We are better than ever now but there were a few weeks where it was complicated. Because that’s what we do best I guess [both laugh].

Reporter: So what’s next for you two? 

Kevin: We’re taking it day by day. [He looks over at Nina] I am crazy about her. So I’m here to stay—to make this work—until she says she wants me gone.

Nina: [Bites her lip and lets a small smile settle on her face] I won’t ever want him gone. [Turns to Kevin] Looks like you aren’t going anywhere.

I leave them just as they are about to order dinner, mentioning how nostalgic they are for a date at The Black Jewel. This time it’s under much different circumstances and though they never say it I can tell they are glad about that fact. I thank them for their time and wish them well in their future. A future I have a feeling will be full of love.

***

Thank you to everyone who read The Low Notes. This one was for you :) 

Today The Low Notes e-book is available for just 99 cents on Amazon only! Tell your friends!

The blog tour continues...today I'm over at author Joanne C. Berroa's blog and my darling friend Josh Zimmerman has a special game and giveaway on his blog today to celebrate!

Long Lost Epilogue

I've thought for a long time about whether or not to post this and as I celebrate the one year anniversary of the book it seems fitting to share. A lot of people have asked me for a sequel and I have never been interested in writing one but I wrote this scene shortly after I finished my first draft of The Low Notes. It was my choice as an author to not include this 'happily ever after' because I didn't feel that Kevin and Nina needed to be wrapped up in a shiny bow. I love the way The Low Notes ended but for those of you who wanted a bit more this is for you. 

The following is intended as an epilogue to The Low Notes. If you haven't read the book consider this a neon sign that says SPOILERS!

 ***

Round tables all covered in white linen and pale green organza sat evenly throughout the ballroom. Strategically placed candles glowed warm amber and bathed the room with soft light. Nina walked in and scanned the expansive room with her eyes. It was breathtaking. As nearly two hundred and fifty guests started filing in and finding their seats she continued to search the space. She’d been so nervous at the ceremony she hadn't found him in the crowd and after that was the hustle and bustle of picture taking. Her maid of honor duties were pressing but her mind was elsewhere.

She felt a tiny twinge in her heart when she had the fleeting thought that maybe he hadn't come. She remembered just a few nights ago when he waltzed into the hotel bar where she’d been working for only a matter of days. It had been the strangest and most amazing thing to happen. He sat patiently sipping on a drink listening to her sing like it was just another night at The Black Jewel. When her set ended and she returned to him the butterflies in her stomach couldn’t be contained. They had shared a kiss before her shift had ended and her mind was racing wondering what else the evening would bring. What transpired was nothing short of awe inspiring.

  

Nina’s palms started to sweat and she squeezed the ribbon covered stem of her white rose bouquet tighter as she let herself remember the feel of his hands slipping off her gown in his darkened hotel room. The way he whispered into her ear making it seem like no time had passed sent a chill through her. They let go of it all that night and let themselves enjoy one another in a whole new way. But she worried that despite the plans they made while lying in each others arms with what seemed to be the promise of a new beginning he had bailed on her.

The hall was filling up and she saw so many familiar faces. Todd Dawson and his family sat a few tables from where she was standing. Todd had brought Hannah Bruckheimer as his date and they had cartoon hearts in their eyes for each other. James and Nick were finally out as a couple and looked dashing in their tuxes. Sitting across the dance floor at the table she would eventually be seated at she could see them glancing over the wedding program and chatting with loving grins.

She saw aunts and uncles, out of town family friends, and Blake's three siblings and their dates. She saw everyone whose name she’d helped record in Greta's wedding folder under RSVP-yes. But there was one name that never made the guest list. He never checked a box 'yes' or 'no'. Chicken or beef. But he was her plus one—her date. She had dreamt of the day she could finally call him that. And she honestly never thought the day would come.

Panic was starting to set in and she felt the air in her lungs growing stiff like a block of concrete forming within her. Suddenly, without warning, a familiar hand was resting gently on her forearm from behind and she spun around praying it was him and not a figment of her imagination.

"Hey, beautiful," Kevin said as she met his eyes.

A sigh rushed out of her breaking the concrete blocks in her chest to bits. He was actually in front of her. To say the moment was surreal was an understatement. It had been nearly two years since that first night at The Black Jewel. Two years since their date and the subsequent fallout in room B100. And yet, this was actually happening. He was dressed in a simple black suit with a black vest and tie and a crisp white shirt. Clean shaven, he looked different from the day before and all the days she had known him but he was just as handsome. She reached up effortlessly and touched the smooth skin of his jaw. 

In the simplest of moments, an ordinary thing any woman would do to the man she loved, Nina saw the reaction she had been waiting for. No reaction at all. He didn't glance around the room wondering whose eyes might be on them. He didn't tense to her touch, fearful of being caught. Kevin merely smiled. 

"Should we sit?" he asked.

She nodded letting her fingers move from his face to his hand at his side. They walked across the room hand in hand to table number nine where Nick and James were waiting along with a few other guests who had already started on their salads.

             

"Guys, you remember Kevin," Nina said. Then she bit her lip stifling the smile she wanted to beam out at James.

James stood and shook Kevin's hand firmly. "It's really good to see you again."

           

***

He watched her with careful eyes. The candlelight from the centerpiece flickering across her cheeks, her delicate collarbone and the satin fabric of her plum colored dress. Her profile was just as stunning as he remembered and her presence was just as intoxicating as it was in his dreams. With his eyes on her she seemed to laugh in slow motion, her slender fingers languidly clapping together in amusement at something her best friend James had said from across the table. And then she turned to him, her gray eyes illuminating in a way they only did when their eyes locked.

Kevin leaned in close to her ear taking care to breathe in the flowery essence of her perfume. "I want to dance with you," he whispered.

Nina pulled back and met his gaze. "I'd love to."

He took her hand and led her to the wooden floor in the middle of the lavish ballroom where other couples were moving to the music. A smile crept onto her face and she held up one finger before stepping gingerly to the DJ on the opposite end of the floor with a giddy hop to her walk. From afar Kevin saw her lean in and say something to the man behind the booth and watched as he nodded. She spun on her heels and started walking slowly back to Kevin just as the song playing ended and a new slow song began. He knew it instantly. The few notes before the first line were all he needed and Nina smirked as she sauntered her way over to him. She was in his arms in time for the first line of the bluesy tune and she slowly put her cheek to his softly singing the lyric in his ear.

"Wish I knew… why I'm so in love with you. No one else in this world will do. Darling, please save your love for me."

Just as she had one August night not so long ago, with a few sweet notes and a voice like an angel she captured his heart. And through it all, the turmoil and the fear, the lust and the pain, the loss and now the rekindling—it was just as it always had been. The hard truth that took him so long to embrace, the feeling that brimmed in his heart from the moment he laid eyes on her. He loved her. Always had and always would. 

***

Thanks to everyone who fell in love with Kevin and Nina just as I did. It warms my heart to know that people want to be sure they ended up together. They certainly did! 

The blog tour is still on and I'm over at author Britni Hill's blog and author Jane Wakely's blog today! Come back tomorrow for the true ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY and hear from Kevin and Nina themselves!