Looking Back on 2014

Holy crap it's been a good year!!!

I finished Taken by the Wolf for Lit, which was a big deal for me because that story got kind of out of hand with plot LOL.  It became so much more complicated than I had originally planned!  But I had a good time with it, and it's possible I will eventually do a book of sci-fi romance that will take place on the planet that Alex and Bella ended up on - although they would NOT be the main characters.  It's just a thought.  Starting From Terra was good, even though it's obvious I'm not going to meet my goal from January of finishing it before the end of this year.  I'm also obviously not going to finish the other two series that I'd wanted to this year (Tomboy Tease and Homeschooled), but that'll just give me a goal for next year!!!

Looking back at my goals for this year...

*sigh*

I still haven't been to a strip club.

Maybe this year.  I'm going to stop making it a goal though, because I apparently suck at fulfilling it.

I did much better with my writing goals than my life goals LOL.  I managed to finish the Domestic Discipline, totally completing a series for the first time ever =)  I don't really consider the Venus Rising Quartet totally completed, just because it got a spin-off series which is still ongoing and the characters are a part of.  And I published both Taming the Tease and Mastering Lexie (and kinda got the 2nd one in just under the gun!).

Even though I didn't publish the book version of Marriage Training, I feel like I've done some pretty significant progress on it, since there's a writing agent interested in it, and so that makes me feel pretty good.  Lots of suggestions have been made from the agent about changing it for book format that I'm really excited about, so I'm kind of glad I didn't get it self-published this past year =)

I feel pretty good about this past year, even though I didn't make all my goals (including my bonus goal *sigh*).  I'm really glad that the Stronghold series is going so well and that people really seem to be enjoying Lexie & Patrick's book!  I'm looking forward to where the series is going to go this year. I'm also looking forward to starting a new series, although I don't know if I'm going to go futuristic or Victorian for it... probably Victorian.  There's a book I've been working on for almost a year and a half now, whenever I'm not doing anything else, so there's only a few chapters written for it, but I think I'm going to go ahead and concentrate on getting it out this year.  No connection to Marriage Training. 

Anyway.  So yeah.  I'm really happy with this past year and the stuff I've put out... I hope everyone else has been too.  I know I've been really grateful for the help I've received, for all the reviews you guys have written, and for the comments that I get throughout the year, on here, Facebook and Twitter =)  I love hearing from you all!

Next blog will be New Years Day, about all the stuff I hope to accomplish this year!

Something Free for Christmas!

Amanda Byrne, who's a wonderfully talented author, has a free book out if you want to try her writing! (At the time this blog was scheduled, she told me that she was still waiting for Amazon to price match... hopefully today, the day this blog actually is posted, it's all taken care of.  Otherwise, use the KOBO link to download it if you don't have a Nook =)

An accident forces Lila into physical therapy - and onto Dean's massage table. Under his talented hands, her injuries start to heal, and sparks a desire that neither one can ignore.

A 6,700 word erotic short story

Download it here: AMZ | BN | Kobo

Excerpt:

Finally she couldn’t stand it anymore and, one day, when their session was coming to an end, she caught his wrists to still him. Seeing she had his attention, she stretched up, placed her hands on either side of his head, and drew him down to kiss him.

It was awkward and not nearly as sexy as it looked in the first Spiderman movie. But there was a sweetness to it she hadn’t anticipated. Wanting more, she shifted onto her stomach and arched up, not paying attention to where the sheet was going.

Now she had a good angle. Now she could slip her tongue between his lips, swallow his moan as his hands dove into her hair, tongue dueling with hers. A kiss she’d intended to be cautious and testing spun out of control, and she tried to drag him closer.

Mmph. Perfect. His mouth was perfect, and just as skillful as his hands. Long, firm strokes into her mouth with his tongue, backing off to nibble at her lips, tiny kisses at the corners until she went after him, greedy for more. Wet, hot, and delicious. That was Dean’s kisses.          

Oh. He moved on without prompting to her jaw, nibbling, sucking, licking his way over the delicate line, making her gasp as he suckled the spot under her ear. A spot. Her spot, the one that revved her faster than any other. Especially when he combined it with-

He jerked away, his hand still on her breast, ready to squeeze again. No. It had been good, fantastic, he’d been into it, she knew it, he couldn’t stop now. Fuck waiting until she was done with rehab. “Dean?” she whispered.

The Original Stronghold Outline

So, I've talked in blogs about how my outlines change... it's usually due to character developments or a new revelation about the characters or plot while I'm writing, sometimes it's due to a bossy Dom....  I don't usually keep the first draft of my outlines, but I figured for Mastering Lexie I would.  Just in case anyone's interested in seeing how much the story changed from the original idea to the final product.

If you haven't read Mastering Lexie yet, you may want to do that first... or you may enjoy reading this outline first and then seeing how the book changed as it was written.  Up to you.  =)

Here's the original outline... which, looking at it, a LOT has changed since I wrote it.  In fact, it's practically a different book.  LOL.  So yeah... I always start off with an idea of what I want to have happen, but man does that idea change substantially as I'm actually writing about it.  There are bits and pieces you might recognize, but overall... totally different book.   Even the epilogue changed because I decided to postpone Andrew's book and have Jared's come first!

Mastering Lexie (the original outline):

- Lexie is Jake's little sister - Patrick refuses to let her play, only allows her to work.  Recently started letting her around the club but only to look - scares away any Doms who approach her.  Patrick wants a slave (never had one).

- Lexie tries coming onto him - he gives some orders and she submits, which turns him on more than he's willing to admit, but it doesn't stop her mouth - tells her she's not what he wants in a sub.  Hurts her.

- Talks more with Angel, who tells Michael that Lexie would like to show him around club - explains situation.  He's a very strong Dom, amused, he agrees.

- Lexie puts on special outfit for first tie in club - Michael makes it special, uses hands and mouth.  Patrick and others try to interfere when they first show up but subs, Olivia and Michael prevail.

- Patrick confronts Lexie the next day when she comes in to work, tells her that she doesn't have enough experience to know what she's getting into with Michael, she says then you do it, he agrees to train her but only at the club.

- Lexie has girls night with Angel & Leigh - bond.  Leigh and her boyfriend are drifting again.  Lexie says they should start a support group.  Everything is good with Adam and Angel.

- Patrick distracted from work by lustful thoughts of Lexie, esp after intense scene.  Feels guilt over Jake.  Hangs out with Andrew - talk about women / the couples / Jared & Marissa who just came home.

- They have another intense scene - Patrick mastrubates afterwards.  Michael does scene with Ellie.

- Leigh and her boyfriend break-up. Lexie goes to help Angel, canceling a scene with Patrick who realizes he's disappointed and grouchy because of that.  Heart to heart with Justin at Stronghold while Chris dances with Jessica.

- Very intense scene next time Lexie comes in; she basically jumps him at the end and he loses control, they have sex.  Super guilt over his lack of control and taking advantage of his friend's sister.

- Adam / Michael ushering Angel, Leigh and Lexie around club, Leigh was curious.  Lexie quits her job.  Patrick's upset - avoids her at the club.

- Jake comes home - Lexie upset, admits what happened.  Jake asks Patrick why he won't be with Lexie, Patrick suprrised at support, goes to Lexie but she's mad he didn't fight for her in the first place.

- at club she's talking with other Doms, he decides to fight for her, leads to hot scene.

Epi - Katherine comes home and her new bf wants to take her to Stronghold.

Before I Go

So, if you haven't picked up your copy of Mastering Lexie, you should do that!  (See previous blog).  The other thing you should do is leave a review... it's all I want for Christmas!  Seriously though, if you like my books, the nicest thing you can do for me is leave a review.  =)  I appreciate each and every one!

I am leaving tonight for vacation, but I'll probably still have internet access while I'm away.  Just in case, though, I've scheduled some blogs to automatically go up while I'm gone.  WOOT!  I've got Twitter & Facebook linked to my phone, so there'll be updates, I'm sure =)  The only thing I might not be able to do is let you all know when the next chapter of From Terra is posted (it was submitted yesterday), so keep an eye out for that!

Have to say... thought I was going to get to take the easy way out.  My initial idea was that Chryssa's brother Jed could be Porluxa's prine, and then Chryssa would show up... happy reunion... nice little tidy bundle.  But then I get the comment "I'm guessing Jed will be Porluxa's prine, but I don't know... that seems too simple for Angel" (okay, not a direct quote, but it's the gist) and I'm like well crap.  I don't mind people guessing what I'm about to do... but this comment was right on the money.  It IS the easy way out.  I do try to avoid that.  So I've come up with something else, and since I'm doing that, I figured I might as well cave to fan pressure and bring back Brik for at least one chapter.  Maybe he'll get his own story eventually too.  He'd be a good match for my Dark Angel pen name.  So.  There were supposed to be two more chapters.  Now there'll be at least three, hopefully not more than four.

I really need to get around to finishing the other two series that I started and never finished and that all of YOU voted I needed to finish.  Don't know if anyone remembers, but the original goal was that I finish them this year... sooooooooooo obviously that's not going to happen.  But I should be able to finish Tomboy Tease and Home-schooled during 2015.

Ah, also, people have been asking about Broken, which will be the second novella for Stronghold.  There won't be a novella in between every book, but this one is a kind of prequel for the fourth book, Breaking the Chain.  I've talked (a long time ago) about the order of upcoming books, but there is a definite clue for what's coming up in the epilogue of Mastering Lexie.  ;)  I'm pretty excited about it.  Considering fan comments about the characters during previous books, I have a feeling others will be too.

So that's it... enjoy Mastering Lexie.  Please leave a review for it if you have a minute.  Look for the next chapter of From Terra.  And I hope you enjoy the scheduled blogs while I'm away! Happy Holidays!

Mastering Lexie is Now Available!!!!

Amazon , Barnes & Noble , Smashwords

Lexie grew up with a crush on her brother's best friend, Patrick. He's gorgeous, sexy, controlling and arrogant, and she knows that he wants what amounts to a full-time submissive. So far, none of his girlfriends have ever been able to give him what he needs, but she's sure she's just the woman for him. She keeps pushing the boundaries of their relationship, until he agrees to allow her into the BDSM club that he owns, Stronghold, and train her. She can't help but wonder, will she be able to prove to him that they're worth the risk, or is she going to end broken hearted?

Hands off. That's what Lexie is to Patrick, and not just because she's his best friend's little sister. It's also because her family is practically his, they share all of the same friends, and he's worried about breaking her heart. The sweet little Pixie he's always known has grown up into a gorgeous young woman, one whom he wants to tie up, spank and control. She's passing every test he sets in front of her, but can she convince him that they'll be able to make it work before her brother comes home and Patrick has to ask his best friend if he can date his little sister. Because if she can't, Patrick knows he'll remain silent on the subject forever. It's just not worth tearing apart the people he considers his family, not to mention the family of friends that he's made, if he and Lexie aren't able to meet each other's needs. For now, he's going to make what memories he can while he keeps his promise to train her. He knows he's toeing the line during her training, but he just can't seem to stop himself, and she's starting to break his careful control.

This book contains hot and heavy erotic scenes, spanking, bondage, and BDSM.

This is the third book in the Stronghold series:
1. Stronghold
2. Taming the Tease
2.5 On His Knees
3. Mastering Lexie
3.5 Broken (Spring 2015)

From Terra Ch. 17 & Guess What?

Hey look!  I'm back to writing free stories!! LOL

Chapter 17 of From Terra is now up on Literotica =)  I'm excited to be back in the business LOL. Hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter submitted before I leave for vacation, because I'm not sure how much writing I'll be able to get done while I'm out of town.

For those of you (im)patiently waiting for Mastering Lexie, you'll be thrilled to know that it was submitted last night =)  There's a good chance it will be out and available today!  So keep an eye out for that.  Of course, I'll be updating the blog by tomorrow with the links, if it is.  WOOT!  I'm pretty darn happy with it overall.  It went shooting off in directions that were unexpected at times, but I think that it ended up being way better than the original outline.

Speaking of which, I've got a blog scheduled for next week when I'm on vacation where I'm going to share the original outline with you all, in case you're interested in seeing how very different it is from the final product.  Cuz uh... it's WAY different. 

So yeah, that's what's going on!  Enjoy the free chapter while you're waiting for ML to hurry up and come out =)

Update

Soooo I noticed it's been almost a week since I updated the blog and figured I should... you know... probably do that.

I have gotten absolutely nothing done on From Terra because I'm in a mad rush to finish Mastering Lexie.  I know exactly how these last few chapters are going to go, I just need to pound them out, and I've been infernally busy because it's the holiday season and I'm always crazy around this time of year.  I had a lot of girl time this weekend because my girls and I went to the Redskins game on Sunday and had a sleepover Saturday night so that it would be easy to drive down Sunday morning.  If you follow my facebook, then you got to see all the drunken conversations that I posted lol... might remind you of the Stronghold girls' nights. I won't lie, I use a lot of conversations that have actually happened between my friends and me in the books.

Mastering Lexie will actually probably be out earlier than December 20, because when I looked at my calendar, I realized that OOPS, I'm actually headed out of town on the 17th LOL.  ACK.  I will have some internet connection, but my life will be much easier/better if I can get it submitted before I leave, so that's the current goal.  We originally weren't leaving until the weekend, but we're now going to Harry Potter World with some friends so we're leaving a couple of days early to go to Florida before we go to Georgia for the holiday.  WOOT!  Preeeeeeeeeetty excited about visiting the new portion of the Harry Potter Theme park at Universal.  =)

In the meantime... I'm gonna get back to cracking on ML so that I can freaking finish it on time!  I'm hoping to be done writing before this weekend so that I have time to do some more editing and so that my helpers aren't put under too much of a time crunch!

FREE Stronghold Short Story!

So, as a Christmas present, the authors of Yellow Silk Dreams have banded together and produced a kind of magazine with short stories / articles from all of us.  I contributed a short written especially for the article.  You may remember a chat that Liam had with a masochist named Gina in Venus Aspiring; well she's been playing regularly with Master Will since then and all she wants for Christmas is him... but does he want her?  I also include a few little small glimpses into the other Stronghold characters, as well as a total spoiler about how Patrick & Lexie's book ends (you know... if you're questioning whether they end up together or not ;) lol

If you want the free Stronghold story and to check out some other YSD authors for free, just click here.

Honestly... it's kind of silly not to.  I mean, it's free.  Plus, Jackie, our fearless leader, went to all the trouble of making it available in several different formats so that you can read it on your Kindle or computer or whatever device you prefer =)

Also, since it's part of a free download and not available anywhere else, leave a comment here on my blog, on twitter or facebook to let me know what you thought of the story!  I'd love to hear any feedback on it and whether I should do more little shorts about the side characters like it!

In other news... I'm working my ass off on Mastering Lexie still.  I'm not getting anything done on anything else.  But it's going good!

Aaaaaand it's very likely that it will be out before December 20, because I just realized that I'm leaving town on December 17 and the whole hassle of trying to get everything together and submitted using a hotel's crappy internet just does not sound appealing, so I'm going to do my best to get it done before I leave.  Woot!

Last Mastering Lexie Teaser Until Release!

Soooo... it's December!!!! i.e. release month for Mastering Lexie.  I am a typing fiend.  No kidding, I got three chapters written last week... unfortunately, it's still not enough for me to make ML available for pre-order =/  The way Amazon works with pre-order is that I can submit a draft copy at any point - but it has to be a full draft - and then I have to submit the final, edited, ready-to-go version at least 10 days before the release date.  This means that, to get the book out on December 20, I would have to be completely finished with it by December 10th.  While I might be done writing it by then, I'm almost positive I won't have time to edit it.  And we all know, reading unedited books sucks.  So I'm not going to be able to do the pre-order thing... but the release date is definitely December 20.  Hopefully at some point in the future I will get better about guesstimating my writing time so I can do pre-order stuff.

Anyway.  Like I said, things are really moving along with the book, which is super exciting.  The beta readers all say they're enjoying it so far (which is even more exciting lol) and have come up with a lot of good stuff for me which has really been helping with the creation of the book.  I'm really happy with it at the moment, even though I wish I'd managed to finish it sooner.  I had originally planned to try and have it done by today, so that I would have the next ten days to work on editing and stuff.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Can't do it all!

In the meantime, to celebrate the fact that it's now release month, here's the last teaser before the book comes out:

******

Returning to Lexie's apartment the next day, Patrick beat down the feeling of anticipation that had haunted him ever since he'd left the night before.  It had felt incredibly good to give her directions, knowing that he would check up on her, knowing that there would be consequences.  He was a bit torn about whether he'd deny her Stronghold or if he'd spank her, but either way, it was the first time in far too long that he'd exerted his dominance over a woman in any kind of real way.

Once Lexie had started working at the club, he'd stopped playing there... and since he didn't really enjoy casual scenes, he didn't play at home either.  Hell, he hadn't dated since Lexie started working at Stronghold, even when she was going out with that little jerk Trevor.  That had driven him nuts.  The little bastard hadn't deserved Lexie at all, although at least she'd figured that out.  And Patrick had gotten a couple good swings in before they'd been pulled apart.  She'd brought Trevor to Stronghold for the very first theme night that Patrick had allowed her to hold.

The little idiot had tried to convince Lexie to sneak off the main floor and to one of the private rooms - something Patrick had expressly forbidden her to do.  She'd refused to leave the main floor, like she'd been told to, and the dumbass had decided to push things on the dance floor.  There were plenty of other couples around them doing similar things.  Patrick had thought he was just going to have to sit back and watch it, but at the first frantic glance Lexie had sent him as she tried to push Trevor away, Patrick had been beside her in an instant.  

It was one of the first times that he'd lost control over himself in years.  He'd just meant to separate them and give her boyfriend a firm lecture about safe, sane and consensual, but then the kid had told Patrick to leave them the fuck alone and grabbed Lexie's breast.  Hard enough to make her cry out and she'd pulled back, tripping over her feet and falling to the ground.  So Trevor had ended up with a black eye, a sore jaw and some bruised ribs by the time Justin had pulled Patrick off of him.  

He'd sent Patrick to his office to cool off, which he was only willing to do because Hilary had already been holding and comforting Lexie.  Adam and Liam had helped Justin restore order, while Jessica kept everyone away from Lexie and Chris guarded Patrick's door.  It was not Patrick's best night, despite the fact that everyone had really enjoyed the theme night and attendance had been at an all-time high.  He was kind of sad that he'd missed Olivia scaring the shit out of Trevor though.  

The only good thing to come out of that night was that Lexie had broken up with Trevor immediately and Patrick hadn't had to go through the torture of watching her date anyone else since.  Just the torture of knowing that he couldn't claim her for his own.

Today was a bit of a test.  He wanted to see if Lexie would follow a non-sexual order that wasn't part of a scene.  This wasn't just a series of scenes to Patrick, it was the way he wanted to live his life and he wanted to see if Lexie would follow through or not.  Although he liked a sassy sub, he didn't want every minute of his life to be a battle, which meant that his submissive needed to follow orders some of the time.

He didn't even get a chance to knock on the door before it opened.  A cheerful Lexie was practically bouncing on her feet as she grinned up at him.

"Five thirty, right on the dot," she said.  "As expected."

"Hey Pixie."  Damn she was cute when she was like this.  Wearing a grey t-shirt advertising some restaurant and blue jean shorts, she was completely casual and completely beautiful.  Her short hair was tucked behind her ears and she wasn't wearing any make-up at all, and Patrick had the strongest urge to just tuck her under his arm and never let her go.

"Come on in," she said, bouncing back from the door, pride practically emanating from her body.  Patrick already knew that she done everything he'd told her to.  Everything about her demeanor screamed proud submissive, but part of a Dom/sub relationship was acknowledging and rewarding good behavior.  

Warmth flooded his chest, seeing her like this.  Knowing that she'd done everything he'd told her to, and that she'd found satisfaction in it rather than resentment or boredom.

The apartment was spotless and the number of boxes stacked against her wall had been halved.  Granted, other than the clothes, her place hadn't really been all that messy.  Still, Patrick liked things neat and it had made a good test for her.  Especially since she'd never been messy before, but, as she'd pointed out, she'd always had on her mom on hand to make sure her room was clean.

"Good girl," he said, enjoying the way her bright blue eyes lit up from within at his words.  He'd told her that before, countless times, but this time it had more weight.  Because this time, they both knew she'd crossed some invisible line, that it meant something just a little bit different.  

"So now what?" she asked, practically bouncing on her toes as she tilted her head back to look at him, stepping a little bit closer and getting into his personal space.

Patrick raised his eyebrow.  "What do you mean?"

"I did what you said, right?  And I proved I can handle Stronghold.  So now what?"  She wasn't just eager, her voice was a little bit challenging.  Even if he tried to let the situation slide back to the status quo, she wasn't going to accept that. 

He knew it, but he still felt a bit of exasperated resignation at hearing the confirmation of that in her voice.  For the past year she'd been working towards this and they both knew it.  There wasn't anything he could do to stop her, really, but he could at least make sure she took things slowly.  

"Now, you go have fun at your girls’ night.  Come back to work at Stronghold on Tuesday and I'll start training you on Thursday."

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

One of the things that I love about Thanksgiving (other than the fact that it's the kickoff to the holiday season, which is my favorite time of year) is that it reminds people to think about all the good things they have in their lives.  Especially in this age of instant gratification, when people tend to be grouchy and whiny over conveniences, seeing any delay as a major inconvenience, I think that it's especially important.  Travel can be pretty crazy at this time of year and it always amazes me how much people bitch about the drive or the situation at the airport... umm, we have CARS and PLANES.  We are traveling hundreds of miles to spend time with loved ones - something that wouldn't have been possible only 100 years ago.  Like... DUDE.  I never get tired of the miracle of flight.  We're freaking flying, through the air... that's fucking amazing.  I don't care how long the line at security is.

Anyway.  Enough of my preachiness over why other people should be grateful =)

This year I am grateful for SO much.

#1 on my list is probably that hubby and I moved into a house this year.  I would say bought our first house, but with the amount of money we owe the bank, I'm not sure I can really say that LOL.  It's definitely still the bank's house hahahaha.  But it's amazing being in a house and having a guest bedroom for the first time EVER and being able to entertain large groups of people without feeling claustrophobic =)

I'm also incredibly grateful for all my fans... you guys really make all the work that goes into writing worth it.  I can't express how amazing it is for me when I look at the my reviews and see that people have actually written some!  LOL.  I've had other self-published authors ask me how I get so many and my response is - I just ask.  The fact that I can ask and receive is really something special.  I'm also extremely thankful that the vast majority are good reviews!  I'm still amazed that I managed to get over 100 likes on Facebook this year and over 300 followers on Twitter.  That's amazing.  I'd love to one day be able to quit my day job and be a full time writer - that's not going to happen anytime soon, so I judge my success by things like reviews and followers.  Having dedicated followers is pretty amazing and I'm really thankful that people have been into the giveaways and stuff so that I can give back a little.

Several people, over my time writing, have ended up as volunteer services for me - my beta readers and my editor - and I am SO thankful for their willing help.  As a self-published author, it's not an easy thing to get quality help and, it's taken a while, but I now have a really great team that is both dedicated and on top of things.  I think my past couple books have been getting better and better thanks to their feedback, it's made a huge difference and I'm so thankful for their giving natures!  I'm also super thankful for RaineyCloud9, who has started making all those gorgeous covers for me, not to mention the promotional ads =)  WOOT!  I love looking at my covers now, instead of sighing and wishing they could be better lol.  She does them so much better than I ever could.

Anyway.  Moral of the story... I have a lot to be thankful for, even just in the little realm of the writing world.  I'm loving being able to write books and share them with you, loving the fans on Literotica and BooksieSilk for the free stories, and loving that people actually follow and read this blog.  I have a lot to appreciate for this year, and I'm really looking forward to the coming year and all the cool stuff that I have planned for it!

Christmas Giveaway - TEN Books!

So, one of my fellow Yellow Silk Dreams authors, Blak Rayne is doing a Christmas Giveaway, which quite a few authors have contributed their works for.  The first list came out today and it's ten books long!  Including Stronghold, which was my contribution =)  All you have to do is go to Blak's blog and leave her a comment about the best Christmas gift you've ever gotten, along with your contact info, and you'll be entered in this first giveaway round.  Winners will be announced right before Christmas =)

Gotta love the holidays and the giveaways!

On my own front... the next chapter of From Terra is on hold cuz I'm on a MAJOR roll for Mastering Lexie (I know, I'm sorry, but I've got a deadline... just because Lord Plath has returned, that hasn't changed!).  I'm doing my best to finish as quickly as possible so that I can still do the pre-order thing, but I honestly don't know if it's going to happen.  The release date won't change, it's still December 20th, I just don't know if the book will be available for pre-order or not.  I'm doing my best to make it so.  At the moment I've only got 4-5 chapters left (I think) but since it's Thanksgiving weekend, I have no idea if I'll get it all done in time to have it edited and submitted by December 10, which is what I would need to do to make it available for pre-order.

Things are going pretty crazy in the book right now... if you've been following my twitter then you've been getting little hints and if you've been following my Facebook then you've been getting the tiny teasers.  I'll probably have one more teaser for the book, next week, posted on the blog.  I'm really loving it.  Hopefully I'll stay on my roll and get this thing cranked out in time to be able to put it up for pre-order!

I Ramble As I Wander

It feels like time for another ramble post... and I am constantly surprised by how many people tell me they enjoy reading them LOL.

I'm freaking COLD.  Which is inhibiting my writing because it makes me feel like just curling up under a blanket and reading.  For hours.  Which is what happened last night.  I did get some writing done before that and Mastering Lexie is now at 60k words (yay!) but I didn't get as much done as I wanted to.  *sigh*  On the other hand, I've been reading some good books lately... but I've also been paying more for them than usual.  Normally I try to keep my book purchases under $5 unless it's an author that I know is worth more, but then I discovered Cynthia Eden who has a freaking MILLION books and I got into most of her series, and then Lauren Dohnner's New Species series... and the next thing I know I'm reading instead of writing and spending way too much money on it.  again - *sigh*

The good news is, I'm really liking what I've got going on with Mastering Lexie =)  Even if I wish I was writing it faster.  Definitely going to try to get some serious work done on it today.  The other day I ended up re-writing the outline for the book - again.  I haven't done it quite as often as I did with Stronghold, but the end of the book is def going to be very different from the way I'd originally thought.  I think it's much better though.  One of my beta readers made a couple of points that have really helped me develop the characters further than I initially had, and that's making me really happy.  I was fighting some of the usual "big brother's best friend" tropes so hard that I went a little too far in the opposite direction and was taking out my frustration with other people's books on Patrick.  Poor guy.  Now I'm more balanced and I think it's a lot better that way... Lexie's got some good points to make about his attitude, but at the same time, she's also got some growing up to do.  Sucks being the youngest in the group.

Some other things I'm really enjoying about this book... I'm getting to know Leigh, Andrew and Jared a lot better, which is fun.  There's a seriously hot scene with Master Michael, which I thoroughly enjoyed and is making me look forward to his book.  Off to the side characters like Ellie, Will and Gina are getting small mentions through the book - and Will and Gina have their own short story which will be part of the YellowSilkDreams' holiday 'magazine.'  I'll let you all know when that's available.  I'm also finally getting to know Jake, which I've been looking forward to for a long time!  Not that he gets to show up much, so far, but it's still exciting.  He's kind of a hottie.  Rick basically has Maria locked up in his apartment doing naughty things, so we don't get to see too much of them, but he does let her out every now and then.

So yeah.  That's a lot of fun right now.

I'm also really enjoying working on From Terra.  I should be finishing Chapter 16 and submitting it today, and it's a HUGE turning point in the story, which will change completely after this chapter.  Definitely looking forward to it.  I love Chryssa.

I've also been thinking a lot about what I want to write next... I've got a ton of re-writing to do to make Marriage Training into a book (and, fun announcement, I might be finally making a break into traditional publishing with that one!  I've got a writing agent who's interested!) and I'm working on the beginning of a fetish novella, but I don't know what my next series will be.  I'm on a huge sci-fi romance kick when it comes to reading right now and it's kind of making me want to try my hand at writing one myself.  On the other hand, I also really enjoy doing the Victorian time period, so I'm kind of torn.  I keep coming up with all sorts of story ideas for both.  Aliens or earls... aliens or earls... such a dilemma. LOL.

Before I end this, I just want to say... thank you to my fans.  You guys.  I read every comment, I try to write back, I notice who follows me on Facebook and Twitter and who contacts me.  I love getting emails and feedback.  It doesn't just keep me motivated, it makes me feel really good about what I'm doing.  There is nothing more rewarding than having the same names pop up over and over again throughout the week in response to the stuff I post, whether it's here, facebook or twitter.  One day, if I'm lucky, I might be swamped with fans on all my sites, but there are certain names that are always going to stand out, and it's because you've been the ones who have stuck with me the longest and who are going out of your way to let me know that you're there.  I can't express how much I appreciate that.

Mastering Lexie Teaser

Okay... so, the pre-order thing.  I'm working on it, but it's not ready yet.  It seems that a book has to be finished (so basically, done, but unedited) and uploaded in order for it to be available for pre-order so that Amazon can look it over and make sure they're okay with it.  I'm not sure if I could get away with putting up a manuscript that's half done.  Soooo the pre-order thing probably isn't going to be ready for a while.  *sigh*  But I'm still aiming to have the book out December 20, and I am still going to TRY to make it available for pre-order, once the manuscript is finished and before I start editing.  

So that's what's up with that. 

In the meantime... if you're on Facebook then you've already seen me asking whose POV the next teaser should be from.  The answer was, overwhelmingly, Patrick.   It's unedited, as usual.

Enjoy:

The second he entered the main floor of the club, Patrick's eyes darted around.  He was used to taking in the big picture and focusing on whatever was out of place, but right now, it wasn't hard to figure out what the problem was.  The Lounge area where unattached subs congregated was almost empty, and those that were still kneeling there were watching the bar with the same interest as the few couples who were on the dance floor.  Some of them weren't even dancing, they were just swaying slightly, their attention too caught by the drama at the bar. 

That's where most of the people in the room were, the majority of them clustered at the center of the bar.  

Possessive fury flamed sudden and hot inside Patrick's chest as he focused on the combatants in the center of the stare down.  Andrew had his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Michael Waverly, who had one hand on the back of Lexie's neck.  Her short black hair was clipped back from her face, so that he could clearly see her mulish expression as she glared up at Andrew, who didn't take his focus from Michael.  The short black skirt and bright blue bustier she was wearing screamed "Ready to Play," to any Dom who observed her.  

The other subs were ranged around her.  Not just Angel, Hilary, Jessica and Maria, but also others that she'd befriended during her time working at the front desk.  Ellie, who was Andrew's most frequent play partner, had positioned herself at Lexie's side - although she was also shooting little looks at Michael.  In his distraction, Patrick couldn't quite interpret what those little looks meant, but she was the only sub whose focus wasn't entirely on Andrew.  He looked like he was holding back an army of rebelling submissives.  

Off to the side, perched on a bar stool, sat Olivia, looking like Queen Bee.  The fiery-haired Domme was stunning in all black leather that clung to her like a second skin.  Her legs were crossed and the look of amusement on her face was completely out of place with everyone else's expressions.  

Dammit.

Patrick knew exactly who she was going to side with.  Every step he took towards the group felt like he was actually being pushed, down into a pit that would be impossible to escape, and yet he couldn't do anything else.  Lexie was here, with another man.

Probably the only man who would have dared to do this.  Master Michael didn't come to the club very often, he'd been too busy, but he'd had a membership for a long time.  It had lapsed when he'd moved away and then been reinstated on his return.  A decision that Patrick was definitely regretting now.  Like Andrew and Chris, Michael was a bit of a prankster with a penchant for trouble.  Unlike them, he didn't have a history that would make him feel protective, like a brother, towards Lexie.

"Move Andrew, you're being ridiculous," Lexie said, biting out the words.  Patrick could see the tension along her slender shoulders.  With her arms crossed under her breasts, the small mounds were pushed even further up than they had been by the bustier. 

As if sensing his approach, Angel turned her head and saw him, her eyes widening.  She reached out to her side and grabbed Jessica's hand, alerting her.  Not that they looked any less rebellious.  If anything, they looked more defiant than ever.  Probably because they knew their asses were going to be grass once their Doms found out what they'd been up to.  They shouldn't be at the club by themselves, period, much less involved in a mass revolt.  Their awareness of him passed through to the others next to them.  Both Hilary and Maria were avoiding his gaze, but then, Hilary was extremely submissive and Maria didn’t know him that well.  Not that it made either of them step back of course.  Even the other little subbies who would normally fear his wrath were bracing themselves.  Dammit.  It didn’t look like anyone was going to be backing down any time soon.

"What's going on?" he asked, pitching his voice to carry.  Not that he needed to be very loud.  Conversation around the club had completely stopped, so, other than the music, there was no sound for him to compete against. 

Lexie stiffened, but didn't turn her head.  He felt like growling as he saw Michael's fingers stroke her neck soothingly before he turned to face Patrick. 

"Your bartender is keeping us from going downstairs," he said, mildly, although his hazel eyes flashed with amusement that didn't quite go with the neutral expression on his face.  Andrew bristled.  Not too surprisingly, since he and Michael had actually become pretty good friends.  The other Dom would see this as a kind of betrayal.

"Lexie's not allowed downstairs."

He kept his gaze on Michael's face as Lexie opened her mouth, her eyes blazing, but Michael's grip on her neck tightened just a bit and she pressed her lips together in a straight line.  Letting Michael continue to speak for her.  It fucking killed Patrick to see her responding to another Dom.  The inside of his chest felt like it was tightening around his lungs. 

"I was informed that Lexie no longer works for you," Michael said coolly.  A murmur of agreement went through the subs surrounding them, a few of them crossing their arms over their chests and nodding.  "Therefore, you have no authority over her in the capacity of an employee.  My membership has been approved to allow me to bring in a submissive, of my choice, to scene with for the evening.  I have chosen Lexie."

Patrick's jaw clenched, his mind racing as he fought for control over his emotions.  The determined, defiant jerk of Lexie's chin made him want to spank her ass again.  Anger swirled, along with a sense of loss.  He was on the verge of telling Michael that his membership was canceled and to get the fuck out, when Olivia hopped up from her perch. 

"It's clearly written out in your rules, Patrick," she said, her voice hard.  Those dazzling grey eyes of her were as unyielding as slate.  A small smile grew on her face, but it didn't reach those stony eyes.  "The only right you would have to deny them a scene would be if someone else claimed Lexie as his or her submissive."

From the emphasis she put on 'someone else,' Olivia made it clear that she meant him.  Beside Lexie, Michael stood waiting, looking entirely nonchalant, as if it didn't matter to him what Patrick's decision was.  But the stillness in the other submissives standing there, and the Doms hovering on the outskirts, said that they were all waiting to see what Patrick would do.  If he denied Michael, it would undermine all of their trust in him.  He made the rules, if he didn't follow him, then why should they?

His fists clenched.  Goddamn it all to fucking hell.  

They'd planned every last detail of this.  He didn't believe for one second that Lexie had come up with this on her own, and his quick appraisal of her friends confirmed that.  Angel might look as defiant as Lexie, but she also looked nervous.  Out of all Patrick's friends, Adam was probably the strictest and he was not going to be happy with her.  Especially because she'd involved Michael.  Adam and Michael got along fairly well now, but he still struggled with the fact that Angel had a bunch of very close guy friends and that her friendship with Michael had always been flirtatious.  Liam rarely punished his fiance, Hilary, but Patrick doubted she was going to get away with a light spanking for showing up at Stronghold without him there, not to mention in support of Lexie getting into the downstairs portion of the club.  Maria looked like she was ready to bolt, but she was also the newest member of their little group and probably felt in over her head.  Privately, Patrick was surprised that Jessica had managed to get away from both of her boyfriends in order to be here tonight.  All of them had probably lied their asses off.  Which would mean more punishment coming their way.

Lexie would have known that Eric was going to be working as bouncer tonight.  He was the only one who would have let her through the door without contacting Patrick, because he was too new to know better.  He was also the only one who wouldn't realize that her friends shouldn't be here without their Doms.  Having Michael and Olivia with them would have been enough, he wouldn't have thought twice about letting them in without notifying anyone. 

Obviously Patrick was going to have to do a more thorough job training anyone who spent time at the front door.  Although, now that Lexie wasn't working for him, it wasn't like she'd know what the schedule was after this week anyway.  Jared or Will would have never let her in without contacting him first.

The public stand-off worked in Lexie's favor too.  He had to follow his own rules or invite chaos, not to mention a lack of respect from everyone else in here for not following his own goddamn rules. 

"She hasn't had an Introduction scene," he said, his voice clipped, even though he knew that the excuse wasn't going to work.

"Michael can handle it," Olivia said, raising her eyebrow at him.  If it had been anyone other than Olivia, he probably would have taken them out front to go a few rounds in the parking lot.  But Patrick didn't hit women, he only spanked, whipped, flogged and caned them when they asked nicely.  Besides, if he was being 100% honest with himself, he wasn't sure that he'd come out on top.  Olivia took her Krav Maga seriously, and he doubted she'd have any real concern about damaging him, whereas he would never be able to make himself go all out against her.  "Besides, you don't require an Introduction scene for submissives who come in with an established Dom."

No, he didn't, although he usually assigned someone to 'oversee' any new couple in the club for their first few scenes.  Just as a precaution.  Not that Michael was new exactly but... fuck, he was going to regret this.

"Fine.  Andrew, get back to work."  There was a loud exhalation, as if everyone suddenly started breathing again all at the same time.  It would have been funny if he wasn't so righteously pissed off.  He looked Michael directly in the eye.  "I'm going to be overseeing."

Angel Recommends: CL Sholey

So before I get to the recommendation... just a bit of catch up on what's going on with me writing-wise =)  I'm over 50k words into Mastering Lexie, which means that I'm probably about halfway through.  I'm going to be putting it up for pre-order later this week, and when I do I'll announce it on the blog AND also provide a teaser ;)  Woot!  I've also re-released books 1-3 of the Venus Rising Quartet with edits.  Nothing major, but should make the readability a lot better since grammar is definitely improved and I've fixed a lot of words that were wrong.  Also, working on the next chapter of From Terra.  Yay!

So... in the meantime, if you're looking for something to read, I've become a big fan of C.L. Sholey.

I have to admit, I almost didn't make it through the first chapter of Shield, the first book in C.L. Sholey's New World series, but I'm so glad that I did.  It had a bit of a slow start, but things really heated up fast once the humans crash landed and meet their first alien.  

Rask is a Castian, part of a very long-lived race that looks human when they don't have their armor on.  Their armor makes them utterly terrifying, and when Grace first sees him, she panics and flees.

There's lots of cool things about Castians.  Their armor is part of them, it comes out whenever they feel threatened, and when they don't it sinks into their skin.  They're fierce warriors.  They have blood brothers whose thoughts they can read.  Their sense of smell is so good that they can scent emotions.  Oh, and all females on their planet were poisoned and killed off by their enemies, the Tonians, hundreds of years ago, so Grace is the first female that Rask has seen in - literally - hundreds of years.  

Watching him trying to figure out what she is, and then getting all horny but having NO idea what to do about it, is hilarious.  He's an alpha male, but a totally clueless one when it comes to sex, and it's freaking adorable.  Grace is pretty into it as well, since things on earth had pretty much disintigrated before the shuttle that she was on escaped, and women weren't exactly safe from the depredations of men.  Of course, once she starts showing Rask what to do, he catches on quickly.

When they reunite with the rest of his people, things get even more interesting.  There are older Castians who remember the females, and once they find out about this planet Earth, which is dying, and the fact that human females are compatible, the rescue mission is on!  Picture a bunch of horny virgins, who have never met a female, but are super excited to have one... and they just happen to be 6 1/2 foot tall warriors who are totally alpha male even though they don't know what their cock is for.  The best part is, for the most part, the older males seem to think it's best if they figure it out on their own.  

There's a lot of humor in the entire series, a lot of really sweet alpha males, and some great stories when it comes to danger and strong female characters.  I really enjoyed these books on pretty much every level.  I could go into more detail about them, but not without having to explain a lot about the culture of the Castians and Tonians and it's really just better that you read it for yourself, because otherwise it may or may not make sense if I try to do it =D

Giveaway, From Terra Ch. 13, and a Story

Okay, so I am now at 300 Twitter followers and the Twitter giveaway for a free copy of Mastering Lexie has started =)  I'm also over 100 likes on my Facebook page!  You can go there to enter the Facebook Giveaway for a free copy of Mastering Lexie.  It's amazing how quickly my Facebook page went from 88 to 101 once I said there's a chance for free stuff =P LOL.  I'm okay with that though, I enjoy doing the giveaways and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that there are so many people who want one!  By the way, if you haven't seen the GORGEOUS cover for the book yet, check out my previous blog post.

Chapter 13 of From Terra is now available on Literotica and Chapter 14 has already been submitted.  I had to edit chapter 13 because apparently my alien was too close to sounding like an animal instead of an alien which is why it took so long to come out.  Bah.  Whatevs.  I like the chapter.  And I'm super excited to see what people think of Chapter 14 because it's definitely the WEIRDEST creature I've ever utilized.  Chapter 15 should be fun and then I can't WAIT to get to chapter 16 when Lord Plath returns again!  =D  As much fun as I had being dark with Taken by the Wolf, I'm really enjoying doing something so fun and funny.  Chryssa entertains me so.  She's probably one of the most pragmatic characters I've ever had, and one of the most sensually greedy.  I'm thinking about doing more characters like her, since people seem to be responding to her.

So.  A little story.  I find it amusing, you may or may not, but people have indicated that they like knowing some of the little things that go on in my life.

Last night, I'm sitting on the couch with hubby and we finished catching up on Gotham (which I am LOVING!) and I didn't really have an opinion on what to watch next, so I toss the remote at him.  He looks at me with this kind of bewildered expression and holds up his hands, because he's holding a beer in one hand and a bag of chips in the other.  Waving his full hands up and down like he's doing a demented doggy-paddle, he looks at the remote which has landed on the couch next to him, and goes "Oh noooooooo."

At which point I bust up laughing and tell him "You look ridiculous."

He starts giggling (yes, actually giggling) which just makes me laugh harder and then I have a sudden thought.

"Oh my god... is this what being married to me feels like?"

Which just makes him start laughing as he nods YES.

Because that's the kind of shit I do to him aaaaaaaaaaall the time.  It was both weird and hilarious to be on the receiving end of that kind of ridiculousness.  Poor guy.  Can't imagine how he puts up with me.  LOL.

Mastering Lexie Cover & Giveaway

Happy November everyone!!!

So I'm pretty excited about a lot of stuff going on... I now have the cover for Mastering Lexie (Thanks to RaineyCloud9 by designer Crystal Raine and her incredible talent) and I'll be making it available for pre-order on Amazon this week, which I'll let you guys know when it's up. I'll be looking into how to do pre-order for the other sites as well.

On Facebook I have reached 89 Likes... to encourage people liking my Facebook page (I swear, I say all sorts of interesting things on there, really!) once I get to 100 Likes on my page, I will have a Mastering Lexie giveaway specifically for my Facebook followers!

On Twitter, I have 294 followers... to encourage people following me on Twitter, once I have 300 followers, I will have a Mastering Lexie giveaway specifically for my Twitter followers!

For both giveaways, I will be giving one lucky winner a free e-book copy of Mastering Lexie.

I'm currently at about 43K words =)  A little over 1/3 of the way through the book.  It's moving along at a good pace!!!

On Friday, I submitted Chapter 13 of From Terra to Literotica, so that should be out any day now!  For those of you wondering, Lord Plath will be returning... just not until Chapter 16.  I'll hopefully finish writing Chapter 14 in the next couple of days.

And I'm having a really good time working on the Stronghold short story for Yellow Silk Dreams' Christmas anthology!  It's fun to write something for Stronghold that's not a full length, super involved story, but also gives me (and you) a little glimpse into some of the characters on the outskirts of the main Stronghold group.  Good times!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a great Halloween... Facebook & Twitter followers got to see my Luna Lovegood Stormtrooper outfit, so if you aren't tempted by a giveaway, maybe you'll be tempted by that! =D

From Terra ch. 12

Lord Plath is back!!!  I know some of you were missing him =)

Chapter 12 of From Terra is now available... however, don't get too excited, he doesn't stick around at the end ;)  That might be coming in the future, but not yet...

I'm having a blast writing this series.  In part because it's giving me some good experimentation with a different kind of character (Chryssa cracks me up) and also with alien life forms =D  I really want to write a sci-fi book eventually, so this is good practice.  Maybe several sci-fi books... Anyway.  I'm  having a lot of fun with this particular Lit series.

Also having a lot of fun working on Mastering Lexie, as usual.  I'm glad to see that everyone seems to have enjoyed the teaser!!!  I've been writing my butt off... I'm over 30k words so far =)  YAY!  The cover is coming together, I've seen the first draft and RaineyCloud9 is outdoing herself this time.  It's freaking sexy.  I'll be making it available for pre-order soon!  YAY!

So, for those of you who like the gay male porn, I've got a fun recommendation for you - another YSD author just came out with a new erotic short.  You should check out Blak Rayne if you're interested.  Her new release is called The Jock.

‘Time is evanescent. Memories are forever.’

Stuck in a traffic jam on the highway, in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave, Adrian Greene has more on his fevered mind than praying for rain and getting home. With little else to do, his thoughts stray to a better time in his life—his youth and an adventurous three years spent with his first boyfriend. If there’s one thing he longs for, it’s a chance to relive it all.

That's a fun little erotic story =)  I'm also going to be doing some stuff around Christmas time with the YSD authors that will give you a chance to pick up the Venus School as part of a bundle and check out some of the other authors.  I love the bundled books that are available, because it's SUCH a good way to check out a bunch of authors at once.  We're also probably going to be putting together some kind of short anthology.  I'm going to write something for it, but I don't know what yet.  

I'm going to write a Christmas erotic short about Stronghold.  It might go into the anthology, but either way I'll let you know where/when to pick it up.  If nothing else, I'll end up posting it on The Lost Angel Works.  Do you remember Gina from Venus Aspiring?   She's a submissive that Liam talked to in the lounge, while he was trying to get up the interest to play with someone, before Hilary returned to Stronghold.  Well, he ended up suggesting to Master Will that he play with Gina, and the two of them have been scening at the club since then, but she's starting to get frustrated because she wants more than a club partner, she wants a relationship like she sees the other Stronghold women getting.  Is she going to get her Christmas wish or end up with the Christmas blues?

Mastering Lexie Teaser

Teaser time!!!!  I'm at about 30k words on Mastering Lexie (working on Chapter 5).  For those of you who keep track, my books are usually somewhere between 80-100k words.  Which is actually a little longer than the average novel length (70k words).  =)  This particular teaser is the very beginning of the book.  I haven't done a Prologue for any of my Stronghold books so far, because I haven't felt like I really needed one, but I wanted to go back over some of the events from Taming the Tease, so I figured that would make a good prologue.  Specifically, I didn't want us all to miss out on Lexie & Patrick's confrontation in his office, the one that she talks about at the end of Taming when she's at Girls' Night.  

So here's a bit of the prologue to whet your appetite =D

Prologue

I'm going to this.  Yep.  I am really, totally going to do this.

Squaring her shoulders, Lexie pushed the front door to Stronghold open and stepped into the all too familiar lobby.  A lobby that she'd spent far too much time in over the last year and a half, just as a way to get her foot in the door.  Well she'd gotten that, and she'd even gotten past that door onto the main floor of the BDSM club.  Unfortunately, her forward momentum seemed to have stalled out there.

And she was so damn tired of waiting.

It seemed like half her life had been spent waiting.  Waiting to grow up enough that it wouldn't be creepy for Patrick to notice her as something other than a little sister.  Waiting for him to realize that she was definitely interested in the lifestyle that he led.  Waiting for him to realize that working the front desk of Stronghold wasn't scaring her off of the lifestyle, that it was actually making her want it more.  

Waiting for him to sweep her off her feet - or at the very least, push her onto her knees.

She'd tried the waiting game.  Acted the brat to get his attention when she felt like he'd been ignoring her for too long.  Hoped that one day he'd lose his temper enough to actually punish her; to treat her like a real, adult woman, a sexual submissive, and not just the annoying little sister of his best friend.

There were times, moments, when she saw flashes of attraction in his eyes.  He hadn't done a scene with any other woman since she'd started working here, not even when she'd had a boyfriend, so that had to mean something, didn't it?  The other submissives seemed to think so.  Some of them had been kind of pissed at her about it at first, but none of them had tempted him into breaking his abstinence.  Which Lexie was grateful for.

She would have dealt with it, but it would have sucked. 

By now he should be at least as sexually frustrated as she was.  After all, she hadn't done anything beyond making out with her last boyfriend.  Trevor had been a poor distraction from Patrick.  Honestly, it hadn't really been fair to Trevor either, because she'd been using him.  Then again, he'd been a jackass, so she hadn't really felt bad about it at the end.  

All of which had led her here.  Today.  Wearing a coat and heels and nothing else.  Unless you counted the two silver hoops through her nipples, which were rubbing against the front of her coat and making her pussy cream at the exquisite sensation.  She'd been covering them up and hiding them under her bras while they healed; letting her breasts bob freely felt wonderful not.  Not like she had more than a handful anyway.  She'd never really needed to wear a bra until she'd gotten her nipples pierced and needed the barrier between the sensitive nubs and the rest of the world.

It hadn't hurt that bad when she'd had them done, but by the next day it had hurt like a bitch.  Especially when her breasts brushed against anything.  So the bra had served two purposes.  A hardcore masochist, she was not.  

"You can do this," she muttered to herself, wiping damp palms against the short trench coat. 

The club would be empty right now, except for him.  Everyone who worked at the front desk knew that Patrick was always here long before the club opened, in his office working on the books or advertisements or whatever else he needed to do to keep the club running.  He liked the quiet of this time of day, especially since when the club was open he preferred to be out on the floor.  

She hadn't told anyone she was going to be here today, which wasn't like her.  But she didn't want the pressure of people waiting to hear how things went.  Especially because things could definitely go horribly wrong.  She was baiting the bear in his den, grasping the reins from a complete control freak, and hoping against hope that it wouldn't blow up in her face.

Hopefully this would prod him into some kind of action.  Getting jumped and ravished would be nice, but she didn't hold out much real hope for that.  Maybe a spanking or some kind of punishment, something that would at least give her the chance to show him that she could take it.  Even if he just agreed to let her onto the other floors in Stronghold, where people were actually doing the interesting things, instead of making her stay on the main floor at the bar with all of their friends watching over her, in exchange for getting out of his office... she would take it.  It would still be progress.  

So he'd been her older brother's best friend for years... he wasn't actually her older brother, even if that was the excuse he used for bossing her around.  She'd acquired a whole bevy of big brothers from Jake's friends, all of them Doms at Stronghold, all of them super over protective.  Lexie called them the Sentinels, after the robots from the X-man.  They were illogically, unwaveringly devoted to their cause since Jake shipped off to Afghanistan, and Patrick was their leader.  

Slowly but surely, she'd been working on inserting herself into Patrick's life.  Showing him that she could handle his needs - hell, that she wanted the same things.  Lexie preferred it when Patrick was bossing her around.  It didn't just turn her on, it made her feel grounded.  She'd spent her entire life with bossy older men, thanks to Jake.  Sometimes she liked to poke at them, because it was fun, but she felt happiest when Patrick would put his foot down and draw her back into line.  He was the only one that ever did so, the rest of the guys always deferred to him.

It made her feel secure.  Cared for.  Even treasured sometimes.  Of course, it could also get a little smothering sometimes in a way she didn't care for, and that's when she tended to act out.  Wishing that he would spank her or tie her down and tease her mercilessly until she was begging to orgasm.  The kind of things that the couples in their group did together.  As Lexie watched enviously from the sidelines.

She was so damn tired of watching from the sidelines.  That thought helped her gather her courage.  Her head tilted up, chin in the air, and she squared her small shoulders, marching - as best she could on 4" heels - to Patrick's office door.

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

So, when I did my "what do you want me to blog about?" blog entry, someone asked to know about my favorite things so that readers could get to know me better.  In case anyone's wondering, because of the title of this blog, Sound of Music is actually not one of my favorite things.  In fact, I kind of can't stand it, probably because when I was growing up, there were only two VHS' at my grandparents' beach house we would go to every summer, and we weren't allowed to bring more because those were rainy day activities only and only once we got tired of playing board games.  The family didn't support watching TV.  Those two movies were The Sound of Music and The Last Unicorn.  I always chose to watch The Last Unicorn, the rest of my family loved The Sound of Music.  Even though I'm into musical theater, I still can't stand it.  Give me The Last Unicorn any day!

Let's see... other favorite things...

Reading, obviously.  I'm super into sci-fi/fantasy when I'm not reading trashy romances.  My favorite book of all time is The Merro Tree by Kate Waitman.  It's utterly fantastic.  Normally I hate it when books go back and forth between the present and the past, but she does it RIGHT and it's SO good.  Engaging, sexy, entertaining, haunting... it's one of the few books that has a scene that I will cry at EVERY single time.  Not because it's particularly sad, exactly, but it's so tragic that it's beautiful, even though it's actually not tragic at all because it's only a reminder of past tragedies... kind of like crying at a memorial.  If you ever read it, it's when Mikk does the glass dancing.  It makes me ache inside of my chest.  I just love that book.  Everything about it.  My second favorite book of all time is the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.  What can I say, I have a thing for trees!

I love anything to do with dressing up in costume, especially for pirate stuff!!!  I'm getting really into cosplay lately =)

My favorite movies are Love Actually, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, the Princess Bride, Sleeping Beauty, Pirates of the Caribbean, Rodger's and Hammerstain's Cinderella (the one with Leslie Ann Warren), Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.  Those are the ones that I can watch over and over and over again.  I'm also a big fan of Boondock Saints, the Court Jester, Condorman, Rustler's Rhapsody and Clue.  I watch all of those at least once a year.  

I don't have a favorite band or song or anything like that.  I'm currently obsessed with Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass."  But I love pretty much all kinds of music except for hard rap or really heavy metal.  Although, like Angel in Stronghold, when I'm super pissed off I do listen to my O-tep CD, which is normally too screamer for me.  I'm just not a big music person.

Hmmm... obsessions.  Currently Doctor Who and Harry Potter are probably my top two obsessions.  Especially Doctor Who, since I can watch the classic stuff so there's lots more for me to see.  On the other hand, I get super fan-girly about Harry Potter.  Guess who's going to check out the new HP World this year?!!!!! Sooooooooooo excited.  At some point, there's going to be a new character in the Stronghold novels that has a Doctor Who obsession so that she and Angel can get into nerd arguments about which is better, Doctor Who or Harry Potter.  heh heh heh. Honestly, I don't know if I could choose.

So yeah... those are a few of my favorite things.  If there are any that you're like "what the heck is that and why do you like it?" just leave a comment and I will be happy to try and convert you to the dark side. ;)