A Month of Sundays

Since time flies so quickly I’ve decided to take time the first Sunday of every month and sort of “assess” where the last month has taken me both professionally and personally. That way, when the year is over, I won’t wonder if I actually managed to accomplish anything. I’ll know I’ve actually enjoyed the year!

So, let’s see, in January I did submit a short story to my editor. If contracted (fingers crossed), it will be offered as a free read. This story involves the three shifters, Jayda, Cole and Zane from my Shifting Bonds series. I’m in hopes of finding some new readers to fall in love with this trio. I expect the next book in this series “Bonded by Pride” to be released in 2011.

January also saw the release of “Maid for Master”, the first in what is turning out to be a series. I’m pleased to say the second novella in this series is cooking along quite nicely. 😀 I expect to have that out to my editor by the end of the month. Which is really awesome for me. Sometimes I fall into a slump with my writing and I’ve promisaed myself this year I wouldn’t do that. So far, so good.

I’ve also been plugging away at a couple of books in my backlist that I hope to have released directly to Kindle by the end of this month. This is new to me and I’m looking forward to sharing the news as I figure out this new technology that seems to be exploding.

On the personal end of things … well, it’s a long haul for me as perspective buyers for my house don’t seem to be braving the cold winds of Maine. Hopefully February will be different and someone will just fall in love with my house and I can sell it and join Mr. Nina down in Rhode Island. This being separated is for the birds. Neither one of us is too fond of maintaining two households. On the good news front, if someone makes an offer, it doesn’t take long for everything to fall into place and to get us moved out.

So there you have it. Probably waaaaay more than you needed/wanted to know about the Nina. And just for something different, I’ll leave you with an excerpt from “Bonded by Need”. Enjoy …
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She looked up the side of the mountain, down into the ravine and back up the rock wall, anywhere to avoid looking at him. “Yes, well, I guess we need to find a way to get out of here. And quickly.” Jayda used the wall to get to her feet, but her head spun again and she swayed. She slumped into Zane’s embrace and he held her while she retched.

“Really, Jayda, I’m pretty sure you have a concussion.” He brushed the hair from her face, his gaze raking over her features. The upturned nose fit perfectly with the rounded cheeks and full lips. Christ, she was beautiful.

Whoa, back up. What the hell was wrong with him? He had just been named head of the cougar shifters. Even considering getting involved with a wolf shifter was just a bad idea all the way around. And here he was, thinking lusty thoughts about the mate of the head honcho. Down, boy, down. He mentally refocused his libido. “There’s no hurry. We need to take this slow. Getting up the ridge may prove a little trickier than coming down.”

Once again she realized how close their bodies were and pushed from him. “Yeah, well, I think there is a reason to hurry.” She shot a glance over her shoulder. “Let’s just get out of here. You can take me back to the clinic and you and your cougars can come back and find the kits.”

The kits. He’d forgotten all about them. Zane went down on one knee and purred low in invitation. They popped out of the small crevice one at a time.

Jayda cooed. “Oh, you found them!”

“No, Jayda, you found them.” He picked one up by the scruff of the neck and smiled. “Not that I’d recommend this method again, but we have them.” Zane looked up the wall. “Now we just have to figure out how to get everyone back up to the truck.”

“Well, how did you get down here?” Jayda looked up, shading her eyes against the noonday sun. “I’m not sure I can climb.”

“I came down in cougar form. But I came in from that direction.” He turned and looked at the slope, trying to work out a solution. “I could carry you on my back.”

She didn’t respond. He turned to see her appraising him and his cock immediately stirred under her probing gaze. Embarrassed, he bent and let the kit join his sibling. “Stupid idea. Why don’t we both shift and we can each carry a kit in our mouths.” He shot her a look over his shoulder. “Do you feel well enough to shift?”

Her face flushed. “Yeah, but…” She looked from his ass to her body. “But then there’re no clothes for me when we get to the top.”

His fingers dug through his hair and he blew out a breath. Driving home with a naked Jayda next to him was definitely more than he could handle. “How about you wear my shirt and I wear my pants?” He stood, giving her a view of his shoulder, his hands covering his over-anxious cock. In all his life, Zane was sure he’d never been naked in front of woman and tried to keep his interest in her a secret. “We just need to get the hell out of here. You shift and I’ll follow.”

“Well, turn around. I’m certainly not getting naked in front of you.”

“Oh sorry.” He turned his back to her. Zane heard the rustle of clothing and imagined that tight little tank top coming off and her bra falling to the ground, leaving her full breasts exposed. He bit back a groan when the zipper of her jeans rasped, but he couldn’t control the surge of blood to his cock. He was slime. The woman had nearly lost her life trying to save the tiny cougars and all he could think about was her curvaceous, naked ass.

“Okay, I’m shifting.”

He waited a heartbeat and turned, expecting to see a wolf. But the form before him rolled and shimmied in an odd mix of human, wolf and cougar parts. The kits cried and backed away from Jayda. Zane wasn’t sure how to help her. Tears welled in eyes that were surrounded by the round nose of a cougar then the full shape of a wolf and finally she gave up, her naked form appearing on her hands in knees in front of him. Her breasts hung seductively and her ass curved ever so provocatively toward the sky. Shit.