What are your favorite genres to read and write?
I like to read most genres except for heavy-duty sci-fi where the techno stuff is so thick, it becomes more important than the characterization. I’m really most interested in the people that populate a story.
As far as what I like to write – everything: romantic comedy, suspense, mystery, paranormal, historical. You name it, I’ve tried it! But no matter what genre or sub-genre I’ve worked in, I’ve always wanted it to also have a strong, moving love story. One that makes you laugh, cry and smile at the end, wanting the story to go on and on.
To you what type of hero/heroine is the hottest?
I just love damaged heroes – guys who’ve faced some major hardship that’s torn their heart in two. They’re afraid to love so they focus on sex. But beneath all the armor, there’s a tender soul, a man who aches to have a woman care for him. He’s tough but tender. Strong yet vulnerable.
For heroines I love ladies who have emotional strength when it comes to the man they love. That guy may tell them the relationship’s not serious. . .it’s only about sex, but they know better. And they fight for their man. They prove that they are the only woman for him. They give him back his soul.
Share one of the sexiest or romantic lines from one of your books.
Wow – that’s tough. I always build the emotional tension between my characters before the sex scene or the ‘I love you’ declaration so the payoff is satisfying. Therefore, I can’t really condense it to one line. Taken out of context, it doesn’t have as much power. However, in my last novel Deep, Dark, Delicious there’s a scene early on where Rafe arrives at Eden’s house where he’s going to be staying for 30 days having challenged her to satisfy him sexually, a matter that unsettles her. She likes Rafe too much already and she’s afraid she’ll lose her heart, which is exactly what he wants because he’s fallen hard for her. In the scene, they’ve reached her bedroom.
He turned. “Where are your things?”
The change of subject and his direct tone caught her by surprise. Expectation and a trace of caution flickered across her face. “In the guest house where I’m staying at night.”
“You’re staying in here with me. We’ll bring your things back here later.”
She hooked her thumbs into her shorts’ front pockets, an insubordinate stance.
“Do you want to argue about it?” he asked.
“Would it change your mind?”
“No.”
She studied him, deepening submission to his resolve shimmering in her eyes.
“Then I guess I don’t want to argue. I’ll do what you want.”
“Good.” He stepped closer, his attention fully on her, his tone deceptively mild. “Take off your clothes.”
The sexual and emotional tension only builds from there. ?
Speaking as one of your characters, describe in a sentence or two what makes your partner irresistible.
Oh hey, that’s easy. Loyalty, a sense of humor, a sense of fairness, a sharp mind and similar values.
Please tell us about your latest release?
My most recent release is Lush Velvet Nights, coming out today from Ellora’s Cave!
Here’s a blurb:
Lush Velvet Nights – When wanton desires & love demand all…
During the day, Adriana’s a lonely corporate heiress, helming a supermarket empire. At night, she hires escorts, scripting provocative fantasies of kidnapping, lust, submission and endless longing. It’s all she has to excite her until she meets Nathan Wynn. Tall, blond and muscular—like a modern-day Viking—Nathan’s a labor relations attorney representing Adriana’s union employees. His imposing presence intensifies her basest desires. When he protects her from an escort he believes is an attacker, she knows he’s wonderfully dominant and unrestrained. Fascinated by Adriana’s underlying sensuality, Nathan brings her to his secluded mountain estate, determined she submit fully to his hunger. At a gentleman’s club, he makes certain she denies him nothing. Engaging in a seductive sexual journey, Nathan’s caught off-guard by his stunning need for Adriana. An attraction he fears because of past events in his life. A growing emotional connection she will not let him deny.
And here’s an excerpt from when they arrive at his secluded mountain estate:
He sensed her surprise in how she leaned forward and in the way her fingers gripped the dashboard above the glove compartment. She tipped her head to see past the top of the windshield, to catch what lay beyond the estate’s imposing iron gates.
Monstrous pines, their branches drooping beneath weeks of snow, hid most of his house from view. If Adriana had known where to look, she would have caught a glimpse of the slanted roof and the master suite’s stone chimney. Since she didn’t, her head moved right, left, her eyes searching. Her dazed expression told him she appreciated the seclusion of his place. How truly alone they’d be. For the next three nights, she belonged to him. Within a half hour, he’d have her nude and powerless, her body to do with as he willed and she desired.
And she would desire—more than she believed possible. Her trust in him not to harm her, the solitude of their surroundings, would allow her freedom she would have never experienced with an escort at a busy LA hotel. Here, she could act out her most sensual scenarios, with him as her exacting teacher and guide.
Cock thickening at what he’d already planned for her, Nathan grasped the steering wheel, impatient with any more delays in having her behind closed doors, obedient to his carnal conditions.
The gates swung open onto the drive cleared earlier by his caretaker. Nathan drove inside.
Turning toward him and bending her torso to the right, Adriana looked at the scenery past his window. After a hundred yards, enough to shelter his place from the road and public, the vegetation thinned.
Her head swung to the right, halting at the sight of his sprawling two-story house, constructed of wood and stone. The outside masonry gave it the ancient look of a brooding priory in the Scottish Highlands. The honey-colored wood inside, gleaming and sleek, afforded a more modern, yet seductive design, as did the towering windows which dominated many of the walls.
In this house, he could easily watch the outside world. He suspected Adriana considered how effortlessly others might peer inside, especially those who lived across the lake’s narrow finger of water from him and his closest neighbors. . .a couple with a mansion on the left. Its second floor reached past the trees, affording them a view of his great room.
You don’t like the possibility of someone watching? he’d asked.
What do you think?
He thought as their night went on she’d welcome exactly what he intended for her. Putting the vehicle into park, he undid his seatbelt and covered her hand with his. Though warm, her fingers shook slightly. He asked, “Not what you expected?”
Her slender throat quivered with her hard swallow. Eagerness rasped her voice. “I did picture something far different.”
Nathan hid his amusement. “A cabin with dirt floors and guns hanging from the walls?”
“Not that primitive but certainly not this stunning.” She lifted her face to the entrance, its massive domed window and the heavy wooden doors protecting a male’s lair inside. Lips parting, she wore a look of anticipation and submission.
Fevered at her response, not intending to wait unnecessarily to taste her flesh and to bury his shaft in her snug heat, Nathan brought back his hand. “Put on my topcoat. No—in here,” he added as she reached for the door’s handle. “Stay in your seat. I’ll come around and get you.”
His voice sounded harder than he’d intended. He didn’t explain or apologize. By the time he’d turned off the Rover and reached the passenger door, she had her arms through his coat and her skirt over her knees, keeping him from seeing her enticing garter belt and the frilly tops of her stockings. Rather than gripe about her foolish modesty, he opened the back door and grabbed her purse. Something fell from the seat, landing on the floor mat with a small tap.
He picked up her cell phone, wondering why it wasn’t in her jacket pocket. Had she called someone while he’d been in the store getting their hot chocolate and shopping for another surprise? Had his exit interrupted her conversation? Probably, only who? Steve? The escort agency?
Her phone slipped from his palm into her bag, landing on top of the lingerie she’d planned to wear for her pretend kidnapper. Nathan recalled the man’s arm around her waist, his hand on her mouth, his body pressed too close. A flash of jealousy surged through him, stinging his face. Before it clouded his judgment and he became territorial, he reminded himself this weekend was about enjoyment not devotion.
He offered her the purse. In the milky light, he watched her cheeks flush a shade darker than her complexion. She pressed the handbag to her chest as though she feared he’d look more closely at its contents.
Soon, he would. He extended his hand to her, palm up. More than an invitation to begin their evening, it commanded.
The tempting promise in Nathan’s eyes, rather than the cold, sent a shiver through Adriana. Shakily, she pushed her bag’s shoulder strap over her arm and drew his coat more closely around her body.
His gaze noted her delay. He said nothing. Seconds passed. His silence bore down on her, forcing her to submit.
As though in a dream, she watched her fingers slip over his palm, his strong hand surrounding hers as she exited the Rover. The hem of his topcoat fell to her ankles. The thick fabric swished around her calves, covering her fully. For the moment. Once inside, he’d demand her nudity, her thighs parting to his cock, her sex welcoming it. Her legs got watery as he released her hand. Knees locked, she lowered her head at the faint grinding sound of rock salt beneath her heels. On a startled gasp, she looked at Nathan as he swept her off her feet and into his arms.
A pulse beat crazily in her throat and cunt. Without pretense or reserve, she wreathed her arm around his shoulders, melting into his big, hard body. His breath and hers left brief puffs of white in the freezing air. Snow rained down on them, catching on his hair and lashes. With her palm on his beard-roughened cheek and her thumb on his upper lip, Adriana guided his head to hers, kissing away the flakes on his lids.
His arms tightened around her body, proving his gratitude, encouraging her to do more.
Seeking his mouth, Adriana teased the seam of his lips with her tongue and speared it inside. He made a low rumbling noise one hears from animals during a feeding frenzy or when they’re engaged in rutting. Roused by the crude sound, Adriana swept her tongue over the insides of his cheeks and teeth, tempting him to suckle her, tasting a trace of the hot chocolate he’d sipped and an obsession to match her own.
Impulsively, they necked. . .with the newness of a couple on their first date and with the ease of lovers who understood each other’s desires. The cold and the burden of him holding her went unnoticed. Their mouths didn’t pull free until they each needed to take a full, calming breath.
Buy link: http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8298-50-lush-velvet-nights.aspx
My website: www.tinadonahue.com
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Hey, Kate – thanks for having me here today!!!
Happy Release Day, Tina!
You’re welcome, Tina! Thank you for being here!
Hey, Tessie – thanks – and thanks for stopping by!