Plot Monkeys

NOTE FROM JULIE: Yes, today is Wednesday, not Thursday. No, this switch isn’t permanent (like Carly taking Mondays and Leslie Tuesdays.) Just a temporary switch for this week only!

(Julie hands mike to Janelle… )

I have a few things to mention before getting to the good stuff! Today I’m a guest blogger at Love Is An Exploding Cigar, and I’m also doing a giveaway, so be sure to stop by, register, and post a note to be eligible to win!

Also, don’t forget about the cool contest that Leslie are doing with our September releases. More details on that below, after the excerpt.

I saved a super-sexy excerpt of BORN TO BE WILDE exclusively for our Plotmonkey visitors, since you all seem to really like the stuff. Just to give you a bit of background leading up to this scene, Joel has promised an ex-Marine buddy that he will protect his sister, Lora Marshall, from a ruthless loan shark her brother owes money to. Lora, however, is unaware that Joel has been sent by her brother to watch over her. Joel has been trying real hard to resist Lora, but as you’ll see in this scene, he finally gives in to her seductive tactics!

BORN TO BE WILDE Excerpt:

The man was a bundle of contradictions, Lora thought as she watched Joel stalk toward his bike. Pure walking sex with a body made for sin, yet so unconscious of his masculine appeal. Fiercely protective of her as he’d been earlier in the bar, yet dangerously possessive in a way she found shamelessly exciting.

Then there was the dark hunger in his eyes that clearly stated he wanted her, yet every time she tried to get close enough to indulge in her own desires he immediately put physical distance between them to keep things platonic. And now, with his lecture about women and relationships, he’d just erected all sorts of emotional walls, too.

What the heck had that been all about, she wondered, feeling confused and baffled by his odd behavior. She didn’t understand his resistance when there was so much sexual tension between them just waiting to be explored and exploited to its fullest potential of pleasure. Especially when he’d asked her out on a date — yet had spent most of the evening avoiding any one-one-one contact with her.

It was as though he was fighting himself and what he truly wanted. She didn’t know why, but considering he’d made it clear during their discussion that he only wanted one thing from a woman, she figured they were pretty much on the same page. She had her own reasons for not getting tangled up in a committed relationship right now, but what was wrong with the two of them enjoying a bit of sexy fun?

As he slid onto his bike and reached for his gloves, Lora decided it was time to go after what she wanted. Time to really shake Joel up and let him know she’d more than welcome some one-on-one attention. Obviously, the seductive, flirtatious cues she’d been tossing his way all night long hadn’t done the trick, so she needed to ratchet up her efforts.

He glanced her way, frowning when he found her still standing where he’d left her. “Let’s go.”

It was a brusque order, tinged with impatience to match his restless need to get out of this secluded area with her. She started toward him, adding a slow, purposeful sway to her hips as she walked — like a woman on a sensual mission who wouldn’t be dissuaded. Not this time, at least.

“I’m not ready to go back home.” The anticipation of executing her plan infused her voice with a low, husky quality.

His gaze, so dark and intense, narrowed at her, as if he was trying to figure out exactly what she was up to. “It’s late.”

“It’s Saturday, and the night is still young.” Before he realized her intent, she slid onto the leather seat in front of him, between his spread thighs. Then she plucked the gloves from his grasp before he could put them on and tossed them aside.

Lifting her hand, she caressed her palm along the taut line of his strong, firm jaw, trying to ease the tension vibrating off his entire body. “Besides, I don’t have a curfew. Do you?”

He didn’t touch her as Lora ached for him to. In fact, he went to great pains to make certain he kept his hands to himself even though she was practically draped across his lap, his for the taking.

“Lora-”

She silenced his oncoming protest with her fingers against his mouth. His lips were so warm and pliant and tempting, and all she could think about was tasting him and making that precious control of his shatter. Feeling the barely leashed aggression beneath his reserve, along with the solid length of his shaft pressing against her hip, she knew she was close to doing just that.

Lora’s greatest wish was to be ravished by this man, except he didn’t seem willing to oblige, and that meant she’d have to do the persuading, and seducing. “I’ve been dying to kiss you,” she whispered as she eased her right leg over the bike so that she was facing Joel, her legs draped atop his muscled thighs in a position that was oh-so-intimate. “Really kiss you. Slow, and long, and deep.”

Sinking her fingers into the soft, richly textured hair at the nape of his neck, she lowered her mouth to steal one of those kisses, but right before her lips made contact with his, he jerked his head back.

She sighed. His reaction was disappointing, of course, but Lora wasn’t completely surprised considering he’d been thwarting her attempts to get close to him all night long. But she wasn’t discouraged, and she didn’t take his rejection personally, not when he was staring at her with eyes that were dark and tormented with wanting, and the struggle within him was nearly palpable. The big question was, why was he still denying her, and himself?

Since her bold and assertive advance hadn’t worked, she opted to handle the situation by taking a more humorous approach that would undoubtedly get some kind of reaction out of him.

She tipped her head to the side and schooled her features into a mask of seriousness. “Are you gay?” she asked, even though the fierce erection straining against the fly of his jeans made his sexual orientation a non-issue. Still, the transformation in Joel — from controlled and collected to severe shock — was too comical and she had to bite her lower lip to keep from laughing out loud.

“Jesus! Of course I’m not gay!” Joel stared at her in horror, his expression appalled. “What in the hell would make you ask that?” he demanded.

Clearly, he wasn’t amused by her question, but she was enjoying herself, and his response, immensely. Enough so, that she decided to keep up the pretense a bit longer. “Well, you’ve been avoiding any kind of physical contact between the two of us, and you don’t seem very interested in kissing me.” She sighed, trying to sound and look dejected. “Do I just not do it for you?”

He exhaled a long, harsh breath and curled his hands into tight fists at his sides, still not allowing himself to touch her. “I’ve got a goddamn raging hard-on that states otherwise.”

“Yeah, you do,” she agreed as she stroked her palms up his jean clad thighs, until her fingers grazed that very impressive bulge. “So, since we’ve established that I do turn you on, what’s the problem?”

“I’m trying to be chivalrous,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Who asked you to be?” Certainly not her! God, she was doing everything in her power to entice him, all to no avail. “Not only does chivalry not suit that risk-taking personality of yours, but you strike me as the type of guy who has no qualms about taking what a woman offers, no questions asked, so why are you fighting what we both want so badly?”

Pale moonlight washed across his gorgeous features and gleamed off his black-as-midnight hair, making him appear every inch the rebel. But it was the candid, caring look in his eyes that captured her attention the most and made her realize just how serious this moment was to him.

“Because I don’t think I can stop at just one kiss,” he told her.

His words were so real and honest, they made her heart skip a beat to think he found her that irresistible. “I guess that’s a risk I’ll just have to take.”

Smiling, she leaned toward him and nipped gently at his bottom lip, teasing him with the promise of something hotter, deeper, sweeter. “Kiss me, Joel,” she breathed against the corner of his mouth while she brazenly tugged his shirt out of the waistband of his jeans so she could slip her hands beneath the warm, soft cotton material. “Touch me,” she urged as she splayed her palms on his rock-hard stomach and glided them upward, aching to feel his hands on her, too. “Take me, please.”

A low, untamed growl ripped from his chest, and that stubborn, unyielding control of his finally, finally, gave way to all the pent-up desire and hunger he’d been struggling against all evening long. His hands, which had been so idle before, now came up and tangled in her hair, and in the next moment he crushed his mouth to hers. Her lips parted on a gasp of surprise, and he took advantage and slid his tongue inside, reckless and demanding, sweeping every one of her senses into overload.

His response was absolutely, positively, heavenly.

She’d managed to unleash his lust, and now all that alpha male aggression was spilling over into the hottest, most erotic kiss she’d ever had the pleasure of receiving. Returning the kiss with equal abandon, she wrapped her arms around his waist beneath his t-shirt and jacket, trying to get as close to him as she could.

Judging by the restless shift of his body against hers, he seemed to want the same thing. She felt the impatient tug of the scarf from around her neck as he unraveled the strip of knitted material and let it drop to the ground, revealing her neck to the chilly evening air. She shivered, then moaned in pure delight when he buried his face against her throat and warmed her skin with his breath and the hot, damp press of his lips nuzzling just beneath her jaw.

Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back to give his mouth better access, while one of his hands skimmed down her back to the base of her spine and the other gave a gentle tug to the snaps securing the front of her top. One, two, three, four . . . they popped open, exposing her bra and the full upper swells of flesh nearly over-flowing the lace-edged cups. He lifted his head, watching as he pushed the stretchy fabric down and released one of her breasts, then the other, to his dark, avid gaze. Her nipples hardened instantly, and he saw that, too.

An involuntary sound escaped her lips, a whimper of need that Joel recognized and understood. He covered both of her bare breasts with his hands, the slight roughness of his palms abrading the sensitive tips as he gently kneaded the soft mounds of flesh. Then the lazy friction of his thumbs joined in on the action, stroking and swirling around her aureoles, rasping across her nipples — gentle at first, then harder, firmer, creating a firestorm of sensation that spiraled straight down to the pit of her stomach, and lower.

She groaned, in surrender, in anticipation of feeling his mouth on her. The wanting made her weak. The waiting made her impatient. Sliding her hands into his hair, she pulled his head down and arched her back, silently begging him to take her into his mouth — and ready to strangle him if he refused.

Obviously done denying her, or himself, he licked at her stiff nipples, a wet, velvet swipe of his tongue over each tender peak. A slow, lazy lap designed to torment and tease. A soft, heated stroke that made her tremble and moan. The gentle scrape of his teeth that was both sweet bliss and exquisite pain. When he finally sucked her deep into his mouth, the pleasure was so immense, her entire body shuddered and she cried out.

Her wanton response tore a groan out of him, too, and his mouth came back to hers in a desperate, needy kiss that made her mind spin. The deep, assertive stroke of his tongue echoed the decadent, erotic rhythm of hot sex. He circled his strong arms around her and pulled her close, but when that didn’t seem like enough — for either of them — he skimmed his flattened palms all the way down her back to her hips. She was still straddling his thighs, but that didn’t stop him from tucking his hands beneath her bottom and hauling her up onto his lap, then gently tipping her backward, until she was laying on the metal gas tank with her legs all but wrapped around his waist.

Her top gaped open, and pale moonlight painted her naked flesh and lush curves with an opalescent hue. She’d never felt more beautiful, or more desirable, than she did at that moment with Joel staring down at her, worshiping her with his reverent gaze. Soon, though, the chill of the evening washed over her, causing her to shiver.

Keeping the bike stable with his feet braced on the ground, Joel bent over her, pressing his muscled body intimately, insistently into hers with his thick erection fitting naturally in the crux of her thighs. Threading her fingers through his silky hair once again, she welcomed another deep, drugging kiss, and sighed against his lips as his hands caressed her breasts and warmed them in his palms. His mouth eventually followed, trailing a searing path from her neck to her tight, puckered nipples. With the wet heat of his tongue, he lavished each one with a generous amount of attention before kissing and nuzzling his way down to her soft belly. When he reached the low waistband of her jeans, instead of unsnapping her pants and continuing the journey, which she would have more than welcomed, he instead stopped and laid his head on her stomach.

She was panting, and he was breathing just as hard. Hot, damp puffs of air caressed her belly, and the stubble on his jaw chafed her skin. She waited, knowing exactly what he was going to say, even before he said it.

“We have to stop.” His voice was rough and strained, and it was enough to tell Lora that it was taking Joel tremendous effort to bring things to a halt.

Aroused beyond belief, she squeezed her eyes closed, trying to ignore the way her body was clamoring for release. She could have told him that they didn’t have to stop, that she was on the Pill and protected, if that was his concern. But for as much as she wanted Joel — and for as badly as she ached to know how he’d feel inside of her — she didn’t want their first time together to be like this, out in the middle of nowhere on his bike. She wanted a warm, soft bed and lots of time to enjoy everything about making love with Joel Wilde.

“Okay,” she said softly.

Now hopefully you’ll go out and buy the book and see how it all ends!

Leslie and I have a fun “insider” treat in store for our readers. Our upcoming September books have a super-secret “shared scene” connecting our books, and we’re challenging you to find it!

Just purchase your copies of OVEREXPOSED by Leslie Kelly (Harlequin Blaze, available late August 2007) and BORN TO BE WILDE by Janelle Denison (Berkley, available late August or early September 2007). Read both books, find the shared scene in each book, and send an email to: plotmonkeyscontest@gmail.com listing the scene and the page numbers from each book. You must be specific with the scene and the page numbers from each of our books!

A grand prize winner will be selected at random from all correct entries and will receive a $50 gift certificate from Amazon.com. Two runners up will each receive a backlist book of their choice.

The contest runs until September 30th, so you’ll have time to read–and enjoy–both of these sexy, fun and exhilarating books.

Good luck and have fun!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 6:00 am and is filed under Janelle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.