February 8th, 2010
Today’s snippet theme is Dumped. Enjoy a look from one of my books.
An snippet from Body Cravings…
Glancing at her desk, her gaze landed on the calendar. Gasping, Amara noted the date. She hadn’t realized today was the day.
A shaft of sorrow filled her. Absently, she rubbed her hand over her heart as she wondered when the pain would fade. It had been over three years since those last hurtful words justifying his actions had been aimed at her by her fiancé Kevin.
“You’re lousy in bed and that’s why I had to get my needs filled elsewhere.” She had thrown him out as his last insult was hurled. “No man wants to get frostbite in bed. Call me when you melt.”
At that moment, with all her contempt, she had wished him dead. She had hated him with every fiber of her being.
“Amara, are you okay?” Jacques asked with concern in his voice.
Pushing back the memories, she nodded and glanced up at him, smiling. She didn’t think it was very convincing but he watched her a moment before returning his attention back to the sheaf of papers.
Holding herself very still she tried to stop the memories, but they overwhelmed her. Hours after their last words, when the police came to tell her of his death, she hadn’t wanted to believe. They said the crash had happened less than two miles from her house. Since he had no family and she was listed as his next of kin, she had gone to the morgue to identify him. The sight of his lifeless body made all the pain and self-doubt rush to consume her. She had pushed it aside to plan his burial.
At his funeral, which she paid for, she learned the truth of his duplicity. A woman approached her, spraying venomously that Amara had killed him with her selfishness. Amara had no idea what she meant. She had thought Kevin was happy, that they were in love. The woman pulled a little boy forward who was the exact image of Kevin, and proceeded to tell the child to study the woman who’d killed his and his unborn sister’s daddy. A glance at the little boy, who appeared to be no more than three years old, and the sight of the woman’s enlarged belly made Amara realized that Kevin had been cheating a long time. Maybe Kevin had been right, she had driven him to cheat. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t known.
The whispers and titters around the room had increased as the woman’s ranting escalated. Amara had been too numb to even think or move. Dominique Rule, her friend, led her away to a private room. Imani, her sister, joined them and tried to help console her. The room quickly filled with friends, old family friends and various Trescott Cove residents that she knew, who wanted to know if she was okay. Her other friends Sienna Zain and Hunter Willis quickly came and cleared the room of all the people who cared but at that point were too much to take. She didn’t need their concern or pitying glances. The incident had killed whatever love she’d had for Kevin and the guilt she felt.
Coming back to the present, Amara watched Jacques engrossed in the contracts he was reading. Something had always held her back from real fulfillment or entanglements and she never realized what it was, at least until now. Silently she admitted she still hadn’t fully gotten over what Kevin had said about her. She had tried one-night stands and they had only left her empty. It had been over a year since she had been with a man and hadn’t had any serious connections since Kevin.
You should leave well enough alone. You’re successful, have a great home and are happy with your life as it is, Amara thought.
Happy? Are you really happy? her inner voice asked.
Amara jumped when Jacques spoke.
“Thanks for all your work on this.” Jacques signed the papers and stood.
Pushing aside the thoughts, she focused on business. Standing quickly, she put out her hand. Jacques accepted it in a firm grip. Goosebumps raised along her skin. Biting her lip, she cursed her attraction to him.
Jacques spoke again. “Sampson was correct about your discretion … and tenacity.”
Pleased with his compliment, Amara came around her desk to escort him out. “Thank you. Congratulations on acquiring Tevron Corp. I’ll forward the copies to you at Falcone International in Milan and give Sampson the original when he returns.” At the door, she waited for him to step through and leave.
Jacques stopped and studied her, an unfathomable expression on his face. “Amara, I want to give you a gift for all of your hard work. What do you want?”
The words tumbled out before she could even think about them. “I want you naked on a chair and ready to do whatever I want.”
Copyright © Taige Crenshaw, 2008.
All Rights Reserved, Liquid Silver Books.
Go to the following sites to check out these other great authors snippets:
Lissa Matthews
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Shelli Stevens
Eliza Gayle
Vivian Arend
Mari Carr
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Silence is a powerful tool. Not everything you say needs to be said or shared with the world. The need to know in this case is a need to not know. There are times when it is best to keep things to yourself. Think before you speak or post. I cringe when I hear people discussing things that go into the TMI- Too Much Information – territory.
I read something today which fell in the TMI territory. And this is not the first time this person has shared too much or said something that was not cool.
They need to learn and obey the saying ‘silence is golden’. Sigh. Somehow with their history I don’t see that happening.
Another of my favorite things to do when I am trying to decide something is to think. I again go to one of my spots I like to use to think – my living room. My loveseat in my living room to be exact. I use my couch to daydream and my loveseat to think. I get my blanket, go to my living room, turn off the lights and TV put on some music really low then sit on my loveseat. I spread my blanket over me and lay my head back. My body relaxes as the music plays and the calm overcomes me. After a few moments I am in the thinking zone.
As I sit there my thoughts turn to what I have to think about. I’ve made lots of important decisions during my thinking zone moments. Both personal and professionally. I work through the pros and cons of whatever decision I am trying to make. According to the decisions it may take a few times in my thinking zone for me to make a decision or choice.
A few weeks ago I had a difficult decision to make and spent over a week in my thinking zone before I reached a decision. Now that the decision is made I feel much better and have a clearer mind what I need to do. It will be sometime before I know what will happen from my decision but no matter what I am good with it.
Today’s snippet theme is Humor. Enjoy a look from one of my books.
An snippet from Seducing a God…
With a barely stifled moan Paula Stroker wondered how much trouble she would get into if she jumped across the aisle and beat the wedding planner with that damn stick she was waving around. Everyone else was hanging onto every word the snotty piece of shit was saying. She couldn’t figure out how many times you had to practice to walk down the aisle. Sheesh you walked everyday for God’s sake. Frowning she resisted her impulse although she would have liked to shock everyone who saw her as the well-behaved one.
You’re just bitter it isn’t you that’s getting married. She almost snorted in laughter at that whopper. Her inner voice had a warped sense of humor. So what if she was single at thirty-five and her mother had resorted to throwing men at her who needed a zookeeper. As if she had heard her thoughts, her mother, Adrianna Stroker, glanced back at her with pity in her eyes. It took all Paula’s control not to scream she would rather have her eyeballs plucked out than get married, then bolt out the door. She tried a smile instead. Her mother nodded then went back to watching the wedding planner like the words coming out of her mouth were gold.
She knew exactly what her mother was thinking when she looked at her. “If Paris was ready to settle down why couldn’t Paula?” Glancing at Paris Stroker, her sister and the bride-to-be, Paula saw Paris roll her eyes. Stifling a laugh Paula still couldn’t believe it. Paris was getting married. Paris who had always said, “You won’t get me down the aisle unless I have lost my mind”. Yet here she stood the wild child ready to tie the knot. Put on the old ball and chain or any of those other silly sayings. Something had to be seriously wrong.
Looking over at Nathan Randall, Paris’ fiancé, she still couldn’t figure out how he had convinced her. Yes, he was handsome with his chiseled good looks, head-over-heels in love with Paris and smart. He was in charge of the Marketing Department of Tantalize Me, the company she co-owned with Paris. Three years ago Nathan and Paris had met at work and fallen in love. They had been living together ever since. She knew that Nathan had asked Paris to marry him many times but she had refused. At least, until a month ago when suddenly they announced they were getting married in a month. Mom had a fit, thinking Paris was pregnant. Since they had already been living together she and Paris hadn’t understood what the big deal was.
When their mother had explained that living together before marriage was fine but being pregnant before marriage was a huge deal they had just looked at her like she was missing a few bricks. Her mother had a slanted way of looking at things. They already knew her view on marriage. She had been living with Christopher for fifteen years and still refused to marry him. Her claim that she couldn’t dream of marrying anyone after their dad died was a load of shit since she could live with them.
After realizing that Paris was not pregnant but wanted to get married Mom had wondered how she could plan a wedding in that time. They had known she was just being coy. She liked nothing more than having a party. From the announcement to now, one week before the wedding, it had been non-stop preparations, fittings and all the wedding hoopla. Paula was sick of it. She couldn’t even try to escape as she had planned from this, the engagement party. Her mother, the wedding general from hell, and her little minion the wedding planner, the devil’s helper, had dragged them all into a separate ballroom away from the party to practice the walk down the aisle for the gazzlionth time.
The wedding planner went from person to person arranging them and telling them how to stand. When her turn came Paula gave the planner a look and she backed up smiling tightly. They had already had a run in with what Paula would and would not put up with.
Copyright © Taige Crenshaw, 2007.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.
Go to the following sites to check out these other great authors snippets:
Vivian Arend
McKenna Jeffries
Ashley Ladd
Kelly Maher
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Lauren Dane
Shelli Stevens
TJ Michaels
One of my favorite things to do when I am having problems with a book is to daydream. One of my spots I like to use to day dream is my living room. I get my blanket, go to my living room, turn off the lights and TV put on some music really low then sit on my couch. I spread my blanket over me, lay my head back and close my eyes. My body relaxes as the music plays and the calm overcomes me. After a few moments I am in the daydream zone.
As my mind wanders I let what I have written so far in my story unfold in my thoughts. As the story goes the part I am stuck on comes up I daydream of various possible scenarios I can take with my story. If the scenario doesn’t work it stalls and I go onto another. When I hit on one that does my mind races with all I need to get back to work. Sometimes it take more than one of my daydream zone moments for me to get over what is giving me issue.
I’ve also been known to fall asleep during those daydream zone moments. LOL. But as I have said before many of my best ideas come from dreams. So if you see me somewhere with my eyes closed I’m working. Yep that’s what I am doing. Hard at work. (grin) Daydreaming or dreaming of my next story.
Today’s snippet theme is Mistaken Identity. Enjoy a look from one of my books.
An snippet from God Style Temptation…
Picking up whatever she could get she threw it at him as she stumbled backward. Pots, food and knives—he caught each one effortlessly. Breathless she stopped backing up. The man stopped and watched her waiting to see what she would do next.
Frustrated Aurora screamed. “What the fuck are you?”
He smiled, a nasty little twist of his lips. “Besides the man who saved you pretty little ass from being a popsicle? A god.”
Hearing that Aurora felt fury flash through her. Not stopping to think she headed straight for him. The man’s eyes dropped and he grinned, a devilish quirk of his lips. Realizing she was still naked and he was ogling her Aurora was even angrier. Slowing she added more sway in her hips and watched his eyes light in appreciation. She looked at him and saw his smile widen. Returning his smile she let her hand flash up to deck him. He caught it.
“Uh-huh not that again. You’re such a violent little thing.” The man’s tone was calm.
Ignoring his comment she swung with her other hand. He sighed and caught it too. He raised an eyebrow as if saying “now what”. From how they were standing she estimated he was about six three to her six feet. Jerking her head forward she hit him with it. She felt his nose break, as was her intention. A grim smile curved her lips. He let her go and stepped back. Swinging at him again Aurora found her hand caught. Instinctively she swung with the other. He again caught it then turned her around and pulled them behind her back. Jerking her head back she tried to hit him with her head.
“Shit. Will you calm down?” the man growled.
Straining against his hold Aurora gritted out, “Fuck you, Cupid or Claude or whatever the hell your name is. I have eighty-seven more of those to give you. You mother fu—”
The man sighed and said softly. “I’m not Cupid.”
She stilled and gasped realizing she was plastered against his body. His next word distracted her.
“Although I can relate, why do you want to kick Cupid’s ass?” His tone was matter of fact.
“You’re hurting me. Let me go first.” Aurora demanded although he wasn’t.
He scoffed. “Liar.”
“Let me go.”
“Only if you promise not to hit me again.”
“Fine I won’t hit you again. I only connected twice.” Although it galled her to say it out loud.
The man laughed and his cock rubbed against her ass. Trying to keep still Aurora closed her eyes. She was getting hot over a man she barely knew and she didn’t even know if she liked him. He let her go. Spinning to face him she took a step forward and looked up into his amused chocolate gaze.
“Who the hell are you?”
His smile widened. “Nigel Ha’gan at your service Miss Aurora.”
He sounded very formal but his devilish smile belayed that.
“You’re very formal for someone who is naked?” Then it hit her what he said. “How do you know my name?”
A look of pain flashed through his eyes so fast she almost thought she imagined it.
“I figured since you were ignoring it I’d be a gentleman and do the same.”
“What?”
He shrugged a graceful movement of his shoulders. “Our nakedness.”
Aurora sighed. “You’re quite a handful aren’t you?” Realizing what she said her eyes automatically dropped and looked at his impressive member. Blushing she turned away from him and mumbled. “Crap, you know what I mean.”
“Now no need to be shy queinlos,” Nigel said the laughter plain in his voice.
“What does queinlos mean?” Aurora asked although she suspected it was something derogatory.
“Little warrior,” he purred.
His answer pleased her. The feel of soft cloth brushed her skin. Glancing down she saw light filtering around her body and a robe in a rich green, the same color as her eyes, covered her. He was now clothed in a similar one in dark brown.
“Thanks.” She winced when she saw his broken nose.
She knew it had to be hurting him. Grabbing his hand she pulled him to the table. He came willingly. She pushed him in the chair. Reaching to check his nose she gasped as his hand stopped her. Again she hadn’t seen him move.
“Don’t be a baby. I just want to check it out. I’m a doctor.” She touched it and he winced.
“Ah man, I’m sorry. She looked for some paper towel and got a bowl of water.
“Sorry you hit me or sorry I’m not Claude?” he asked.
Smiling she replied, “Both,” as she gently cleaned his nose.
Copyright © Taige Crenshaw, 2008.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.
Go to the following sites to check out these other great authors snippets:
McKenna Jeffries
Vivian Arend
Ashley Ladd
Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
Mari Carr
Shelli Stevens
Elisabeth Naughton
We all travel roads. There are many twists, turns or obstacles along the way. These are learning experiences that shape us.
This part of my road started a little over two years ago. Over the last two years I have had five surgeries. Believe me compared to lots of other people out there who have medical issues worse than mine I am blessed. Blessed with family and friends who have been there for me. Blessed with the strength to go on day after day. Yes some days I was tired and it was hard but I got up and went refusing to let what I was going through keep me down. I already live with the belief life is precious and should not be taken for granted. During this time I was having health problems a lot happened that made me think and reflect on some things.
In the last two years as I went through tests, uncertainty of what was going on with my body, and fear of not knowing there were also things going on with my writing career. Some good, bad and ugly. Usually I am able to deal bad or ugly if I am well heck even better that I was feeling. But when these things (nope not going into details) were happening my mind, body and soul were tired and I let them go focusing on what was important – my health. Yet these things were festering insidiously messing with my psyche. I knew they were but the energy to shake it off just wasn’t there.
Months ago something happened to me that shook me. Some harsh words from someone I thought was a friend but who was actually a perpetrator shook me out of my complacency. On that day the “friend perpetrator” said those harsh words started an epiphany. At first I was hurt and reeling. Those “true friends” I have always tell me I care too much and take things to heart. It is true. When I call someone friend I don’t do it lightly. So to have this person say what they did to me hurt then I got angry and eventually lost my temper. “Angry” and “losing my temper” are very different things to me. Let me clarify I have been angry on occasion and it blows over quickly. When I lose my temper at first there is calmness before the worst hits. It is an eerie feeling. I’ve only lost my temper four times so far in my life and none of them were pretty. This lost of temper was a battle cry. A roar in my soul that woke me up out of the daze I was in.
I thought of all that has happened in the last two years and now with some distance I realized a few things. The two most prevalent and important are I know who my true friends are and I have dealt with the things that have messed with my psyche. Now I own them. They are in my control. It is a freeing feeling.
As I write, tears are wetting my cheeks and there is a smile on my face. I am at peace. My mind, body and soul are in sync. I feel better today than I have in a long time. Since my last surgery as I mentioned earlier I am feeling stronger than I have in a while. As for my writing career I am stronger than yesterday. I am ready, willing and able to go the distance. I have plans for what I want to do. Projects that I am working on and more I hope will come.
So as I continue traveling my road I am revving the engine and barreling forward in my journey looking forward to where I will be going next.
I’m looking forward to this New Year. I have a lot of things I am anticipating but won’t go into too much detail. One thing I will say is I am excited with what I am planning. Very excited. (grin) Once I get a few personal things taken care of I will be going full speed ahead.
In anticipation of my anticipation (try saying that 5 time fast LOL.) I some preparations last year. Planning is a great thing and makes things work so much better. I love to plan. I also love spreadsheets. LOL. Yep that’s what I said I love spreadsheets. They help keep me organized and things where they need to be. So I’ve got my plan ready to go. The fun part will be getting there.
Just like when I start a new book I have this feeling of anticipation. Anticipation of how the story will go, the characters, setting and so on and so on. As with life there are twists and turns that are unexpected but that is what makes it interesting. There are many paths that can be taken to make the end point whether it is the end of a story or everyday life. Some good, bad and in between. Each has a lesson to be learned from. No matter which it is I anticipate getting there. Await what is coming around the next corner then anticipate what more is yet to come.
This year will be to gear up for those twists and turns. A year of anticipation.
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