I finished Fools Rush in by Kristan Higgins and I do believe I have now read all her books. I enjoyed this one, as I have all of them but I wished for a little more of the romance between Millie and Sam.

Then I read (very quickly) Ice, by Linda Howard. This is my first Linda Howard book and probably wasn't a good intro to her. It was quite short (I borrowed it from the library so didn't pay for a hardcover book that's probably not much longer than category novel length). Her writing was good and the suspense was good, the romance was way too fast (I know it's a romance and people can fall in love in one day, but still...) and I didn't get the point of the story...the attack was random and how did everyone learn and grow through that? I will probably read another of her books though.

I'm also reading a couple of non-fiction books this week - Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, and 45 Master Characters, also by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. 45 Master Characters is freakin' awesome!! I borrowed this one from the library too, and I haven't even finished it yet, but I love it so much I just ordered it from Chapters. It has totally solved a problem I had with one of my completed manuscripts (guess what I'll be doing over the holidays!).

Yes this is late!  My blog disappeared due to some technical glitch involving domaine stuff that I don't understand. Big thanks to web goddess Tina Pavlik for fixing!!

Sadly not much has changed since last week in terms of works in progress!  I did do a little bit more on "Gabe's story" (If you've read Power Struggle you'll know Gabe). But then I heard back from my critique partner about Crush, the manuscript my agent suggested some changes to, and I went back to work on it. And work. And more work. LOL.  And last night I sent it back to Nara for her opinion on the changes. Sometimes when you get so close to something you have no idea if it's good or bad.

I envy those authors I see posting on Twitter about how impressed they are with the scene they just wrote, and how good they think their WIP is. I'm not like that. I both love and hate every story I write - I wouldn't write it if I didn't love it; but whether it's good or whether someone else will like it - I suffer a huge lack of confidence.

Which makes me wonder...do those authors who talk about how much they like their own work REALLY feel that way? Or is that just a facade, a public expression of confidence and competence that will impress people and make them read their books?

Well it's almost Christmas and it's time to pull out the only Christmas story I've ever written:  All I Want For Christmas. 

Fallen Angel Reviews gave All I Want For Christmas 4 Angels:

"I loved this little read, and Ms. Jamieson's cast of characters added to this lovely little tale of love. All I Want For Christmas reminds us that Christmas really does have miracles."
Reviewed by: Rachel C.

Here's a little excerpt:

Erin was just popping more painkillers into her mouth when she looked up into the amused eyes of Dex Mitchell. Again. “So, anyone here that can help me out now?” he asked, eyes glinting.


She almost choked on the pills and took a big gulp of water, which of course dribbled down her chin and onto her silk blouse. She wiped ineffectually at it as she felt her cheeks grow hot and no doubt red. “Jason is back from lunch,” she told Dex, swiping at her boobs. “He does the payroll. He’s just around the corner.” She flashed a smile that she hoped looked helpful and confident, praying that Jason wasn’t sitting there with his feet on his desk eating chocolates and wearing the plush Santa hat he’d had on earlier.

She heard Dex go around the corner and start conversing with Jason in a low voice, and she slumped back in her chair. Why, why, why did he always have to catch her at her worst?

She was scrawling her signature across some vendor invoices a few moments later when Dex returned.

She looked up at him inquiringly.

“I hear you’re in charge of the party tomorrow night,” he remarked.

“Yes.” She was almost reluctant to admit it. What if the whole party bombed? It would be all her fault. No, it was not going to bomb. She’d checked and rechecked every detail with her usual thoroughness (or was it paranoia?). “Did you have a last‐minute addition to the guest list?”

He shook his head, a smile touching his mouth. “No. I’ll be there, but I’m coming alone. I just wondered if you’d arranged for taxi service to take people home.”

“Of course!” The company provided taxi vouchers for anyone who wanted them to make sure that nobody drove home after drinking.

“Perfect. Don’t want any unfortunate incidents at the holiday party.”

Erin shook her head. “No, of course not.”

At that moment, Erin’s phone rang. She grabbed for the receiver.

“Good afternoon, Human Resources, Erin speaking, can I have you?”

There was silence at the other end of the line, and Erin closed her eyes rather than face Dex. “I mean, can I help you?” she gasped.

A laugh came over the line. “You can have me any time, honey. My wife might not like it, though. It’s Carl in Research.”

“Hi, Carl.” Her cheeks burned.

“Just a quick question about the party…”

She dealt with his question then hung up and looked at Dex, still standing there, looking very amused.

“So, I guess I’ll see you at the party then,” he said.

She stared at him. Why was he making small talk with her? She smiled brightly. “Absolutely. I’ll be there. I’m going alone, too.”

Shit. Why had she said that? It sounded so lame. She turned back to her work again with flaming cheeks and bent her head.

“Hey!” Kayla whispered seconds later. “What did Dex Mitchell want? I saw him talking to you!”

Kayla was the only other person who knew Erin thought Dex Mitchell was a hottie. She looked up at her friend and grinned.

“He came to talk to Jason about some payroll stuff, and then he was asking me about the party.”

“Really.”

“He told me he’s going alone to the party.”

“He told you that? Just out of the blue?” Kayla’s brows rose almost into her hair. “Hmm.”

 Thursday 13 from Skylar Kade
The past few years, Christmas has taken a hit in my family. There's not as much disposable income as before. While many rue this event, I've found it strangely freeing. I don't need to worry about buying an expensive present for that cousin, or my grandmother, because we're all reigning in our holiday spending. This, combined with my drive to always do something creative that's not always writing-related, has led to a slew of home-made presents. Between scouring Michael's and searching the web, I've compiled a pretty good set of resources for the DIY (do-it-yourself) gifter.
1. Whip it up: A community of crafters who contribute their less-traditional creations, with a focus on fiber and fabric (crochet, knit, quilt, embroider, sew, etc) arts. They also review craft books.
2. The Anticraft: Imagine that Martha Stewart and Marilyn Mason had a baby, and that baby did crafts. He or she would be the epitome of the Anticraft. Projects include recipes, craft instructions, and other activities almost guaranteed to get coal in your stocking.
3. Crochet Me: A great resource for the modern crocheter; signing up for a free membership allows you access to the good patterns.
4. Ravelry: This is the youtube of fiber arts patterns. Users post their own patterns, or link to free/paid patterns online. In addition, the site has strong social-networking capabilities.
5. Curbly: An all-around fantastic DIY site, including projects on interior decorating/design. Their “Thrift Store Repurposing Guide” is worth a look.
6. The DIY Maven: A crafty chick, contributor to Curbly, and all-around inspired DIY-er.
7. Geek Crafts: Know a nerd? Make him or her something from this site! I've got my eye on the Star Wars amigurumi (little crocheted dolls).
8. Craftzine: Provides patterns and instructions for fiber arts, cooking, home decorating, and beyond.
9. Futuregirl: Much like DIY Maven, with more traditional fiber arts projects.
10. Instructables: This is the love-child of Geek Crafts and Craftzine. Many of the projects are more in-depth, and paying for the membership allows you to see the steps in a printable PDF, but still an amazing resource for the DIYer.
11. NeedleNoodles: Author of the book “Creepy Cute Crochet,” this blogger posts patterns for creating monstrous amigurimi, like robots, vikings, and druids.
12. The Roxycraft Blog: Lessons, video tutorials, and patterns for crochet projects.
13. Style Crush: “Fashion, home & DIY for the style-obsessed”

Though Jason doesn't make any of the presents he gives to Elizabeth in my story “Christmas Packages,” they do make a lotta luv ;)

Blurb: Elizabeth has watched with frustration as her relationship with Jason slowly faded away. Braced for their inevitable end, this “nice girl” is instead surprised—and aroused—by her boyfriend’s naughty Christmas plans. Jason has tiptoed around what really turns him on, afraid Lizzie would run screaming from his kinkier desires. But as their relationship flags, he latches onto a last-ditch effort to inject energy into their sex life—and their love.

For twelve days leading up to Christmas, Jason gives Lizzie a new present, each one enticing her further into his dark desires. Now Lizzie needs to loosen up a little—to give up enough control to submit to her edgiest urges and give herself completely to the man determined to be hers forever.

To celebrate this release and the holiday season, I'm giving away a copy of "Christmas Packages," along with an early present--Sexuations (US only). Yes, I know it's not homemade, but it is a lot of fun. This game includes an adults-only card game, a book of naughty stories, an erogenous-zone map, paddle, blindfold, and feather to tickle all your fancies. I'll be touring blogs all week, and on Friday, I'll the select a winner!

To enter, leave a comment at any of the blogs on my tour or tweet about the book/contest using the hashtag #christmaspackages



Blog stops:
Monday—The Nine Naughty Novelists

Tuesday--Andie Marie's Sidewalk

Wednesday--Kate Davies Blogs!

Thursday--Kelly Jamieson's Building Castles

Friday—the Skylarverse



***
Excerpt:
“Open it.” He held his breath as she unwrapped the small package, folding the paper into a precise rectangle. Lizzie, his little neat freak. The deliberate movements of her hands and her prim way of opening everything from the newspaper to cereal boxes to presents fascinated him and gave him one more thing to love about her. Hell, sometimes it even turned him on.
She cocked her head to the side in what he thought of as her curious little bird pose and popped open the lid of the box to reveal a blue silk eye mask. She turned to him with one eyebrow cocked. “I’m sleeping just fine, Jason.”
Though he tried not to read into her words, he cringed inside. He didn’t want her to sleep poorly without him, per se, but would it be too much to ask for her not to be sleeping fine?
She’d always been able to read him, almost as well as he could read her, and she cupped his cheek. “I’ve missed you, Jason. The bed is empty without you.”
He kissed her before saying. “Yeah, hotel beds leave much to be desired. Mainly, you.” Her pupils dilated and he kissed her again, lingering on her lips. “Besides, the blindfold isn’t for sleeping.” Holding her gaze, he watched the understanding fly across her face, only to be replaced with warm delight.
“Oh, it’s that kind of blindfold. How very inventive.” Her grin gave him hope that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t run from his desires.
He stroked her back, enjoying the softness of her gray sweater. But it would have to come off. “Why don’t you go change into your robe and point me in the direction of the candles and oil.”
She shuddered under his hand and her breathing hitched. Their eyes locked as she answered. “Okay. And everything’s in our bedroom.”
Our bedroom—he loved hearing that. And it was past time he showed her just how much. “Then change in the bathroom, love, and I’ll have everything set up when you’re done.”

Okay I'm prepared to spill the name of the book I read last week. It all turned out pretty good. It was What a Rogue Desires by Caroline Linden. The frist scene, told from David's point of view, ends when he leaves the room, but the POV immediately switches to his brother's wife's POV, a character who never appears in the book again. My initial impression was headhopping all over the place, but looking again at that opening scene it was just that one change of POV. Call me picky. Anyway the story was good, and kept me wondering how the two of them were going to end up together. So in the end I enjoyed it.

Now I'm reading another Kristan Higgins book, Fools Rush In.

As I said last week, I had some revisions to do on a manuscript I'd sent to my agent, the fabulous Laura Bradford. She had some suggestions that she thought would make it better. The first thing I did was send it off to my critiqe partner to get her input. Then I started thinking about it myself. Some of the changes I knew I could do fairly easily - others I needed to think about. So that's what I've been working on this week. I deleted one secondary plot and enhanced another. Ideas kept coming to me and I kept adding them in, and in the end the manuscript is pretty much exactly the same length as it was when I started. I was relieved about that!  As for the other problems, I gave them some thought too as I was revising, and came up with a few ideas. I'll see what my crit partner thinks once she's read the manuscript. She did look at it before, but only the first few chapters.

Having someone like Nara to bounce ideas off, to get a second opinion and to get honest feedback is so important. When we started exchanging work three years ago, we were doing line edits and correcting grammar and finding overused words. Now we both are published and that's not the kind of help we need any more - it's deeper things like characterization and conflict and motivation. So many times she's given me good advice about my stories. It's hard when you get so close to your story and your characters that you can't see them clearly any more, and having someone with a bit of distance offer their persepective is invaluable.

This week I finished a manuscript and put it away to rest. It was HARD to put this one away! I got very close to these characters and I...miss them. Sniff. I hope that means it's good, but what the heck do I know *rolling eyes at self*

Anyway here's a tiny peek at the finished manuscript:

“Dude,” Dylan said. “Your girlfriend is smokin’ hot.”


“She’s not my girlfriend,” Matt automatically replied. “We’re just friends.”

Dylan lifted an eyebrow. “Just friends? That’s why she was asleep in your bedroom? Just sleeping?”

“Okay, yeah, friends with benefits. But still, just friends.”

“Oh ho.” Dylan grinned. “Mondo, dude.” He held up his empty bottle. “Beer me.”

Matt laughed and headed to the kitchen. When he returned with two more bottles of ale, Dylan said, “So you two sleep together but you’re just friends.”

“Yeah.” Matt popped the top of his bottle.

“How’d you luck into an arrangement like that, man?”

Matt shrugged and frowned a little. “Well. It just kinda happened. We were friends for a long time. We worked together at Pancho’s, and we had some classes together at UCSA. It was never more than that, because I was living with Lysett, and Corey was going out with some asshole who treated her like crap.” He made a face. “Corey finally got smart enough to dump his ass, and then Lysett dumped me, and Corey and I started hanging out more.”

“Just friends.”

“Yeah.” Matt huffed out a laugh. “You know that’s what girls always want from me. I’m not a chick magnet like you, stud.”

“Bullshit. That’s not all girls want from you.”

Matt shrugged. “Whatever.” He’d heard it enough times in his life. Women regarded him as a nice guy, friend material but not red hot lover material. “You’re too nice.” “Let’s just be friends.” Yeah, he’d heard it a few times. He and Lysett had been together for years but in the end, she’d dumped him for a guy with two ex-wives and three kids, who’d decided to quit his job to play in a rock band, buy a Harley Davidson, and who she said “rocked her world”. Matt wasn’t a world-rocking kind of guy, and after that he’d decided maybe friendship was the best he was going to get with women.

I started a new book this week but I'm not sure if I'm going to name it here because it got off to a very rocky start for me. This is the second time I've purchased a book by a "new to me" author based on a great review at one of the "big" review sites and been disappointed. Not sure why that is. I guess readers and reviewers (and I guess some editors, since they publish the books) are less concerned about the technical aspects of writing than a writer might be. Which is food for thought and what it means to my own writing, given a number of disappointments lately.

I finished!

Yes, I finished my WIP last week! "With Strings Attached" ended up to be 75,000 words, exceeding my goal by about 5000 words. Then I started going back over it to fix things and polish and edit, and I ended up adding another 7000 words, so it is now 82,000 words. Wow! Now I'm going through it one more time, and then I will put it away to rest for a little while before I send it off to critique partner Nara Malone for her to read. I enjoy revising, it feels almost relaxed compared to the tension of creating something new. And I feel a great sense of accomplishment, along with an impatient feeling of wanting to share this story!

Since that manuscript is now finished and almost all polished, I've been thinking about what to work on next. As usual, I have so many possibilities. I have four stories started and in various stages. I also have several other stories that I've planned out (as much as I plan, not being a big plotter) that I could start on. As usual, I've been in a stage of "wait and see", with submissions out in the world I'm waiting to hear back on, and that could change what I work on next.

And then I did hear from my agent this weekend about the manuscript I'd sent her. She liked it! But...there's always a but!...she had some suggestions for things she thought could be better. So now I know what I'm working on next...

Edited to add: Blogger failed me again! This was supposed to post Friday morning!
Last Friday was release day for Taming Tara so I thought I'd share another small excerpt from that book:

Christ, she was smart. That itself was a huge turn-on, never mind the sexy sparkle in her eyes. Heat curled inside him. “So which is it?”


“What do you mean?” She frowned as she looked back at him. His eyes moved over her smooth, golden skin, her cheeks lightly tinged peach, her eyes framed with thick lashes. Her full mouth gleamed, like yesterday, with a pale shiny peach gloss.

“I mean, which do you want to focus on? The niche market, producing small quantities of high quality olive oil; or expanding your production using new planting methods like high density planting and producing larger quantities of oil.”

Her frown deepened. “I…I want to do both.”

He met her gaze. “You think you can do both? Really?”

She blinked at him. He could practically see the wheels turning in her head. “Increasing production doesn’t necessarily mean giving up those high quality oils, those niche markets.”

He kept looking at her.

“Does it?” Her mouth turned down and her eyes narrowed.

“Well, you just said you have high production costs here, compared to Spain and Italy. That limits how much you can produce. Why not focus on the specialty markets then? Do what you can do well.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t believe we have to limit ourselves to that. I think with new planting methods and mechanical harvesting, we can do both.”

“Show me.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“Show me. Show me how you can do both.”

“Well, I…I…just know it.”

He almost laughed. “Not good enough, Tara,” he said softly. “If you want me with you when you try to convince Tyrone that high density planting is worth the investment, and let’s face it, it’s going to cost up front, you’ve got to convince me first. I need facts and figures and cost-benefits analysis. You’ve got to prove to me you can do both.”

She stared at him and the hint of deference in her amber eyes and soft mouth sent lust slicing through him, making him hard. Oh, man. This was bad.

Then her gaze hardened. “No.” Her brows drew together and she shook her head. “No! This is insane. I don’t have to prove anything to you. Who the hell do you think you are?”

He still just looked at her, using the power of his gaze. It always worked.

She jumped to her feet and stood there. He leaned back in his chair, linking his hands behind his head.

“I’m going to talk to Grandpa right now,” she muttered and stalked out of the office. He watched her go, her cheeks flushed a deeper hue of peach, her back stiff, long slender legs striding across the room.

Adrenaline sizzled through his veins. Holy fucking shit. She wasn’t going to give in without a major battle. He smiled. Anticipation tingled over every nerve ending. She had to be the most difficult woman to master he’d ever met. She was smart and strong and, Jesus Christ, she had him dangerously on the edge of losing control.

He could physically dominate her. He was bigger, stronger—he could restrain her and he could show her that. Too bad that wasn’t appropriate behavior for the office. No, here he had to rely on his wits—intellect, experience, instinct. He had to know her triggers…and he was definitely getting to.

Not a lot to report this week since I'm still reading the same book - Cowgirls Don't Cry by Lorelei James.
This is very unusual for me to take a whole week to read a book! I usually do several in a week. It's not that's it's not a good book either, I'm enjoying it. But I have been writing a lot (I finished my WIP! Yay!) so maybe that's why. And I've got so many good books lined up to read next!

Wow I've been doing pretty good on the WIP this week! I might actually finish another book!

It's so funny but it seems I can't get over the feeling that I might never be able to do it again. I don't know if other writers feel that way...?

As I get closer to the end of the story, I'm more motivated to keep going. I think the hardest part is starting a book - those 70,000 words (or whatever the goal is) loom in front of you like an impossible goal. But when you're at 68,000 words it finally seems doable.

And not only that, when it gets close to the end, like any book, I have to find out how it all turns out!

I said that to my husband on Saturday morning -  I have to work on it and finish it because I have to know how it all turns out! He laughed at me. "Don't you know how it's goign to turn out?" he asked.

Well, yes, I do. Sort of. Of course there's going to be a happy ending. Of course they're going to end up together. And in this case I knew WHO was going to end up together, though I hope readers wonder. :-)
But I don't know exactly how that's going to happen, because it's up to the characters. I don't know what exactly they're going to say or do until my fingers are tapping on the computer keys. And I want to know as much as anybody!

I'm keeping this post short because I've blogged in several places this week about my release today. Taming Tara is out with Ellora's Cave. I've blogged about how this story is a modern-day telling of The Taming of the Shrew. If you're interested in how Shakespeare inspired a D/s story, check out the blogs  here and here).and I also blogged today at Nine Naughty Novelists about the naming woes I had with this book.

As always, if you're a member of my newsletter, I'll give away a copy of Taming Tara to one commenter there - I know it's a busy holiday weekend so I'm going to draw the winner Sunday evening.

Click to join KellyJamiesonnewsletter

I finished It Had to be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This story turned out better than I expected from the first chapter, with lots of fun and interesting twists and turns that I really enjoyed. Now I'm reading Cowgirls Don't Cry by Lorelei James, always like her books.

Sorry this is a day late - for some reason Blogger decided not to post it yesterday.

 I'm not sure how many words I wrote this past week because I don't always keep track of that. I don't think it was the most productive week ever, but I did do some work on my WIP, which I posted a little excerpt from last week. I also spent some time working on a couple of new ideas, getting them started. This time I'm using a little different planning process, thanks to the workshop I've been taking called The Big Question. In fact, in that workshop I've been working on  yet another idea and planning it out. This process of starting with "the big question" that your story is about works the opposite of how I usually plan a story. Sometimes I have a story idea and sometimes I start with the characters, but I always start the planning process with the characters, developing them and then figuring out plot points that will challenge them and make them grow. With this other process, I have the story question and then come up with some plot points and THEN develop the characters, developing them to fit the story. There's no right or wrong way, but I'm going to try this and see how it works out.

Beth Kery is celebrating the release of her next book Explosive (can't wait to read it!) at her blog and I'm a guest there Monday/Tuesday - some time Tuesday she'll draw for a winner of a download of  my book Power Struggle and she's also having an "Explosive" contest - so come by and find out what my next Ellora's Cave release Taming Tara has to do with Shakespeare!

By samsfadil Flickr

Here's a sneak peek from a work in progress, tentatively titled With Strings Attached:


“Hey if you guys are going to hang out in here, you can help.”  Matt got Corey scrubbing the little potatoes he’d bought at the market and Dylan cutting up the vegetables he’d already washed.

Dylan held up a baby yellow zucchini, not much bigger than his thumb. “Hey, you know what this reminds me of?”

The wicked gleam in his eye told Matt exactly where the asshole was going with that, but Corey turned and looked and said, “What?”

“Matt’s dick.”

“Oh har,” Matt said. “Very funny.”

Corey snorted, though. “As if.” She looked over at the counter where Dylan sat on a stool, and picked up a large green zucchini. Really large. “I’d say more like this.”

Matt grinned and nodded. Dylan laughed. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot you two are friends with benefits. Of course you’d know all about that.”

“You must have been thinking of your own junk,” Matt said, nodding at the tiny squash.

Corey laughed again and so did Dylan. “Bullshit.”

“I can’t believe we’re talking about the size of your man parts,” she said, reaching for a towel to dry her hands, the potatoes all scrubbed and in a pot. “Men. You guys are all so insecure about your size.”

“I’m not insecure!” Dylan protested.

“Sure,” she said with patent patronization. “Uh-huh. The more you protest...”

“Hey. You want me to whip it out right here?”

“I dare you.”

Matt held up a hand. “Stop! Not in the kitchen, for god’s sake.”

Happy Wednesday everyone! Last week I finished off my Kristan Higgins marathon with Catch of the Day. I really, really liked it, but it wasn't my favourite, though I'm not sure I could say which one was - really loved Just One of the Guys. Also The Next Best Thing. My only complaint about her books is they end too abruptly - I'd like a little more satisfaction with ending, if that makes any sense at all.

Decided to switch conteporary gears and go with a Susan Elizabeth Phillips novel - and I chose It Had To Be You. Now I've already met these characters in a later book, but that's okay.The thing about this book that really struck me (and not in a great way) is the omniscient point of view in the entire first chapter. Which might also be called head hopping. Holy man, times have changed I think. That really just set me off. Into Chapter Two we seem to have settled into one character's point of view. We'll see how it goes.

The last week hasn't been extremely productive in terms of working on my two "works in progress", though I have continued to work on them. I did write FIVE blog posts however, and did some work to prepare for release day coming up November 26 (Taming Tara). I'm also doing another workshop right now which takes some time and involves homework - gah! And I did some planning and brainstorming on another project I have in mind. I got this idea and I want to try to flesh it out, but I know once I do that I'm going to be tempted to abandon my WIPs and start on it. I keep thinking about priorities and what I can do with these projects and time frames but there's so much that's out of my control as a writer (response times from publishers, response time from agent, whether something will be accepted or rejected, how long it takes to actualy get published after acceptance) it makes it nearly impossible to plan ahead. I LIKE planning so this frustrates me and I have to keep reminding myself, "JUST WRITE".

It's blogtastic Friday!
I'm at The Bradford Bunch today talking about Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day with a true story about my father-in-law that I hope will inspire you.

I'm also at the Nine Naughty Novelists and I want to know - where do you buy your ebooks?

For a Friday sneak peek, here's another little snippet from my upcoming Ellora's Cave release, Taming Tara:

“You want that,” he whispered, bending his head to her. She shivered in his arms. His hand slid lower on her tummy, over the corset, lower…Her pussy clenched hard.


“No,” she said. “That’s not what I want.”

“What do you want?”

“I…I want to be the one in control.”

“Why aren’t you with those submissive boys tonight, then?”

She blinked. “I didn’t…they’re not here.”

“There are others.” He nuzzled her hair.

She sucked briefly on her bottom lip. She didn’t want to admit to him last week’s scene had left her feeling let down; as though none of them had been truly satisfied.

“Remember what I told you—the best way to learn is to experience it. Come with me,” his voice cajoled, seduced, his hands caressing her stomach. “Let me show you.”

Heat raced through her, lust sliced through her. Everything inside her yearned to say yes.

The scene in front of them, the beauty of the woman’s submission, the thrill of the man’s dominance, combined with the hard strength of Joe’s arms around her made it so hard to say no to him.

“No.” The word came out like a whimper and he gave a soft laugh.

“Oh yeah, that was convincing.”