Finally...it's here

Well, it will be March 11!  PLAY ME went up on the Coming Soon page at Ellora's Cave today. I still can't really describe the feelings I experience when I see it out there in the world. Something I've created, labored over and yeah agonized for, out there for everyone to see and read. I'm really excited for this book. Gabe is my kind of hero--harsh and tortured--and whether he knows it or not, just waiting for the right woman to come along.

BLURB
Lily Hamilton had her quiet, predictable life all mapped out, including a hot-shot attorney for a fiancé. That is until she catches him screwing around and takes off in his prized Mercedes, for once not giving a damn where she’s headed. How clichéd is that?

Gabriel Jackson is raw and disillusioned. Driving a tow truck is a far cry from the dangerous career he turned his back on, but when he finds the classy blonde in a dangerous part of LA, he’s immediately back in the role of protector.

Lily is hot and sweet and so out of his league it’s not funny, yet Gabe can’t deny the sizzling heat between them. He thinks he wants hard, fast and rough—until he gets his hands on her. He knows he should stay the hell away, but Lily makes him feel, really feel for the first time in two years. Is she just slumming or can she see beyond the harsh, broken façade to the man beneath? A man who dreams of making her his?

EXCERPT
Copyright © KAILY HART, 2011
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Warning: the below excerpt isn't exactly PG. Enjoy!!

Of the many kisses she’d experienced, of the few lovers she’d had, of the year and a half she’d been with Ian—no, wasted on Ian—Lily had never experienced anything like the sensations she’d gotten during those minutes of his mouth on hers, his body pressing into her. Or had it been only seconds?

She licked lips that felt swollen. He tasted like coffee, or maybe that came from her. She thought she’d been ready that second time, but when he’d taken control… She was still tingling from it. She took a deep breath and looked up.

God, his eyes.

They were dark, like everything else about him, but it was a deep-blue rimmed with a border of navy or black that made his gaze that much more intense. It was a look that saw everything in an instant and she shivered under his piercing stare, not from fear or even from the cold, but from something she didn’t have a name for.

Where she’d gotten the courage to kiss him like that, she’d never know. She’d never done anything remotely like that before. She should have been scared, cautious at the very least, yet somehow knew she’d be safe with him. He’d done something extraordinary for her, knowingly risked himself for her, and it was weird, but she felt connected to him on some elemental level she couldn’t even begin to understand. She was thankful, of course she was, but gratitude didn’t have her heart racing, her stomach flip-flopping, her body singing. Did it? Jeez, who was she kidding? She ached in places that usually only came alive after long and intense stimulation of the solo kind.

All she knew was that she hadn’t been able to just let him walk away. Not yet.

“C-Come inside,” she whispered.

Yeah, and she so totally sucked at stuff like this.

When his gaze slid down to the juncture of her thighs, heat bloomed in her cheeks, low in her belly, between her legs.

“With me. I meant come inside with me. Although…” She took a deep breath and rushed on before she chickened out. “You can come inside me too. Well, we’ll have to use protection, of course, but—”

“Lily.” Gabe closed his eyes briefly and groaned.

“It’s okay. You know, if you don’t want to, I mean.”

“God…”

His gaze slid over her in a hot caress resting on nipples she could feel hard and erect against the thin silk of her dress. Her stomach clenched. It wasn’t exactly a “no”.

She swallowed. She should probably give him fair warning. “You know.” She licked her lips. “I-I’ve never done anything like this.”

“Adrenaline,” he dismissed. “It’s just the adrenaline.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. I just…” She looked at him, tried to ignore the tremor in her limbs and went for it. “I’ve never wanted like this before. Never so quickly, but never, ever,” she glanced away, “like this.”

God, she probably sounded as if she had a screw loose or something. What happened to all that girl talk that assured a woman could get laid whenever she wanted, at the snap of her fingers? All of her friends had had one-night stands. Okay, they might not have been proud of them exactly, but they’d all expounded on the benefits of no-strings sex. After having the evidence that the relationship route hadn’t exactly been working for her, didn’t she deserve some uncomplicated pleasure herself? She was entitled, wasn’t she?

His jaw flexed and his gaze bore into hers. He took a couple deep breaths. He seemed to be weighing his options. Jeez, she didn’t want to have to twist his arm.

“I—”

“Why the fuck not?” he finally muttered.

The bottom dropped right out of Lily’s stomach. Okay, not exactly the resounding response she’d been hoping for, but she could run with it, couldn’t she? If she could get her nerves under control and didn’t make a complete fool of herself, of course.

She frowned when he opened the passenger door and leaned in. His gaze was direct on hers when he straightened, a small square packet held unapologetically in his hand as if he wanted to be certain she saw it.

“Are you sure?” he rasped.

Her heart thundered, her throat was dry and the damn trembling was back. Especially when it registered he was holding more than one.

God, she hadn’t been exaggerating when she said she’d never done anything like this before and she couldn’t say why she was now exactly. Sex had always been a natural progression in the relationships she’d had. After a reasonable time, after getting to know someone, after feeling a connection that came with spending time together, but this… This was a driving, aching need, a want so powerful it drove her to seize the moment, to not let him just walk away and to hell with the fact she didn’t know a thing about him. She just wanted to learn every inch of him, run her hands over the hard body she’d felt pressed against her, feel him on her, in her. She was drawn to him, her body attuned to his, every nerve ending tingling alive for him. And after knowing she’d wasted a year and a half of her life on a one-sided relationship, a farce, well, she was done with that.

She’d never gone for the bad-boy type before either. There was definitely something savage and untamed about him, something held tightly under control. He’d come tearing in, literally guns blazing and saved her from a fate that just might have been worse than death. It was hot and arousing. He was hot with this rough and rugged appearance, there was no doubt, but there was something almost vulnerable about him as well, something that reached out to her, as if he needed someone to keep him safe too. It was ridiculous. She knew it was. He was probably the last person who’d be in need of protection. He clearly didn’t need it, wouldn’t want it and probably wouldn’t appreciate it.

Mouth dry, she nodded.

I'm in love...

...WITH MY NEW COVER for PLAY ME! I was speechless when I saw it. It fits the story perfectly and it's "me" if that makes any sense. It not only represents the characters and the feel of the story so well, it appeals to me from a style perspective as well. Gosh, it's so perfect I still get chills (of the good kind) when I look at it. Hope to have a release day soon and for it to be soon :). In the meantime, I'll just keep staring at it...or I could work on my WIP. Sigh...

The WIP is well underway

I had a little bit of a slow start to this WIP. I had to spend some time getting to know the characters first. For me, if I know who they are, the story flows. I've made great progress on the story this weekend which is unusual. I typically write more "new" words during the week and tweak over the weekend. Yes, I work every day on something writing related :). I also don't have a title for this one yet. Another difference. By now I've usually settled on a title and I'm tying the theme into the book. This one, I'm kinda still waiting for it to hit me. I have to say, I like it when I know there's a surprise in store for me. So...I thought I'd share a couple of quick snippets from the WIP. It's a bit of a mess at the moment, but that's how I write. I call it writing 'all over the book'. I have something sitting in every chapter, every scene. Description, dialogue, scene outlines, it's all in there. Jumbled. I kind of do a mind dump of everything I know is going to happen, roughly in the sequence it'll occur and then when I'm ready, I go back and actually 'write' it. Some scenes are more 'written' currently than others, but I thought I'd pull out a couple of favorite parts of mine so far. I'm really enjoying the sparks that fly between Nash and Lexi! ENJOY!

     “What’s your name?”
     She lifted her chin ever so slightly. “Alexis. My friends call me Lexi. You? You can call me Alexis.”
     Ouch.



      “You tattooed a guy’s name on your ass,” Nash breathed.
      “No. I paid someone else to do it. And it’s not on my ass. It’s on my hip.”
      “Just have to wonder about your judgment.”
      “Yeah? Well my judgment’s been known to suck. I’m here with you aren’t I?”

I'm thinking about posting a snippet from whatever page I'm working on from my WIP each Wednesday on the blog. Good idea? Not?

Fequently Asked Questions. Huh?

So...I'm in the process of looking into re-designing my web-site. That translates roughly to...I'm sorta, kinda waffling about it. It needs a new look. It needs new information. Actually, it needs an overhaul, but I'm thinking very carefully about what information to put out there. I want it to be interesting and engaging. I want it to be useful and informative. I want it to look pretty. I want it to make people buy my books! Only kidding on that last part LOL. Really, I'd just like it to be a reflection of me and what I write, so perhaps people could get more of a sense of where I'm coming from. I've seen a lot of author sites include a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section and I've been thinking about incorporating one of these in the new content. So, I'm fishing for information today :). Authors, what information do you include in your FAQ section if you have one? Readers, what information do you like to see about authors on these thingys that would be of interest to you?

Valentine's Day Contest!

We're having a fabulous contest over on my group blog, Passionate Reads! Comment on any post anywhere on the blog through mid-morning on Valentine's Day and win a bunch of ebooks, including a copy of PAY UP. The more you comment, the more chances you have of winning! Go here to get all the details!

WOOT!

My editor loves my book, my editor loves my book *sing-song voice*. Heard from my editor today and she loved PLAY ME! I'm in the process of taking care of the administrative side of things on this and will hopefully be able to share details of a release date soon. I poured a lot of emotion into this book and it took awhile to wrestle it to the ground. Gabe is the damaged, tortured hero and I have a soft spot for that type! I hope everyone likes it. It'll be great to get another book out!! More details to follow soon....

Are you serious??

So, one of my books was selected as a local book club read! Wow. Before you get too excited, it probably sounds a lot more impressive than it actually is. It's a very small, informal group, but I still can't help be excited. They've invited me to come meet with them after they've all read the book to 'discuss it'. This part fills me with dread because I figure there can only be a few outcomes here:

• Everyone loves the book, my writing and is in total awe of my skill. OK, maybe not that last part, but the first two :).
• They're all speechless, shocked, embarrassed because you know...I write hot. They've been warned, but you never know. Maybe I'll be the one to die of embarrassment if they want to deconstruct those scenes.
• They're not shocked at all, but wonder who the heck picked this trash for them to read? Actually, this one would be a nice challenge to practice justifying why romance is viable fiction and how erotic romance is NOT porn. Of course, afterwards, if I ever see any of them again in public, I'll have to run and hide.

The date is still being locked down, but it'll be some time in March. Should be fun. Or perhaps not. I'll be sure to let you know!

Ah...January? Where are you?

Did you blink and miss it? I must have. January just flew by for me. Perhaps it was because I took a spur of the moment vacation and the hope that I could settle into a routine again after the madness of the holidays just flew out the window. Anyway, it's a brand new month, I have no trips planned (that I know of yet :)) and I'm ready to sink my teeth into something new. I turned in my latest book yesterday. Sigh and yay!! It required me to lock myself in my writing cave to wrap it up. The waiting and nail biting begins, but what to work on now? There are so many characters vying for my attention. I could pick up Cole's story from PAY UP. When I started to write that book, I hadn't intended to leave an opening for another story, but Cole just became so real. And I have just the woman for him :)! I could go back to an idea I had in January. It did distract me from my book at the time and it's nicely laid out. It's got a hot military guy :). I could browse my ever bulging "ideas" file. There's some great stuff in there. OR I could run with a shiny, new, exciting idea that struck me this morning. Decisions, decisions... So much to write, so little time!