WIP Wednesday - another excerpt from Found (Assassin's Revenge Book 1) - Coming April 15

Hello, WIP-ers! Happy Wednesday! Time continues to tick down to the Found release on April 15 and my panic and stress levels are rising exponentially. 

***

Oh, hey - quick announcement. The Professor's Pet is on a $0.99/£0.99. The sale is only in the US and the UK, sorry! 

Cheaper than coffee, people! 

The sale ends Friday, so if you want to buy this, click away while the sale's still on! 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon CA | Or buy for free on Kindle Unlimited. 

***

But hey, you should read some of my book! That's what you are here for, right? 

The Assassin's Revenge Blurb

I have a mission. Kill the man who kidnapped me. Kill the guards who raped me. I have guns and knives and I’m not afraid to use them. Nothing will stop me.

Then I walk into a bar and I notice him. He is gorgeous.

For four long years, my only response to anything sexual has been revulsion and fear. This time, it feels different.

I could use him. I want to use him. I could sleep with him and make a pleasurable memory as a counterpoint to the painful ones. I’m not a frightened young girl anymore. I’m a trained assassin, capable of killing him with my bare hands.

This time, I’ll be in control.

He’s just supposed to be a distraction, this mysterious man in the bar that I have a one-night stand with. But I can't predict the secrets he is hiding... secrets that are about to intersect my world in painful, unanticipated, and dangerous ways. 

***

And now, an excerpt from Found...

He eyed me speculatively. I met his gaze squarely. Finally, his lips twitched. “In that case, bright star,” he said to me, “take off your clothes.”

“Here?” I looked around at the back yard. I could hear sounds of life in the neighboring houses. TVs blared and dogs barked. Children cried loudly. The backyard was fenced and we couldn’t be seen. But we were surrounded by people who could hear us, the same way I could hear them.

“Would you prefer if it was a dare?” he inquired with a wicked, panty-melting grin. Oh, he was enjoying this a little too much. I took a fortifying sip of the chilled wine and pulled my t-shirt over my head.

I heard his breath catch. His eyes were filled with heat. “Let me guess,” I joked, using humour as a momentary retreat from the intensity of his gaze, “jogging bras really turn you on.”

He chuckled. “Take it off.” He took a sip of wine as well as he waited for me to comply.

This was it. The moment of truth.

I’d been ordered to strip so many times by my former master. Every time I had obeyed instantly, terrified of the consequences of disobedience. Now though, my hesitation was something else. As I looked into Marc’s blue eyes, I felt a little shy and very eager to please.  

The jogging bra came off. Before he could instruct me, I hooked my fingers around the waistband of my track pants, pushing them down along with my panties. Stepping out of them, I looked at him. “What next?” I was astonished that my voice was steady.

“Next time,” he chided, “wait for permission to take off each garment.” He smiled. “I do like that you are in a hurry, Rachel. Come here.”

I took a step forward and my knees bumped against him. He got to his feet smoothly. His hands slid up the sides of my hips, locking around my waist. He lifted me as I squealed, setting me down on the glass-topped table in front of us. I lay there on my back, my legs dangling off the edges, struggling not to laugh. “What are you doing?” I squeaked.

“What do you think?” he asked wickedly. He sat back down between my legs and his hands closed around my knees. “Spread your legs for me, Rachel.”

It wasn’t a request. It was a demand and I complied instantly, shivering in anticipation as I did so. No one had ever done this to me and I was deeply, profoundly glad that the first thing this gorgeous man did was an act that would be untainted by any painful memories.

He bent his head forward with a growl of pleasure. His stubble grazed against my inner thighs and I groaned. “Oh god yes,” I hissed, throwing my head back and surrendering to the sensations that simple touch had caused.

He chuckled and the sound vibrated close to my core. “Keep it down, Rachel,” he advised. “I do have neighbors.”

I almost didn’t care. I lurched forward into him, almost shoving my pussy in his face. I could feel how wet I was. My nipples were hard and erect. Goosebumps covered my entire body.

“Four years,” he muttered as his tongue flicked out and touched me. “I’m quite honoured.” Then he stopped talking. His mouth covered my pussy and only pleasure was left. 

***

Please add Assassin's Revenge to your Goodreads TBR lists! 

Found (Assassin's Revenge Book 1)

Bought (Assassin's Revenge Book 2)

Freed (Assassin's Revenge Book 3)

Claimed (Assassin's Revenge Book 4)

***

And the other authors are here...

My reading list - March 11-24

Yay for reading!

What I read in the last two weeks... 

Hmm. I thought I read more. Ah well. 

1. Audiobooks for Indies: The One-Stop Guide for Authors..  by Simon Whistler

2. Keep Me by Cate Bellarose

3. Stranger of Mine by Emma Sydney

4. The Princess & the Penis by RJ Silver

5. Bad Boy Good Man by Abigail Barnette, Jenny Trout

6. Reasonable Doubt by Whitney G

What's going to be DNF'd: 
1. When You're Ready (The Ready Series Book 1) by J.L. Berg
2. The Billion Dollar Contract: Proposals by Cynthia Dane

What I borrowed: 
1. Audiobooks for Indies: The One-Stop Guide for Authors..  by Simon Whistler

2. A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest

3. Keep Me by Cate Bellarose

4. Stranger of Mine by Emma Sydney

Free Books I got:

1. Someone Else's Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts

2. Her Russian Protector Boxed Set (Books 1-3) by Roxie Rivera

3. Shibari: The Japanese Art of Erotic Bondage. Guide for Beginners by Liliya May

4. Ruined by the Billionaire - A Dark Taboo Romance by Katie Cramer

5. The Waltz: Sexual Awakenings #1 by Angelica Chase

6. The Princess & the Penis by RJ Silver

Books I actually bought:

1. Shopping for a Billionaire Boxed Set (Parts 1-5) by Julia Kent

2. The Source of Magic: A Fantasy Romance (Alaia Chronicles) by Cate Rowan

3. Naughty King (A Sexy Manhattan Fairytale: Part One) by Michelle A. Valentine

4. Dark Prince: Author's Cut Special Edition (The 'Dark' Carpathian Book 1) by Christine Feehan

5. Bad Boy Good Man by Abigail Barnette, Jenny Trout

Saturday Spanks - Storm: Home is Where the Vibrator is

Happy Saturday Spanks! 

I haven't posted in a while - lots of writing, no time to do much else, but today, I'm celebrating a new release. 

Storm originally started out as a mailing list freebie. It was a way for me to write out my crush on a certain Hollywood star. I love this series though - it's funny and light-hearted. All BDSM doesn't have to grim and scary, and Storm was my attempt to write that out. 

Here's the Saturday Spanks bit: 

I kept silent, taking a sip of my own. “What do you want me to say?” I asked him finally. “I’m not a starry-eyed teenager. We lead such different lives. I bake pizza, for fuck’s sake. You are a Hollywood heartthrob that women masturbate to. Fuck, I even named my vibrator after you. How can I ignore all of that, wish it all away?”

“You named your vibrator after me?” He sounded slightly stunned and I could see the blush creep up his cheeks. It was ridiculously endearing.

“Really?” I started to smile despite myself. “From everything I said, that’s the bit you chose to focus on?”

“Yes.” He still sounded a little astonished. “No one’s ever said that to me before.”

***

And the blurb: 

All the Storm episodes in ONE Boxed Set! 

Timothy Banks is Hollywood's hottest star. He is funny, charming and utterly sexy. 

I probably shouldn't have named my vibrator after him. 

I probably shouldn't have abandoned him in the middle of a winter storm. 

I probably shouldn't have started playing BDSM games with him. 

Yet I did all these things. I'm the girl who runs a pizza shop in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Population 2700. 

And I'm about to find out that Tim Banks and I live in very different worlds.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE 

***

Never read Storm? Episode 1 is free - so why don't you try it today?

Timothy Banks is Hollywood's hottest star. He is funny, charming and utterly sexy.

I'm the girl who runs a pizza shop in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Population 2700.

He is a storm. I seek safe harbor. Timothy Banks does not belong in my life.

Why then, do I feel only yearning when I look at him?

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon CA | Or borrow for free with Kindle Unlimited.

***

And the other Saturday Spanking authors are here... 

WIP Wednesday - A scene from Found (Assassin's Revenge Book #1)

Hello, WIP-ers! I've been off-and-on here as I juggle about a hundred things all at once, but as time ticks down to the Found release (April 15, eek!), I'm going to try posting an excerpt every week while frantically finishing up Part 4. (Of course. There's no shortage of insanity in my world.) 

The Assassin's Revenge Blurb

I have a mission. Kill the man who kidnapped me. Kill the guards who raped me. I have guns and knives and I’m not afraid to use them. Nothing will stop me.

Then I walk into a bar and I notice him. He is gorgeous.

For four long years, my only response to anything sexual has been revulsion and fear. This time, it feels different.

I could use him. I want to use him. I could sleep with him and make a pleasurable memory as a counterpoint to the painful ones. I’m not a frightened young girl anymore. I’m a trained assassin, capable of killing him with my bare hands.

This time, I’ll be in control.

He’s just supposed to be a distraction, this mysterious man in the bar that I have a one-night stand with. But I can't predict the secrets he is hiding... secrets that are about to intersect my world in painful, unanticipated, and dangerous ways. 

***

And now, an excerpt from Found...

I looked down on the body of the man I’d just killed in a Parisian whorehouse and all I could think was – there was so much blood.

Ivan Klimov hadn’t died easily. When recognition had flashed in his eyes, he had fought tooth and nail for his life. Had it not been for the Bowie knife in my hand, I would have been overcome. After all, as my mentor Lucien pointed out to me with depressing frequency, I could not become a master assassin in four years.

But the combination of four years of hard training and the sharp blade had been enough.

I glanced at the body for a few seconds, imprinting the image in my brain. Then, I reached for the roll of paper towels helpfully placed in the room so the johns could clean up before they tucked their cocks back in their trousers and headed back out onto the streets of Paris. I wiped away the blood on my naked body as best as I could. I needed to hurry. Our struggles hadn’t been silent; the overturned furniture in the room bore witness to that.

Six years ago Ivan had shoved his cock down my throat until I’d gagged uncontrollably. When my teeth had grazed him, he had pulled his belt from his buckles, doubled it calmly and had whipped me for ceaseless minutes. I’d begged and pleaded for mercy as the agonizing blows rained down on me; I’d found none.

“Six years of borrowed time, Ivan,” I spoke aloud to the corpse with its staring black eyes. “But your clock ran out.” I wiped the blood off my knife with his shirt, then threw the fabric down on top of the body, putting the knife back into its sheath and tucking it in the waistband in the small of my back.

I let myself out of the small bare room. The woman in the room next to me came out at the same time, her expression weary. “You okay?” she asked me. “You are new here, no?”

I faked a bored expression. “Fucker couldn’t get it up,” I waved my hand in the direction of the room. “Too much to drink. Now he doesn’t want to pay.”

She spat in disgust. “Merde,” she cursed. “Always the way. You tell Francois. He’ll straighten him out.”

“I will,” I promised. I couldn’t stay and talk to her any longer; my French was good but I wasn’t a native. I would be remembered.

As I made my way to the safe house in Saint Denis, I stopped at a McDonald’s near a busy metro station, bought myself a cup of coffee and asked for the restroom key. In the tiny washroom, I quickly removed the black wig I had set over my hair. The clothes I wore, a distinctive short leather skirt and a bustier went in the trash too and I pulled a much less revealing dress from my bag and slipped it on over my head. I peeled off the sparkling fake eyelashes, removed the blue contact lenses and wiped off my makeup. The clothes and the wig went into the trash. There was a slight risk that it would be found, but it was a chance I was willing to take. The McDonald’s was nowhere near the whorehouse and the minimum wage workers were not going to be looking at the trash as they threw it out.

The woman who went into the McDonald’s had long black hair, lots of makeup, and very little in the way of clothing. That woman would be remembered.

But the woman who emerged from the washroom was just another resident of Paris taking the metro home late at night. I went straight to the safe-house making sure I wasn’t followed. The apartment was all the way across town in the desperately poor neighbourhood of Saint Denis. Lucien would be waiting there, fingers drumming on the coffee table, smoke rising from the tip of the cigarette in the overflowing ashtray, anxious to know how the operation had gone.

***

Please add Assassin's Revenge to your Goodreads TBR lists! 

Found (Assassin's Revenge Book 1)

Bought (Assassin's Revenge Book 2)

Freed (Assassin's Revenge Book 3)

Claimed (Assassin's Revenge Book 4)

Cover Reveal - The Assassin's Revenge Series

There's just a month to go! (No panic, Tara, deep breaths!)

Here's the official details! 

The Assassin's Revenge Series by Tara Crescent

Blurb: 

I have a mission. Kill the man who kidnapped me. Kill the guards who raped me. I have guns and knives and I’m not afraid to use them. Nothing will stop me. 

 Then I walk into a bar and I notice him. He is gorgeous. For four long years, my only response to anything sexual has been revulsion and fear. This time, it feels different. 

 I could use him. I want to use him. I could sleep with him and make a pleasurable memory as a counterpoint to the painful ones. I’m not a frightened young girl anymore. I’m a trained assassin, capable of killing him with my bare hands. 

This time, I’ll be in control. 

 He’s just supposed to be a distraction, this mysterious man in the bar that I have a one-night stand with. But I can't predict the secrets he is hiding... secrets that are about to intersect my world in painful, unanticipated, and dangerous ways.

Found (Assassin's Revenge Book 1) is coming April 15! 

Want to add the books to your Goodreads TBR? Please? Here are the links. 

Found: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25154136-found

Bought: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25154155-bought

Freed: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25154167-freed

Claimed: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25154175-claimed

My reading list - Jan 20 - March 10

Ahem. It's been a while, hasn't it? February was insane and very little reading got done. But March has been slightly better. I'm going to try to do a catch-up here of what I've been reading and buying, with the recognition that things might have fallen through the cracks.

What I read in the last six weeks-ish...
1. Amber: The Making of a Sex Toy by Michael Dalton
2. The Girl in 6E by Alessandra Torre 

3. Bridge Over Time by Brenda Hiatt (from the Swept Through Time: 7 Bestselling Time Travel Treasures boxed set)
4. The Billionaire's Wife by Ava Lore (from the Shades of Control: Fifty by Fifty #3 boxed set)
5. A Man Needs a Maid by Giselle Renarde (from the Shades of Control: Fifty by Fifty #3 boxed set)
6. Lost and Found - Master of Curves by Olivia Rigal (from the Shades of Control: Fifty by Fifty #3 boxed set)
7. Becoming Jane by Jordan Bell (from the Shades of Control: Fifty by Fifty #3 boxed set)
8. Drop by Erika Masten (from the Shades of Control: Fifty by Fifty #3 boxed set)

9. Emma: Part One (Outpost Nine Book 1) by Lolita Lopez
10. Hitched by Karpov Kinrade

11. Blood Lost (Bloodbound Book 1) by Aurelia T. Evans

12. Behind the Door (Part 1) by M. Clarke

13. Teach Me: A BDSM Romance by Cate Bellerose

14. Come Away With Me (The Andrades) by Ruth Cardello

15. Rumpled: An Erotic Twist on Rumpelstiltskin by Madeleine Shade

What's going to be DNF'd:
What I borrowed: Nothing, but this is going to show a lot of movement soon. 

Free Books I got:

1. The Billion Dollar Contract: Proposals by Cynthia Dane

2. Grave Hauntings: Where Sexy and Sinful Meets Dark and Charity Parkerson et al

3. Blood Lost (Bloodbound Book 1) by Aurelia T. Evans

4. When You're Ready (The Ready Series Book 1) by J.L. Berg

Books I actually bought:

1. The Seduction: The Complete Collection by Roxy Sloane

2. Hitched by Karpov Kinrade

3. Behind the Door (Part 1) by M. Clarke

4. Shades of Control: Fifty by Fifty #3: A Billionaire Romance.. by Michelle Fox et al

5. Every Breath You Take (Billionaires in Disguise: Georgie and.. by Blair Babylon

6. Shades of Seduction, An Erotic Romance Boxed Set by Morgan Black et al

7. Dominance and Deception by Amy Valenti

8. Swept Through Time: 7 Bestselling Time Travel Treasures by Tamara Gill et al

9. Teach Me: A BDSM Romance by Cate Bellerose

10. The Darker Side of Love (A Dark Erotica Boxed Set) by Tara Crescent et al

11. Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1) by Robin Hobb

WIP Wednesday - Assassin's Revenge

Hello, lovely people! I've been missing from WIP Wednesday for a while, because I've been so deep in my current project, I couldn't lift my head long enough to breathe. Plus, February was an insane month. There were 3 anthologies, there were books to write and edit - it was all quite crazy. 

Anyway - I finally got my shit together and here's a little excerpt from my biggest writing project. It's a series called Assassin's Revenge. This is a bit out of the third book (which I'm currently writing, even though I'm not actually done writing book 2. I do some not-quite sane stuff sometimes.) 

In case you are wondering who XXX is, that's just a bit of writer laziness. Somewhere, I think I named XXX, but I'm too embroiled in the writing to go back and find it. So she'll be XXX till I have time to search. 

***

When we got to the house, she looked at me. “Sir,” she said, with sweetness and not a trace of fear. “I was late getting ready. Please punish me.”

I raised an eyebrow. This was a very different woman than the one I’d seen so far. This time, there was no terror. Her eyes sparkled with nervous anticipation. I didn’t know what had wrought this change, but I wanted to find out. “Not afraid, cherie?”

“No, I’m not,” she replied.

As much as I wanted to rush her into the playroom and take advantage of her willingness, I owed it to both of us to keep these lines of communication open and to try and understand what lay at the root of her fear. And what had changed since the last time we’d been in the playroom. “Why not? What’s different now?”

She exhaled. She appeared to be grappling with a decision, then she reached it. “I’ve been stuck between my head and my heart for the last few days,” she said softly. “My head tells me that a man with enough money to pay a million dollars for three months of my company is someone to be feared.”

“But?”

“But every instinct tells me I have nothing to be afraid of. Every instinct tells me to trust you.”

What she was describing was exactly the way I felt towards her. I should have been constantly fretting about who she worked for and why she’d wanted to be bid on by me. I should have never slept in the same bed as her until I fully understood her motives. She’d been in Paris two years ago; she’d been in Bangkok for Lori’s auction. There were no coincidences. I had many enemies – she could be working for one of them.

Yet when I was with her, all of that faded and what was left was trust. Plain and simple. Again and again, I was drawn to her. “So what is it, cherie? Which one are you going to listen to tonight? Your head or your heart?”

We were sitting on a couch in my bedroom. In response to my question, she slid off the couch and knelt at my feet. “I’m ready for the playroom, Sir.”

My heart was hammering in my chest. Not since the first time I’d tied up Angela had I been this ready for a session. This eager. “Get up for a minute,” I urged her, pulling her up and into the seat. “Let’s talk about limits for a few minutes. Is there anything you want to do tonight? Anything you want to try, anything you want to avoid?”

She looked a little tentative. I guessed that checking in with her desires wasn’t something her former master had done too much of. “Can we avoid the canes?” she asked.

XXX had enjoyed pain and I’d bought the canes on her request. It wasn’t something I had ever needed. “Okay. What else? Do you like the flogger?”

Her lips parted at that image. The thought of being flogged aroused her. Lust was rolling off her in waves and I wanted to wade in and drown myself in her desire. “I like the flogger,” she confirmed, her cheeks flushed. “A lot.”

I rested one hand on her thigh and she parted her legs slightly. Oh, my bright star was turned on. I couldn’t wait to play with her. “Any other special requests?”

Her forehead wrinkled as she considered. I loved this. She wasn’t flinching away from me. She was leaning into my body, so close that I could see each inhale and exhale of breath she took. Under that midnight blue evening gown, her nipples had pebbled and I wanted to run my palms over them, teasing, playing, until she begged me to go harder.

The only time we’d been in the playroom, I hadn’t been certain she was there because she wanted to be. I’d had to be careful, cautious so that I wouldn’t do anything that caused her to panic. Today, things were different. 

My dick stirred in my pants. Anticipation ran hot in my blood as I waited for her to respond.

“No Sir.”

I rose to my feet, extending my hand to her. “Come on then,” I replied. “Your punishment awaits.”

A shiver ran through her as I opened the door of the playroom. Then she grinned in amusement. “Don’t you think I should remove the jewelry before we play?” Her fingers played with the gold chain that the yellow diamond hung from. “I’m assuming that your insurers wouldn’t approve of whatever you are going to do.”

I laughed. Oh, I liked her unafraid. “So much attitude,” I said, layering menace into her voice. My hands reached for her ponytail and tugged, pulling her head back until I was looking into her eyes. “Being a brat might get you punished here, cherie.”

Her lips tugged into a smile. “You like it,” she accused. She reached out and ran her palm over my trousers, tracing the outline of my erection. “Don’t you, Sir?”

I laughed. “Shh.” I put a finger over her lips. “Be good.” I walked behind her and kissed the exposed spot at the back of her neck. I felt her quiver in response and my cock jumped once more. My fingers found the zipper and pulled it down, letting the gown ripple fluidly onto the floor. “Step out of it, Jenny.”

She obeyed. She was still wearing the strappy silver sandals she’d worn to the concert. I stood for a minute, just admiring her body. Her breasts were cupped lovingly by a midnight blue lace bra. The matching panties contrasted with the pale skin of her ass. My palms itched to touch her. To caress her body and spank it. I wanted to feel her wriggle helplessly against me, her eyes bright with desire. 

***

And the other authors are here...