You'll forgive me if I go all fan-girl for a minute because today my special guests are Lily Harlem & Lucy Felthouse, two of my personal favorites!
I love you Lily & Lucy!!!
What's even better is their book,
Grand Slam which they've written together. I got to read it, and my review is
posted here. Now, here's Lily to tell you about why we love sports heroes!
Sporting heroes, why we love them
by Lily Harlem
Writing
about sporting male leads has become a bit of a theme for me with my Hot Ice
series, Scored and now, Grand Slam. Why? Because they just do it for me, those
perfectly honed, talented, determined athletes who don’t let anything get in
their way of the prize both in and out of the bedroom.
Some
girls like firemen or cops, cowboys or rock stars, but me, I like sportsmen.
It’s the glint in their eye, the set of their jaws, the dedication and
commitment it takes to be the best of the best. I’m not saying I’d decline a
hot fireman if he turned up on my doorstep or go for a ride with a cute cowboy
if offered the chance, but give me a hunky gold medalist or Wimbledon champion
and I’m mush!
So you
can imagine my relief when co-author Lucy Felthouse had the same hankerings!
Happy dance! Soon Travis Connolly was born. Brooding and dark he holds a secret
close to his chest. When the rest of the world sees him hitting that ball on
court, looking pristine in his whites and focused on winning, they have no
inkling of the dominant desires he keeps under wraps or of the flavour his
likes to taste when bedding women – and no, it’s not vanilla! I think that is
one of the things I liked the most about Travis, the contrast between the
public image and the one that lurks beneath the surface. It’s just as well
Marie is highly trained in revealing a person’s inner secrets, even if it means
she finds out some truth about herself along the way!
*****
Excerpt:
“Some
people like pain,” he said, still not looking at me.
“Masochists
you mean?”
“Yes, I
suppose.”
Shit,
was he trying to tell me that he enjoyed the pain the accident had left him
with? If so, we really needed to discuss this. “That’s not the majority of
people though.”
“No, but
more than you think. And some people like administering pain.” He turned to me,
cocked his head slightly and moved into the space I’d left between us.
I looked
into his eyes. Swallowed and tasted his cologne as it traveled into my nostrils
and then laced my tongue. “Would you consider them to be good people, Travis?
These individuals that like to hurt others.”
“I’ve
known a few people who like to give and receive higher sensations, and most of
them I consider to be good friends as well as good people.”
I
hesitated, felt his body heat radiating toward me, wrapping around me as I
pondered his words. We were close, very close, and his consuming presence made
logical thinking much harder than normal. “I’m not quite sure what you’re
telling me.”
“You
talk about pain like it’s a bad thing, Marie.”
“It is.”
He
smiled but it wasn’t a sweet smile, more like one of a hunter who’d spotted
prey.
“Pain is
unpleasant for a reason,” I said. “Because it’s bad.”
“I
disagree.” He raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes. It was a challenging,
cocky gesture.
A tingle
snaked its way up my spine and threatened to wreak havoc in my body by turning
into a tremble. But I beat it down. I wouldn’t let a patient get to me this
way. I was the one supposed to be holding the reins here.
“Maybe,
Marie, you should open your mind to new ideas with a little more grace.”
“I fail
to see how I haven’t been graceful in discussing your theory that pain is
good.”
“Can we
keep it that way?”
“I hope
so.”
“In that
case,” he flicked his attention from my eyes and looked at my hair, “would you
like me to demonstrate?”
Damn,
the guy made me feel tiny. Even though I was wearing heels, his broad chest and
wide shoulders were looming over me. “Okay.”
He
twitched the right side of his mouth into a half-smile. Now he looked like a
hunter who’d captured his prey. A trickle of fight or flight seeped into my
system. Which would be my best option?
“Now
that’s the first rule.” He reached up and undid the clasp holding my hair on
the top of my head. It tumbled around my shoulders as the clasp fell to the
floor.
“Consent.”
“Doesn’t
consent require knowing what you’re agreeing to?” Fuck, with him this close and
stroking my hair, spreading it out, I’d pretty much agree to anything. Who was
I kidding? Fight or flight was not an option, the only thing that shot through
my mind was giving myself over to him. Allowing him to do whatever he wanted,
control my body, feed it what it needed.
Damn, it
had been too long since I’d been with a man. It was making me desperate.
He
slotted his other hand over the left side of my head, the sound of him sliding
his fingers over the shell of my ear noisy. My breath hitched and I locked my
knees to stabilize my stance. I stared up at him, noting the small shafts of
black hair sneaking out of his skin on his chin and the way his bottom lip was
a little plumper than the top.
“You see, some pain,” he said, gathering my
hair up at my crown and tugging to create tension on the roots, “can heighten
the awareness of everything else going on in the body.”
He
pulled harder, forcing my head to tip back.
I gasped
as discomfort shot across my scalp.
He
increased the pressure a little more.
I
reached out and clutched at his shirt, felt his hard chest beneath. “Travis,
I—”
“Shh,
I’m just showing you.” He slipped his arm around my waist, dragged me close and
yanked my hair, really hard.
“Ow, I—”
A barrage of sensations blasted through my system. The feel of him pressing up
against me, hot hard male, all wide pecs and solid thighs. The pain from having
my hair tugged with force, and the awareness that my belly was shoved right up
against his groin. A groin that held a wedge of thick flesh.
“Just
feel,” he whispered, hovering his lips over mine. “Endorphins are rushing into
your bloodstream, giving you a natural high as pain alerts your nerve endings
that something exciting is happening.” He slid his free hand up my back,
tracing the outline of my spine through my blouse.
I
breathed in the air he was breathing out, warm and sweet. The scream of hurt in
my scalp made me want to wriggle but being held so firmly and confidently kept
me still. The heat of the discomfort slipped down my nape and neck and over my
shoulders, then combined with the lovely sensation of him stroking my back.
“Can you
feel it?” he whispered. “Pain mixing with pleasure, the lines between the two
blurring.”
I could
feel it with every fiber of my being. My skin was alive with awareness, my
breasts were heavy and desperate for stimulation, and between my legs I was
buzzing for action. Good, hard man action, preferably of the naked, sweaty
variety. “Yes,” I gasped.
*****
Blurb:
California
had seduced me with promises of a new life working at Los Carlos Tennis
Academy. What I didn’t expect was the dark, brooding number one seed, Travis
Connolly, resisting my help. He wasn’t interested in my psychology skills.
Instead his attention was drawn to the edgy, sharper corners of my desires,
proving that they existed, setting me challenges and driving me crazy to the
point of combustion.
I’m the
best tennis player in the world—officially—so why would I need a damn woman
full of psychobabble to get me on form? Despite my irritation, however, I can’t
resist pushing Marie Sherratt’s buttons even though doing that shows her the
darkest shades of my lust, the parts of me I buried deep. So I set her a
challenge, one she rises to, one that has me rising too, and before long my
game relies on her calling the shots, hitting the target and bending to my
will. One thing was certain, being not just master of the court, but also of
Marie is seriously good for my soul.
*****
Author Bios:
Lily Harlem
Lily Harlem lives in the UK with Mr Harlem and a
host of rescued animals. She is an award winning author of contemporary erotic
romance and writes for publishers on both sides of the Atlantic including
Ellora's Cave, HarperCollins, Total-E-Bound, Xcite and Sweetmeats Press as well
as self-publishing. Her HOT ICE series regularly receives high praise and
industry nominations and sportsmen who are talented both in and out of the
bedroom often feature in her novels. But whichever book you choose of Lily's
one thing you can be sure of is it will be wildly romantic and down-and-dirty
sexy. Enjoy!
Lucy Felthouse
Lucy
Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and erotic romance in a
variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over seventy publications to her
name, with many more in the pipeline. These include Best Bondage Erotica 2012,
2013 and 2014 and Best Women's Erotica 2013. Another string to her bow is
editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies. She owns Erotica For
All, and is book editor for Cliterati. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook and Twitter,
and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
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