Guest - Tina Donahue and a Contest

Before we get to our special guest I promised to announce our winner from Day 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas Contest. The winners are: Kristen C and Jessica. Please email me at amberskyze AT aol DOT com so I can send you your prize! Contest will resume tomorrow.

Now on to our special guest. I'm thrilled to have Tina Donahue in the house. Her writing is HOT HOT HOT, so enjoy! Oh and she's offering a contest! :0)





Intimate Moments
As a writer of erotic romance, I’m faced with the challenge of providing unique and satisfying ways for my characters to explore their growing intimacy.
It’s not enough to have them going at it on a mattress, the floor, in a hayloft or the back seat of a car. There has to be a bond between the participants, a draw so strong not only I, but my readers feel it.
In Sensual Stranger, my latest erotic romance that released on December 15th, I wanted the sexual tension between Toni and Zach to heat up the pages. However, I also wanted true intimacy between them…a meeting of minds, hearts, souls.
To accomplish that, I explored those quiet moments after the passion, allowing them to connect emotionally as well as physically. To show you what I mean, here the blurb and an excerpt.




BLURB:

Into his life she came—wanting…willing…wanton

It’s no ordinary morning when Toni Starr arrives at Zach’s garage. Flat broke, with a past she won’t share, Toni’s instantly taken by such a potently virile man. Direct and unashamed, she tells him she’s a motorcycle performance artist who needs work and knows motors.

Zach knows women, and Toni’s unlike any he’s met. Lushly sensuous, exceedingly assured, she’d easily be his match in business and bed. A provocative challenge that stirs him as nothing has since losing his wife. A chance he’s reluctant to take, offering no more than a month’s employment, then she’ll have to be on her way.

The hours tick by. Each word and glance intensifies their denied yet escalating desire, forcing them to surrender to passion and Toni’s need for Zach’s dominance. Driven by carnal hunger, conquered by yearning, they face the unforeseen truth of Toni’s past and a future neither of them expected.


EXCERPT:

(In this scene, shortly after they’ve made love, Zach takes care of Toni, encouraging even more intimacy as he bathes her.)

Contentment radiated from her, relaxing her features, revealing her underlying vulnerability. So different than the ballsy expression Zach had seen yesterday as she’d claimed to be the best damn mechanic around. At the time, he’d also caught despair and caution so deep, he sensed she’d been hurt frequently by others and didn’t know what to expect from him.
Her measure of trust at this moment humbled Zach as few things had.
Whatever he proposed, he knew Toni would welcome it eagerly, the same as when he’d spanked her. A stunningly erotic game she’d willingly introduced to him as though she had no qualms about putting her safety into his hands.
His gaze lowered as Toni reached out, running her damp fingertips down his fly to his bulge. Through the denim, the heat of her fingers, their gentle stroking, tightened his balls and dried every bit of moisture in his mouth.
She purred, “Take your clothes off and join me.” As an added inducement, she swished her legs back and forth in the water.
Torn between a groan of pleasure and a smile, Zach settled on the latter. “The tub’s not big enough for both of us.”
Her fingertip traced the outline of his thickening cock. He’d been out of her for only a few minutes and already he was ready for more, a record he hadn’t experienced in years.
“You are a huge guy,” she murmured.
Like an idiot teen, he grinned.
Toni’s eyes met his. Her expression grew serious. “You’re tired, right?” She hesitated a moment, seeming to struggle for her next comment. At last, she flicked her gaze at his knees, just as quickly averting it as though embarrassed. “Shouldn’t you at least sit down?”
Zach’s smile hung on for a second longer before it felt foolish. She’d noticed again how he favored his good leg, no doubt curious what had caused it.
He steeled himself for her expected questions. They didn’t come. Gratitude washed over him. Tonight, he didn’t want to face anything bad, preferring to let desire take the edge off his incessant pain. In a surprisingly steady voice, he said, “I’m fine.”
Braced against any discomfort, Zach sank to his knees beside the tub. He selected a sponge from the small cabinet to the side and dipped it into the fragrant water. “Drape your arm over your head.”
Toni did as he asked, her eyes never leaving his, her actions fluid with no hint of embarrassment. As though having a man bathe her was normal in her world. Maybe it had been.
He squeezed the sponge tighter than he’d planned, wondering about the men in her life, surprised at the surge of jealousy pumping through him.
Ignoring it, he ran the sponge down her arm, pausing at her elbow. There, he saw a faint scar he hadn’t noticed earlier, the skin a shade paler than the rest and puckered slightly. “How’d you get this?” With his fingertips, he traced the contours, noting the difference between it and the surrounding flesh, wondering if a man had caused it. Some bum she’d known. Some prick who’d hurt her.
Toni’s lids fluttered. She spoke on a sigh. “Overshot a jump during one of my performances.”
Zach’s eyes moved to her face, then returned to the scar, his fingers stroking it. “You crashed?”
She rolled the back of her head against the tub. Her arm moved with it. “Not even close. Cycle came out with just a few dings, though I hit the gravel pretty hard and tore the sleeve of my jacket. Cost me big bucks to get the leather fixed.”
Surprised at her indifference, Zach glanced at the rest of her, looking for other injuries, not certain if the water masked them. He spoke without thinking or pause. “You’ve been hurt?”
A throaty chuckle bubbled from her. As he withdrew his hand, she lowered her arm and clawed damp hair from her neck. “Only when I screw up. And I don’t do it all that often. Can’t afford to keep getting my leather pants and jacket fixed, you know?”
He didn’t. She worried more about hurting her clothes than injuring her body. “What exactly do you do in your performances?”
“Just the usual stuff.” She ticked off the acts, each new one sounding worse to him than the others.
At last, he interrupted, “T-bone? Roll-over? Suicide twist?”
Composed, her lids heavy, she regarded him. “There has to be a little danger involved or no one would come.”
And then she wouldn’t make a living. She wouldn’t have a place to stay at night or anything to eat. What in the fuck had brought her to this rather than a normal life with a permanent home, friends, a family to worry about her, to be there if she needed help? She wasn’t uneducated. Her diction and world-view—that she’d unknowingly shared with him at dinner last night—were solidly middle-class.
He recalled what Em had said this morning.
You’re actually going to let her go back to that daredevil stuff?
“You like doing that kind of work?” he asked.
Her eyes closed. She took a deep breath. Zach’s gaze fell to her breasts, her nipples rosy and puckered. His cock stirred. Toni mewed. He lifted his eyes.
With what seemed great effort, she parted her lids and spoke without artifice, her voice soft. “It’s what I know.”


In the lines that follow, Zach learns a bit about her history, with it intriguing him and endearing her to him even more.


Sensual Stranger is available now!!

Buy Link: http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8932-50-sensual-stranger.aspx

Email: tina@tinadonahue.com
Website/blog: http://www.tinadonahue.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tinadonahue
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000458023097

To celebrate the upcoming release of Sensual Stranger, I’m offering a contest today. One lucky commenter will have her choice of one of my following books**:

Lush Velvet Nights – ebook
Adored – ebook
Deep, Dark, Delicious – ebook
Close to Perfect – mass market paperback
Bad Boys with Red Roses – trade paperback
Take My Breath Away – trade paperback

** Winner chosen at random. Winner in continental US has her choice of one of the six. Winner outside continental US has her choice of one of the ebooks.



Contest closes at midnight December 26th. Winner will be announced on December 27th!