Hey everyone.

If you’ve been reading here regularly you’ll know that we’re disbanding the Between The Covers blog.  It’s sad because I’ve gotten to know my fellow Berkley Babes and I think the world of them.  But in a way, it’s good news too because the reason for disbanding it is that we’re all just getting so busy.  Busy is good, not just with writing and our own careers, but with life in general.

It’s good to get busy with life, because if we don’t live and enjoy life, our writing suffers.  Then you might not want to read our stories anymore.

But, have no fear.  We’ll all still be around the web on our own sites (I blog on my own blog every day and plan to have these lovely ladies as guests often) and chatting with  each other as well, so keep your eyes open…and enjoy life!!

Hugs,

Sasha

LUSH
The pleasure is all yours if you’re ready to let your fantasies take control and surrender yourself to desire…

The Principles of Lust
Sleek and sexy erotic art gallery owner Teal Jamison knows what she likes and isn’t afraid to let carpenter Zack Dillon know that her current fantasy features him in all his masculine glory. But Zack has a deliciously different game in mind for a woman accustomed to taking charge…

Passion Play
Quick to follow where passion leads, then back off when things get too close, jewelry designer Mia Jones’s sensual odyssey with singles columnist Dominick Jamison is perfect: hot, sweet, and with no risk of complications. But how long can her heart stay cold–when she’s lost in the heat of a man devoted to every forbidden pleasure her body craves?

Sexual Healing
When massage therapist Caitlyn Ellis shows photographer Jack Lowell the joys of sensual self love for the camera, he can’t resist the erotic invitation to take pleasure in her lush curves–or deny himself the hands-on ecstasy of loving a beautiful woman determined to heal his battered soul…by setting his body on fire.

EXCERPT
PRINCIPLES OF LUST
LUSH anthology

Chapter 1

With less than a week until Lush’s opening day, Teal Jamison didn’t have time to time to fuck around.  Especially with something as frustrating as some punk kids spray painting nasty messages on the front of her building.  Pissed off and stressed out about all the piddly little things that kept screwing up her plans, she strode into her soon-to-be art gallery muttering to herself only to stop dead in her tracks.
Anger turned to desire and excitement of a different sort flowed through her at the sight that greeted her.  Soft faded denim stretched lovingly across perfect tight male glutes. 
All thoughts of temperamental artists, inconsistent suppliers, and juvenile delinquents evaporated as she watched the man straighten from his bent over position and enjoyed the sight of a worn leather tool belt framing his ass perfectly. 
Now, that’s a work of art.  
“Looking’ good, Zach,” Teal purred as she dropped her backpack on the reception desk and continued in his direction.  An hour or two of uncomplicated no strings naked wrestling with him would certainly take the edge off her stress level.  
The carpenter ran a loving hand over the custom built mahogany shelf he’d just installed before turning to her. “Thanks, Teal, but I’m just helping bring your vision of the place together.”
“Oh, I’ve no doubt the gallery will be beautiful, but I was referring to the view when I walked in.”  She winked at him and gave his impressive form an obvious once over.
His eye’s flared brightly at her brazen comment before they closed in a slow, lazy blink that made her knees weak.  When he looked at her again, the heat was banked and his smile was unhurried.  “Well, that’s the point of the set up right?  That the view be good from every angle?”
Zachary Dillon had come highly recommended as the finish carpenter for her new art gallery and she’d made it a point to be completely professional with him.  But his work for her was almost done, and she was ready to be more than his boss.
Her eyes followed his movements as he pulled a cloth from his tool-belt and wiped his hands.  His rough, calloused, manly hands were large enough to hold her C-cup breasts and make her feel small.  Her nipples pebbled in response to her thoughts and she lifted her gaze to his.
“I was talking about you, Darlin’.”  She couldn’t help it. Flirting had always been second nature to her, man or woman, it didn’t matter, she flirted and charmed … and usually got whatever she wanted.
From the start, just being around Zach had made her blood heat and her pulse race, but she’d remained professional.  Teal prided herself on always being a professional, no matter what job she was doing, but she was working for herself this time.  Lush was her place.  Her baby.  And she didn’t want anything getting in the way of Lush’s success, especially her own libido. 
Waiting until his work for her was completely done would be the smartest thing to do, but she’d had a shit day and her emotions were running high.  Maybe letting herself go this once would be a good thing.  One night of steamy love’n and her hormones would calm down, and she could concentrate on work again. 
Yes, that was exactly what she needed.
She touched his bare arm lightly and gave him the slow sultry smile that always got her whatever, and whoever, she wanted.  “You’re looking good.”
“Thank you.”  His voice was a bit deeper as he shifted his weight to his other foot, taking him just out of reach.  A knowing smile lifted his lips as he reached for the sweatshirt lying on a nearby stool, and pulled it on over his ragged t-shirt.
“I can’t do anything else until I pick up more varnish, so I’m done for the day.  I’ll see you bright and early Monday, Teal.” He picked up an old wooden toolbox and waved to her with his other hand.  “Have a good night.”
Teal said goodnight and watched him saunter away.
What the hell had just happened?  She’d come on to him, in fact, she couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d stripped off her clothes and said, “Let’s wrestle naked.”  And he’d walked away!
Men never walked away from her.
Her cheeks heated and she chewed on her lower lip.  There was a definite attraction between them.  She knew the spark of lust when she saw it.  By investing all of her savings into opening the very first completely erotic art gallery around, she was betting her future on knowing that look. 
So why would a big, healthy and attractive man walk away from a woman he desired?

A few of hours later she was working in the back room, and the question was still on her mind.
“Maybe he’s just shy.”  The perky brunette said from her perch on top of a packing crate.
“No, that’s not it.”  Teal shook her head and pulled the lid off the smaller crate on the table in front of her.  She thought about the way Zach moved, the way he ran his hands over whatever he was working on, and a shiver danced down her spine.  “He’s way too … confident to be shy.  He’s quiet for sure, but he gives off this impression of restrained strength.  Very strong and sexy, and completely alpha.”
It was just after ten p.m. on Saturday night and she and Brina Jo were in the spacious back room of the gallery, unpacking the first shipment of items.  Teal had spent the last two hours on the phone trying to line up a cleaning crew to come and wash the graffiti off her building, but since the next day was Sunday, nobody wanted the job.  She’d lined up a crew for Monday, though. 
She’d been enjoying her time alone in the back room.  The first bit of quiet time she’d had in a while. 
When the idea for an art gallery that specialized in erotic art had come to her, she’d run with it, and that meant the gallery was pretty much all she thought about.  She lived and breathed whatever job she was working when she worked it, and Lush was the most important job she’d ever had.  It was all hers.  Besides that, full speed ahead and complete stop, were the only speeds she knew.
Unpacking inventory in the back room was a bit of both for her.  She got to work fast and efficiently, and since she was alone, she could turn off her brain for a while and just enjoy.  But her brain hadn’t co-operated.  Instead, she couldn’t stop thinking about a certain well-built carpenter, and fantasizing about ways to get him naked.  
Until she’d heard someone rattling the locked door of the gallery. 
Thinking she might catch the graffiti punks, she’d dashed through the empty gallery only to open the door and find nobody.  Well, nobody with a spray can anyway.  What she had found was a flyer with the words “House of Sin.  You are going to hell” on it, glued to her front door.  Slightly creeped-out, and tired of her own thoughts, she’d called her long time friend and newly hired assistant, Brina Jo.  
By the time Brina arrived at the gallery, Teal had scraped the flyer off the door with warm water and a putty knife, and pushed it to the back of her mind.  However, thoughts of Zach would not go away so she’d blabbed uncontrollably to Brina about the brick wall hitting on him had been.
“If he’s not shy, maybe he’s not interested.”
Teal snorted.  “Oh, he’s interested.”
“How do you know?” Brina asked.  “I mean, if he’s as distant as you say and he’s not gay, then how do you know he’s interested?”
Turning away from the crate in front of her, Teal faced her friend.  “I can feel it.  Whenever we’re in the same room together, the air fairly vibrates with pheromones, and it’s not just me.  I’ve caught him watching me and I’ve seen the look in his eyes.  He wants me, too.”  Why wouldn’t he?
“What look have you seen in his eyes?”  She glanced up from the clipboard she was using to catalogue the items Teal unpacked.
“The look of lust.”
Brina Jo’s eyebrows jumped.  “Lust, huh? Are you sure it’s lust and not just tolerance because he thinks you’re crazy?  He has been in and out of here for the past two weeks, he’s seen your moods.”
“Crazy is the way your husband looks at you!”  Teal threw a handful of Styrofoam peanuts at her friend.  “And my moods haven’t been that bad.  It’s just a bit stressful getting this gallery ready to open in less than a month.”
Brina cocked her head to the side.  “Tell me again why someone with no experience in art what-so-ever decided to open an art gallery?”
“I don’t need to know art for this particular gallery.  I know everything there is to know about desire, hidden and otherwise.”  Teal arched an eyebrow at her friend.  “That includes what lust looks like, even in its subtlest form.”
“If you’re so sure of his attraction why don’t you just ask him out?”
Teal turned back to the crate in front of her so she didn’t have to look at her friend.  She hated to admit it, but even though Zach’s hard to get act just made her want him more, she didn’t want to ask him out first.  It was silly, but it felt like, if she did that, she’d be giving him the upper hand.  And that was something she didn’t like.
She tried to think of a way to explain that to her friend as she reached into the crate and dug past the packing.   She grasped the bronze sculpture within, and lifted it out, scattering the little peanuts everywhere and her jaw dropped.  “Wow.”
“You’re not kidding.”  Brina Jo hopped off the table she’d been sitting on and stepped forward for a closer look.  “That is…”
“Amazing,” Teal finished for her.
“That’s one way to put it.  Are you really going to display it?”
Teal set the sculpture down on the table to her left.  She wiped a dust cloth over it lovingly, taking in every detail.  It was a couple making love.  The female stretched out on her side with the male on his knees, straddling one of her legs while cradling the foot of the other against his shoulder.  She was spread completely open.  Her head was thrown back, her expression one of pure ecstasy.  There was nothing hidden to the viewer as the man plunged his cock into her.  His cock was as lovingly crafted as her sex.
Teal turned the sculpture around and found it beautiful from every angle. Every curve and crevice detailed to the point that her own sex clenched in anticipation of being filled.
“Teal?”
Brina’s voice broke the spell that had fallen over Teal and she pulled her hands away from the bronze couple.  “Hmmm?”
“You’re not really going to display that in the main room?”
Teal looked at her friend.  “Of course I am.  Why wouldn’t I?”
“It’s very… it’s so…” Brina Jo waved her hand about.
Teal watched her friends cheeks flush as she searched for the right word.  “Erotic?”  Teal finally took pity on her.
Brina Jo planted her hands on her ample hips and rolled her eyes.  “Yes, erotic.  But blatantly so.”
“Well, that’s what Lush is for.  I want it to showcase the erotic art that normal galleries think is too ‘out there’ or ‘too edgy’.  I can’t call it an erotic art gallery and then hide the most erotic pieces in the corner.”
“True, but you know you’re going to take some flack for it right?”
Teal shrugged.  “I’m prepared.  Plus, I know that sex and sexuality is a huge part of human nature, even if some people like to pretend it isn’t.  I’m banking on a lot of people getting more turned on by these things than they thought possible.”  Teal smirked at her friend.  “Just like you.”  
“Teal!”
“What?”  She laughed.  “You going to tell me you’re going to go home to Doug after handling all these and not want to try this position out?”
Brina Jo’s lovely chocolate eyes glittered and she bit her lip.  “That’s beside the point.”
“No, Brina baby, that is exactly the point.”

The other day on my Chat Loop we got on the topic of holistic healing. I find it very interesting because I do believe in being able to manipulate a person’s energy or Chi. So I though maybe I’d share my own experience with Reiki:

After 18 years of bartending, and ten years of martial arts training where I got to be the "demonstration dummy" for a lot of wrist locks and throws, I developed carpal tunnal in both my wrists. It was diagnosed over 8 years ago, for the first while it just caused numbness in my fingers. About 5 years ago it got to the point that I would wake up in tears in the middle of the night because of the pain.  My fingers would get so swollen and so mishappen that I couldn’t hold a comb or toothbrush let alone get dressed and do up a freakin bra in the morning.

Doctors told me I needed surgery, but surgery would only give me 50/50 chance of it getting better, as well as it might even get worse. I hate Dr’s and surgeries to start with unless it something that can ONLY be fixed by surgery…so I chose another route. Since I had a lot of martial arts experience I already knew the power of the mind when it comes to controlling and managing pain (I’d been in some pretty rough competitive fights, as well as worked as private security and a bodyguard for a couple of years) So I thought about acupunctur but in researching it heard about Reiki.

Instead of going to see someone who does it, I took a course on it. *grin*.

It was amazing. I got my first level through the course and it really did help. A year later when I was in South Africa, (No such things as coincidence) it turns out that one of the girls who I lived with was a massage therapist from Italy, and the other was into Reiki, (her mother was a Reiki master) I have no more offical training, but I’ve learned alot about mediation and energy flow and all sorts of holistic things just through being open to it..and you know what? I never had surgery and I don’t need to wear wrist braces anymore…and I’m a writer for a living.

Typing being something that anyone with carpal tunnal knows, can be extremely painful. I think the best thing about Reiki and manipulating energy in any way is that people can get what they need from it. I needed healing, I got healing. Erin just needed relaxation, she got it. It’s all about believing, in my opinion. Sort of the Field Of Dreams school of thought… If You Build It they will come….if You Believe, It will happen.

Now: as an aside, one of the novellas in my new release, my frist single author anthology LUSH has a massage therapist for a heroine - one who see auras and is a bit of a healer. Like I said, I believe in this sort of thing.

Do you? Have you had any experiences with holistic healing or energy manipulation? And if you hasven’t had an experince yet, but found it might be an option if you needed healing, would you try it??

When I was in my twenties, I almost always had a roommate, but for the last 8-10 years I’ve lived on my own.  Until 2 years ago when I did a favor for a friend.

A friend of mine’s girlfriends was moving, and she needed someone to watch her cat for a couple of weeks until she moved into the new place.  I said I’d do it.  Mystery was not quite a year old and for the first week and she was so very cute….but she she drove me a little nuts too.

Then I hit the pet store, and found a few toys to amuse her.  But the little bugger is smart, and toys only amuse her for a few minutes.  Unless I play with them with her.  Then she’ll play forever.   But she won’t play alone.

My friend and his girlfriend broke up before she came to get the cat back, and now she’s mine! 

She’s still cute, but demanding.

Mystery has super soft fur, and she likes to talk to me.  She meows, she hums, and kinds of growls, but she never purrs. As soon as I sit in on the couch, she’s on my lap, and when I’m petting her, I can feel her purrring, but she makes no sound.  

She jumps in my lap when I’m writing, and she rubs against my computer sometimes.  She’s right next to it at this moment very intersted in my fingers as they type. It can be great fun to make her chase the cursor across the screen at times LOL She actually tries to bite it through the screen.  *evil*

Anyway, after living with me for a couple of years, and being my only company while I’m in the writing cave, and becomeing my brainstorming partner, she has now turned into an erotic kitty.  Check out her pose for the camera.

Y’know, When I was growing up, We had dogs, and I dearly want a dog, but living in a condo, it’s not gonna happen…and I have to say, Mystery has turned me into a cat person too.

So, I think you can be a cat and dog person…what do you think?

Do you have pets?  Did you actually get them yourself, or were they guests who just never left??

I’m addicted to suspense novels, Underdog movies and Pop.  Doesn;t matter what kind of pop, Diet Dr.Pepper is my favorite, but I’ll pretty much drink any kind.

I’d like to be addicted to working out. I guess I should also say that I think I have a fairly addictive personality and that if I can get my butt to the gym consistently for two weeks I’ll be addicted to that as well. The same thing goes for writing. At times it fills my head and my heart and all I can do is think about writing. My characters become a part of me, or maybe part of me goes into my characters? I’m not sure how it works, but there are definietly times when the story is all that fills my head.  I plan what I want to write and write whatever flows from my fingertips with-out it ever even hitting my brain. That stuff is pretty good, sometimes. :crazy:

Then there are the times that I think I should be writing, I should be working out, but really, all I want to do is read a book , watch a movie and eat junk food. Or even eat really good healthy food, as long as someone else cooks it.

Like all addictions, sometimes writing isn;t good for my health. How is that possible you ask?  Well, it’s that addictive thing.  ANd right now, I’m so close to the end of the current manuscript, that it’s all I do.  I eat popcorn, pizza, and pop while I sit at my computer and do nothing but write.  And honestly…when I’m done the story…I crash.  I think this time I’ll sleep for a week. Probably not the healthiest way to get things done…but it works for me.

What are your addictions? What do you do when you need to recharge? How do you indulge yourself? Share please…who knows, you might end up as a character in a story someday. If you don’t mind that is.

And I don’t know about all of you, but I’m planning on having a hell of a year!

I have plans to actually try and stay on schedule with my writing, and my wieght loss!
I also have plans to have a life outside my writing. Okay, that sounds a little harsh. A lot of the time my writing IS my life, but I’m determined to let my guard down and be more open with real men.

That means, not expecting them all to be my hero’s, who automatically know that the heroine (That would be me) isn’t as tough as she pretends to be. Or isn’t as cold and bitchy as she pretends to be.
You see, in Sashaland, the men can see past those walls, or scale them, or knick them down and force their way into the heroines heart. But I’ve learned that in real life, when most men face walls as high as mine, they walk away.

So, I’m going to try and lower them a bit. Not all the way, can;t do that, that woudl be too open, too vulnerable. BUt, I figure I’ll try an d lower the walls enough that maybe, just maybe, I might find my real life hero.

I guess it’s more of a hope for 2007 than a plan.

What are your hopes for the New Year?

I’m not going to talk about my own books today, or even writing. I want to share my TBR pile with you.

I’m so excited, I went to the store and picked up three books I’ve been dieing to get my hands on. I live in the cold Great White Norht of Canada…and being single, I need HOT boooks to help keep me warm!

DOUBLE DAREby Saskia Walker. One of my fave erotica authors for years. I love her short stories, and her novellas…so I’m anxious for her first Single title.

PLEASURE CONTROL Cathy is a dear frined. I’ve read a few of her EC books, adn I can not wait to dig into the first book in her Pleasure series. She’s one of the few authors I’ve read who can successfully combine humor with super hot sex!!

INFERNOBy Vivi Anna!! I learned my lesson with HELL KAT. I am not even peeking into this book until I have a full day with no obligations. Why? Because when I read HELL KAT, it started out as a peek while I was cooking lunch. I ended up cancelling my plans to READ. I could not put the book down and I just know it’s sequel will be just as delicious!

As an aside for INFERNO, I notice that BARNES & NOBLE still has it’s old cover up. But when you go to look for it in stoers you’ll see THIS ONE. Tell me which one you like best here int he comments, and be entered for a chance to win HELL KAT signed by Vivi Anna! (Yes, I bribed her for copies cuz I loved it so much and I want to hook more readers!!)

UPDATE: BAILEY STEWART, you are the winner of the draw for the signed copy of HELL KAT . Email me by the end of the weekend to collect your prize!!

Thanks everyone, for taking part!!

So My first single title for Berkley was released at the start of July. BOUND was a big deal for me. I mean, I started out writing 1,500 word short stories that grew to 3,000 words, then novellas, and finally, my first single title.

Strangely enough, BOUND came about becasue the characters from a short story were stuck in my head. Soon, in February, will come my novellaWATCH ME My story in KINK. When I wrote this, it was completely independednt from BOUND. But a secondary character from that book stuck with me, and soon became the main character in my second single title novel, TROUBLE. And surprise surprise, a secondary character from BOUND is also in TROUBLE, and WICKED, my third single title, which I willbe writing in December, is finally going to be HIS story.

Yet, the though of writing a series terrifies me, so how did this happen? Do you call it a series when all the stories end up being connected, even if it wasn’t planned that way?

Anyway, I was just pndering this as the time is and thought I’d share.

And since I’m sharing, check out this review for BOUND:

“Reading the blurb to this story I expected a more traditional BDSM romance, but it didn’t play out quite like this. Bound is an absolute fantastic book, and - at least in my experience – with a unique twist in the D/s department. There’s no talk about a master/slave relationship, extensive training and safe words. No use of a great assortment of toys, gear or devices, no joining the local sex club and collective exhibitionism. To me it was exactly this lack of conventional ingredients that made Bound so wonderfully enjoyable, because it reflected a more realistic picture on this lifestyle than many a “club hopping stories” I read before. Katie feels a dark side inside her that previous lovers couldn’t coax out and arouse, but with Joe she wants to play kinky, do dirty things and let her inner slut out. She is a formidable woman and takes what she craves without questioning society’s standards or having inner struggles for wanting to be sexually submissive and playing with her “sluttier” side. “

I like it.

You can read the complete review HERE

“You cannot find yourself, only create yourself.”
 ~ Anne B. Sekel ~ 

I love to read quotes. I find them inspiring in life, in writing , in my weight loss challenge. The best thing about them is that anyone who reads them , can take them and apply them to whatever it is they’re struggling with. 

Like this one from Helen Keller: 
Character cannot be developed in ease & quiet. Only through experience of trial & suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, & success achieved”

Now, I don’t hink she was talking about writing, but it can certainly apply to it. We authors like to joke about how our characters take over out minds, and sometienms it’s fun to torture them. We laugh about it because we know they’ll have a happy ending. But in life, we don’t always know there will be a happy ending. Yet, the quote is inspirting in life too. To me anyway. 

What about you? Share an inspiring quote with me, and be entered to win a free eBook from my backlist!

Jennifer L is the WINNER of a free eBook!
Just email me your choice from my backlist Kris, (You can use the CONTACT button on my wensite) and I’ll send it right to you.

Thanks so much for the quotes, Ladies. I have a file full now!

Bad Boys are a favorite type of hero among romance readers. And we all know why. We want to be “the one” to tame them with love.

But what about favorite type of heroine? Personally, I love reading stories about quirky free spirited and independent heroines. You know the kind. The ones that laugh at themselves and make you laugh at the same time. Sometimes clumsy, sometimes too smart for their own good…always cute and sassy.

But when I write, I like to write Bad Girls. The ones who can kick ass and take names. IN my newest release, SEX AS A WEAPON, the heroine is a thief. And the hero is the cop on the hunt for her. It’s too much fun to write about women who live by their own rules, and Vanessa was no different. While I do write erotica with no traditional Happily Ever After, SEX AS A WEAPON is a romance, and does have a HEA. Aren’t you curious how a cop and a thief find their way?

Check out the excerpt on my website, and comment tell my what you think of Vanessa in the comments here for a chance to win a signed copy of THE COP or PURE SEX

I’ll contact the winner tomorrow.:)

Update: WINNER of the draw. Danny!! Email me via my website (http://www.sashawhite.net ) to let me knwo if you prefer PURE SEX or THE COP, and give me your snail mail addy.