​Love can't be taught, but it can be unlearned. When Associate Professor Stella Greene lost her mentor on Valentine's Day, she also lost her way both professionally and romantically. Her academic career, and her desire to love again, stagnated. Pete Hart’s doctorate degree in cinema and art history gives him an eye for detail and an appreciation for beauty. When Pete and Stella’s paths cross, they realize there’s nothing academic about their attraction to one another. But can even the patience and persistence of Dr. Hart withstand the distance Stella’s pain places between them? Can love be relearned? Or will Pete have to take matters into his own hands to claim Stella’s heart?

Where to buy it:

Evernight 
Amazon
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Read on for a very saucy excerpt...

We barely set foot in his apartment before shoes were kicked off, coats peeled away, his sweater was shed, and I think he was almost out of his jeans when he realized that maybe things were moving too fast. In a white cotton t-shirt and his button fly jeans open, his gray-blue eyes shone in the moonlight.

His gaze then held mine as he walked toward me and started to unbutton my silk blouse. It slid off my shoulders and dropped to the floor. Pete waited while I unzipped my jeans, and then we both stepped out of our jeans together. I stood before him in a black lace bra and pink cotton low-rise panties that had “Wednesday” stamped on the fabric.

He raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged. “I’m kind of into days of the week.”

He tried not to laugh.

I lightly whacked him on the shoulder. “Hey! It keeps me on track.”

“And clearly that’s important.”

“Well, it can be.” I crossed my arms over my chest and suddenly felt very naked.

Pete moved toward me. And I moved away in equal measure.

“I think it’s cute.”

I held up a finger. “I’ll have you know that days of the week panties are not easy to find.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth I cringed.

“There may be a good reason for that,” Pete said and burst out laughing.

I bit the inside of my mouth to stop from laughing, but it didn’t work. I started giggling.

“Come here,” Pete waved me toward him. “Come here, Wednesday.”

“Oh, har-har.”

I stepped back from him, keeping my eyes firmly on his. The excitement glittering back at me intensified my desire.

“If you think Wednesday looks good, you should see Thursday…” I tried to sound seductive when really there wasn’t anything sexy about cotton panties or the days of the week stamped on them, but I only had so much to work with. Then I saw the movies posters in his front room, and I instantly knew what do to.
Stripper Gypsy Rose Lee had less to work, but made more with what she had. She was the woman that literally put the “tease” in “striptease”. Gypsy was one movie I knew Pete would have seen and one role I knew I could pull off.

“And Friday … oh you should see Friday’s panties…” I slowly glided my bra off my shoulders with my fingertips without revealing anything significant.

Pete’s eyes roamed my body, and I savored the seduction. I turned my back and unclasped my bra, exposing my bare back to him. Sliding the bra off, I covered my breasts with one hand and faced him. With my other hand, I twirled my bra on my index finger. Pete was my captive audience.

I dropped my hand that held my breasts, pulled back the elastic band on my bra and aimed it like a slingshot.

“Saturday’s panty is pretty saucy, too. It has lace.” I released the bra. It lobbed in the air and then fell, missing my mark.

Pete reached up and grabbed my wrist. He pulled me toward him. “You talk too much.”

My breasts playfully bounced and pressed against his firm chest. He wrapped his other arm around the small of my back, his fingertips grazing my skin. The force between us electrified, always simmering below the surface, too powerful to deny when we collided. His lips commandeered mine, and my need for him built and screamed for release.

He grabbed my arm and led me to his bedroom. He braced my fall when he leaned us down onto his bed. His unshaven cheek grazed against my neck in an oddly rough, yet subtly seductive way. Everything Pete did, was, and said created a fiery passion in me so strong I had to dig my nails into his back just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Our bodies brushed, and our breathing grew heavier.

He rocked back to pull off his t-shirt, and I deeply inhaled the cologne I sensed he sprayed in the center of his chest. I pulled him down and crushed him against my taut nipples. Hell, yeah.

His lips kissed and bit my neck. My body waited. Anticipation grew for what I craved now more than ever. He pulled my panties to the side and looked at me.

Damn. His eyes always got to me. They flashed with a mixture of mischievousness and caution as they drank me in. Without uttering a word, his eyes waited for permission. I had the control.

I coyly grinned and opened myself to him.

He reached into the drawer of his nightstand. He ripped the condom packet open with his teeth, slid the sheath over his cock, and dove into me. I moaned and tried to remember how to breathe all at the same time. God, he feels good. His pace and intensity slowed. He waited for me to catch up to him. I need more. His hands caressed my thighs.

I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him deeper into me.

A low groan rose from his throat. “Stella…” Powerful gray-blue eyes locked onto mine. “I’m not going to last long if you keep doing that.”

But I wasn’t even close to being ready. I slowed down my pace and looked up at him. “Then let’s play around the world.”

He looked at me, trying to make sense of the sudden shift.
​
“You know, a trip around our bodies exploring all the different spots.”

About Pumpkin Spice

Mary Billiter is the author of seven works of fiction, including four under the pen name, “Pumpkin Spice.” Pumpkin Spice's debut novel — Scarlett Hood & the Hunter — was an Editor’s Pick and nominated by readers as a finalist in the 2015 Third Annual Evernight Readers' Choice Awards. Her Amāre Tales is her fairy tale line & her favorite place to write about! It’s based in Amāre, where love isn’t just the town’s namesake, it’s a way of life. Add in a little spice & you've got a good romance and new way of telling a classic tale!
 
Visit her website
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I think I'll finish Wolf's Hunt this week. I don't really want to commit, because I thought I was going to finish it in November, and then in December, and then in January...But February is really looking good! Part of the delay has just been that this book is...well, a book. TANNER'S WAR is a novella around the 30k mark and when I started Wild Blood 2, I had no reason to think it would be any longer. But Wolf's Hunt is currently sitting at 63k and I still have a fair bit of wrapping up to do.

And then of course I'll need to give it a thorough going-over before it's ready to submit, but I feel confident that by the end of February, Wolf's Hunt will be in my publisher's hands. Huzzahs! I'm loving writing this book, but I'm also really eager to move onto the next project. Wild Blood 3 is slowly taking shape in my head, and Wolf's Hunt has left the door open for a spin-off. I also want to write a sequel to WAKING THE LIONESS. And I've got a couple of thousand words down on a dark mafia-ish romance called The Last Sin that could be both a lot of fun and a big challenge to write.

But that's all still in the future right now, since being almost finished isn't anywhere near close enough. Wish me luck in actually finishing this time!

Thank you so much for having me on your blog with my Naughty Fairytale, The Dragon in the Stone, which is an erotic twist on Beauty and the Beast.
I always say I find inspiration in all sorts of places and this story is no exception.
The idea first came to me during a walk with my kids last summer. As we were meandering past the stream in one of our local parks, my ten year old daughter piped up.
“Look mummy, that’s the stone that looks like a dragon.”
She pointed toward a rock formation that made up one side. Now, I’ll be honest I didn’t see a dragon, just rock, lol, but she was adamant it was a dragon. As were the other kids, when they looked.
So, it got me thinking about this girl who sees the dragon in the stone. The idea was born, and when the lovely Rhonda in my reader Group, The RavDor Chicks asked me to write dragon story… the rest is history as they say. 

The Dragon in the Stone was my NaNoWriMo effort last year, and you know with the awesome Gary Taylor as my visual inspiration for Lord Drorgan, my fingers flew.
You can check out my Pinterest board for this story here: https://uk.pinterest.com/dorisoconnor/the-dragon-in-the-stone/
Not only did I win NaNoWriMo, but I had the story submitted and accepted by the end of November, something of a record for me, I tell you. And that was with me wanting to bash Dorgan’s and Rhonda’s heads together, at time. They’re as stubborn as each other, and I was beginning to despair that they ever would get it together. When they do… well, he’s a dragon and things get HAWT in an entirely different way.
*winks*
I loved writing these two, and I hope my readers will too.

~Editor’s Pick~

Penance needs to be paid come what may…

Several Centuries ago Drorgan was cursed into stone. Every twenty five years he is given one night and one day to find the woman willing to accept him in both forms.

It's the price to pay for his past behavior.

As a lost, lonely little girl Rhonda Butterbaugh was rescued by the dragon in the stone and she has never forgotten her fierce protector. It sparked her fascination with all things dragon. If only they were real. There are no such things as fairytales, however.

When she is attacked on her way home, and wakes up in a cursed magic castle, complete with a fierce dragon shifting lord, her life takes a turn for the surreal.

Determined to break the curse and rescue Drorgan and his kin, she hasn’t counted on Drorgan’s resistance.

Dragons aren’t supposed to be noble.
Buy it from Evernight Publishing: http://www.evernightpublishing.com/the-dragon-in-the-stone-by-doris-oconnor/
For all other buy links check the book page: http://www.dorisoconnor.com/the-dragon-in-the-stone.html

Read on for a hot excerpt!

She’d have that cute crease between her brows, screw up her nose and stick her tongue out as she concentrated on her task. Thoughts of her tongue sweeping across her lips, and her teeth no doubt sinking into the soft flesh, made his morning wood turn to stone. Without even thinking about his actions he took his rock hard dick in hand and stroked lazily up and down the shaft, while his hungry gaze roamed over the curve of her ass. The fire flared to life, rendering her shift transparent, and he fisted his erection faster, seeing the darkened cleft of her ass cheeks.
His dragon roared to life with the need to claim his woman, and Rhonda gasped and whipped around to face him. While the action hid her far too enticing ass from his view, it exposed her heavy breasts. The nipples hardened under his intense stare, and he could clearly make out the darker color of the surrounding areola through the fabric covering. It made his mouth water with the need to taste, as did the restless way his girl shifted from foot to foot. The increasing wetness he sensed between her legs wrenched a growl from him, and the most delightful blush spread over Rhonda’s pale skin.
Her breathing sped up and her pupils dilated, and she’d taken several involuntary steps toward him before she realized what she was doing. Shaking her head she frowned as though surprised at her actions, and Drorgan grinned. The fact that she responded like that to him without any coercion on his part spoke volumes of their connection.
Magda’s instructions rang in his ears, and despite his misgivings he couldn’t have put a stop to what was happening between them, if his life depended on it. It might be utterly selfish of him, but he was tired of fighting what he felt for the woman in front of him. He was so damn tired of being alone, and Rhonda was a grown woman, not a child. She’d had countless opportunities to flee, to reject him, and not once had she done so, so maybe he just needed to accept this … whatever this would turn out to be and go with it.
The future was his for the taking again, and God help him, he wanted Rhonda in that future, as his mate, his wife, and God willing one day the mother of his children.
“You’re awake.”
Her whispered words shook him out his self-examining thoughts, and kicking the rest of the sheets off, he let go of his dick, and put his hands behind his head in a silent invitation.
“Very awake in more ways than one, my little dragon, and in need of your attention.”
He smirked when she gasped and let her gaze roam all over his naked body. The way she was eating him alive with her eyes, the way her breathing grew laborious, and her heart rate kicked into overdrive … it made his cock jerk. Her gaze snared on that body part, and she licked her lips. Right now in this moment it was the most erotic sight ever, and Drorgan wished with all his might that those lips were wrapped around his shaft.
“Don’t let me stop you. Keep on walking over here, little dragon, and take what you so clearly want.”
He held out his hand to her, and Rhonda gave one of those cock hardening little mewls, that told him how turned on she was.
“I thought we were going to talk about…” His dragon snarled his impatience, and she blanched, even as her sweet musk intensified. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip, wrapped her arms around herself, and her toes curled under as her thighs flexed.
“We can talk if you want to, or I can take care of that ache in your cunt, while I fuck your mouth with my cock.” A strangled sound escaped his girl, and sitting up, Drorgan swung his legs off the side of the bed. He took a firm grasp of his cock and started to fist himself. Drops of his pre-cum appeared on the hugely swollen head of his dick, and he hissed his pleasure through his teeth as he swiped his thumb through the sticky evidence of his arousal and used the natural lubrication to slap his hand up and down his cock.
Pleasure built instantly from the base of his spine, and he grunted his approval when Rhonda’s hand strayed to her cunt.
“Yes, fuck yourself on your fingers for me. Take that blasted shift off, and let me see how wet you are. How much your cunt is aching for my cock, and if you’re a very good girl you might even get to taste it soon.”
“God, yes.” Her strangled whisper reached his hearing over the roaring of his own blood, and he increased the motion of his hand on his cock, as she fumbled with the ribbon holding her shift together.
“So fucking beautiful.” He grunted the words, as her shift fell to the floor, and leaned forward better to see the flushed skin on display for him. “Fondle your breasts and spread your legs, so that I can see my cunt. That’s my girl.”
Flames licked across his skin as his dragon went wild, seeing Rhonda comply with his wishes so beautifully. Breaths seesawing out of her lungs she tugged on the tips of her pink nipples, until they elongated and hardened further. Her pussy lips opened as she spread her legs, revealing the darker tissues contained within. Drenched in her juices, her inner lips quivered and her little hole clenched, pushing more of her arousal down the inside of her thighs.

“You’re so fucking wet for me, girl. Tell me do you still want to talk, or shall I show you what it means to be my mate?”

Author bio
Doris is a writer of sensual, sassy, and sexy tales involving alpha heroes to die for, and heroines who give as good as they get.  From contemporary to paranormal, Time Travel, Sci-fi, BDSM, F/F, M/M, and Ménage, haunting love stories are guaranteed.

Happily married for the last twenty-five years, she lives with her husband and their brood of nine in a far too small house filled with love, laughter, and chaos.

Stalk her in these places
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HP Lovecraft

Let's not talk about the name Lovecraft chose for his own cat. He was an unrepentant racist, but he was right about cats.

So it's Friday again! I still don't have a laptop! But I do have a three-day weekend, and I will have a laptop (probably) by Sunday. Mine is officially dead. The company who built it offered to give us a quote for repair, but it's more than likely a motherboard issue, which will be a bare minimum of £200 to fix. So, through a convoluted chain of events, I am buying a laptop from a friend and then swapping that laptop with one Kyle loaned to my brother. Everyone gets a laptop! Except my friend, but presumably he knew this when the deal was made.

I also still don't have a working debit card, because my bank seem incapable of doing anything right. I have a general policy of not being a shithead to people in customer service jobs, because...well, there's rarely a need to ever be a shithead to anyone, frankly. But it's been hard since this whole debacle started, and I can't help but wonder if I'd have a working debit card by now if I'd been an asshole three weeks ago when my account first got hacked. Ugh. I don't know. Complaints have been lodged. I'm sure it will make no difference, and I fully expect to still be without a debit card in a week's time, because that just seems to be my fate at the moment.

But it's not all bad news! My new Naomi Clark title, DARK DAYS, is out and quietly sneaking into a few Top 100 lists over on Amazon, so huzzahs! And (oh god, I feel like I say this at least once a day) Wolf's Hunt is nearly finished, and this time I mean it. With the new laptop arriving, there's even a chance I can get it finished within the next week or so.

And tomorrow, best of all, Kyle and I are bringing home a lovely little tabby cat from the local shelter. I'm sure every animal-lover will understand when I say it's been so hard coming home to a cat-free house since we lost Fergus. Last weekend, amidst all the bank drama and laptop chaos, I went to the shelter on impulse and fell in love with this little lady. I realised that, as much as I'm still grieving, I'm also just not happy in a house without a cat. So Yuki (née Holly) is joining us tomorrow, and I'm so excited about getting to know her!

And of course, there will be writing. There will always be writing.