"I never promised you a rose garden..."

I beg your pardon… I never promised you a rose garden…

Have you ever had a bit of a song get stuck in your head? Of course you have. You know what I'm talking about. That annoying line that plays over and over in your head until you're ready to slip into madness. Yeah, you know all about it. This morning what do I get? Anne Murray.

Now I like Anne Murray. She has a wonderful voice that has become richer with the years. There's something to be said for someone who continues to improve and grow regardless of natural talent.

But this (great) old song? Why not something more current? Why not something with a driving beat that would make me fly through my work and enable me  to get to the fun stuff -writing? No, no. Not Dragula (talk about a driving beat!).  Why not Elton John? You know.. The Bitch is Back. No? 

I know… Beautiful Day! I like U2. So why not Beautiful Day?

I beg your pardon… I never promised you a rose garden…

So I'm wondering what in my subconscious needs to hear Anne Murray. It may remain a mystery and sometimes the mystery is one of the joys of life. 

Rayne
www.rayneforrest.com

To Bed a Spy by Rayne Forrest (My Sexy Saturday)

Welcome to another My Sexy Saturday! According to the My Sexy Saturday home blog, this is edition #94 of the blog hop. That's pretty cool.

This week I have seven sexy paragraphs from To Bed a Spy.

When a stranger bumps into Rae Browning in a subway station, her life suddenly gets interesting. Unbeknown to her, the stranger hid a computer chip in her pocket and  sexy spy TJ Light comes looking for it.

* * * * *

Listen to me, lady. You’re in danger. I’m trying to help. Do you understand?”

Rae tried to scream again.

“Have it your way.” His hand landed firmly on her bottom. The blow stung. She screamed again. Sort of.

He spanked her again.

“Look, babe, I can get off doing that, so it’s up to you. Give me a cheap thrill or hear what I have to say.”

“U purr-ver!” she shouted into the restricting rag in her mouth.

“You don’t know the half of it, but I’d gladly show you.” He squeezed her left butt cheek. “Nice, babe. Now will you behave? Please?”

TO BED A SPY
Available at Amazon here.
Available at All Romance eBooks here. 

About the book:

The fiery gaze of a total stranger across a crowded subway station fuels Rae Browning's overactive imagination. Drop-dead gorgeous, he could have stepped out of one of her favorite novels. After he breaks into her apartment, Rae stops longing for excitement and adventure. She wants her quiet life back. 

 

Thaddeus Julius Light, TJ to his associates, is a spy in the deep cold, his cover compromised, his life in danger. Rae Browning holds the key to what's going on and she doesn't even know it. Retrieving the data chip from Rae is easy, keeping her safe might not be. TJ is forced to continue his deceptions, enlisting her help to prove his innocence and complete his mission.

Keeping his mind on business isn't easy with Rae at his side. TJ has but one question - what will it take for Rae to bed a spy? 

The Curiosity Shoppe by Rayne Forrest_#MSS90

My Sexy Saturday seemed like a good time to debut (or actually re-debut) The Curiosity Shoppe. It's been out of print for a few years but I always liked the story and the alien telepathic shapeshifter Semele. When she says you shouldn't touch something, she means it. 

Here are seven sexy paragraphs from The Curiosity Shoppe, which is once again available, this time at Amazon.
= = = = = = 

Zeb sat on the edge of the bed. Her gaze was riveted on his groin. Doubtless her curiosity, and concern, matched his. He stretched out beside her again. Semele didn't move. He took her hand and brought it to his lips.

"Now that you've seen me, tell me the truth. Will we be able?" His brain was shutting down again. 

The prospect of not being able to have her was inconceivable.

She blinked. Several times. She nodded slowly then inched closer.

::I do not think I mind there is so much of you.::

Oh, sweet Lord. He was worried about hurting her and she was pondering her good fortune. He guided her hand to his shaft. Without hesitation her fingers closed around him. He rolled her beneath him, heedless of any protest she may have mustered. He took her mouth, branding her as his. Heat swept through him. He welcomed it. Let it burn, let it consume him.

She met his kiss, bolder now. Her fingers moved over his maleness, stilling as he deepened the kiss. He moved against her hand, coaxing her to pleasure him. So what if she took him to the brink of madness? He was ready for it now. 

= = = = = = = 

The Curiosity Shoppe
Available now at Amazon 

More about The Curiosity Shoppe:

Cajun Zebadiah LaCroy is a long way from home. Infected with a bad case of wanderlust, Zeb’s been working on an intergalactic merchant ship. He’s seen all manner of strange worlds and stranger beings. When his ship docks at Station Janus, Zeb searches for a gift for his sister back home and finds more than he bargained for. Come and see, a female voice calls telepathically to him. Never one to be able to deny his innate curiosity, Zeb can’t resist. He’s caught in her spell.

When he finally sees her, hears her say his name, Zeb knows Semele is telling him the truth. They are bonding exclusively to each other. For the bonding to be complete, they must mate. The only thing is, she’s not quite human.

Rayne Forrest
http://www.rayneforrest.com

Right From the Start by Rayne Forrest

Starting on the journey to get my stories back out in the world has been interesting on so many levels. Yes, I'm learning a lot, which is always a good thing, and I'm being challenged, also a good thing, but the experience has affirmed how far I've come since the early days. It's been satisfying to open up an old manuscript and apply improved technical skills to the prose. It doesn't change the story at all, but it makes it a bit more enjoyable. -Rayne

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Right From the Start 

Dana Myerly believes in helping out a neighbor in need. One rainy Monday she aids a stranded fellow motorist. She finds herself drawn to a big smile, friendly hazel eyes, and a tight pair of blue jeans. Coerced into yet another blind date by two of her friends, Dana finds her luck has changed and her date is her stranded motorist, Randy Walker.

Dana and Randy share an immediate connection, but how do you know if it’s love…and he’s the one.. Right From the Start?

EXCERPT 

Dana was approaching her car when a man’s voice called out behind her. It startled her and she almost stumbled. Then she recognized it. Randy.

“Hey, wait up!” he called.

“Don’t scare me like that!” she exclaimed, heart racing. She made a sweeping motion over the dark parking lot.

“Sorry,” he said as he fell into step beside her. “I didn’t stop and think about that,” he admitted. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Who’ll protect me from you?” Not that she wanted protected from him. Her heart still pounded, and not with surprise or fear.

“You think I’m the big, bad wolf?” he asked, laughing.

“What if I am?” she answered glibly. She sensed a subtle shift in his walk. He got a little closer and she caught a whiff of his after-shave. Her nipples tingled and hardened. This was getting way out of hand.

She really didn’t want to react to him this way. Her belly tightened. A sweet ache began, sending tendrils of desire snaking through her.

“I think maybe I’d like that.” They’d reached her car and his hand covered hers as she reached for the door handle.

His touch jolted through her and her senses expanded to him. Her vulva pulsed faster than her heartbeat and that was racing. She turned her head to look up at him and her eyes widened. She had only that split second warning before his lips touched hers.

Every nerve in her body woke up and clamored for attention. His attention.

His lips were soft, almost gentle. Almost. Some feminine sense told her if they weren’t in a parking lot, his kiss would be all demand. She shushed the voice of reason and raised her arms around his neck and leaned back against her car. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his hips to hers.

He teased her lips open, gently touching the tip of his tongue to hers. She melted. She hated when men tried to choke her with their tongues. Randy didn’t. He teased lightly. He nibbled on her lower lip. His lips traveled down her throat.

Not that she was able to fully concentrate on those clever lips. She was concentrating on the action happening lower down. He was getting hard. He was pressed so firmly against her she would feel him pulsing and swelling, lengthening and hardening. She fought the urge to lift her legs and wrap them around him. He seemed to know.

“Do it,” he urged, a husky voice in her ear. “Do it. Let me feel your heat.”

- - - - - 
Right From the Start is available now at Amazon. 

Step Into Tomorrow for #MSS84

This week the My Sexy Saturday blog hop is about sexy tomorrows. How perfect is that for Step Into Tomorrow? This book is all about the moment of choice for what tomorrow will be to both our hero and heroine. Will they make it tomorrow? Or should the true question be when will that tomorrow exist?

Here are seven sexy paragraphs from Step Into Tomorrow.
= = = = = 
Rhys hoped she realized they would share a room tonight. And a bed. He couldn’t let her out of his sight. It was too risky. She’d bolt like the hounds of Hell were after her. Thank all deities she’d never see the real thing. They’d blocked the way out of the lower layers of time known as Hell.

The thought of being in a bed with her, even if he stayed on top of the covers while she was under them, brought his cock to attention. The memory of her beneath him burned in his blood. He wanted her, and he had five years to get her. Starting tonight would work out just fine.

“Oh, and find a place that has, um, what’s it called? Room service? I’m hungry.”

“Eat your crackers if you need food,” she shot back. “We can cross the state line and look for a place. Crossing the state line makes you a worse sort of felon or something.”

"Really? You mean I might become wanted by NASA?”

She groaned. “Why me? Why does it always have to be me? Why do I get the good ones?” She finally shifted in her seat to face him. “It’s the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rhys. The F-B-I. Not NASA. NASA is the people who go into outer space. You know outer space. Isn’t that where you came from? Didn’t Scotty beam you down?”

His hands clenched around the steering wheel as he gave her the truth.“No, beautiful. I didn’t come here from outer space. I came from the seventeenth layer of time. Oz.”

STEP INTO TOMORROW
Available now at Amber Quill Press
http://www.amberquill.com/store/p/413-Step-Into-Tomorrow.aspx

Rhys St. Clair is the best of a select group of highly trained time specialists. When events in the layers of time run amok, it’s his job to step through the Matrix and fix the problem. A mistake in his calculations sends him back to the year 1996 and nets him more than he ever bargained for – Sophia Townsend.

Sophia Townsend needs a life makeover. When a confused stranger shows up inside her home, with no idea of where he is, or even what year it is, it doesn’t take Sophia long to figure out the man in her living room is the most interesting guy she’s ever met, and the sexiest, too.

When Rhys whisks her away, Sophia isn’t sure if she’s been kidnapped, or if the handsome stranger is taking her on the greatest adventure of her life. When the truth catches up to them, Rhys has only one thing left to offer her – but only if she’s brave enough to step into tomorrow with him.

Rayne Forrest
http://www.rayneforrest.com

Check out all the My Sexy Saturday blogs below for lots of great excerpts from the participating authors! 

Step Into Tomorrow for My Sexy Saturday

Welcome to Twenty-six Keys and my little corner of today's My Sexy Saturday. Check out the list at the bottom of this post for all the My Sexy Saturday blogs. 

For MSS #70 it's seven sexy paragraphs from the time-travel romance, Step Into Tomorrow. 

+ + + +

She watched as he poured a generous four fingers of bourbon into a glass. Good. Maybe he’d fall over in a stupor, and she could call the cops. They could drag him out of her house.

“This won’t do me in, Sophia. Not by a long way.” He cocked his head quizzically. “Or is that not by a long shot? I don’t remember.”

“It’s a long shot.” She snorted as derisively as she knew how to, and she did know how. All she had to do was channel her mother and grandmother. “Where are you from that you can’t remember that?”

He gave her another little bow. “I’m from the future.”

Sophia sprang off the couch. It was time to teach him who she was. She was over her shock. If Eddie could become assertive, so could she. Rhys was leaving now.

“Don’t fucking mock me, buster! Get out of my home!”

“I’m not mocking you. I wouldn’t do that. Fucking you, however, is an intriguing idea.”
+ + + +

Step Into Tomorrow is available at Amber Heat, an imprint of Amber Quill Press.

About Step Into Tomorrow:

Rhys St. Clair is the best of a select group of highly trained time specialists. When events in the layers of time run amok, it’s his job to step through the Matrix and fix the problem. A mistake in his calculations sends him back to the year 1996 and nets him more than he ever bargained for – Sophia Townsend.

Sophia Townsend needs a life makeover. When a confused stranger shows up inside her home, with no idea of where he is, or even what year it is, it doesn’t take Sophia long to figure out the man in her living room is the most interesting guy she’s ever met, and the sexiest, too.

When Rhys whisks her away, Sophia isn’t sure if she’s been kidnapped, or if the handsome stranger is taking her on the greatest adventure of her life. When the truth catches up to them, Rhys has only one thing left to offer her – but only if she’s brave enough to step into tomorrow with him.

Rayne Forrest
http://www.rayneforrest.com

Skipping Heaven by Rayne Forrest

Looking back, it's been a long strange road to today. Never when I began writing eleven years ago did I envision a time I'd self-publish a book. But the world spins and publishing houses go bankrupt, disappear with a trace, or they are sold. Have your hard work (books) caught in several, shall we say "events," and suddenly self-publishing options are more viable.

I'm happy to announce that after being out of print for several years, SKIPPING HEAVEN is once more available.

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

What if you were a ghost and didn’t know it?

Daniel Woods is passing through the timeless and mysterious Appalachian Mountains on his way to Kentucky and his inheritance. A misstep tumbles him and his horse down the side of a mountain. Battered and bruised, they come upon a small homestead and help in the form of the lovely Justine Noakes. Daniel finds himself inexplicably attracted to Justine - and determined not to embarrass himself by acting on impulse.

Justine recognizes the blue-eyed trouble that just led his horse into her settled world is something she never bargained for. Irresistibly drawn to him, Justine has a problem. She needs to come up with a way to get Daniel to stay in her mountain aerie. The only way that can happen is if Daniel accepts his new reality.

What Justine knows, and Daniel must discover, is that sometimes heaven is found in unexpected places.


EXCERPT

They reached the barn and she darted to the corral, slipping between the rails and clapping her hands. Lady trotted to her then followed her into the barn. The mare was steady and he had quickly had her harnessed to the little buckboard. Daniel placed his foot on the wagon step, preparing to swing up onto the seat when Justine placed her hand on his arm. He froze, looking down at her.

“Thank you again for doing this,” she said quietly, smiling.

Impulse seized him. He put his boot back on the ground and pulled her into his arms. He caught a quick glance at her eyes before her eyelids closed and she rose on her toes to meet him halfway.

He was not trespassing.

He meant the kiss to be gentle. He meant the kiss to be soft and tender.

He meant the kiss to be something to lure her closer to him and suddenly it didn’t need to be. Suddenly she was as eager for the kiss as he was.

Suddenly she was the one in control of everything but the kiss.

Daniel grabbed what little wits he had left and slanted his mouth across hers. Her trembling lips opened under his as her arms came up around his neck. He moved his lips on hers then swept his tongue over her lower lip, a slow, lazy stroke that made her hold him tighter. A small moan escaped her and it was all the encouragement he needed.

He backed her into Lady’s stall, pulling her down to the clean straw. She clung to him without protest. He rolled her beneath him, never taking his lips from hers, feasting on her as she feasted on him.

She moaned again when he flexed his hips to hers, digging her fingers into his shoulders. He flicked his tongue to hers and she responded in kind. The heat in his groin spread, coiling in his belly. His cock swelled, filling with unbridled anticipation.

He cupped her breast, feeling the hard peak of her nipple through the thin cotton of her shift and bodice. She arched up to him, pulling her mouth from his and sucking in a great lungful of air. He sobered immediately.

God, he couldn’t take her here in the straw, on the ground, in a livestock barn. She deserved clean sheets and a soft bed, a man fresh from his bath, not a restless night spent sweating in the grip of barely recalled dreams.

He rose up and blinked her into focus. She met his gaze without pretense.

“I don’t want you to stop.”

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Skipping Heaven is available at Amazon.com .

Rayne
http://www.rayneforrest.com

One Summer - new for My Sexy Saturday

I'm very pleased that One Summer is finally available. It's taken awhile to get this one out but it was worth the wait. So for this My Sexy Saturday, here's seven sexy paragraphs from my latest release, One Summer. 

 **** 
Gooseflesh danced across Joe's back. A vision of Holly beneath him on a food-laden table, his own personal feast, flashed behind his eyes. He grinned at her. 

“I’d love some help, on one condition.” 

She cocked one delicately arched eyebrow at him and stared him down. The look said he’d better be careful in what conditions he tried to impose on her. 

“You have to take some of this home for you and your aunt. There’s no way I’ll be able to use it up before I have to toss it out.” 

“Well, I think I can agree to that.” 

“You can, can you? What else will you agree to, Holly Thomas?” 

She slowly leaned forward.

* * * *

One Summer is available at Whiskey Creek - Torrid Press. Read a longer excerpt at RayneForrest.com. 

Rayne
http://rayneforrest.com

Find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/rayneforrest

Don't forget to check out all the My Sexy Saturday authors at http://mysexysaturday.blogspot.com 

Twenty-six Keys http://twentysixkeys.blogspot.com #mysexysaturday via @RayneForrest

A new contract - it's been awhile

Life moves at a pace we have little control over. Oh, we think we do. We make plans and we scurry about, but in the end, it all unfolds much as the universe pleases. I've come too far in life to believe I'm in the driver's seat. There are times you just know everything has come together as it was meant to and your actions were all part of a bigger plan. 

I'm very pleased to announce that I've signed a contract with Whiskey Creek Press Torrid to publish One Summer. I don't know the release date yet, but I'll pass that along as soon as it becomes available. 

It feels pretty good to get moving in this direction again. Being older and wiser, I'm more relaxed and certainly more capable. I think that's a good mix. Heck, I might even have to resurrect my Twitter account! 

Rayne

website: http://www.rayneforrest.com