Hi everyone–
I’m delighted to welcome friend, Lex Valentine, to the blog. Lex writes steamy, complex, exciting tales of darkness and light. But better yet, i’ll let her tell you about them. Enjoy a trip through Lex’s world and don’t forget to comment because Lex is giving some lucky reader a choice of books! Read on to learn more. Here’s Lex:
Thanks for the opportunity to guest blog for you, Tara! For those of you who may not know me, I’m Lex Valentine, purveyor of sex stories! Well, not quite but close. *wink* I write erotic romance across genres from contemporary to paranormal to historical and across gender from M/F to ménage to M/M. My series Tales of the Darkworld began in 2008 with my first contract ever and it’s been going strong ever since. I’m currently at work on Book 7 which is a sort of twisted sequel to Fire Season, Book 3.
People often ask me where I get my inspiration from and honestly, it’s just about anything. Last week I was sitting in a Mexican restaurant waiting for my to go order and outside on the sidewalk I saw a man in his twenties bend over to pick up something. The fluid lines of his muscular legs and buttocks gave me ideas. Not those ideas! Well, not exactly anyway!
I did think about how a gay man might admire the same things I was admiring. How he might sit in the same seat I sat in and stare at the same young man with a mixture of admiration, lust, and guilt. In his mind, he might undress the man and touch his rough silk skin. He might imagine just how far the man would let him go. Would he jerk away in revulsion or would his skin ripple as his nerve endings registered pleasure?
My life might suck in any number of arenas but when it comes to writing and doing cover art, my job is the best! I get to look at images of hotties and let them inspire me to write or to use them in a piece of art. There’s nothing better than spending a day ogling hard male flesh. And you can take that any way you want! LOL
When people ask if my heroes Holden and Garret from Fire Season were inspired by any real models or celebs, I answer no. They weren’t. Most of my heroes aren’t inspired by the looks of real people. My characters truly are characters, multi-faceted with a lot more going for them than a hard body and a handsome face. In my latest release (which is het) my hero is mysterious. He’s golden haired with a hint of red fire and is a vampire with royal blood. He’s a little dark in personality despite not being dark in looks.
Those who read Breathe Me In wanted to know more about Aiden. I wanted to know more about Aiden. And he wasn’t about to let me go either. He had something to say, something he needed to impress upon me. The first thing was that he wasn’t gay. *sigh* A lot of readers asked for that but I couldn’t give them what Aiden couldn’t be. He refused to be gay, unlike Corey Green who refused to be anything else.
The second thing Aiden had for me was a look into the world of the Acerbians (the vampire race.) I’d not delved too much into the vampires in previous Tales books and Aiden thought it was about time that I did. He wanted to give the dragons a run for their money and he did so by being royal blooded, a prince of the night whose golden looks were at odds with his dark nature.
And finally, the last thing Aiden had to say was…more. He wanted more face time. More story. More sex. More of everything. He had a story busting out of him. A tale of adventure and finding inner peace. A tale of love and the struggle for acceptance. Isn’t that what we all do? Struggle for acceptance in some form or other? Aiden and his mate Cadence have a rough road ahead when I get to their book (Quintessence Book 7.5), but like you and me, they just put one foot in front of the other and overcome. And they get a HEA because ALL my books get a HEA. Even the Encounters series hints at them. I don’t do anything else. Sex and romance go together like chocolate and peanut butter and Reese’s is my favorite candy! 😉 Now, for you M/M fans, I have some of that too. Coming soon in print is Tales of the Darkworld Volume Two which features Breath Me In and Sunstroked together. Both are hot M/M stories featuring some of the hottest guys in the Darkworld.
Before I go I want to leave you with a taste of Breath Me In. Let me know in comments what you think of it and one lucky commenter will win a copy of either Breathe Me In, Sunstroked or Encounters: Blood Play.
I’d like to thank Tara again for having me on her blog and introducing me to her readers. Wishing you all an awesome Friday!
Breathe Me In excerpt:
Excerpt:
Dark lashes flicked up and the beauty of Wilson North blazed through Garrick’s very soul when their eyes met this time. The lure of such angelic masculinity proved too much for him and he found himself pushing off from the marble crypt. He glided toward the bench where Will sat, his sole thought to lose himself in the salvation those dark eyes promised.
A visible shiver went through Will as Garrick stopped before him. Holding out his hand, Garrick silently prayed to the gods that Will would just take it and question things later. At the moment, all Garrick wanted was to touch Will, hold him and love him. Problems and logistics and the real world and all its damned obligations could come into play and be solved—or not—later. For just this moment in time, Garrick wanted to hold Will and breathe him in and know that they belonged to one another.
With eyes blazing, Will slipped his hand into Garrick’s, and they both drew in a breath as a metaphysical crackle of electricity arced between them. Then with a slow, fluid motion like that of wings unfurling, Will came to his feet. Garrick noted the slight wince the vampire gave as his weight settled onto both legs. He sensed rather than saw the pain lancing through Will’s body despite the natural grace of his movements. And he wished with every bit of his theurgic strength that he could heal his mate’s injuries despite the sure knowledge that Will had received the best healing possible after his accident. Helplessness never sat well within Garrick and with this man it spurred his natural possessiveness.
“Your name sounds familiar but if I’d met you before, I would have remembered,” Will said in a low voice. “You’re unbelievably hot.”
Garrick smiled at his soon-to-be lover. “You look like a Botticelli angel,” he replied, knowing that his words would give away the depth to which Will already affected him.
“Me?” Will’s brows winged up in surprise.
“Yes, you.” Garrick used the hand he still held to pull Will closer.
The heat of the vampire’s body registered briefly in his mind as he swept the man against his chest. The strange zing he’d experienced when Will took his hand became magnified a hundredfold as their bodies touched from chest to knee. Will sucked in a harsh breath and Garrick used the moment to reach up and cradle his mate’s dark head in his free hand.
They were nearly the same height but Garrick had a slight inch on Will. Still, their mouths were so close together, they already shared breaths. Garrick knew in the marrow of his bones that soon they would share more. That knowledge drove him to take the mouth of his mate with soft urgency, asking for Will’s capitulation rather than demanding as most Alphas would. At first, the firm lips beneath his own held a touch of Alpha resistance at being taken, but the instant he touched the tip of his tongue to that cool flesh, the man in his arms moaned and became his.
Lips parted, both his own and Will’s. They both sighed, breaths mingling as their hearts thudded in tandem, and they slowly, with absolute irrevocability, breathed each other in. The slightly muddied thoughts Garrick had gotten from Will only moments before shifted to an ice sharp clarity that stabbed his psyche, piercing it with the revelation that he would never be the same again. He belonged to Will. Will belonged to him. They were one whether they completed their mating or not. Destiny could be ignored, but never denied.
The kiss took on a familiarity that spoke of past lives together—if one believed in the reincarnation of souls—and a rightness that settled into Garrick’s head as firmly as Will’s thoughts did. Fear licked him as his tongue traced the edge of Will’s teeth. He understood that Will heard his thoughts now as clearly as he heard Will’s. Their bond ensured neither of them would ever be alone again and the loss of privacy morphed momentarily into a panic driven by the sense that he’d lost himself. But it dissolved almost as quickly as it had come when his tongue twined with the heated roughness of Will’s.
Tasting Will had all the qualities of sipping the finest Cabernet Sauvignon. Will’s flavor burst onto Garrick’s tongue in the same way that the wine’s tannins did, the tartness providing an edge of danger to the elegance. Firm muscles rippled beneath Garrick’s wandering free hand, reinforcing the notion that for all his sophistication, the man in his arms had more depth than a simple clothes horse. Will’s hands closed on Garrick’s buttocks and the Magia had no idea whose hips moved first, but the seductive brush of cloth covered erections made it obvious that it didn’t matter. They were equally aroused.
Buy link for Breathe Me In:
Buy link for Encounters: Blood Play
My website: http://lexvalentine.com
My author blog: http://lexvalentine.com/blog
My personal blog: http://sunlightsucks.com
My group blog: http://flirtyauthorbitches.com
Thank you everyone for visiting the blog. Post your comments before Saturday evening when Lex will choose a winner! : )