Hi everyone! Welcome to the Secret Santa Blog Hop! If you are looking for the Holiday Gifts of Love (which ends on Monday night the 17th), please Click HERE!

Here at Secret Santa, you can win A Kindle FIRE! And on my blog, you can win:

  • A $5 Amazon GC AND
  • A copy of Mistletowed, my quirky MM/MF/MMF holiday fantasy
  • a special prize if you answer the last question — see below
There are 47 authors in this hop (a manageable size which gives you a good chance to win the Kindle! AND you get three chances to win on every site. On this site, here are the THREE steps for your three chances to win:
  • 1.  Leave a comment on my blog with your EMAIL
  • 2.  Follow my blog (if you already do, say so)
  • 3.  Answer a question that i will post at the bottom of this blog.
Now pay attention, this is a little different. To WIN the KINDLE –After you have finished as many stops as you can make (hopefully all of them) you send an email to [email protected] (just send one email) and tell Tabatha which blogs you visited and what you did on each blog. All the instructions and the LIST of authors is HERE! Go there to continue hopping to all the sites.
Santa has been very good to me this year in my writing career. This is only my second year as a published author–i don’t celebrate my second anniversary until Jan 4th — but i have 15 books and am writing my seventeenth. I’ve had some bestsellers. Three of my Balls to the Wall series were just cited in the Gay Romance Challenge for 2012 which names the top 100 bestsellers in the genre for the year — including my brand new release, Snow Balls! On top of that, people have really liked my paranormal series, The Aloysius Tales, which included Spell Cat and Brush with Catastrophe, and the new addition to the Genetic Attraction Series, Genetic Celebrity, was a Five Heart Sweetheart at The Romance Studio. So many happy presents. 
I’m planning some more surprises in 2013. The third book in the Aloysius Tales will be coming and it will be a fun diversion. Two more Balls books are on the horizon — Jerry from Fire Balls will finally get his HEA and a new character introduced in Snow Balls, Robin, will have his story i think. Plus i have a whole new series in mind and i can’t wait to plunge in. Two standalone books will also be out there. On Feb 1st, expect Hearts and Flour, a fun MM romance for Valentine’s Day, and then later in the spring, watch for The Gay Arrangement. 
With all this planned, i’m sure you can imagine that i’ll be WRITING for the holidays. Just for fun, i’ve posted a scene from the book i’m giving away, Mistletowed. Read the scene and then answer the question below it by emailing the answer to me at tara at taralain dot com. If you answer correctly, you’ll be in the running to win a pdf copy of Be Bad, for Goodness Sake, my MF holiday romance. 
Excerpt: Mistletowed by Tara Lain; M/M, M/F, M/M/F with BDSM, with MAGIC!

Five friends, one piece of mistletoe. Christian Elliott has the perfect life — right girlfriend, right job, right house and car. How come he’s only really happy when he’s with his best friend, Jason? Melanie Cantrell has everything she wants. Why can’t she stop cheating on her boyfriend with her yoga teacher? Buttercup Allender adores her stable life with Winston.  But she can’t give up her secret desire for BDSM. Stir them all together at a holiday party with a beautiful rock god and a submissive stockbroker and what do you get? It could be love and it could be magic.

Ripping the box cutter through the cardboard, Buttercup tore down another carton to take to recycling. She grabbed the pile of books, hefted them into the front of the store, and loaded them on a shelf she’d prepared earlier. Shoot, long day and more to go. The shop was closed Mondays, and since Winston taught several classes, it was her chance to really do the unpacking, stocking, and other big jobs.

A knock rattled the glass. She smiled. The shop had a lot of loyal customers, and sometimes they really needed something for a spiritual event or ceremony. They knew she’d sell it to them, even if she was closed. She lifted the edge of the shade that covered the glass door. What the heck? Melanie and Andy stood outside, scarves around their necks against the California chill.

She opened and motioned them in. “What’s up, you two?”

Melanie wore tight black yoga pants that looked great on her slim frame and a hooded sweatshirt. “You doing inventory, Buts?”

“Unpacking and stocking, actually. Not as tedious. Why?”

“Want a volunteer?” Mel pointed to Andy, who smiled. The man sure didn’t talk for himself much.

Buttercup noticed he was wearing workout pants and a sweatshirt too. “You came dressed for the job?”

He looked down. “No, I was going to do yoga with Mel.”

“Then Winston told us you were working hard over here, and Saint Andy wouldn’t hear of you doing it alone, so he made me bring him here.”

“Really?” She looked at him, and he blushed. “Hell’s bells, I can always use help. Especially strong male help.”

“Well, you got him. I’m gonna be late for class. Can you bring him home when you leave?”

“Sure.” Hell, the guy looked appetizing in those slim athletic pants. A lot better than khakis.

Melanie rushed off, glancing at her watch, and Buttercup looked at her new apprentice. Why on earth had the guy wanted to help her? “You sure about this? Yoga would be a lot more fun.”

He looked down and blushed again. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay. You asked for it.”

An hour later she had run cute Andy ragged. He’d carried boxes, unloaded books, cut up cartons, and ferried stacks of material to the recycle bin. She asked. He did. Not a question. She’d died and gone to heaven. She looked at him up on the stepladder. Hell’s bells, she had a lot of cute butts in her life right now. “Hey, let’s take a break. You like tea?”

“Sure.”

She went back to the little kitchen area she kept in her stockroom, poured a couple cups, and turning, found he’d followed her in. “You want milk or sugar?”

He smiled shyly. “How do you take yours?”

“I like milk in this kind of tea.”

“Okay.”

They sat in the two café chairs at a little round table shoved up against the wall. “So you’re a stockbroker?”

“Yeah. A Portfolio manager, actually.” He looked up at her through his lashes. “It’s okay to be surprised. Everyone is.”

“’Cause you’re so, uh, quiet?”

“Yeah. But I have a gift for stock picking and market analysis. I’m actually pretty good at it.”

“Yeah, Mel said.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound egotistical or anything. I –”

“Andy, quit it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” And he simply stopped talking.

She stared at him. “What did you say?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why did you say that?”

His eyes stayed cast down. “Because I want to please you. Do what you say.”

“Why?” He didn’t answer. “Answer me, Andy.”

“Yes, ma’am. I want to do what you say because I like you so much, and I want to serve you.”

Well, shit. Just plain shit. “You don’t even know me.”

“Yes, ma’am, I do. I felt I was supposed to come here, and when I met you, I knew why. Because you’re my…” His eyes glanced up, then back to his teacup.

“Your what?”

“My mistress.”

Holy shit. What had she done by putting her desires out into the universe? Created a ready-made slave? “Andy, did Melanie tell you I’m with someone?”

“Yes, but we don’t have to have sex. Just let me serve you, please.”

“Sweetheart, didn’t you just break up with someone?”

He nodded.

“See, that’s all that’s going on. You’re on the rebound from this other woman.”

“Man.”

“Hell! Andy, was this man your dom?”

“Yes.”

“And your lover?”

He nodded.

“So you’re gay?”

“No, I’ve always been with women until him.”

“I’m not even a dominatrix.”

She got that glance through the lashes again. Sexy much? “Yes, you are. You’re my Mistress Buttercup.”

She burst out laughing. “See, right there I fail. A dominatrix has to be named Tanya or Greta or Antonia. Certainly not Buttercup.”

**************************
Here’s your question–
What is Andy’s profession — exactly?

Email me the answer at tara at taralain dot com and you may win a copy of Be Bad, for Goodness Sake! Plus, you get an extra entry in the drawing for the Kindle and for the other prizes here on my blog.Okay? Thank you so much for coming by. Be sure you left a comment ON THIS BLOG, and followed the blog in addition to sending me the answer, okay. Three Steps!  
Now hop over to all the other authors and enter to win their prizes PLUS the Kindle Fire!