I'm thrilled to introduce you to today's special guest--and a very good friend of mine--Abbey MacInnis. Abbey has a super cute new release, Holiday Jinx, that's a perfect read for the Christmas season. And she's also offering up a giftcard giveaway! Be sure and check out her details on how to enter.
Seasons greetings
Thanks to the fabulous and very talented Jodi Redford for
letting me crash her blog today. LOL I’m very happy to be here!
A little holiday weirdness
So since we’re not even three days before Christmas, how
many of you are still scrambling to make those last purchases? I won’t tell. I
was actually good this year. I got everything done early. But trust me, I’m
usually one of those people going out on Christmas Eve. I’m a definite
procrastinator, and it isn’t that I didn’t know what I was going to buy, but
really, why buy something months in advance?
Did you ever have to settle for something less than what you
were hoping to find?
So after I give you a brief excerpt of my latest release,
Holiday Jinx, I’ll ask you my question. And then it’s time for prizes!
This excerpt is from Chapter Six, right after Chris and
Natalie realize they’ve had sex for the first time. Up to this point, they’re
starting to realize that something is manipulating them. I love the tension
between them It was so much fun to write.
Holiday Jinx excerpt
Chris
coughed, clearing his throat. “Excuse me?”
“We
had sex,” Natalie repeated, primly pulling the covers up to her chin. “Turn on
the light.”
He
reached over to the lamp and tried the switch. A faint light cast a small
shadow over the bed. She blinked, breathing a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t need
to snuggle up with him for long. “Good, it’s back on.”
“Weird,”
he said, settling back on his pillow. “That’s never happened so soon during a
storm.”
Keeping
herself covered, she pointed to the wet spot on the sheets. “We’re both naked.
I went to bed dressed in my blouse and panties. And when I woke up, I was lying
under you. How’d I get there?”
He
glanced to the bed and took stock of himself. She’d never seen anyone turn a
shade of white so fast. He blanched. “Oh shit…Shit shit shit. We did. Natalie,
I’m sorry.”
“Sorry
for what?” she couldn’t help asking. Not that her womanly pride was in danger of
crumbling if he hated it or anything. Really,
you had to ask? Of course he’s not sorry about the sex. What guy would regret
getting laid?
He had
the grace to turn a slight red. “Well…the sex was amazing. I don’t know how it
happened. I wasn’t even thinking about sleeping with you…”
“Yeah,
me neither,” she nodded, smoothing the sheet again over her legs. “Where’d that
pillow go? I guess I should’ve erected a wall of them to keep us apart.”
They
both focused on the floor. The pillow, somehow, sat all on its lonesome before
the fireplace.
Chris
grabbed a blanket and, tying it around his waist, retrieved it. “How’d it get
there?”
“Did
you throw it from the bed?”
He
tossed it to the end of the bed before climbing back under the covers. “No. Did
you?”
“I
don’t think so. Do you remember throwing anything in your dream? Maybe you
chucked the pillow instead.”
“I…I
was dreaming I was with Jill. I threw aside her clothes. Maybe I did toss it to
the floor.”
It
came to her that he’d torn off her clothes in a fit of passion right before
locating and stroking every pleasure point on her body. Desire plowed through
her. Her clothes were now scattered on the floor around the bed.
“Who’s
Jill?” she wondered against her better judgment. It was just that when a girl
found that she’d had sex with a guy she shouldn’t but wouldn’t mind doing the
naughty with anyway and that he’d called out another woman’s name during his
climax, it made her just a little on edge. And yes, maybe slightly envious. To
be the one actually experiencing Chris’s lovemaking was a fantastic actuality. He wasn’t really making love to you.
He
passed his hand down his face, the soft, scratching sound cutting through the
silence. “My ex-fiancée. She begged me to forgive her for…for everything that
happened between us. It was a very weird dream.”
Natalie
recalled reading something in the tabloids two years ago about some scandal
involving Chris and this woman named Jill. “You thought I was her?”
“Yes.
I know that sounds crazy,” he announced. “Crazy’s not the norm for me, just so
you know. I’ve just felt that way since arriving here.”
“It’s
not so strange. I’m thinking our elf had something to do with this since I
thought you were Mark, my ex, too. He begged me to take him back after I left
him when I figured out he loved heroin more than me.”
“Christ,”
he moaned under his breath. “Not the damned elf again.” “
“Why
not?”
“So
what, you had a dream involving your ex. Sounds like you’ve got some unresolved
shit. We all dream of past relationships at some time or another, Natalie.”
She
cringed at his harshness. Where did the gentle, tentative lover of moments
before go? “I meant to say,” she interrupted just as passionately, “I dreamt my
ex apologized. He told me to forget the past, that all that mattered was the
here and now.”
“Yeah,
so we both had screwy dreams.”
She
fiddled with the sheet at her throat and shifted her gaze away. “I don’t
understand how we had sex.”
“You
need another lesson, princess?” he drawled. “You didn’t have any trouble
wrapping yourself around me.”
“Stop
it,” she poked him in the chest. “That’s not what I mean. Be serious, will
you?”
“So we
had sex. People have sex. It’s normal, natural.”
“Not
for us, it isn’t. We can’t stand each other.”
“You
obviously forgot that kiss. Maybe there was more subconscious chemistry there
than we thought.”
No way.
Her
toes curled just thinking of it. “Um…no. That kiss was more like a mistake.”
“A
very hot mistake.” He passed his hand over her cheek as he leaned in. “So
perhaps you can stand me more than you’re willing to admit.”
Natalie
jerked her face away. “Not a chance. Besides, you’re not dreaming now.”
“I was
a few minutes ago. Making love to you… I didn’t dream you begging me for more
when I tasted you.” She pressed her thighs together—his naughty narration of
their love play brought fire to her center. “Or how sweet and good it felt when
you took me inside you. That was all real.”
“It
did happen, but I wouldn’t say it was real. We weren’t focused on each other
then.”
“Then?”
he echoed. “You willing to test this theory of yours?” He palmed her breast.
From under the sheet, her nipple puckered. “Willing to see if fate’s
responsible again?”
“Don’t
joke about it.” She removed his hand. “The elf did say aloud from somewhere in
this house that she’s brought us together, but it’s our job not to fall apart.
Whatever that means. So no. I’m not willing to test anything except figuring
out how to get rid of her.”
“Shit.
Strike two. Guess fate’s not on our side again.”
“I
disagree.” She turned to face him fully. The sheet slipped off one shoulder.
“Chris, this is really scaring me. I don’t understand what’s happening. It’s
like something’s reading into our pasts and somehow forcing us together. Like—”
“Manipulating
our dreams and our bodies and thoughts.” He shook his head. “It sounds
ridiculous. Come on, even you have to admit that. An elf is talking to us, both
together and separately, making sure we’re stuck here with each other when we’d
each rather be somewhere else? Only thing that makes sense is neither of us
wants to be here.”
That
stung, but Natalie couldn’t admit it. So he wanted to be somewhere else. With
someone else. So what. “Maybe this is all the elf’s doing. You thought you had
a dream that warned of my arrival. I’m here. Now we’re both dreaming, but are
we?” Natalie asked. “Obviously not. This…” She indicated the bed and their
state of undress. “We didn’t dream what just happened. Trust me on that. And if
you need more proof of her intervention, look in the mirror. You’re as naked as
I am.” She rubbed at the gooseflesh smearing her arms. “We’re being manipulated
by it, this elf.”
He
leaned back against the headboard, his shoulders lifting and settling into a
shrug. “It obviously doesn’t respond to threats, not by humans anyway. You
didn’t scare it away earlier.”
Rage
bubbled in her chest. The thought of something controlling them pissed her off,
but she couldn’t pretend any longer that there was nothing strange going on.
And she had to admit, she’d rather think that they were being manipulated than
that they’d somehow subconsciously chosen this. “How should we proceed?”
“No
clue.”
She
considered their options. “We always seem to hear bells whenever we hear the
voice. Maybe that could be a way to trick it into leaving.”
Chris
kicked back the bedclothes and snatched up the blanket he’d used before to wrap
around himself. “No. Screw making her leave. Let’s catch this thing.” His feet
hit the floor. He made his way to the other side of the bed. “Let’s demand it
tell us why it’s brought us together and is playing these games with us.”
Contest
Have you ever opened a gift and went, “WTH?” If you leave me
a comment below with your email address telling me what the most unusual WTF
Christmas gift you’ve ever received is, I’ll put your name in my Christmas hat
for a chance to win a $5 EGC to Kindle or Nook. Don’t’ forget to include your
email addie. If it isn’t there, I can’t contact you if Random.org selects your
comment. Thanks again to my pal, Jodi for having me! It’s so exciting to be
apart of her fabulous big Christmas blog party!
More on Holiday Jinx
Blurb:
It’s the most wonderful time of the
year…unless you’re single and lonely.
Jinx—one of Santa’s elves—is in
trouble with the Big Guy. She’s been charged with bringing holiday happiness to
Christopher Ragan, CEO of Wondrous Toys. It’s a big job especially when he’s
more attached to the bottom of a bottle than helping his fellow man.
She’s got enough trouble without
spilling the secrets of the North Pole, but then along comes Natalie Burnes, a
newbie CEO of Enchanted Toys and in trouble of a hostile takeover from
Christopher’s company. The woman literally crashes Christopher’s vacation plans
in a tucked away Michigan cabin---and the sparks start flying.
As if Jinx’s job of matchmaking the
toy makers isn’t hard enough, she’s got to stay one step ahead of the North
Pole patrol and keep out of sight of the humans. No way is she gonna screw up
and lose her magic again. If the humans can’t find happiness and love by
Christmas, Jinx forfeits her chance of seeing her true love too. What’s an elf
to do?
http://youtu.be/f0wwXbh4dcw">Check out the
book trailer
Buy it at
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/holiday-jinx/id581808332?mt=11">iTunesBio and stay in touch
Here are some places around the web where you can find me.
https://www.amazon.com/author/abbeymacinnis/">Check
out my Amazon US author page.
Follow/friend/join me on:
http://abbeymacinnis.blogspot.com/p/join-abbey-macinnis-street-team.html">Join
my Street Team.
http://www.goodreads.com/abbey_macinnis">Goodreads.
20 comments:
Thanks so much for having me here today, sistah. :)
This one sounds really entertaining!
vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com
Thanks for dropping by. :) Happy holidays. :)
the one WTF gift i got that still stands out is getting this case to hold cds that didn't fit ANY of the music cds i had
parisfan_ca@yahoo.com
I once got an empy scrapbook and tape and I don't scrapbook!
Rosie
Vtecbaby@hotmail.com
I once got a book about taking care of dogs. I don't own any dogs. Yep.
amzpar[at]gmail[dot]com
When I was eight years old, I received a housecoat as a birthday gift from my parents' elderly friend. It was a type of clothing that the elderly friend would wear around the house. I was less than thrilled.
strive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com
Got a laptop holder and no laptop
bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
Abbey, what a great excerpt and blurb--I can't wait to read more and find out how Chris and Natalie find their way (and Jinx's) out of this kerfuffle!
As for crazy gifts, in general, we've been pretty fortunate. One gift we received that did cause some bewilderment was a waffle iron. Unfortunately it appeared to have been used ;p
f dot chen at comcast dot net
Wow everyone, those are some crazy gifts. :)
A laptop case and no laptop? A housecoat? Crazy. And as for the book about dogs, that sounded like some random purchase or something. :)
And a CD case, well sounds like they had good intentions. :)
And a used waffle iron? Yum, I love waffles, but um...yeah but used, no.
Thanks for commenting everyone. :) Good luck and happy holidays! :)
Oh, and forgot about the empty scrapbook. Now that's something I'd recycle and regift. LOL Don't call me cheap, just resourceful. LOL
I have received the same greatest women in history book from my uncle THREE times now! 3. Hardcover, lovely books that I already have. And he personalized them. So I've cut a page out of one of them and regifted (as a silent auction item so folks knew what they were getting), but really... 3!?!
bas1chsemail at gmail dot com
When I was 13, my grandmother got me a sweatshirt that had a few pink bunnies and one gray one and said Oh No! A gray hare! Cute but not really gift for a 13 year old (unfortunately, I did find a gray hair that year, lol....maybe she saw it before I did).
manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com
I keep trying to think of something,and you know what..I don't think I've ever gotten one of those. I've always gotten what was on my wish list.I'm sure there had to be one but my memory sucks so who knows,lol
Thanks for sharing the excerpt.
Happy Holidays.
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
I once got The Book of Mormon from some friends -- now, I'm Jewish, but the thought was in it, I guess? *g*
Lasha
mslasha at gmail dot com
The excerpt seems like it'll be a great story to read. Thanks for sharing :)
Happy Holidays
BeckeyWhiteATgmailDOTcom
The same book three times? That's just being lazy.
And June, sorry about the sweater, really sorry. LOL
Ellen, you're lucky. LOL
And Lasha, I agree. :)
And hello, Becky. Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the excerpt.
Happy holidays, everyone. :) I'm going to wait until after the holiday to draw the winner. :)
Let's all enjoy the holiday. And sending good vibes that none of us receive WTF gifts. LOL
My MIL, lovely woman that she is, one year gave me pajamas with feet and the back flap. I said I wanted warm pajamas, and even showed her the kind I was talking about, then she gives me those. I smiled, said thanks, then the next day, put them in the Goodwill bag.
Happy Holidays!
e.balinski(at)att(dot)net
for the last 2 years my lovely mother-in-law has gotten me dvds with horror movies on them. I hate horror movies. I could pass off last years because they were vampire horror movies and I love paranormal romances, but not horror movies. This year just doesn't make sense.
carolyn
j-coverholser at sbcglobal dot net
A journel to write my daily thoughts. I love to read,but I hate to write. Every year I get one or some other kind of note taking or writting paper.
lauratroxel@yahoo.com
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