Craving #romance this #ValentinesDay? A sweet tooth #witch lands a #shifter chef in my #foodie #pnr

I take forever between releases, I know, but this delay I blame on scheduling. After all, the days leading up to Valentine's is the perfect time to release a chocolate-focused sexy tale. The next installment in A Witch's Night Out, Feline Valentine allows me to finally give Shelley a happily ever after (she sorta had crap deal in Fireworks at Midnight). Since I took forever to get this done, I made it up to her with a shifter who knows his way around the kitchen (in more ways than one). 

Part of Decadent Publishing’s 1Night Stand Series, my interracial paranormal romance features a witch under house arrest and the warlock next door. A cat familiar, unlikely burglar, and Madame Eve all pitch in to unite the two lust-birds. Add a bag of sex toys, chocolate-covered strawberries, crepe suzette, and a flying carpet, and we get a fun, magical romp that should satisfy any sweet tooth. 

To celebrate Shelley's big night, I’m giving away a $15 gift card. To enter, leave a comment here (or on this Facebook post, if you'd rather) and drop your details in the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post. 

Feline Valentine, available at Amazon (US), Amazon (Other), ARe, iTunes, and B&N. 

Feline Valentine

A Witch's Night Out

by Tara Quan 

Under magical house arrest in her great-grandmother’s suburban cottage, college graduate and reluctant earth mage Shelley Dupree whiles away most mornings spying on the warlock next door. Though erotic daydreams offer some distraction, she faces long working hours, cash flow problems, and a repeat burglar. On Valentine’s Day, she sets a trap for the mysterious intruder, intent on ending his crime streak once and for all. But her scheming cat familiar foils her best-laid plans, and, with a little help from Madame Eve’s 1-Night Stand service, she discovers a far more dangerous species of magical feline.

After moving in next to a ramshackle building on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., pastry chef Adrien Chatdurois is plagued by repeat sexual fantasies starring the same curvy brunette. In a state of constant arousal, he devotes his early mornings to grueling exercise and spends the rest of his day handcrafting the city’s best chocolates. When his younger brother stirs up trouble on the shop’s busiest day, the frustrated shifter is forced to pay a surprise visit on his reclusive neighbor. He soon learns not all witches are wart-covered hags, and one in particular might prove the most delicious of desserts.

Excerpt (kinda R-Rated, although you probably already guessed)

“Stop hogging the binoculars. It’s my turn to ogle the warlock next door.”

Ignoring the high-pitched whine, Shelley Dupree zoomed in on a pair of sweat-slicked pecs. A prolonged spying session on her new neighbor seemed the perfect cure for Valentine’s Day doldrums. Though Dulcina, her best friend and cat familiar, could turn into an absolute pest when thwarted, the reward for tuning out her incessant requests superseded all risk. After all, Shelley needed to stock up on copious amounts of drool-worthy imagery. How else was a single witch on house arrest supposed to while away the most romantic night of the year?

Prolonged sexual frustration had long since warped her brain, part of the reason she couldn’t tear her gaze from the delicious male specimen on the other side of her crumbling wall. As she watched the man execute a strict pull-up over his doorjamb, her lips tingled. She imagined trailing them over his lightly tanned chest, pictured herself tracing those rippling muscles with slow, sipping kisses.

Her tongue darted to wet the corner of her mouth as she envisioned sliding her hands under the waistband of his red workout shorts. She’d fuel his arousal with teasing strokes before catching the fabric between her teeth and yanking the garment off.

His body lowered, filling her magnified view with a visage stunning enough to choke off her next breath. Thick fringes of sooty lashes framed dreamy, moss-green eyes. His pale skin darkened to a rusty hue as he sped up the repetitions. Glistening with perspiration, midnight curls clung to his sharp, slanting cheekbones. An overlong forelock snaked down to graze his pronounced nasal bridge.

With his lips pursed and eyes narrowed, the intense, menacing expression he wore added fodder to her prolonged sexual fantasy. She could almost feel his coarse chest hair rasping her chin and cheeks, taste salt as she explored the expanse of taut, supple flesh. Her pulse raced, her erratic heartbeat a warm flurry over each fingertip.

As if by magic, his waistband slipped down his hips, sending his shorts pooling to his ankles before they dropped to the floor. Entranced by the unexpected striptease, her attention zeroed in on his penis. Even from afar, the warlock didn’t disappoint.

With a contented sigh, she imagined tracing the ridge, swirling her tongue over the long, thick shaft before taking the engorged tip into her mouth. While she contemplated the way he might taste, deep grooves formed between his thick brows. His full, sensuous lips flattened into a grim line.

She closed her eyes and ventured deeper into the familiar daydream, a moan catching in her throat as his erection slid back and forth over her flesh. Instead of the binocular’s cold metal chilling her hands, the toned, flexing ass she’d always admired warmed her palms and fingers. She took him deeper, until she could almost feel the head brushing the back of her throat. A hoarse, masculine groan echoed between her ears when she hollowed her cheeks and—

“Meow!” A quintet of sharp claws swiped down her calf, the sudden pain shattering her erotic fantasy.

Spinning around, she nudged at the brown, shorthaired cat with her toe. Her friend must really want attention if she’d resorted to shifting into her hated feline form.

#99cents Sale + $10 #Giveaway: Jack Frost faces a shifter witch in this Xmas romance

With the holidays upon us there are troves of books to curl up with by the fireplace. My paranormal romantic comedy goes great with mulled wine and cinnamon cookies. Part of Decadent Publishing’s 1Night Stand line, Frosty Relations features a young college graduate facing the complicated world of adulthood and confronting the frost mage she’s had a crush on for most of her life. Add some Christmas magic and Madame Eve’s renowned matchmaking service, and we’ve got the beginnings of an icy-hot love story.

In keeping with the holiday spirit, my publisher has discounted the book to $0.99 for a limited time on Amazon and ARe (the sale ends December 14, 1015). I’m also giving away a $10 gift card. To enter, leave a comment here and drop your details in the Rafflecopter widget. (If the blogosphere is giving you problems, you can drop me a line on this Facebook post instead). 

 

$0.99 for a Limited time at

Amazon | AllRomance

Frosty Relations

by Tara Quan

Attorney Jack Frost never understood why holidays did weird things to people. His secretary went on vacation, his best friend ditched their annual Aspen trip, and the law firm’s stubborn human resources assistant refuses his clerical support request. What’s a warlock to do on Christmas Eve but go on a 1-Night Stand? But when an oddly familiar empath shows up as his date, this ice mage has a hard time denying the magic of the winter solstice.

Faced with an anemic employment market and financial woes, college graduate and former witch Mina Mao lands an HR assistant job at Frost and Sons. Having spent her day saving Christmas from Frost Junior’s Grinch-like behavior, she accepts the gift of Madame Eve’s service and heads over to the Castillo Capital. When her date turns out to be her childhood crush and workplace nemesis, she braces herself for the sexiest icy ride of her life.  

Excerpt

Jack reached over Mina’s head and tugged out the metal pins. As he placed them on the mantle beside her, one by one, he filled his lungs with the scent of cinnamon and cloves floating off her hair.

She sighed. “You have no idea what I went through for that up-do.”

“I never liked it when you tied your hair.” A few more pulls dislodged the coiled bun. The braid unwound into a long queue that reached her ribcage. Placing one hand above her head on the pillar, he reached around her waist and tugged the elastic free.

She stepped toward him, her head tilting up. Their breaths mingled, her midnight eyes hooded by a dark fan of lowered lashes. “You never seemed to give a damn about how I looked.”

“For an empath, you’re not much good at reading minds. I almost grabbed you by the ponytail one day with every intention of freezing off the godawful scrunchie. Those things went out of style in the nineties.” She remained motionless as he worked his fingers through the silken strands, unraveling the thick mane until it fanned over her back and surrounded her delicate shoulders. He wanted to see her like this, without a single stitch on her. “There. Much better.”

Her brows furrowed. “You never considered kissing me before. What changed?”

Hell if he knew.

Back Lot Beauties Hop - Dec 4 to 11 – Hop Aboard the #Romance #Giveaway train!

A huge thank you goes to Hennessee Andrews for organizing the Back Lot Beauties Hop, which gives us romance authors an opportunity to dust off our back list titles to remind you of something we'd released over a year ago. Each stop has a giveaway at the very end, so don't forget to scroll all the way down to put your name in the hat for a $5 Gift Card to your favorite online eBook retailer.  All you have to do is comment, either here or this Facebook post.

For my stop, I’ve decided to showcase Flirting with Fire, an erotic paranormal romance featuring witches who turn into cute kitties. It's the start to my favorite series thus far, and it holds a special place in my heart since it led to the cat pictured on the right. After I wrote three romances featuring cat familiars, my significant other decided I deserved a kitten of my own. Moka, my personal  diabolical familiar, joined our family soon after the third book in the series was published. 

Moka, back in March, when he was tiny enough to stage disappearing acts!

Buy on Amazon

B&N | AllRomance | iTunes | Kobo
Smashwords | Decadent | GoodReads

Flirting with Fire

Apprentice witch Catalina Gato is prohibited from assuming her human form in front of her new employer without his express permission. Since he doesn’t know he’s a warlock, he can’t give it, leaving her in a familiar’s limbo. To make matters worse, she’s barred from leaving his house, and her attempts to enlighten him of his true nature results in burnt notes, charred walls, and exploding laptops.

On All Hallows’ Eve, she gets one night of freedom. Deciding some no-strings-attached sex might take the edge off the intense attraction she feels for her clueless boss, she signs up for Madame Eve’s service. When she meets her masked mystery date at the Castillo Capital, she realizes she might have gotten much more than she bargained for.

After being gifted a one-night stand from his annoying best friend, attorney Leo Difuoco reluctantly ventures to the Castillo Capital to celebrate Halloween. When he meets his oddly familiar green-eyed date in a Cat Woman costume, flames literally ignite, sparks magically fly, and life as he knows it changes forever. 

Excerpt

Cat chose this moment to return. Plunking down her plush bottom with her front legs straight and her heart-shaped face tilted up, the little minx stared up at him with a comical approximation of puppy-dog eyes. “Meow.”

Keeping a straight face took significant effort. “Feeling guilty, are you?”

Those uncanny eyes grew even wider, her long, dark tail wagging in a slow, hypnotizing pattern. He found his muscles relaxing, all tension and anger melting away. Unnerved by the almost-magical effect, he picked the creature up and held her in front of his face. “Your little tricks won’t work on me. I’m not letting you get off so easily. What you did was very rude.”

Her claws sheathed, she batted at his nose with one paw. “Meeeow.”

His resolve melted. He’d grown soft over the past six months, and the damn cat had learned to use it to her advantage. “Fine. I accept your apology. Now, run along. I need to wash up and get ready for work.”

When he set her down, she padded after him to the master bedroom, which he’d refurnished as soon as he moved in. Aside from not wanting to sleep in his great-aunt’s bed, the gothic decor had given him the creeps. What kind of old Italian-Gypsy used black sheets and installed a massive upturned crescent moon as her headboard? The memory of the blood-red carpet, emblazoned with weird black spirals, circles, and stars, still made him shudder.

He’d banished everything from the room, including a wall-sized, cross-bisected circular mirror, several dozen candles in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and multiple bouquets of odd-smelling herbs to the Salvation Army. He’d no clue what they’d do with it all, but he liked clean, sleek lines and modern furniture too much to have such bizarre items in his house.

Cat had been none too happy with his decision. Her housewarming presents were claw marks on every corner of his bed’s leather base. The rest of his furniture, including his chrome desk, rolling ergonomic office chair, and black IKEA chest of drawers all met with similar fates. To his relief, the feline soon grew tired of vandalism and started bothering him in other ways.

Accompanying him into the bathroom was a good example. While unaffectionate, the cat never ventured more than a few feet away. She had the decency to stay outside until the shower came on, but the sound of cascading water seemed to act as a trigger. Within seconds of him rinsing off, her sleek dark head would poke into the stall. His great-aunt must have installed some weird hi-tech cat sensor on all the internal doors. The creature roamed every nook and cranny of the three-story brownstone as if locks didn’t exist.

Testing his limits must be on today’s agenda since a black streak crossed his line of vision before he could shut the bathroom door. Already behind schedule, he crouched and jabbed his forefinger between his pet’s green eyes. “You know the drill. No coming in until after I strip.”
In lieu of an answer, she jumped to sit on the new granite sink. Unlike his furniture reshuffle, Cat had no beef with his bathroom and kitchen remodels. His stainless steel appliances, copper fixtures, and terra-cotta tiles all escaped the wrath of her claws.

Rising, he swept his arm toward the open entryway. “I don’t have time for this. Out you go. I mean it.” When his stern warning failed to achieve the desired effect, he heaved a sigh. Past experience taught him a chase almost never ended in capture.

Not bothering to close off the room, he hooked his fingers under his boxers’ waistband. “You’re a little pervert. Can’t you at least act like you’re not looking?” Very few sane people had lengthy conversations with their pets. He needed to get a life.

His audience of one lay down on her stomach, her face resting on her paws. The first couple of months, she’d pretended to be interested in something else—his assortment of fluffy white towels, for example. Now, she watched him shower like it was nobody’s business. Sighing, he took off his shorts and tossed them into the hamper, his aim perfect enough to remind him of his basketball-playing days. She meowed and nodded, as if in approval.

He stepped into the glass enclosure, feeling oddly self-conscious. With a twist of the handle, water fell like rain over his head. As he scrubbed, he continued to address the cat. “I’m going out tonight. It’s Halloween, and the guys are beginning to think I’ve turned into a hermit.”
The ensuing meow was pitched higher than usual. Though he hesitated to read too much into feline noises, his brain somehow interpreted the sound as an expression of enthusiasm. The plan he’d been lukewarm about gained appeal. “Besides, costume parties are great places to pick up chicks.”

He cringed at a loud crash. Poking his head out, he took stock of the damage. Ceramic shards from what used to be his soap holder covered the floor, along with globs of shiny translucent liquid. 

Find a list of the other participating authors here