THE BACKSTORY

 

From the time we announced the final Red Rock ebook in 2009, people have been asking us when we’d go back to the Sanctuary world and write more about werewolves and their witch rivals. In the beginning we didn’t want to return–we had our four books and our two prequel novellas, and those were the stories we had to tell. But people kept asking, and we kept saying, “Well, what if…okay, no, but maybe if…”

A watched pot never boils, and I’m starting to think a watched plot is the same way. The harder we tried to force ourselves to come up with the right story, the more they slipped away. Finally we set the idea aside for a while, reluctantly admitting that maybe it had been too long in any case. We’d missed our window. It was time to work on other–

BOOM! That was our idea, knocking us head over heels. It hit us so hard we sat down and wrote Haunted Sanctuary instead of the book we were supposed to be writing. It wasn’t the story we’d originally imagined. It takes place in a new town, with a new cast of characters, and is set several years after the end of Red Rock Pass. You don’t have to be familiar with any of the previous books to pick up Haunted Sanctuary…

…but hey. Any excuse to give away books is good for us!

 

THE BLOG TOUR

Thanks to the generosity of Samhain Publishing–and with the assistance of many awesome bloggers–we get to spend the next twenty days giving away 80 ebooks! Those of you who haven’t read the Red Rock Pass books will have twenty different chances to win the entire set in the ebook format of your choice.

In honor of that, we’re going to be revisiting some of our favorite scenes from each of the four books…and maybe showing a few sneaky peeks at the next chapter in the Sanctuary Universe!

 

TODAY’S SNIPPET

Sanctuary Unbound: The Steamy Side
aka Why Waste Time Finding a Bed When The Table’s Right Here

Adam and Cindy are not a terribly young couple. Obviously young is a relative term when werewolves and vampires are involved, but they’re both mature and experienced enough to know what they want and what they like. Not just in life, but with sex, too.

And that means that when they finally combust…man, they don’t do it by half.

I admit, when we started the book, I wasn’t prepared for how intense these two would be. Sometimes, as an author, you know what you’re getting into. And sometimes you turn around and your characters are having sex on the kitchen table.

Guess which time this was.

* * *

“Tell me,” he whispered, voice rough as sandpaper. His thumb brushed over her lips. “Tell me the things you want someone to know.”

In the end, there was only one thing that mattered. “I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you.”

“You can have me, sweetheart. I’m all yours.”

She had to kiss him, if only to quiet the yearning. Cindy drew him closer and rubbed her cheek against his before skating her lips across the corner of his mouth. “All mine.” The words sparked a different kind of need, the need to confirm his admission.

To mark him.

Her mouth trailed over his jaw and down to his neck. She growled and licked him gently, then bit him, hard.

His breath hissed out in a desperate curse. The hand at her back clenched tight, closing around her shirt and pressing her hard against the bulk of his body. “I like it when you bite.”

“Shh.” She kissed him, and her last defense broke apart inside her, the final wall she’d held between them. There was no telling how long it would last—a night or a month or a lifetime—but she had him now.

She had him, and not just his body. Even the wildest of his kisses had been carefully controlled, but now he showed no such restraint. His mouth slanted over hers, hard and so hungry he didn’t seem capable of holding back.

One fang pierced her lip, and the hint of blood forced a hard groan from him. Hot hands clutched at her ass and dragged her up his body until her toes barely touched the floor.

Cindy pulled her mouth from his with a ragged breath. “Take me here, no more waiting.”

Adam backed her up two steps and hoisted her onto the table, then froze. “Fuck. Condoms.”

She answered absently, her attention already on the buttons lining the front of the worn flannel shirt he wore. “The drawer closest to the entryway.”

He caught her hands and coaxed them away. “Take off your shirt. I’ll be right back.”

She watched him cross the room as she stripped the cotton over her head. “Most people come to the clinic during office hours, but sometimes…”

Adam turned back to her, an economy size box of condoms in his hand, and a smile played about his lips. “You should have told me you had high expectations. Flatter my enormous ego.”

A laugh bubbled up. “You’re beautiful, and your ego doesn’t need my help.”

“You sure?” He tossed the box on the table and stopped in front of her, his large hands falling to her knees. “Because I’m fighting quite the battle here. Part of me wants to take you upstairs and love you right, slow and patient. The rest of me…”

The heat sparking in his eyes stole her breath, and Cindy cradled his face between her hands. “Why can’t we do both?”

“Cindy, I was born in the nineteenth century. I should be too damn old to do both.” Gentle pressure eased her legs apart as he wedged his hips between her thighs. “You make me forget I’m old and broken.”

Because he wasn’t. Damaged like she was, maybe, but not broken. “I think you’re perfect…for me.”

“Good.” His fingers curled in her hair and urged her head back. Adam brushed a hot kiss to the spot where her pulse throbbed just under the skin, then teased it with his tongue. “You wolves and your marks. I’m not going to bite you. Not yet. Not until the second time.”

She clutched his shoulders and wiggled to the edge of the table, where her hips could press tight against his. “I like it when you bite too.”

“Soon.” His mouth moved lower, pausing at the hollow of her throat so his tongue could trace slow, wicked patterns. He kept at it, tormenting her with the barest press of teeth, never enough to give more than a hint before his tongue was there, ravenous as he explored the curve of her breast.

What he seemed to want more than anything was her pleasure. His lips grazed her nipple through the thin fabric of her bra, followed by the wet rasp of his tongue. Cindy hissed in a breath and arched to his mouth, determined to give him what he desired.

His fingers fumbled with her bra strap and a groan left him, as he lifted his head and snapped it without warning. Glazed, eager eyes found hers as he stripped the fabric away. “I’m impatient tonight.”

The mental image of the two of them entwined on her bed, naked and wild with hunger, drove a moan from her throat. “I approve.”

“I hope so.” He returned his mouth to her breast, encasing her nipple before his tongue flicked out.

A new wave of dizzy pleasure washed through her as he unbuttoned her jeans. She lifted her hips and helped him push the denim down her legs.

Adam raised his head and claimed her lips with a hoarse moan, and his hands returned to her body. He stroked and caressed, explored with fingers that grew clumsy every time she gasped or moaned. Every time she tensed and jerked into his touch.

Cindy braced her hands on the table behind her as she kicked off her shoes and pants. “Your clothes.”

He shed his shirt and reached for his belt, hands shaking. “Tell me you want this like I do. Fast, on the damn table, because I swear to Christ, Cindy, I’ll take you right here.”

* * *

Leave a comment to if you’d like to be entered to win a set of the Red Rock Pass ebooks!  And keep an eye open for the new book, Haunted Sanctuary, on sale January 22nd from Samhain Publishing and available to pre-order at Samhain, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, iTunes & Books on Board!