Lisabet says:
Sometimes we authors don’t know what we’re
getting into.
My romantic erotica novel Nasty
Business, just re-released by Fireborn Publishing, had its genesis in the
rejection letter for another book. Declining that proposal, the editor wrote
“Miranda isn’t exactly the sort of kick ass heroine we’re looking for.”
Okay, I thought. You
want “kick ass”? I’ll give it to you in spades. I proceeded to create Ruby
Maxwell Chen – brilliant, ambitious, ruthless, and sexy as hell. Readers who
favor “nice” heroines might have a hard time with Ruby. She’s determined to
succeed and willing to bend the rules if that’s what it takes. Her Chinese
tycoon father taught her how to seek out and exploit her opponents’
vulnerabilities. Ruby takes his tutelage further, using her vibrant sexuality
to both lure and punish her competitors.
I honestly don’t know where Ruby came
from. Once I’d envisioned her, though, I needed a hero who’d be more of a
challenge than the typical businessmen she wraps around her finger. What sort
of guy would give Ruby a run for her money – and ultimately manage to penetrate
her well-armored heart?
Rick Martell was the somewhat unlikely
result of my contemplation. Although he’s no movie star, he is, through some
biological quirk, irresistible to women. He’s almost as smart as Ruby, equally
self-confident, and even more arrogant. And he likes to win as much as she
does.
Although they’re competing for a
multi-billion dollar deal, the two are drawn to one another from the start, and
their adversarial relationship does not preclude a sexual connection. Indeed,
each tries to use the other’s lust to further his or her own plans. As the game
heats up, the deal loses importance. Surrender becomes the ultimate prize.
Nasty Business
is different from anything else I’ve written. Most of my protagonists partake
of some of my personal traits, but aside from her intelligence (and her
interest in BDSM), Ruby is nothing like me. (Really!) I’ve never had a partner
like Rick, either, though physically he has some resemblance to one of my
lovers when I was in graduate school – someone whose chemistry really meshed
with mine.
Anyway, as I’m sure Suz will confirm, once
characters have their claws sunk into your consciousness, you can’t let go
until you’ve told their story. Nasty Business includes a lot of dirty
tricks and a lot of sex, but ultimately it’s a love story. And I have to admit,
it’s one of my favorite books, despite the dubious morality of the hero and
heroine. Ruby and Rick may be brilliant, but they’re both blind to their
personal needs. It takes some rather extreme games to open their eyes.
Blurb
All’s fair in love and business.
Ruby Maxwell Chen, lovely and ruthless CEO of
a huge British business empire, is used to getting her way. When she encounters
the strangely charismatic American entrepreneur Rick Martell, though, she
wonders if she hasn't finally met her match.
From the trendy clubs of London to the
Hollywood Hills, Ruby and Rick compete for ownership of a strategic factory in
Malaysia. Neither has any qualms about using sexual wiles to smooth the path to
success. Neither anticipates that their mutual attraction will turn into
something far more intense and difficult to control.
As their struggle for dominance escalates,
they draw their employees and associates into their outrageous power games. The
stakes could scarcely be higher, as Ruby and Rick play for the ultimate prize:
a night of total physical surrender.
Excerpt
“So, for the trip home, why don’t I put
down the top? It’s a lovely evening. I’ll take us back along Mulholland Drive.
Slower, but a lot more scenic.”
“Why not?” I fasten my hair into a
loose ponytail and settle back in my seat, steeling myself for another aching
ride with him within arm’s reach, a million miles away.
Driving in the open car is a totally
different experience, though, exhilarating and a bit scary. The wind tears at
my hair, tangles it in my eyes, steals my breath. It’s too loud to talk, but
we’re both laughing as he steers the roadster off the highway and up into the
hills.
Mulholland Drive turns out to be a
narrow, torturously twisted road that runs along the crest of the mountains
above Hollywood. Rick drives much faster than seems safe, yet once again he’s
relaxed and in control. The MG careens around curves, hugging the pavement. My
whole body hums with excitement. I can’t tell how much is sexual and how much
born of our reckless velocity and the wildness of my hair whipping around my
face. The wind is simultaneously a slap and a caress against my skin. I feel as
though I am glowing. Totally alive.
My sex is humming, too, quivering,
throbbing along with the engine of the car. Rick glances over at me. For the
briefest instant, his eyes are pools of pure lust. Triumph and fear
simultaneously seize me. He wants me. He’s dangerous. Then both emotions are
submerged by the answering lust flooding through me.
“Take off your top,” he shouts at me
above the wind. “I dare you.”
A silly notion, I think, but I want to
do it. I want to feel the wind against my naked breasts. “Keep your eyes on the
road,” I call back. I pull my blouse over my head and push it down in the space
between the seat and the door so that it won’t blow away. Then I slip my bra
straps off my shoulders and peel the cups away from my swollen nipples.
The air dances over my heated flesh,
cool, provocative. “Go ahead, touch yourself,” Rick shouts. “You know you want
to.”
He’s right, and suddenly I don’t care
that he’s there, or what he thinks, I’ve got to pleasure myself. I grip my
nipples between index and forefingers, squeezing until the sensation reaches
the edge of pain. My cunt contracts as I release them, then contracts again at
the exquisite tickling of their stiffness against my palms. The wind lashes my
hair against my skin, sweet little stings that make me hunger for more intense
sensation. My clit is so swollen that the slightest movement in the bucket seat
sends sparks of pleasure shooting through my body.
Rick is yelling something again, but
the wind carries his words away. He makes a rude gesture, pantomimes raising my
skirt. I’m already in the process, wriggling against the seat belt as I try to
pull the fabric out from underneath my bum. Finally, I manage to free my thighs
from the skirt’s constriction. Looking straight at my companion, I pull my
soaked panties out of the way with one hand, and sink the other one deep inside
my hungering pussy.
Oh, I love the look on his face, shock,
astonishment, arousal, but the sensations welling up in me are too intense to
bear open-eyed. I’m not delicate. I don’t tease myself, don’t play, don’t take
myself gradually to the top. No ceremony, no technique. Desperate, I use both
hands, working with single-minded fury to bring myself off.
I forget Martell. I forget where I am,
racing along a dangerous road at a dangerous speed with a dangerous man. There
is no reality but the fire, the electricity, the tension crackling in my cunt
like lightning in a thunderhead. I tilt my pelvis, forcing my fingers deeper
into my slippery depths. My thighs stick to the leather seats as I rock back
and forth. In and out, faster, harder, more, more please just a little more…
The climax is sudden and unexpected. A
shattering like glass, fragments ripping gloriously through my stretched flesh.
Momentary blackness cloaks the setting sun. When I finally open my eyes, I find
I’m slumped in the seat, skirt and bra tangled around my waist, still
trembling.
It takes me a moment
to realize that the car has stopped. Martell is watching me in fascination,
like a cat stalking a bird. He grins when he realizes that I’m back among the
conscious. “Wasn’t that fun?” he asks, with heavy irony. Torn and tired as I
am, his voice still sets up stirrings in my sex.
****
Nasty Business is available now
from all your favorite ebook outlets.
Buy Links
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
All Romance Ebooks
Fireborn Publishing
About Me
I became addicted to words at an early
age. I began reading when I was four. I wrote my first story at five years old
and my first poem at seven. Since then, I have written plays, tutorials,
scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help
books, press releases, a five-hundred page dissertation, and lots of
erotica and erotic romance – more than fifty single author titles including
eight full length novels, plus dozens of short stories in various collections.
My credits include contributions to the Lambda winner Where the Girls Are
and the IPPIE Best Erotic Book of 2011, Carnal Machines. My gay scifi
erotic romance Quarantine won a Rainbow Awards 2012 Honorable Mention. I
have also edited a number of acclaimed erotica anthologies. Currently I am
responsible for the charity erotica imprint Coming Together Presents, which as
of December 2014 has published six volumes by top erotic authors, supporting
causes such as Amnesty International, Planned Parenthood, and the Multiple
Sclerosis Association of America.
I have more degrees
than anyone would ever need, from prestigious educational institutions who
would no doubt be deeply embarrassed by my chosen genre. Aside from writing, travel is one of my most
fervent passions. I’ve visited every
continent except Australia, though I still have a long bucket list of places I
haven’t been. Currently I live in Southeast Asia with my indulgent husband and
two exceptional felines, where I pursues an alternative career that is
completely unrelated to my creative writing.
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