As a group, the four witches turned to catch sight of him standing there. That’s when the zing rebounded be­tween him and Ruby Thorne and he had to tighten his hand on the doorjamb to keep his knees from buckling. One corner of her mouth rose and his watered be­cause he knew what she tasted like. And until right then, he’d forgotten just how much he’d missed his lips on hers. And now she was home and they were both six years older and wiser. He sure hoped he was because a woman like the one he currently stared at deserved that. “Well, hey there, Damon Dooley,” Ruby said, the smile taking over her entire face as she approached him. She’d been pretty six years ago, but she was lumi­nous now, her magic around her shoulders like a man­tle. He wanted to roll around in her, coat himself in her. Damon reined it in, assuring the wolf they’d get to that point but it was important to wait for the right time. Rather than a handshake, Damon opened his arms, waiting a beat to be sure she had the chance to stop her trajectory. Thank the lord above, she came…

Genevieve showed up looking effortlessly pretty. Like flowers in a vase. Rowan braced herself for the hug and the dual cheek kiss, awash in the heady scent of roses and a bit of jasmine. “Hello, Rowan.” “Hey, Genevieve. Come through to the kitchen. Dinner is nearly ready.” “Give me a tour first.” That’d give Clive a little longer with his tea to calm and accept reality and it would give Rowan some extra time to gentle Genevieve toward him. David had come up to the main house for the meal and Rowan heard him speaking to Betchamp in the kitchen as she and Genevieve headed away. Some part of her relaxed, knowing everyone was in the house and safe. “I didn’t want to say this on the phone or over text,” Rowan said after the tour of everything but the kitchen and dining room. She and Genevieve remained in Rowan’s office. “I had a visit with Carl today. He told me a bunch of stuff and gave me a dog. Or maybe it’s more like she decided to come live with me and be my keeper. She’s magic. Something like that.” Genevieve’s gaze sharpened. “Carl? The sage who likes stuffed…

I first wrote Second Chances in 2005. It was, in fact, the third book I’ve ever written. The experience was not the best for a whole host of reasons, but I learned a lot about myself during the process. About editing and standing up for myself when I felt strongly about something. It was a book I liked writing, a book I got notes about from time to time and when I got the rights back in 2007, a book I knew I’d want to revisit someday. But you know how someday can be. It seems like you just thought about it yesterday and then a year or two has passed and I saw a tweet from Angela James about how she’d been looking for BDSM erotic romance to fit in an October slot. Here I had this book, finished but in need of some revisions and I thought perhaps it was time to drag it out and give it a once over. Angie had been my editor before, in fact, she’s been my editor longer than I’ve worked with anyone else in publishing, how cool is that? Anyway, that does not mean she gives me any free passes! She’s…

We’ve all got tropes we like – assassin heroes, marriage of convenience, small town romance, older man/younger woman (or vice versa), uber alpha heroes, beta heroes, certain historical periods (me? I love me some wallpaper regencies), friends to lovers, whatever your preferences may be – we’ve all got em. Relentless is a story of opposites. In Abbie, we have a woman without political power. In the world I built for my Federation books, the haves are Ranked. As in they are members of the ruling Families who hold the reins of political and economic power across all the Federation Universes. Everyone else is unranked and therefore able to rise only so high. So Abbie is unranked. She’s also a barrister, a public defender if you will and she has spent her adult life working to bring a more representative form of governance to her home ‘Verse. She’s small and fiery and full of passion and conviction. Click to read the rest of Lauren’s blog and to comment. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.