Guest spotlight- Tara Mills

Please welcome Tara Mills to An Erotic Adventure with a spotlight on her new novel, Sexual Politics!

Is the scandal worth it? Only she can answer that.

For two years Justine Hubbard has played the supportive wife role for her husband in public...and nowhere else. Senator Gary Hubbard’s philandering ended her love for him. But sometimes there are reasons people decide to maintain the illusion of a happy marriage when the relationship is over.

Living a lie until after the election wasn’t an issue—until she met Sean O’Donnell. She can’t fool the perceptive photographer. He understands her. He wants her. After feeling invisible to her husband, that’s an intoxicating discovery. But having condemned her husband for his hushed affairs, it would be hypocritical to give in to her desire for Sean.

All it would take is a whisper of scandal for her husband’s political enemies to bring him down. She wouldn’t dream of sacrificing Gary’s career, their causes, and her own good name. But how can she stay away from Sean now that she’s fallen for him?

Excerpt

The senator put his arm around his wife while she stood, frozen, her smile brittle on the edges. “Justine is a big patron of the arts. I’m glad she found someone interesting to talk to tonight. She hates these functions.”

Sean smiled tightly, noting her discomfort. “She’s not the only one.”

“Yes, well…” The senator rubbed his hands together. “The sooner I get out of here, the sooner I can get home.”

Sean felt the next perfunctory kiss was for his benefit. His heart went out to her.

“Don’t wait up,” the senator said to his wife.

One more insincere handshake with Sean and the man was gone.

She seemed to shrink, as if letting go of the tension took an inch off her height. “I think he forgot to call for my car.”

“I’m just about to leave. Would you like to share a cab?”

The corner of her mouth twitched and she nodded, her lovely hazel eyes shining, though not a tear fell.

They ditched their glasses and headed to the atrium. Twice his hand strayed automatically toward the small of her back as they walked. He had to remind himself not to touch her.

Collecting their coats, he helped her into hers then slipped on his own, winding his slate gray scarf around his neck.

He didn’t hesitate to offer his arm on the way out. Her high heels demanded it. Even though the sidewalk had clearly been shoveled once already, snow continued to fall, the scattered salt leaving circular patterns of melt amidst the slick. The doorman waved a cab forward and opened the door for them. Sean helped her into the back then slid in after her.

The doorman shut them in as Sean adjusted his long coat on the seat around him. “Let’s drop you off first.”

“All right.” She leaned forward and gave the cabbie her address.

* * * *

Justine was hyper aware of O’Donnell’s hand resting on the seat not eight inches from hers as they rode across the city. If they both stretched out a pinky, they might even touch. Beyond handshakes, she hadn’t touched a man in so long. Gary no longer counted. He only touched her in public. After his second brief affair, she’d insisted.

Her life, her marriage, her husband—all of it was a sham.

Glancing surreptitiously at Sean O’Donnell as he watched the scenery pass, she was struck by how handsome he was, in a completely natural way. There was no hint of product in his hair to tame and control the wayward curls flaring out behind his ears. If anyone gave Gary’s hair a little pat it would shift on his head like one solid, perfect helmet.

Even though it was faint, she could smell Old Spice coming off her quiet seatmate. It made her smile. Ah, memories. Back in the day, she used to love that aftershave. Gary only wore expensive cologne.

Sean cleaned up nicely, but she could tell he was as uncomfortable with the public side of his life as she was with hers. There was something genuine about him. After living with a facsimile of a human being for seven years, that was an attractive quality to have.

The cab turned onto her street and she began to worry the purse in her lap. Their ride had taken no time at all. They pulled to the curb in front of her townhouse and she started to open the clasp on her purse for her share of the fare. That’s when Sean O’Donnell finally touched her bare hand, stopping her.

“It was on the way,” he said.

“Thank you.”

He exited the car then held the door, assisting her out. “I’ll walk you up.”

Afraid it would feel too much like the end of an awkward date, she declined his offer, though she appreciated his consideration. “That isn’t necessary.”

“Don’t forget, the Russell Gallery. I hope to see you there, Mrs. Hubbard.”

Flattered, she laughed softly. “I’ll be there. But please, call me Justine.”

She liked how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “Sean.”

“Thank you for the ride.”

“My pleasure. Goodnight, Justine.” He stood there, silent and seemingly unaffected by the large, fluffy snowflakes settling on his hair and shoulders.

“Goodnight, Sean.” Feeling a blush coming on, she hurried up her front steps and slipped her key in the lock. He was still watching over her from the open car door when she turned on the light and stepped into the foyer. Lifting her hand, she gave him a final parting wave.

Nodding once in return, he dipped his head and got back into the taxi.

As the car pulled away, she fell against the door and turned the deadbolt, her heart racing in a thrilling and inappropriate way.

About the Author

I’m a pampered wife, adoring mom, incurable romantic, and a contemporary romance novelist. I'm also a lousy driver and have OCD tendencies. I've been called perky and cute most of my life. Can't help that. I'm a morning person. Yep, that's proven incurable too. If you enjoy stories with heart, heat, a bit of suspense, and plenty of humor, I've got a story for you.

Please visit my website Tara Mills Romance for some awesome reads and my quirky blog. You can also find me on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, or follow me on Twitter.

Tara Mills is at my Party!

My fortnight of fun and frolics at the Butterfly Party continues with a snippet of the new book from today's guest of honour, Tara Mills...

Read to the end or look to your right for offers and giveaways! x

Grading on Curves — by Tara Mills

Blurb:

 One-on-one instruction never felt so right—or so wrong.

There’s nothing unusual about Mia Page’s attraction to the young science teacher at the middle school. After all, she’s not the only one who finds him enticing. But when he pulls her son aside to ask for her phone number, she knows she’s in serious trouble. Since her divorce four years earlier, she’s been out of circulation, choosing to focus on parenting instead, and she’s not entirely sure she can handle an entanglement with the sexy Mr. Walden.
There are also other reasons why getting involved with Curt would be a bad idea. He’s two years shy of thirty, and she’s on the downside of that unmentionable number. He’s adamant about never having kids, and she has a son. Even the guy’s romantic gifts are suspect. Energy saving light bulbs? He has to be kidding.
On the other hand, he’s fun, sweet, and smart. He stimulates her intellectually, emotionally, and Lord help her, physically, opening her eyes to life outside her comfortable world. Yet their differences quietly gnaw at Mia even while she succumbs to their undeniable chemistry.
As their romance deepens, so do Mia’s fears that Curt will eventually hurt her. On edge, all it takes is an innocent comment to provoke her into drawing first blood. Mia recklessly wounds Curt, learning only too late that this blade cuts both ways. Frantic to make amends, she fears it might be too late to admit the feelings she’s tried so hard to suppress.

Excerpt:

Mia pulled against the curb and put the truck into park.

“Do you want to come in?” Curt’s eyes picked up the greenish glow of the dashboard lights and flickered seductively back at her.

The guy didn’t make things easy on her. Her heart wanted to answer yes but that’s not what her mouth was saying. “I would, Curt, I really would, but I can’t. It’s too soon.” The look she gave him begged for patience. “I’m sorry. I just need more time.”

“I understand.” Then he grew serious. “I don’t think it’ll come as a shock that I want to take you to bed, but I’m willing to wait, within reason, for you.”

“Within reason?”

His smile was back. “Well, you can’t expect me not to try,” he said, leaning in to take a kiss. “I’m going to do everything in my power to change your mind. But ultimately, it’s up to you. Let me know when you’re ready, okay?”

There was a battle going on inside her. She wanted to take him up on his offer now but this was such a big step for her. All told, Curt would only be the fourth man to ever see her naked, counting her old obstetrician. Intimacy with another man was suddenly a pretty terrifying thought.

Still, her heart raced like a hummingbird’s at the expectation in his eyes, the confidence that he was going to be her lover. If she was capable of lying to herself she might have felt offended by his presumptions but who was she kidding? She knew the minute she mentally undressed him that she’d be an idiot not to jump at the chance to get close to the real deal. Other women would have tripped her down the stairs for the opportunity he was offering. She’d already met one.

“I’ll keep you posted,” she said softly.

Curt’s smile warmed and he squeezed her thigh, giving her an intoxicating kiss that lingered on her lips after he drew back.

Mia’s eyes slowly opened and locked on his. The corner of his mouth twitched and she copied his expression. Curt leaned in again, but this time Mia took his head in her hands and kissed him first, feeling his hands bunch in her hair as they fed from each other one last time.

She was sorry when he slipped his hands free and turned to open his door.

“We’re still on for tomorrow, right?” Curt asked, looking back as he climbed out.

“Absolutely.”

“Good night, Mia.”

His glowing smile could have drawn moths if he stood still long enough, but he shut the door and strode across the grass. She put the truck into gear and pulled away, certain she was right to hold off, but miserable just the same.

She had no idea how she was going to make it through tomorrow.

Available now at Beachwalk Press, Amazon, Amazon UK, All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand, and Barnes & Noble.

Bio:

I'm a lifelong wordaholic, contemporary romance writer, pampered wife, and proud mom. Escape with me into books.

If you like fun and flirty, saucy and sexy, exciting thrills and suspense, or simply a good chuckle, I've got a story for you.

Author Links:

Tara Mills Romance, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon Author Page, and Beachwalk Press

Thank you for coming to the Butterfly Party Tara! 
Remember for sales and giveaways for A Clockwork Butterfly click on these links:

Beachwalk is running a 50% off ebook sale of my novel (code ButterflyParty) and don't forget to enter the Goodreads paperback giveaway. 

See you tomorrow x x x

Tara Mills at my place!

Today I have a fellow Beachwalk author with me to tell us all about some new releases - take it away Ms Mills...!

Tabitha, thanks so much for having me over. I’m Tara Mills and I write sensual contemporary romances, two of which are out now with Crimson Romance and as you already know, my first Beachwalk title will release on January 21st.  I can’t wait!

Caution: Filling is Hot
Here's a recipe to share with friends.  Take one prickly demonstration cook, handle carefully.  Add one lonely widower, slightly beaten.  Mix gently.  Fold in two eight-year-olds, one at a time to temper the batter and avoid scrambling.  Then finally, add the mother with an agenda -- but just a dash because she's spicy.  Whip into stiff peaks then spread over an ungreased sheet for best results.  Method of cooking can vary however, Caution: Filling is Hot.
Piper Frost is taking a break from men when contractor Chad Thomas crashes her cooking class and turns on the charm.  His persistence annoys her at first but she's already melting, even without his sneaky mother and conspiring twins in the mix. But just when things are really starting to sizzle, disaster strikes.  Can Piper save her recipe for happily ever after or is it already ruined?   Grab your hot pads and find out.
Excerpt:
Piper’s surrender to the attraction sizzling between them was indisputable, a physical thing. Once committed, the confident decisive woman who warned Chad off with mace was back. He liked this sexy side of her.
Chad broke the kiss to draw a ragged breath then veered right and grazed his rough cheek along her jaw, down her neck, then finally nuzzled her ear. The sensations set Piper vibrating in his arms but it was the tip of his tongue tracing along the shell of her ear that prompted her desperate groan. Piper skimmed her hands down his chest and reached around his waist. Without warning she clapped them firmly on his ass.
Taken by surprise Chad rose a good four inches before settling back on his heels, slightly dazed. Oh no, this was not the same woman who held him off for three excruciating weeks. For some inexplicable reason Piper was making a complete about face and lowering her barricades. Chad wasn’t complaining.

Only someone who’s endured a self-imposed diet for one too many days only to find themselves suddenly confronted by a buffet table set with all of their favorites could understand this kind of surrender. Piper was overwhelmed by the compulsion to feast, the need to gorge on what she denied herself.
To hell with being seduced. If she was going to cave in to her needs, she was going to be an active player. There was nothing ambiguous about the way her lips moved over Chad, tasting and licking, sucking his chin, his lobe. He let her mood and the momentum she set carry him along on the current. Her hands returned to his chest and she clutched his shirt then proceeded to devour every bare inch of skin she could reach.
“Are you always this aggressive?” he asked, the words followed by yet another deep moan. Chad pulled her head back and went for her throat while one of his hands slipped up under the front of her shirt.
“No.” She laughed and gasped, breathless and impatient. “Oh god, kiss me again, please!”
With one hand on the back of her head, the other cupping her breast, Chad obliged. They parried and twirled, thrust and stroked until Piper trembled. If Chad thought by her response that he finally wrested the advantage away from her he was mistaken. Piper easily took it back again by sliding her hand down his body and pressing his straining fly. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.
He drew a shaky breath and caught her wrist. “Careful.”
She ignored the warning. “But I need to know.”
She shook off his hand then popped the button on his jeans. Chad sighed with relief as the constricting zipper eased down. What happened next was downright embarrassing. His swollen cock sprang through his open fly like a novelty snake shooting out of a can of peanuts.
Piper’s delighted laugh helped. “Quick out of the gate, aren’t you?”

Find it at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo


Forest Fires
Cocky Charley Jensen doesn't mince words. She knows how to handle herself, doesn't shy away from hard work, loves tinkering with her pickup, and is far more comfortable with a tool belt hanging off her hips tan an apron.   However, Charley's a failure at personal relationships, with more experience throwing punches and insults than her arms around someone.  She's way out of her comfort zone when she strays across a clean cut babe, emphasis on babe, stranded in the woods.  Her immediate cool and dismissive assessment of Drake Carver is entirely wrong -- though correcting someone this opinionated isn't easy.
But don't let this biologist's Oxford shirt fool you.  Drake's tough, used to roughing it, and not afraid to be tested.  He's just never encountered a woman quite like Charley which, in his opinion, makes her ideal for his purposes.  Unfortunately, she's not easy to win over.  It will take an act of heroism to prove his mettle.  However, time is running out and theirs aren't the only sparks flying in the woods.Excerpt:
The storm passed through sometime during the night, the hard rain gradually tapering off to steady drips off the roof. Charley was in a deep sleep when she was slowly roused by a change in sound. Peeling one eye open, then the other, she listened carefully. That was definitely water but it wasn’t falling outside.
Charley rolled over and silently opened the bedside drawer and drew out her Smith and Wesson thirty-eight. Sliding out of bed, she tiptoed across the dim room and opened the door, cocking her head to listen. Someone was in her bathroom.
She tiptoed to the door and tested the knob. It turned in her hand. Taking two deep bracing breaths, Charley kicked the door open and raised the gun.
“Bad idea, dickweed!” she yelled then dropped her arms as Drake whirled around, soap running down his wondrous body, his hands buried in his sudsy hair. Foam dripped from his elbows.
Drake’s eyes were glued to the pistol hanging against her thighs. “You pulled a gun on me? You have a gun?”
Charley was staring too. His elbows weren’t the only things dripping soap. “A girl has to protect herself,” she said finally.
“Do you even know how to fire that thing?”
“Of course. I’ve been shooting since I was ten and what the hell are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be back yet.”
Drake stepped back under the spray and slowly turned, rinsing off from head to toe. Charley was more than happy to wait for his answer. God, that man had a body.
He shut off the water and Charley tossed him the towel hanging from the bar next to her.
“Thanks,” he said, drying off.
“What are you doing here?” she repeated, feeling a little warm and anxious all of a sudden.
“I got caught out in the storm,” he said, wrapping the towel around his hips and finger combing his wet hair back.
His dark whiskers gave him a rakish, bad boy look. She liked it—a little too much.
“Don’t shave,” she said without thinking. Oh piss.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she said hastily, blushing like a fool. “You got caught in the storm?”
“It snapped my tent pole, soaked everything I had with me. As soon as it was light enough to navigate out of there I headed back.”
“And you came here,” she said with a little smile.
Drake’s eyes swept over her, head to toe, and he smiled back. “I came here.”
Such a simple admission and yet it made Charley’s grateful heart skitter and whine excitedly in her chest. “I’m glad. Are you hungry, thirsty?”
“Happy to see you?” he asked with a wicked grin.
Her eyes dropped to his towel and she laughed. “Pretty tough to argue with that. Come on.”

Find it on Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo


Friends and Lovers
Can the man of Lauren’s dreams save her from the man in her nightmares?
Wes Dunlop was a hot commodity in high school and the ruin of good reputations, so it was easy to criticize the guy when his sister did it too. Then Lauren McKay actually met her best friend’s brother, and she was intrigued. When he came to her rescue, she was doomed. Afraid to admit her change of heart, Lauren hid her secret from both of them.
Fifteen years later Wes is back. Now a dedicated cop, he’s determined to win Lauren—the girl he can’t forget and the only one his sister demanded he leave alone. But he finds that Lauren’s life is a lot more complicated than he imagined.
Personal tragedy made Lauren a fierce defender of battered women. However, when a dangerous gunman tracks his wife to Lauren’s shelter, the protector becomes the target.  Her life suddenly in the balance, nothing will stop Wes from doing everything in his power to rescue her. 
Excerpt:
Lauren’s heart started thumping wildly as Wes moved closer and lifted the beer out of her hand. He set it aside and cupped her neck. His lips brushed hers, and they were soft and full of promise. She wound her arms around him and held on tight as the kiss deepened.
Wes lowered Lauren to the cushions and smiled. “Just so you know…this is on purpose.”
Then his mouth sealed over hers and his tongue slipped inside to caress hers. Lauren moaned and arched against Wes, hooking her leg around him. His large palm covered her breast and he gave it a gentle squeeze.
Sighing against her cheek, he asked, “Do you have any idea how many times over the years I’ve thought about touching you like this?” His voice sounded rough as he nuzzled into her neck.
Lauren turned her face into his shoulder and confessed, “No way could it be close to the numbers I’ve racked up.”
He pulled back and grinned. “You don’t say? Just how far did you get in these fantasies of yours?”
“I have the right to remain silent.”
“Sure you do, but I bet you won’t.”
Lauren shuddered at the molten heat in his eyes. That was a wager she wasn’t taking.

Coming January 21, 2013 from Beachwalk Press.

If you like romance with heart, heat, and humor, please visit my website Tara Mills Romance for more upcoming titles, musings, and my quirky blogs.  You can also find me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter – Tara Mills 16.  Thank you for joining me here today.