Welcome to the 139th week of My Sexy Saturday!

This week’s theme is My Sexy Love and it's about one thing and one thing only. That special someone. The one who floats your boat, who is the wind beneath your wings... you know what I mean, the one you just can’t live without. For us, the reader, it's that one person our favorite character lights up with, they can’t live without them and the story comes together as they fall in love with the right one.

Sexy can be different things to different people, such as romantic moments like walks on the beach, a home cooked meal or even take place in another galaxy. It's all about those characters, the ones who can’t get enough of each other as well as ones who are fighting their way back to being part of the world once again. These are the types of characters we can’t forget, the ones we want to take home and keep forever. As readers we love the kisses, the looks or touch of each and every one of our characters. Sexy has nothing to do with looks or status or even wealth. It doesn’t demand perfection and it isn’t pretentious but it does make us want to keep reading those books.

As always, the rules of My Sexy Saturday are simple. Each blogger posts an excerpt that is 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words that coveys true sexiness between their characters. My excerpt this week comes from my recent release Island of Shadows. 

Excerpt
“Come here,” Raul ordered.

Responding eagerly to the sensual command in his voice, I swam obediently to him, covering the distance between us. I slid a hand behind his head as if to kiss him, then, laughing, licked the salt water from his lips before swimming playfully away again. His growl was a combination of surprise and frustration, and then I heard the sound of his determined overarm strokes behind me. Because I wasn’t trying too hard to get away, he caught up with me between two large rocks that rose like quartz sentinels out of the azure depths. I turned to face him, my breath catching at the purposeful look on his face. He was standing on the lagoon’s coarse sandy bottom now, but I was still out of my depth. 

Raul reached out a hand and caught me by the waist, pulling me hard against him and then pushing me up against the rock, holding me there with his own body. His mouth moved down to nip at the tender flesh of my neck, and I gasped when I felt his instant erection pressing against the apex of my legs. I opened my legs wider, using my knees to hold either side of his hips. This action made Raul groan appreciatively. His fingers gripped my buttocks, lifting me against him, and I squirmed with excitement. Until now he had been so gentle, so careful with me. It was exactly what I had needed. But now I was ready for something more. I was ready for him. I knew he could see it in my face and feel it in my body. There was an urgency about my movements that wouldn’t allow him to be patient. He slid the top of my bathing suit down and I leaned back against the rock, gasping with pleasure as he rolled my nipple hard between his finger and thumb. Lifting me even higher so that I could wrap my legs around his waist, he freed his cock from the restriction of his shorts. His fingers tugged the tightly knitted material of my bathing suit aside so that he was pressed up against my naked sex, ready to enter me. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, passion making his voice harsh. 

“I want you. Now.” 

The last word came out on an impatient breath and, for emphasis, I closed my hand around the thick girth of his cock. Guiding him into me, I shuddered with pleasure as he slid all the way inside. We might be hidden from the island, unable to be seen, but the fact that we were here in the open added spice to the encounter that was both shocking and enticing. I clung tightly to Raul with my legs around his waist, letting him do all the work while I relished the feeling of the powerful muscles of his thighs and buttocks clenching as he rocked his whole body, using the water to add momentum to his movements. At the same time, his thumb relentlessly circled my clitoris. I loved the way his gaze concentrated on the point at which our bodies connected, focusing intently on my pleasure even as he lost himself in his own climax. Drawing myself upright, I stayed entwined around him for the longest time while we exchanged sweet, deep kisses that went on forever. 

“Having you inside me was the most wonderful thing I have ever felt,” I whispered. It didn’t feel disloyal to say it. Honesty couldn’t be wrong. This couldn’t be wrong.

Island of Shadows is available from Amazon

If you want to find out more about My Sexy Saturday, please click here

Readers, please visit us at our new Author Central where we’ll be sharing even more from our authors besides Saturday’s snippets. We’d love to have each and every one of you there as we’re starting new things this month with fun and prizes along the way.

Don't forget to check out this week's other My Sexy Saturday Bloggers!
Victoria Adams
Daryl Devore
Jessica E. Subject
Lucy Felthouse
Marie Tuhart
Sara Fields 
Lily Harlem
Author April Kelley
Ashe Barker
XtraOrdinary Romance
Alexis Duran
Sara Daniel
H K Carlton
My Sexy Saturday with Mr. Nash and Miss Jameson
Savanna Kougar Title Magic
Jennifer Lynne Erotic Romance
F. Leonora Solomon

Over two years ago, I wrote five gothic novels for Harlequin Shivers. They were what I think of as 'true' historical gothics, written in the first person and with all the shivery feel of implied horror. Of course, they are also very steamy love stories! For one reason or another, my favorite of those five stories never made it to publication. I'm pleased to say that I have now taken the decision to self-publish it.  

Island of Shadows is set in 1930s Venice. Mussolini is in power and there is a dark undercurrent to the glamour of the masquerades. Even so, the dazzling jewel that is Venice, shines bright in the canopy of the  Venetian lagoon.
But it was the nearby island of Poveglia that drew me to write this story. Poveglia has earned the reputation of being the most haunted place on earth. Uninhabited and forbidden, it sits lonely, silent and abandoned, in complete contrast to its dazzling neighbor. 

This is a romance in which two stories entwine. The love story between my hero and heroine, both of them characters who have been damaged by their past, is no less important than the love story between an island and its undead.

Blurb:
There is a dark undercurrent to the glamour of the lagoon and its lavish masquerades. The Ombra are a vampire-like race, living in the shadows. Instead of feasting on blood, they survive by feeding on the souls of the dead. The Ombra exist alongside the living without fear of detection. Having thrived for centuries, they are powerful, wealthy, fear no one and ruthlessly destroy those who stand in their way. 
Maggie Forbes has come to Venice to see if she can discover what happened to her husband, Martin, who disappeared on a research trip to the island of Poveglia, the most haunted place on earth. Soon after her arrival in Venice, Maggie makes the acquaintance of two very different men. Torn between friendship and lust, Maggie must follow in Martin's footsteps to unlock the secrets of Poveglia. 
But time is running out. The Ombra lord is seeking a bride and the wedding day is looming.

​Island of Shadows is available from Amazon

One of my favorite romantic heroes of all time is also one of the most unlikely. Freddy Standen, hero of Georgette Heyer's Cotillion, lacks the usual qualities necessary for a romantic lead. 

At first glance, Freddy's cousin Jack appears much more heroic and even Lord Legerwood, Freddy's own father, has his doubts about his son's mental capacity. Heyer doesn't assist the reader to overcome our first impression of Freddy. We meet a Dandy who lacks the intelligence to be aware of subtleties and undertones. His value among his peers is as a graceful dancer, a reliable source of decorating advice, and he is such safe company for the ladies that not even the most jealous of husbands could resent Freddy Standen's attentions to his wife. "Neither witty nor handsome; his disposition was retiring; and although he might be seen at any social gathering, he never (except by the excellence of his tailoring) drew attention to himself.” 

Even Freddy himself doesn't value his abilities particularly highly. Speaking of his brother, Charlie, Freddy tells his father, “I ain’t clever, like Charlie, but I ain’t such a sapskull as you think!” 

Yet, Freddy Standen is the most charming, endearing hero I have ever encountered. I re-read his and Kitty's story regularly and it delights  and amuses me every time.  

As for Kitty, she explains to Freddy's sister, Meg, part of the reason for her brother's appeal:  “I daresay Freddy might not be a great hand at slaying dragons, but you may depend upon it none of those knight-errants would be able to rescue one from a social fix, and you must own, Meg, that one has not the smallest need of a man who can kill dragons!” 

 Whatever fix Kitty gets into, she discovers that Freddy will go to any lengths to get her out of it. And therein lies his charm.  Freddy, isn’t a typical hero.  But he loves her. He has resourcefulness, intelligence, and his own unique wit and he will never let her down.  Despite his appearance, he is strong and dependable and that’s what made Kitty (and me) fall in love with him.

There are so many laugh out loud scenes from Cotillion featuring Freddy. This is one of them:
​The Egyptian Hall, which had been erected four years previously, was otherwise known as Bullock's Museum, and contained curiosities from the South Seas, from North and South America; a collection of armoury, and works of art; and had lately received, as an additional attraction, the Emperor Napoleon's travelling-carriage. Its cognomen was derived from the style of its architecture, which included inclined pilasters ornamented with hieroglyphics. It was an imposing edifice, but it had not previously tempted Mr Standen to inspect its many marvels. Nor, when he had penetrated beyond the vestibule, did he waste time in studying the exhibits tastefully arranged around the walls. The only object in which he was interested was found seated primly upon a chair, a catalogue in her gloved hands, and her gaze fixed thoughtfully upon the model of a Red Indian chief in full panoply of war. Of Lord Dolphinton there was no sign, a circumstance which caused Mr Standen to exclaim, quite contrary to his intention: "Well, if this don't beat the Dutch! First the fellow brings you to devilish place like this, and then he dashed well leaves you here!"

"Freddy!" cried Miss Charing, jumping almost out of her skin.

"And don't you say Freddy to me!" added Mr Standen severely. "I told you I wouldn't have it, Kit, and I dashed well meant it! Have the whole town talking!"

Kitty looked very much bewildered, but as it was plain that Mr Standen was filled with righteous wrath she refrained from protest, merely saying in a small, doubtful voice: "Frederick? Should I, in public, call you Mr Standen?"

"Call me Mr Standen?" said Freddy, thrown quite out of his stride. "No, of course you should not! Never heard such a silly question in my life! And it ain't a bit of use trying to turn the subject! Not one to take a pet for no reason, but this is the outside of enough, Kit!"

"I wasn't trying to turn the subject! You said I must not call you Freddy!"

Mr Standen stared at her. "Said you wasn't to call me Freddy? Nonsense!"

"But you did!" replied Kitty indignantly. "Just this moment past! I must own, I think it was very unkind in you, for I had no notion it was wrong!"