TJ Michaels

This morning my inbox greeted me with coverly goodness – what a way to start the weekend, eh? The cover for my book in the Hearts of Fire series is here! I’ll put the art and all the details on the Sneak Peek page – you get there from the home page. Simply hover over the Bookshelf link then click on Sneak Peek.

Now, on to Saturday Snippets! This weekends theme is arrivals. With the coming of the new book I thought I’d put an excerpt (unedited, of course) up. This is Faison’s arrival at Dee’s office. After the excerpt don’t forget to visit the links to all the other Saturday Snippet authors. Enjoy!

Unedited Excerpt from Shards of Ecstasy
Book 2 – Hearts of Fire series
by TJ Michaels, copyright 2009
All rights reserved

Note for Readers: You must be over eighteen to read this excerpt.

“Miss Isaacs, Mr. Dow is here to see you, ma’am.”

“Thanks Kare. Have him wait in the reception area for five minutes, then send him in.”

De’alla Isaacs didn’t typically leave a client waiting, but for some reason her nerves seemed to be on a one way trip to the stratosphere. She couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so jittery about meeting with a new client. Or at least that’s the excuse she was going to stick to.

In truth, the crystal attached to the fine silver link chain around her neck sat on a low hum. Mere moments ago out of the blue the thing started zinging a stream of unfamiliar energy from its resting place at the vee of her breasts clear down through her stomach.

God, the muscles of her diaphragm were getting such a workout she wouldn’t have to do crunches for the next two weeks.

Well, no time for puzzling it out now. This was the launch of her new company and she simply couldn’t mess it up. The old man waiting on the other side of that door could make or break her. Mr. Dow had graciously agreed with her old firm, Daikuji Corporation of Japan, to work locally through De’alla’s firm here in Seattle. In turn she would fulfill the original contract obligations between Mr. Dow and Daikuji Corporation at a discounted rate and split the profit with her former employer.

It was a win/win situation. Dee’s company would be off the ground, Mr. Dow would save a little bit of money, and Daikuji Corporation would still maintain a connection with one of their oldest customers here in the States.

So, time to get to work. Dee took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Damn. Stupid zing was still there, only now it gently moved through her chest, radiated to her nipples, down her belly and settled at the juncture of her thighs. What the hell was going on?

“Why’d my damn Nature buddy have to take off now?” Dee grumbled, wishing she could talk to the companion that constantly occupied a small corner of her mind. Only that corner was uncharacteristically still while the energy that pulsed at the center of her bra grew bolder.

Dee left her desk, slipped into the bathroom adjacent to her new swanky office and splashed some cold water on her face. A quick glance in the mirror made her wince. Good thing she hardly ever wore make-up ‘cause any eye shadow would have her looking like a certified raccoon right about now. Turning away from the vanity with sure steps she strode toward her destiny.

“Okay, Dee. Go get ‘em girl.” Smoothing her hands down the navy blue pencil skirt, another deep breath saw De’alla at her desk just as the door opened.

She remained standing next to her chair as a short, wrinkled and decidedly grumpy old man walked in.

“Mr. Dow, I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance.”

The man tilted his head to the side, scrunched up his face more—as if that were possible—and in a surprisingly kind voice answered…in Japanese.

De’alla could have kicked herself. She hadn’t thought to ask her contact at her client’s company about any lingual needs. Major blunder. Luckily she was fluent in the language and had been for years.

She opened her mouth to greet him properly while closing the door. It snapped back at her with a bounce.
Dee looked down at a foot poking through the small space between door and jamb. Somebody else’s foot.

A muted ‘ouch’ came from the other side before a body gently pushed through.

“Aw hell. No way,” she grumbled not quite low enough.

The raised eyebrow aimed her way was accompanied by a confused yet arrogant smirk. Her honey brown eyes met a pair of unexpected chocolate-brown ones…and her fucking crystal went haywire. And the strangely absent entity She barged into the forefront of Dee’s mind as if she wanted to do nothing more than hop into Dee’s body and jump the uninvited man’s bones.

In fact Dee wanted to jump his bones right along with She. A real threesome. And the invisible lightening that zinged from her stone down through her body was…hell, she just couldn’t take it.

Zing! Zap! Kung!

Holy shit! Knees trembled as her head filled with raunchy thoughts too ridiculous to even contemplate. And they all surrounded getting laid. Hard. Fast. And right damn now. And the star of her fantasy stood right in front of her. And she couldn’t stand him.

“Uh, e-excuse me. I’ll be right back. Please make yourselves comfortable,” Dee said, motioning to no one in particular.

With each step the crotch of her now damp panties bunched and rubbed against the flesh swelling between her legs. Now when was the last time she got aroused just being in the presence of two strange men? One she’d never met and was surely old enough to be her father, if she’d had one, and the other man she’d seen and heard plenty of but didn’t want anything to do with.

The smile pasted onto her mouth was as stiff as three day old royal icing, but she had to keep it there just long enough to escape.

In three steps she was out of her office and headed to her assistant’s desk. Gods, why couldn’t she move faster? Her feet felt mired in hardening cement as if they needed to stay in that room. Not good. Sooo not good.

When Dee stormed around the corner the surprise in her assistant’s eyes was palpable. Good. That made two of ‘em.

“Kare, what the hell is Faison Dow doing…?” Dee paused and mentally kicked herself as the pieces clicked into place. “Oh, duh. Dow, as in related to my client? Aw, fuck-a-duck.”

“Say again, Miss Isaacs?”

RWA – Romance Writers of America – has officially taken the stance to no longer recognize Harlequin as a publisher eligible to receive conference resources.

Holy crap, I must admit I never thought it would happen. Why? Because the RWA has been less than kind to the smaller presses by exhibiting a bit of ’snooty-ism’ toward small press authors while brown nosing the big New York houses, such as Harlequin. It’s the main reason I happily let my RWA membership expire. My thought was, “Well, hell, if I’m not good enough to be recognized as a true pubbed author in your eyes, then why should I keep sending you my money?” Yes, I am a real author with real contracts and real royalties coming in. I’ve never paid anyone to publish a book, but have gone through the submission process just like the New Yorker’s. Yet being part of RWA was like trying to please the ever disapproving parent that was never going to recognize that you’d ‘made it’.

So why the fallout with Harlequin? Due to the powerhouse publisher’s launch of their self-publishing entity, Harlequin Horizons, a vanity press. Vanity presses require authors to pay to be published rather than the age-old (and wonderfully lovely model) of paying the author for their work via royalties and/or advances. And vanity presses are not recognized by the RWA.

Piggybacking on Ann Aguirre’s thorough post on the topic, here’s the skinny–>

TJ

Excerpt from HATSEPT HEAT
Vampire Council of Ethics Bookk 3
By TJ Michaels
Samhain Publishing, Inc., Published 2009
All Rights Reserved

“Shin?” Kenoe sent the query quietly into her head. She sent back reassurance that nothing was wrong. In fact, if this went as expected, she didn’t think her life could get any more perfect.

Without further ado, Bix signaled the start of the meeting. “So, Shinju, what can I do for you?”

Shinju locked her knees and blurted the words out. “I want to be a Seeker.”

Bix and Alaan both looked at Kenoe, who’d promptly gone ashen. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him that, or any other, shade of gray.

“I can already fight. Max saw to it that I was trained in the arts of war, including hand-to-hand combat and blade training since I was old enough to hold a katana.”

Terror, palpable and vivid, flashed through to her, so strong she almost flinched.

“What? Shinju, a Seeker? Are you crazy?” Kenoe protested. Loudly. His arctic focus on Bix, he lowered his voice to what would have sounded polite except for the dangerous snarl accompanying the words.

“Sir, with all due respect, I do not agree with your even considering drafting Shinju into the corps.”

“Draft?” With the smirk from hell plastered firmly across his mouth, Bix said, “It wasn’t my idea.” His gaze swung a hard left and landed on Shinju.

“Shinju Deni Maruyama,” Kenoe snapped. Hmm, never a good sign when your lover used your whole name in a sentence. “Who the hell put you up to this? Tameth? Carin?”

Okay, now that pissed her off.

“What, I can’t come up with a great idea on my own?”

Kenoe’s jaw clenched and for the first time since he’d run from the debauched harem of his half-brother decades ago, he saw red. Opaque, almost stifling, anger-laced red.

The mere thought of his woman, his human woman, even thinking about accompanying a group of hardened vampires on a rogue hunt sent his blood streaking inward. A heart attack was surely imminent. The next thing Kenoe knew, he was in her face and not at all sure how he’d gotten there from across the room. Her request was so outrageous, he simply didn’t care about propriety.

“Don’t even think about twisting my words, woman. And it’s not a great idea, damn it! It’s stupid and dangerous!”

“Back. The. Hell. Up. And stop yelling at me.”

“Yelling? You’re lucky that’s all I’m doing!” He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she saw either stars or common sense. Instead, he clawed his way toward some semblance of self-control and met her snarl with one of his own. Kenoe didn’t miss the fact that everyone else had backed up a few steps.

“Look, Shin, you are not hunting rogues, period. If you think I’ll permit such a thing you are out of your fucking mind! It’s too dangerous and you’re a human. Not even an enhanced one, like Carin, because you won’t bond with me or take my goddamned blood!” Who cared if the final word had come out a roof-shaking bellow?

“Kenoe Hatsept, are you cussing at me?”

“Look, woman—”

“You think I can’t protect myself because I’m just a plain ole human? Well, prepare to defend yourself!”

Kenoe knew Tameth could have easily stopped Shinju from getting to the blade tucked into the modified sheath that ran along the spine of her trench coat, but his fellow Seeker didn’t even flinch when Shinju went for it. Instead, her lips morphed into a proud parent-type grin. Figured.

Three-foot blade in hand, Shinju dropped into a wide horse stance.

“Shin, what the hell are you thinking?” Kenoe snapped.

“I said,” she gritted out, “prepare to defend yourself.”

With that, the sting from hell streaked across Kenoe’s chest as the blade in Shinju’s hand left a thin trail of blood across his pecs. Damned woman had ruined his shirt. It now hung limply from his body with a gaping diagonal slash across the middle.

“Woman, are you out of your fucking mind? Oh, wait. I already know the answer to that one.”

She didn’t bother to reply, but came at him again, this time her intent clear when her gaze dropped for a split second to a spot just a hair below his waist.

At the last second, Kenoe slipped his own katana out of its back holster and blocked a ruthless slice headed for his groin.

“Damn it, if you ever want to be a mother, watch where you point that thing!”

“Talk is cheap, Seeker. Surely a mere human couldn’t do you any harm. So bring it.”

He laughed and all it did was fire her up more. But there was no help for it. He knew exactly what she was up to. And he must be just as crazy because he felt a feral smile spread across his lips. The sight of her preparing to skewer him turned him on like nothing else.

So the woman was not only a wildcat in the sack…she was a wildcat, period. And a skilled one, he thought as he lowered his katana to block a slice headed for his ankle. He’d expected her to be good given her quietly kept background, which she obviously thought he didn’t know about.

A flux of fierce determination slammed into his consciousness. Shinju’s determination. Why the need to fight him so hard? Why not just let him wrap her up in his love and keep her happy, safe and content for the rest of her days? Suddenly it became clear as polished glass. Bottom line—Shinju needed this. Needed to avenge her brother and be the one to take care of him for a change.

It was something he could relate to all too well, having spent most of his early years with nothing on his mind but revenge. His single-minded dedication to becoming a Seeker was for the sole purpose of dispatching his own brother. And he’d been so consumed, it had almost cost him his soul. He couldn’t let that happen to Shinju. Yet how could he deny her the opportunity to seek what he so thoroughly understood?

Then another thought occurred to him—she’d made her choice. To train as a Seeker, Shinju had to make a commitment to remain among his kind and live as one of them. Live…with him? Permanently, as in bonded?

“Yes, blockhead. Took you long enough,” she hissed into his brain. But that hiss carried with it a dose of love and a dash of humor. “Now, let’s see if you can kick my ass. You win, you make dinner. No McDonald’s.”

That could certainly be arranged. “Snarky-assed woman.”