Southern Fried Chicas

Last January, I had the privilege of meeting Ms. Amie Stuart, and I have to say she is just fabulous. Such a fun, classy lady– I have since very much enjoyed reading her books. So thanks, Amie and Chicas, for having me today. I appreciate it

So, when I was trying to come up with a new and exciting blog topic for today, my mind kept circling around vacation spots as the location for my serial killer suspense novel, Tie Me Down, is New Orleans, a pretty hot vacation spot even now, after Hurricane Katrina. So what I ended up with as a subject is a top ten list for the things I learned from my summer vacation this year … in Egypt.

10. Yes, Harlequin Presents novels do know what they’re talking about while visiting Siwa (the Oasis), two Bedouin sheiks and a Barbour merchant (on separate occasions) tried to buy me from my husband for a mixture of gold and livestock. While he turned them down, he did mention that I commanded quite an impressive price.

9. Traffic signals are really more like loose suggestions even in cities the size of Cairo and Alexandria. You only stop at red lights if you want to.

8. Never play chicken with a Tuk Tuk…you’ll lose, even if you’re in a bus. (Tuk Tuks are tiny, illegal vehicles that roam the side streets — teen-agers and pre-teens convert motorcycles into four seater vans and decorate them in wild and outlandish ways.

7. The U.S. embassy in Cairo is not nearly as helpful as one would imagine when its citizens are in trouble (don’t ask how I know this).

6. Cleopatra had a fixation with public bathing all up and down the Mediterranean are special places where Cleopatra bathed complete with stone thrones that have lasted millennia.

5. There are nine pyramids at Giza, not 3, but six of them are so small they don’t show up in pictures.

4. Climbing the pyramids is just as hard as it looks. Maybe harder…but I did it!

3. Camels growl – once again, don’t ask how I found this out. It’s not a pretty story.

2. Visiting the Mountain of Death is actually a good thing.

1. At night, the Sphinx talks.

So, did any of you go on vacation this year? Where to? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of my first erotic suspense, Full Exposure.

Oh, and for your reading pleasure, I’ve added an excerpt from my brand new book, Tie Me Down.

Hope you enjoy it

Tie Me Down

“I’m sorry I jumped down your throat this afternoon.” She said the words quickly, as if they tasted bad.

“I thought that was my line.”

She shrugged. “Maybe both of ours?”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“So go ahead and say it.” She watched him expectantly.

“I’m sorry I was an ass this afternoon?”

“You’re not supposed to say it like it’s a question.”

He grinned because he couldn’t help himself. Then reached for her hand and tugged. “Come on in.” He dragged her through the living room and down the hallway to the kitchen. “You want a drink?” He nodded to the bottle of tequila on the counter.

She glanced at the discarded lime peels. “It looks like you’ve been drinking enough of that for both of us.”

“Not even close.” Then, because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself for one second longer, he pulled her into his arms. “I’m glad you came.”

“Me too.”

He rested his chin on the top of her head for a minute and just breathed in the sweet honey scent of her.  She shoved against his chest, pushed him away. And for a brief moment he felt bereft, though for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why.

Striving for control, needing to keep his hands busy with something other than her, he reached into the bar cabinet and pulled out a shot glass. “You ever tried Patrón?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not a big tequila drinker.”

“This isn’t any ordinary tequila.” He poured a shot, handed it to her. But stopped her when she started to sip. “If you’re going to do a shot, you’ve got to do it right.”

Genevieve lifted one cool brow, licked her full lower lip and nearly had him coming in his fucking jeans. “I didn’t realize there was a wrong way to do this.”

“Sweetheart, there’s a wrong way to do everything.” And then he was putting his hands on her waist and lifting her up so that her sweet ass was on the center island, her legs just a little bit open.

Stepping between them before she could change her mind, he slipped yet another god-awful suit jacket off her shoulders—he was seriously going to have to do something about her wardrobe. Maybe if he ripped it all off her . . .

Licking a trail from the hollow of her throat to her breastbone, he savored the taste of her.

“Mmm, salty.”

She blushed, then leaned back on her hands so that her breasts were thrust forward. “It’s a hundred degrees in the shade. Hard not to sweat.”

It took all his self-control to take things slowly when all he really wanted to do was to eat her alive.

“I wasn’t complaining,” he murmured as he trailed his tongue over the curve of first one breast and then the other. Then he slammed back the shot of tequila and finished it off by biting into a lime slice.

Her mouth was slightly open, her eyes wide as she stared at his lips. “That’s the right way to do a tequila shot?”

He loved her voice, the syrupy sweetness was a turn-on even without the hard-ass tone she deliberately injected into it. With the hard-ass tone, it was irresistible. “It’s the best way.”

“I bet.”

He poured another shot. Handed it to her. “Here. You try.”

He shrugged out of his T-shirt and nearly smiled as she did the same. Would have, if his first look at her body hadn’t brought him all the way to the edge. She was still covered in little bruises, the love bites he’d given her the last time they’d been together. It was hard to imagine that he’d done that to her, had marked her as he’d marked no other woman. Had claimed her as he’d never had the desire to do before.

Maybe he was a Neanderthal, because looking at her covered in his marks— seeing her proudly wearing the evidence of his desire for her—turned him so hard and fast his vision blurred.

Shit, how he wanted this woman. Was dangerously close to becoming obsessed with her.

Her sexy pink tongue darted out, swiped across her top lip and then her bottom one, as if she couldn’t quite decide where to lick. And every thought he had or might have had got lost in the wild need pumping through him.

Groaning, he tangled a hand in her hair and urged her closer. “Come on, sweetheart,” he whispered. “Taste me.”

<i>© 2009,  Tracy Wolff</i> </blockquote>