PLEASE WELCOME ELIZABETH LAPTHORNE

Today I'm thrilled to welcome fellow Ellora's Cave author Elizabeth Lapthorne who has a fabulous brand new release out - RETRIEVING DESIRE.  I'm looking forward to hear all about the inspiration for this story which is book 2 in the Urban Seductions series - following on from RETRIEVING LOVE.

Phew! You have damn hot covers Elizabeth! Take it away.

Hi there everyone J

When Lily first offered me a guest spot on her blog to celebrate the release of the second book in my Urban Seductions series “Retrieving Desire” I was ecstatic. I am thrilled EC is carrying my Urban Fantasy series. They are expanding their genres and helping me live my dream of writing.

Yet when I sat down to actually write my blog I realised this was my first. I’m giving my blog cherry to Lily and – magnificent as she is – this is still daunting and a very big deal for me. So thank you Lily! Please be gentle with me and I hope you find it as satisfying as I do *wink*

So I’m not really sure where my Urban Seductions series came from. Quite possibly it has resided deep in the dark depths of my brain for a long time and only now has it slowly come to light. I have always believed there is more in the world than most people think or expect. I’ve never thought that what we see and experience is “all” there is to the world. Otherwise it would be awfully flat at times, don’t you think? Eat, work, gym, sleep, the odd Girls Night Out and raunchy party.

I think in part that’s what draws me to write the stories I do. Vampires, werewolves, magic. While I’m not sure I truly believe paranormal creatures are out there sharing our world with us – because surely there’d be facebook pages and twitter comments? – I do believe in magic and I do believe in a very generalised “more”. And so when a story and characters nibble on the edges of my conscience it’s so easy to give in.

My Rutledge werewolves was born one Thursday afternoon from the very simple thought of “what would it be like if there were a family of werewolves out there looking for their Happily Ever After”? The series that spawned from that was so far beyond my expectations I still am dazzled by it whenever I think too hard over it.

It was the same with my Montague Vampires. I couldn’t quite see a family of Vampires here in our reality, but it was only a mental hop, skip and a jump for me to imagine a vast world where inter-planet travel was common. Soon after that I not only had my Vampire family, but a whole new universe to explore in writing.

Amber and Zerachiel (the hero and heroine for my first novel in the Urban Seductions series “Retrieving Love”) literally burst into my mind one weekend. I sat down at the computer and started writing and when I went back to my evil day job the following Monday I had almost half a book written with plot, scenes and more characters and research humming desperately in my brain ready for release. Melia and Mishka – who are strong secondary characters with Amber and Zerachiel and the main protagonists of Retrieving Desire – hardly let me draw a breath after finishing Retrieving Love before demanding their own story. Indeed I started writing it almost as soon as I had finished RL.

I have to be honest and I love playing in the Urban Seductions world I have created. Outwardly it is our regular world, specifically the Chicago area. Yet there is for those who look a bit deeper magic everywhere. Witches and wizards exist; magic is a powerful reality for them. The average human can go their whole life and not necessarily notice anything out of the ordinary – isn’t it amazing sometimes what our minds rationalize or overlook? – yet for those who come across something slightly unusual and press that little bit harder there is so much more out there.

Even with Retrieving Love and Retrieving Desire released, I am still writing strong in this world. I have taken a few side plots, been bombarded with a whole slew of new characters and am being dragged along – quite willingly I assure you! – down a long and winding road with their escapades. I don’t want to spoil things too much but a few of the Enforcers alluded to in both Retrieving Love and Retrieving Desire started begging me for attention at the conclusion of my Retrievers’ novels. They have now joined forces with a small, elite human Police special operations team and I can tell you the results are sizzling. J

I love to hear from readers, so please feel free to email me at elapthorne999@hotmail.com and drop me a line. And I want to especially thank Lily, for making my first time so easy and wonderful *hugs*

Cheers,

Elizabeth

Blurb for RETRIEVING DESIRES

Melia knows Mishka thinks she doesn’t take life seriously, but that never dulled the intense sexual chemistry that burns between them. More than a few seconds in a room together and fireworks explode. Worried that something has happened to her brother, Melia turns to Mishka for help.

Mishka thinks a sexy, serious witch would be perfect for him. Melia has the sexy in spades and a body to die for, but he doesn’t trust her flighty demeanor. When Melia asks, he agrees to help her find her missing baby brother. It seems so simple, but leads to far greater adventures than Mishka could have dreamed of.

From dark, lust-filled rave clubs through the seedy underbelly of Chicago’s magical underworld, Mishka sees sides of Melia he never would have imagined in his wildest fantasies. Passion and desire explode between them, and soon the stakes are higher than ever.

EXCERPT

Melia surveyed the room, about to suggest they make their way over to speak with the two bartenders, when her stomach dipped. More than a few people were looking at them, whispering to one another. She knew it would be the wrong decision to go after what they wanted overtly .

They were new, unknowns and thus automatically viewed with suspicion. Before she could say so to Mishka, he shouted, “I have an idea. Follow my lead.” Melia looked at him, but he almost glowed with confidence and she couldn’t resist his contagious smile. Grinning in response, she nodded and let him lead her toward the bar.

He ordered two orgasms. The bartender looked from Mishka to Melia and poured the shots, placing them on the bar and taking Mishka’s money.

Mishka pressed Melia’s back up against the bar and nudged her legs open with his thigh. Taking the first shot, he slowly dribbled it down Melia’s neck. The creamy liquor ran between her breasts, rolling over her skin in a sensual manner. Mishka bent his head and licked up her body, swallowing the liquor and lapping at her skin.

Melia moaned, her eyes fluttering shut at the feel of his tongue stroking smoothly along her skin. The rich scent of the liquor enveloped her senses. Mishka’s tongue had goose bumps spreading all over her body and her nipples peaked almost painfully tight beneath the thin material of her top. Melia could feel the peaks pressing out and she didn’t need to look to know they would be visible to anyone who looked.

She was barely conscious of the click of the glass as it was placed on the bar before Mishka repeated the body shot with excruciating slowness. The liquor dribbled slowly over her skin, the drops rolling over her sensitized body followed by his teasing, darting tongue capturing every last molecule. Melia moaned wantonly, her back arching up from the bar, her body pressing into Mishka’s as she rode his thigh, her pussy rubbing along his leather-clad leg as her skirt rode up dangerously high.

A passionate haze clouded her head and Melia acted only on instinct. She clung to Mishka’s shoulders, pulling him closer. When he lifted his head from her chest and replaced the second shot glass, Melia threaded her fingers through his soft, silky hair and cupped the back of his scalp, drawing him close so their lips could meet in heated fusion.

The world rocked beneath her as they tasted each other intimately for the first time. Mishka’s mouth had the distinct flavor of creamy liquor and a faintly masculine spice beneath that. Their tongues tangled passionately. Melia rocked her hips into Mishka, riding his thigh as if she were straddling him and they were naked and splayed out in the privacy of her large bed, not in the middle of a dance club.

Her nipples were peaked and hungry for Mishka’s touch. She moaned and arched her back farther, pressing the soft mounds into Mishka’s body. He cupped her breast, thumb and forefinger caressing her nipple and sending sparks of hot electricity sizzling through her nerves.

Mishka moved his other hand beneath the edge of her skirt to cup her ass. She guided him his fingers to play around her lips. They ate hungrily at each other and Melia’s eyes fluttered shut. All rational thought left her mind as she lost herself in the kiss. In that moment Melia didn’t care if they both stripped naked and fucked on the top of the bar. She needed to feel Mishka everywhere.

Mishka drew her closer to his hard, hot erection. Her skirt bunched on her upper thigh and only the presence of Mishka’s body covering hers protected others from seeing the lacy black thong that covered her pussy—barely.

Melia could not guess how long they kissed each other, locked in a tight, intimate embrace, gently caressing and exploring each other’s bodies. Mishka’s fingers touched her ass cheek, her naked ass cheek, and his head snapped back. He frowned and tried to tug the tiny leather mini back down over her curves.

Laughing softly, Melia moved away from Mishka, pressed her body back against the bar and turned her head to get the bartender’s attention.

“A cock-sucking cowboy, please,” she half shouted as she turned with a wicked grin to Mishka. She could see him struggle not to smile, but he lost the fight and finally grinned.

“You are not going to…” Mishka’s words trailed off. Melia batted her eyelashes innocently and rested her hand warmly over the thick hardness tenting his leather pants. A part of her wanted to make him believe that yes, she would indeed pour the creamy butterscotch-flavored liquor over his cock and suck it hard.

She handed a crumpled bill to the bartender as he placed the shot next to her on the bar with a small click. She grasped Mishka’s shirt with both hands and stood on tiptoes to bite his earlobe.

“Follow my lead,” she said. He chuckled and Melia tugged his shirt to indicate she wanted them to swap positions.

When Mishka had his back to the bar, Melia mimicked his earlier move, pressed her slender thigh between his legs and unbuttoned the first several buttons of his shirt until the top half of his chest was bared. Melia had never been the shy sort, but such possessive sexiness was not usually her style either. She fleetingly thought that this whole situation, and Mishka in particular, was not her usual casual fling before she took the shot glass, slowly poured the liquor down his chest and eagerly bent to lick and suck it back up. Potent alcohol flowed over her tongue and left a warm trail down to her belly. Even after she had caught all the liquor, Melia continued to lick up and down his chest, detouring over his hardened nipples and pressing her thigh into the growing heat of Mishka’s groin.

Finally, with obvious reluctance, Melia replaced the shot glass on the bar and lifted her head to capture Mishka’s lips with her own and share the taste of her drink with him. They kissed passionately, and Mishka stole Melia’s breath away as, without a care for where they were, dragged her to straddle his hips.

He cupped her ass and they tasted each other, pressing their bodies together and eating at each other’s mouths as if they were starving. A hungry, needy, desperate kiss that had hung between them for months, unacknowledged except for in the sparkling chemistry that continued to crackle throughout each of their meetings. In her heart Melia knew they were well beyond role-playing now, that this was real between them.

“Hey.”

Someone tried to get their attention. Lost in Mishka’s taste and body, Melia barely heard him and certainly had no intention of acknowledging the interloper just yet. She had no desire to lose the sense of Mishka’s fingers, tongue and mouth upon her body. She wanted to hold on to this moment and make it last for the rest of her life.

Mishka’s fingers caressed the seam of her ass, gently prying, searching for her secrets. Melia’s head fell back and she moaned, her pussy flooding as Mishka continued to touch her intimately. Whether he sought the slick, heated entrance of her pussy or the tightly puckered resistance of her asshole Melia would never discover. The annoying intruder interrupted yet again. This time his words were louder.

“Hey, sexy, over here,” the same voice shouted again. This time Melia cracked open an eye, surprised and embarrassed to find it was the bartender. About to snap at him to mind his own damn business and leave them alone, Melia recalled in a rush exactly where she was and more importantly, why.

The hand that had been resting on Mishka’s chest, playing with his nipple, squeezed him. Hard enough to get his attention but not hard enough to anger him. Melia nodded and leaned farther into Mishka, looking at the bartender over Mishka’s broad shoulder.

“Hey, stranger,” she purred, “see something you like?”

Thanks so much for popping your cherry over at my blog, Elizabeth, I'm very honoured!! Wishing you many sales in your Urban Seductions series. I for one can't wait to settle down and immerse myself in this amazing world you've created.

Lily x