Saturday, 14 February 2015

Book Trailer Love Fest - Polls Open Now!

Voting begins . . . NOW!

Book Trailer Love Fest 2 
 Show your support of over 30 authors including USA Today bestsellers by voting in the first ever Book Trailer Love Fest. Watch the trailers, vote in the polls, and share the contest with your friends! The voting is live from February 15th to February 22nd. Winner will be selected on the February 23rd. This is a fun, free contest made to support all authors! So hop on over to booktrailerlovefest.com and get your vote on! Here is a list of authors participating in the contest:

USA TODAY Bestselling Authors:

Amazon Bestselling Authors:

Award Winning Authors:

Also featuring these fabulous authors:

Susan Laqueur
J.R. Smith
Angelica Dawson
Katherine Jean Pope
Everett Robert
Charity Tober
Tam Linsey
W K Pomeroy
Jordan Mierek
Elle Jacklee

My Bloody Valentine - Flash fiction

6.1 Oz. Red Glass Heart Bottle
6.1 Oz. Red Glass Heart Bottle
(clipped to 
polyvore.com)
Happy Valentine's Day! I wrote this piece for R.B. Wood's WordCount Podcast, but it didn't quite fit his theme for the show, so instead, I'm posting it here for everyone to read. And you want to hear me read it, just leave a comment. I'm happy to do that. ;) 
Those of you who have read Blue Moon House should remember Justin and Will.


Justin checked the stopper on the bottle as he pulled it from the fridge. The wax he’d poured over the cork was holding and inverting the bottle produced no leaks. Tucking it into his pocket, he pulled out his phone instead.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Buddy, he sent to his son Joseph.
You too, Dad.
Have fun.
We will.
Justin had expected his ex to leave the boy with him this weekend so she could have a romantic evening with her current squeeze. Most likely, he’d gotten stuck with his kids. That left Justin free to accept Will’s offer for the evening.
The phone went back into the pocket, clanking against the glass. Justin normally walked to Will’s, but he didn’t want to take that long. So he started up his worn down old Kia and trundled across town. He put his hand in his pocket once more, feeling the cool glass. Good, it hadn’t warmed up too much.
He didn’t knock on the door, opening it as he had many Fridays before. As it always did, the smell of the house bombarded him. It was kept clean, but the musky smell of sex never really left. He imagined it had seeped into wood and stone. Breathing deep, he walked slowly down the hall to Will’s room. It was empty, as it usually was. Justin removed the bottle, setting it on the armoire while he stripped down to skin. He folded it all and set it on the only empty shelf. After giving it another shake, he tucked the bottle under his shirt, right on top.
From there he ran his hand over the contents of the other shelves. First were manacles, chains, and thick rope. The rope was soft and silky, much warmer than the metal of the others. There were coils and coils of both. More than enough to string a man up any way he liked.
The next shelf was better. It was almost entirely metal with a few pieces of wood. Two wooden paddles lay beside vise grips, pliers, knives of various sizes and lengths. Justin picked up one of these, testing the edge. Frowning, he pulled out the stropping leather from the bottom of the armoire and used it, nodding in satisfaction when it split the skin of his thumb. He sucked at the wound while he put the knife away and tried the edge of another. It was in the process of sharpening the third blade that Will entered.
Justin set knife atop leather and dropped to his knees. “Master,” he said.
“Finish,” Will commanded, moving to stand behind Justin.
Justin rose smoothly and turned back to the knife. While he ran knife over leather, Will traced line after line on Justin’s skin.
“So many scars,” Will murmured, his black finger running down Justin’s pale pink bicep. “How many more will we add tonight?”
“As many as you wish, Master.” Justin replied.  Will continued to work around Justin’s body, spending a lot of time on his thighs. That was where Justin had cut himself a hundred times over in his youth and then through his failing marriage. It had been a relief to put his pain in the safe hands of Will. He would never cut too deep, never hurt Justin more than he could handle. They had reached that limit more than once over the last six years.
Finished with knife, he twisted slightly to see the large black man kissing up the inside of his thigh. Justin closed his eyes at the soft moist lips so close to his growing erection. Will ran his tongue along that scar, straight up the underside of his penis. It was one of the most recent and to do it safely, Will had trussed Justin up in all the chain and rope he could. Even then, there was a slight jag to the line where Justin had managed to wrench himself.
“I think, perhaps, none tonight.”
Justin’s heart sank slightly. Sex without pain was never as fulfilling to him.
Will must have noticed because he stood and glared at Justin. “You believe you know better?”
“No,” Justin answered, but it was petulant. A reflex reply, not the rapt obedience he usually showed.
“You do,” Will said, taking hold of Justin’s chin to look directly into the other man’s eyes. Will towered four inches over Justin and he was much more muscular. None of that mattered. After that gaze, Justin wouldn’t struggle anyway.
“No.” This time the word was said sweetly, with all his heart. He trusted Will with his life. Will did know better as he had proven in the past.
“Good.” Will kissed Justin, breaking it off before it grew into something more. He stepped around Justin to reach into the armoire. “Put your hands on the door.”
Justin tried to glimpse what Will was grabbing while turning to face the door. Two leather straps hung down from the frame over the back of the door. Slipping his hands through them he spread his fingers, palms flat on the wood.
Will kicked his legs apart and Justin spread his toes, planting his weight solidly into each foot, rooting himself to the floor. He had learned he needed that grounding.
The crack of the paddle wasn’t completely unexpected, but Justin screamed and jumped anyway. It might have been a knife or the stropping leather or any of several other items in the armoire, but it was one of the wooden paddles.
Heat flared in Justin’s ass and he sucked air through his teeth as he shifted his feet, grounding again. “Thank you,” he whispered when he had gathered his wits about him.
Will didn’t say anything, but the paddle connected again. This time Justin didn’t scream, but he grunted and pulled on the leather. His feet stayed grounded and he recovered more quickly even though the pain had increased significantly. “Thank you.”
Will didn’t stop there. After the sixth stroke and the sixth thank you, Will pressed himself against Justin’s back pushing him into the door. His black hand clasped Justin’s hard length before it was pinned. The other hand clenched Justin’s throat.
Justin groaned and surrendered his weight to Will. The constriction on his throat made him see stars, made him kick the door with his knee, made the blood rushing through him boil. The last thing before he passed out, he felt himself throbbing, erupting, and falling.
Justin blinked in the soft light. He looked directly into Will’s eyes, felt his hand on his back, stroking gently.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Will said.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Justin answered. “I brought you something.”
Will sat up. “What would you bring me?”
Justin didn’t feel quite well enough to rise. “It’s in the armoire, under my shirt.”
Will climbed off the bed and opened the armoire, pulling out the heart shaped glass bottle. He stared at it for a few seconds before breaking the wax seal and draining its contents in three gulps, eyes closed and savoring the flavor. Justin used all his will power to swing his legs over the bed and be standing next to Will when he opened his eyes.
“My bloody valentine,” Justin explained.

The vampire seized him in a hug. “Thank you.”

Thursday, 12 February 2015

Thursday Taster: Pandora 3

What is troubling Tabitha and Pandora? Men. Read the entire first chapter on WattPad, or wait for another taste next week! Be sure to check out all the other tastes on the blog.

“So, men. That's why mother brought me here, where I would have only you for company.”
Tabitha smiled, her worn and crinkled face still ugly, but friendlier. “Precisely. Now, Magnificent is still young, but he will be your familiar from now on. He will stay with you.”
She smiled and touched the dragon again. His head was over hers, but only by a few hands. “How much more will he grow?” Pandora asked.
“He will have to live in the garden and outside the fortress. He will grow very large, very quickly. He is like you, adolescent. This is when his growth will be exponential, until he is nearly as large as the fortress itself.
Pandora frowned. She liked having Magnificent her size, or nearly her size. She ran a hand down his scales, careful of the edges that would cut her. More smoke curled from his nose, wreathing her in red tendrils.
“I understand. The others?” she asked looking to the doorway where the hare, the fox and the bear all stood, peeking.
Tabitha snorted. “It seems they plan to stay as well. They will guard further out while Magnificent has the building.” She looked into the dragon's purple eyes and Magnificent blinked and lowered her head. Tabitha slipped a metal chain over her neck that hung with a turquoise stone. “You are tied here now,” she told the dragon. “You will not be able to leave without taking Pandora with you. You understand.”
“Yes.” The words was rasping and hissing. Magnificent's mouth and throat weren't built for speaking, but like all the familiars, he was intelligent and had learned basic words if one knew how to listen for them.
“Why?” Pandora asked. “Why is he chained here?” she touched the metal and snapped her hand back. The lead felt poisonous to her. Magnificent's scales should protect him.
“I must go. You mother has need of me and I owe her more than merely your safety and education. While I am gone, this place will not be secure. Magnificent and the others,” she nodded to the familiars in the hall, “will have to suffice. There is one more thing I can do to protect you.”
Pandora closed her eyes and wished for another answer.

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Tantalizing Tuesday - Blurred

Greg rubbed his eyes and blinked. He should pull over, but Tony slept in the passenger seat and he couldn’t bear to wake him.
It had been a fantastic weekend. The smell of sweat and sex still permeated their clothes. Tony snored, nearly loud enough to drown out the radio. That was playing one of the many CDs they were bringing back from the festival.
He should have booked one more day off work. Tony, much more experience in the ways of such things, had done exactly that, but Greg had a hard enough time getting the day before off. There was no way he’d get another vacation day approved.
Greg yawned, his eyes squeezing shut and had to blink twice as hard when they opened again. There was fog coming in, but it wasn't that bad, was it? When did it get so thick?
Rubbing his eyes again, the image improved marginally, but the visibility was still awful.
Tony snorted and started, sitting up in a jerk.
“What?” he asked, then smiled sheepishly at Greg. “That was a pretty good dream.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, we– truck!”

Greg didn't see it then and couldn't see anything after. Tony guided him home.

I am really not happy with this piece. I hope I get to come back and work on it some more, but if I don't, forgive me for the slap job on this one. I promise something really good next time (hopefully I can deliver on that). There are more great shorts of 200 words. Just pop to the blog and read them all.

Monday, 9 February 2015

Erotic #Romance Story Bundle - Don't miss this from @selenakitt @sommer_marsden @KikiHowell7 @AlisonTyler @skye_warren

Erotic Romance StoryBundle, Feb 4-26, 2015 with Selena Kitt, Sommer Marsden, Kiki Howell, Alison Tyler, and Skye Warren
Curator’s Message by Kiki Howell:

I’m a fan of each and every author who graciously agreed to be included in this Erotic Romance StoryBundle, and so I will admit to being a bit star-struck to have my stories published beside theirs. As you will read, I met each one through a series of intertwining, very fortunate events.
I’ve had the privilege to work with New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, Selena Kitt, since the beginning of my writing career. After first being published by her company, Excessica, I then began working for her in various aspects of the publishing industry. I consider myself very lucky to have learned so much from a writer as prolific as Selena, one of the best guilty pleasure authors out there with over a million books sold!
Through working for Selena, I had the blessing of meeting, Sommer Marsden. Over time, and little “water-cooler” chats via emails if you will, we've found ourselves alike in a multitude of ways. I now have the honor of calling her a good friend even though we've never met in person. Referred to as “unapologetic” by another author in this bundle, I couldn’t agree more with that description of her writing. Her stories are both profound and witty, sexy and fun with a myriad of characters from a to z, adventurous women to zombies, and back again.
Thanks to one of Sommer’s social media posts, I signed up to review one of Alison Tyler’s books, and I've been hooked by her writing ever since. A prolific writer of several stories and talented editor of many kinky anthologies, her works offer passion and heart along with vital doses of all things sexy. Just following her blog, appropriately titled, Trollop with a Laptop, is exquisite fun, a true indulgence.
It was also through Selena that I was recently introduced to New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, Skye Warren. And, though I’m just getting started into her dark romantic fiction, I can’t wait to indulge in more of her stories. Her work described with such words as “perversely tender” and “haunting and beautiful” I couldn’t agree more. I’ve found her stories to be both complex and raw, emotional and enticing.
I’m pleased with the wide array of genres represented by these authors and their stories in this bundle. While all erotic romance, you will be further tempted with subgenres like: contemporary and historical, paranormal/pagan and fairy tales, bondage and femdom, to name a few. Enjoy!
To purchase this bundle go to http://storybundle.com/ and click on Red Box at the top of the page that reads Erotic Romance.

EROTIC ROMANCE STORYBUNDLE INCLUDES:
MAIN BOOKS
Temptation by Selena Kitt - The innocent 1950s - a perfect backdrop for this "new adult" historical romance saga. What happens when you fall in love with your best friend's father?

Angry Sex by Sommer Marsden - When life turns stressful a girl needs release. Someone to help her work out her issues. Someone hot. Angry Sex...like therapy...but naked.

Torn Asunder by Kiki Howell - Fraught with scenes of explicit intimacy, romantic spells and mystical shapeshifting, Torn Asunder is a unique blending of the age of manners with sexual magic.

The ESP Affair by Alison Tyler - A dream lover fulfills Connie's erotic desires in The ESP Affair. Confronted with proof of her infidelity, she embarks on a psychic journey.

On the Way Home by Skye Warren - Explore the dark side with this suspenseful new adult romance... It’s a simple trade—the passenger in seat 34B for my sister. But the sexy soldier is more than I can handle in all the best ways.

BONUS BOOKS
Modern Wicked Fairy Tales by Selena Kitt (The Complete Collection) - Do you love fairy tales? Then don't miss these happily ever afters! Get ALL EIGHT modern retellings of fairy tale classics--Alice, Beauty, Briar Rose, Goldilocks, Gretel, Rapunzel, Red, and Wendy

Bittersweet by Sommer Marsden (Novella) - Deacon James is more sinful than the candy he sells. Testing Rayka's every limit. Mentally, creatively, emotionally and yes--sexually.

Rituals by Kiki Howell (Novella) – When a Wiccan ritual opens her eyes to an old friend, Maddie’s first week with Ryan is a blur of knots and ropes until Maddie’s controlling ex-husband returns hell-bent on taking her back.

Alison on Top by Alison Tyler (Anthology) - Super hot, incredibly sexy and wonderfully delicious," Alison on Top fulfills your craving for smart femdom fiction with a romantic twist.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, 8 February 2015

Cover Reveal! Check out A Thrill Seeking Relationship by Ray Sostre @anarchy0029


Title: A Thrill Seeking Relationship
Author: Ray Sostre
Release Date: March 4th, 2015
Published by: Bitten Press, LLC
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, MFM, FFM

*Synopsis*
Josh Trevelyan and Isabel Tavares are a thirty-something couple with a need to keep their relationship fun, adventurous, and naughty. When the two share a threesome with Isabel’s best friend, Lourdes Rivera, the two realized they found that special someone who would help fill the void, but would Lourdes consider being in a relationship with two people?
*Excerpt*
He then held out two fingers with Isabel’s flavor on them to Lourdes, “Here, taste her.”
Lourdes took his fingers in her mouth without hesitation. She rolled her eyes upward, sucking Isabel’s flavor into her mouth. When he pulled his fingers from her mouth, Lourdes leaned in and kissed him, sharing Isabel’s essence. He felt something warm and wet on the head of his shaft. He knew it was Isabel, but he didn’t look down.  He was busy making out with Lourdes. Needing to feel both of them licking and sucking him, he pulled away from Lourdes’s kiss and placed his hand on her shoulder, motioning for her to go down. “Taste me.”
He looked down at Lourdes and Isabel as they took turns taking him into their mouths. Isabel sucked and nibbled the tip while Lourdes slid her tongue along the underside of his girth then they would turn to each other and make out once more. This scene was too much to handle. He needed them naked.
“Fuck!  Let’s all get naked and go to the bedroom.”
Isabel looked up at Josh. “I agree.”
*Teasers*



*About Ray Sostre*


New York born, East Coast raised, and West Coast bound.

Writing erotica happened by accident in the summer of 2010.  That same year, he established a story submission site – AfterDark Online, a place for erotic authors.

He lives in Nevada with his long-time girlfriend, is an avid listener of electronica, and enjoys writing and publishing articles. He jokes: “I’m always looking for writing material.”


*Links*
Blog – Facebook – Twitter – TSU

Sunday Surprise - @Totally_Bound with @RosalieStanton @MiaWatts @SA_Welsh @WillaOkati @Kris_Norris @AsheBarker

Totally Bound caters to readers with a passion for sizzling stories, powerful plot lines and compelling characters. They aim to give a totally delicious escape to anyone who picks up one of their books. Here are some of their most recently released titles.

Flip Side of Sin by Rosalie Stanton is the third book in the Sinners and Saints series. Since her inaugural venture to Earth, Cassie, Virtue of Chastity, has been lost in a sea of doubt. All of Heaven knows how badly she botched her first job. So when the Almighty gives her a new job—one in Sin City—no one is more surprised than she. Ira, Sin of Wrath, requires only a drink, a cigarette, and a warm girl to keep him happy—which makes his new Vegas assignment a very welcome trip. Ira might be there to work, but that hardly means he won’t find time to play… And when he spies a gorgeous blonde wandering through a casino, he knows she’ll make the perfect playmate. Until, of course, he discovers she’s off limits—not to mention, the enemy.

Wrong Number Right Guy is the first in Mia WattsHollywood Hottie series. It has been re-edited and re-released by Totally Bound. Ryan Pierce is in town shooting the latest romantic action movie and attending all the right publicity parties. An easy laugh and real conversation, as a result of misdialling, surprises him and he doesn’t want the man to hang up. Dar’s gig as an extra gives him a chance to meet the guy on the set who he accidently called. Could the loping mega-star be his phone-a-friend?

Purrfect Protector is the first in the Shifter Protection Specialists Inc. series by S.A. Welsh.
Never play cat and mouse with a saber-tooth tiger.
Kale Andrews reluctantly agrees to have a bodyguard from Shifter Protection Specialists, Inc. following disturbing mail from an obsessed fan. The easy babysitting job Aleksi was promised quickly changes from strange mail to threatening deliveries, so Aleksi has to become creative to keep his protectee out of danger. Since he’s a saber-tooth tiger and naturally dominant, most people aren’t strong enough to be with him in a relationship or even as a friend. Yet Kale seems to calm his beast, simultaneously exciting the man in Aleksi.

St. Hawk's Medical is a new series from Willa Okati and kicks off with Take Heart. Dr. Brendan West, a dreamer and a doctor, knows there’s more to life than the job. His first step after finding a temporary job at St. Hawk’s is falling for kind-hearted gardener Evan—only to discover that Evan’s already taken by boisterous Griff. For his part, Griff sees this as more of an opportunity than a threat. He likes the good doc’s kind heart and clear eyes, and the way he sees it, their lonely doc needs them just as much, or more. With Evan on board, he sets to work bringing Brendan into a ménage relationship. Brendan knows he could fall hard for the odd couple, but the thing is—he’s not in St. Hawk’s for the long haul. He can’t bear to surrender his heart if he’s only going to leave it behind.


Centerfold by Kris Norris follows Detective Scarlet Reid, who has spent the past three months trying to make her alter ego, Ms. December, a ghost of Christmas past. Forced to become the sexy centerfold in a high-stakes undercover assignment, she is presented with a gruesome new case that has a disturbing trend—one that has placed Scarlet on a list of possible targets. With limited options, she’s going to have to resurrect Ms. December—and her old partnership—which means facing the one man who stole more than just a kiss. Federal Agent Roman Kinkaid's final assignment with Scarlet changed him, but he’s ready to make things right—only he’s not alone. His partner and lover, Special Agent Aiden Cross, is just as invested and determined as Roman is to claim Scarlet as theirs.
This is a re-release of Centerfold, which has been expanded.

Ashe Barker has released Chameleon, a chance meeting, two strangers whose paths cross—in the same place at the same time, yet a world apart.
When mining engineer Ethan Savage spots the cloaked, veiled woman riding a donkey in the Moroccan desert, he thinks she wouldn’t look out of place in Biblical times. They pass, nod, smile politely and go their separate ways. But moments later, she rescues him from his crashed car, the first words she utters make Ethan realize that appearances can be deceptive. Shifting effortlessly between her traditional roots in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains and her professional life as the Totally Five Star hotel doctor, Fleur is a human chameleon. At first irritated then amused by the handsome stranger, Fleur knows the assumptions he’s made about her. As their paths cross once more at the luxurious hotel, she realizes he, too, is not all he seems.

And here is an excerpt from Chameleon!

Christ, it’s hot.
Ethan straightened. Scowling, he ran his fingers across his brow and flicked off the moisture. He leaned into his car to retrieve a liter bottle of water and took a long drink. The liquid was warm, but still wet enough to help—a little. He returned to stand at the front of his car, leaning over the large geological chart spread out across the bonnet. He studied the details on the map, resting his hands on the curling paper in an attempt to smooth it out, only to wince as his palms flattened on the scorching metal of the car. He stood up again, fast, shaking his hands and cursing the heat, the dust, the general desolation that was this place.
Forty degrees Celsius and rising, and still not nine in the morning. He had maybe an hour’s work to do here before he could head back to the blessed, air-conditioned cool of the Totally Five Star hotel in the center of Marrakesh but that was eight miles away to the north. Here, in the arid desert—in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains—was where his friend James Conroy had it in mind to construct his latest project. It was why Ethan found himself out in the already searing heat, parked in the dust at the side of the long road leading from Marrakesh to Tahnaout, boiling his nuts and squinting at the glowing metal of his hire car.
James was CEO of the Totally Five Star chain of hotels, internationally renowned playgrounds of the rich, the famous and just occasionally the infamous. The Marrakesh Totally Five Star was without doubt the best hotel in the city, arguably in the whole of Morocco. Constructed in the style of a series of Arabian riads, it offered its exclusive clients a rare blend of privacy and luxury, an oasis of Western efficiency set against the backdrop of exotic Eastern tranquility. The Totally Five Star was a slice of authentic Eastern promise, but the water ran hot, the electricity never failed and the newspapers were in English.
Despite all this, James wasn’t satisfied with it. He loved horses and saw no reason why his guests should be denied this fine Arabian tradition. But downtown Marrakesh was not the right location for an equestrian themed leisure spa. For this, James would need space—lots of space. Ethan looked around him, turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees. No shortage of space here. Flat, endless, timeless space, shimmering away to the horizons in every direction. James had acquired an option to purchase several thousand acres of scorching desert, intending to transform it into an annex to his opulent hotel chain, this time catering to horse lovers. There would be the usual other spa facilities too, of course—swimming pools, Turkish baths, massage, beauty and health treatments—all the pampering that money and an abundance of leisure time could make possible.
But only if Ethan said so. James needed Ethan to complete the geological survey and tell him if this site was suitable for what he had in mind. He needed to be sure there were no hidden deposits of toxic substances, no subterranean instability rendering the location unsuitable for a major development. So he’d called his old school friend, Ethan Savage, now heading up his own company specializing in geological surveys. Savage Geo was just the firm James required to start this ball rolling, to help him take the first steps in turning his dream into reality.
This is what had brought Ethan here. This was why he now found himself sweltering in the morning heat of the Moroccan desert, his eyes scrunched into tight creases behind his dark Ray-Bans as he peered at the charts before him, matching the diagrammatic representation to the reality of the actual contours and hollows of this barren landscape. He’d need to do some bore holes, sink some test probes to check what was actually going on below the surface, but so far, he’d seen nothing to cause him any real concerns. This scheme of James’ might just work. Though Christ only knew how James would manage to recreate the lush cool of the Totally Five Star out here, where the very air vibrated in the heat.
On that thought, Ethan straightened again and took another long drink. As he bent to place the bottle back in the car, something caught his eye. A glimmer, a slight tremble of motion in the distance. He squinted back along the road as it snaked away across the hillside, shading his eyes to focus. Something glinted, shimmered, right out there on the horizon. He walked around to the boot of his car, where his field equipment lay stowed, and opened it to grab his binoculars from his rucksack. He raised them to his eyes, adjusted the focus and blinked in surprise as the hazy vision solidified.
A head. A woman by the look of it, heavily cloaked, emerging slowly over the horizon. Her pace slow, sedate, rolling slightly. Ethan watched, puzzled, but soon understood the reason for the curious gait. Another head, this one gray with long ears pointing straight toward the heavens—a donkey. As they crested the hill, Ethan saw that the cloaked woman sat astride the animal, perfectly in tune with its leisurely pace as the beast ambled placidly along the ribbon of tarmac. Neither the woman nor her mount appeared to be in a hurry. As Ethan watched through his binoculars, a pair of shoulders appeared, also shrouded in a heavy cloak, the fabric enveloping her small figure. She didn’t appear to be guiding the donkey. She had tucked her hands inside the drapes of her clothing, perhaps for protection from the searing heat. Her feet, too, were swathed within the cloak. The ethnic details in the brightly colored fabric crystallized as he watched. He suspected the multihued woolen fabric to be hand-woven. When the pair came fully into view, Ethan could make out panniers swaying on either side of the beast, one with a small, rolled up carpet peeking from it.
As they made their slow, unruffled progress down the road toward where he stood, Ethan dropped the binoculars onto the passenger seat, preferring to watch them with the naked eye. He stared, unashamed, as they drew nearer, taking in every detail of this pair, so incongruous almost anywhere else yet so perfectly placed here in this unchanging landscape. Ethan strolled to the rear of his car, resting his hip against the boot. He made no pretense of disinterest, not so much as a passing nod. His fascination was total.

If you have a publisher I should feature on Sunday Surprise, leave a comment!