We’re glad you could make it back to another day of Duck Chat! Welcome!

We’re going to have a fun and interesting day today – Sasha White is here!

Sasha has one extensive backlist, and if you haven’t read a Sasha White book yet, you’re missing out. Even if you haven’t read her latest, Most Wanted, do check out her web site and I know you’ll find something there that you’ll want to read! Sasha is going to talk about Most Wanted and a number of her other books today.

Her site is also full of such interesting facts about her, i.e., one of her hobbies is bookbinding, she has a black belt in karate, she’s worked as a bodyguard, has ridden an elephant in Nepal and an Ostrich in South Africa, and a whole host of other fascinating tidbits. Sasha is a native of Canada, single, has a cat named Mystery, and still loves to live out of her backpack if time allows.

She will be popping in and out today to visit with us, so be sure to leave Sasha a meaningful question or comment, and we’ll put you in the running for two copies of Primal Male and two copies of My Prerogative. Now let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Sasha, you’ve led such an interesting life! The thing that piqued my interest the most from your website – well, aside from your books! – is the fact you were and still are on occasion a bartender. You have to have gotten some great ideas for some of your stories while tending bar. Any examples you can give us so far? Anything you’re tossing around for the future you can share with us?

SASHA WHITE: Hey Sandy, thanks for the invite! I have to say that right now I haven’t gotten anything planned that I’m willing to share. You’ll just have to sign up for my newsletter for news updates.

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

SW: Where do your ideas come from? I hate that question. LOL If I knew where they came from I’d never feel uninspired or less than creative. But, to answer I’m going to steal from one of my posts at Genreality on this very subject.

“The honest answer is I Don’t Know – usually. Sometimes a song will inspire me or a person I meet or even another book. Yeah, I know, authors aren’t really supposed to admit that reading other books can inspire them, not in the way I’m about too. Carrie touched on it briefly yesterday when she said she’s watched the second Pirates of the Carribean, and thought, “I can do it better.” Well, I read a lot, and when I’m done, sometimes I think, “I can do it better.” That’s not to say everyone agrees with me, or even that I can do it better. But that story I just read sparked something inside me, and that’s one of the ways I can get inspired.”

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

SW: Almost always. Mostly because I’m not much of a plotter, so I only have a vague idea of the things that will happen in the story. However, even when I think I know what’s going to happen, stories and characters often take a left turn on me – and I love it. To me, that’s part of the magic of storytelling.

DC: Let’s talk about Most Wanted, which was released in June, and is an anthology of three of your stories. First, why an anthology of this type for these three stories, and, second would you tell us a little about each one?

SW: The three novellas in Most Wanted are all sequels to previous releases from Aphrodisia. Stories that had characters that readers kept asking for, and I wanted to revisit. The whole idea for it came about because I kept getting reader emails, and readers do have powers.

Lexy and Devon from The Crib in the Pure Sex anthology are together again in Hidden Cravings. Detective Jackson Barrows watched his partner fall for a thief in Sex as a Weapon in The Cop anthology, and in Unrestricted Access, he does some falling of his own. No Angel continues my paranormal Hunter series with Gabriel Mann, the work hard-play harder younger brother of Caleb Mann from Sexy Devil, and demon hunter Anna Blair.

Excerpt from all three novellas in Most Wanted:

HIDDEN CRAVINGS EXCERPT

Devon’s gaze practically burned a hole in her back as they left the club. And it felt good. Lexy was sorry that his cousin was missing, and she was going to do everything she could to find out what happened to Theresa, but she wasn’t sorry Devon was back in her life, and would soon be back in her bed.

Anticipation of a long sleepless night wrestling between the sheets with Devon had her insides trembling in eagerness as she drove back to her apartment. Once inside, she closed the door to the apartment and leaned back against it, just taking in the sight of him in her front room.

Cell phone in hand he stood in the middle of the room, staring at the floor as he dialed. Tension built in the lines of his body as he dialed the phone and waited. He closed his phone and raised his head, his turbulant gaze meeting hers.

“Still no messages?” she asked.

His lips pressed together and he shook his head once. He took a deep breath and deflated in front of her eyes, dropping onto the sofa with a big sigh. “I have to call my family.”

Lexy’s chest tightened and her heart went out to him. He was beating himself up over Theresa’s disappearance. She could almost see the blows land. I was too late. Why didn’t I ask what what wrong? What am I missing?

Pushing off from the door she walked over to the sofa and climbed onto his lap. Straddling him with her knees next to his hips, she rested her hands on his shoulders. Their eyes met and she smiled.
“It’s nice to see you again,” she said softly.

He didn’t answer, just looked at her, hunger slowly taking over his expression. God, it was good to feel him beneath her again. Devon had always been like magic to her. Sexually inexperienced she wasn’t, but the man touched her in a way no one else ever had, and she wanted that again. She wanted his touch, his taste. She wanted to feel him buried deep inside her body, she needed that connection again. But more than that he was hurting, and she wanted to take that pain away. She might not be able to do that completely, but she was sure as hell going to take his mind of it for a while.

She shifted closer, so close that a deep breath would make her breasts brush against his body, and cupped the back of his neck. Pulling him down for a kiss she whispered, “It’s more than nice to be touching you again.”

Their lips met and opened. It was as if the last year had never happened, as if they’d never been apart. There was no adjustment period. Devon’s tongue speared between her lips and took control, dueling with her, stroking her to a fever pitch within seconds. She clutched at him, her fingers gripping his silky hair as she tried to get closer still.

Large male hands covered hers, stilling them as he pulled back with a groan and buried his face in her neck. He nuzzled her neck for a minute, and a shiver ripped down her spine as she fought for some semblance of control over her body. Devon kissed her behind the ear, and then stood up and set her on her feet, letting her go completely.

“I’ll take the sofa.”

She gaped at him. “Excuse me?”

“I’ll sleep on the sofa, tonight.”

Chaos reigned within as her brain tried to make sense of what she was hearing. “What? Why?”

“You don’t ‘do’ relationships, and I want more than sex from you, Alexis.”

She noted his flushed cheeks, his rising and falling chest as he struggled to breathe, and there was no denying the hard-on pressed aggressively against the button fly of his jeans. What the hell? “Are you telling me you haven’t slept with anyone since me?”

“That’s not what I said.”

Of course not, she thought. Confusion turned to anger and she snapped,“So it’s just me you won’t fuck?”

He started toward her, hands out, then stopped short. “It’s just you that I want more from. Don’t you get it? You’re special. Do I want to fuck you six ways from Sunday? You bet your sassy ass I do. But even more important than that is the fact that I like you, Alexis. And I think we can have something really good together.”

She planted her hands on her hips. “Sure, we can have a damn good time.”

Devon’s mouth turned down at the corners and he shook his head. Something tightened in Lexy’s chest and she stared at him blankly. He was serious, he was going to sleep on the couch, and leave her alone in her bed!

She left him there, in the middle of her living room with a sheet, a pillow, and no more words. It was all she could do not stomp her feet and throw a temper tantrum that would do her Italian heritage proud.

Damn the man, it always had been all or nothing with him. She stripped off her clothes and threw herself on her bed. She tossed and turned, until finally, she lay there staring at the ceiling.

Kane’s comment on her outfit had reminded her that she’d actually been on a date earlier that night. A boring date, but what did she expect? Dating was new to her, and it showed. She wasn’t used to sitting across from a guy and playing twenty questions unless she was trying to get specific information out of him for a case. That’s not to say she was inexperienced with men, just with dating.

She’d never dated Devon. She’d met him and within hours they were rolling around naked and sweaty. Sure they’d talked some. Not as much in person as they had after she’d come back to Vancouver and they’d only had the phone as a way to connect. But they’d talked a bit. She certainly felt like she knew him, and he knew her. Which is why his saying no was so fucked up. He knew what she was like. He knew she wasn’t exactly your typical girl who wanted dinner dates with flowers and goodnight kisses.

Dating had never been a priority for her before, she’d had other things to deal with. First it had been hunting down her parents killers, by the time that was done, she was focused on her solitary life of helping those who needed it. When she wanted sex, she went out and found a man who could give her what she wanted, and that was that.

Only recently she’d started to wonder about what she’d been missing out on with her single minded lifestyle. What would it be like to have friends, fun, and a man around for more than just sex?
It was all Devon’s fault. She’d been just fine living her life her way until she’d met him. Even that brief stint with him in Edmonton had been okay, but he hadn’t left it at that. Oh, no. He’d called, and they’d talked. He’d given her hints at what it would be like to share more than her body with someone. He’d created this freaking yearning to have more in her life.

But he’d been so far away, and yet in other ways, too close. So she’d started dating. God, what a mess that was. It was so not worth the effort. Which was maybe a good thing because if her date earlier that night had been going well, it wouldn’t have been very nice of her to dump a guy the minute she saw Devon on her doorstep.

And there was no doubt in her mind she would’ve done exactly that. Not just because the man only had to look at her to get her to get her heart pounding, but also because he’d been there for her when she’d needed back-up. There was knowledge of each other between them, a trust that went beyond that of a lover.

She flipped over again and punched her pillow before burying her face in it. But they were lovers. And he still wanted her, it had been clear in his eyes. She wanted to connect with him again because she knew he was hurting. She wanted to comfort him in the only way she knew how and he’d thrown it back in her face!

“Screw this,” she muttered and jumped up from the bed. She was already talking as she strode into the living room and flipped the lights on. “I don’t do relationships because I’ve never had one. I don’t know how have a relationship!”

Devon sat up on the couch, completely awake. “Tony? Jimmy D? Those are relationships. And what about Michaels tonight? You have some sort of relationship with him.”

She tried not to notice the fact that he had no shirt on. Devon was by no means a boy, he was man’s man all the way through and it showed in his body. Lean hard muscles, a light pelt of hair that enhanced those muscles and made her fingertips burn to touch. Giving herself a mental head-slap she focused on what he’d said.

“They’re my uncles! And Kane is married, it’s not what you think.”

He stared, his eyes burning in a way that suddenly reminded her that she was completely naked. She slept in the nude, and she hadn’t even thought about it before storming into the living room.
Finally, Devon stood to face her, his voice rising to match hers. “They’re still relationships, Alexis. You share yourself, your life with them. Sleeping with a person doesn’t make it a relationship, sharing does!” He scrubbed and hand through his hair. “Hell, we were well on our way until you decided to clam up and shut down.”

“Family is different and you know it.” Anger fueled her arousal as she moved forward until she stood directly in front of him, chest–to-chest. Her heart was pounding and hot blood was racing through her veins. “Relationships aren’t my thing, Devon. Especially a long distance one.”

“You saying you don’t “do” relationships is just an excuse. You cut me out of your life because I was getting too close. You were starting to care, and that scared the shit out of you.”

He waved an angry hand around her apartment. “Just look at this place.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her apartment was hardly a penthouse, but she kept it neat and clean. What the hell was he talking about?

“You’re place is full of photos of family and people you’ve loved. I see Tony and Jimmy, you and your parents when you were a kid. I’m guessing that’s you and your first boyfriend.” He pointed to one of her and Mike. “You know how to have a relationship, Alexis. You’ve proven you understand what family is, and loyalty is a core part of you. You’re just too damn stubborn.”

Desperate to make him understand, but too angry and aroused to try and form coherent words she just grabbed him by the head and pulled him down for a kiss.

Like putting a lit flame to gasoline, they were ablaze within seconds. Strong male hands roamed over Lexy’s body, pulling her closer, stroking down her back, cupping her ass and squeezing, lifting. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and whimpered.

So good, he tasted so damn good. Felt so damn good, so right. They fit together perfectly, hearts pounding in time as Devon moved, turning and setting her on the sofa, sliding to his knees on the floor. He dragged his lips away from hers, nibbling, sucking and biting his way across her jaw to the sensitive spot behind her ear.

“Ahh,” she cried, arching her back and tilting her head to give him better access. “God, Devon. I’ve missed you.”

UNRESTRICTED ACCESS EXCERPT

The heat from the August mid-day sun was nothing compared to the heat that washed over Jillian Furst when she pulled into the driveway and put her shiny red SUV in park.
She’d glimpsed her neighbor’s mostly naked body as she’d pulled in, and that had been enough to tweak her need. Shit, who was she kidding? All she had to do was think of him and her body tightened with a yearning she couldn’t deny. It had been that way for the last ten months, ever since she’d moved into the cute bungalow style house on Parker Road.
She shut off the ignition and, of it’s own volition, her head turned. Like a woman dyeing of thirst, she drank in the sight of Jackson Barrows mowing his lawn.
A couple of inches over six feet tall, he was all lean sinewy muscle and fluid grace. Wearing nothing but long boarding shorts, sunglasses, and flip-flops, the sun gleamed off his sweat-slicked skin. If that wasn’t enough to make her mouth water, the tattoos that covered a good portion of his body did the trick. They hinted at a dangerous edge, a craving for adrenaline, and maybe even the need for a little bit of pain. He was her ultimate fantasy.
If only he weren’t such a complete macho alpha dog.
If only the cocky grin he flashed her as she climbed out of her Jeep Liberty didn’t make the butterflies in her stomach take flight.
The man was totally hot, and he knew it. It wasn’t just his looks – though the dark chocolate hair, bright green eyes, and athletic body definitely did their part – it was his confidence. He was strong and sure of himself in every way … and the challenge of him was almost too much to resist. But resist she did.
She’d made it clear when she first met him that she’d found him attractive, and he’d been nice, but distant. Friendly, but not flirtatious. So she’d respected the invisible wall he’d put up and stopped sending out the ‘I’m interested’ signal and they’d become friendly neighbors who exchanged casual conversation about workdays and the weather over a drink on someone’s deck every now and then. She was friends with his partner’s wife, and they occasionally crossed paths socially. Never once had he been without a date on those occasions.
That didn’t stop her from fantasizing about him when she was alone in bed with her favorite vibrator though.
After giving him a casual wave she opened the back door of her Jeep Liberty and reached for the three brown paper bags full of groceries. Once they were balanced in her arms she used her hip to shut the door. She took two steps toward her door, one of the bags shifted and an orange jumped for freedom. Then a second one hit the pavement running…well…rolling as it were.
“Shit!” She shifted the bags again, and chased the little suckers only to stop sharply when two large male hands swooped down and grabbed them.
“Thanks.” She hadn’t heard the mower shut off, but Jack was definitely standing in front of her in all his sweaty glory.
“No problem,” he said with a lopsided grin. “Happy to be of service to a damsel in distress.”
Clearing her throat, she ignored the drop of sweat that was trickling down the center of his naked chest and focused on the playful tone of his voice. Then replied in kind, “I was hardly in distress.” And of course, that’s when her cell phone went off.
They stood there looking at each other for a moment, and then Jack spoke, his voice full of suppressed laughter. “Your ass is ringing.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said with a laugh. “You going to help me out here or what?”
“Of course.” He reached a hand out, but instead taking a bag from her, he turned her a little bit and reached into the back pocket of her denim skirt himself. His hand wiggled and pressed against her ass. Her pulse fluttered, and she bit her lip against the moan that rose in her throat.
What the hell was going on?
Jack had always been friendly, even flirty, but this behavior was taking things to a different level.
Finally, he pulled her phone out and flipped it open before holding it to her ear.
“Hello,” she said, blushing at the breathlessness of the one word. Her pulse was racing and suddenly, breathing was hard because every time she inhaled the scent of his clean male sweat, her head got a little lighter, her body a little tighter.
“Hi Jillian, it’s Vanessa. And I need a favor.”
The pleading note in her friends voice would’ve been a clear warning, if Jill had been paying attention. But she was too aware of the grinning man in front of her, and she answered automatically. “Of course, Vanessa, whatever you need.”
“I need you to do a show for me at the club.”
That snapped her brain back into gear. “No way.”
“You said whatever I need, and I really need you to do this.”
“Uh uh. I’m sorry, Vanessa, You know that’s not my thing.”
Her friend rushed on, as if Jill hadn’t uttered a word. “O’s giving a private party for some of her friends- friends that have never come to the club, and for whatever reason she wants to have someone on stage who can be trusted to read each volunteer and not take things too far. Mistress Miranda was supposed to do it, but she had an accident when she was hiking yesterday and is now laid up with a broken leg for six weeks. The party is in three weeks Jill! Please? I wouldn’t ask you if there was anyone else with even half as much talent as you, but we both know you’re the best.”
The pleading in Nessa’s voice was clear and Jill squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She knew she wouldn’t say no to her friend, not when she begged. But there was no reason why she couldn’t make her work for it a bit more.
“If I’m the best why did you have Miranda scheduled in the first place?”
“Because I do know how you feel about public shows. I wouldn’t even ask you now if it wasn’t really important. Pleeeeaase?”
Jillian sighed and opened her eyes, surprised that for a moment there she’d forgotten about Jackson standing in front of her.
She really didn’t want to do a show. But she’d been so busy with her web design business that she hadn’t been out to play in over a month. It would feed her spirit if not her soul to visit The O Club and spank a few virgins.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” she said. “But you owe me.” She told Vanessa she’d call her later to set the details, and said good-bye.
Jackson’s full lips twitched as he closed the phone. “What exactly are you the best at?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She smiled and put a little sass in her tone. “If you want to know what exactly, you’ll have to find out for yourself.”
His smile didn’t change, but something subtle flickered across his face and she wished his mirrored sunglasses didn’t hide so much from her. Something had just shifted between them, she felt it, and tried to get it back.
“As you’ve seen, one of my skills is not carrying a bunch of groceries without dropping some,” she said lightly.
He took the hint and moved quickly. Dropping the rescued oranges and her cell phone in one of the bags, he plucked them all out of her arms. “Your wish is my command.”
Her pussy clenched and she had to close her eyes and take a breath for a moment. Those words, from that man… God, the images that started flashing through her mind had her creaming in her panties.
“Thank you,” she said. He stood, waiting patiently, until she jerked herself back to the present and headed up the walk to her front door.
“No problem. You’ve got a lot of food here for one person.” His smile was crooked and cocky, and his voice still playful, but it didn’t ring true.
Deep-seated instinct had Jill biting back the invitation for him to come in once she had her door unlocked and open. Instead, she just smiled and shrugged. “I’m not much of a cook, so I tend to buy big once a month, cook a bunch of stuff, and freeze it for later.”
His brow puckered and Jill got the impression he wanted to say something, but that invisible wall was back, leaving her slightly bereft. Talk about mixed signals.
Jackson set the bags he was carrying down just inside the front door and bowed his head to her before backing away.
“My work is done here,” he said, a ghost of his earlier flirtatious smirk playing at his lips. “The runaway oranges are caught, the phone is answered, and the damsel is no longer in distress. Have a good afternoon, Jill.”
“Thanks again, Jackson,” she called out to his retreating form.
He waved his hand, and kept on walking.
Jill shut the door and leaned against it. What the hell had just happened? She’d flirted with him before, and it had gotten her nowhere. Yet, for a few minutes there, he’d been flirting with her, heavily too. The cocky smile, the playful manhandling – God, his hand in her back pocket had just about make her knees give out. The vibe he’d been putting out had definitely been a “let’s be more than friends” one.
It seemed that maybe, just maybe, her pulling back these past couple of months tweaked some sort challenge reaction in him. One he’d been unable to resist. But then he had resisted. Sure, his parting comment had been playful, and even flirtatious, but his invisible wall had been firmly back in place making her wonder just what kind of game he was playing.
Jillian’s interest spiked higher than it had ever been, and a plan began to form. She loved to play games, especially those of the erotic sort.

NO ANGEL EXCERPT

Ten minutes later she stomped into some dingy pub on the corner of Bernard and Wilson. With big screen televisions over the bar, team jersey’s of all sorts hanging from the walls and two pool tables in the middle of the room instead of a dance floor, she got the hint. It was a sports pub.
The waitress who wondered over to the booth Anna had slid into and stood at the edge of the table. She wore a tight white V-neck T-shirt that showed off impressive cleavage and too much make-up. The bright red nametag on just above her right breast said Sally. Sally cocked her hip out and smiled wanly. “What can I getcha?”
All she needed to do was snap her gum and she’d be a total cliché. “Pint of draft and three shots of Tequila. Gold if you have it.”
Sally’s eyes widened and she looked at the empty bench space on either side of Anna. “Expecting company?”
Anna smiled, baring her teeth. “Nope, it’s all for me.”
Sally walked away, shaking her head and Anna bit back a sigh. It didn’t matter that she showed her teeth, shit, she could curse and growl and threaten, and people just looked at her and shook their heads, or worse …laughed.
It was her Mom’s fault. The silky blond hair and fair skin came from her. Mom said the full mouth, and foul language came from her Dad, but since he’d died before Anna was born, she didn’t see how. Whatever. She was what she was, and she’d long since given up on caring what people thought about her.
Sally came back with her drinks and Anna paid cash, making sure to tip the girl. She’d waited table before, and knew it wasn’t an easy job. She slammed the two shots of tequila immediately, one right after the other. The burn down her throat and into her stomach was not so welcome, but the warmth that spread through her veins and mellowed the throbbing pain in her head was.
Anna sat there, staring at the empty shot glasses and wondered if the supernatural bounty hunters would ever leave her alone. She felt like crap. Her jaw hurt, there was a good sized knot on the back of her head, and thanks to that sappy movie and lovely demon attack, she was feeling lonelier than ever.
It didn’t seem to matter what she did or where she went, they always found her. She’d only been in Pearson for two days!
Sipping her beer she scanned the pub. The crowd was sparse, and the clientele seemed to be made up mostly of the blue-collar type. The mean wore jeans, T-shirts, and steel toed boots, the few women wore denim shorts or skirts, tank tops that ranged in color but helped showcase cleavage, even the ones with little to showcase. No one stood out as particularly dangerous, and even though most glanced her way at some point in those first few minutes, no one approached her table.
Anna watched two men move up to the pool tables and get ready to start a game. In all honesty, it wasn’t until the blond one kept glancing her way, that she really took note of him.
He was good looking, in a cocky, king-of-the-world sort of way. His well-worn jeans hugged him in all the right places, his T-shirt was mostly clean, and his smile was seductive.
Anna watched him bend over the table to line up his next shot and a little tingle went through her. He had a very nice ass. Round, and firm. She could picture her hands on it, her nails digging in and urging him on as they flexed and filled with every thrust of his hips.
Ohh, she thought. That would feel so good right now.
He sank three more balls and then he was lining up the black eight ball. With a smooth sure stroke, he put that one in the corner pocket. He straightened up, looked over his shoulder at her, and winked.
The tingle in her belly spread lower and she smiled. He was just what she needed. Too wrapped up in himself to want more than one night, he would be the perfect distraction from her dismal thoughts.
She took a sip from her beer, and put a little sparkle behind her smile the next time he glanced her way. His swagger increased as he moved around the table and Anna chuckled silently. Oh yeah, he was definitely what she needed to get her mind off her life.
When the second game was over, he set his cue stick down and made his way to her booth. He moved with a smooth liquid grace that had her blood heating and her mind stripping him naked.
“Hi there,” he said. “Can I get you another drink?”
She glanced down and realized not only had she finished her beer, but the third shot glass was empty too. She didn’t even remember drinking it, and her headache was pretty much gone.
“No, thanks,” she replied. She better not drink anymore. Safety first, and alcohol slowed her reflexes and dimmed her control over her powers. “But you should join me anyway.”
“I’m Gabe,” he said as he slid into the booth. “How are you doing tonight?”
“Better every minute,” she replied honestly.
His eyes widened and she noticed they were a nice deep blue. Very pretty eyes for a man. When he chuckled his white teeth flashed and she thought they were pretty too.
Funny, she’d never thought of teeth as attractive before. Maybe it wasn’t his teeth, it was the lips that surrounded them. They were nice. Yes, very nice and full. Very kissable.
Without another thought she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

SW: Only once, a long time ago. I learned to trust them, so I don’t argue anymore.

DC: You put hot sauce on your popcorn??

SW: YES! Don’t knock it until you try it. Louisiana Hot sauce is my favorite, but Frank’s Red Hot is good too.

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

SW: Life, movies, tv, phone calls, the desire to sleep in. Everything. Anything.
Being a writer is all about choices. What do you want to do more? Sometimes writing wins, sometimes it loses.

DC: Primal Male sounds quite intriguing with a male empath and a female shape shifter. Please tell our readers about them and their book.

SW: Primal Male is connected to Sexy Devil and the novella No Angel from Most Wanted. Drake Wheeler is an ex-military sniper who likes to keep people at a distance because he’s an empath. Only when he meets shapeshifter Melissa Montrose he can’t keep his distance. There’s a touch of suspense, a bad guy, and some romance and hot sex.

DC: You are a daredevil, parachuting, jumping from a bridge and cliffs into rivers, white water rafting, among other things. Is there some extreme sport you haven’t done yet and would like try?

SW: Scuba Diving. Maybe. If I was younger I’d like to get into skateboarding or something like that, but, well, that’s too much for me now. I did not get more graceful with age. LOL

DC: Another interesting tidbit from your web site is all your traveling you’ve done. You basically lived out of your backpack for a while. Where’s the one or two places that’s etched in your memory because of something unusual that happened or just because?

SW: All of them. I know it sounds cliche, but like everything else, it’s cliche for a reason. I’ve had wonderful and unique experiences in each place, and all hold special places in my heart. I could tell you stories about each place that would make you smile and tug at your heart strings.

DC: What one place would you like to go back to over and over again?

SW: That’s a very tough questions. Like I said, I had wonderful times in all of them, but I’m not really someone who believes in ‘going back.” I tend to think that if I go back to some place/time that was unique and special, that it will lose its shine. So, I tend to always try to move forward, go new places, that sort of thing.

DC: What has been your favorite book cover from all of your releases and why?

SW: Hmm, I’d have to say My Prerogative. I just love the white cover, the read and black, the look on the woman’s face. The cover personifies the title and story perfectly.

DC: How about your least favorite cover? Why?

SW: Yikes, I guess I’d have to go with the cover for one of my old eBooks, Losing It. The book isn’t available anymore, so chances of you finding it are small. The cover had a bare chested man with a plate of sushi, and the story featured a scene with a naked woman on a table with sushi on her a la Nyataimori. So, the cover didn’t really represent the story, in my opinion.

DC: Trouble, what a terrific story this sounds like. Would you give us some insight into this book and its characters?

SW: To put it simply, Trouble is all about being true to yourself and finding happiness. In fact, if I had to pick a theme that ran through all of my stories I’d think that might be it. Trouble is Samair and Val’s story about how they find each other. I wish I could offer you something in-depth but to be honest, you just have to read the story. I like to think each reader will gain something from it that they’ll connect with on a personal level because we all fight to remain true to ourselves at times, and we all want to find that person that is our other half.

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

SW: Females, no. Males, yes. When I first started writing I had a very hard time writing from the male perspective. Most of my short stories and my first novel were all from the female only, in first person. It took time for me to find a male character I felt I knew well enough to write. When the time came for me to really get into a male’s head, I actually thought back to some of my many conversations with male customers-ones I’d overheard and taken part in. I find that the ones I have with customers tend to be more honest than the ones I have with men in my real life because the customers don’t care if they’re telling me what I want to hear or not, they just tell me what they really think and feel. And it’s helped. LOL

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

SW: Nope. *grin* I’ve sampled all of the ones I’ve an interest in, even if I haven’t yet gone as deep as I’d like.

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

SW: Stay in shape. Never think that you won’t get “that fat.”  LOL

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

SW: Oh lord, I have no idea. “Tell it like it is.”? or something along those lines, I think. Maybe one of my readers can answer that. LOL

DC: We’ve talked about your last two releases, and you have so many more books on the shelves. What’s the one book you’d really like readers to take to heart and embrace?

SW: Any of them. All of them. You realize that’s like asking a mother which kids she loves best, right? LOL

I like to think each one is different and that the characters will connect with readers. All of the characters have connected with me on one level or another, when I was writing them. Bound was my first novel and will always hold a special place in my heart. Lush was an experiment in voice and style for me that I think worked out very well. Sexy Devil was fun and wicked fun to write. Wicked was something I put my heart into, and I think it shows. My Prerogative is about a bartender and it almost felt like I was writing a journal at times.

I hope at least one, and hopefully all, will be embraced by readers.

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

SW: Well, since I only started writing about eight years ago, I can say that I did a lot of the things I would’ve done if I hadn’t become a writer. As for what I’ve have done the last eight years if not write…hmm. not really sure. I tend to jump careers and hobbies often, so I’m sure whatever it is, I’ll still get to it sometime. *grin*

DC: What’s on the horizon for Sasha White?

SW: Your guess is as good as mine. Right now I’m in the relax-and-see-what-happens mode.

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?    – milk
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?  – chunky
- heels or flats?   – flats
- coffee or tea?   – neither.
- summer or winter?   – summer
- mountains or beach?   – both
- mustard or mayonnaise?     – mustard
- flowers or candy?   – flowers
- pockets or purse?    – pockets
- Pepsi or Coke?   – either
- ebook or print?   – Either

And because we’re not tired of them yet:

1. What is your favorite word?    – Sleep
2. What is your least favorite word?     – Up
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?       – Music. Hot men
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – Negativity
5. What sound or noise do you love?     – Cat purring
6. What sound or noise do you hate?      – Next door neighbor’s stereo
7. What is your favorite curse word?     – Fuck
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?     – None
9. What profession would you not like to do?    – Garbage man
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?  – “Good job!”

DC: Thank you for being with us today, Sasha!

If you missed them, check out gwen’s review of Sexy Devil and the excerpt of Devil Inside.

an excerpt from DEVIL’S JEWEL

As a woman whose only master was her gypsy wanderlust, and her love for her sister, Jewel had been around. She knew the one thing ninety percent of the people in the world had in common – they loved to talk. If you knew the right questions to ask, information was ripe for the picking.

Hooper Radisson, the owner of the big white house set on the side of the mountain just out side the city, was someone the residents loved to speculate about. He’d moved to Pearson less than year ago, and set up shop as a financial consultant. Only he never actually opened up an office, and he had no local clients.

He was seen about town often, spending money and entertaining visiting clients, but that was it. And lucky for Jewel, it drove the locals crazy with curiosity. One mention of Hooper’s name at the pub and she knew where he lived, what kind of car he drove and, among other things, that he was a vegetarian.

Forty – eight hours after Nadya was taken, Jewel was smirking at the simple security system surrounding the big white house on the hill. Getting past the guard at the front gate had been as simple as climbing over the seven-foot cement wall surrounding the grounds.

Almost too easy, really. She knew that Hooper was no ordinary man, not if he could grab Nadya so easily.

She slowly made her way through the trees and up to the house, surprised at the lack of guards patrolling the grounds. She inched her way along the side of the house, and to the back, checking out each window as she went. A kid could crack the system wiring all the windows and doors, and her instincts were screaming caution.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the small pouches Kaz had given her before the clan had left town. “Let’s see what we’ve got here,” she muttered to herself and spilled some of the fine powder into the palm of her hand. With a soft blow, the powder flew off her hand and into to air … where it hit a shimmering wall of energy and sparkled florescent orange for a split second. “Ohhh, nasty.”

The lovely orange color showed that the house was indeed protected by a spell. It didn’t matter that the technical security sucked, the magical security was top notch. Before Jewel could reach for her crystals, a muffled cry of pain came from nearby and the house and surrounding grounds were flooded with light.

“Shit!” She didn’t hesitate a second. Adrenaline kicked into overdrive and she spun around on her heel and took off for the dense trees nearby. A mad dash through them wasn’t the quietest way to get to the wall that separated the grounds from the winding public road where she’d parked her truck, but it was the fastest, and it offered protection from the floodlights.

Five feet from the cement security wall a shadowy form jumped from behind a tree and tackled her. Heart in her throat, she reacted instinctively, her hands going for her attacker’s throat, her knees bending and feet kicking as she tried to nail him in the balls.

The body turtled over her, heavy legs tangling with hers, pinning them, full weight on her torso as one hand covered her mouth and the other grabbed two of her fingers and yanked them back until pain made her let go of his throat. “Shut up for Christ sakes! They’re almost here.”

His whispered words registered in her mind at the same time a beam of light played over the compound wall just above them. They both froze, and Jewel finally realized that this guy wasn’t hauling her to her feet or dragging her back toward the big white house.

She closed her eyes, concentrated on calming her heart rate, then listened closely to the sounds around them. The musky scent of raw man reached her nose and butterflies unfurled in her stomach. Sensual awareness threatened to overcome her fear as they lay there.

Neither spoke, she didn’t even think they breathed, but in the distance she could hear voices raised as guards searched the grounds. A single bark split the night air and they both tensed. Jewels eyes popped open and she stared at the shadowed face above hers. Eyes black as night met hers and his hand left her lips.

“A dog!” she whispered furiously.

“Over the wall,” he replied. “Now.”

He sprang to his feet and she was right behind him.

As if they’d done it a million times before he bent his knees and Jewel stepped smoothly into his cupped hands and he boosted her to the top of the wall with ease. The stranger was over six feet tall, and with a small jump he was halfway up the wall. Jewel gripped the foot wide cement between her thighs and grabbed the back of his belt as he scrabbled up the wall with ease. As she swung her leg over and sat atop the wall, the dog came through the thicket of trees, barking madly and pulling a small man behind. A chunk of cement flew into the air as a gunshot bounced off the wall a foot to the left of Jewel and she jumped to the other side.

She hit the ground running and was at her truck in seconds, the helpful stranger right behind her. Shoving the key in the ignition and pulling her door closed at the same time she was surprised when the passenger door opened. She heard him say he was leaving with the girl and watched with wide eyes as he joined her.

What the hell?

“You can’t-” a shot hit the windshield and she clamped her mouth shut on the instinctive cry of surprise.

“Go damn it!” he shouted.

And she did.

Without another thought she slammed the truck into gear and floored it, speeding off down the twisted mountain road.

Neither of them spoke as Jewel drove into town. She concentrated on the road ahead of them and he watched the road behind them. They must not have been followed though because he never urged her to speed up or take off on one of the side roads.

Jewel’s thoughts whipped through her head at a mile a minute while she tried to figure things out. Every now and then she’d glance sideways at her passenger only to catch him staring straight at her.

Their gazes collided more than once, yet still, neither of them spoke.

By the time they hit the Pearson city limits it was clear no men with guns had followed them, and reaction had started to set in. Jewel wasn’t an innocent to the ways of the world, she’d dealt with a lot of scary things. Shit, she was a gypsy who made the bulk of her money hustling dart games in pubs around the country – she’d been in a tough spot or two before.

She’d seen things, natural and supernatural things that were both good and evil, but she’d never been shot at before.

Her heartbeat started to slow and the trembling inside her had settled down enough so she could breathe normally. She loosened her death grip on the steering wheel, and when her knuckles were no longer glaringly white, she glanced at her passenger. Her gut tightened. What now?

As if he could read her mind, he gestured to a parking stall in front of the coffee shop across from the lake. “Pull in here,” he directed. “We need to talk.”

The only reason Jewel did what he told her to was because it was true. They did need to talk. She put the truck in park, but left it running, and turned to get her first real good look at her passenger.

The light from the streetlamp illuminated the inside of the trucks cab enough for her to see that he was extremely good looking. Short dark hair, olive skin stretched over high cheekbones, and almost bottomless eyes had her pulse picking up for a very different reason than fear. His firm jaw line was shadowed with a layer of stubble that only enhanced the shape of his very seductive mouth.

A quiver of excitement rippled through her. A man with a mouth like that had to know how to use it.

Jewel squashed the sensual awareness growing inside her and gave him a hard look. “Who the hell are you?”

The mouth in question twisted. “You can call me Devil.”

She grabbed for the dagger tucked into the side of her right boot, but before the blade cleared leather his hand gripped her wrist, hard. “I said you can call me Devil, not that I was the devil. I’m one of the good guys in this battle.”

She met his gaze head on, no fear. “I’m supposed to believe you just because you say so?”

“If I was one of them I’d have let you run right into the spotlight instead of tackling you, and I certainly wouldn’t have helped you over the fence.” He spoke matter-of-factly, his expression blank. “Now why don’t you tell me your name?”

When people lied they tended to overplay their hand. If anything convinced her to believe him – and she wasn’t sure she did – but if anything was going to convince her, it was his lack of emotion.

“Okay, say I believe you. What were you doing there?” She let go of the onyx-handled dagger, but kept her hand by the side of her leg. His hold on her wrist loosened in response, but he didn’t release her completely.

“Your name?”

Shit. “Jewel.”

His head dipped in acknowledgment. “Okay, Jewel, it doesn’t matter what I was doing there. What matters is it’s a dangerous place, and you are not to go back there.”

Fuck that, she thought to herself.

Tension thickened the air between them. Who did he think he was? He didn’t even ask what she had been doing there, just issued orders like he was the king or something. “You think you can stop me?”

“Yes.”

The one word was said with such complete arrogance that Jewel reacted instinctively.

Slapping her right hand on top of the one that held her left wrist, she pinned it there at the same time twisting her left hand up and over his. She put her weight behind it, shifting toward him and pressing down on the wristlock. He countered by moving back and pulling her on top of him, his other hand going on top of hers and yanking two fingers back – the same two fingers he’d used to get her to release her choke hold earlier. Pain ripped up her forearm and she let go, landing in his lap with their hands trapped between their bodies and their faces only millimeters apart.

She sucked in air and tried not to notice the hardness of the body beneath her … until he kissed her.

Copyright © 2007 by Sasha White. Excerpted by permission.

Sexy Devil by Sasha White

“The Devil Inside”

Workaholic Caleb Mann used to think blind dates were a waste of time, but when his ex-girlfriend calls him boring in bed, Caleb becomes bent on changing his image fast – with the help of the incredibly sexy woman standing in front of him. He barely knows his date’s name, but her sassy mouth is almost hypnotizing, in more ways than one, and he can’t stop fantasizing about replacing the sleek motorcycle between her firm thighs and letting her ride him all night long…

“Devil’s Jewel”

Ex-soldier and psychic hunter Angelo Devlin has seen evil first-hand. He knows how perilous his assignments can be, and he doesn’t welcome outside help, which makes his run-in with Jewel Kattalis all the more infuriating. But instead of sending her away, he wants to grab her, take her, and tease every inch of her beautiful body. This woman may be more dangerous than any mission he’s ever been on before…

Gwen reviewed Sexy Devil on Monday, in case you missed it you can find it here.  Keep reading for the excerpt and contest details…

Our delightful canaduckie Sasha is going to celebrate Thanksgiving with us in spirit (since the Canadians have already celebrated Thanksgiving). And I had something really nifty here for you to do to win a copy of Sexy Devil but the dialup hates me. So third time is the charm and we are gonna be nice and easy here…. contest is after the excerpt….

Devil Inside

Chapter One

Caleb Mann strode through the heavy glass doors of Fusion Cafe and continued straight to the service counter without looking left or right. The air-conditioning inside the cafe was a welcome relief from the humid heat of mid May in Pearson, British Columbia. It also took the edge off his nerves.

Mug of strong, black coffee firmly in hand, Caleb stepped to the side of the counter, and scanned the room carefully.

The sunlight bounced off the surface of Pearson Lake, directly across the street, brightening the small cafe. Colorful paintings on the walls and mismatched furniture gave it a funky, comfortable feel that was reflected in the diverse clientele. A slick-looking businessman stood a couple of feet away, impatiently ordering a fluffy latte from the frowning counter girl. An older lady and a girl who was probably her granddaughter sat with a coloring book in front of them.

None were who he was looking for.

He disregarded the twentysomething male engrossed in a novel nearby and briefly considered the woman by the window. Well dressed, with long dark hair, she sat ramrod straight as she watched people come and go. She was pretty, but Caleb didn’t think she was the type of woman his brother would be friends with. Uncertain, he let his gaze slide away.

Then he saw her.

Removing his sunglasses, he gave the woman a slow perusal. She’d isolated herself by sitting at a small corner table, head bent over a notepad of some kind. Yet she still seemed approachable. The invisible wall that emanated from most people when they wanted to be left alone wasn’t there.

She was dressed casually in a short camouflage skirt and a tight black tank top that made it impossible to ignore her pert breasts. If for some unknown reason he hadn’t noticed her mouth-watering cleavage, he’d certainly have given the length of tanned flesh exposed by the short skirt a second glance. It had to be her.

Caleb had expected nothing less from his little brother than to set him up with a real looker. What he hadn’t expected was his own primal reaction to her-the way his blood heated and his stomach clenched when he looked at her-or the way her inky black hair, which was full of vivid red streaks and skimmed across her pale shoulders, made his fingers itch with the urge to touch … to brush it aside so he could nibble on her tender flesh.

His reaction surprised him, but for once he didn’t try to contain or control it. After all, if she was a friend of his “work hard-play harder” younger brother, chances were she was also a party girl-a bad girl.

Oh, yeah, he thought to himself. The total opposite of what he normally looked for in the fairer sex, and exactly what he needed.

Detail-oriented guy that he was, Caleb leaned against the counter and studied her for a minute. Skimpy clothes flaunted bare limbs, bright purple polish sparkled on her fingertips, and silver jewelry flashed when she shifted in the filtered sunlight. There was also a tattoo on the inside of her wrist-very … exciting. He willed her to lift her head so he could see her face clearly, only to have his breath catch in his throat when she did so.

Flawless skin smoothed over high cheekbones, tiny white teeth nibbled at a full pink lip, dark eyebrows flared over almond-shaped eyes. He couldn’t see their color from where he was, but it didn’t matter. Her classic beauty and outrageous sex appeal called to him unlike anything, or anyone, ever had.

He wanted her, instantly and unequivocally.

Shrugging his suddenly tense shoulders, Caleb pushed off from the counter. You’re not here to find your soul mate, he reminded himself, just someone to let loose with.

He was tired of everyone ragging on him for being a workaholic. Hell, if he hadn’t worked so hard for the past ten years, Gabe wouldn’t have been able to go to college. Someone had had to pay the bills after their parents died. Plus, his work was satisfying in a way his player of a brother would never understand, so the nagging hadn’t really bothered him.

Until his last girlfriend dumped him because he was too “old and settled” for her, that is. Then he’d felt a bit of a sting. He was only thirty-three, for God’s sake!

Even then her comments hadn’t really hurt him. Not until she’d turned the sting into a downright festering burn by adding that his good looks couldn’t compensate for his lack of imagination in the romance department, let alone the bedroom.

Anger, and a twist of uncertainty, burned a hole in his gut. That had been hitting below the belt, literally.

Lack of imagination? He had plenty of imagination. And the wild-child woman his little brother had set him up with was going to help him prove it.

Halting next to her table, he pasted a winning smile on his face and opened his mouth.

“Excuse me. Christina?”

When Gina Devlin realized the question was directed at her, she huffed out a grateful breath and tossed aside her charcoal pencil. Normally she didn’t welcome interruptions when she was working, but her temperamental muse had deserted her, taking any semblance of artistic talent along with him. That made it pretty damn hard to get the sketches for her new commission down.

Eager for a distraction, Gina leaned back in the spindly chair and looked over the wall of muscle standing next to her corner table with a big grin on his gorgeous face. And her skin immediately began to itch from the inside out.

He was her favorite type of distraction-big and male.

The buttoned-up shirt and pressed jeans he wore did nothing to detract from the wide shoulders and slim hips they covered. But, in her mind, they did label him a stickler for the rules, and that made him totally not her type. Only a real stick-in-the-mud irons his jeans.

Not being her type didn’t stop her eyes from continuing to skim appreciatively over his trim hips-and the impressive package between them, too. And of course she couldn’t stop there, so she mentally drooled over his muscled thighs for a long moment before raising her gaze to meet his.

A steady gaze that was vaguely familiar.

Shaking off that thought, she realized he’d called her Christina. The little devil inside her strained at the leash she’d kept him on for the last six months. Poking her with his pointy tail, he screamed, “Do it! Do it!”

Before she could think twice, her lips parted, and the words tumbled out. “I prefer Tina.” It’s closer to Gina.

Chapter Two
In a voice that was so smooth and deep it sent shivers down her spine, Mr. Gorgeous stick-in-the-mud introduced himself. “I’m Caleb-Gabe’s brother.” He held out a large hand to her.

Gina leaned forward, slipping her hand into his. Long fingers wrapped gently around hers; the heat of him soaked through her skin and inched its way up her arm. Her palm tingled sharply, and images of open mouths, sweaty bodies, and tangled sheets filled her mind.

Whoa! She pulled back in surprise.

To cover up her sudden disquiet over the vision, she waved blithely at the empty seat across from her. “Have a seat, Caleb.”

What was she thinking? Or better yet, what the hell was she doing? She had a deadline; she didn’t have time to waste on a man, no matter how good-looking he was. Of course, it was rare for her to get a psychic flash just from shaking hands with a stranger-especially if she hadn’t deliberately opened herself up and searched for one.

Rarer still for the vision to be one that made her whole body flush with arousal.

Gina eyed Caleb from under her lashes as he deposited his coffee mug gently on the table and settled his large body into the tiny iron chair. Despite his good looks and awesome body, this guy was here to meet someone else. Maybe she should’ve reined in her little devil and let him move on.

Then again, there was no such thing as a coincidence. Right?

Which she could take to mean … he was meant to meet her.

She’d been struggling with her new collection of sketches anyway. Her muse had given up and run away to have some fun. She should do the same. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d forgotten about everything but having a good time. And if the vision-of hot, sweaty bodies rolling around together-she’d had when they touched was any indication, this man could show her a really good time.

With a mental shrug, she smiled flirtatiously at her tablemate, and the hunk smiled back, blue eyes twinkling playfully.

There was a brief silence while they openly checked one another out. Gina shifted in her seat and crossed her legs, getting comfortable. His eyes followed her movements, and she fought back a wicked grin. Even dressed as she was, in casual just-off-work clothes, she knew she looked good. Then they both spoke at once.

“How do you-”

“So what do you-”

They laughed together, and the tension eased. Caleb settled back in his chair, spreading his hands wide. “Ladies first,” he said with a crooked smile.

Relishing the jump in her pulse at his smile, she leaned forward, giving him a clear view of her cleavage, and arched an eyebrow at him. “I was just going to ask what you liked to do for fun?”

Heat warmed his gaze, but Gina was pleased to see that while he glanced at the offered view, he didn’t stare down her top crudely. Instead he locked eyes with hers and showed off perfectly white teeth in a sardonic smile before answering softly. “I haven’t made much time for fun lately. In fact, just the other day I was accused of being old and stodgy.”

“You?” She chuckled softly. “You look like you might be a little uptight. But definitely not old, and, well … stodgy we can fix.”

His eyebrows jumped, a little taken aback by her bluntness maybe, but he didn’t run away. He got points for that. “That’s good to hear. I will admit I’ve let business and various responsibilities take over a large chunk of my life in the past. My construction company is doing well now, and I’ve decided it’s time for a change. Time to stop making work the focus of my life.” He stared at her with earnest blue eyes. “That’s why I agreed to this blind date. It’s time to try new things and remember how to have a good time.”

He got even more points for such an open answer. Gina understood the demands of starting and running one’s own business. Her artwork was a business for her, a part-time one, but still a business. However, she also knew that sometimes a body just had to ignore business and concentrate on the pursuit of pleasure.

A quick scan of the room and her conscience was soothed when she didn’t see a single woman alone anywhere. Caleb’s date had either missed him or pulled a no-show. It was time to kick things up a notch.

“Do you have anything specific in mind for fun, or are you open to pretty much anything?”

The flickering flames in his baby blues burned hotter at her challenge, and his smile turned wolfish. “I’m ready for anything.”

She fought the urge to crow in delight. So he wasn’t as uptight as she’d thought. He might put business before pleasure, but a sense of responsibility wasn’t really a bad thing in a man. And this man definitely had bad-boy potential. She could sense it.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and her inner bad girl roared to life, ready and willing to face all challenges. Suddenly very awake, Gina was fully energized for the first time in longer than she could remember.

It was time to play.

She grinned at Caleb. “I think I can help you out,” she said with cocky confidence. With one last lingering look at her sketch pad, she shoved it into her canvas tote bag and gestured toward the door. “Let’s go somewhere with a bit more action and see what happens.”

Chapter Three

She’d surprised him.

Not many people could do that.

Caleb wasn’t sure what he’d expected when they left the coffee shop, but this wasn’t it. When he watched her swing a slender leg over the seat of a sexy little crotch-rocket of a motorcycle, leaving her thighs almost completely bare, it had never entered his mind that they would end up in a gay bar.

Not that he minded. He didn’t judge people by their sexual preference. It just wasn’t somewhere he would’ve thought to take a woman he hoped to get intimate with.

A quick glance around the dark room made him reconsider. It was early, and the bar wasn’t full, but it was busy enough. Yet no one bothered them. No one even gave them a second look.

Couples, of all combinations, lounged on the various sofas surrounding the room’s perimeter. A small group of young guys were stationed in front of the bar, and a male couple was on the dance floor, swaying back and forth in each other’s arms. He thought about it, and excitement pushed past his apprehension. It was the perfect place to get to know someone. Everyone there was so intent on doing his or her own thing no one paid them any mind. He wasn’t the boss or the big brother to anyone in that bar, and that was surprisingly freeing.

Especially considering where his thoughts were taking him. With his back to the wall, he had a clear view of the room and of Tina’s antics. They’d been playing pool for almost two hours, and despite the fact that he’d been in a constant state of semi-arousal through it all, he’d learned some pretty interesting things about her.

In fact, she fascinated him.

“You mean to tell me that you work at the coffee shop, making sandwiches and lattes for people every day, when you could easily support yourself with your illustrations?” It didn’t make sense to him. He could tell by the tone of her voice when she talked about her art that she loved it, so why would she want to work in a cafe when she could make a living doing what she loved?

A lush breast brushed against his arm as she reached past him for the cube of chalk on the edge of the table, heating his blood another degree. Was she deliberately trying to drive him insane with lust?

She continued to stroll around the table, looking for her next shot as she talked. “My artwork pays nicely, but if I devoted myself to it entirely, I could easily become a hermit. Working in the cafe lets me deal with real people without getting too close to them.”

“You don’t like getting close to people?”

“I love getting close to the right people,” she said in a husky voice that made his cock swell. She bent over to take her shot, and he got an eyeful of plump womanly flesh cupped lovingly in fire-engine-red satin.

Swallowing hard, he dragged his gaze from her cleavage to her delicate face. The devilish glint in her dark eyes left no doubt in his mind that if he played his cards right, he could be one of the lucky ones. One of the ones she got real close to.

Tina was different than any other woman he’d ever gone out with. No, not different-more. More sexual, more flirtatious, and more unpredictable.

More woman.

Flirting was one of those things he’d just never gotten the hang of. It was too much of an iffy thing, a gray area that was always open to interpretation. He preferred to deal in things that were solid … black and white only.

Unsure of how to handle such blatant flirting without being a complete idiot, he ignored it. “Aspects of construction are like that, too. I deal with clients if I have to, but I prefer to leave that side of things to my brother. He’s the smooth-talking salesman of the family.”

Tina’s lips twitched up on one side, but she didn’t say anything about his lack of response to her flirting. She just let the conversation move on, and continued to kick his ass at pool.

It wasn’t surprising she was winning. Watching her bend and stretch over the green felt that somehow reminded him of his bed was much more distracting than playing with one of the guys. Yet he felt like he was getting to know her better than he ever could sitting across from her at a dinner table.

“So you enjoy working with your hands then?” she asked in reference to his last comment about preferring to work with his crew instead of just supervising. The comment itself wasn’t sexual, but to his fogged brain, everything she said and did had sexual connotations. He was having a hard time being the gentleman he’d always prided himself on being.

Thoughts of getting to know her better in any way but the physical disappeared as she stretched a bit farther to line up another shot, and her skirt rose another inch. Half an inch more and he’d know what color her panties were-if she even had any on.

——————————————————————————–
Excerpted from Sexy Devil by SASHA WHITE Copyright © 2007 by Sasha White. Excerpted by permission.

Comment on any of the Sasha White Excerpts posted today, Thursday 23, 2007 by midnight CST, and you will be entered to win one of the following:

A signed copy of Sexy Devil

A signed copy of Lush

A signed copy of Trouble

Good Luck! Now let’s just hope I can get the other excerpt to post….

Gwen’s review of Sexy Devil by Sasha White
Single author anthology, paranormal erotic romance published 27 Nov 07 by Aphrodisia

I drool every time I see this cover, and it’s a lot since I have a couple of very juicy (very well used) bookmarks with this image on it.  And I sigh, and daydream. Heck, I just all around lust.  Makes me smile in places you can and can’t see.

This is a single author anthology of three related stories. 

The first, The Devil Inside, has some minor paranormal elements and is mostly about the relationship between the hero, Caleb, and the heroine, Gina.  It’s a very sweet and hot story.  Poor Caleb is about as uptight as you can get.  Gina isn’t.  You can imagine the fun the author had with those scenes.  The erotic scenes are very hot and I kept waiting for the two to have sex in public – it would have been scorching.  I liked this story – it’s all about letting go and trusting.  Nice story.  The Devil Inside, Grade: B+

The second story, Devil’s Jewel, is centered on Gina’s older brother, Angelo Devlin (“Angel” to Gina, “Devil” to his friends) and his love interest, Jewel.  This story is mostly paranormal elements and just a smidge about the relationship.  It was a terrific story about how Devil and his partner, Drake, team up with Gina, Caleb, and Jewel to rescue Jewel’s sister from a demon.  Pretty intense fight scenes, and a couple of very hot erotic scenes, made this for an entertaining read.  Devil’s Jewel, Grade: B

The last story, Mountain Retreat, is a short one about an acquaintance of Gina’s, a policeman named Mac, and his childhood sweetheart, Nikki.  They were separated at the end of high school but they never forgot each other.  Fifteen years have gone by and the feelings are still there.  There’s a complication, though.  She’s a recently turned werewolf and she’s terrified she’ll hurt him.  Nonetheless, she needs his comfort, security, and love or she feels she won’t survive.  This was a very sweet, short story.  I loved Mac by the end.  Mountain Retreat, Grade: B

This was a terrific anthology.  I have really enjoyed White’s writing so far (Trouble was a blast).  Here’s to keeping the quality, and the steam, at full blast!  And, Sasha, if you will send me the telephone number of that cover model, I’ll be your BFF.  ;-)

Overall Grade: B+ 

     Blurb:

     The Devil Inside
     Workaholic Caleb Mann used to think blind dates were a waste of time, but when his ex-girlfriend calls him boring in bed, Caleb becomes bent on changing his image fast – with the help of the incredibly sexy woman standing in front of him. He barely knows his date’s name, but her sassy mouth is almost hypnotizing, in more ways than one, and he can’t stop fantasizing about replacing the sleek motorcycle between her firm thighs and letting her ride him all night long…

     Devil’s Jewel
     Ex-soldier and psychic hunter Angelo Devlin has seen evil first-hand. He knows how perilous his assignments can be, and he doesn’t welcome outside help, which makes his run-in with Jewel Kattalis all the more infuriating. But instead of sending her away, he wants to grab her, take her, and tease every inch of her beautiful body. This woman may be more dangerous than any mission he’s ever been on before…

     Mountain Retreat
     This story isn’t mentioned in the blurb.  It’s a shorty at the end about a new werewolf and her childhood sweetheart finding each other again.

     Read an excerpt (from Devil’s Jewel).

What’s next for this author:

 Wicked, releasing 2 Jan 08 by Berkley Heat