Coming Around Again

I'm back from my little jaunt to Italy! If you hadn't seen on my Facebook page, I left a little excerpt of the book that has seen me through a box of Kleenex, weeping and wailing and wailing and weeping. I'm over it though. Not selling it am I... Maybe this bit will though!

Niels takes over my blog.. 

Stella felt an elbow digging into her ribs. And something else hard between her buttocks and there was definitely a hand, a large male hand, cupping her breast. Underneath the material of Niels’ T-shirt, on the bare skin of breast that remained untouched since the last time she’d had sex with her husband, cupped.
“Are you awake?” Niels grumbled from behind her. “Do you need to be sick again?”
“The hell are you doing?” she demanded, wrestling out of his grip and slapping his hand from her tit.
“I was sleeping,” he said on an enormous yawn. “Until you started moving about.”
“You were feeling me up. Rubbing your chub into my bum,” she accused.
Niels lifted the duvet and started laughing. “Oh, come on, Stella. You know how much I love your pumpkin.”
“Don’t call it that.”
“This is all automatic. I don’t think it’ll ever change. There’ll be a day when I’m old and couldn’t encourage an erection. But while you still have that delectable ass, I will forever feel my manhood.”
“You’re ridiculous,” she threw at him, turning onto her side and tucking the duvet more tightly around herself.
Niels caught the T-shirt in a bunched fist and dragged her against his bare chest. “You didn’t have any complaints when you were sleeping earlier. Actually, you told me to move my hand lower.”
“I’m clearly delirious. And you’re taking advantage of a sick woman.”
“My wife.”
“Ex-wife.” She shivered as his palm slipped warmly underneath the T-shirt again, his thumb skimming over her navel.
“There’s still a possessive pronoun. Mine…” he added on a whisper.
“Look, I’m ill. I don’t need you molesting me with our children in the next room.”
“Why do you pretend I don’t know you? Post-orgasmic Stella always sleeps better than irritable Stella.”
So very true, but she couldn’t let her barely ex-husband touch her anywhere outside of the sanctity of marriage. God, the things she’d let that man do to her sexually…
“You shouldn’t,” she muttered while his index finger traced the line of her lace Brazilian-cut knickers.
“Nothing I haven’t done before,” he assured her, parting her thighs with his hand and slipping his fingers beneath the edge of her panties.
“Sleep, my sweet,” he whispered. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

Night and Day

Looking for book 3 in the IK series? It's on Amazon for your reading pleasure. The link to the playlist is inside the book, so you can shake your booty African style while you read.

A Life Sublime on Amazon

That's a blurb!

Belinda Afriyie is only in the Neapolitan Riviera for the wedding of her best friend’s daughter, never mind the fact that she bullied her way into it, mostly out of guilt for not being the mother figure that she should have been. At the very least, she had to make sure that Gina Robinson did her Ghanaian duty in marrying Nick Da Canaveze, even if Belinda had to get on a plane, pay excess baggage and suffer the heat for it. There would be no time for sightseeing, lounging around infinity pools and definitely no time for flirting with anyone. Especially not The Big Man, who was as troublesome as his son. The twinkle in Massimo Da Canaveze’s eyes told her that he was more than just trouble. He was a huge, fat God-like sign of what was missing from her life. Of just how glorious life could be with someone like him in it... But a man like him would never give her a side glance. It was fine. The wedding celebrations would last all of four days and she’d be off home. No looking. No touching. No flirting. None of that was good for her or her ego.

Massimo Da Canaveze is not enjoying his status as widower. He’s lonely. Feeling that way had become a way of life and his son’s wedding at his 800 year old family villa would hopefully put that to a stop. He would be surrounded by people he loved.  What he didn’t expect was the shrill voiced, authoritative, all commanding, arresting personality that was Belinda Afriyie to blaze through Italy in figure hugging, traditional African dresses and floaty kaftans that left little to the imagination. There hadn’t been an ample bosomed challenge like her to cross his path since his late wife. With a little music, a little sunshine, more than a bit of whiskey, he and Belinda were going to become very good friends.

Four Italian named puppet masters sit on the sideline of this play, throwing pizza pies to hit two half-centenarians in the eye. The Da Canaveze family is about to add to their growing number and no one is more shocked about it, than the puppets…

That's an excerpt!

He sent her an assessing look. “Why are you afraid of having things in common with me?”

Belinda turned to him, fury in her eyes. “Pardon?”

“The idea of having similarities with my life worries you. I can tell. We are all simply human. If not always with the same set of sensibilities.”

Hmm. “You and I both know that is not always the case.”

Those crystal blue eyes twinkled. “That sounded nice.”
“What?”

“You and I. Please do continue, we may even eventually agree with one another.”

Ridiculously attractive man, she thought, a reluctant grin tugging at her mouth. “Eh heh. All right, I’m going to go and sort myself out.”

“Belinda,” he said with a mild warning, as she heaved herself from the pool and padded to the lounger, “I am the last sensible adult in this villa. You should stay friends with me, even if we disagree, or you will have no one else to talk to.”

He has a realistic and very valid point, she thought, snapping off her swimming cap. God knows she wished there was a palm tree within reach where she could remove a few swatches and swat the idiocy from the mouths of those children. “I’ll let you know,” she replied smartly, pulling the kaftan over her head and wrapping the towel around her hair. He was still watching her. Naughty man, she knew that look. That same sort of look had got her into trouble before she had married and a good many times after. “You behave yourself. I told your son and I’ll tell you too. I am not afraid to beat you if you give me nonsense.”

Massimo glanced down at his arms before looking up, a light in his eyes that should have sent her running for her passport and on the first plane back to London. “What makes you think I would not enjoy that?”

“Because you’ve never had a proper beating from me,” she retorted, collecting her things and making her way back to the villa. There would be something to occupy herself with and take the goosebumps from her flesh that had nothing to do with being cold and everything to do with the husky laugh of the man still in the pool.

Lose Yourself To Dance

This is my 200th blog post! Yay! And I'm so glad that it's about the music for this story. Makes it all the more special. So as with all the renewed Italian Knights copies, I've complied a soundtrack for A Life Sublime. It's random. More random than normal, but I really hope you enjoy every track. If nothing else, I'm sharing a little of Ghana with you all. Sah, sah, sah, sah!

A Life Sublime on Spotify

1.    Ella Fitzgerald – In A Sentimental Mood

2.    Fuse Ft Donae'O and Tiffany – Azonto

3.    David Bowie – Let’s Dance

4.    Diana Ross – The Boss

5.    Prince Nico Mbarga – Sweet Mother

6.    Shirley Brown – A long As You Love Me

7.    Urban Cone – Winter’s Calling

8.    Jerry Hansen & The Ramblers Dance Band – Ama Bonsu

9.    Cecilia Bartoli – Caro Mio Ben

10. Tarantella – Italian Mandolin Torna A Surriento

11. The Naked and the Famous – Punching in a Dream

12. Jodeci – FreekN You

13. Kanye West – Golddigger

14. Nat King Cole – I Love You For Sentimental Reasons

15. Cameo – Candy

16. The Flamingoes – I Only Have Eyes For You

17. Al Green – Let's Stay Together

18. Al Green – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

19. Adele – Hometown Glory

20. Bill Evans – Night and Day

21. Dean Martin – That’s Amore

22. Ms Victoria Barnes – Never Too Late

23. Ella Fitzgerald – Blue Skies

24. Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing

25. David Bowie – Modern Love

26. Dean Martin – Return To Me

27. Coldplay – Lost

28. Daughter – Medicine

29. Verdi's La Traviata – Di Sprezzo Degno

30. Verdi’s La Traviata – È strano!

31. Ella Fitzgerald – Someone To Watch Over Me

32. Billie Holiday – I’m A Fool To Want You

33. Jay-Z – Otis

34. The African Brothers International Band – Wompe Masem

35. The English Christian Hymnal – Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

36. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa – Turnadot: Signore, ascolta

37. Jewel Ackah – Sea Never Dry 

38. Otis Reading – These Arms Of Mine

39. Al Green – What A Wonderful Thing Love Is

40. Etta James – Be Mine 

Let The Music Play

Goodness, one does double up on the tracks! There are songs that I naturally gravitate to when I write, or edit because they instantly take me where I need to go, emotionally, mentally... Someone's going to report me one day and I'll end up explaining myself to the police, won't I?

Soundtrack ahoy!

Kissing the Canvas on Spotify

1. Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait
2. Bastille - Pompeii Kat Krazy Remix
3. Charlotte OC - Colour My Heart
4. Laura Mvula - Green Garden
5. Nicki Minaj - Superbass
6. Lana Del Rey - Brite Lites
7. The Joy Formidable - Wolf's Law
8. Disclosure ft Eliza Doolittle - You & Me
9. Florence + The Machine - Only If For A Night
10. Chris Malinchak - So Good to Me
11. Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull - Dance Again
12. Sia - Kill and Run
13. Kanye West - Bound 2
14. Kasabian - Shoot the Runner
15. Adele - Rolling in the Deep
16. Jessie Ware - Wildest Moments
17. Janelle Monae - Tightrope (No Big Verse)
18. Interpol - The Specialist 
19. Bloc Party - SRXT
20. Rudimental ft John Newman- Feel the Love

Still The One

Now that Tony is back out causing mayhem, I've put Windows on a bit of a flash sale which ends in two days time! The book is over three years old and to celebrate, it's available for $2.99 of your hard earned money. If you haven't taken the plunge yet, get on it!

Anniversary Convincing....

Never having felt more frustrated, he put the key back in the ignition, ready to go home. He was fooling himself. There was no chance of him cutting Gina out completely. He was a mug, entirely hooked on the way that silly girl smiled at him and called him “dude.” He hadn’t been able to stop being in love with her for years. In fact, the realization he was in love with Gina had made him physically sick a single month after they’d met.

Nick had been raw from a row with his father, involving phrases such as “Why aren’t you more like your brother?” and “wasting your life.” The only way to drown them had been with beer, then tequila following the huge DJ event on the beach in Brighton.

Annabelle had left in disgust, taking the last train back into London. He would need to apologize to her in the morning. Gina had gone from mildly amused at his inebriation to concerned in an hour. She had forced a coffee down his throat and bought him a litre bottle of water to drink through steadily. And their designated driver, Karl, had to stop every ten minutes for Nick to void his bladder, bouncing off the walls of whatever alleyway was nearest. In the car, he had flopped onto Gina’s mini-skirted lap and gazed goofily up at her. She had trailed her fingers along his scalp, his hair on her bare thighs.

“Dude,” she murmured.

“Wasted,” Karl snorted.

“Can you just concentrate on the road?” Gina flashed. “He’s had a hard day—leave him alone.”

Nick started to laugh uncontrollably. Gina held up a few fingers. “How many?”

“Five,” he guessed. Only to realize what he’d said and laugh harder.

“Jesus,” Karl swore.

“Road, fool!”

“There’s only one of you, G, that’s a shame,” Nick murmured.

“Silly boy,” she admonished, continuing to filter his hair through her fingers.

He turned his face into her soft belly and thought he could stay there forever if need be. What would he do without her? Annabelle had fucked off; his father didn’t think much of him at the moment because he was questioning everything his father did. And Gina, sweet, beautiful, fantastically curved Gina, just accepted him as he was. She didn’t want him to be anyone else, not like that insane Candace or credit-card obsessed Kelly or what was that junkie called, the one who loved prescription drugs? Sam! He loved Gina instead.

He sat up.

“What’s up?”

Bile rushed up his throat. “Karl, stop the car!” 

She pushed him out just before the car fully stopped, and Nick heaved out everything in his stomach, and maybe his feet; he’d never thrown up so much. When he was finished, Gina gave him a bottle of water to rinse out his mouth. He sat down on the floor of the car; a small bottle of fizzy water and a packet of ready-salted crisps were placed in his lap. Eyes red from the force of vomiting, he looked up at Gina. She touched the tips of her fingers to her lips and drew them over his cheek. “I know you.”

“You’re my best friend,” he stated, upset by this fact and the indisputable realization that he would never be able to change it.

“And aren’t you lucky!” she laughed.

He’d waited for his feelings to change, for them to go away, or die down, to disappear altogether. He ended things with Annabelle, but tried to have meaningful relationships and concentrated on making his father happy by doing something useful. So he completed his studies in accountancy, assisting with the family business in a committed manner. Every effort he made was so much more worth it after a simple text message from Gina. He treasured a hug from her more than three or four months of incarceration with the girls he chose to replace her. He was the satellite to her world.

A few years ago, he’d finally resolved to make her see what they could be together. He’d gone to Tiffany & Co. and bought her an engagement ring. She had thrown him a congratulations party at the restaurant/bar she had been working at and introduced him to her new boyfriend, who had shaken his hand warily, having heard a lot about Nick. Gina, with a glowing face, had silently asked for his approval, and he had given it. Devastated, he’d kept the ring. He still had it. If Gina had opened the drawer in his bedside table, she’d have seen it. It sat gathering dust while he waited for the right time. There would never be a right time.

He drove back to her house and forced himself out of the car. Brave it. He would tell her tonight, and end his daily torture with her. He knew how amazing they would be together, if she gave them the chance. As he approached the house, he nearly came to a grinding halt. A man peering through a crack in the front door. Instinct kicked in, and the heel of Nick’s hand connected with the man’s chin, then a sharp chop to his neck left him in a heap on the floor. Nick stepped over him, and for the rest of his days, he would marvel at how he didn’t kill anyone. 

Windows on Sale

What A Man...

Hello there my Tony the Tiger! He's grrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeat! Two down and three more to go...

Caristo on Amazon

Caristo's Blurb

Tony Caristo was just minding his own business, waiting for his selfish bullet-magnet of a best friend to get out of surgery, when the sexiest nurse he’d ever even imagined walked right up to him, all luscious figured, to give him a right telling off with an Irish-lilted wit. All she missed was a fig leaf and a snake around her shoulders. His interest absolutely piqued, he sets himself up to do something about her, pretty damn quick. Tony isn’t a man given to waiting around for good things to happen to him. And Lydia is all good; every single, five foot eight, double F-cupped inch of her. When Lydia asks his best friend, Nick for a favour, Nick reminds him just what a useful friend he is by letting Tony handle it. And Tony cannot wait to handle all of her… 

Lydia Mills doesn’t have any time for nonsense, especially since she’s looking after her younger brother. She just needs to get him into university, without getting him killed by an ex-boyfriend she thought was well shot of. Fed up of literally trying to kick some sense into the fool, Lydia figures her only option is to have someone else do the kicking. Once she turns to Nick Da Canaveze for help as a last resort, he promptly hands her problem over to Tony Caristo to do the hard work, completely convinced that Lydia will come through it all in one piece As she takes in the eejit’s stealth, intelligence, utterly inappropriate wit and gorgeous bum, Lydia soon understands Nick’s confidence in his friend. Moreover, she really starts to worry what she’ll do without Caristo and his busy hands when the job is done. 

On Caristo's Watch is the second in the Italian Knights Series, showing that behind every criminal mastermind is a woman who will drive him to distraction with a look, a quip and a dress made to start all sorts of trouble. 

**Added extras: interviews with the characters and playlist**

Caristo's Excerpt

Tony knocked on Lydia’s door. He was doing this the polite way, as tomorrow they’d have a secure enough location to accost Kelvin Hammond. Good God, what had she been thinking? Well, she had said it was a Christmas party. Nurses hardly held back on the booze when it was free.

Lydia opened the door with a suspicious look on her face, her hair messily finger combed away from her forehead. There wasn’t a stitch of makeup on her face, but her eyelashes curled naturally toward her brows, her cheekbones glossy and tinged red beneath the mocha skin. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards. She had to be the most naturally beautiful woman he’d ever met, even though she wore a top that was bleached at the elbow and pyjama bottoms he’d seen in a toothpaste advert in the eighties.

“Hi,” she said slowly, confused.

“All right, Lyds?”

Her mouth tightened disapprovingly. “When did you start calling me Lyds?”

“About five minutes after I met you. Can we come in?”

“We? Who’s ‘we’?”

Tony nodded toward the guys behind him. “These lot. We’re redoing your windows first and fitting a proper security system.”

He edged his voluptuous new friend to the side as the men gave her a polite nod and they entered one by one with all sorts of equipment. “You can’t! I rent this place!”

“Yeah, I know. But your windows as they are won’t support the system. So we have to change them. And your door too. Let’s just go out.”

“No!” She heaved with horror. “Jonathan’s not here! I have knickers drying on my radiator!”

Tony paused to enjoy that image for a moment. “They won’t care. Come on.”

“I’m wearing pyjama bottoms!”

He sighed. “No, still don’t care. We’re going down the road, for a few hours.”

Grabbing her coat, and not bothering with keys as she’d be getting a whole new set anyway, he hustled her out of the flat and down the stairs.

“Why are you manhandling me?”

“I get moody when I’m hungry. And I’m hungry.”

It was best she knew that sort of thing now, to avoid any awkward growls and conversations. “There’s a café around the corner.”

“That little Spanish place? Yes, that’s where we’re going.”

Lydia frowned. “And you know that little Spanish place because?”

“I know everywhere in London that does good food.” She made a dismissive noise in her throat. Tony looked down at her. “What was that sound? It was halfway between a goat in pain and a lion giving birth.”

Her mouth fell open for a moment before she burst out laughing. “You’ve missed your calling on the comedy circuit. Although you would have to grow more of a beard than the designer tickle you’ve got on your jaw. And put on another five stone.”

“Who says I didn’t?” he teased. She shook her head.

“You’re a plonker, but you’re lucky this place now has a liquor licence.”

Tony hooked an arm around her shoulders. “I know having a drink is like a blood transfusion for you.”

She gave him a sharp slap on the arm. “Just because I’m Irish!”

He grinned, holding the door open for her. “I don’t do stereotypes.” 

Rude Boy

Sir Tony of Caristo is almost ready! In his honour and is only fair, here is the soundtrack to Tony playing "schoolboy" on Lydia Atta Mills' bum:

1. Akon - Gun Shot
2. Rihanna - Rude Boy
3. BoB ft Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You
4. Missy Elliot - She's A Bxxch
5. Adele - Turning Tables
6. Tinie Tempah - Pass Out 
7. Cee Lo Green - Old Fashioned
8. Akon - I Won't  
9. T.I ft Rihanna - Live Your Life 
10. Mystikal ft Nivea - Danger (Been So Long)
11. Beyonce - Rule the World (Girls)
12. The Saturdays - Notorious
13. Gyptian Major Lazer Edit - Hold You 
14. DJ Fresh ft Sian Evans - Louder
15. Goldfrapp - Strict Machine 
16. Bruno Mars - It Will Rain
17. Kanye West - Dark Fantasy
18. Timberland ft She Wants Revenge - Time
19. Gorillaz - Kids With Guns
20. Kings of Leon - Radioactive

On Caristo's Watch on Spotify