The Passion in SINS OF THE FLESH

SINS OF THE FLESH by Caridad Pineiro November 2009 Grand Central PublishingI know we’ve had a fun time chatting about the real science in SINS OF THE FLESH — okay so maybe it’s just me whose had fun with that — but without passion, the science is meaningless isn’t it?

For me, the greater enjoyment in SINS OF THE FLESH came from taking two people who had externalized their passion – Caterina with her music and Mick with his family – and placing them in a situation where they had to acknowledge a different kind of desire. Both Caterina and Mick had been avoiding their own needs for love for a variety of reasons, but when brought together by Fate, they can only deny what they both need for only so long.

Today’s Wicked Wednesday is an excerpt from SINS where Mick and Caterina are finally admitting that there is something growing between them. Something neither of them has experienced before.

In this scene, Mick has just returned home from a visit to the laboratories where Caterina had been genetically engineered against her will. He has gone there to try and get more information on what was done to Caterina. While heading to the building, he runs into an old adversary – Mad Dog Donnelly. Mad Dog has been hired by the scientists to eliminate any loose ends, namely Mick and Caterina.

Mick arrives at home, bloodied and injured and Caterina takes charge, determined to help Mick with the injuries he has suffered on her behalf. Along the way, passion builds . . .

Excerpt from SINS OF THE FLESH

Carefully she tended to the cuts and scrapes on his face, the look on her face intense as she worked. Concerned and guilt-ridden.

He tried to reassure her as she cleaned a scrape on his chin with light strokes. “Like I said, the other guy looks worse. Besides, the fight had little to do with you.”

“I don’t understand,” she said and leaned one hip against the edge of the table as she worked.

“The guy I fought has a problem with me. We used to work together.”

“In the Army?” she questioned as she started to pick up the dirty swabs and remnants of gauze and tape, shooting him a half-glance as she waited for his answer.

“They’d never take a psycho like him into the Army.”

He rose from the chair and the motion brought him close to her. Too close. Her shoulder brushed against the wall of his chest, creating that skitter of reaction once more.

Her head snapped up. Her eyes were that intense ocean blue once more, the pupils wide. The blush even stronger across the high slashes of her cheekbones. She licked her lips in a nervous gesture and the moisture glistened on her lips.

Very luscious womanly lips.

He dipped his head down, hesitating when he was about an inch away. Warning himself that if he took a taste . . .

He did, barely brushing his lips against hers. Experiencing the hitch in her breath that spoke of surprise. Shocked at the moment where surprise became acceptance.

Caterina joined her lips to his, the need for human contact overwhelming any caution about the logic of what she was doing.

His lips were warm and surprisingly soft beneath hers. Mobile as they gently explored hers, pizzicato plucks playing at her heart strings.

She laid her hand against his chest to steady herself. That rock hard chest. Too warm beneath her hand. The skin smooth.

So smooth, she thought as she skimmed her fingers down the length of his body.

He ripped away, toppling the kitchen chair behind him in his haste to be away from her.

Raising his hands, he said, “That should not have happened. I’m sorry.”

She hated that he was right. It shouldn’t have happened. “I’m sorry as well, it was just . . .”

“The satisfaction of surviving. I’ve been through it before. It’s a natural reaction after a battle,” he said and she imagined that he had experienced this same feeling before. The conquering hero coming home to whatever woman awaited him in that place. Celebrating the victory over an opponent. Thumbing his nose at Death.

She understood. Her father had been a warrior in a suit, vanquishing opponents in the marketplace. He would come home, drunk with victory and liquor. Beating his chest and belittling her mother’s accomplishments and joys. Diminishing them to aggrandize himself until her mother had stopped believing in herself.

Until her mother had ceased to exit.

“I understand,” she said, not that she approved. But she couldn’t control herself from reaching up and running her fingers across her lips to savor the lingering feel of him.

His gaze tracked that motion too intently, but then he shuttered that gaze. His face turned stony and his lips thinned into a tight line as he reined himself in.

“I’m going to go get changed,” he said and left the room.

She watched his retreating back, wondering about the kind of man he really was. If there was anything to him other than the warrior who lived only for his own gain and success.

A gain that had to be substantial, she assumed, thinking that Edwards would be willing to pay a great deal to get her back. Would Mick tire of the challenge she seemed to be presenting and turn her over to Edwards for that bounty?

Or was he a man of honor beneath the dangerous and hard persona he insisted on displaying to others?

As she stood there, considering it, she realized either scenario was risky for her. And she realized that just like she had refused to let her father determine where her life would go, she couldn’t just rely on him to get her life back for her.

She had to find a way to take care of it herself.

*****

I hope you enjoyed that little teaser! If you’d like to read more, check out the chapters with this cool widget from Grand Central Publishing. For those of you who cannot see the widget, you can click on this link for some more free reads of SINS OF THE FLESH.

Steps to Reduce Stress

We’ve had blogs about being resilient and choosing happiness. Seems only right that we talk about something else that seems to be getting to people lately – stress.

I don’t about you, but I know I am stressed. With three full-time jobs (attorney, writer and wife/mom), there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t feel like I can’t do another thing. But in making a decision to choose happiness, I’ve also realized that I need to get rid of some of my stress.

Seems hard? In reality, there are some simple ways to eliminate stress in your day.

  • 1. Prepare the night before. Whether it’s just packing up your briefcase or making your lunch to take to work, do it the night before. Round up all that you need so that the next morning you are not scurrying around trying to make it all right. If you lay out everything the night before, you’ll leave the house in a much better frame of mind and will be less likely to forget something important.
  • 2. Get up ten minutes earlier. I know, I know. Hard to do. I like to hit that snooze alarm as much as you do. But if you give yourself that extra time, you won’t be as harried. You’ll also be able to give yourself that extra five minutes in that nice hot shower. I don’t know about you, but the shower is my most creative time. Must be all that water washing away the negative ions.
  • 3. Be polite. Smile, say Thank You and Please. Those common civilities go a long way in not only helping you feel better, but in fostering a positive response in the person with whom you are speaking.
  • 4. Take a nap or go to bed a little earlier. More and more studies are showing that lack of sleep is a killer. treat yourself to an afternoon siesta if you can. If you can’t, try getting to sleep a little earlier and get the rest that you need.
  • 5. Read a good book. It’s amazing how relaxed you can get by sitting back for a half an hour or so and reading a novel that pulls you away to another world for a little bit.

Hope these help you reduce your stress levels!

Also, I’m guest blogging at Pagan Spirits today! Just click on this link to visit me at Pagan Spirits.

Thoughtful Thursday – Help for Haiti

It’s shocking to watch the news and see the devastation in Haiti. My thoughts go out to these people and their families in this time of grief and loss. If you have the ability to do so, please help by making a donation at any of a number charities who are accepting donations. And if you have the ability to do so, don’t forget our own needy here in the U.S. I know the economy isn’t good and things are tough, but as I see what’s happening, it’s not hard to realize things could be tougher.

On a happier note, today I’m visiting at Babbling Books and we’ve got a giveaway for you! Drop by for a chance to win a copy of SINS OF THE FLESH and a T-shirt. You can visit Babbling Books by clicking here or using this link: http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/

Undead Uprising Chapter 22

ww.jpgThis week’s Wicked Wednesday brings you another installment of my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.

In the prior chapters, Catalina had battled two vampires, including a vampire elder. She had killed them both and survived the battle, but not without injury. After word, Caterina recollects about the burden of being a Villalobos and heads home to the man whom she loves, but who refuses to love her . . . until the last chapter (21) when Ramon and Caterina finally allow themselves to explore the feelings they share.

In this chapter, Hemmerich – the villian of the piece — is spying on Ramon and Caterina, watching as they make love. WARNING: This scene is in Hemmerich’s point of view and he is one nasty villian, so expect some nastiness in the scene.

For those of you who may have missed the first chapters, you can read them here:

  • Chapter 1
  • Chapter 2
  • Chapter 3
  • Chapter 4
  • Chapter 5
  • Chapter 6
  • Chapter 7
  • Chapter 8
  • Chapter 9
  • Chapter 10
  • Chapter 11
  • Chapter 12
  • Chapter 13
  • Chapter 14
  • Chapter 15
  • Chapter 16
  • Chapter 17
  • Chapter 18
  • Chapter 19
  • Chapter 20
  • Chapter 21

Chapter 22
**For those over 17 years of age only**

Using his handheld, Hemmerich broke into the video signals with the password he had stolen from Selena’s PDA. She had trustingly left it for him to search. That had allowed him to hack into the secured sections of the Villalobos network. It had helped that they had played right into his hands by giving him the desk job. Now he had all the time in the world to search out the Villalobos secrets while fulfilling the mundane tasks given to him.

He flipped from one channel to the next, surprised at the extent of the video system. From the front doors of the lobby to nearly every office in the building, each area was under surveillance. But then again, what should he have expected at a company that prided itself on being the tops in security?

Each entrance and exit was protected, but that was useless now that he had gained access to not only their computer system, but their private areas. Even now, Selena waited for him in her bed, unsuspecting of the reasons why he was there.

He continued moving through the channels until he got to the ones he wanted to see most — those watching the top ten floors of the skyscraper housing Villalobos Industries. The lower of those floors were used as a common place for the pack and had an assortment of meeting rooms, a cantina, and an infirmary for taking care of the pack’s sick and wounded. There were even a few small apartments for the older members who could no longer hunt or maintain themselves in the outside world.

The next floor up from the common area had belonged to Hembra’s mother, Marti, when she had been Rafael’s wife. That hadn’t lasted long beyond the birth of yet another daughter and then Marti had fled in shame. Her floors had been empty for a few years before being added to the common ground for the pack. Now, a few of Rafael de Villalobos’s most trusted advisors and Catalina’s human shared part of the space. The remaining area was reserved for visitors from other wolf clans.

In keeping with the hierarchy of the pack, Helena’s floor was next, followed by Selena’s, Catalina’s and finally, that of the top man himself.

Rafael de Villalobos had the entire penthouse floor of the skyscraper, fifty floors up with views that would have been envied by Manhattan’s wealthiest denizens. But then again, the Villalobos riches were likely as great, possibly even greater.

And one day they would be his, Hemmerich thought as he imagined when he would ascend to the leadership of the group.

He paused but for a moment as Selena came into view in one camera. She lay in bed, waiting for him. Stupid little cunt, he thought. She didn’t have a clue that she was just a stepping stone on his way to the top.

With a quick move of his thumb, he shifted to the next channel and found Rafael’s bedroom, only it was empty, although it was clear he had been in bed at some point. The sheets were disheveled, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well. Did he sense that his time was nearly over? Hemmerich wondered.

Another flick and Catalina’s bedroom came into view. She was in bed naked, the human beside her, partially clothed and above the sheets. Disgust curled his lip a moment before other emotions gripped him. Desire. Jealousy.

Catalina had never shown him anything other than disdain, but once he led the pack . . .

He watched as the filthy mortal touched her. Moved his hands against her back, stroked the long perfect line of it. Bent his head and tasted the lips that should have been his to taste.

His anger grew, but so did his need as his body sprang to painful life. Tightly gripping the PDA with one hand, he shifted his other one beneath the waistband of his pajamas. Encircled himself and stroked as he spied on the couple tenderly kissing and holding one another.

He couldn’t see beyond the line of the sheets at their waist, but as Ramon moved, he caught a glimpse of Catalina’s breast with its creamy pale skin and the darker caramel tip. Imagined touching her there. Tasting her. The human finally dared, raising his hand to cup her breast.

Hemmerich groaned and stroked harder. Faster. Wished he could sample her. Imagined her kissing him and that he might soon roll her beneath him. Enter her damp warmth.

The sheets dropped away as Catalina pushed the human to his back. She straddled him, her hips shifting back and forth, searching for a completion that she wouldn’t get from her filthy mortal. He wasn’t wolf enough to face the condemnation of the pack and take her.

Hemmerich would have dared.

And he who dares wins, he reminded himself.

The human grasped her hips with his hands and then rolled, bringing her down onto the sheets once more. Ramon slithered his body down Catalina’s until his head was between her legs . . .

A fine film of sweat covered him as he stroked, just a bit harder, but Hemmerich realized it would be an empty release without a woman’s warmth encircling him. Without Catalina’s heat bathing his body.

He shut down the PDA, tossed it on Selena’s coffee table and rose, intent on fulfilling his needs.

When he stepped into the bedroom, Selena eased up in bed and seeing his condition, smiled. “I can tell you’re happy to see me.”

He battled back his disgust at her lame comment. At the neediness that made her so weak, she couldn’t see that his only desires were first for control of the pack and second, lust for her older half-sister.

Forcing a smile to his lips, he slowly approached the bed, easing off his pajama bottoms and kicking them aside as he neared. “Kiss me,” he said and met her gaze, confirming what he wanted.

He took the final step to the edge of bed and Selena rose to her knees, bent her head, and took him into her mouth.

On Choosing Happiness…

I want to thank my friend and fellow author Mary Kennedy for her wonderful blog on resiliency! It’s the perfect segue to something I was discussing with a train friend on the ride home the other day, namely choosing happiness.

As Mary so aptly noted in her blog, “Ruminating and drowning in negative thoughts will not help. Taking action will.”

And one action you can take is to choose to be happy. Some might say that it’s easy to say that, but doing it is a different thing. It’s hard.

Yes, it’s hard. I know. For the last few months — yes months — I’ve been letting a lot of things pull me down. Things over which I don’t even have any control (which being the control freak that I am only makes it worse).

But here’s the thing – I can continue to allow these things to keep me down, but I know that’s not the real me. The real me is usually optimistic and believes that there is goodness out there. That it is possible for good things to happen if (1) I imagine them happening and (2) I work at making them happen.

So, I’m choosing to be happy. I’m going to stop investing time in those things that are pulling me down and refocus on those things that make me happy and over which I have control.

You may be wondering how my talk with my train friend brought this about. Well, we were both discussing how certain things were bothering us and he mentioned a man he once knew. No matter when my train friend spoke to the man and asked how he was, the man would say “Exceptional” and always in an upbeat tone. That consistently made my train friend feel good.

That man chose to be happy and if you think about it, just conveying such positivity to others can raise not only their mood, but your spirits as well.

So if you’ve been like me lately, down and a little depressed about the state of things, make it a point if only for today to be happy. Think about all the good things going on instead of the negative. Try being upbeat and see if that doesn’t change how your day goes today.

If it worked to make today better, try it again tomorrow and then the day after that.

Hopefully you’ll find that by choosing happiness you will improve how are you are feeling.

So to get you started – list one negative thing you are going to put out of your mind today. Or better yet, embrace something that makes you happy.

I’ll start – my daughter. She always makes me feel good!

happy

All I Want for Christmas!

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With Christmas landing on a Fun Friday, I wanted to share with you this Christmas song from one of my favorite movies – Love Actually! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday, that Santa treated you well and that you’re sharing your Christmas with your loved ones.


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