Belated Weekend Review

It’s Thursday and I’m blogging about last weekend. I could say it took me this long to recover, but that’d be a partial lie. Maybe like 70% true, 30% false. Or maybe even 60/40. Either way, this weekend really tired me out. It was fun, but it wore me down.

See, I’ve decided to do this 30-day squat challenge which I started on Thursday last week. (If you’re interested, I’m up to 80 now.) That normally wouldn’t be a problem. Working out, or pseudo-working out is better than nothing. But I forgot about New Orleans. I enjoy spending time in the Quarter, especially when I can show a friend around.

Unfortunately for me and A.M. Griffin, it wasn’t just hot this weekend, it was hot as balls. Pardon my crudeness, but it was a totaly sweaty nightmare. If you’ve never been to the French Quarter, it stinks. Especially when the heat and humidity is high. Bourbon Street doesn’t close as far as I know, so people party all day and night. When people party all day and night, they tend to lose control of some bodily functions and inhibitions and do whatever wherever. If you catch my drift. Don’t get me wrong, the Quarter is still a great place to visit. Usually after a good hard rain though, or if the street cleaners have been out.

That wasn’t the case this weekend.

But that isn’t even the reason I’m so tired. You see, I got to NOLA a little late. I blame it on that wrong turn I took, but by the time I got there it was 10 in the morning and I had to save Griffin from eating her entire stash of chocolate for breakfast. We hit the streets in the search of food…and returned to the hotel at 4 that afternoon. We only sat down twice in that entire time which means we walked a good 4 hours. No biggie, right? Wrong! We were dragging ass by the time we got back to the hotel. DRAGGING. I thought Griffin was going to melt in the heat. It was a nightmare. We had fun window shopping and people watching and staring at the guy in the one-piece swimsuit/jumper thing and heels and shopping some more.

We spent a lot of time in…*frown* I have a card for the store, but I can’t remember what it’s called. It’s an adult toy store. *cough* We actually probably spent more time looking for the store than we did in it. From one end of Bourbon to the other, we traipsed back and forth, ogling the pretty men without their shirts who were there for Southern Decadence Fest, eyeballing Prince and Michael Jackson impersonators and pausing in front of as many businesses with cool air as we could. Because that’s the trick of surviving a walk in the Quarter: Soaking up as much cool air as you can when doors open. Anyway, we finally found the store and bought a whole bunch of stuff to give away. I’m not going to say why we’re giving stuff away yet, but I’ll explain that later.

Anyway, the result of all this walking and shopping and goofing off? We were in bed by 11. Yes, we’re in New Orleans, the Big Easy and we were in bed for 11 p.m. Apparently I snored. I don’t recall. Whatever. It was a long, wearing weekend and we were only together 24 hours! Of course now we’re all excited about RomantiCon in October and RT in May. They’re going to be epic.

If you’re heading to New Orleans for RT next year, my recommendation is to get a lot of walking experience under your belt first, buy a pair of uber comfortable shoes and a bag  you can carry about a case of water in. You know, just in case the heat is atrocious the way it was this weekend.

Guest Author: Cristal Ryder

I think this is almost as good as my debut release with Ellora’s Cave. What you ask? Why my first print book, that’s what! Hot Fusion was originally release in October 2011 in the Oh! Canada line. I was so thrilled for it to be re-released in paperback, along with Letting Jack Watch by Katheryn Wallis. This two book treat is called Canadian Connections.

Hot Fusion is set in a beautiful Ontario town called Niagara-on-the-Lake. I’m fortunate to live close to NOTL and visit frequently. It’s a wonderful area and where the story of Kara and Max unfold. She is a Cordon Bleu chef and he owns a vineyard. In the cooking world when you combine two types of food, like Creole and Japanese for example, it’s called fusion. In this story I combine some steamy stuff between Kara and Max creating a delicious buffet of Hot Fusion. I hope you are inspired to give it a read.

I can’t promote this cover without a shout out to Christian Boeving. He’s the cover model on Canadian Connections. I had the wonderful fortune to meet him at RomantiCon this past October. All the way around he is one yummy guy.

I know Danica will have no problem at all with me talking about Christian, since she has a…ahem…*thing* for the Cavemen in case you haven’t noticed. They seem to turn up here at Unearthly Musings quite frequently.

So feast your eyes upon the delicious Christian, subject of my crush. Le sigh. But, you’ll have to wander on through the excerpt before the reward of Christian 😉 Yes, I can play naughty too, check out some of my other books for that 😉

An Excerpt From: HOT FUSION

Copyright © CRISTAL RYDER, 2011

All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

The afternoon slipped leisurely by and Kara enjoyed a mellow languor she hadn’t experienced in such a long time. Sure, it was the wine and the company, but this little bit of patio time in her hometown was the best medicine.

Max ordered a scrumptious antipasto plate and slid his chair around the table beside her so they could share. Their knees touched, sending little shock waves of desire along her nerve endings to settle between her thighs, keeping her arousal at a nice, pleasant hum. She didn’t move her leg and neither did he. Their connection continued to grow like a live wire sparking between them. She wondered if he was as turned-on as she. And when he glanced at her over the rim of his glass, she knew. The look in his eyes that drove her to distraction as a ripe teenage girl reflected in his gaze now. A little shiver of delight ran down her spine.

She kept glancing at him over the plate of food, unable to take her eyes off him. They had since moved to a nice Pinot Grigio rather than the ice wine and both glasses now sat empty, begging to be filled. She wondered if it was wise to order more. But she longed to continue sitting here with him, sipping wine, people watching and being enveloped in the intoxicating scent of Max and the flowers. Kara was captivated by him all over again.

He draped his arm across the back of her chair in a casual movement and her heart did a little jump when his thumb stroked her bare shoulder. The air between them fairly crackled and she decided the decision had been taken from her. She’d stay. Here, with him, and let jazzy tunes from the hidden speakers wrap them in anonymity.

“So, you liked the wine, eh?”

“Yes, it was very nice. I should do a sweets night featuring your ice wine.”

“I like that idea.”

“Good.” Kara needed to bring something important up but didn’t know how, and was afraid it would shatter the fragile ease that was developing between them. But she had to for her own peace of mine.

“Max. A-are you still marr…” He shook his head and Kara let the word trail away. Relief flooded through her and she didn’t want to press it further right now, or know the reasons he was now single. Time for that later. The fact he was no longer married was all she needed to know.

He gazed at her intently and raised his eyebrows. “Do you want to know why?”

This time Kara shook her head and wagged her finger back and forth. “Not really. At least right now. I just needed to know your, um, situation.”

He sat back and smiled. “Don’t want be the other woman, eh?”

Kara laughed and covered her mouth with her hand, a little embarrassed. “No, definitely not on my bucket list!” She also felt a little ashamed being so thrilled by the news he wasn’t married. Divorce was never easy.

The rest of the afternoon fell to mindless, comfortable banter and Kara’s contentment grew. The stress and hectic days prior began to fade away and she relaxed more as the afternoon wore on.

Kara’s mind began to wander. What would come next? How would they part? Should she ask him to come back and open another bottle of wine? Worry furrowed her brow and she jumped when his hand cupped her shoulder. His fingers traced up the column of her throat and pushed into the curls at her nape, massaging gently. The movement chased the worry from her.

“Mmm, that feels nice.” Kara smiled and faced him. She shivered in delight and he chuckled at her involuntary reaction.

“Cold?”

She shook her head and without a second thought leaned toward him. He encouraged her with a gentle pull. Their gazes stayed connected and just before their lips met, Kara’s eyelids fluttered close.

Her breath caught when he kissed her—chaste and gentle, but with an underlying power she longed to unleash. Kara craved it and kissed him back, opening her mouth to dart her tongue out and taste his. He met her with a sudden ferocity that liquefied her insides. She was helpless to him, her muscles slack and weak. If he didn’t have his arm around her, she would have dissolved into a puddle of passion at his feet.

Kara forgot where they were, all sense of place and time vanished. Her hand crept up to the back of his neck and her fingers played with his hair at the nape. Sound faded and Kara was only aware of him, nothing else. She sensed the sexual tension building in him and knew they should slow down before they embarrassed themselves in public. But she couldn’t stop and moved closer to him, needing the feel of his body next to hers.

The sharp ring and vibrating buzz of her cell phone on the metal table pierced the moment and she jolted away, almost panting. Kara couldn’t catch her breath and fumbled to grab the phone and flip it open. It was the bakery number.

“Hel—” Kara cleared the roughness from her throat and glanced at Max, who was flushed and watching her intently. His dark gaze made promises she wanted him to keep. Kara looked away to try to rebalance herself. “Uhm, hello?”

“Hi, Kara.” It was Jilly, one of her co-op students. “Hey, are you all right?”

“Uh, sure. Why?”

“You sound kinda weird.”

Weird? No, just incredibly horny. “What do you need?” she asked a little too harshly and immediately regretted it.

“Oh, anyway, the health inspector is here.”

“What? Holy shit, I completely forgot.” Kara’s passion extinguished as if a bucket of cold water had been sloshed on her. “I’ll be right there.”

Kara quickly gathered her bags and turned to Max. “I gotta go. Totally forgot an appointment.” She cupped his cheek in her palm. “Thank you, it was a great afternoon.”

She stood and ignored the curious looks from the other patrons and dashed from the patio. As she rounded the wall of flowers, she glanced over her shoulder at Max. He leaned comfortably in his seat, his arm once again draped across the back of the chair she had been sitting in. He winked and smiled at her.

Holy crap.

That one simple and utterly sexy look totally reignited her passion for him. How could she possibly concentrate on a boring old health inspector now?

~~~

….and, Christian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready for the whole caveman crew? I had the good fortune of posing with when I received my award for Rock-Hard Heat. The reason I look like a huge marshmallow is because I was still in my hazmat costume for the Mayan Survivor Party.

So, are ya’ll beefcaked out? I’m not. Anytime baby!

You can find me at:

www.cristalryder.com

https://twitter.com/#!/CristalRyder

https://www.facebook.com/cristal.ryderauthor

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RomantiCon: The Writers

I’m back again with another recap of RomantiCon 2012. Before I get to the meat of the post I have a special announcement. I worked my ass off to hunt track down each of EC’s cavemen to ask them one special question: Would they mind being interviewed here on my blog. And you know what they said? They’d love to! The things I do to try to make y’all happy. You want the sexy menz? I’m going to bring them to you, but you have to work for it first.

I’m giving you until Monday, October 22 to come up with some questions you’d like me to ask these wonderful men. And they are wonderful. Please leave your questions in the comments and I’ll compile them for the guys next week so we can all get to know the Cavemen a little better.

And now, the rest of the story…

I’ll admit to being a little concerned about this conference. No, I wasn’t expecting them to truss me up as some virgin sacrifice to one of their sexy cavemen…although that would have been awesome. It’s that whole “What if no one wants to be my friend?” feeling. Like you’re in high school all over again and praying you remembered to put deodorant on.

But it wasn’t like that at all. Mainly because I shared the shuttle with another writer who was attending their first RomantiCon. Sky Robinson was a blast to hang out with. This woman has a laugh that makes you hurt yourself laughing. It was a little less intimidating once you have someone, also new, to talk to because then you start branching out. Tentatively, yes, but by the time you leave the convention, you’re like “What’s up, hooker?” Or maybe that was just me.

Sitting with Sky is the mysterious A.M. Griffin who managed to nearly make me have an accident with her impression of the fine state of Oklahoma. Sorry, it’s an inside joke, but ask her about it if you ever meet her in person. You’ll probably hear a lot of laughing and denials.

I also got to meet Lea Barrymire and Erin Simone, two very lovely, witty ladies who left me in tears at times. In the picture below from left to right, Erin Simone, yours truly, Sky Robinson, A.M. Griffin, and Lea Barrymire. We had so much friggin’ fun, if we’d had anymore, I’m pretty sure we would’ve gone to jail.

There were also some authors who seemed to pop into the picture just to shake things up, but I never managed to get a candid of them. Shoshanna Evers is gorgeous and made me both relaxed and uncomfortable for reasons I’d rather not explain *cough*. Christine d’Abo is friggin’ hilarious and she was my Pro Football Hall of Fame buddy. Three hours of ogling Super Bowl rings, old football jerseys, helmets, shoes and all kinds of things forms a bond unlike any other. And I’m not even mentioning the hours we spent in the Pro Hall of Fame store.

Sasha Devlin is my sister from another mister. Actually, we’ve decided we’re formerly conjoined twins who were unevenly separated as she has the boobs and I got the booty. Francesca Hawley spent some time with us as well and helped me stay up so I wouldn’t miss my flight out on Monday morning. J.K. Coi, Cara McKenna Cristal Ryder, Cassandra Carr, um, um, um….Cara Carnes, um, there’s more! Regina Cole, Virginia Cavanaugh, Aline Hunter, man, the list just goes on and on.

Needless to say there were a lot of authors there who made me feel as though I was right at home. The fact they’re also connoisseurs of beautiful men makes it that much easier for us to get along.

Have you begun checking out flights and hotel reservations for RomantiCon 2013 yet? 😉