giveaway – Page 2 – Behind Closed Doors

Rafflecopter to Get Entries in the Grand Prize for my Release Day Party

To make sure folks get a good chance at winning this prize, I’ve decided to add the link to the Rafflecopter where you can get entries in the contest to win a bunch of swag. Here’s the picture of what you can win:

Tammy Dennings Maggy Logo T shirt

Tammy Dennings Maggy Large Bookbag/tote

Autographed copy of Follow Me: Poetry From the Heart and Soul

Sassy Vixen Mouse Pad

Sassy Vixen and Tammy Dennings Maggy Logo pens

Sassy Vixen and Tammy Dennings Maggy Logo key chains

Tammy Dennings Maggy Logo coffee mug

Now and Forever series trading cards

$10 Amazon Gift Card

$10 Strandbucks (Bookstrand Gift Card)

Just click on the link below. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Island’s Steve Eischer takes over for #WickedAfterDark

Welcome to Behind Closed Doors. For those of you who’ve visited the last few days for the Wicked After Dark Halloween Blog Hop, I turned over the reins to one of my favorite characters, Brigid Moon. Today I’m happy to welcome to the hot seat another of my favorites, Steven Eischer. For those of you who read the first book in this series (thank you!), you will remember the Vegas tycoon who swept Quinn off her feet the moment she entered his casino. He was part of the love triangle I’ll never forget. You see, I never intended on having Quinn fall in love with two men. We’ll get back to that in just a bit.

First let me tell you a bit more about the hot, hunky man who as Quinn’s sister said “has more money than God.” He’s a self-made man, having worked his entire life for all that he has. Over the years he’s basically been married to his job and building his empire…2/3 of Las Vegas if anyone is counting! After two failed marriages, he wasn’t looking for a relationship when Quinn walked into his club at the MGM Grand. One look into her eyes and he was done for. Not that he was complaining!

Unfortunately, Fate and her brothers had other plans for Mr. Eischer that didn’t include having Quinn as his life partner. His intuition picked up on that right off when he witnessed the reaction between Quinn and Jacob the first time they laid eyes on each other on the club dance floor. How about I let him tell the story from here. Come on out and say hello to the gang, Steve.

I love what you’ve done to the place over the last year, Tammy. Purple is our, I mean you favorite color right? Oh, hello everyone! I hope Tammy hasn’t been filling your head with all sorts of nonsense like how I wouldn’t take a backseat and just have the one night stand with Quinn.

(I shake my head. It’s going to be one of those interviews. That devilish smile of his is coming out already and don’t get me started about how his emerald green eyes twinkle when he’s about to pounce. The Devil!)

Well, it’s true! I had intended on just having Quinn and Jacob’s story take off from the moment they come face to face in your club. You were the one who couldn’t stay in the background. One look at Quinn in that little red dress and you were smitten. It didn’t take you long to show her your penthouse, did it?

(Steve’s deep chuckle rumbles in his chest and makes my stomach do a few flips. Heaven help me. This is exactly what happened when he took over the first book!)

Well, you have to admit Quinn was smokin’ hot in that dress. I would’ve been a fool to let her slip through my fingers. Truth be told, I took a gamble that night when I asked her to let me show her my Vegas. She could’ve stayed away from me too. I have to believe it was all going according to plan.

Really? Whose plan would that be?

Yours. Quinn’s the spitting image of you when we were together all those years ago. You were the one who left me all brokenhearted.

(now it’s my turn to laugh) Brokenhearted my ass! Within an hour after I left Vegas you were in the arms of not one but TWO supermodels. We had a lot of fun, I’ll give you that but brokenhearted? Seriously?

Okay, maybe not brokenhearted, but I did miss you a hell of a lot. Until Quinn and her sister strolled into my casino you were the sassiest broad I’ve ever known. No one will ever take your place, darlin’.

You’re still the sweet-talker, Mr. Eischer! Let’s get back to business shall we? Knowing what you know now, would you have done anything differently when it came to Quinn and Jacob?

Not one thing. We were there for each other when it was needed the most. I was there for her when her entire world came crashing down. I helped Jake see the only woman he would ever be truly happy with was Quinn. Both of them brought me out the cycle of living, breathing, and eating my work. Nothing else mattered to me until they walked into my life. Now I’m even richer than I ever thought possible. At the time, I would’ve given everything I had, everything I was if it meant Quinn could be happy with me. But then I had a visitor…

Did you? Whose visit could have made you go from telling Quinn she was your always and forever to chasing down Jake to make him snap out of it and claim his love of a lifetime?

The Lady herself. Fate appeared to me along with her Guardians. Together they filled me in on a few things. I was given a choice. If I chose Quinn then the paths of many others would be altered for this lifetime and the next, including the one who was to be my happily ever after.

I’m…I’m a bit shocked. Why didn’t you tell me this before? This could have made an entirely different outcome to the series—

Exactly. By not telling you about their visit, the stories of the others in our group will be told. And of course, now I get to spend a hell of a lot more time with you. You know, consulting!

(he winked at me! Goddess help me, if I wasn’t married to my own soul mate, I would indeed start up those all night “consulting” sessions!)

Damn it! You get me all unnerved when you wink at me like that. We are supposed to be talking about The Island. What role do you play in this one?

This one is told in flashbacks. It starts out a year after For the Love of Quinn ended. I don’t want to give away too much. I want folks to read our story and of course follow the rest of the series. The last I peeked at your notes, the series is up to nine books. When are you going to put out book three?

Gee, can’t we enjoy book two’s release first? Don’t you worry. The Surrender of Julia (Now and Forever 3) is nearly finished and books 4 and 5 are coming along as well. And yes, you’re in these too. Funny how you just weasel your way into all the books of this series. 😉

I told you before. I can’t stay away from you for very long. Even if you are married to your always and forever, there’s a part of you that you only shared with me. Admit it.

Well, you got me there. Maybe that’s why I keep telling your story. I love how you enjoy helping so many people fulfill their dreams and fantasies. Is that why you own or at least co-own most of Vegas?

Could be. It’s the one place where adults can let loose and enjoy themselves with little restrictions. Why not set up shop here? I get to meet such fascinating people. It’s where I met you. It was about twelve years ago, right?

It was and now’s the perfect time to end for today. How about you come back tomorrow and we can pick up where we left off?

(he raises one eyebrow and flashes that damn crooked smile again.)

With the interview, Mr. Eischer. The interview.

Okay, but you know what it does to me when you say “Mr. Eischer” in that scolding school teacher voice. 😉

Do you see what I have to put up with folks? This is how it will be in every book. He is incorrigible! But I have to admit I wouldn’t want him to be any other way and neither will you when you read his story! Come back again tomorrow for the second part of Steve’s interview. Make sure to check out some more of the blogs participating. You will find some of your favorite authors and some new ones to enjoy as well. Today over on Sassy Vixen it’s the Guardian Michael’s turn. You won’t want to miss out on his story or the chances at the prize package over there.

Speaking of that…here’s the Rafflecopter to catch up on more entries here and below that will be the little froggy icon for the linky list of the participants. Have fun everyone and blessed be!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Last Day of the Hoppy Easter Hop!

Hello and welcome back to Behind Closed Doors! Today is the final day of the Hoppy Easter Blog Hop and the last chance you get to visit the sites of over 200 authors and enter in their contests. If this is your first visit to this site, please leave a comment for your entry to win two of the crochet bunnies I make. A picture of the bunny is available on the post for day one. You can even go back to day one and two and leave comments there so you will get a total of three entries. I will choose a winner from all the entries on Monday April 9th.

I thought I would post a story excerpt from my current work in progress The Island (Now and Forever 2). I thought it was appropriate since I’ve been posting pictures from Maui and part of the book is set on a tropical island. Originally, I had this idea as a short story called “A Christmas Miracle for Jake,” but decided I needed to expand on it more and make it a true prequel to For the Love of Quinn.

For those of you who have read my first book with Siren, (thank you!) this second book will give you the background for both Quinn and Jake and what force was really behind how they felt about each other the first time they met in Las Vegas. I’ve also introduced a fantastic “villain” Julia Santos. She’s a diva through and through, but is she really all that evil? You’ll have to wait until it comes out. I’ll keep you posted on that one! Until then, here’s the excerpt I promised. To set this one up, this is the scene where Jake first arrives on the Island and finds out exactly how and why he’s there.

The waves crashed on the beach, bringing him out of his dream with a start. Jacob bolted straight up out of bed in panic. “Where the hell am I?” He stared at his reflection in the mirrored walk-in closet. “Where the fuck are my clothes?” He glanced around the bungalow, his eyes adjusting to the darkened room. The curtains of the sliding glass doors were gently billowing into the room from the balmy sea breeze. He found a pair of jean shorts on the chair near the door and slipped them on before heading outside to check out his surroundings.

Just outside his quarters, he found a large patio, barbecue pit and bubbling hot tub. “Sweet!” By the looks of the vegetation, Jacob knew he was somewhere in the Pacific Islands, maybe even Hawaii or Tonga. Then again, maybe he was on someone’s private island. It really didn’t matter. He just wanted to find out what the hell was happening to him.

Two figures walking along the beach appeared in his sight. He waved to them as they moved up the beach toward his bungalow. The younger man looked about his brother Eric’s age, covered in tattoos, and something about his eyes made goose bumps pop out all over Jacob’s skin. They were blue green like the ocean and Jacob couldn’t make himself stop staring at them until the older man spoke. “Welcome to the island, Jakey.”

His mind didn’t believe what he was seeing and his vision blurred a moment before he locked eyes with Michael. Jacob’s knees weakened and the younger guy reached out to steady him. “Pop? How…am I dead?”

Michael took Jacob’s free arm and helped Daniel escort him back to the patio to sit down. “Not exactly. This is what the Big Guy Upstairs calls Limbo. We like to refer to it as The Island. It has a better ring to it don’t you think?”

“This is definitely not like what I thought Limbo was supposed to look like, but I still don’t understand how I got here. One minute I’m packing my bag to visit Maredyth for Christmas, and the next I wake up here.”

“That would be my doing. You were in a bad accident with your bike, brotha.”

“Did I hurt anyone else?” Jacob started to panic. What happened to Julia? Was she with me on the bike?”

Michael sighed. “Let him see a bit, Danny. If you don’t, he won’t believe anything we have to tell him.”

Daniel frowned. “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He closed his eyes and a white glow surrounded the three of them. All could see what happened a few hours ago as if they were there witnessing it again.

Jacob’s head nearly exploded with the lightning flash of images zipping through his mind. The conversation with Kathy at the bar played out in front of his eyes, followed swiftly by the fight with Julia and Dr. Carlos in his condo. Lightning flashed and he felt the wind in his face as if he was riding his Harley again. The last he remembered was the highway wet with the Christmas rain and then the semi was suddenly in his path. He put his head in his hands and groaned. “I don’t want to remember anymore.”

“Here, let me help you.” Daniel placed one hand over Jacob’s eyes and the other cradled the back of his head. A gentle warmth washed over them both and the pain quickly faded.

“How’d you do that?”

Daniel smiled. “It’s a trick of the trade. Something we hope you won’t learn for many more years to come.”

Michael reached for Jacob’s hands. You were brought here for a reason. It’s not your time yet, but you have to want to go back and live, Jakey.”

“What happens if I decide not to go back, Pop?”

His father’s face fell and tears rolled down his bearded chin. “There’s nothing written that says you have to go back. It’s your choice, but you have to understand this. If you stay, you will miss your chance to be with your always and forever. You won’t get the joy of holding your children for the very first time, and you will never know the love of a beautiful woman who needs you as much as you need her, heart and soul.”

Jacob shook his head sadly. “That’s not gonna ever happen for me, Pop. I thought I had that with Julia and she played me for the fool that I am. It happened for Mare and I’m sure it will happen for Eric someday, but not for me. I’m tired of searching for what will never be. I will never find someone to love and who loves me like you loved Ma. What you had together was once in a lifetime. ”

Daniel stared at him with his eyes wide. “So you mean to tell me you just want to give up? We are offering you a chance to experience that kind of love your parents had, and still have.”

“Why waste your time? It’s just going to fall apart anyway. Everything I touch tends to do that. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get ahead. I always end up back home with my parents. Some catch I will be for anyone.”

Daniel’s bawdy laugh caught Jacob off guard. “Yep. You were right, Sarge. He’s stubborn as a mule. Quinn will definitely give him a run for his money!”

Jacob’s confusion grew. Not only was he on some tropical island with two angels, he was supposed to meet someone else. “Who’s Quinn?”

“My sister. She’ll be here soon and you’ll see for yourself.”

This book is a contemporary erotic romance with paranormal elements (angels, the Goddess Fate), M/F and F/F pairings, BDSM and sex toys. It’s going to be a much shorter novel than Quinn’s original story so I hope it grabs your attention enough to want to read more!

Here are a few more pictures from Maui. Happy Easter!

Cheers! Notice the to go cup for my Mai Tai. The bartender was so cute! She gave me a brand new drink after I spilled the first one in the bar!

Here are a couple of shots with us in our Hawaiian wedding attire. Liam’s mother had a blast taking pictures of us all around the resort. People thought we actually got hitched there, but nope. Not yet!

DSCN0381 — snorkelers off the coast of Molokini. It's a bird sanctuary so no one is allowed on it. Too rocky to try anyway!

DSCN0404 — Lanai coast. Look how blue the water is! The day was just perfect for this cruise!

Make sure you leave your contact information in your comment. If you win, I want to be able to let you know! Click on the graphic below to take you to the blog hop event page and the list of the other fantastic authors participating. Have fun!

Day Two of the Hoppy Easter Blog Hop!

Hello everyone and welcome back to Behind Closed Doors! Today is the second day of the Hoppy Easter Blog Hop. There are over 200 participating authors in this hop and plenty of opportunities for you to check in with some of your favorite authors as well as discover new ones. Each site has a contest of their own. Follow their rules to be entered to win fantastic prizes. Here you have the opportunity to win two hand crafted stuffed bunnies. If you go to the first day of the hop, I posted a picture of what the bunnies will look like. The winner gets to choose the colors, so make sure you leave a comment each day to get a total of three entries in my contest

So for today’s post, I wanted to share more pictures from our trip to Maui. We had a lot of fun together and basically relaxing. We were on the side of the island that had a hell of a lot of wind action, but that pretty much kept things comfortable…until it rained that is. One of the days, each time I tried to lay out by the pool, it started to rain. Not just sprinkle either. I’m talking about about a full on downpour with winds whipping everything around. Hell, it felt like a tornado was trying to happen. I was not amused! The next day, the weather changed and I got to have my fun in the sun. Hope you enjoy these pics. More will follow tomorrow! Make sure you click on the the hop graphic to take you to the entire list of authors and their links. Have fun!

Here’s my nutty fiance helping me test out my camera.

Here’s the view we woke up to every morning.

The view looking down from our porch balcony

The following are a few pictures from our day snorkeling cruise to Molokini and Lanai. Our boat was called The Voyager. We had a great crew lead by Captain Doug. The other very important person on board was Mikey…the bartender! He was also in charge of the bbq and did a fantastic job.

Spinner Dolphins were found near Lanai.

We couldn’t anchor at Lanai for the snorkelers. It was too rough and Captain Doug thought it wouldn’t be fun if people’s snorkels were to get flooded while they tried to breathe. LOL Good Point!

I thought I would end today’s post with one of the pictures of Liam and me in our wedding garb at sunset. It was a lot of fun dressing up for his mother to take pictures.

Here’s one more sunset to enjoy before I go. I just loved them in Hawaii!

Last Day of the Naughty After Dark Blog Hop!

Hello once again and welcome to the final day of the Naughty After Dark Blog Hop! I hope you had fun visiting all of the sites for all of the participants and have yourselves entered in all of the giveaways. I wish you all luck!

DSCN0251 — More stuff for the Vegas Bling Basket

Today I promised to put up more pictures of what I have in the Vegas Bling basket. I still have one more stop to make during this trip in order to finish up with the goodies, but here are a few more items to add to the picture I posted the other night. Today’s picture has a few items I picked up at the M & M Store (Miss Green of course!), The House of Blues, and LUSH. I have more LUSH items at home to include in the basket too. Once I get back home, I will have the full inventory of the giveaway basket for the winner. Which reminds me, I will be announcing the winner tomorrow late morning/early afternoon Pacific Standard Time. I still have a few lectures to attend before I wrap up another year of attendance at the Western States Veterinary Conference.

DSCN0255 — Lotion and Shower Gel from New York New York

I loved the comments from yesterday’s blog about taking my winnings and RUN! LOL! I used to think that way, back when I had grand ideas of going to Vegas to “win big.” That was entirely the wrong attitude to have and the quickest way to lose all of my money on day one. So over the years I’ve developed a strategy. First and most important…join the players club of the casinos you will be dropping your cash in. Use that card every single time you play any slot machine or table game. The more you play, the more points you add up and the more comps you get for your current trip.

Second, make sure you sign up for either home delivery or emails of special offers from the casinos that are part of your players club. The MGM group is all part of “M Life” and the cards work at NYNY, MGM Grande, Excalibur, Luxor, The Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, the new ARIA, and Bellagio. There are a few others, but you get the picture. Each one will send you offers if you spend any time in their casinos. If you have a favorite hotel/casino, then by all means keep all of your business with them.

Finally, if you eat at the restaurants in the casino, make sure that you charge the tab to your room. You will be paying for it one way or another, so go ahead and charge it to the room. The reason you do this is to give the players club people a chance to be able to comp these services for you toward the end of your stay. For example, last year we had an offer for three nights at The Hotel at the Mandalay Bay. Between the three of us in the room, we played enough to cover the remaining days of our stay and ALL meals on our tab. We also had the resort fees comp’d. So an entire week in Las Vegas last year cost us NOTHING except our airfare.

I wanted to share a bit more of the naughty stuff in Vegas. We’ve covered the gambling and the chocolate. Let’s take a look at a bit more…

This was on the Playboy Slot machine as it hit all of those wilds and starting tallying up my winnings for that one spin

DSCN0250 — Final tally of this bonus round ended up being over $200 Whoohoo!

And those bells and whistles kept on going!

And for the Princess in all of us…

Is it time to make the doughnuts?

DSCN0236 — The Tattoo Parlor in the Mandalay Bay and the inspiration for the one in my book

How about a little ink? Body piercing?

What about a little shopping? Lingerie anyone?

Whatever you fancy, there is something for everyone here in Las Vegas…adults that is. Sure there are a few places that make it look like it’s kid friendly, but don’t kid yourself. This is an adult playground and it needs to stay that way! This is not the place to be bringing your toddler or teenager. You want a family vacation, go to Disneyland. Leave Vegas for your adults only getaways. You will thank me for it one day!

Before the day is over, please take the time to stop in on the other sites participating in this hop. All you have to do is click on the graphic below and you will be directed to the linky page. Have fun and remember to stay naughty!

Links to the other authors in the hop — Catch up with the other authors in the hop

Naughty After Dark Blog Hop continues…day 7!

Today’s post isn’t going to be very long. I had a full day of lecture yesterday, checked out the exhibit hall and then met up with my Mom at the House of Blues for dinner before hitting the slots once again. Still doing fairly well in that department. Another fun machine has the Playboy bunny theme. On one of the spins I got a couple rows filled with wilds and it ended up giving me 90 bucks! Not bad for a penny slot machine, huh?

I didn’t get outdoors yesterday for pictures, but I did pick up a few more things for the bling basket. I hope to have all the rest of the gifts by tonight so I can get a final picture and list of what is in it for the blog. I’m having such a good time finding these things! When I stopped into the store called LUSH, I told the sales person what I was buying the body wash for, she took down all of my information and she will be putting a link up on their website to promote my books! Whoohoo! I’m going to have to go back and get some pics of the store for my post tomorrow. The store was a bit crowded and I was just trying to get in and then out of there as fast as I could.

As I’ve mentioned in the other posts over the last week, you still have time to visit the other authors in this hop and get entered in their giveaways. There are over 100 of us so there is something for everyone. Who knows…you just may find several new books for your TBR piles!

So click on the hop graphic below to take you to the list of authors. Before you leave, make sure you leave a comment here to get another entry in my giveaway too!

13-dC582onie-sensual-hot-sexy-coupl3 — Links to the other FAB authors in the hop

Make sure you come back tomorrow for the last day of the hop and hopefully I will have more pics to share with you all and of course, the list of the items in the Vegas Bling basket!