Now. Onto the good stuff....
Welcome to the Evernight Holiday Blog Hop!
We love the holidays, we love making our readers happy and we love giving away swag. What better way to do that than to hold a blog hop?
Here's how it works... the more blogs you hop to (shown below) the more chance you have of winning prizes. Each site on the hop is offering a prize and Evernight is offering an iPad 2 as the grand prize! To be in with a chance of winning the site prize simply follow the blog you're visiting and leave a comment which includes your email address. Each entry on each blog is then counted towards the grand prize draw. The more entries you have, the better your chance of winning that iPad 2! You also get extra points for liking the Evernight Facebook page. Just make sure you let us know in the comments that you've done so.
Happy hopping!
Here's how it works... the more blogs you hop to (shown below) the more chance you have of winning prizes. Each site on the hop is offering a prize and Evernight is offering an iPad 2 as the grand prize! To be in with a chance of winning the site prize simply follow the blog you're visiting and leave a comment which includes your email address. Each entry on each blog is then counted towards the grand prize draw. The more entries you have, the better your chance of winning that iPad 2! You also get extra points for liking the Evernight Facebook page. Just make sure you let us know in the comments that you've done so.
Happy hopping!
To reiterate, to enter for the iPad 2, you need to leave a comment here (and on all the blogs you visit) that includes your email address. If you liked the Evernight Facebook page, you get an extra entry, but you have to mention that in your comment here as well so I can pass on the info or else it doesn't count.
There's more!
(I've always wanted to say that and mean it.)
In addition to entering to win the iPad 2, I'm giving away a digital copy of Evernight's newest holiday anthology, Vanilla-Free Christmas. That's right, people, it's time for a kinky Christmas (my favorite kind!) To give you a little taste of what you're in for...here's a little taste of "A Few of My Favorite Things"
(NOTE: Excerpt is kinky and not exactly PG-13)
I ran from the cafeteria to Santa’s office. Now, standing outside the intricately carved doors, I leaned against one of the nutcracker sentries, taking a second to collect myself and calm my breathing. He’d expect me here quickly but wouldn’t be happy if I was panting when I entered. A few seconds of deep breathing and my heartbeat slowed to normal.
I rapped gently on the door.
“Enter.” Pulling open the heavy wood, I faced Santa’s broad back as he stared out a window. Next to him a fire roared, soaking the room in heat. He gave a casual wave. “Close the door and wait.”
As soon as the door shut behind me, it vanished as if it had never been. I knew that in the hall the doorway had gone cold, as if Santa were no longer in residence. The first time I’d seen the wood covered in ice, I’d touched it. I’d had frostbite on the fingertip for a week. It wasn’t a lesson an elf had to learn more than once.
Now, I knelt, my tunic tucked under my ass, and rested my hands on my thighs. Staring at the woodgrain on the floor, I waited. It didn’t matter how long. I never counted or tried to figure it out. I simply inhaled and exhaled, never looking, never speaking.
At last Santa stood in front of me. His fingers tipped my chin up, and he trapped me in his steely blue gaze. “The harness is waiting for you. Be ready when I return.”
My heart quickened as I looked at him—I was powerless under his watchful eyes. The stories were true—he saw everything, even the deepest secrets of my heart. When he looked at me this way, I was as good as naked already. “Yes, sir.”
I rapped gently on the door.
“Enter.” Pulling open the heavy wood, I faced Santa’s broad back as he stared out a window. Next to him a fire roared, soaking the room in heat. He gave a casual wave. “Close the door and wait.”
As soon as the door shut behind me, it vanished as if it had never been. I knew that in the hall the doorway had gone cold, as if Santa were no longer in residence. The first time I’d seen the wood covered in ice, I’d touched it. I’d had frostbite on the fingertip for a week. It wasn’t a lesson an elf had to learn more than once.
Now, I knelt, my tunic tucked under my ass, and rested my hands on my thighs. Staring at the woodgrain on the floor, I waited. It didn’t matter how long. I never counted or tried to figure it out. I simply inhaled and exhaled, never looking, never speaking.
At last Santa stood in front of me. His fingers tipped my chin up, and he trapped me in his steely blue gaze. “The harness is waiting for you. Be ready when I return.”
My heart quickened as I looked at him—I was powerless under his watchful eyes. The stories were true—he saw everything, even the deepest secrets of my heart. When he looked at me this way, I was as good as naked already. “Yes, sir.”
As soon as he disappeared in a puff of snow, I shot to my feet.
Gone were the fireplace and the window. Now the room was all gray stone with a simple wooden post near one wall. To one side, a brazier. To the other, a high table lined with tools. I shivered, but there was no time to peruse the instruments. I had no way of knowing when Santa would return.
I tugged my tunic overhead and folded it, laying it neatly in the corner. The leggings came next. Then my bra, panties, and socks. My boots stood at attention on either side of the pile. Only then did I turn and, while I smoothed my hair down, make my way to the post.
Hanging from a chain attached to the block of wood jutting to the side was a piece of leather I’d come to know as well as I knew my own body. Not a pair of hangman’s nooses. No, the harness would allow me to be suspended in a variety of positions. I wrapped a pair of straps around my ankles, securing them tightly, then slid my wrists into the loops overhead, cinching them as tightly as I could manage. I balanced on my toes, dangling from the harness. Santa likely wanted me hogtied, but I couldn’t manage that on my own, so I waited.
Belatedly, I noted the black metal rod on the floor.
Shit.
As I started to snake my hands free, the scent of chocolate and peppermint suffused the room. There was no time.
In another sprinkling of snow, Santa reappeared, the heat of the room turning the flakes to a faint mist.
No jolly red suit now. Not for me. Not for this.
He kept his black leather boots on. That much hadn’t changed. Beyond those, however, no one would recognize the bare-chested man in the dark gray jeans as the same one their children whispered wishes to at Christmas time. There was no paunch hanging over his belt—he was all big, burly and barrel-chested, his gaze dark and hooded rather than twinkling. No jolly old elf here...
And the crop in his hand was not something he’d ever used on the reindeer.
