Welcome to this week’s guest author Adirana Kraft, sharing their newest steamy, suspenseful tale.
It’s nothing personal…
It all seems simple enough – Ukrainian immigrant Nadja Petrov is determined to hold on to her thriving new coffee shop, Nadja’s Literary Cappuccino, and Java Beans District Rep Kevin Langley is equally determined to move into her North Iowa town with a franchise and run her out of business.
He scopes her out, she keeps a watchful eye on him, and the sparring begins. But there are other players involved, and the web of intrigue soon threatens Nadja, her shop, and her aunt as well as Kevin, his potential franchise, and his son.
Within this cauldron simmers a sexual attraction between Nadja and Kevin that catapults them to overcome their fears of intimacy and commitment. Their lovemaking is tender and raw. Their love is nearly lost in tragedy—can it survive doubts, fire, and even a death?
Excerpt:
First Kiss…
Nadja shuddered, sitting on her living room couch. Kevin sat next to her. He was too close. He was too far away. Her skin warmed and then just as quickly chilled. When had she become such a tease? She never toyed with men. She never bantered with them. Not like this.
Was it Kevin’s seemingly boundless patience she was testing? Or was it his perseverance? Maybe it was her perseverance.
She raised the wine glass to her lips and peeked at him. They’d exchanged views on a wide range of topics. She’d been surprised by his varied interests. But he hadn’t even tried to put his arm around her.
“Do you miss Ukraine?”
“Yes. I miss the high hills, the beautiful buildings, and the dancing.”
“But you don’t plan to go back?”
She shook her head. “Not to live. This is my home now. I have my shop, and Ivett and her husband. And I can speak my mind without worrying about what others may think.” She paused. “At least most of the time.”
He nodded and studied her thoughtfully. “Nadja.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t read minds very well. Are you going to jump out of your skin if I kiss you?”
She wet her lips but couldn’t smile. “I’ll try not to.”
He placed an arm around her shoulder and turned her chin toward him with his other hand. She held his gaze as he dipped his head until his lips slanted across hers. It was a soft kiss. Not at all demanding. His lips coaxed hers into responding. She draped her arms around his neck. She feared she might dissolve in his arms.
He leaned back only enough to whisper, “You taste like cherry.”
“My lipstick,” she explained.
“I like cherry.”
“Maybe you’ll want to taste again.”
Sounds like steamy fun! Order you copy of I Am Not for Sale here:
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09L7WQH12/
Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/1140503297
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/i-am-not-for-sale
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1115419
ExtasyBooks https://www.extasybooks.com/I-am-Not-for-Sale
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59582104
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/books/i-am-not-for-sale-by-adriana-kraft
Let’s meet the authors.
When it’s Time to Heat Things Up
Award winning author Adriana Kraft is a married couple writing Sizzling Romantic Suspense and Erotic Romance for Two, Three, or More. Whether readers open our romantic suspense or our erotic romance, they can expect characters they care about, hot sex scenes, and a compelling story. Our suspense stories deliver one man, one woman, danger and intrigue. Our erotic romance is edgier and nearly always includes ménage or polyamory, sometimes with two women and a man, sometimes with two (or more) couples. We write our Erotic Romance stories to entertain, of course, but most of all we write them because we believe in happy endings for all who fall in love, whatever their gender, sexual orientation or numerical combination.
Tell us about your inspiration for this story.
I Am Not for Sale was born in the fortuitous intersection of several threads when Mr. Kraft and I lived in a small Midwest town – our favorite sole proprietor espresso café, the opening of a newly authorized casino in the next county, the growth of a new regional chain of espresso cafés, and a trip one of us took to Ukraine at about the same time. Our heroine is a feisty self-sufficient recent Ukrainian immigrant to the U.S. whose aunt helps her open an espresso café in their small town. Her café, the new chain of cafés, and the possibility of a new local casino are on a collision course…
Tell us about your journey from aspiring writer to published author.
We always love to share this story to encourage other authors who are just getting started. Mr. Kraft and I had written together as academics for several years. A couple decades ago, we got the brilliant inspiration that writing fiction might be more fun – specifically, romance, which we’d both read lots of. Frankly, we thought it would be easy! Not true…
We completed our first novel that first year, discovered Romance Writers of America, sent me to that year’s meeting, pitched our story to an agent (I’d never heard of pitching!), were encouraged to send the manuscript – and after lots of waiting, received a rejection letter with the comment that we wrote sexual tension well. No surprise that we now write steamy romance!
We also discovered we had a lot to learn about how to structure a compelling romance – we soaked up every romance workshop we could for the next couple of years, kept writing and submitting, and finally received our first acceptance, five years after that first butchered attempt.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Our advice pretty much stems from our story above – learn everything you can about what you want to create, and never give up. A motivational speaker I heard not long before we started writing summed it up like this: “Decide what you want, decide what you’re willing to give up to have it, and take action now.”
The German poet Rilke puts it this way: “Ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple I must, then build your life in accordance with this necessity.”
In this era of easy self-publishing, I have one more piece of advice: hire a professional editor. As writers, we’re always too close to what we’re writing to be able to catch all its little mistakes, and you will sell better and fly higher if what you’re publishing is polished and professional.
What makes you put down a book without finishing?
Wow – actually, that’s pretty rare for me, but it happens. Sometimes either the plot or the characters just aren’t engaging enough. Also I’ll confess I’m not very tolerant of so much danger/suspense that I can’t sleep at night – horror stories are not for me, and I would never pick one up on purpose. And one last confession – I’m an exacting grammarian. If I see a lot of mistakes in a book, I’m not likely to keep on reading.
What do you love about the genre you write in?
When we write romantic suspense, we have an automatic foil against which to throw our two protagonists. There’s always more going on than the newly budding romance – and the romantic relationship gets tried and tested at every twist and turn of the danger and suspense. Plus, since Mr. Kraft’s academic field is criminology, we’re able to draw on his background to develop our plots and our criminal characters. The hours fly by when we’re plotting a new story, throwing out ideas, and running with them. And yes, it turns out writing fiction is much more fun!
Thanks for visiting! I’m adding your books to my tottering TBR pile.
Connect with Adriana Kraft on social media:
Website: https://adrianakraft.com
Blog: https://www.adrianakraft.com/blog
Newsletter: free download of our erotic romance novella Cherry Tune-Up for signing up.
Twitter https://twitter.com/AdrianaKraft
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kraftadriana/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adriana.kraft.5
FaceBook Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/AdrianaKraftAuthor
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/adrianakraft
Extasy author page https://www.extasybooks.com/adriana-kraft
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1578571.Adriana_Kraft
Thank you so much for hosting me today, Sadira! We now live in the desert as well (Arizona, to be precise) and love to play with desert heat in our writing.