Adriana Kraft

When it's time to heat things up...

LGBT

Pre-Order! Accidental Contact #sapphicromance #LGBTQ #ShortStory #PreOrder #99cents #MFRWHooks

by

It was up to fate now…

Welcome to MFRW Hooks, where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers
share snippets from their stories to entice you into wanting more.
Be sure to click on the links at the end to travel!

My Sapphic short story Accidental Contact is up for preorder and will be released on Friday November 3 – just $0.99 at all retail outlets!

It’s New York, Central Park is already a winter wonderland, and now there’s a blizzard…

BOOK INFORMATION

Accidental Contact, By Adriana Kraft
Release date: November 3, 2023
Genre: Erotic Romance
Length: Short Story
Pairing: FF
Tropes: Cougar Story, New York City, Snowbound, Just One Bed

BLURB

Natalie and the much younger Bridgette are real estate agents who’ve often traveled together for business seminars.

Now they’re snowbound in New York City in a hotel room with only one bed. Will Natalie dare to make her move?

 

EXCERPT

For three months, Natalie had eagerly anticipated this trip. She’d bought a pair of pink silk pajamas, wanting to feel a little more presentable and desirable. Pink had always gone well with her dark hair. And she’d come to believe that Bridgette’s choice of silk pajamas was perfect—not too seductive, not too revealing—but classy. Not klutzy like her old sleepwear that resembled sweatpants and gym clothes. On top of that, the feel of silk against flesh was incredibly sensuous.

At least she didn’t have to guess whether Bridgette was into women. She’d never tried to hide that fact. She’d even bemoaned not having found a partner with whom she really wanted to share a lot of time.

Natalie balled her fingers into fists. She’d made the effort to tidy up her pubic hair just in case. She swallowed hard. She couldn’t risk rejection. She’d done all she could. It was up to destiny now. What had Bridgette said? Everything happens for a reason. Maybe the blizzard was heaven sent just for her—just for her and Bridgette.

She blinked back tears. Even a blizzard wouldn’t be enough to fuel her courage. She dozed. Morning couldn’t come too quickly.

BUY LINK

Pre-order Accidental contact

https://books2read.com/u/47djkE

Want to sample a little steam from Accidental Contact? Here’s a taste… https://wp.me/p9O7pv-3u4

And don’t forget to travel to all the other yummy excerpts!

Coming soon! Accidental Contact #sapphicromance #LGBTQ #ShortStory #PreOrder #99cents #MFRWHooks

by

It was up to fate now…

Welcome to MFRW Hooks, where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers
share snippets from their stories to entice you into wanting more.
Be sure to click on the links at the end to travel!

My Sapphic short story Accidental Contact is up for preorder and will be released on Friday November 3 – just $0.99 at all retail outlets!

BOOK INFORMATION

Accidental Contact, By Adriana Kraft
Release date: November 3, 2023
Genre: Erotic Romance
Length: Short Story
Pairing: FF
Tropes: Cougar Story, New York City, Snowbound, Just One Bed

BLURB

Natalie and the much younger Bridgette are real estate agents who’ve often traveled together for business seminars.

Now they’re snowbound in New York City in a hotel room with only one bed. Will Natalie dare to make her move?

 

EXCERPT

“Are you ready for me to shut off the TV?”

“Yes. I’ve heard enough chatter by pundits.”

“Me, too.” Natalie hit the off button, set the remote aside, and rolled onto her side to face the wall. The mattress shifted as Bridgette turned to face the opposite wall. “Good night,” Natalie murmured.

“Good night. I’m looking forward to being snowbound with you in New York.”

Closing her eyes, Natalie didn’t respond. She concentrated on breathing in and out. The predicted blizzard was a pleasant surprise that might prove to be the tipping point.

She’d done all she could do. It was up to fate now. She wouldn’t risk being rejected by her younger colleague. They’d traveled together several times representing their firm at realty conferences. She’d been surprised how comfortable they were as  travel companions, respecting each other’s routines. Bridgette chattered too much, but then Bridgette had probably had to adjust to some of Natalie’s idiosyncrasies, too.

Usually they shared a room with two beds. When they’d checked in at the front desk, Natalie had somewhat berated the clerk for their sleeping arrangements—but she was the one who’d explicitly requested one queen bed when making the reservation. She’d also anticipated correctly that given the size of the conference, there’d be no available rooms with two beds.

Natalie wished she could make the next overture, but she couldn’t. Pride intervened. She had no idea whether the twenty-six-year-old lying next to her would be interested in a forty-year-old divorcee who hadn’t been with a woman since college.

BUY LINK

Pre-order Accidental contact

https://books2read.com/u/47djkE

Want to sample a little steam from Accidental Contact? Here’s a taste… https://wp.me/p9O7pv-3u4

And don’t forget to travel to all the other yummy excerpts!

Book Blast! The Road to Montepulciano, by Garrick Jones @Gazrj01 #GayRomance #Thriller #HistoricalFiction #LGBTQ

by

BOOK BLAST

Book Title: The Road to Montepulciano

Author: Garrick Jones

Publisher: Moshpit Publications

Cover Artist: Garrick Jones

Release Date: September 19, 2023

Genre: Crime Thriller/Historical Fiction

Themes: Sowing one’s oats; Finding Mr. Right; Acceptance in community

Heat Rating: 5 flames

Length: 140 500 words/ 393 pages (paperback version)

It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

 

Buy Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Smashwords

 

 

Blurb

Two years after finishing his tour of duty in the Occupational Forces in Japan, Damson O’Reilly arrives in Siena, Italy. Sight-unseen at a local auction, he buys an abandoned Tuscan farmhouse in which he aims to write, paint, and start a new life.

The house, passed over at auction, becomes an impulse buy when it’s put up for a final time. He’s prepared for a semi-ruin, happy to turn his hand to renovating the house—however, what he’s totally unprepared for are three dead bodies, one of which he stumbles over when he arrives at La Mensola, the name of his isolated farmhouse on the road between Siena and Montepulciano.

Against the backdrop of a series of grisly murders, The Road to Montepulciano is the story of a young man, still suffering the scars of war, who, despite betrayal of trust and surrounded by a complex web of lies, finds friendship, love and the warmth of community.

 

Excerpt

I was lying in bed listening to Donati potter around in the kitchen for a few minutes, trying to make up my mind whether or not to get out of bed. I checked my watch: half past five. It was still dark outside—it wouldn’t start getting light for another three-quarters of an hour.

He had to know, I thought, reflecting on the whole of last evening. He must have guessed that I was queer, otherwise what had happened wouldn’t have taken place. We’d have washed separately, each waiting in our rooms until the other had finished, then continued to drink, play cards and behave like kids, but with our clothes on … or at least our underwear.

Some people just seemed to know it about me, although I wasn’t aware that I’d ever telegraphed where my preferences lay. A few times during the war I’d found myself on the receiving end of some very not-so-subtle advances quite out of the blue, far more forthright than the almost imperceptible, ever-so-slightly charged evening I’d enjoyed last night. And as for him? Well, I wasn’t sure just yet. There was something though that made me wonder: a frequent holding of eye contact, as if he was trying to discover what I was thinking, always breaking away abruptly with a soft smile on his face.

I’d never been able to recognise who was one of the tribe like some of my bedfellows, although at the same time I’d never been shy to leap at an opportunity when it offered itself up. But I found it hard to initiate things. Usually I’d wait until the other person either made a move or gave me a sign that he was interested in more than passing the time of day.

I’d heard Italian men were basically open to anything—whether that was true or not, I had no idea. Maybe Donati was just a regular man who liked a bit of variety every so often—I’d met a few of those—or maybe he was just like me: lonely and looking for a friend.

Deciding to finally get up, I’d barely thrown back the sheet and sat up, my feet drawn up and knees splayed while I leaned over, searching for my cigarettes—which for some strange reason I’d thrown into my haversack last night—when Renzo walked into the room with a demitasse in each hand. The smell of the coffee made my stomach grumble.

He was naked too. It seemed that clothing was to be an optional extra during my stay … I returned his smile.

“Buongiorno, Damson,” he said, handing one of the cups to me, then sat in the middle of the bed, one of his legs at an angle, the knee resting on my foot.

“Buongiorno, Renzo. You. Sleep. Good?”

“Hai dormito bene?” he corrected my Italian, saying the words slowly, twirling his finger in the air to encourage me to repeat the correct version.

“In English?” Renzo asked after I’d got it right.

“Did you sleep well?”

When he repeated the words, he made a pretty good fist of it, so I held out my hand. The shake happened directly over my crotch, mainly because having finished his coffee he’d stretched out over the bed. It was obvious that my genitals were right in front of his face, but his eyes hadn’t flicked away from my own, despite his Cheshire cat grin. This time I was the first to break eye contact, playfully nudging his shoulder with my foot, then reaching for my cigarettes once more.

We chatted for a while, trying out words with each other while smoking, Renzo idly playing with the hair trail below his navel while we traded vocabulary for items in the room. Then, after we’d given each other a lesson on conjugating the present tense of the verb “to be” in our own languages, I checked my watch. “Is that the time?” I said in English. I jumped out of bed, pulling on my only pair of slacks and grabbing a white American T-shirt from my haversack. It was wrinkled, but there was nothing I could do about it.

“No …?” he asked, making a plucking gesture at his waist with his thumb.

Damn, I’d been so distracted that I’d forgotten. Pulling off my trousers, I rummaged in my backpack again and found a pair of Y-fronts—they were a French brand and fairly new on the market. I usually washed my smalls every night, but there’d been too much going on and it had slipped my mind

Renzo whistled as I pulled them on, watching as I put my hand down inside the front of the waistband and adjusted myself in the pouch before pulling on my trousers once more.

“You. Like?” I asked.

He nodded, so I found another pair, still in its packet, and threw them to him. “Go ahead,” I said, while pulling on my socks, then lacing my canvas shoes.

He undid the packet, swung his legs off the bed, put both feet in the underpants, then, as he stood up, pulled them up, turning to look at his arse in the mirror of the wardrobe. “Che bel culo,” he said, winking over his shoulder at me.

I laughed. That phrase I did understand, and he did have a very nice arse.

 

About the Author

From the outback to the opera.

After a thirty-year career as a professional opera singer, performing as a soloist in opera houses and in concert halls all over the world, I took up a position as lecturer in music in Australia in 1999, at the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music, which is now part of CQ University.

Brought up in Australia, between the bush and the beaches of the Eastern suburbs, I retired in 2015 and now live in the tropics, writing, gardening, and finally finding time to enjoy life and to re-establish a connection with who I am after a very busy career on the stage and as an academic.

 

 

Author Links

Blog/Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Pinterest | Newsletter Sign-up

 

Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

Will Natalie dare to make her move? #MFRWSteam #EroticRomance #LGBTQ

by

Welcome to the MFRW Steam Hop,
where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers
entice you with steamy excerpts from their erotic romance stories.

Scroll to the end for more of this week’s tempting excerpts.

For this month’s steam, I’m sharing from my forthcoming sapphic short story, Accidental Contact.

EXCERPT

Groggily, Natalie peeked at the red numerals on the hotel clock. Midnight—they’d only been in bed for an hour.

Her eyes blinked wide open. There was a hand on her breast. She wiggled her fingers. The hand was definitely not hers. She held her breath, taking stock of her situation.

Steady breathing warmed the back of her neck. She was in danger of becoming intoxicated with Bridgette’s scent. She squirmed her bottom only to discover something solid—Bridgette’s torso, curved around hers. Fortunately, they were about the same height.

Natalie couldn’t discern whether Bridgette was awake or if she was sleepwalking in bed. She rechecked the clock. It had taken her nearly five minutes to assess her situation, and she still wasn’t sure what was happening. Her breathing faltered. She did know her nipples were growing incredibly restless.

Shutting her eyelids, she withdrew into her body to concentrate on one particular nipple. The one Bridgette’s thumb lay within an inch of.

Careful not to move any other part of her body, Natalie placed her hand over Bridgette’s. Natalie tensed, but Bridgette didn’t jerk away. The breathing on the tiny hairs of her neck remained steady.

Cautiously, Natalie moved their hands lower until Bridgette’s fingers curled around her boob. Arching back her neck, Natalie encouraged those fingers to curl tighter around the silk fabric concealing her breast. Reflexively, she nestled her butt closer to Bridgette, and Bridgette’s body undulated slightly, responding to the accidental contact.

Natalie lay for long minutes not daring to move. She tried to calm raging emotions. Finally, she resorted to breathing in tandem with Bridgette. That worked. She relaxed a bit.

She became keenly aware of Bridgette’s breasts crushed against her back. She blinked—they must’ve been there all along. She’d been so needy about her own breasts she hadn’t even noticed Bridgette’s. Where was Bridgette’s other hand? Without turning to look, Natalie decided it must be somewhere on the pillow above her head.

The room had suddenly turned incredibly hot. Natalie smacked her lips. Taking great care not to disturb Bridgette’s side of the covers, she inched the blankets down nearly to her waist. The cooler air did nothing to quell the fire raging inside her.

BOOK INFORMATION

Accidental Contact, By Adriana Kraft
Release date: November 3, 2023
Genre: Erotic Romance
Length: Short Story
Pairing: FF
Tropes: Cougar Story, New York City, Snowbound, Just One Bed

 

BLURB

Natalie and the much younger Bridgette are real estate agents who’ve often traveled together for business seminars. Now they’re snowbound in New York City in a hotel room with only one bed. Will Natalie dare to make her move?

RELEASE DATE NOVEMBER 3, 2023

PRE-ORDER NOW AVAILABLE

Universal Book Link

https://books2read.com/u/47djkE

 

CLICK ON THE LINKS TO TRAVEL TO MORE STEAMY EXCERPTS

“I can still turn heads at 59…” #EroticRomance #LGBTQ #LaterInLife #MFRWAuthors

by

Picture this: The year is 2006. You’re a bisexual woman in your late fifties, and your only significant love relationship was with a woman who died of cancer four years ago. What does your future hold? What do you hope for?

I thought it was time to give Claire Johnson her moment to shine. She was interviewed last spring…

Interview

Name: Claire Johnson
Nickname: The one I sometimes hear whispered? The Ice Queen.
Age: 59
Gender: Female
Birthplace: Manhattan
Profession: Sex Educator? Marketing Expert? I co-direct a center whose goal is to help others of all ages, from all walks of life, safely discover and enjoy the many gifts of sexual pleasure in their lives. It was my first job after college, and I do whatever’s required to advance our purpose.

Please provide a physical description of yourself.

Thank you for asking – call me vain if you like, but I’m really proud of the fact that I can still turn heads at age 59. I’m a tall trim blonde, and yes, I do touch up my hair color a tad. I used to keep a severe short hairstyle, but I’ve let it grow out a bit. By now I can rely on my presence and my stature to intimidate when I need to. Did I mention trim? I work out and I watch what I eat.

What are your pronouns?

She/Her. That’s never wavered; I’m pleased there are more options now than when I was young, though.

What is your middle name?

I don’t have one.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

No. At least, it’s never happened to me. I’ve only ever had one love, and she left our Center eight years ago and cut off all contact. She died of cancer four years later, and I barely learned in time to get to her funeral. Our open relationship was complex but profound and deep, but I’d never say I fell in love with her at first sight. She was the one who pursued me.

What is your MBTI type?

Wow. It’s been a long time since I took that test, for some team building we were doing at the Center several years back. I remember getting pissed off at some of the questions – nothing in life is dichotomous, either/or, and I hated having to choose when neither was quite right. But I really can’t argue with the type that surfaced: ESTJ. I’m definitely an extrovert, which places me well to schmooze with potential donors and drum up funds for the Center. I’m extremely organized and analytical, quick to assess when something might be useful for Center goals and take advantage of it. No one would ever accuse me of being touchy-feely. It’s not that I don’t have emotions, but I learned long ago how to keep them under wraps so they wouldn’t interfere with my goals. And yes, quick to judge and make decisions…even if they’re wrong sometimes.

Do you enjoy dressing up or prefer to dress casually?

You truly want to know this? I’m most comfortable being fully nude, and I love the privacy of my Manhattan condo. Even so, I’ll often wear a silky coverup or lounge dress, especially during the winter. When I go out? Classic and stylish, however formal or casual. I can still rock a little black dress and love to circulate among our donors at fund raisers.

What color best describes you?

I’ve never thought about that. I wear a lot of blue, both pale and jewel toned. I think it sets off my blue eyes and blonde hair nicely, so yes, blue, but never a sad blue. Plus I suppose blue would go with Ice Queen. I might have left the impression I don’t like that nickname, but secretly, it’s something I’ve cultivated. Or perhaps not so secretly, by now.

Who is the one person who can convince you to do something you know you shouldn’t?

I used to think there wasn’t anyone. But ever since Melissa Hopkins (now Hopkins-Gage) joined our center, she qualifies. She’s a full three decades younger than I am, but what an effervescent bundle of energy! Very creative, and just as dedicated to our purpose as myself. I have to add that everything she talked me into turned out to be exactly what I needed, but every single time I was convinced otherwise. For example, she’s the one who convinced me to go back on camera for our videos on sex and aging. That changed my life—but I’m not allowed to give you spoilers!

If you could choose a theme song to play when you entered a scene, which one of the following would fit best:

LOL Been there, done that – in book one of this series, Smoldering Passion. The perfect song for me? I’m a child of the sixties: Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman.” Readers who missed book one might want to go back and catch that sexy scene. It’s another example of something Melissa persuaded me to do…

~

My thanks to Kayelle Allen at the Romance Lives Forever blog for these marvelous interview questions and her permission to re-blog the interview.

Ripening Passion by Adriana Kraft
Genre: Erotic Romance
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

BUY LINK

Universal Buy Link

https://books2read.com/u/4D82BP

Book Blurb:

Can Max melt the Ice Queen? Should he even try?

Claire Johnson’s dedication to sex—the cornerstone of her career—led her to help found the Center for Sexuality and Sex Practices. Now in her fifties, she knows the Center must keep pace with the rapidly growing Baby Boomer market, so she agrees to go back on camera for a series on sex and aging. But work with her nemesis?

Former English Professor Max Wilson has championed the cause of the Center ever since his now deceased wife sought the Center’s help to rekindle the nearly extinguished sexual flames of their relationship. He loves working on camera and welcomes the challenge to perform with the svelte but icy temptress.

Sparks fly immediately on and off camera. The jury is out on whether either Max or Claire can transform those sparks into a fire of sexual desire for their viewers—let alone for each other.

What had he concluded? Embracing Passion #EroticRomance #Polyamory #MFRWHooks

by

A single wrong assumption can be costly…

I’m so excited about my most recent release! Embracing Passion has been a long labor of love – the finale to the Passion series, set in a fictional center for sex studies and sexuality.

Welcome to MFRW Hooks, where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers
share snippets from their stories to entice you into wanting more.
Be sure to click on the links at the end to travel!

EXCERPT

Set Up: Today’s scene follows shortly after last week’s college campus lecture scene.

New York, New York 2014

Shuddering slightly, Rosanne settled back against the pillows and pulled the covers up to her neck. She’d done amazingly well after she’d seen Detective Walker sneak into the lecture hall. A lesser woman might’ve panicked, but she had nothing to hide. Thank goodness Anna was there to help take up the slack when she’d needed time to think.

What had he concluded about her? She hugged herself. He certainly had seen a different side of her than that initial impression in the parking lot. Did he think her a chameleon? That might not be terrible. At most lectures, she’d encouraged questioners not to use her title, but not tonight. She’d wanted him to hear over and over that she was indeed Dr. Rosanne Falcon, a competent, professional woman.

He’d been quite impressive sitting in the back row looking pensive and serious. She’d noticed him laughing several times. It was good to know that Detective Walker could laugh. She’d scanned across his area of the hall when she acknowledged she was bisexual. That didn’t seem to faze him in the least. Maybe he already knew that. He probably already had a Center catalogue, or at least had been to the Center’s web page.

She chuckled softly. Would he order any Center videos? Would he wear out his DVD machine playing and replaying her scenes?

BLURB

Now in her late twenties, Rosanne Falcon’s life has finally come together—a Ph.D., a prestigious research job, and two exquisite lovers, one of each gender, to complete the package. The intense bond she shares with Simone Stone was augmented rather than broken when Simone met and married Boyd Roberts, and the three have forged a fulfilling polyamory relationship. More would only be trouble.

Widowed by a tragic accident several years earlier, Detective Thomas Walker is nearing retirement after twenty years on the police force and ready to change careers. Fully convinced the hot redhead who meets truckers at the rest area he’s staked out is a prostitute, he sets out to build his case against her. He is dead wrong, but each layer he uncovers of what she really does for a living challenges long held assumptions. Can he overcome his deep-seated bias to make room for what’s possible?

BUY LINK

Now available at all ebook stores!

UNIVERSAL LINK

https://books2read.com/u/bpYaYX

Be sure to click on the links to travel to the rest of today’s exciting excerpts!