Sorry. Have had sick husband, sick child and very sick dog. The husband and child are getting better. Alas, I can not say the same for my beloved mutt. Cancer is taking him from us soon, and all I can do is spend as much time with him as I can before then.

Until I can return to the schedule, here’s a picture of Craig Horner (a very sexy Aussie actor currently starring in one of my new guilty indulgences, The Legend of the Seeker)

Yum!

I love being an Aussie. For me, Australia Day is an important day I celebrate with my family and friends.

“On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what’s great about Australia and being Australian. It’s the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. It’s the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future.

Australia Day, 26 January, is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip, in 1788.

Though 26 January marks this specific event, today Australia Day celebrations reflect contemporary Australia: our diverse society and landscape, our remarkable achievements and our bright future. It also is an opportunity to reflect on our nation’s history, and to consider how we can make Australia an even better place in future.

What better way to end my Australia Day than with Men At Work. Enjoy

This one has been tickling my fancy for a few weeks now. It’s the trailer for an Aussie comedy musical called Bran Nue Dae about an Aboriginal boy running away from a religious school.

Check it out (if for no other reason than to see Geofrey Rush doing a German priest )

Threshold is an ongoing, free story that tells the tale of a forbidden desire that can not be denied. I will post an installment here on my blog every week or so. This is the second installemt of the tale. For Part One, click here.

“This is dangerous,” she murmured, turning her head to gaze blindly at nothing. “Oh, fuck, what am I doing?

Instead of answering her, he cupped her jaw in his hand, his fingers resting behind her ear. The simple contact sent a shiver through her, pinching her nipples hard. She bit back a hitching gasp, determined to control herself. Damn it, this wasn’t her. Even if she shouldn’t be here, she wasn’t this woman – this nervous, shy creature standing before him.

Lifting her gaze to his, she straightened her spine. “Do you know where this will lead us?”

A lop-sided smile pulled at his lips. “I’m hoping to the bedroom.” Perfect white teeth glinted at her as his smile stretched wider. “But if you make me wait much longer, Ali Gardner, it may very well be right here on this spot.”

The raw promise in his voice made her sex constrict, squeezing a cock that wasn’t there. Yet.

“That’s not what I mean, Mike.” She shook her head, struggling to control the desire threatening to overwhelm her. After all these years, she was here. Why was she waiting?

Because it’s dangerous. So bloody dangerous.

The smile faded from Mike’s lips and a small part of her wanted to whimper with dismay. When he smiled, her heart sang. “I know.” His dark eyes grew serious. Unreadable. He brushed the pad of his thumb over the swell over her bottom lip, his jaw muscles bunching. “But you’re finally here and there’s no way in fucking hell I can let you walk away now.”

Before she could respond – and really, what could she say to such an admission – he lowered her head and touched his lips to hers.

Oh, Ali, stop him. This is dangerous. You know it is.

Her own stunned voice whispered through her head, a warning she recognized deep in her soul. A warning she could not heed.

Yes, it was dangerous. More dangerous than imaginable. But for this one moment, she didn’t care.

His hips brushed hers, the rigid length of his desire nudging her belly, and for the first time in her life, she stopped listening to her head and obeyed her body’s demands, parting her lips to meet his hungry kiss.

God help them both.

Of course, you know I’m going to give you a snippet from my upcomingEllora’s Cave release, don’t you? A reeeeal naughty one. (It’s also not officially edited, so any mistakes are mine, not my amzing EC editor’s, Okay? Oh, and I can’t show you the cover yet, but wait until you see it. Whrraww, talk about HOT!)

Timeless Wrath – Coming 10th Feb from Ellora’s Cave

The drive to Evron’s house was silent, unlawful and torturous. Neither he nor the stunning creature beside him spoke, perhaps still too rocked by the force of their meeting, perhaps too scared to break whatever mystical force had brought about its occurrence. The woman’s car—a bright red rental compact complete with yellow-and-black label still stuck to the dash—moved through the dark streets of Sydney at a speed way beyond the posted limit. If the cops nabbed them they’d both end up in jail. She for driving like a maniac, he for finger-fucking her as she drove.

His cock, longer and harder than it’d ever been, ached, scalding blood pumping through its length. If it weren’t for his jeans, it would be a pulsating poker pointing straight up. Christ, he was in agony.

And it felt wonderful.

He wiggled the three fingers of his right hand again, index seeking the sweetest spot within her sex. The woman’s sodden pussy contracted and a swift gasp slipped past her lips. Shifting back to fourth gear, she flung them around a corner into a dark, narrow alley and hit the brakes, screeching to a stop under a flickering street light.

She stared out the windscreen, hips rocking slowly back and forth. “I can’t wait.”

Her blunt proclamation sent a surge of heat straight to Evron’s cock and he moaned. “Neither can I.”

In the span of a heartbeat, her hands jerked at his belt and yanked down his fly. His straining cock sprung free, the cool breeze of the air-conditioner biting at its fevered flesh. Yet before he could shiver, full, soft lips wrapped around its throbbing length and ecstasy flooded through him.

“Oh, God Almighty.” The words were almost lost in his groan, a groan that grew raw when long, sure fingers slipped around his balls. Ramming his head back against the car’s headrest, Evron stared at the roof, blood roaring in his ears. The warm, wet cavity surrounding his cock slid up and down, teeth and tongue teasing the glans just below the head until he was on fire. “Goddamn it!” he rasped, teeth clenched. “If you don’t stop…”

Evron felt the woman smile.

And then her tongue curled around the base of his cock and licked at his balls.

It was too much. Utter bliss pervaded his body. Hot, squirming and alive. In spurts of jolting pleasure, he came. Eyes closed, heart pounding. “Holy fucking Christ!”

Still she didn’t stop. Her mouth worked at his pulsating shaft, sucking its length, teasing its head. He writhed in the seat, one hand fisted in her glorious, silken mane, the other thrusting harder against her wet, creamy sex. Slurping sounds filled the car’s cab, from her talented mouth and her sodden pussy.

Unbelievably, his spent cock began to stiffen. Barely minutes after erupting his balls were swollen, heavy and ready to burst again. God, how can she do this to me?

He didn’t know.

Fate.

The word whispered through his mind like pure light. Undeniable and serene. He pressed his palm to the exquisite curve of her spine. “Come up.” The words fell from his lips in a ragged breath. Hell, he didn’t believe it was possible to feel like this, as if he’d been turned into a being of concentrated pleasure. He wanted the woman responsible to experience that same rapture. “I want to…”

He didn’t need to finish. Blue eyes flashing, the woman lifted her head. For a brief moment her honey-blonde hair seemed to blaze with red fire, and then the illusion vanished. A small smile played at the corners of her mouth. “Do you have…?” She let the question dangle, the smile on her lips cheeky.

Without further provoking, knowing exactly what she was asking for, Evron dug his wallet from his back pocket and fumbled out a condom.

“Hmm, perfect.” She took the small foil square in one hand as she reached over his lap with the other, her hand slipping down beside his seat. “Let’s get more comfortable, shall we?” Her shoulder bunched and, with a sharp upward tug, she pulled on the release and dropped his seat flat.

Long legs straddled him before he had the chance to react, negotiating the handbrake and gear knob with ease. Gaze holding his, she brought the condom packet to her mouth and tore it open with her teeth, slipping the small circle of latex from its packaging. Wordlessly, she slid the slick sheath over his erection, his muscles coiling in anticipation as her fingers stroked his hard length. Despite being cramped in the confines of the car, she moved with a fluid grace that made his already straining cock twitch with eager interest and his breath grow more ragged. Goddamn, he was going to asphyxiate with raw lust and he didn’t even know who she was.

Doesn’t matter.

It did. A distant part of his brain—the rational part so often strangled by his rage—told him it did matter. He looked up at her, his pulse slamming against his neck, his hands automatically going to her hips.

Ask her name. Before she—

She positioned herself over his lap, stared him straight in the eye and impaled herself on his cock.

Holy smokes! How’s that for a blog entry?

Well, it’s true. Death, The Vamp and his Brother, my paranormal erotic romance set around the Apocalypse and Bondi Beach (Australia’s most famous beach) is up for The Romance Studio’s Best Erotic Paranormal Romance award of 2009. This is a huge honour for DVB and I am incredibly chuffed to be included.

If you haven’t read out the AWARD NOMINATED (hee, I’ll never get tired of that) Death, The Vamp and his Brother yet, you can do so here

On other news, my next release is Timeless Wrath, a very very dark erotic paranormal romance that borders on horror. Timeless Wrath once existed in a slightly different form as Deadly Sins: Anger (at Changeling Press) but now, after some serious reworking, will have a new home at Ellora’s Cave. Yes, Ellora’s Cave! Isn’t that AWESOME!!! Check it out here!

Beatrice “Rickie” Sullivan is every man’s fantasy. Drop-dead gorgeous, she exudes a sensuality none can ignore. More than just a stunning face and body, she’s intelligent, kind, gentle…and madly, inexplicably in love with Evron, a man she’s known mere hours.

Evron McKenzie is troubled, struggling with undeniable anger that scorches though his veins. And the irrational feeling he is someone else, something more. Someone rich, powerful…someone to fear. But in Rickie’s arms, Evron may have finally found his place in the world. At last he is at peace.

So who is the seductive redhead who invades Evron’s dreams? Why does she urge him to touch a mysterious sculpture—a sculpture that seems to radiate death and sin? How can she make him hornier than he’s ever been in his life with just a look, and at the same time turn his anger into bloody, murderous rage? And, more frighteningly, why can’t he resist her?

Reader Advisory: Sex and violence abound in this terrifically intense tale; big-girl pants definitely required.

On other news, I have a cold and feel yucky. So, I’m going to make myself a cuppa and watch some Chuck. Night all

I’m never really sure where I stand with Jim Carrey. Sometimes I think he’s amazing (The Truman Show), sometimes I think he’s down-right hilarious (Bruce Almighty) and other times….well, I can leave him alone and not shed a tear (Me, Myself and Irene). This trailer though, looks funny, if for no other reason than Carrey’s blood-red hot pants and black mesh muscle shirt. Love it!!

This is the uncut version of a short story I’ve written for the Australian magazine, That’s Life. The story has appeared in That’s Life’s That’s Love special issue (available now in newsagencies across the country) along with a two page article about me!! (Yay!)

Anyways, this is the slightly more raunchy version.

Dedicated to two people I know well…

Thirst

An Exclusive story for That’s Life readers by Lexxie Couper

Carrie Davidson had not seen P.B. Ferguson in fifteen years, but that didn’t stop her recognizing him when he entered the Tudor Hotel.

Her ice water temporarily forgotten, she watched him move through the crowded pub, his six foot three frame dominating the space just like it had at high school. The pit of her belly clenched in a tight little spasm of heat and she sucked in a swift breath.

She shifted on her seat, the faux suede rubbing the backs of her bare thighs in a silken caress that made her sex constrict. Or was the entirely licentious behaviour of her body due to the supremely confident way P.B. moved? The same way an alpha lion moved through the pride. A walk that said: Don’t mess with me or I will eat you.

Her sex constricted again, with more insistency this time.

Unable to drag her gaze from the man’s towering frame, Carrie let out a dismayed dismay. What was she thinking? Getting all hot and horny over P.B. Ferguson? She didn’t get hot and horny over anyone anymore. She couldn’t. It wasn’t wise.

She lifted her glass to her lips and took a gulp. The cool water did little to ease her burning thirst and she bit back a curse. Water wouldn’t slake her thirst now and she knew it.

She let her gaze roam over P.B. as he continued to move through the pub, touching the tip of her tongue to her bottom lip. Damn, he looked good. And menacing. She’d heard rumours he was a cop. An ASIO agent. A political assassin. Rumours she’d dismissed. Perhaps they were true after all?

P.B. had been an enigma at school. Not quite a jock, not quite a geek, quiet but a little goofy and more than able to finish any fight. They’d shared one mind-blowing kiss during a reckless game of truth or dare in their senior year. A wild, unforgettable kiss that shook her to her core and left her wanting more, but nothing in P.B’s history hinted at a killer’s nature. Nothing.

Yet now, he seemed to ooze menace.

Curious. And – curse it – arousing. It changed everything. Everything.

She chewed on her bottom lip, watching the man stop at the bar. His shoulders were broader than they’d been fifteen years ago, his neck a little more muscled, his arms even more so. For a dizzying second she imagined those perfectly sculpted arms beneath her palms, and the junction of her thighs grew damp.

“Damn it,” she muttered. She didn’t need this complication. Didn’t need it, didn’t want it. If she didn’t leave the pub now, she’d do something she’d regret.

As if sensing her hungry stare, P.B. turned and stared right back at her, his dark brown eyes glinting in the dim light, his lips curling in a laconic grin.

Carrie’s chest squeezed tight. Her mouth filled with saliva and her sex fluttered.

Oh, no.

She leapt to her feet, moving toward the exit. She had to leave. She had a rule she stuck to with unbending stringency. No one she knew. Not even the man whose kiss had never been rivaled.

The hot summer night air wrapped around her as she burst from the pub, like a cool embrace on her flushed flesh. She hurried down the deserted footpath, every fibre in her being demanding she turn around. Go back to the possibility she’d seen in P.B’s grin. To the perfection of his body, his neck…

No one you know, Carrie.

She stumbled to a halt and slumped against the glass front of a salon, staring at her feet. P.B. Ferguson. Why P.B. bloody Ferguson?

“I always wanted you at school, Carrie.”

The deep male voice sent Carrie’s head jerking up, and she stared into eyes darker than midnight.

P.B. gazed down at her with a desire she couldn’t miss. He took a step closer, his hips pressing hers, his hands flattening to the glass either side of her head. “I want you now.”

Carrie stood frozen, imprisoned by his eyes. They told her exactly what he wanted to do to her, as clearly as the rigid length nudging her belly.

“Do you remember the kiss we shared, Carrie?” He lowered his head, his lips brushing hers. “Because I do.” He claimed her mouth with savage force, his tongue plunging past her teeth. Demanding she kiss him back. One hand skimmed over her shoulder to cup her breast in a punishing caress that made her sex flood with tension. Oh, God, she wanted this.

P.B’s long fingers massaged her breast, tweaking her nipple through the cotton of her shirt. His lips scorched a path up to her ear. “When I saw you in the pub,” he murmured, warm breath like velvet on the column of her neck, “I knew it was fate giving me another chance.”

Fate.

The word slipped through Carrie’s pleasure-fogged brain and she moaned. Fate. Was it fate she came back to her hometown now? Fate P.B. kissed her fifteen years ago? Fate he kissed her now?

“Are you a killer, P.B?” The question tore from her throat in a hoarse whisper. “Are the rumours true?” She ground the curve of her sex to his erection, wanting him to say no. Wanting him to chuckle and tell her the rumours where just that: rumours. Instead, he lifted his head and gazed down at her, lips curled in an enigmatic smile. He slipped his palm up her chest, circled his fingers around the base of her throat for a moment before feathering the back of his knuckles along her jaw. “Does it matter, Carrie?” He rolled his hips, stroking the junction of her thighs with his steely length, his stare holding her trapped. “Does it?”

Carrie closed her eyes. Oh, P.B.

His answer sealed his fate. And hers.

“Yes, P.B.” Her incisors extended. Grew sharp. Pointed. “It does.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him, the man she’d dreamed of even after becoming a soulless vampire five years ago. The future she’d longed for since he’d kissed her that very first time. “It does,” she repeated.

And just as his gaze fell on her revealed fangs, just as he gasped in sharp shock, she spun them both around, slammed his body against the glass and sank her teeth into his neck.

His fingers clawed at her shoulders, his hips bucked against hers, his sweet blood poured into her mouth and she sighed. She wasn’t thirsty anymore.

Thank God.

I have a thing for the Apocalypse. Must do, it’s the only reason I can come up with for a/ writing a book about its impending arrival (Death, The Vamp and His Brother – which is up for a CAPA for BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE, btw *grin*) and b/ looking forward to this movie so much. It also helps I’ve had a major crush on Paul Bettany since his scene-stealing performance as Geoffery Chaucer in A Knight’s Tale.

Anyway, Legion looks amazing and I can’t wait!