*Giveaway & Guest Post* Hook Up by Miranda Baker

Today, Ladies and Gents of the Lair, I want you to put together a warm welcome for a fabulous author!!
She is super sweet and writes super sexy... Let's welcome...

***Ms. Miranda Baker!***


Once in a while, a memory hits me and my heart lights up like a sparkler. It doesn’t take much – maybe I’ll notice one of my FB friends keeps in touch with one of my ex-lovers, maybe the scent of a campfire will remind me of a certain summer camping hook-up, maybe someone will quote The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I’ll remember my very first real date. Poignant. Painful. Unforgettable. The ones who got away. The ones who broke my heart. The ones I’d like to slap or kiss or make love to just one more time. The ones who make me sigh and grit my teeth at the same time. Do you know what I’m talking about? I hope you do.

I love my memories, and I go searching through them when I write my books. The Come Again series was inspired by a sexy shop girl in an adult novelty store in Toronto. She sold me on the merits of silicone lubricants, Alisa’s preference in SoloPlay. (If you’ve read it you might remember Crystal taunts Mark with that little gem of info.) I left that Toronto sex shop with a bottle of Gun Oil lubricant and the idea for an erotic romance series centered around a sex shop called Come Again. From that point on, memory became fantasy. As I wrote the other stories in the series, Crystal revealed herself to me. Bisexual, empathic, mysterious. I knew she was hiding something behind her worldly Goth-kink camouflage, but I didn’t know what it was until Ryan came on scene in SoloPlay.

That’s my favorite part of the writing process – the bits and pieces dropped along the way that eventually turn into another story. Somehow it all comes together – the subconscious at work is a beautiful thing. Once I realized where Ryan fit in, I began mining my memory again. I felt compelled to download “Tender is the Night” by Jackson Browne and “Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos because every story, like every memory, has an obsessive soundtrack. I have everything from Eric Clapton to Brad Paisley to Katy Perry on my Hook Up soundtrack because life is eclectic, you know? But there is one thing all my almosts have in common – the shivery feeling I get when I revisit those red-hot memories.

In Hook Up, Crystal’s memories are red-hot with a twist, and she discovers…

A blast from the past can be hell on the heart.

“Spend the night with me, Crystal.”

One college hook-up with Ryan Anderson ripped Crystal LaRusso’s emotions wide open and hot-wired her to the world around her. After gaining control of her new abilities, she rebuilt her life and started a business as a sensual psychic. She’s bold, fearless and, admittedly, a little freaky. Black leather, exotic makeup and a reputation for only dating women keeps the world at a necessary distance—distance she can’t maintain when Ryan reappears in her life.

Ryan has spent the last ten years wondering what went wrong between them, and now that she’s back in his life, Crystal has a lot of explaining to do. The chemistry is just as potent as it was ten years ago, so why does she keep running away? One night won’t be enough to satisfy Ryan’s need for her, but it might take the edge off. At the very least, he can ask her why she broke his heart—and this time he’s not leaving without an answer.

Product Warnings
This book contains an unforgettable one-night stand, a heroine with a taste for beautiful women, a quest that begins in a sex shop and ends in a sex club, and enough mind-blowing psychic sex to change one lucky man’s life forever.

HOOK UP Excerpt:

A bolt of fear, then longing, coursed through her, freezing her muscles in place. A kaleidoscope of emotions bombarded her as her mind and heart rioted, urging her to run. She stood, paralyzed, soaking up the changes in his appearance. The college boy buzz was gone. His sun-streaked hair was brushed back from his forehead in an unruly mass that reached his collar. He was broader now, harder. His white shirt contrasted sharply with his deep tan, giving him a piratical look despite the classy suit. A wreath of lines bracketed his eyes, probably caused by the quick grin Crystal had never forgotten. He looked like the frat boy she had known, gone predator.

Crystal struggled to surround herself with a wall of cool calm. She couldn’t run, at least not yet, but she could hide in plain sight.

Ryan looked directly at her and his emotions blasted across the room, burning through her defenses. Desire. Resentment. Heat. Longing swept through her again, stealing her breath. His dark eyes absorbed the light in the room and reflected it back at her. Mahogany eyes, warm, like bittersweet chocolate. He was braced over her, waiting, holding her gaze with infinite tenderness. Her soul opened, enveloped him. Her consciousness spun out around them.

Crystal jerked back from the memory. Her feet felt rooted to the floor. Her heart pounded as Ryan and Alisa moved toward them.

Beside her, Mark chuckled. She turned to glare at him.

“What?” he asked. “I figured turnabout was fair play. You introduced Alisa and me, after all.” His usually reserved blue eyes were full of fun. Mischief. Memory. Satisfaction. Now she understood why he’d been so smug all evening.

It felt like a cosmic joke that Mark had finally remembered they’d gone to college together just in time to reintroduce her to the man who had ruined her life. Crystal was grateful for the anger that reminded her she wasn’t vulnerable anymore.

Mark cocked his head, looking down at her, eyes suddenly wary. “I thought you might enjoy a blast from the past.”

The irony made laughter bubble up in her throat, so she released it in a breathy chuckle. Laughter was excellent camouflage, better than leather, ink and the color black. She slid one arm around his waist and leaned up to whisper in his ear. “I’m positively thrilled, darling.” Mark didn’t know, no one did—and if she could hold it together through the wedding weekend from hell, no one ever would.

Get your HOOK UP on sale here:
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/hook-up-p-7041.html
or wherever fine smut is sold!

About Miranda Baker

It makes me chuckle to think about all the romantic short stories I wrote in my rather too literary creative writing classes in college. If only one of my professors had steered me toward popular fiction! On the other hand, if I had discovered my calling back then, I wouldn’t have gone to culinary school, I wouldn’t have met my husband, we wouldn’t have had three children and I wouldn’t have turned to erotic romance to get my mojo back during all this hair-raising kid raising. To learn more about me, please visit:
My den of iniquity: http://www.mirandabaker.com
My home away from home: https://www.facebook.com/MirandaBakerfans
Or my favorite hangout: https://twitter.com/Miranda_Baker
Be the first to know about my new books by signing up here: http://mirandabaker.us2.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=651f675a3bba92d7c9ebbfb42&id=7c51a9ddb1

***Giveaway time!***
Does your favorite hook up memory have a signature song?
Please tell me in the comments below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Ride the Rafflecopter for a chance to win a Hook Up Survival Kit containing:

Orchid temporary tattoo
*(your own Goth-kink camouflage)*
Mini Magic 8-ball
*(to check the auspices for a hook up)*
E-copy of Bottoms Up, the first book in the Come Again series
*(because I can’t actually hook you up, but I can offer you a few hours of reading pleasure)*
Two STUDDED condoms
*(Safety first! In Hook Up, Ryan buys condoms at Come Again*
*and discovers there is more to life than ribbed!)*
Romance Trading Cards for Bottoms Up and SoloPlay *(because I love e-books, but I do miss actual book covers!)*

Thanks for having me, Cecile! You are my absolute favorite Smutty Hussy! Mwah!
  I want to thank Miranda for coming over to the Lair today!! She is such an awesome author! You guys must give her a try if you haven't already!!!! Mwahhhh right back at ya honey! Anytime!
Good Luck Everyone!

And remember... Always keep it Dirty, Smutty & Hussy!