25 Days of Christmas Stories: SANTA WORE SPURS (TIED UP FOR CHRISTMAS by Desiree Holt -- Rated R)

SANTA WORE SPURS is an erotic anthology of Western romances...

Tied Up for Christmas

Bree Donovan has a thriving career as an architect in Chicago but a long-term relationship with her sub has turned very bad and she needs to get away. A client meeting in Texas prompts her to take some time to recover. Rafe Morales has been searching for the perfect sub for a long time but there always seems to be something missing. When he meets Bree there is instant attraction between them. Watching a performance at a private dungeon they each realize what’s missing is the need to switch, to play both top and bottom. An erotic, lust-filled weekend leaves them wanting more. Much more. The question is: can they make it happen? 

Breath for Heaven

Cade and Abby have a history. Ten years ago they were in love. But something happened. Abby pushed Cade away and he never knew why. Since then, sparks fly when they’re together. Antagonizing one another has become their favorite sport. The only problem is… it’s all a front. They bicker because they both want the same thing – each other. A Christmas wedding brings them together and Cade is determined to learn Abby’s secret. He’ll do whatever it takes to win her love. Meet the King Family of El Camino Real – five brothers, one sister and a legacy as big as Texas. 

Hope for Christmas

Cord Dixon, Mr. Laramie in the world of western clothing modeling, loses his job because he refuses to sleep with his female boss. Christmas is coming, and his bills are due, so he takes the only job he can find. A mall Santa.

Socialite wedding photographer, Hope Carlisle’s life disintegrates when she ruins the wedding of the year. In one fell swoop, she loses her best friend, her business partner and her fiancé. Unemployed and needing a job fast, Hope takes a job as an elf photographer job at the local mall. She is not looking forward to her new job, until she meets her sexy Santa.

Individually, Hope and Cord’s lives seem to be a hopeless mess. But with the magic of Christmas in the air, they work together to reclaim their lives and find love in the process.

A Cowboy for Christmas

A blizzard, a diner, and two lonely people...can it be love at first sight?

Eli Chandler doesn't believe in love. After being burned, he's only looking for a little warmth for the hearth on a cold winter's night stuck in a blizzard in Colorado.

Catlin is alone at the diner, searching for her next big break in the storm to get home until a stranger walks in looking for some hot coffee and a meal.

Two ships passing in the night...can there ever be more?

Excerpt from TIED UP FOR CHRISTMAS:

“It’s not polite to run off before you even say hello.” The deep voice rumbled through her body, making every nerve ending vibrate.

Bree turned her head and every bit of saliva in her mouth dried up. The man standing beside her was at least six four. He towered  over her even in her stiletto-heeled boots, forcing her to tip up her chin to look at his face. A plaid shirt stretched across broad shoulders and jeans clung to narrow hips and long legs. That would have been enough to steal her breath, but his face mesmerized her. Framed by thick black hair slightly tinged with grey, it had a rough, masculine cast to it rather than handsome. Eyes that made midnight look pale, were bracketed by thick eyebrows and thicker lashes, almost sinful on a man. Those eyes seemed to hold her in place.

For a moment she wasn’t sure her heart was still beating.

What the hell?

Had her hormones suddenly run amok? This man was no submissive. He might as well have been wearing a big fat sign that proclaimed Dominant across his chest. And Doms were not her thing. No, no. Uh, uh, uh. Too strong a Domme herself, she’d never be in a position of submission. Yet this man, with only a few words and a light touch, sent an erotic thrill racing through her. She didn’t even know if her heart was still beating.

Reaching for some semblance of control she finally managed to take a step back and get out a greeting.

“Hello.” Wow! Smooth greeting. Great impression, Bree.

“You have to be the out-of-towner.” He grinned at her, an expression almost lethal in its impact.

She tilted her head. “Out-of-towner? I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I’d intruded here. I thought it was, you now, just like the other munches I’ve been to.” She gave a nervous laugh. “If I’m being presumptuous—“

His laugh covered her like warm molasses. “Not a bit. Because we don’t meet in the city, we usually have the same people showing up for one of these. Sometimes a few will take a break, then decide to hang out again. Emilio posts it on the web as a reminder, but we don’t usually get too many who aren’t regulars.”

“Oh.” Bree took another step back. “I thought—I must have been mistaken. Like I said, I thought this was an open event.”

One corner of his mouth crooked up. Oh god, if she got past the body, the face and the deep voice, that grin might just be her undoing. How the hell could a Dom make her nipples harden into almost painful tips and moisture dampen her panties? No, no, no. Maybe  she should leave.

“It is. And I’m definitely glad you joined us.”

“I’m just—“ She held out her hands in a helpless gesture. “I happened to be in Austin on business, at loose ends, and needed some good conversation with people I could relax with.”

“Then you’ve come to the right place,” he assured her.

Review by Melissa Snark:

SANTA WORE SPURS is a collection of erotic contemporary western romance short stories by four different authors. Although I browsed instead of reading every story, they were all well written and edited. My review is primarily for TIED UP FOR CHRISTMAS by Desiree Holt since the author contacted me about this anthology.

Bree Donovan is a likeable professional woman visiting Houston on business. Lonely and coming off a bad breakup, she decided to attend a private BDSM party, hoping to meet some people and assuage her loneliness. Bree is a "domme", although she seems to be suffering from a crisis of confidence thanks to her cheating ex-boyfriend/submissive. 

At the get together, Bree meets hero Rafe, a studly Texan dom who takes an immediate interest in Bree. The sexual chemistry between the hero and heroine sizzles on the page. Sex scenes are VERY explicit and utilize all of the buzz words.

Now, BDSM is not my cup of tea and this story was more hardcore than I understood it to be. It contained descriptions of public displays of sex (performed by others), including punishment and anal, which I skipped. Not to say it wasn't well done. Merely that sort of thing is not to my liking. 

Bree was convincing in her curiosity to experience life as a switch (a dominant playing at being a sub). I found her to be likeable and I cheered when she finally told off her despicable ex-asshole of a boyfriend. Like also enjoyed Rafe's characterization. He was low-key and not pushy in the wannabe molester manner of a certain Grey-guy. I LOVED his self-confidence and flexibility that allowed him to redefine roles for the sake of a promising relationship. I was satisfied with the Happily For Now-ending.

SANTA WORE SPURS will appeal to fans of Western romance/erotica who are looking for a collection of sexy stories set during the Christmas season. 



Available from:
Amazon 
Barnes and Noble

Author Bios:

Known the world over as The Oldest Living Erotica Author, Desiree

Desiree Holt

Holt proves every day that she is more than the sum of her years and more than the grandmother who plays with Barbie and Ken dolls: She is The Hardest Working Erotica Author, producing one novel or more each month—and sending her readers and reviewers into rhapsodies about her five star storytelling.

She is twice a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award, a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio as well as twice a CAPA Award for best BDSM book of the year, winner of the Holt Medallion, multiple winner of the Whipped Cream Book of the Week Award and is published by five different houses. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today and numerous other national publications.

 “Desiree Holt is the most amazing erotica author of our time and each story is more fulfilling then the last.” (Romance Junkies)

Desiree Holt's website

Sable Hunter's hometown will always be New Orleans. She loves the culture of Louisiana and it permeates everything she does. Now, she lives in the big state of Texas and like most southern women, she loves to cook southern food - especially Cajun and Tex-Mex. She also loves to research the supernatural, but shhhh don't tell anyone.

Sable writes romance novels. She lives in New Orleans. She believes that her goal as a writer is to make her readers laugh with joy, cry in sympathy and fan themselves when they read the hot parts - ha!

The worlds she creates in her books are ones where right prevails, love conquers all and holding out for a hero is not an impossible dream.

Sable Hunter's website

  

Sandy Sullivan is a romance author, who, when not writing, spends her time with her husband Shaun on their farm in middle Tennessee. She loves to ride her horses, play with their dogs and relax on the porch, enjoying the rolling hills of her home south of Nashville. Country music is a passion of hers and she loves to listen to it while she writes.

 She is an avid reader of romance novels and enjoys reading Nora Roberts, Jude Deveraux and Susan Wiggs. Finding new authors and delving into something different helps feed the need for literature. A registered nurse by education, she loves to help people and spread the enjoyment of romance to those around her with her novels. She loves cowboys so you'll find many of her novels have sexy men in tight jeans and cowboy boots.

Sandy Sullivan's website.

Becky McGraw is a married mother of three adult children, and a Southern girl by birth and the grace of God, ya'll. She resides in South Texas with her husband and dog Abby.

A jack of many trades in her life, Becky has been an optician, a beautician, a legal secretary, a senior project manager for an aviation management consulting firm, which took her all over the United States, a real estate broker, and now a graphic artist, web designer and writer.

She knows just enough about a variety of topics to make her dangerous, and her romance novels interesting and varied. Being a graphic artist is a good thing for her too, because she creates her own cover art, along with writing the novels.

Becky has been an avid reader of romance novels since she was a teenager, and has been known to read up to four novels of that genre a week, much to the dismay of her husband, and the delight of e-book sellers.

She has been writing fictional short stories and novels for fun, as well as technical copy for her jobs for many years. She was a member of the Writer's Guild on AOL during her last venture into writing romance, as well as a founding member and treasurer of the first online chapter of the Romance Writers of America, From the Heart Romance Writers. Currently, she is a member of both organizations.

Becky McGraw's website