Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Embrace Your Wickedness by Madison Michael


WICKED WEDNESDAY

Let's get WICKED. Welcome my guest, Madison Michael!

Brenda, thanks so much for the opportunity to be a little wicked this Wednesday. I think being wicked is a lot of fun. As Halloween approaches, I notice more and more people embracing their inner wickedness too. Costumes, candy and wicked in a single holiday – it might just be my favorite day of the year. 

But I don’t wait until Halloween to get in touch with my wicked side. I live a little wicked and infuse my characters with a little wicked, a touch of wild, a lot of sassy, and an abundance of sexy. Wicked characters that grow and reform are some of my favorite characters to read. You know the ones, the rakish Duke in the historical romance, the demanding billionaire used to getting his way, the biker bad boy. It is so satisfying when their lady-loves help them reveal their softer, kinder side. 

But what happens when the character that needs reforming is the heroine of the story? Remember Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew? I wanted to create my own version of Kate, but how could I allow my hero to tame her…. 

In my novel, Beholden, I reintroduced Sloane - snobbish, more than a little bitchy, and pretty damn wicked. I loved creating Sloane and I have really enjoyed the myriad of reactions her bitchy behavior has elicited from my readers. 

Sloane Huyler is a spoiled woman who has scored the trifecta - birth, beauty and brains – and boy, does she know it. Sloane’s initial role is as the evil fiancé of my hero in Bedazzled, the first of my Beguiling Bachelor novels. She is not the heroine of that novel, quite the contrary. She stirs up tons of trouble and gets her just rewards. She ends up a jilted lover. 

The second novel in the series, Beholden, begins with a confident Sloane about to marry the most eligible bachelor in Chicago. The story changes quickly. Fast forward 18 months and Sloane has lost her fiancé, most of her friends and all of her fortune. These circumstances, might humble another woman, but not Sloane. Although she may be crushed on the inside, she just grows haughtier on the outside. 

Enter Randall Parker III, wicked in his own ways – a heavy drinker and brilliant banker wrapped in a, hard-bodied, sexy as hell package. Randall has known Sloane since her student days and he’s well aware of her wicked ways. Rather than being put off by them, Randall is drawn to Sloane, determined to win her heart – if she has one. 

Sparks fly between Sloane and Randal as he seeks to reverse her dire circumstances, and claim her for his own. It seems they are either fighting mad or flaming hot. Who exactly is taming whom? 

Here is one of my favorite interactions between them…. 

Luckily, they found a parking space near her building without having to circle the block. They walked toward her building arm in arm, him stroking her bare shoulders and back, her with her hand up the back of his un-tucked shirt. They stopped every few steps to kiss, each kiss thick with promise, lasting longer and demanding more. They were too hungry for each other to wait.

Randall ran his hands over the wide expanse of skin left bare by her halter and she thought she would melt from the feel of his hands on her. He played with the tie holding the dress up.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed at him.

“Don’t test me,” he responded, tugging playfully but leaving everything intact. “I would take you against the side of this building right now if I wasn’t afraid of getting arrested.”

“What’s a little jail time between friends? After all it runs in the family,” she quipped, astonishing them both when she joked about her father’s incarceration.

“I mean it, Sloane,” he growled. “Do not tempt me further.”

“I mean it too, Randall.”

    He spun her around and sandwiched her between his body and the rough brick wall of the nearest building, rocking his body hard against hers, his erection large and insistent against her belly. Sloane wrapped one leg around his lower legs, trying to pull him even tighter to her, crushing her breasts into his massive chest. She pushed at him, dropped her leg and throwing all caution to the wind she groped for the zipper on his pants. He looked astonished, but he didn’t stop her, even helping a bit when she fumbled with his belt buckle.

While unfastening Randall’s pants, Sloane felt a cool breeze on her legs and realized that the hem of her dress had been lifted high on her hip. He had one hand cupping the spot where the back of her thigh curved into her ass pulling her to him. While he was kissing her until she thought she would gasp for breath, Randall was reaching to divest her of her panties.

Sloane heard footsteps and froze in place.

What the hell were they doing? They were just yards from her condo. In less than five minutes they would be safely inside.

She pushed him away, pulled her dress down and made sure she had not progressed too far with his trousers. She placed a shaking hand in his and began leading an unresisting Randall toward the lobby of her building. “Two minutes,” she whispered to him.

“Not one second more,” he retorted, giving her a threatening look that she knew brooked no argument. Reassured that they were decent enough, they left the darkness of the street and stepped into the pool of bright lights under the portico of Sloane’s building.

  

Will Randall win the wild Sloane or will she lure him then leave him? Watch the twists and turns of this wicked couple. See what you make of my modern day Taming. 

Check out Bedazzled and Beholden on Amazon and pick up the sequel, Bedeviled, in Sultry Nights, a limited-time collection of steamy romances from 22 great authors for a mere 99 cents!  Sultry Nights is available on Amazon or on Kobo, iBooks and more at www.romancecollections.com/sultry-nights 

I told you I loved writing these characters. I meant it. After writing Beholden, I went back and created a Prequel to The Beguiling Bachelor series. Bewildered introduces Sloane and Randall when they first meet, and sets up the subsequent novels. Nab your free copy of Bewildered at www.madisonmichael.net 

About Madison Michael

Madison Michael traded 28 years in Fortune 500 tech and management positions for a chance to spend her days with sassy heroines, sexy, rich heroes and nothing but happy endings. Growing up the daughter of a librarian, she learned to love books, especially classics and romances, and spent winters cuddled under blankets losing herself in books. 

Madison is the author of three novels in the Beguiling Bachelor series, as well as several short stories. She is a member of Romance Writers of America. 

After living in the northeast, southeast and the west, Maddy returned to her Midwest roots. She lives in Evanston, IL with two feline editorial assistants and great views of Chicago’s famous skyline. 


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