A Clockwork butterfly by having a fortnight of guests, tips and giveaways! Beachwalk is running a 50% off ebook sale of my novel (code ButterflyParty) and don’t forget to enter the Goodreads paperback giveaway. 

Well look at who my guest of honour at the Butterfly Party is today – The fabulous Ms Victoria Blisse! 

I’m so glad she’s popped by as there’s a very special saucy event going on THIS WEEKEND in Scarborough – take it away Miss Blisse 😉

“It’s my party and I’ll Smut by the Sea if I
want to.”

Smut by the Sea   is not just a collection of hot erotic
anthologies, oh no, it is an erotic event, the first of its kind and is
happening this Saturday the 22nd June at Scarborough Library in the
UK. It starts at 10am
and the daytime event is free and includes readings, a book launch from Slave
Nano, how to get your smut published panel and an erotic marketplace including
the much anticipated erotic tombola. It runs until 4pm then we close for a few
hours to prepare for the evening extravaganza.

I looked up the road and saw a bus
stop. Leaping up with great purpose I headed for it. I was going to ride the
bus. It was the next step in revisiting my childhood and recapturing my joy.

I
jumped on the next one that came along, paid my fare and climbed upstairs. No
one was up there. That wasn’t a surprise since it was still raining hard. I sat
down near the back. I always wanted to sit at the back when I was little and my
parents wouldn’t let me. It was fun to let my little rebel take over.

The seat was damp and cold and the
water seeped into my jeans. I’d have to go back to the hotel and change again
once the trip was over, but then I could maybe enjoy the firm mattress of my
bed while I waited for my clothes to dry. Apparently, once you reawaken a
libido it doesn’t give you five minutes rest.

It’s hard to appreciate the view when
rain is slapping you in the face like an irate lover. So I just closed my eyes
and enjoyed the harsh rush of wind against my cheeks and listened to the
pitter-patter of the drops dancing over my coat. I felt the bus stop, so I
opened my eyes. I was near the harbour, fishing boats sitting quietly in the
water, huddling together before their next jaunt out to sea.

I heard the clomp, clomp, clomp of shoes on the stairs and I wondered who on
earth was as crazy as me to want to sit up in the elements. It turned out to be
a very handsome man in a red raincoat similar to my own. He cracked a smile
when he saw me, his head just peering over the top of the barrier as he
continued up the stairs.

“I thought I’d be the only one crazy
enough to sit up here in this weather.” His voice was earthy and deep with a
hint of the local accent. I wanted to hear more of it.

“No, no. I’m afraid you’ve not got
the monopoly on crazy today.”

“So,” he said, covering the distance
from the front of the bus to the back in a few long strides. He was very tall
and did I mention handsome? I was sure the wetness seeping between my thighs
wasn’t simply the rain. This tall, dark man was whispering to my most feminine
desires. “What brings you up here on such an inclement day?”

“Appreciation of life.” I replied
with a smirk.

“Ah, that.” He nodded, “do you mind
if I sit with you?”

“Not at all, as long as you don’t
mind getting a wet arse.” I chuckled uneasily. I shouldn’t have mentioned his
bum, I hardly knew him!

“I’m already wet everywhere else,
what’s another body part in the grand scale of things?” He sat down and offered
me his hand. “Hello, I’m Daniel. You’re not from round here, are you?”

“I’m Abby. I’m from Manchester but I
live in London right now.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” he
smiled, “the dark around your eyes, the half lingering sense of hopelessness,
the rounded vowels.”

I should have been offended but I was
stunned by how observant he was.

“You’ve got me,” I shrugged. “I’m
trying to rediscover myself. Shit as that sounds.”

“I understand,” he said. “I’m pretty
certain we should all spend more time doing that kind of stuff and less time
worrying. It has a better yield, anyway.”

I nodded and twisted my fingers
together in my lap. I was suddenly acutely aware of his body heat beside me and
the scant half inch between his arm and mine.

“Do you live here?” I asked, finding
conversation far less scary than silence and my erratic, erotic thoughts.

“Yeah.” Daniel nodded. “Most of my
life.”

“Lucky sod.” I said with a sigh.

“It’s not a bad life,” he agreed,
though I saw a little sadness in the depth of his darkened eyes. “Took me a
while to work that out, though.”

It’s difficult to describe something
that happened without word or movement but I realised then that Daniel
understood me and my troubles. It’s like his soul recognised the same weakness
in mine.

“Look,” he turned his body towards
me, “this is going to seem very forward of me but, I’ve been looking at your
lips and they’re just calling to be kissed. Would you mind if I just leaned in
a touch and rested my lips against yours for a bit?”

Propriety would have screamed at me
to shout no and to run like the wind away from the man with determination and
longing in his eyes. Luckily I was there with passion, not propriety, and passion
urged me to nod my head and lean in to speed up the action. I’m never usually
so impulsive but as his lips brushed mine I knew I’d made the right choice.
Daniel’s warmth flowed from his body into mine.

I felt as though I was on fire. I
wanted to rip off my mac and rub my naked flesh against his. I didn’t care
about the wind or the rain or the rattling bus that could stop at any moment to
let on more passengers. I just wanted him.