Guest Author & Giveaway Featuring Em Petrova

Happy Sunday y'all! (my Southern Belle side comes out when I hear the word cowboy!) Please help me welcome good friend and author Em Petrova to the blog today! She’s whipped up a fabulous post on her latest historical erotic romance from her sizzling Hollis Boys series and has provided us with a great excerpt and giveaway to brighten up our Sundays even more.

Welcome, Em!

Trading Bits

By Em Petrova

I’m so happy to be here on my awesome friend Talina’s blog today. Thank you so much for having me!

I bet you’re a “bit” curious about the title of this blog. It sounds a little provocative, as everything I write basically does *grin*. Also, this post relates to the recent release of my historical romance WILD WILD HEARTS (available from Loose Id).

Two of the characters in this new ménage are whores. That’s right. Picture the saloon girl who cozied up to the man with the biggest winnings of the night. Except in this story, the woman comes as a package deal. Sofia and Isaac are known as the Jade Pair, for their bright green eyes. Their boss tells them who to go to bed with and when.

While plotting WILD WILD HEARTS, I had to do a lot of research about saloons, prostitution of the 1870’s in Texas, and even the value of money, which often were in the form of “bits”. A bit was a designation of money from the Colonial period in the United States, when a Spanish silver dollar was split into eight pieces. One of these pieces was known as a bit and was equivalent to the modern quarter. So a two-bit whore was worth 50 cents.

I also found it shocking and pretty awesome that most prostitutes earned more in a week than most hardworking men did in a month. This allowed women to have power. They owned land, could do for themselves. In the nineteenth century, prostitutes were among the freest, most educated, and wealthiest women of their time. In essence, they traded their bodily bits for wealth, and sometimes control, of the men who flooded into the West.

Sofia is a heroine who longs to get away from prostitution, but she and Isaac are pinned down by a domineering boss. When they set eyes on Nolan Hollis, rugged cowboy and heir of the Hollis horse ranch, they know instant attraction. But Sofia feels that she lacks enough worth for a man of Nolan’s morals. When he lays down a thick stack of cash for one night with her and Isaac, she begins to wonder if she might possess some worth other than the charms she’s renowned for.

In fact, she and Isaac would beg, borrow, and steal to gain their freedom from their boss and be able to claim that they belong to a Hollis Boy.

Wild Wild Hearts

Em Petrova

Out Now

Back of the Book:

Lady Sofia is one of the most sought-after women on the frontier. But her “boss” calls the shots from what she may eat to who she spends the night with. Recently he’s asked too much when he demands she and her long-time lover Isaac use their charms to seduce a man she wants to tangle limbs with all too much.

With Sofia, Isaac Strong is part of a two-for-one deal known as the “Jade Pair” for the color of their eyes. When the rugged Nolan Hollis walks into their lives, Isaac’s yearnings kick like a wild stallion. But will the honorable man want anything to do with them, especially once he discovers the Jade Pair’s mission is to steal a prized object from the Hollis family?

Nolan must have the stunning saloon girl, even if it means she comes packaged with Isaac. Soon Nolan is equally as drawn to the quiet and handsome man. While he struggles not to lose his heart to his lovers from the wrong side of humanity, he works to hide his rendezvous from his family. But soon Nolan realizes his lovers intend to do more than get him into bed and steal his love.

The dedication in this book is “to all those who long to be free”. I hope you read on for a glimpse into Sofia’s head.

Amazon | Loose-ID  

ENJOY AN EXCERPT:

“Your action, sir.” Sofia hung over the railroad executive’s shoulder, making sure her bodice dipped low. The movement left nothing to the man’s imagination as she pointed to his poker hand.

His gray mustache twitched. He followed the seam of her cleavage, able to see quite a bit considering the top of her dress dipped dangerously close to her nipples. One wrong move and she’d be exposed to everyone in the saloon.

Including the Hollis boy across the room.

Sofia flicked her gaze up, stopping just short of meeting his. He was looking at her—that was enough for now. She wasn’t certain she should be carousing with a man like him anyway.

He’d been nursing the same whiskey all night but continued to watch her, his dark hat tugged lower with every hour that passed.

Just like her bodice.

She didn’t know why she was purposely tempting him. For a price, she’d go upstairs with any man, together with her lover, Isaac.

They were a team known as the Jade Pair for the color of their eyes. Hers were a deeper, more emerald green, while Isaac’s were a bright jade. But their boss believed the term to be exotic and enticing, drumming up more business.

With Hollis’s warm gaze on her, she almost wished she wasn’t in this profession of entertaining men. Hollis had “morality” written all over him. Yes, he was definitely the come-courting kind. Well, she wasn’t in that market—her train had pulled out long ago.

The railroad executive, his name still unknown to her, spread some cards out on the table, and a gasp ran from one player to the next when they spotted his four-of-a-kind.

“I’m out.” One man tossed his cards into the center of the table with a growl of disgust. Another withdrew a wad of cash from his vest pocket and peeled off some bills, which he handed to the railroad man to cover his losses.

Isaac made a sharp movement, and Sofia looked up. Their gazes met. No words were needed. He glanced to the side and caught the boss, Hiram Marshall, watching. Hiram was waiting for Sofia to make her move.

Damn.

Her unladylike thought was tamer than it might have been. How she hated being under Hiram’s thumb and pinned down by his ever-watchful gaze. That he was waiting for her to gain the tycoon’s cooperation so that wad of cash could cross into Hiram’s hands was evident.

If the railroad man took her and Isaac to bed, they’d line Hiram’s pocket and provide enough cash for them to eat and bathe for a week.

Carefully, she lifted her gaze to the far wall again. A slice of want ripped through her as she met Hollis’s intense stare. She didn’t even know which Hollis he was—there were so many.

The man was pure, walking lust. Dark denims that were stiff on every other cowboy actually molded to his chiseled thighs, and his quality leather boots gleamed in the lantern lights. Nothing compared to his face. If angels truly fell, she could say she saw one in the flesh.

His dark gaze burned from beneath the brim of his hat and caused a throb deep in her core.

A jolt of surprise captured her. When had she last felt that desire? Though she slept with many men every week, she’d only ever experienced this wanting once before—with Isaac.

Her sex ached, pooling with moisture. She shifted, and her skirts rustled. Beneath her lacy petticoats, she was slick and bare—every bit of hair bladed from her pussy.

Was Hollis a hungering man? From the way his hard lips pulled tight over his teeth in a snarl when the railroad man skimmed her jaw with his forefinger, she thought so. Hollis set his glass down with a clink that sounded all the way across the noisy saloon.

“Careful, Sofia,” Isaac murmured in her ear.

The threads of the web tightened. Suddenly, she was caught between Hiram, the railroad man, Isaac, and Hollis. Yessir, she was throwing Hollis into the mix. If he was a hungering man, she was a betting woman.

“Would you like to follow my man and me upstairs?” she asked the tycoon but kept her gaze fixed on Hollis.

The cowboy brought his boot off its resting place across his knee, and the heel hit the floor.

“Why yes, ma’am, that sounds right nice.” The railroad man clutched the bills he’d just won and turned to her with a fevered light in his eyes. When he reached for her, Hiram plucked the money from his hand. At the same moment, Hollis shoved his chair back with such swiftness, it tipped over, sounding like a shot.

At the sound of the crash, the piano music came to an abrupt stop. Isaac clamped his hand on Sofia’s shoulder, almost bruising her. But she knew if events escalated into a fight and guns were drawn, he would have her out of here and to safety within moments.

“I’ll raise you.” Hollis’s voice was deep and rough, like he chewed nails and swallowed them for breakfast. It also sent a dark heat threading low through Sofia’s belly. The fire took up residence between her thighs, and she squeezed them together to ease it.

Hiram stepped up to Hollis. He was a full head shorter than the cowboy and lacking in muscle. But he was used to dealing with hard men and knew how to get what he wanted. At that moment, he wanted more money.

Isaac’s grip on her shoulder tightened painfully. She swung her gaze to him and spotted the glint in his eyes. Yes, it said. He wanted this—wanted Hollis.

Lust pounded through her core. In the two years she and Isaac had been together and loved each other, she’d never seen the flames of need in him for another man. Sure, he gave his body to them willingly enough, but Hollis was different.

For them both. Before she had a chance to wonder why, Hollis crowded close.

“This is a rather large chunk of money, sir. I’m not certain you would have—” Hiram bit off his words as Hollis laid a thick stack of cash on the table.

A shiver that was almost pride coursed down Sofia’s spine. Isaac blew out a breath.

Rotating, Hiram faced the railroad man. “Will you counteroffer?”

The man stared for a long moment at Hollis. The cowboy braced his legs wide and hooked a thumb in his front pocket, appearing nonchalant and menacing at once. The pose said he had money to up the stakes, but he wasn’t going to need it.

Sofia sank her teeth into her lower lip. Hollis’s gaze latched on to her mouth and held.

Finally, the tycoon shook his head. “Nope. Other women in these parts to be had. I won’t separate myself from more money.” He held out his hand, and Hiram placed his winnings in his palm.

“Sofia, Isaac, you’ve got yourself a gentleman for the evening. Take good care of him.” Hiram greedily stuffed the wad of money into his vest pocket and hightailed it out of the saloon. His work was done, and now he’d be off to his bed like the lazy sloth he truly was. A man who worked not at all but lived off other people’s “talents.”

“I thank you, sir, for such a gracious offer,” Sofia whispered, the words not laced with her usual syrupy sweetness. Isaac heard her breathlessness and inched closer, putting one arm around her waist.

Hollis nodded, then glanced upward. “Shall we go upstairs?”

White heat scorched her sex. Her nipples pebbled. “By all means.”

As she followed Hollis’s thickly muscled body up the short flight of wooden stairs, Sofia’s heart galloped out of control. Certainly a man like him would know his way around a woman’s body as well as he knew how to rope a stallion.

 *~*

 **I hope you’ve enjoyed my post. I’d love to hear from you! I’m offering one lucky commenter a $10 e-certificate for Loose Id! Good luck!

Em Petrova

~where words mean so much more~

www.empetrova.com