Under the Mistletoe with Amanda Usen

I write the Hot Nights series of super-sexy, smart-mouthed, make-you-hungry contemporary romance novels. I also work in a bakery which guarantees plenty of holiday cheer around this time of year…and holiday cookies, cakes, and sweet treats of all kinds…and the need for a festive beverage at the end of a shift! If you like good food and a little family tension in your naughty romance, you might enjoy my books. If you feel the need to run to the bedroom after reading them, you’re on your own, but if you feel the need to run to the kitchen and start cooking, many of the recipes from my books are on my website. Happy holidays! May your nights be merry and bright…and HOT!

Favorite Holiday Song: O Holy Night

Favorite Holiday Food: Chex Mix!

What’s your favorite thing about the winter holiday season?

The guilt-free curling up with a good book because I don’t need to be outside enjoying the outdoors…the plentiful holiday treats…and holiday booze…and holiday cheer!

What’s your least favorite thing about the winter holiday season?

The traffic. Leaving the house requires an unholy amount of patience during the latter half of December!

About MAKE ME, TAKE ME

Hero’s Name: Quinton James

Heroine’s Name: Betsy Mouton

What would the perfect gift your hero would give your heroine and why?

Quin already gave Betsy her heart’s desire, all of them, in fact, so I think he’d just buy her panties in every color of the rainbow to make up for the ones he keeps melting off of her.

What would the perfect gift your heroine would give your hero and why?

Betsy would wrap up the key to her apartment and hide it somewhere interesting for Quin to find.

Where would your hero or heroine secretly hang some mistletoe to catch an extra special holiday kiss and why?

Quin would grow an arbor of mistletoe over the alley between his hotel and her bar. He’d catch her coming and going, pin her up against the wall and…or maybe he’d hang mistletoe in the elevator in his hotel. However, now that the hotel is open that could be awkward unless they develop exhibitionist streaks! Either way, they’d make out every chance they got, mistletoe or no mistletoe. That’s how they roll!

Share an excerpt of your favorite kissing scene between these two characters.

Her eyes dipped shut, and a wave of longing washed over her, so intense she locked her knees to keep them from buckling. “This is nuts. I don’t do this.” The words stuttered from her lips.
“Neither do I.”
She frowned at the obvious lie, and he chuckled. “I’ve never sat in a bar for six hours waiting for a woman.”
“Why did you?”
“Because every time you walked by I wanted to do this.” He cupped her chin with a sure hand and slowly leaned toward her. The time he took bridging the distance between them underscored her consent.
He wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her tight. They fit, and his low sound of enjoyment echoed the flood of pleasure sweeping through her. There was no reason on earth this should feel right, but it did.
He took her lips. His mouth was soft, moving with skill, and his breath was scented with lime from his water. His tongue stroked fire through her veins, melting her against him, and she clutched his broad shoulders, feeling dizzy from fighting arousal. A moan rose in her throat, and she tried to swallow it—and failed. She wasn’t herself tonight. That was the only explanation.
Betsy Mouton would never hook up with a cocky player like him. She didn’t do one-night-stands, casual sex, or irresponsibility in any way, shape, or form. But Quinton James didn’t know that. She could be whoever she wanted to be tonight, do whatever she wanted to do. She’d never see him again, and the freedom was intoxicating. Tomorrow,
responsible Betsy would get on the plane to New York and set about changing her family’s destiny, but tonight she was going to embrace the spirit of New Orleans. Let the good times roll.