NBtM: Bottoms Up by Kate Deveaux

Bottoms Up

by Kate Deveaux

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GENRE:    Erotic Romance

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BLURB:

Bottoms Up:

A bartender with a penchant for naughty drink recipes is well known for crafting the perfect concoction for his clientele. Justin meets his match when down on her luck Lexi walks into his bar and he whips up a cocktail especially for her. 

It’s not just the booze talking when Justin and Lexi explore his list of naughty drink recipes in more detail — after hours. Night after night, Lexi is drawn back to Justin’s bar for another deliciously dirty creation and another night of extreme fantasy when he shows her how to let go of her inhibitions — One tantalizing drink recipe at a time— Seems it’s definitely Bottoms Up for these two!

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Excerpt Two:

“So what’ll it be?” the bartender asked.

Lexi was instantly dragged back to the present.

“Uh…I don’t know,” she offered, wondering how a drink could possibly dull the emptiness inside her.

He gave a smile and a confident shrug. “Well then, you’re in luck.”

“How’s that?” she asked half-heartedly, not really in the mood for banter

but realizing she was in need of a drink but with no clue what drink she wanted. Just something to make her forget the shitty day she’d had. And the even shittier year. 


The bartender with the soul-searching eyes and the cute little smile that even Lexi had to admit was a bit of a mood lifter, leaned on the bar so his eyes were level with hers.

“You’re in luck because it so happens my drink picking skills are legendary.”

“Legendary?” She repeated his claim, aware some would consider her response a flirt, but she felt it was more of a challenge. A challenge to see if he could pick something for her that would make her feel...feel…What the hell did she want to feel anyway?

“Legendary,” he repeated.

Okay, he was definitely flirting. Lexi couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“You’re that confident,” she pressed.

“Ten to one I will pick the perfect drink for you.”

“Okay then…give it your best shot,” she said, beginning to enjoy thinking about anything other than her troubles while she stood still holding onto the bar stool, but not yet taking the plunge to hop on the stool and settle in.

Without her uttering another word, the bartender poured one long stream of silken liquor into a cocktail shaker. Its slow path had a mesmerizing affect on her. She watched while he picked up another bottle and poured another brightly colored liquor into the shaker at the same time.  He placed the bottles down and gave her a nod. Her pulse quickened when he gripped the shaker. The condensation on the container made her lips water but it was the flex of his muscled forearms that stirred something else in her. Something she thought she’d long forgotten. Desire.

After a few swift gyrations he uncapped the shaker with a flourish. Then slowly filled the chilled martini glass while reaching for another bottle, adding a final squirt of orange amber liquor to the drink. The effect creating a layered concoction the color of the most exquisite sunset with a deep blue layer on the very bottom while the fiery orange layer almost floated on top.

Satisfied with his handy work he slowly slid the cocktail towards her.

“Try this,” he offered.

Parched with anticipation, her mouth was so dry she wanted more than anything to down the divine looking concoction.

He smiled encouragingly.

One quick drink Lexi told herself. All she’d wanted was one drink. Not to hang out with a flirtatious and sexy bartender. All she was looking for was a reprieve from the scorching summer sun. Something to quench her thirst. And numb her despair. A brief respite before getting back to what she needed to do. Clean out the apartment and hand in the keys. And thanks to being laid off that morning, she now added finding a job to her growing ‘to do’ list.

Reaching for the glass, Lexi lifted it up to her lips, her gaze meeting his when her lips touched the rim.

“Bottoms Up,” he said with an undeniably sexy tone.

“Bottoms Up, ” she replied, trying to stifle her grin. And trying her best not notice to that he was still watching her. She tipped the glass and took a long sip. Yum. Sweet at first, then a surprising kick when the liquor layer melted down her throat — coursing past her tonsils and warming a spot right between her breasts. Her eyes teared from the potency of the drink.

“You like it,” he announced with satisfaction.

She nodded, and took another sip, this time the cool frosty layer lingering in her throat, ready for that warm shot of liquor to follow. Intriguing.

“Perfect,” she answered, showing him just how much it hit the spot by downing the rest of it in two more sips.

His eyebrows arched and he flashed a heart-melting smile. That was if she had a heart to melt, she chided herself.

“Go on, hop up, I’ll make you another.” He motioned for her to sit.

What now? Stick to her plan, one drink, pay her bill and be gone back into the heat? She watched him pull a martini glass from a cooler, the clear glass immediately frosting up even with the cool air conditioning keeping the bar bearable compared to the sweltering temperature outside.

She watched as he went about making another drink. Shit, how did this drinking in the afternoon thing work? Sure, she’d hung out in her share of nightclubs, into the wee hours with her friends, but this was different. She checked her watch. Four thirty in the afternoon. Heat of the Tucson day. Temps reaching one hundred ten degrees about now or even hotter. Heat or no heat, the last thing she wanted to do was walk back out that door and face life. The realty was it was easier to sit on the bar stool with this sexy bartender and forget about all her troubles.

That’s the spirit. To hell with reality!

Lexi nodded her approval and unhooked her foot from the barstool rung, settling herself up on the seat.  She knew she definitely needed another of whatever it was that warmed her from the inside out and made her bad day begin to seem a little less bad.

He put the finishing touch on the drink and then passed it to her.

“Thank you,” she said and glanced along the bar. A waitress waited

impatiently at the end of the counter for their orders.

“I’ll get to those in a sec,” he assured them, but his attention remained on Lexi, expectantly, while she took another delicious sip and then another.

“It’s really very good,” she agreed, lifting the drink in toast. “Bottoms Up,” she added and took another sip. He gave a chuckle that made her blush. “That’s the name of the drink…?” she queried when he seemed to be enjoying a little humor that escaped her.

“Oh, that’s not the name of the drink,” he said, with a slow knowing smile that made her hand tremble as she clutched her glass. ‘Bottoms Up’ is the name of the bar,” he corrected her. Motioning with his head to the large pink neon sign over the bar that had somehow escaped her in the short time she’d been there. ‘Bottoms Up’ was spelled in winding script with a flourish at the end that looked distinctly like the bottom of a sexy ass.

Lexi’s cheeks flamed, feeling silly and embarrassed. She quickly took another sip. The cold rush of drink stung her right between the eyes. Ice cream headache.  Over the rim of the glass she caught his sexy grin. Like he was enjoying her discomfort. Mortified, she looked down, placing the empty glass back on the cocktail napkin, noting the “Bottoms Up’ emblem on it with a sassy drawing of a martini glass in the shape of a sexy round derriere.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kate Deveaux is a contemporary erotic romance writer and die-hard romantic. A former wedding planner, she has always been “in love” with love! Kate is currently working on several fictional stories – each filled with sexy romance, heroines who are no shrinking violets and heroes who make your heart skip a beat. She currently resides with her husband in the U.S. When Kate is not busy writing, she can be found on the tennis court –yes, there’s even ‘love’ in that game too.

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Interview with Kate Deveaux

Thank you so much for having me as your guest today. I love having a chance to stop by and chat with you. And of course I’m over the moon excited to share my latest release Bottoms Up with you and your readers!

My pleasure,

Kate

xo

1. What is your favorite part of this book and why?

That’s a tough one as I have quite a few favorites, but what springs to mind is when Justin takes Lexi up to his private roof top pool. Lexi is just beginning to get to know Justin as more than the hunky bartender who makes blush worthy toe curling cocktails. This scene reveals the intimacy between them as well as the setting of the book, the scorching Tucson July heat. The physical sense of summer heat and the oasis of the pool is matched only with the sizzling Slippery Nipple cocktails Justin shows Lexi just how to make. It’s a playfully erotic pool scene. Made me want to dive in!

2. If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?

Well, it would have to be Justin! I’d like him to pick the perfect drink for me just like he did for Lexi. Who wouldn’t want a drop dead tattooed bartender to focus all his attention on them? And such naughty, naughty, naughty, drinks he makes. And what we would we do you ask? Well, I am an erotic romance writer but I don’t think even I could say exactly what Justin and I would do together ☺ Let’s suffice it to say it would involve one hunk of a bartender, sans clothing, one long bar top in an empty after hours ‘Bottoms Up’ and a maraschino cherry… or two…and me….maybe some whip cream, just for extra fun!  

3. If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?

What a wonderful question. And one that I have never ever been asked. I’d like to have written Erica Jong’s Fear Of Flying. Ms. Jong blazed the trail for entire generation of women and made possible my career and my colleagues as erotic fiction writers.

4. Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?

Like many other authors, my experiences can’t help but color my writing, hints of people, places and experiences layer my works whether I am even aware of it. For me, all my characters are compilations of people I have met. Often with specific characteristics that I mix together to create just the character I want.

5. What made you want to become a writer?

I just always wrote. I’m a fairly shy person and I read piles growing up and became blissfully lost in the world of novels. It just seemed natural that I write, from letters to essays at first and then onto novels. I can’t say there was any one thing. I just write and really enjoy doing it. ☺

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Kate Deveaux will be awarding a $10, $25 or $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway