Excerpt: 'Play Me' by Tracy Wolff

Tracy Wolff, author of Play Me, joins us to share an excerpt from her erotic serial, all five parts of which arrive Tuesday.

Tracy: First of all, I want to say thank you to Joyce for having me! I love this blog and am thrilled to be here today to talk about my new super sexy serial, Play Me.

Play Me isn't my first erotic romance novel, but it is the first time I've written a serial and I'm super excited about getting the chance to try this form of storytelling out. Writing a serial in five parts is a little different than writing a novel straight through, largely because of the difference in pacing and the fact that each installment needs to end with a cliffhanger. I had a lot of fun thinking up the cliffhangers and working them into a story that I think will keep my readers on the seat of their pants.

The other reason I'm so excited about the chance to write a serial is Random House and I are trying something new. Have you ever sat down on the couch to read a book and strongly resisted moving until you finished the last page? Well, that's what binge reading is all about. I love binge reading a book from start to finish and know a lot of my readers do, too. So instead of putting out an installment a week for five weeks, we decided to put all five out at once so readers will have the chance to do their own binge reading.

My readers will also be excited to learn that the characters in Play Me are closely connected to Ethan Frost and Chloe Girard from Addicted and Ruined — and that Ethan and Chloe make cameo appearances in Play Me. With Play Me we've given my readers what they want — the opportunity to binge read the series while falling for another hot alpha male, Sebastian Caine.

Here's an excerpt from Play Me (featuring a cameo appearance by Ethan Frost) …

"So," Ethan says as I pour us both a couple fingers of scotch. "How's the new job been treating you?"

I flip him off. "So, what you're saying is that I should be drinking both of these, then?" I hold up the glasses.

"If I were you, I'd just be swigging straight out of the bottle. More efficient that way."

We both laugh, but by the time I hand him his drink, I'm shaking my head. "Christ. How the hell did I end up here?"

"Considering you've spent the last decade in and out of some of the worst hotspots in the world and yet you still say that like this casino is Dante's seventh circle of hell, tells me that maybe you shouldn't be here."

"Believe me, I tell myself that every damn day. There's nothing about this city I like, nothing about this hotel I want to be a part of. But I can't just walk away."

"Really? Nothing about this city you like?" Ethan raises a brow. "I was pretty sure you liked that gorgeous brunette who busted into your office this afternoon. What's her name, anyway?"

"Aria." He's right. Aria's the best part of Las Vegas by far, and if I hadn't come back here I never would have met her. The realization puts everything in perspective. At least until I think about what happened at her apartment tonight—and about how, after an hour with Janet, she probably never wants to see me again.

"You should introduce her to Chloe," he continues. "I'm pretty sure they'd get along."

"You got that from a thirty-second meeting with her?"

"You have to admit, it was a pretty unusual meeting." He grins. "I bet she keeps you on your toes."

"You have no idea. We met because she works as a cocktail waitress here and she got annoyed enough with Rubinov—the jerk I was just talking to downstairs—that she racked him with her drink tray."

Ethan bursts out laughing. "Oh, yeah. She and Chloe will totally get along."

"Chloe goes around racking obnoxious billionaires?"

"Pretty much every chance she gets. God knows, she's taken me down a peg or five since we met."

"Don't act like you didn't need it," I tell him with a snort. "You've been hailed as the greatest thing for the tech industry since the personal computer. Your ego probably needed to be a little deflated."

He just smiles at me, looking for all the world like the cat that ate the canary. "I'm not saying anything."

"Yeah, well, you don't need to. That grin says it all."

I'm giving him a hard time, but the truth is, I'm happy for Ethan. He's got his own demons, and just because he doesn't talk about them any more than I talk about mine, that doesn't mean they don't exist. He's one of the best people I've ever met and if anyone deserves to be happy, it's him.

Plus, looking at what he and Chloe are going through with Brandon gives me faith. Aria is another one of the best people I know and if Chloe can live through what she did and love Ethan anyway, maybe, just maybe, Aria can learn to accept my past. My mistakes. It's a longshot, but this is Vegas. If there's anywhere on earth to believe in bad odds paying off, it's right here in this city.

Find out more about Tracy and her books at www.tracywolffbooks.com.