The Cats on the Desk (not in the hat!) by Desiree Holt

So many people have told me that writing is a solitary business. A lonely  business. Not so in my house. I have three wonderful cats that have been with me since the year before my first book was contracted. Grace (a torty, my alpha cat, who sits on my desk all day), Blanca (a white puffball, who likes to sleep in my closet then climb all over me when I am trying to edit, and Bast (all black, Nefertiti’s familiar, who thinks it is her job to sit on my keyboard.

Grace is always hungry. Always. I have to be careful or she would eat all day. I used to give her treats at 1:000 and 3:00 with dinner at 4:00 for all three. I swear that cat ahs an alarm clock in her stomach. She starts whining fifteen minutes ahead of time. Her begging is so well know that even the wonderful cop who meets with me to help on my romantic suspense books knows her schedule.

It’s weird but I swear they know what I am writing. When I have three or four pages done and I’m not happy with it, Grace and Bast sit in front of my screen and wipe their paws on it. That is no lie! And when I have a good writing session I’m excited about, they sit on my keyboard tray and lick my face.

I talk to them constantly, trying out my ideas on them. Once I had notes on a pad of paper I keep on my desk and I was really wrestling with them. Grace sat up and knocked the pas off my desk. I didn’t know she was such a critic!

When I finish a book and it’s off to my editor, the cats and I celebrate together. I give them each a treat, fix one for myself, and we watch a cat movie on Netflix.

They have asked for co-author listing on my books. I’m still debating that. What do you think?


Someone to watch over her . . .

Her life in beautiful Arrowhead Bay seems like paradise. But for former CIA operative Marissa Hayes, it’s a deep cover she’s forced to live under after daring to take down a powerful enemy with strong terrorist ties. Out of necessity, she keeps her emotions as guarded as her life, even as she finds herself drawn to Justin Kelly, the most arousing man she’s ever met. But when Marissa must find a new place to hide, the able-bodied Vigilance agent is the first man she turns to . . .

Justin can’t get close to Marissa, if he hopes to keep her alive. Which only makes sharing a villa with her at a remote island resort all the more challenging. The passion rising between them is exquisite—and excruciating. Even more so when terrorists infiltrate the island, putting Marissa in the crosshairs. Now Justin will do anything to protect the woman he cares about more deeply than he dares to admit. . . .

“Desiree Holt is the queen of sizzling romantic suspense!” —Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of the Lucy Kincaid series

“Sexy, intelligent, pulse-pounding!”—USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb on Deadly Business