We got our fangs in Kevin Springer

My name is Kevin Springer, and my love story with Elizabeth Winters (I call her Elle) can be found in Winters’ Thaw, book 3 in the Cougar Challenge Series over at Ellora’s Cave. Check it out: buy link

Kevin, what makes you special?
Am I special? I am who I am, and I’m good in my own skin, you know? If that makes me special in Elle’s eyes, I’m a happy man.

What differentiates you from your kind? Do you have special abilities?
I’m good in bed. It matters to me if the woman is enjoying herself. Hell, if she’s merely enjoying herself, I’m not putting in enough effort.

Tell us about your most current adventure.
Oh, man, the adventure didn’t start out as being mine, it was Elle’s. She belongs to this online group of friends who challenged each other to go out and find a younger man. I’m pretty sure you can check the whole thing out from the beginning at www.TempttheCougar.blogspot.com. Not that I’ve been cruising there to find out more about it all or anything. If you believe that, I’ll bet you own swamp land in FL, too. That’s how Elle found me. She is 41 to my 30, but other than how we met, age was never an issue.

Here’s my take:

Christ! Something about this woman set Kevin on fire. Ten minutes and he was on her couch with his tongue in her mouth, trying to keep his hands from wandering. Not that she was protesting.

There was a hesitation in her, though. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it but he felt it when they spoke and for a split second when he brushed his hand over her breast. It was why he didn’t linger there or push for more right then.

He couldn’t blame her. This was fast, even for him. Yeah, she’d made it clear what she wanted from him and hell yeah, he wanted that too. But the more they’d corresponded during the week, the more intrigued he’d become with her.

Finding out she hadn’t been with a man in at least a couple of years added to the mix big time. It had been about a year for him and he was ready to explode. Maybe he shouldn’t have let his desire build all week without jerking off but it was too late now.

God, she tasted sweet. If he came right away, he knew he’d only have to kiss her to start over again with round two. He figured he might be ready to let her rest by round five. If she let him stay that long.

Hot damn if not being able to read her wasn’t half the excitement. She didn’t need him, she wanted him. He was the one with the desire bordering on need.

Still, he could be a gentleman and wait longer than ten freakin’ minutes in her presence before jumping her bones.

Pulling back was hard, hard being the operative word when he tried to sit up. He couldn’t quite hold back a wince and was glad for it when she responded with a slow, sexy smile.
Oh man. He swallowed hard. Would fifteen minutes be gentlemanly enough?

He was giving that serious consideration when the takeout menus caught his eye. Dinner first would be good. They’d both need the fuel.

He leaned forward and grabbed the one right on top. “Ozzie’s sounds good to me.”
She sat up straighter. “Sure. You know the place?”

“Yeah. My apartment is a couple of towns over. A little closer to the city but a lot lighter on the wallet.”

He’d felt a bit intimidated when he’d driven up to her building. Elle lived in a luxury condo complex, complete with guest parking. His place was twenty minutes down the road but his one-bedroom, cookie-cutter apartment was an entire universe away in class and style.
Thankfully, that feeling had disappeared the second she’d opened the door. The clothes, makeup, hair, condo, it all fit her and she wore it easily. He liked that a lot.

“It’s a perk of selling off a house with equity and working longer at my career. Does it bother you?” she asked.

Man, he got off on how straightforward she was. “Nope. By the way, you’re buying.” He handed her the menu, pleased when she laughed. He hoped to hear that a lot. If she asked him to stay.

Maybe that was part of the key to reading her too. She’d probably appreciate it if he were as forthcoming as she’d been with what she felt and wanted. Shit. Did that mean he wasn’t usually that way? Funny, until he met her he hadn’t really thought too much about his role in the dating game. Just because he sat back and let the drama queens dictate which game was played didn’t excuse him. He still played the game. Worse, he kept dating young drama queens.

“Is something wrong?” Elle interrupted his thoughts and he realized he was frowning.

He shook his head and went for it. “Why don’t we go get the sandwiches instead of having them delivered? It would give us a chance to talk a bit and I can grab my bag from my car.” He paused to gauge her reaction. One raised eyebrow. He did that himself when he was surprised but still listening, which wasn’t a bad thing.

“I know you didn’t invite me to stay the night,” he continued, “but if it works out for both of us, that’s what I’d like to do and I’ll be prepared. Hell, if it’s as good as I think it will be, I’ll stick around as long as you want. Either way my bag and I are both out of here at the first word, no questions asked, no emotional outburst. Okay?”

She studied him for a moment, that perfect brow still raised as her intelligent, deep brown eyes assessed him. “Okay,” she finally said. “Thanks for the honesty.”

He wanted to kiss her again but he knew he wouldn’t stop this time and he was determined to get to know her better. He sure as hell liked what he knew so far.

Kevin, if you could offer advice to your author, what would it be?
Try not to be such a control freak. If it’s not working, it’s not right, no matter how much you want it to happen. That applies to everything from eye color to sexual positions. And bone up on the math, would you? Or at least ask someone to help you out. Oh, and no purple prose. Ever. One throbbing tumescence or one-eyed love wand and your heroes are leaving. Forever.

Are you happy with the way people perceive you?
I’ve never thought about how people perceive me. I’m just me. If you don’t like me, go looking for a friend somewhere else. I had enough drama in my childhood to put up with that crap now.

Is humor important?
Humor is one of the most important things in life to have. Period.

Is expressing love difficult for you? Why?
Oh man, getting out the psych couch, huh? Yeah, I do have a bit of a commitment problem. My parents had a great marriage, but my mom, she died when I was twelve. My stepmother came into the picture a year later, and that’s when the drama started. Dad is still married to her, but I don’t think he’s happy. He’s just alone, you know? I want more for myself.

It wasn’t until Elle and I hooked up that I began to feel like I may actually have a shot at this forever thing. She has her own issues, and we’re taking it nice and slow to make sure we can get it right.

If you could pull your author into your world, what do you think would happen to them?
They’d have really good sex. Constantly.

What is your most favorite thing to do?
Elle.
And play bass on stage with my band. (grins)

What was the best sexual experience you’ve had?
Holy shit, when Elle went down on me that first night I thought I was going to swallow my tongue. I mean, I’ve been given head before, and she’s done it since then and it’s fucking sweet, but that first time was just everything at once; sweet, hot, unexpected… Christ, just thinking about it still gets me hard. She literally blew both me and my mind.


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