InBetween the Sheets Blog Hop: Dakota's 1NS Inspirations

When I first sat down to write my contribution to Decadent's 1NightStand series, I was at first stumped at what kind of heroine would be desperate enough to contact Madame Eve for a date. Of course the most obvious things that popped into my head, were some type of disfigurement or debilitating shyness that would drive the heroine to seek out the lovely Madame.  But I just wanted to do something different - considering I normally march to the beat of a different drummer, but I didn't want to do another of my BDSM books. I needed a break and knew I wanted to do something unique.  Thus Xaviera jumped fully developed and so full of spunk into my head, I had to give her life.  Not only does she have attitude to spare, she's blind as they come but still manages to be a confident woman who won't take any guff. I fell absolutely in love with her.  And as far as I knew at the time that I wrote Blind Need, there were no blind heroines in the 1NightStand line. She was the perfect...or rather most perfect imperfect heroine I've had the pleasure of writing.  

Of course with the sensual blind heroine I created, I hadn't realized the issues I was going to have with their love scenes or even writing from her point of view period. How do you describe an environment or even the act of making love from a blind woman's perspective? Easy. The crazy author lady, spent several hours without her glasses on - (and FYI for you folks out there, Dakota is blinder than a bat without them. Large blobs and shadows is the extent of her vision with no glasses. She won't even attempt to go to the bathroom without them.) This allowed her to experience things as simple as walking out on to her deck to the feel of what another's touch in total darkness. (this would be the DH- not the teen-aged offspring) *blushes*  

Now I'm sure I got several really weird glances from my neighbors as they watched me try to navigate down my stairs with my glasses off and my son in front of me, but I learned some very valuable lessons.  

One - always have a partner with you to help guide you.  Being stubborn about this leads to stubbed toes and nearly falling down said stairs. In the book, Xaviera has a wonderful seeing eye dog named Lucy who is never far from her side - a true helpmate. 

Two - no sight doesn't automatically mean your hearing is better. Instead it just makes the person without sight pay better attention to where things are or supposed to be. In the book, Xaviera realizes when she goes to Nate's room that he has moved a chair because his room is laid out in the same way as hers and the chair happens to be missing.  A smart observant lady.

And three - Never be too stubborn to accept help when you do fall. When I wrote the book, a great deal of it was spent with the hero, Nate, tripping over his own feet or even his own shoes because of his ridiculous stipulation about having the lights out.  Because of his stubbornness not only does he nearly knock himself out, he nearly looses the girl because she gets fed up with his bull-headed ways. 

Some very valuable lessons to learn indeed. Luckily I was a bit smarter than Nate and had my teen-aged son guide me while I wandered around the house with my eyes closed, so no unwanted spills occurred but for a brief moment I stepped into Xaviera's world and am so glad I'm not blind! 

And speaking of valuable things, I'll be giving away a free $10 gift certificate  to Amazon to one lucky commenter.  And what do you need to do. In the comments section, tell me which 1NightStand is your favorite. (Or if you can't decide - tell me your top three - I won't get offended since my book isn't out yet...plus it will give an idea of which book to pick up next!)  Oh and don't forget to leave an email address I can contact you at when I draw the winner at the end of the blog hop on November 30th! 

I'm going to leave you with some absolutely beautiful cover art which Decadent's talented cover artists have provided for me, and the unedited blurb for my 1NightStand Book! Thanks for stopping by my blog and be sure to stop back by the rest of the contributors blogs too! (They are listed at the top of my site and below in this post.)

Blind Need - 1NightStand 

Blind Need by Dakota Trace

Two wounded souls, one blind and the other scarred are matched up by the infamous Ms. Evangeline - neither one expecting more than a brief meeting of two bodies in the dark for one night. 


Xaviera Navarro had it all, a wonderful career ahead of her running her family's wine business, a sexy fiancee, and her dream-wedding around the corner, but that all changed in the blink of an eye.  A freak accident has left the Navarro wine heiress blind with no future other than the company of her seeing-eye dog, Lucy.  Or not one that she can see.  After licking her wounds, she finally is tired of her own company and ventures back out in hopes of finding a man who might be strong enough to stand beside her but not in front of her.  If she can't have that, she'll settle for a night of hot loving before returning home.


Ignatius "Nate" Ramirez is not only scarred fire-jumper with a justifiably bad attitude towards women, he's also under strict orders by his Captain that if he doesn't get laid on his vacation, he's going to bench him.  After finding out about 1NightStand, he requests Ms Evangeline find him the perfect fantasy woman to have under the cover of darkness.  Figuring he'll have a better chance with his date with all the lights out, he wasn't expecting a feisty, no punches pulled heiress to knock him off his feet.  


A blind woman and a scarred fire-jumper should be a match made in heaven, but will Nate and Xaviera manage to leave their baggage at the door and find love all in one night?