Contest! Contest! Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I am, but I’m also talking about picking a winner for my Valentine’s Day contest. That’s right. Celebrating the release of Murder, Mayhem and Mama at Amazon, I’m giving away a Kindle Touch or a $99 Amazon gift card. I will post the winner at the top of this blog tomorrow. So make sure you come back to see if you won. I’m also giving away this really cool Shadow Fall's t-shirt!

The rules are simple. You tweet or Facebook about the release of Murder, Mayhem and Mama at Amazon; Twitter users must include the hashtag #Christie-Craig@Amazon, and then leave a comment on this blog telling me you Facebooked or tweeted about MM&M’s Kindle release, and then answer one of my five questions about romance. (The questions are below.) By the way, I answered all those questions myself. And I’m still blushing about some of my answer, too.)

1. What draws a woman to a man?

As a woman and as a romance writer I’ve given this a lot of thought. What contributes to that indefinable lure that draws one person to another? I know I like a man with wide shoulders, a sexy grin and eyes . . . eyes that twinkle with humor and heat. I remember the first time I met my hubby; what’s more, I remember the exact instant that his blue eyes met mine. My mom was trying to set us up, but I had just walked away from a bad marriage and I didn’t want to be set up. I didn’t want a man in my life--period. However, there was a little jolt of something when my gaze met his. Something that made me want to look longer, but almost a sense of rawness that demanded I look away. It’s as if I knew he could see too much in my gaze, that with just that one glance, he’d know what I felt and what I thought. And what I felt and thought was . . . Wow. I don’t want this, but if I did . . . Wow. You can guess that wow eventually won over.

2. What’s the most romantic thing a man has done for you?

I guess for my hubby’s sake, I should use him as the example, huh? Honestly, I got lucky in love—the second go round. I could name numerous things my hubby, aka my true life hero, has done over the years. I moved to California to escape an abusive relationship from my-then-soon-to-be-ex. The only thing I brought with me was a five-year-old and a duffle bag of possessions. Less than two months after I met Steve, I found a brand new car parked in my parking spot at my apartment. It was a gift from him, because he deemed the clunker car I was driving unsafe for me and my daughter.

Then there was the honeymoon cabin he rented with a fireplace in the bedroom because I’d once said that making love in front of a fireplace would be so romantic. We had to crank down the air conditioner to light that fireplace on our wedding night, but I was right. It was amazing.
However, I think the most romantic gesture he’s ever done was something he said about seventeen years after we were married. Though I have to admit that at the moment he said it, I didn’t think it was going to be so romantic. I thought . . . well, let me just tell you.

We were out having dinner and he’d been a little quiet, and then he looked at me and said, “You are not the same woman I married.” My heart stopped, I felt blindsided, and didn’t think I was going to like where this conversation was headed. I knew I’d put on a few pounds. And I’d put a lot of time in on my writing career. Had it hurt my marriage? Fear nearly had me choking on my egg roll.

With a serious look in his eyes he continued, “I married a young woman; she was a little vulnerable and a lot scared to trust anyone. She was practically a girl who didn’t really know what she wanted out of life. And look at you now. You’re a writer who has a passion for what you do, one who has faced more rejection, who has shown more courage to chase her dream, than anyone I know. I’m so proud of you.” See why I love this man? You know, I may not have given my fictional heroes my hubby’s abs (Sorry, babe), but I gave each and every one of them his heart, his sense of humor, and his ability to make a woman feel loved.

3. What’s the worse date/romantic disaster you’ve ever had?

Okay…this is about hubby, too. You see, as much of a hero as he is, when we were first dating, he was trying too hard. And you know what happens when you try too hard, don’t you? You mess up. Well, we hadn’t been dating long and he took me to his place. We were going to cook dinner together and have a quiet evening. At that time he was still doing the gentlemanly thing of opening and closing doors for me. I had a bag of groceries in my hand and when I went to get out of the car, he was already opening the passenger door for me. I stepped out and he closed the car door with a solid thud. A solid and painful thud.

I looked at him and calmly asked if he would open the door.

He calmly asked, “Did you forget something?”

I calmly nodded my head even thought I was gritting my teeth.

“What did you forget?” he asked.

Wincing, and no longer able to handle the pain, I said rather loudly. “My hand.”

He’d shut my hand in the car door. Our quiet evening was spent with an ice on my fingers.

And yeah, in spite of that, I still married him. And I would do again in a heartbeat.

4. If you’ve been married for a while, what sweet things does your spouse do that makes you fall in love with him all over again?

Hubby doesn’t drink coffee, never has. But every night he grinds my fresh coffee beans and sets up my coffee to brew at 6:30. He even sets out a cup, a spoon and my creamer. One morning I woke up and there wasn’t any coffee made. He’d forgotten. I started grinding my coffee beans and I hear him running down the stairs. “I’m sorry,” he called out as hit the bottom of the steps. He made me stop making the coffee and he did it for me.

“You know I can make it,” I told him.

“I know,” he said. “But I like spoiling you.”

And he has and does. I personally think it’s because I forgave him for slamming my hand in the car door. LOL.

5. What’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for your Valentine?

Yes, I’ve done the sexy nightgowns. The whipped cream. (Hey, it was research for a scene.) I’ve baked pies that he loves, cooked his favorite foods. But as crazy as it seems, I think the most romantic thing was that whenever he would go away on a trip, I would put love notes in his pockets and hidden in his luggage. One time, he called me a few days into a trip. “You didn’t put notes in my luggage,” he said, sounding hurt.

I knew then that those silly notes had meant something to him. The funny thing was that I had put them in his luggage, but just not in both suitcases. He’d come in while I’d been hiding them, and I didn’t get to put as many of the little love notes in there as I normally did. So I told him to look in the other suitcase. He did.

Ahh, love, it’s funny how the little things can mean so much.

Happy Valentine’s Day, guys! I wish all of you love and laughter. Go hug someone today—be it your spouse, a child, a parent, or just a friend. Let the people you love know it. And make sure you enter my contest and help me get the word out about latest baby, Murder, Mayhem and Mama, now out at Amazon.