Lust, Desire, & Love Trilogy - Character Interview (Nikki) and #Giveaway

Nikki Carrington Interview

(Giveaway at the end of the interview - thank Nikki for that)

 Twisted By Desire (book 1), Jaded By Desire (book 2) in the Lust, Desire, and Love Trilogy

Reclaimed By Desire (book 3) is coming in November 2015

Desiree: Hi Nikki, it's nice to meet you. You look stunning.

Hi, Desiree. Thanks. It's nice to meet you, too.

Desiree: Thank you for taking time to talk with me.

Some of the readers aren't familiar with you, yet.  Can you tell everyone a little bit about you? 

Yeah, sure. My name is Nikki Carrington and I'm thirty years old. Well, I will be pretty soon anyway. 

I've been married to my husband, Jeff Carrington, for less than a year - he's my second husband. We have a son together, now.  I also have a beautiful daughter, Abby, by my first husband.

I think I’m a pretty fun-loving, down-to-earth type of girl, overall (laughs).  I don't know, I think I'm pretty normal. I work full-time in marketing. 

I enjoy hanging out with my friends.

Desiree:  Can you tell us a little about your friends?

Jackie is my best friend, I've known her the longest. She and I grew up together.  We had some issues in high school, but we're over that now. She’s really a great friend.

Mandy is another one of my really good friends.  We met in college and got really (throws up the air quotes) close.

And of course I have my friends from work - Candace and Georgia. I hang out with others from work, too, but I wouldn’t say there were necessarily friends, friends. Candace and Georgia are definitely friends.

Desiree:  Tell me a little about your life before you met Jeff?

Before I met Jeff, hmm, well, I was married to Skylar. I thought he was the one I’d be with for the rest of my life, honestly. But, unfortunately, some things, we just couldn’t get on the same page about.  We do have a beautiful daughter though, so I’m really happy for that. And Sky is an amazing father, too.

We divorced after being married for six years, which was difficult for both of us.  We both still loved each other, and were so physically attracted to each other.

I dated (there go the air quotes again) occasionally between my divorce with Sky and meeting Jeff.

Desiree:  I hope you don’t mind me asking about your love life, but I’m dying to know some information and the readers might want to know, too.

I’ve read quite a bit about you and was a little confused about your dating life after the divorce.  Can you help me understand?

I wasn’t looking for a relationship during that time. I did date, but I use that term loosely.

I tried to fill the void of not having a man in my life. I love sex and a lot of these ‘dates’ ended up being sexual encounters. Some I regretted. Like the time I slept with my co-worker. I knew better, and it was amazing, but we’re co-workers. I knew to go any further with him could end up being a bad situation if or when we broke up.

Plus, I think my bond to Skylar was so strong at that time, still, it complicated things and clouded my judgment. Even though we were divorced, I couldn’t move on. No one compared to him, and I just couldn’t get past that.

Then I met Jeff.

Desiree: When you met Jeff that night in the restaurant, he seemed pretty standoffish. Why did you pursue him? Why not just walk away and forget about him?

That’s a really good question. (laughs) I’m not sure why, other than to say physically, I was very attracted to him.  There was a pull I couldn’t fight (shivers). Right from that day, he shook me to the core and I did things that I normally wouldn’t have. I was hooked before I even realized it.

Have you ever felt like that? Because it's hard to explain, and sometimes people don't get it. I know my mom and friends didn’t understand at all.

Desiree:  I get it, trust me.  I felt that way when I laid eyes on the man that is now my husband.

Some people may think you decided to pursue Jeff because he’s significantly more well off financially than Skylar. Is there any validity to that?

None at all.

So here’s the deal in a nutshell on Sky. I loved him, and begged him to get a job, and keep it. We had a family and bills, yet he wasn’t happy in any of his jobs and refused to stay employed.  That was so frustrating.  I felt bad for him that he wasn't happy in a job, but we had a child to think about. I needed him to step up, be more responsible, and help me – help our family.

Of course I made enough money that I could make sure everything was taken care of, and he knew that, but I just didn’t feel like there was a partnership. And that took a toll on our relationship.   Of course the sex was still hot, but that seemed to be all we had in common by the time I decided we needed to end our marriage.

I’ll admit, I was attracted to Jeff when I saw him. He was so hot in his black suit. The material was so tight around his muscular biceps. And his face, O M Gee! He is just freaking gorgeous to me. (her eyes close)

Desiree:  Nikki …

Sorry, the man just does things to me - gives me butterflies thinking about him still to this day.

So back to the question, I hadn’t even begun to uncover where he worked, what he did, or where he lived until our first real date.  That first date (sighs), wow!

I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with him or even have a long-term relationship with him at the time.  Honestly, after I saw where he lived compared to me, I thought he would have just lost my number.

I was so happy when he called me, and we went out again, and again. It wasn’t money, it was him.

Desiree:  You told Jeff you loved him pretty early on, but immediately seemed to regret letting the words come out of your mouth.

I did love Jeff, or I was pretty sure I did anyway. I didn’t mean to say it though. I didn’t want him to feel awkward and feel obligated to say it back, or even have to acknowledge something he may not have felt.

Desiree:  You weren’t faithful for the few months you were dating Jeff, until just after you became engaged, if memory serves me correctly.  What was going on in your mind at that time?

You just had to bring that up, didn't you?

Yeah, I admit, I should have stopped having sex with Skylar long before I did.  Some of it was fear of not having him anymore and jealousy of the other women he dated. It was like, how can I say this without sounding like a horrible bitch? I wanted to make sure he still desired me, that I could still have him – that he still loved me.  I guess, in a way, I was afraid he wouldn’t love me anymore like I still loved him.  That he’d fall in love with someone else and replace me.  And I was reluctant to give my heart to someone else because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings and replace him. I know, it’s weird.

Another part of it stemmed from a fear that Jeff wasn’t really into me. I felt like he was sending mixed signals. Hell, he didn’t even tell me he loved me until our wedding day. I had this crazy idea that he had a hidden life and that was why he was on the road so much. I tried so hard to convince myself that wasn’t true, but my mind kept going back to that insecure thought.  

Sky had been there for me through the good and bad times of dating.  He was my security. The day I said no to Sky was the day I finally felt free, and I think I freed him, too. That was the day I committed to Jeff 100%.

So I’m a realist, if I was questioning Jeff, he probably was questioning me.  All I hope is that by the time we got married, anything he may have been doing, stopped.  If he cheated after we got married, that would be a big problem.

Desiree: Do you regret sleeping with Sky while dating Jeff?

Absolutely. But I can’t change it now. I wish I could.

Desiree: What's the status of your relationship with Jeff right now?

If I were to change my status on facebook, I'd change it to 'It's complicated.' (laughs) But seriously, I really need to hear his side of the story. I’m not looking forward to the talk.  Jeff isn’t always the easiest person to talk to, he kind of has a temper. But I know sometimes I have a way of pushing his buttons, too. 

I love him so much, but I’m afraid that what he may tell me could be the equivalent to a stake being driven through my heart.

Desiree:  Looking in a crystal ball, where do you see the future of your relationship with Jeff?

I know Jeff and I will be bound together for life because of Alexander, but I don’t want that to be the only thing that connects us.

Desiree: I want to end on lighter note.  I know you have a lot going on in your life with Jeff and 2 small children, free time is hard to come by. 

If you had a day with no responsibilities, no kids around, no work, and all you had to do was enjoy your free time, what would you do? How would you spend your day?

Wow, at first that sounded really good, but my mind instantly wanted to know where my babies would be. I think if they were with Jessica, I’d be able to relax a little more. My mom couldn’t watch them both for an entire 24 hours.

But I don’t think I want to be away from them all for a full day.

I’d be happy to get an hour or two to take a nap, maybe get a massage, then come back home to my family.

Desiree: Thank you for taking time away to talk with me.

You’re welcome. It’s been a pleasure.

Hey, before I go, how about you giveaway 3 copies of your ebook, Twisted By Desire? Today’s the 24^th, so let people enter over the weekend, then pick the winners on Monday or Tuesday sometime. What do you think?

Desiree:  Not a bad idea, thanks Nikki.  Any suggestions on what I should have them do to enter?

I don’t know, maybe a comment on this interview and share it on their FB page.  Sound good?

Desiree: Sounds perfect, thank you again.

Thank you.

***** GIVEAWAY *****

You heard Nikki -- I’m going to giveaway 3 ecopies of Twisted By Desire.  If you win and already have Twisted By Desire, I will gift you Jaded By Desire or one of the box sets.

All you need to do is share the interview on your FB page or in a group you belong to AND comment on this interview letting me know where you shared.  This will close at the end of the day on Tuesday, Sept 29.