Cynthia Sax Talks Bikers, Billionaires, and SINFUL REWARDS

Part one of bestselling erotic romance author Cynthia Sax's new novella series, SINFUL REWARDS, released today, and we at Fresh Fiction had the pleasure of chatting with Cynthia about all the steamy details. Thanks for joining us, Cynthia!

Was it difficult to transition out of writing The Seen Trilogy and into your new novella series, Sinful Rewards?

Cynthia: It is always difficult to leave a beloved world and say goodbye to characters I adore. A couple of things helped me with this transition. We change settings, moving from LA in the The Seen Trilogy to Chicago in Sinful Rewards. I love both of these cities but they are VERY different, having a completely different feel and rhythm. I also wrote a couple of delicious SciFi erotic romances between the two series. That was a fun palette cleanser.

Billionaires are a hot topic in erotic literature. As a writer, what draws you to the billionaires for your leading men?

Cynthia: For me, billionaire is a short form for alpha of the business world. What this label communicates is the hero is successful and (usually) the boss. He has reached the top of his game (likely expecting that this achievement would fix whatever is broken inside him) and then he realizes something or someone is missing.

My billionaires are all different. For example: The CEO of a high tech company (Blaine from HE WATCHES ME) is very different from the CEO of a real estate company (Nicolas from SINFUL REWARDS). The high tech CEO designs products that will become obsolete with every improvement in technology. The CEO of the real estate company is building structures that will last for generations. They have very different reasons for entering their respective industries and different demons driving them to work harder.

Of all of the types of heroes, I believe the billionaire has the greatest range of possible personalities. There are billionaires in almost every industry.

Being broke also isn’t a fantasy of mine. (grins) When I escape into fantasy, I don’t want to worry about paying the rent.

Your upcoming Sinful Rewards series has not only a billionaire, but a biker as part of a love triangle. What made you choose a biker for the other leading man?

Cynthia: Sinful Rewards is a love triangle, which means the heroine, Bee, is choosing between two very different futures.

Nicolas, the billionaire, has built a real estate empire in Chicago. He has a permanent home and appears to be a constant, steady, forever type of man.

Hawke, the tattooed former Marine, is a biker. Bikes aren’t suitable for families. They’re symbols of change, of movement, of never settling down.

Which will she choose—safety or freedom? Which would YOU choose?

Though we know you’re already taken by your wonderful husband, we want to know: who would you choose? The biker or the billionaire?

Cynthia: I’m completely taken by my dear wonderful hubby. It was a love at first sight for us (yes, we didn’t believe in it either until it happened to us) and 20 plus years later, we’re still very much in love. The man makes me laugh which is why there’s always a touch of humor in my stories.

I started writing Sinful Rewards determined to love one of the heroes and not become attached to the other. Then they both won my heart. That was devastating because I knew one of my heroes would have his heart broken. Oh boy, did I cry!

So I would choose the unsuccessful hero (and no, I’m not telling who he is - grins). He’s lonely and oh-so-worthy of love, though he doesn’t believe that. He truly believes Bee chose the better man. That crushes me.

When you aren’t writing about hot billionaires and bikers, what do you like to read?

Cynthia: I read two genres – business and romance. I speed read so I average a romance novel (or novella or short) a day on average, the hotter, the better. I like to read about the entire relationship and so much of a romantic relationship takes place in the bedroom. Sex changes and reflects power dynamics between a couple (or more).

I have a weakness for Laurann Dohner’s New Species series (Fury is MINE, all mine – grins). Loretta Chase’s LORD OF SCOUNDRELS is my go-to book for tight writing. Whenever I get lazy and think my stories are tight enough, I reread that historical romance and get back to work.

Thanks again to Cynthia Sax for joining us today! Readers, are you ready to choose between the biker and the billionaire? Buy SINFUL REWARDS Part 1, available today!

Belinda "Bee" Carter is a good girl; at least, that's what she tells herself. And a good girl deserves a nice guy—just like the gorgeous and moody billionaire Nicolas Rainer. He is everything she wants in a man.

Or so she thinks, until she takes a look through her telescope and sees a naked, tattooed man on the balcony across the courtyard. Hawke is mysterious, the bad boy she knows will bring only heartbreak. He has been watching her, and that makes him all the more enticing.

But when a mysterious and anonymous text message dares her to do something bad, she must decide if she is really the good girl she has always claimed to be, or if she's willing to risk everything for her secret fantasy of being watched.

Is her mystery man the reclusive billionaire with a wild side or the darkly dangerous bad boy?