Interview: Lauren Dane, author of 'Opening Up'

Lauren Dane is a master of hot heroes, strong heroines and a whole lot of steam. Opening Up is the first in her new Ink and Chrome series and deals with tattoos and custom bike jobs. There's great tension between Asa and PJ, and I constantly wanted to hug and slap Asa. This is a great new series, and I can't wait for the next installment!

What Opening Up is about (courtesy of Forever):

The men of the Twisted Steel custom motorcycle shop are great with their hands... and they're not afraid to get dirty.

PJ is exactly the kind of woman Twisted Steel owner Asa Barrons doesn't need. The last thing he wants to do is mix business with pleasure, and PJ has some of the best custom detailing he's ever seen. But the chemistry between them won't be denied, and soon he's introducing her to a whole new world in the bedroom, pushing her far beyond anything she's ever experienced. PJ finds she can't get enough, but how far is too far before he consumes her completely?

Jessie: I love the title of the series — Ink and Chrome. How do you come up with book/series titles and character names?

Lauren: I love cars. I love the curves and the shine. I thought the combination between the inked men and women who work with and around these cars and bikes and the cars themselves was a fun and sexy idea. It came to me from the very start.

Their names also all came to me, Asa and Duke first, and then Carmella and PJ. I just thought Asa Barrons was a strong, very masculine name. The name of a guy just like the one I was writing. Duke was the name of a guy who was at the same time laid back and very intense.

In general, I like to name my characters things that fit who they are, where they're at/what they do, etc. Oh, and I try to avoid my kids' names.

Jessie: Speaking of Asa … Tell us about him. At times he's hard to love, and at others he's amazing!

Lauren: Asa is a complicated character. He's grown up in a certain way, and that's really affected who he is as a man. He takes care of the people he considers his. Which is great sometimes, but overwhelming and annoying at others.

He's a very strong, very bossy person who softens for very few people and no one else like PJ.

Jessie: Yes! PJ is extremely easy to connect to. How was she "created"?

Lauren: She really bloomed as a character as I wrote her. Each scene built her up, fleshed out her backstory until I got to know her and why she was the way she was. It took her a while to figure out who she wanted to be, but once she did, she really wrote herself. I loved writing her.

Jessie How was writing all of the interactions between PJ and her father? It was extremely realistic and at times hard to read.

Lauren: Like a lot of writers, I can certainly take bits and pieces of my own life and my own history to weave into the emotional storylines of my characters. This isn't to say this is how I deal with my parents or anything like that, but that when bad things happen or when I struggle through something difficult, it ends up being something I can call up when I'm working. (Lucky for me, my dad is amazing!)

Jessie: Can you tell us who the next installment will be about?

Lauren: Yes! Falling Under is about Duke and Carmella. Duke is the co-owner of Twisted Steel, and Carmella is his next-door neighbor he's been crushing on for quite some time.

Jessie: I can't wait to read about them! What is the most interesting custom paint job you've seen?

Lauren: I saw a custom rat rod with a finish that appeared to be aged metal, but it was a treatment and all hand done and detailed.

Jessie: Did you have to do anything interesting for this book, or awesome things to research?

Lauren: This is all stuff I really adore so it's not hard for me to lose hours at a time looking at cars and tattoos and paint jobs, LOL! Oh, and beards.

With this particular book, I had to research piercings in, ahem, certain places, like how do you put a condom on? Can you go through metal detectors at the airport with the piercings in or do you have to take them out? Always fun for my husband to come into my office when I'm looking up different sorts of penis piercings. Good times!

Jessie: What are you currently working on?

Lauren: The very last book, Mick, Jessi and Adam's story, Coming Back! It's out in December.

Now for some rapid-fire questions …

Salty or sweet? Salty.

Favorite writing snack? Peanut M&Ms.

Current book you're reading? Jonathan Maberry's The Dragon Factory.

Favorite motorcycle brand? Harley-Davidson.

Favorite alpha book hero? Lucas from Nalini Singh's Slave to Sensation.

Favorite villain? Dracula.

Favorite type of piercing on a guy? Nipple.

Best tattoo you've ever seen? Full biomechanical back piece with metal and flesh, but it wasn't gory at all. Just very detailed and beautiful.

Epic one-liner to leave with?

Lauren: Take good care of your teeth.

Jessie Potts, also known as Book Taster, adores books in all forms. She also does reviews for RT Book Reviews magazine and works in the submissions departments at Dreamspinner Press and Entangled YA. You can follow her on Twitter (@BookTaster).