Who are you?

Tina Holland wrote this in the wee hours:

Okay I love this sort of thing. It’s totally me as many of you’ve noticed over my SEx posts. So here it goes? I’ll start and of course you go ahead and respond.

1. Any nicknames? Kitten
2. Favorite drink? Fuzzy Navel
3. Tattoo? None
4. Body Piercing? ears
5. How much do you love your job? Writing…I absolutely love it!
6. Birthplace? Frankfurt, Germany
7. Favorite vacation spot? Yellowstone National Park
8. Ever been to Africa? no
9. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? No but I’ve had them before and after
10. Ever been on TV? no
11. Ever been in a car accident? yes
12. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle??? 4 DOOR
13. Favorite salad dressing? Raspberry Vinagrette
14. Favorite pie? pumpkin
15. Favorite number?? 16
16. Favorite movie? Serenity
17. Favorite holiday?? Thanksgiving…family without the pressure of presents
18. Favorite dessert? ? Cheesecake
19. Favorite Food?? Imported Chocolate
20. Favorite day of the week?? Thursday
21. Favorite brand of body wash?? Ivory Soap
22. Favorite toothpaste?? Aim
23. Favorite smell?? Burning wood
24. What do you do to relax? Look up at the stars
25. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Working part-time at Hangar House and writing.
26. Favorite LSB Book? Love Lessons by Vanessa Hart

Okay! Now it’s your turn

Read What Thou Wilst

mima wrote this in the wee hours:

Angelika Rinnhofer

The challenge topic is reading.
Letters, books, faces, weather…
As always, any flash is welcome, and readers are, too.

Flash Fiction are scenes 100 words long.

Secret Star

Tiffany Aaron wrote this terribly early in the morning:

My dh plays video games. He loves them and I’m fine with that. While he’s playing them, I can write or do whatever I want to do and not have to worry about entertaining him.  I don’t play video games. Mostly because I just don’t have the eye-hand coordination needed to be able to kill the bad guys or shoot the puck into the neat. Also there hasn’t been a game I’m really interested in yet.

But then came Rockband…lol. Yep, it’s got drums, guitars and a microphone.  Now all my secret fantasies of being a diva can come to life. :)  Heck, I sing to the radio or my ipod all the time in the car.  Not in the shower though.  Too busy working story ideas out in my head then.

A friend came over last night and we played. I’m the lead singer of course because no one else wants to sing.  I can’t play the guitar or drums. Again I think it’s that whole eye-hand thing going on.  Can’t seem to figure out how to hit the drum at the right time.

Now there are a bunch of songs on the game, plus you can buy more.  Trouble for me is I don’t know most of the songs on there. Never heard of them.  They’re rock songs and up until I met my dh, I used to listen mostly to country. Now I’m an alternative rock girl. :D

Anyway, what I want to ask is…do you have one song that no matter where you are, if you hear it, you have to stop what you’re doing and sing along?  I’d love to know what it is. For me, at this moment in time, it’s Razorblade by Blue October.  Of course, I only hear it on my ipod since they won’t be releasing this one as a single…lol.

Have a good day, everyone.

Ideas of Dream

Taige Crenshaw wrote this terribly early in the morning:

I was asleep the other day and having a wonderful dream. You know what I mean. One of those really great realistic dreams when all of a sudden it changed. It changed to almost a movie. I saw the scene clear in my mind of a man going out on a balcony to get away for a few moments from a party. Then suddenly a sound and he realizes he was not alone. As I lay dreaming the movie unfolded in my mind. The meeting, the surprise, another meeting and all the in between moments to the end. I jerked awake and grabbed some paper and started to write what I had dreamed. I knew what it was. It was the start of a new book.

This has happened to me often. Sometimes when I dream I dream a whole book. Like a movie the scene plays out for me. It is so vivid and alive. I laugh when the characters laugh. Love when they love. Cry when they cry. I live each moment and feel everything. I love these sort of dreams and wake energized. After writing down what I dreamed I went back to sleep with a smile on my face excited about my new book idea.

Heroes…what kind do you love?

TA Chase wrote this in the early morning:

Morning everyone! 

As I stayed up late last night and finally got to write two of the words writers love to write…The End, I got to wondering. As a reader or author-for that matter-what is your favorite kind of hero? 

I don’t mean thoughtful, sexy or dangerous..though you can put those in your list if you want. I mean, do you like cowboys, spies, vampires, cops?  Is there an occupation that you think is intriguing, but don’t see a lot of in romances?  What type of hero would make you scream I have to have this book immediately?  

Would it be a cop vampire who moonlights as a chef in a sushi bar?  Or a Native American skinwalker who also works as an astronaut? Or a werewolf who owns a dog grooming business? 

I know I tend to go for cowboys, but I also like scientists. You know, that slightly geeky kind of guy who doesn’t really realize just how sexy being intelligent is. 

Have fun with the ideas, but I really do want to know what type of hero does it for you.  And to prove it, I’ll give one Liquid Silver book to the name I draw at the end of the night from the comments made.  That’s right. Any LSB book of your choice. Doesn’t have to be mine. So start thinking and let me know what you come up with.  

I Bought A Man!

Shayla Kersten wrote this terribly early in the morning:

Saturday night I attended a charity bachelor auction in Hot Springs. Crazy women, liquored up are bad enough at a function of this nature. However, the gang I went with were also romance writers–Delilah Devlin, Cynthia D’Alba and EC Gray. So you can only imagine the distinct possibility for trouble brewing in the Spa City that night! *cackle*

Now, to the above list add about a hundred other women, flowing alcohol and sexy men. Okay, some of the bachelor’s weren’t exactly cover models but the auction was for charity. It takes a brave man to get up in front of a bunch of rowdy women and put on a show–and pray someone actually bids on you.

The evening started with an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s. I had never been there but I fell in love with their salad bar…and the cute waiter. *cackle* From there, we headed to the auction. The room was packed with tiny tables. Getting in and out was an adventure by itself. We managed to find a table against a wall close enough to the stage to see all the action!

And action there was! The first bachelor up put on a show–dancing around the stage and shakin’ his groove thang! I think he ended up fetching over $500. Some guys brought in a good price, some not so good. I’d never have the nerve to do something like that unless I planted someone in the audience to bid on me! LOL

I ended up buying a DJ. *cackle* And Delilah, she bought a judge! Too funny because from what I’ve heard, he’s a rather conservative judge and Delilah writes some seriously not conservative romance! I didn’t get a chance to talk to my purchase for long. There was no room at the table for anyone else.

The date is dinner for all the couples together on May 12th. We received certificates to present at the door. The meal will probably consist of rubber chicken but the cause is a good one. All proceeds–from the price of drinks to the man cost–went to Relay for Life.

Cynthia and EC are married so they didn’t bid on anyone. Their husbands insisted. *cackle*

The dream hovel

Samantha Lucas wrote this in the wee hours:

I’m a romantic…I know, I’ve hidden it well. :)

Well there are a lot of little idiosyncrasies that come along with being a romantic. One of them would be having completely irrational, over emotional responses to a house.

It happens every now and then.

Dale and I were driving in a town we hadn’t been in before and I fell in love with it. Only about ten minutes from where we are now, but worlds apart, as far as topography goes. Roanoke is a city filled with hundred year old houses that sit side by side with only enough room to walk between. Garden City (can you believe that? how perfect is a city for me when they call it Garden City?) is just on the outskirts of the city but it felt like being in the country.

The houses sat on huge lots and they were all a little different from one another. It was quiet and peaceful and they even had their own little store. OMG it was so adorable. It’s the first place I’ve seen since leaving California that I thought could be home. OH! Did I mention the river with the walking trail?!!??!!!

The down side was, there weren’t any houses for sale. I mean in this market, you can’t drive down a street without seeing at least 3 for sale signs, but not in Garden City, none!

Until we turned a corner and saw that.

Granted it looks as if no one has lived in it for 20 years, but something about it spoke to me. It was one of those…”but it needs me” feelings.

Too many Disney cartoons as a kid, I’m sure of it, if you have no idea what I’m talking about click the link. ;-)

Anyway, I was hooked. I could totally see it, with the attic properly dormered out and a garden in front, a picket fence. :)

So I checked up on it and found out it’s a foreclosure and they’re asking 32,000 dollars under this years assessment, but I can’t find out why. The whole house has probably been condemned or something. :( Regardless, I can’t stop thinking and dreaming about my little dream hovel.

I WANT IT!

I mean I can see myself restoring that little place while Dale is on the road for the next three years. OMG talk about dream life, to write, garden and restore a home, I’m not sure I’ve ever dreamed of anything else. I’d have everything.

I can totally picture my life there. I can see my dog running in the grass, my cats sitting on the porch rail. I want to plant a wedding garden so my kids can get married in the garden if they want. I can even see the inside, the living room with my writing desk, the kitchen where I could start baking bread again. It has a formal dining room with a fireplace, we could have Christmas!

Well, maybe not, it’s a small place, but you know, that was one of the things I thought so perfect about it. If we dormer the attic and add a couple bedrooms and a bath, the house is big enough to meet our needs, but still small enough for an older couple with an empty nest. We wouldn’t have to downsize later, this could be the house I live the rest of my life in.

I know, I’m getting totally carried away and sometimes I think life’s whole purpose is to keep you from getting everything you want anyway, but still, I can dream and Dale says when he comes back in off the road next time, we’ll take a look at it…if it’s hasn’t collapsed anyway. ;-)

Okay, your turn. Share a dream with me. :)

A FLASHING Good Party!

Nina Pierce wrote this terribly early in the morning:

Welcome to Flash Fiction Sunday! I’m your hostess today, Nina. I’m happy you stopped by.

This is a busy weekend. The Kentucky Derby yesterday … all those pretty hats, mint julips, horses, and jockeys. Then Big Brown crossed the finish line and the party began!
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And Monday is Cinco de Mayo. An opportunity for Mexicans and Americans to celebrate their joined efforts in defeating the French in the 1862. But the party isn’t limited to Monday, it’s a great excuse to enjoy good food and great friendships all weekend!

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So, with all this frivolity I thought we should do the same. This week’s theme for flashes is celebrations, parties, festivities, joy, and friends.

I invite you to share your 100 word flashes. (But no one’s really counting so don’t get too worried.) If you can keep with the theme, extra points for you! (And if you can’t … flash anyway! It’s all about the stories!)

So come on in … read and share. And even if you don’t have a flash, pull up a chair, I’ve got margaritas and mint julips and plenty of guacomole, and fajitas.

Here’s a flash to get you warmed up. 100 words without the title:

**The Perfect Birthday**

He stood on the porch stoop, loving the heavy lidded gaze of his wife. Leaning forward, he watched her lids flutter as their lips meshed. Warm and soft she tasted of the chocolate ice cream they had shared. Snaking his arms around her back, he pulled her tight to his body, deepening the kiss.

“Honey,” she sighed. “I think we should go in and continue this celebration.”

He nodded, not needing to express how perfect his birthday would be snuggled in bed with her.

She opened the door and flicked on the lights.

“Surprise!” yelled a room full of friends.

Vamps, scamps or…whipped cream?

Rusty Wicks wrote this in the early morning:

There’s such a wide range of romantic combinations hitting the shelves that it can be confusing. Not with regard to reading because the choices are endless…

 Would you like a hunky alpha shapeshifting crimefighter? A superhero who cooks like a pro while unraveling sinister plots in his spare time? Or would you prefer a vampire with to-die-for teal blue eyes whose oozing sexuality leaves puddles of sated women in his wake? Does your taste run to down-home country fellows? Or maybe you’re looking for something a little more…um, shall we say adventurous? Whatever it takes to turn your switch on, it’s out there. A virtual reader’s smorgasbord. Any taste, easily satisfied.

But for a writer, it can be confusing. Or at least that’s the way this writer feels. You see, I’m at a crossroads. The last story is finished. The next? Not begun. Not one single, solitary word on the screen. Why? Because of the infinite possibilities. I simply can’t decide what kind of story to write. A stream of scenarios runs through my head but I’ve yet to commit to any particular one.

Should it be a shapeshifter romance? Contemporary? How about a threesome–but with one of the heroes a vampire? No, I don’t think that would work. I’m not well enough versed in vampire-lore to know if a vamp would be good at sharing. Hmm…that’s all right, the list goes on and on. All I’ve got to do is choose! It should be easy, right?

It’s not, though. You see, it’s a case of having the key to the candy store. Just having the key, being able to go in any direction just because you feel like it, doesn’t necessarily tell you which candy to choose, does it? I mean, are you in the mood for chocolate? Cherries, covered in chocolate? Jelly beans? Or maybe something more, I don’t know, gooey.  Yeah, that might be the thing. Something hot and gooey, something that melts in the mouth and tantalizes the tongue, something–oh! Right. I was talking about candy, wasn’t I?

Anyhow, I’m sure you see my dilemma. I’m at a crossroads wondering which way to point my pen. Hovering above the candy shop counter, trying to decide between licorice and an all-day sucker. I suppose I’ve got to decide soon because this indecision, it’s killing me.

What about you? When faced with a romantic choice, what do you usually pick? What turns you on in a hero? Or heroine? Is there one particular romantic genre you enjoy more than others? Please share.

Me? I think I like ‘em all. Maybe that’s the issue; I like the taste of everything so it’s hard to take just one bite of anything. Hmm…maybe a shapeshifting hero in a vampire-filled contemporary whose heroine yearns for a threesome but can’t decide between whipped cream or hot fudge sauce for the…well, you get the idea, don’t you?   

Have a nice weekend! And thanks for talking sex, writing and candy with me today! I’m suddenly very, very hungry!

If You Haven’t Read…

Roxy Harte wrote this around lunchtime:

I was just commenting below…after “Y’s” comment:
I have to admit the muddy soccer field was an incredibly erotic scene…even though the whole time I was writing it…I WAS SAYING….”No! Don’t do it! WHat are you thinking?” But really, how could she not? It’s Lord Fyre!

And I realized, for those who have not read Sacred Revelations…the Soccer Field scene…which btw was written during a very long high school soccer tournament…6 hours in the blazing sun…which sent me to the car in search of something to write on…and ended up being several napkin’s…thank god for Wendy’s because McDonalds never puts spares in the bag!!

I am going to paste in an excerpt from that scene…but I think it needs a little set up…in Sacred Secrets, Celia, known as Kitten, became Garrett’s property…in this scene…she is considered to be Garrett’s…and Lord Fyre is Garrett’s best friend…I think you’ll see the problem now…

PG EXCERPT STARTS:

All the men retire to their cars, hot, muddy, exhausted, some broken and bruised; all except Lord Fyre. He stands in the middle of the field, looking toward my car. Parked next to his, he cannot avoid me any longer, if that is what he is trying to do.
I step from my car, walking around it to stand leaning against the hood, not approaching Lord Fyre. He stands center field looking at me.
Just breathe, I command myself, and it is as if the playing field before me breathes with me, expanding on my inhale, imploding on my exhale. I wonder if Lord Fyre feels it, it’s as if the entire universe is waiting with me to see just what he will do.
Slowly, he starts to walk toward me. He slows halfway to the parking lot to retrieve a stray soccer ball, kicking it back and forth between his feet as he jogs forward, short even rolls, bringing the ball in.
Kick, step, step, kick.
I am enthralled by his grace of movement, watching the muscles in his legs contract, even in the darkness I can see him, the glow of the city reflected off the clouds enough illumination for all I want to see.
Kick, step, step, kick.
Muscled and powerful, each step he takes is feral. At the edge of the grass he stops, lifting his face he looks at me. Playfully, he kicks the ball forward but stops its roll with a tap of his cleats, and rolls it backward, another cleat tap and it pops into the air behind him, shooting straight up, then plummeting fast, he nails it with a head spike, shooting it straight into me. Surprisingly, my reflexes are quick and I grab the ball to my chest, holding onto it, my heart pounding. He mock applauds me as he walks up to me, spiked shoes clattering on asphalt. Clunk, clunk.
My heartbeat joins his rhythm and the surrounding night air seems to sigh as he nears, or perhaps it is only me sighing.
Reaching me, he stops far enough away that we couldn’t possibly touch. “Hello, beautiful,” he says, smiling.
“Hello yourself.” I smile back.
“God, that smile,” he sighs, shaking his head. “You could own the world with the power of that smile.”
“I don’t want the world,” I answer arrogantly. “I want you.”
“You are Garrett’s now,” he answers strongly, refusing me in that sentence, but his eyes say more than the words. His eyes dare me to refute the words, which I can’t do.
I can, however, give him the truth. “Yes, I am his, but I am also yours. I didn’t ask for this to happen, but my heart, my soul, is divided. I want both of you equally, when I am with one of you, and without the other, I ache desperately. I love you both. Can you understand that?”
“Yes, I can understand, but have you explained this to Garrett?”
“Not in words, but he knows how I feel. He thinks I will get over you, with time.”
“And you don’t think you will?”
“I don’t want over you,.” I promise, the night seeming to swell and enclose us in her protection. Lord Fyre takes the two steps that separates us and enfolds me in his arms. His body is steaming hot, his skin and clothing damp. He smells of musk, hot, healthy male scent. I close my eyes and breathe him in, wanting to remember his scent forever, hoarding his scent in case he turns me away once I have said what I came here to say. I plant soft kisses on his silk-jersey-covered chest and he kisses the top of my head in return. “I missed you,” we say to each other.
His arms hold me tighter, trying to soften the blow of the words he is waiting to say, staving off the moment as long as he can. “I’m not a cheating kind of guy, love, what I do is in the open, or I don’t do it.”
His words don’t have the intended effect if he is trying to scare me off. Through his soccer shorts, I feel his penis hardening, thick and ready, pressed against my hip, and I hear his words for what they really are, a challenge.
“Do you remember when you told me that I was the one charting the course of how my relationships would play out?” I ask him, remembering that night. I was terrified, commanded by Lord Fyre to make love to Garrett one last time, knowing that the next morning I would be joining him for three months of servitude.
“Yes.”
“You were talking about this,” I say softly, stroking his hard length through his silk shorts. “You were talking about opening myself to you, of giving myself to you, of creating a relationship with you; but all I heard was a promise of three months, a promise of darkness filled with pleasure and pain. You wanted to make love to me then.”
“Yes.” His answer is a sigh caught by the dark night surrounding us.
“You want me still?” I ask, continuing before he has a chance to answer, “Enough to share me with Garrett?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” I wrap my hands into his damp ponytail and pull him into a kiss, whispering against his mouth. “I’m tired of always wanting what I can’t have. I want you both. Help me make that happen. Please.”
“What you’re asking will be difficult.”
“No more difficult than waking each morning only to die a little more each day because half of me is missing! Always missing! If I am with you, I miss him; if I am with him, I miss you. Only the two of you can make me whole. Help me?”
I watch him nod his head and make him say the words. “Promise me?”
“Do you even realize what you’re asking for?” he asks incredulously, then seeing my quick nod, promises, “I’ll help you.”
“Starting now?”
He frowns, but he thinks enough like me to understand what I am not saying. He warns, “This will change everything.”
I don’t know what I expected. Maybe I just expected him to say more, to expand on how to make this work, some compelling argument to take to Garrett. He doesn’t. He takes the soccer ball I’d forgotten I held and tosses it into the front seat of his car. Taking my hand, he leads me into the darkness of the soccer field and again it seems like the field is alive, breathing with my breath, inhaling, exhaling. He turns me to face him and the air seems suddenly too thick to breathe. I hadn’t really thought this through. I hadn’t really thought that he…and I…would…not now…and a small part of my brain screams at me, what are you doing, what about Garrett? Then Lord Fyre lowers me onto the wet grass and muddy center of the soccer field and I feel my heartbeat swell against the earth. My shirt soaks through, wetting my back, the damp earth soaking through my jeans as well. He follows me down, supporting his weight between knees and one hand, as if doing a girlie one-handed pushup. He strokes the side of my face. “I’ve done so much to you, but never this. I’ve never made love to you.”
If I was thinking about asking him to stop a second before with the intention of cluing Garrett in on my wants, my desires, my needs, that one sentence disconnects all logical thought. He wants to make love to me.
“Nervous?” I ask breathlessly, feeling a slight tremor in the hand stroking my cheek.
“Do I look nervous?” he asks casually, striving to look tough.
“Yes.” I giggle nervously.
“You can stop this.”
I pull my lower lip between my teeth, afraid to say a word. He takes my silence as a green light and pushing back onto both knees, he unzips my blue jeans and pulls them and my panties in one fluid motion down to just past my knees. He leaves the fabric there, wrapped around my legs, I try to kick them free, but he stills my leg with a touch. “No, leave them.”
Relaxing back onto the damp earth, two sensations strike me at once, water and mud pushing into my ass crack, cold and slimy, and his hands sliding under my shirt, covering me with mud.
END OF EXCERPT.
I hope you enjoyed this peek at Lord Fyre from Sacred Revelations…because his story…Unholy Promises is being edited now for a summer release date! So keep your eyes open for it…because if Sacred Revelations in hot…Unholy Promises is SMOKIN’!