Just to keep you informed... halfway through the last sex scene which will be finishing up the book and then I just have the epilogue to do which will set me up for Venus Desiring, and then edits and I'll be submitting to Amazon. At the moment my goal is to be submitting it on Monday. I'm fairly certain of that goal.
In the meantime... I haven't been working on anything else in my bid to get this out asap.
Thanks for your patience and support!
A little bit of sin would be heavenly
Friday, August 31, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Final Venus Aspiring Teaser
The Good News: I'm on the final chapter for the book.
The Bad News: Since I still have to do editing, it's not going to be done by August 31.
The Follow-Up Good News: I'll be submitting it to Amazon by next week so it's not going to be toooo much later than originally thought. YAY!
And... the teaser. I chose this section because I wanted to introduce you to some of the other characters in the book, who you'll be seeing a lot more of in the future!
By the time the rest of their friends showed up for the game, Justin was feeling pretty good. He'd admitted to Chris that he wouldn't mind having a threesome relationship, although the truth was part of him kind of wanted it. The three of them felt right together, as evidenced by the fun they'd had last night. And he'd always enjoyed being part of a threesome with Chris when it came to sex, so there was no problem there. Plus, he had trouble opening up and being playful when Chris wasn't around. Jessica needed fun in her man - or men.
Now they just had to convince her.
Before they could get too far into their conversation about how to convince her the doorbell rang.
"Who invited the skirt?" he asked, joking, as Olivia entered with Liam, Adam and Patrick.
"Screw you," she said cheerfully. "You know if I wasn't here you wouldn't have anyone to actually talk about the game with."
It was true that he and Olivia were much more invested in DC's team than anyone else. Liam and Chris couldn't care less who won, they were there more for the company. Adam was a Ravens fan, Patrick had grown up in Colorado and was a die hard Bears fan who joined them only to mock them, and Rick - who hadn't arrived yet but was on his way - followed the Colts, the way his father had when they'd been Maryland's team. Today the Skins were playing the Cowboys, which meant that everyone would be cheering for the Skins but he and Olivia were the only ones who would actually care.
"Maybe I was talking about Liam," he said with a straight face.
Liam just gave him a look as he headed for the kitchen. The sheer amount of alpha energy in the house should have had the walls bursting outwards. Justin wasted a moment wishing that they'd invited Jessica, although that would have made her the only submissive person in the house.
Just going by sheer force of personality, Patrick Murphy was definitely the head honcho of the group. He was actually the owner of Stronghold, the kink club where all of them had met (other than Justin and Chris of course, and they'd actually brought Rick to Stronghold for the first time). Even though Justin was two inches over six feet, he still felt a little short next to Patrick who was 6'5" and even more broadly muscled than himself. Patrick was probably the scariest looking too; mixed half black, half white, he kept his head bald and shiny which only emphasized the long scar going down the left side of his face and the bump in his nose from a previous break. Apparently he'd been a bit of a hellion as a kid, always getting into all sorts of trouble, although he claimed that the scar actually came from sword fighting his best friend Jake when they were teenagers. Jake was overseas in Afghanistan right now and Justin knew that Patrick was worrying about him.
Justin and Adam were about a match for each other in height and dominant tendencies, although Adam was more strict when it came to submissives. While Justin liked to be in charge in the bedroom, and most other places, he wasn't as interested in the lifestyle as Adam was. Not that Adam wanted a 24/7 power exchange, like Patrick did, but he did insist on some of the etiquette. Every Dom was a little bit different in how he wanted his sub to behave. So far Adam hadn't settled down, although plenty of subs at Stronghold panted after him. At six feet three inches, with blonde hair and ice blue eyes, not to mention a full golden goatee that was the envy of many, and long lean muscles, even if Adam hadn't been a skilled Dom the women would probably have been panting a little. Seeing if they could work together would be interesting.
"So where's Jessica?" Olivia asked, just as the doorbell rang again.
Pulling it back open, Justin let Rick inside. Rick had the farthest to travel, as he lived a couple hours away from D.C., but he always traveled to see his friends when he could. Not that it had been long since Justin and Chris had seen him, but the rest of them hadn't for awhile.
"She's at home," Justin said to Olivia as they all trooped to the kitchen. "We decided she probably needed a break from us to think things through."
"And we didn't want to expose her to this group of degenerates and have her run screaming," quipped Chris, picking up on the subject matter immediately as they entered the kitchen.
"Is this the girl you two have been mooning over?" Adam asked as he opened a beer. Justin and Chris had talked about her more than once and all of their friends knew about their plan to follow her to the school.
"You should see her," Rick said immediately. "Gorgeous and very ah... passionate." Both Justin and Chris growled at him immediately, but Rick Winter just smirked at them and accepted the beer that Adam handed them, not at all threatened. "You two are the idiots who thought it would be a good idea if Olivia told her about the school. And asked me to look out for her that first day. I can't help it if she made a good student."
Friendly banter filled the kitchen as Chris put out the chips and queso.
"So what are you going to do when she chooses one of you?" Liam wanted to know. Out of all of them Liam was the shortest at just under 6' and was the quietest. He was also an incredible martial artist who owned his own dojo and could kick any of their asses without even breaking a sweat, except for maybe Patrick's. With his curly auburn hair he could have looked boyish, but the hard lines of his face and defined jaw immediately kicked that impression out the window. Especially if you got close enough to realize he was packing serious muscle, without an ounce of fat, under his clothes. The healthiest out of the group, he kept himself on a strictly maintained diet; even now he was drinking a glass of red wine, which would be his one glass for the day, after which he would switch to water.
"Ah, well..." Chris eyed Justin, not sure they were sharing that information yet.
"We‘re both seeing her for the moment," Justin said simply but firmly. The room fell silent and Olivia twitched as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't. If Chris had been the one to say it everyone probably would have thought he was joking, but coming from Justin they knew how serious he was.
"And how is that going to work exactly?" Patrick asked, scrutinizing both of them as though he was trying to read their minds. The scary bastard probably could. Justin had never met anyone who was so skilled at reading body language, although Adam ran a close second. If he was looking for any signs of jealousy or in-fighting he wasn't going to find it.
"For the moment we take her on dates separately and then the three of us hang out together as friends," Justin said calmly, as if it wasn’t a big deal. As if everyone wasn’t thinking what a shit show this could turn into. “And we’ll make the rest up as we go along, just like every other relationship.”
Chris clapped his shoulder encouragingly. "We'll figure it out. Maybe get a woman's insight." He gave Olivia a hopeful grin, to which she raised her eyebrows.
"Get real."
"So when do the rest of us get to meet this sterling student?" asked Adam, breaking the tension a little. It was obvious everyone wanted to meet her, see what kind of woman could hook the both of them so hard that they were willing to risk their friendship. "Great wings, by the way." Justin nodded at the compliment, smiling to himself as he saw that his friend already had a small pile of teeny tiny wing bones on a plate in front of him. He had no idea how Adam managed to eat so many wings without getting even the tiniest spot of sauce on that blonde goatee or mustache, but he never did. Or on his crisp white shirts that he always wore when he was being casual.
"Thanks. I'm not sure when..." Justin glanced at Chris who immediately picked up on what he was trying to say.
"I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but we're a seriously scary crowd of people," Chris said, waving his hand around the room. "Not only would she be the only girl, other than Olivia, but she'd be the only one with any submissiveness tendencies. One on one she'd probably like you all just fine. As a group..."
"Bring her to the club," Patrick suggested immediately. "You guys haven't been in awhile. You can see Andrew, he's back in town now. I've got him working bar on nights when Liam's not."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Chris complained. "We would have invited him. He didn't even tell me he was coming."
Andrew had moved away several years ago after a bad break up, going up to New York to be near his family for awhile. He and Chris had been pretty close, although Justin hadn't really connected with him. Not that he had a problem with the guy, but Chris and Andrew were both naturally gregarious and they had the same sense of humor, so they'd just hit it off immediately.
"Apparently it was kind of a snap decision," Patrick said. "His parents are moving to Florida," Chris nodded, he'd known that, "and he was going to stay up there but then realized he didn't really want to without them there. Other than being near his parents, there's nothing really holding him there. He made the decision while you guys were at the school. But he wouldn't have been able to come today anyway, he's back up there packing up more stuff to send down here."
"Great," said Justin, knowing that Chris would want to see Andrew. Personally Justin was more in favor of seeing Jessica in the club than in visiting the bartender, although it would be good to see Andrew again. Some of their friends had their own playrooms or dungeons at home, but neither he nor Chris had never seen the need for one when they could go to the club and utilize its facilities. "We'll bring her."
The rest of the afternoon could be considered a roaring success, although Justin had trouble concentrating on anything but the idea of bringing Jessica to Stronghold. He had a feeling she'd really enjoy the fantasy rooms that were available there. Of course, he was getting a little ahead of himself. Somehow he and Chris needed to find out if she would have any interest in not choosing between them, but taking on both of them in a real relationship. Would any woman actually say yes to that? Being involved in kink and Stronghold had made both him and Chris more open minded to the myriad of different relationships that were possible. There were polyamerous relationships among some of the people who attended the club. It wasn't the norm but it happened. And he knew of at least one permanent threesome, although it was between a husband and wife and their sub. But would Jessica be as open minded?
After everyone left and Chris was helping him clean up, the topic of Jessica came up again of course. Especially now that they’d had one weekend with her and both of them had admitted they’d be interested in trying a threesome relationship.
"So what's the game plan then?" Chris asked as he gathered up the empty beer bottles and put them into the recycling bin while Justin did the same with the paper plates, napkins and plasticware and tossed them in the garbage.
"Take it slow. Keep doing what we've been doing, but maybe start to romance her a little during the times when all three of us are together. Show her what it could be like before we jump in and tell her that's what we want."
"You know she could end up choosing one of us before that happens," Chris said, looking worried.
Justin shrugged. "That's a chance we'll have to take. If it happens, it happens and we'll deal with it then."
Internally he was just as worried as Chris, but he really couldn't think of a better idea. Not without risking scaring Jessica off, at any rate, which would be even worse. If she chose one of them, at least two people would be happy. But he'd rather that all three of them could be.
The Bad News: Since I still have to do editing, it's not going to be done by August 31.
The Follow-Up Good News: I'll be submitting it to Amazon by next week so it's not going to be toooo much later than originally thought. YAY!
And... the teaser. I chose this section because I wanted to introduce you to some of the other characters in the book, who you'll be seeing a lot more of in the future!
By the time the rest of their friends showed up for the game, Justin was feeling pretty good. He'd admitted to Chris that he wouldn't mind having a threesome relationship, although the truth was part of him kind of wanted it. The three of them felt right together, as evidenced by the fun they'd had last night. And he'd always enjoyed being part of a threesome with Chris when it came to sex, so there was no problem there. Plus, he had trouble opening up and being playful when Chris wasn't around. Jessica needed fun in her man - or men.
Now they just had to convince her.
Before they could get too far into their conversation about how to convince her the doorbell rang.
"Who invited the skirt?" he asked, joking, as Olivia entered with Liam, Adam and Patrick.
"Screw you," she said cheerfully. "You know if I wasn't here you wouldn't have anyone to actually talk about the game with."
It was true that he and Olivia were much more invested in DC's team than anyone else. Liam and Chris couldn't care less who won, they were there more for the company. Adam was a Ravens fan, Patrick had grown up in Colorado and was a die hard Bears fan who joined them only to mock them, and Rick - who hadn't arrived yet but was on his way - followed the Colts, the way his father had when they'd been Maryland's team. Today the Skins were playing the Cowboys, which meant that everyone would be cheering for the Skins but he and Olivia were the only ones who would actually care.
"Maybe I was talking about Liam," he said with a straight face.
Liam just gave him a look as he headed for the kitchen. The sheer amount of alpha energy in the house should have had the walls bursting outwards. Justin wasted a moment wishing that they'd invited Jessica, although that would have made her the only submissive person in the house.
Just going by sheer force of personality, Patrick Murphy was definitely the head honcho of the group. He was actually the owner of Stronghold, the kink club where all of them had met (other than Justin and Chris of course, and they'd actually brought Rick to Stronghold for the first time). Even though Justin was two inches over six feet, he still felt a little short next to Patrick who was 6'5" and even more broadly muscled than himself. Patrick was probably the scariest looking too; mixed half black, half white, he kept his head bald and shiny which only emphasized the long scar going down the left side of his face and the bump in his nose from a previous break. Apparently he'd been a bit of a hellion as a kid, always getting into all sorts of trouble, although he claimed that the scar actually came from sword fighting his best friend Jake when they were teenagers. Jake was overseas in Afghanistan right now and Justin knew that Patrick was worrying about him.
Justin and Adam were about a match for each other in height and dominant tendencies, although Adam was more strict when it came to submissives. While Justin liked to be in charge in the bedroom, and most other places, he wasn't as interested in the lifestyle as Adam was. Not that Adam wanted a 24/7 power exchange, like Patrick did, but he did insist on some of the etiquette. Every Dom was a little bit different in how he wanted his sub to behave. So far Adam hadn't settled down, although plenty of subs at Stronghold panted after him. At six feet three inches, with blonde hair and ice blue eyes, not to mention a full golden goatee that was the envy of many, and long lean muscles, even if Adam hadn't been a skilled Dom the women would probably have been panting a little. Seeing if they could work together would be interesting.
"So where's Jessica?" Olivia asked, just as the doorbell rang again.
Pulling it back open, Justin let Rick inside. Rick had the farthest to travel, as he lived a couple hours away from D.C., but he always traveled to see his friends when he could. Not that it had been long since Justin and Chris had seen him, but the rest of them hadn't for awhile.
"She's at home," Justin said to Olivia as they all trooped to the kitchen. "We decided she probably needed a break from us to think things through."
"And we didn't want to expose her to this group of degenerates and have her run screaming," quipped Chris, picking up on the subject matter immediately as they entered the kitchen.
"Is this the girl you two have been mooning over?" Adam asked as he opened a beer. Justin and Chris had talked about her more than once and all of their friends knew about their plan to follow her to the school.
"You should see her," Rick said immediately. "Gorgeous and very ah... passionate." Both Justin and Chris growled at him immediately, but Rick Winter just smirked at them and accepted the beer that Adam handed them, not at all threatened. "You two are the idiots who thought it would be a good idea if Olivia told her about the school. And asked me to look out for her that first day. I can't help it if she made a good student."
Friendly banter filled the kitchen as Chris put out the chips and queso.
"So what are you going to do when she chooses one of you?" Liam wanted to know. Out of all of them Liam was the shortest at just under 6' and was the quietest. He was also an incredible martial artist who owned his own dojo and could kick any of their asses without even breaking a sweat, except for maybe Patrick's. With his curly auburn hair he could have looked boyish, but the hard lines of his face and defined jaw immediately kicked that impression out the window. Especially if you got close enough to realize he was packing serious muscle, without an ounce of fat, under his clothes. The healthiest out of the group, he kept himself on a strictly maintained diet; even now he was drinking a glass of red wine, which would be his one glass for the day, after which he would switch to water.
"Ah, well..." Chris eyed Justin, not sure they were sharing that information yet.
"We‘re both seeing her for the moment," Justin said simply but firmly. The room fell silent and Olivia twitched as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't. If Chris had been the one to say it everyone probably would have thought he was joking, but coming from Justin they knew how serious he was.
"And how is that going to work exactly?" Patrick asked, scrutinizing both of them as though he was trying to read their minds. The scary bastard probably could. Justin had never met anyone who was so skilled at reading body language, although Adam ran a close second. If he was looking for any signs of jealousy or in-fighting he wasn't going to find it.
"For the moment we take her on dates separately and then the three of us hang out together as friends," Justin said calmly, as if it wasn’t a big deal. As if everyone wasn’t thinking what a shit show this could turn into. “And we’ll make the rest up as we go along, just like every other relationship.”
Chris clapped his shoulder encouragingly. "We'll figure it out. Maybe get a woman's insight." He gave Olivia a hopeful grin, to which she raised her eyebrows.
"Get real."
"So when do the rest of us get to meet this sterling student?" asked Adam, breaking the tension a little. It was obvious everyone wanted to meet her, see what kind of woman could hook the both of them so hard that they were willing to risk their friendship. "Great wings, by the way." Justin nodded at the compliment, smiling to himself as he saw that his friend already had a small pile of teeny tiny wing bones on a plate in front of him. He had no idea how Adam managed to eat so many wings without getting even the tiniest spot of sauce on that blonde goatee or mustache, but he never did. Or on his crisp white shirts that he always wore when he was being casual.
"Thanks. I'm not sure when..." Justin glanced at Chris who immediately picked up on what he was trying to say.
"I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but we're a seriously scary crowd of people," Chris said, waving his hand around the room. "Not only would she be the only girl, other than Olivia, but she'd be the only one with any submissiveness tendencies. One on one she'd probably like you all just fine. As a group..."
"Bring her to the club," Patrick suggested immediately. "You guys haven't been in awhile. You can see Andrew, he's back in town now. I've got him working bar on nights when Liam's not."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Chris complained. "We would have invited him. He didn't even tell me he was coming."
Andrew had moved away several years ago after a bad break up, going up to New York to be near his family for awhile. He and Chris had been pretty close, although Justin hadn't really connected with him. Not that he had a problem with the guy, but Chris and Andrew were both naturally gregarious and they had the same sense of humor, so they'd just hit it off immediately.
"Apparently it was kind of a snap decision," Patrick said. "His parents are moving to Florida," Chris nodded, he'd known that, "and he was going to stay up there but then realized he didn't really want to without them there. Other than being near his parents, there's nothing really holding him there. He made the decision while you guys were at the school. But he wouldn't have been able to come today anyway, he's back up there packing up more stuff to send down here."
"Great," said Justin, knowing that Chris would want to see Andrew. Personally Justin was more in favor of seeing Jessica in the club than in visiting the bartender, although it would be good to see Andrew again. Some of their friends had their own playrooms or dungeons at home, but neither he nor Chris had never seen the need for one when they could go to the club and utilize its facilities. "We'll bring her."
The rest of the afternoon could be considered a roaring success, although Justin had trouble concentrating on anything but the idea of bringing Jessica to Stronghold. He had a feeling she'd really enjoy the fantasy rooms that were available there. Of course, he was getting a little ahead of himself. Somehow he and Chris needed to find out if she would have any interest in not choosing between them, but taking on both of them in a real relationship. Would any woman actually say yes to that? Being involved in kink and Stronghold had made both him and Chris more open minded to the myriad of different relationships that were possible. There were polyamerous relationships among some of the people who attended the club. It wasn't the norm but it happened. And he knew of at least one permanent threesome, although it was between a husband and wife and their sub. But would Jessica be as open minded?
After everyone left and Chris was helping him clean up, the topic of Jessica came up again of course. Especially now that they’d had one weekend with her and both of them had admitted they’d be interested in trying a threesome relationship.
"So what's the game plan then?" Chris asked as he gathered up the empty beer bottles and put them into the recycling bin while Justin did the same with the paper plates, napkins and plasticware and tossed them in the garbage.
"Take it slow. Keep doing what we've been doing, but maybe start to romance her a little during the times when all three of us are together. Show her what it could be like before we jump in and tell her that's what we want."
"You know she could end up choosing one of us before that happens," Chris said, looking worried.
Justin shrugged. "That's a chance we'll have to take. If it happens, it happens and we'll deal with it then."
Internally he was just as worried as Chris, but he really couldn't think of a better idea. Not without risking scaring Jessica off, at any rate, which would be even worse. If she chose one of them, at least two people would be happy. But he'd rather that all three of them could be.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Finding the End Point
That's what's I'm working on right now. Trying to figure out where Venus Aspiring ends. The ending is always a little tricky, especially when writing a series rather than a stand alone... I want to provide a lot of closure, but also keep people hooked so that they want to read the next book. It's a conundrum. Although possibly slightly easier since Hilary is going to be the main focus of the next book and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that. Not that I don't love Jessica, Chris and Justin, and their story will continue in Venus Desiring (3rd book of the Venus Rising series) as well, but Hilary's story has really advanced in this past book and I can't wait to delve into a little more detail with her.
Although I think after I'm done with the Poker Loser and Venus Rising series that I'm going to stick to finishing up stories within one book. It'll make figuring out how it's going to end easier. Right now I'm sooooo close to where I think I want the book to end, I just have to get the characters to cooperate... Justin just threw me for a bit of a loop honestly. We're going to meet his mother, which I'm excited about because I've been looking forward to meeting her, but originally I was just going to have him talking on the phone with her. Sometimes these dominant guys just do NOT listen to me. *shakes fist* Chris is much easier to push around, when it comes right down to it.
I will admit, I got a bit distracted from writing because Cherise Sinclair came out with her next Dark Haven book which was sooooo good. If you like Dominant men / great BDSM erotic romances, definitely check her out. She's seriously my favorite BDSM erotic romance author. And you'll be able to see the kind of fantastic writing and story telling that I'm aspiring to. Just reading her stuff motivates me to try and write better stories and characters.
You may have noticed that I haven't been putting out much on Literotica... that's because I'm concentrating so much on Venus Aspiring and trying to get it done by this Friday. I'm making no promises at the moment that it will be done on time, but I'm definitely doing my best!
Although I think after I'm done with the Poker Loser and Venus Rising series that I'm going to stick to finishing up stories within one book. It'll make figuring out how it's going to end easier. Right now I'm sooooo close to where I think I want the book to end, I just have to get the characters to cooperate... Justin just threw me for a bit of a loop honestly. We're going to meet his mother, which I'm excited about because I've been looking forward to meeting her, but originally I was just going to have him talking on the phone with her. Sometimes these dominant guys just do NOT listen to me. *shakes fist* Chris is much easier to push around, when it comes right down to it.
I will admit, I got a bit distracted from writing because Cherise Sinclair came out with her next Dark Haven book which was sooooo good. If you like Dominant men / great BDSM erotic romances, definitely check her out. She's seriously my favorite BDSM erotic romance author. And you'll be able to see the kind of fantastic writing and story telling that I'm aspiring to. Just reading her stuff motivates me to try and write better stories and characters.
You may have noticed that I haven't been putting out much on Literotica... that's because I'm concentrating so much on Venus Aspiring and trying to get it done by this Friday. I'm making no promises at the moment that it will be done on time, but I'm definitely doing my best!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Character Profile: Chris O'Neal
Name: Chris O'Neal
Age: 29 years old
Hair: dark brown hair
Eyes: dark brown
Body shape: 6'3", muscular and athletic
Favorite color: ocean blue
Favorite drink: Sam Adam's Summer Stout
Favorite animal: fainting goats
Favorite movie: It's A Wonderful Life
Hometown: Savannah, GA
College: Elon University
Workplace: Social and Internet Media at Boyds & Co in downtown Washington DC
Chris' hobbies include painting and drawing, he prefers doing landscapes to people. He was on Varsity Swimteam throughout college as well as the wrestling team. His best friend is Justin Merchant and has been since they roomed together freshman year of college.
Son of Senator Thomas O'Neal and Clarissa, he has one older brother named Steven. His family is deeply conservative and his father's political efforts focus mostly on social and moral issues. Not quite the black sheep, Chris is a raven in a bluebird family and often uses his sense of humor as a defense mechanism against the expectations and demands of his parents. He spent the majority of his childhood at his grandparents, his mother's parents, who also lived in Savannah and were more nurturing. Unfortunately they had both passed away by the time he got to high school.
Meeting Justin and being introduced to BDSM and Stronghold saved Chris from going off the rails in college, although Justin had to remove his drunken ass from a few unsavory situations and managed to keep him away from drugs. BDSM supplied a self-discipline he had been lacking, although he's not particularly dominant outside of the bedroom, and within the bedrooms he's shared with Justin has always recognized his best friend as top dog.
Chris wants to be something other than a disappointment to his parents, who wanted him to follow his father's footsteps into politics, like his brother. But he also wants Jessica, so much that he's prepared to share her with Justin, even though he knows that his family would never accept such an arrangement. What will happen when the secret comes out?
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Morning Quickie ;)
Consequences Chapter 10 is now out! I think that Chapter 11 is going to be the next chapter.
I'm about 1/3 of the way through the standalone story that I'm writing, it's turning out to be fairly involved character/plot-wise for a standalone. Which is fun. I'm enjoying it. But because it's longer, it takes longer to write, as usual. Still. It has more depth than my usual standalones and that makes me happy (and should hopefully also make people who read it happy).
Hopefully by this time next week I'll be done with Venus Aspiring. I'm soooooooooo close!
Today I'm going to the Renn Fair... LOVE. Corsets make me happy.
I'm about 1/3 of the way through the standalone story that I'm writing, it's turning out to be fairly involved character/plot-wise for a standalone. Which is fun. I'm enjoying it. But because it's longer, it takes longer to write, as usual. Still. It has more depth than my usual standalones and that makes me happy (and should hopefully also make people who read it happy).
Hopefully by this time next week I'll be done with Venus Aspiring. I'm soooooooooo close!
Today I'm going to the Renn Fair... LOVE. Corsets make me happy.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Another Peek at Venus Aspiring
Doing a lot of writing yesterday and today... trying to get Venus Aspiring finished before the end of this month. I'm not sure I'm going to make it, but I'm definitely going to try! I know I'm close to the end, I'm just not sure how close yet.
At any rate, here's another little teaser to whet your appetite for what's coming soon!:
They showed up at her desk at 5:30 on the dot. As time had ticked closer Jessica had stopped being able to concentrate on any of her work, feeling like every minute was bringing her closer and closer to hell. Or heaven. And no telling which side of the coin was going to come up.
Seeing them took her breath away. They were dressed differently, Mr. Flood in a navy suit and Mr. Fire in slightly more casual pants and sports coat, and they both looked fantastic. Sexy. Masculine. It was another side to them, like the completely casual clothes she’s seen them in during the weekend at the Venus School.
“Hi,” she managed to say. And then winced, realizing how stupid she sounded. But they both smiled at her.
“Hey beautiful,” said Fire, he grinned and winked at her, obviously thrilled that she was coming with them.
“Hello,” said Flood. Although he hid his feelings better, she detected a general air of impatience and anticipation around him. “Are you ready to go?” As soon as he asked, Jessica’s lips quirked into a smile. Definitely some impatience. And definitely the same men that she’d gotten to know, playful Fire and serious, dominating Flood.
Speaking of which. “Do I get to know which one of you is Justin and which of you is Chris first?”
Olivia had told her their real names but had neglected how to tell which was which. The men glanced at each other and flushed a little. Good, at least she wasn’t the only one off balance.
“Justin.”
“Chris.”
“I feel like we should shake hands,” she joked.
Justin’s eyes glinted. “We can do that.”
He held out his hand and she automatically took it, but instead of shaking it he used it to pull her from her chair. Suddenly his large body was inside her personal space and she found herself wanting to step forward not back. Although he didn’t move, she could see him watching her facial expressions, waiting for a cue as to how she was taking his forwardness. Whether or not it was turning her on.
It definitely was.
But then again, she’d already know that the sex wasn’t going to be the problem. Getting to know them in real life was. Trying to decide between them was. Or trying to convince them not to make her decide, which would just bring on its own host of problems. And there she went getting ahead of herself again.
“Come on Jessica, I’m starving,” said Chris from behind Justin, breaking the tension. He clapped a hand on his buddy’s shoulder as he stepped up to join them. “Plus we have to get to Justin’s before the delivery guy shows up. I hope you like Chinese.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. Silly her forgetting that both of them had that habit of taking control. Chris was just slightly less intense about it. Too bad for her that she found it kinda hot. At least as long as they didn’t run right over her opinions. It hadn’t occurred to her that men who were used to taking control in the bedroom might be a wee bit more controlling outside of it too.
“Alright,” she said, turning to get her purse, but Chris had already moved past her and grabbed it. Justin was still holding onto her hand, his thumb rubbing over her skin in a sensuous movement. She let out all the air in her lungs, feeling a little bit overwhelmed. They seemed determined to do everything they could for her. And seduce her. With Chris standing behind her and Justin standing in front of her she was forcibly reminded of being sandwiched in between them.
Not going to help her keep a cool head. Not at all.
The walk to Justin’s was surprisingly pleasant rather than awkward. Justin walked with his arm around her shoulders, so she wrapped hers around his waist, and Chris wanted to hold hands. It was a surprisingly comfortable arrangement although she did see a few raised eyebrows from passerby. Those looks made her wince internally. That’s what it would be like if one of them didn’t end up appealing to her over the other.
Or she could lose both of them.
Noticing that she was starting to look pessimistic, Chris distracted her with a string of terrible punny jokes, starting with the offspring of a melon and a collie. They were terrible but they did make her giggle, until Justin finally interrupted by asking her about her job with the company. Which in turn led to them telling her about the social network marketing, which sounded a lot more fascinating than her day to day responsibilities of paperwork, memos and fielding phone calls.
Once they were in Justin's house he got her a glass of wine. White. The kind of drink she usually had at Happy Hour, at least when it wasn't martini night. They really had been watching her, that or Olivia had given them even more information than she thought. Either way it showed that they cared. Warmth bloomed inside of her.
The doorbell rang and Justin went to get the Chinese food as Chris sat her down at one of the barstools next to the island in the middle of the kitchen. It was a very nice kitchen, obviously well maintained. Either he cleaned it a lot or he didn’t use it much. Judging from what she’d seen at the school, she was betting on the former. The dark gray granite countertops were completely bare of anything other than a small stack of towels and a coffeemaker. The dishtowel hanging from the oven door matched the blue of the curtains over the windows to her right. Nothing lacy, but definitely decorative.
Justin came back in with the bag of food, which smelled heavenly. It didn’t take her long before she had a plate filled with beef and broccoli and chicken lo mein in front of her. Chris sighed as he lifted a forkful of peanut chicken to his mouth.
“I could really get tired of eating this stuff,” he said with a heavy sigh.
Before Jessica could ask why he was eating it, especially considering the assortment that had been ordered, Justin glared at him and spoke up. “Then you shouldn’t have ordered it twice in one day, idiot.”
“You’ve already had Chinese food today?” she asked. Maybe she’d been wrong and Justin didn’t use his kitchen much.
“For lunch,” Justin said. “But he’s a picky eater about some things and that’s the only thing he’ll order. Ignore the whining, it just encourages him if you give him any attention about it.”
She had to giggle at Justin’s blasé explanation which left Chris looking both indignant and amused. Sitting here with them, talking and joking was far too easy. This should have been awkward. Strange. Instead it felt right. Like coming home. Down girl. Thoughts like that could get her into serious trouble. Heartbreak trouble.
As she finished her meal she looked up to find both of them looking at her. A subtle tension filled the air.
"You must have questions," Justin said. He smiled gently at her as she gave a small start of surprise. Ah yes, Mr. Flood. All dominance and hard edged steel, until you got to the gentle caretaker underneath. "Go ahead and ask."
Of course, now that he'd opened the door, her mind was like a blank slate.
At any rate, here's another little teaser to whet your appetite for what's coming soon!:
They showed up at her desk at 5:30 on the dot. As time had ticked closer Jessica had stopped being able to concentrate on any of her work, feeling like every minute was bringing her closer and closer to hell. Or heaven. And no telling which side of the coin was going to come up.
Seeing them took her breath away. They were dressed differently, Mr. Flood in a navy suit and Mr. Fire in slightly more casual pants and sports coat, and they both looked fantastic. Sexy. Masculine. It was another side to them, like the completely casual clothes she’s seen them in during the weekend at the Venus School.
“Hi,” she managed to say. And then winced, realizing how stupid she sounded. But they both smiled at her.
“Hey beautiful,” said Fire, he grinned and winked at her, obviously thrilled that she was coming with them.
“Hello,” said Flood. Although he hid his feelings better, she detected a general air of impatience and anticipation around him. “Are you ready to go?” As soon as he asked, Jessica’s lips quirked into a smile. Definitely some impatience. And definitely the same men that she’d gotten to know, playful Fire and serious, dominating Flood.
Speaking of which. “Do I get to know which one of you is Justin and which of you is Chris first?”
Olivia had told her their real names but had neglected how to tell which was which. The men glanced at each other and flushed a little. Good, at least she wasn’t the only one off balance.
“Justin.”
“Chris.”
“I feel like we should shake hands,” she joked.
Justin’s eyes glinted. “We can do that.”
He held out his hand and she automatically took it, but instead of shaking it he used it to pull her from her chair. Suddenly his large body was inside her personal space and she found herself wanting to step forward not back. Although he didn’t move, she could see him watching her facial expressions, waiting for a cue as to how she was taking his forwardness. Whether or not it was turning her on.
It definitely was.
But then again, she’d already know that the sex wasn’t going to be the problem. Getting to know them in real life was. Trying to decide between them was. Or trying to convince them not to make her decide, which would just bring on its own host of problems. And there she went getting ahead of herself again.
“Come on Jessica, I’m starving,” said Chris from behind Justin, breaking the tension. He clapped a hand on his buddy’s shoulder as he stepped up to join them. “Plus we have to get to Justin’s before the delivery guy shows up. I hope you like Chinese.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. Silly her forgetting that both of them had that habit of taking control. Chris was just slightly less intense about it. Too bad for her that she found it kinda hot. At least as long as they didn’t run right over her opinions. It hadn’t occurred to her that men who were used to taking control in the bedroom might be a wee bit more controlling outside of it too.
“Alright,” she said, turning to get her purse, but Chris had already moved past her and grabbed it. Justin was still holding onto her hand, his thumb rubbing over her skin in a sensuous movement. She let out all the air in her lungs, feeling a little bit overwhelmed. They seemed determined to do everything they could for her. And seduce her. With Chris standing behind her and Justin standing in front of her she was forcibly reminded of being sandwiched in between them.
Not going to help her keep a cool head. Not at all.
The walk to Justin’s was surprisingly pleasant rather than awkward. Justin walked with his arm around her shoulders, so she wrapped hers around his waist, and Chris wanted to hold hands. It was a surprisingly comfortable arrangement although she did see a few raised eyebrows from passerby. Those looks made her wince internally. That’s what it would be like if one of them didn’t end up appealing to her over the other.
Or she could lose both of them.
Noticing that she was starting to look pessimistic, Chris distracted her with a string of terrible punny jokes, starting with the offspring of a melon and a collie. They were terrible but they did make her giggle, until Justin finally interrupted by asking her about her job with the company. Which in turn led to them telling her about the social network marketing, which sounded a lot more fascinating than her day to day responsibilities of paperwork, memos and fielding phone calls.
Once they were in Justin's house he got her a glass of wine. White. The kind of drink she usually had at Happy Hour, at least when it wasn't martini night. They really had been watching her, that or Olivia had given them even more information than she thought. Either way it showed that they cared. Warmth bloomed inside of her.
The doorbell rang and Justin went to get the Chinese food as Chris sat her down at one of the barstools next to the island in the middle of the kitchen. It was a very nice kitchen, obviously well maintained. Either he cleaned it a lot or he didn’t use it much. Judging from what she’d seen at the school, she was betting on the former. The dark gray granite countertops were completely bare of anything other than a small stack of towels and a coffeemaker. The dishtowel hanging from the oven door matched the blue of the curtains over the windows to her right. Nothing lacy, but definitely decorative.
Justin came back in with the bag of food, which smelled heavenly. It didn’t take her long before she had a plate filled with beef and broccoli and chicken lo mein in front of her. Chris sighed as he lifted a forkful of peanut chicken to his mouth.
“I could really get tired of eating this stuff,” he said with a heavy sigh.
Before Jessica could ask why he was eating it, especially considering the assortment that had been ordered, Justin glared at him and spoke up. “Then you shouldn’t have ordered it twice in one day, idiot.”
“You’ve already had Chinese food today?” she asked. Maybe she’d been wrong and Justin didn’t use his kitchen much.
“For lunch,” Justin said. “But he’s a picky eater about some things and that’s the only thing he’ll order. Ignore the whining, it just encourages him if you give him any attention about it.”
She had to giggle at Justin’s blasé explanation which left Chris looking both indignant and amused. Sitting here with them, talking and joking was far too easy. This should have been awkward. Strange. Instead it felt right. Like coming home. Down girl. Thoughts like that could get her into serious trouble. Heartbreak trouble.
As she finished her meal she looked up to find both of them looking at her. A subtle tension filled the air.
"You must have questions," Justin said. He smiled gently at her as she gave a small start of surprise. Ah yes, Mr. Flood. All dominance and hard edged steel, until you got to the gentle caretaker underneath. "Go ahead and ask."
Of course, now that he'd opened the door, her mind was like a blank slate.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Character Profile: Justin Merchant
Yesterday I submitted Chapter 10 of Consequences, so that should be out in a couple of days, and I'm working on another stand-alone story. This one will be going into the Erotic couples category or possibly romance, I haven't decided yet... have to see how it plays out. It's based on a reader's request about a couple that finds themselves locked in a closet at a dry cleaner's after being robbed. So far I'm having fun with it.
Anyway, finally (as promised), a character profile!
Name: Justin Merchant
Age: 29 years old
Hair: dark brown hair
Eyes: dark brown
Body shape: 6'2", muscular and athletic
Favorite color: dark green
Favorite drink: gin and tonic
Favorite animal: dogs
Favorite movie: Hudson Hawk
Hometown: suburb of Maryland
College: Elon University
Workplace: Social and Internet Media Manager at Boyds & Co in downtown Washington DC
Justin's hobbies include camping, fishing, sailing, hiking and pretty much anything to do with the outdoors. He likes to go to weekend retreats and week long camps that teach survival techniques in the wilderness (how to build shelter, scrounge for food, make flint weapon heads, etc.). His best friend is Chris O'Neal.
Growing up Justin went camping often with his parents, Dennis and Lenore. Unfortunately Dennis passed away from a heart attack when Justin was 15 which ended the camping trips for Lenore, but Justin never lost his love of the outdoors. He does his best to help take care of his mother, although she's an independent matriarch. While he can't be described as a Momma's boy, Lenore is the only person who can successfully boss Justin around 100% of the time.
BDSM has always been a fairly large part of Justin's life, he realized his interest early and Chris ended up coming along for the ride. They were also friends with Priscilla, who founded the Venus School of Sex and so ended up instructing there. Stronghold is the club that they frequent on weekends and where they see their other good friends.
While Justin is a strong dominant he's not a particularly demanding one and doesn't practice high protocol or have a formal dominant/submissive relationship outside the bedroom. He and Chris have shared women in the past for threesomes, although not relationships. However they now have an interest in the same woman, Jessica Swift, and Justin doesn't want to risk his friendship but he really wants to be with Jessica, who seems perfect for both him and Chris. There may only be one way to solve this conundrum!
Anyway, finally (as promised), a character profile!
Name: Justin Merchant
Age: 29 years old
Hair: dark brown hair
Eyes: dark brown
Body shape: 6'2", muscular and athletic
Favorite color: dark green
Favorite drink: gin and tonic
Favorite animal: dogs
Favorite movie: Hudson Hawk
Hometown: suburb of Maryland
College: Elon University
Workplace: Social and Internet Media Manager at Boyds & Co in downtown Washington DC
Justin's hobbies include camping, fishing, sailing, hiking and pretty much anything to do with the outdoors. He likes to go to weekend retreats and week long camps that teach survival techniques in the wilderness (how to build shelter, scrounge for food, make flint weapon heads, etc.). His best friend is Chris O'Neal.
Growing up Justin went camping often with his parents, Dennis and Lenore. Unfortunately Dennis passed away from a heart attack when Justin was 15 which ended the camping trips for Lenore, but Justin never lost his love of the outdoors. He does his best to help take care of his mother, although she's an independent matriarch. While he can't be described as a Momma's boy, Lenore is the only person who can successfully boss Justin around 100% of the time.
BDSM has always been a fairly large part of Justin's life, he realized his interest early and Chris ended up coming along for the ride. They were also friends with Priscilla, who founded the Venus School of Sex and so ended up instructing there. Stronghold is the club that they frequent on weekends and where they see their other good friends.
While Justin is a strong dominant he's not a particularly demanding one and doesn't practice high protocol or have a formal dominant/submissive relationship outside the bedroom. He and Chris have shared women in the past for threesomes, although not relationships. However they now have an interest in the same woman, Jessica Swift, and Justin doesn't want to risk his friendship but he really wants to be with Jessica, who seems perfect for both him and Chris. There may only be one way to solve this conundrum!
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