Let’s face it, in a romance – especially an erotic romance – there are only so many positions and backgrounds in which your couple can well, couple, without risking life or limb. They can be alone. In a group. Outside. Inside. In bed. On the kitchen/dining room/conference table. In the car – definitely not a favorite of mine – how in the world do you maneuver in a narrow seat? In the shower. In the tub – another scenario that conjures up bruised knees and elbows. Ow.
So how does a writer bring variety to a finite set of circumstances?
I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, it’s the sexual tension leading up to The Moment that allows the greatest variety and ultimately the greatest reward when my couples finally do the deed. Where they do it and how they do it is the cherry on top of a sundae.
For example, in my recent Ellora’s Cave release Take Me Away, Kyle’s been avoiding Lexi because she represents everything he’s escaped when he was in pro football. However, she’s also all that he desires—a woman with wit, strength and the capacity to love greatly.
After keeping his distance for several days, he’s in a position where he can’t dodge her any longer…nor does he want to, which is the lead up to an incredible night of romance.
Here’s the blurb and an excerpt to show you what I mean.
Blurb:
She’s everything he escaped…and all that he desires
Three years ago, Kyle turned his back on a pro-football career and being the target of tabloids or gold-digging groupies. Craving privacy, he gets it at his roadhouse in Northern California until Lexi Sands invades his life. Indulged and surely phony, she’s exactly what Kyle fled.
An actress since childhood, Lexi’s fresh out of an anger management program, court-ordered when she lashed out at a badgering paparazzo. Weary of the press’s harsh scrutiny, she sees Kyle’s secluded cabin as the ideal place to hide out and him as a damn-near perfect alpha male. Deliciously virile. Protective. Principled. She offers him serious cash to let her stay for two weeks, assuring there will be no complications or touching.
Yeah, right. Passion flares, along with tenderness. Kyle recognizes how lonely Lexi really is, while she’s falling hard. Through intimate days and impassioned nights, they explore their most shameless needs, until a cruel betrayal exposes their growing love, forcing a choice neither anticipated.
Excerpt:
Just short of his cabin’s front door, Kyle halted. None of the inside lights were on. Why?
Had Lexi been lying to him when they’d spoken? Was she keeping things dark in there because she had seen someone snooping around outside? Not a paparazzo, that just wasn’t possible. However, an intoxicated patron looking to get some fresh air might have accidentally come here. Had Lexi been afraid to make too big a deal of it, knowing it might convince Kyle that she should leave?
Using the available moonlight, he squinted at the ground near the windows to see if there were any shoeprints in the dirt. A quick inspection told him there weren’t, only a ripe odor that said Buddy Baby had used the location recently to relieve himself. Holding his breath, Kyle backed away and unlocked the door.
Before he could call out to Lexi that he was home—like they were married or really living together—his pooch scampered down the darkened hall to greet him.
Something square and white hung from a string around the dog’s neck.
“Hey.” Kyle hunkered down. As the pup lavished him with lick after lick, Kyle removed the folded paper. With his eyes adjusted to the available light, he read Lexi’s script.
Welcome to Sands’ Diner, sir. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to your table.
A laugh bubbled up in Kyle’s chest, threatening to break loose. Along with it, overwhelming tenderness misted his eyes. He pushed back both emotions, settling on a grin that felt just this side of goofy. “Where’s Lexi?” he murmured to the pup.
Rolling on its back, the pooch looked at him lovingly, wanting its belly rubbed.
Later. Right now, Kyle needed to see Lexi, his craving so strong it startled him. He closed and locked the cabin’s front door, then went down the hall toward the kitchen, pausing when he saw the faint light spilling from the doorway.
The way it bobbed said she’d lit several candles. Managing a breath, Kyle smelled their cinnamon fragrance. So where had she gotten the damn things? Had she asked Pete to buy them for her? Had Fiona done the deed?
Who the fuck cared? They enticed him closer. Buddy Baby followed, running into Kyle’s leg as he stopped at the kitchen’s doorway, taking in the scene.
Candles in a variety of sizes—fat, short, tall, slender—sat on the counter and the table, their flames flickering merrily, perfuming the room, along with what she’d cooked. Bowls of the cheesy potatoes and asparagus were next to a platter of sizzling chops.
Even from where Kyle stood, he could hear the inviting sound. He stared at the banquet and how she’d used one of his white bed sheets as a makeshift tablecloth.
“Welcome to Sands Diner,” she murmured.
Kyle’s swallow stalled, caught in his tightened throat. His gaze jumped from the food to her. Holding a long cooking spoon that she’d no doubt gotten from Pete, Lexi gestured for Kyle to take his chair.
He did not. His gaze swept over her hair, worn in a ponytail, her freshly scrubbed face, oversized tee, baggy shorts and cowgirl boots.
For a little kink, she’d said days ago.
Kyle’s cock reacted now, stiffening with interest, as though she was wearing skimpy lingerie or skin rather than an outfit he could only describe as sloppy. The kind a woman would choose to clean house or to discourage a guy from any carnal intentions.
Unfazed and still growing hard, his cock pressed against his jeans’ fly. She looked adorable. Hell, she looked better than the food.
“Go on,” she coaxed, stroking the top of his chair with her slender fingers. “Sit. Once you do, I’ll take care of him.”
Buddy Baby, the him in question, continued to yelp, running in circles around Kyle’s feet.
He finally got them moving, making it to the edge of his table.
“Come on, you,” she said to the pup, scooping him in her arms, using the spoon to keep him there. “I’ll just put him in the spare bedroom,” she said, “then I’ll be back to serve you.”
Her cowgirl boots made sharp taps against the hallway floor, the sound matching the tempo and force of Kyle’s hammering heart.
I’ll be back to serve you.
Jesus. Images of her as a geisha flooded Kyle’s mind. On the first night he avoided her, he’d found the film she’d mentioned and looked at the movie stills on a website. In one, she’d been clad in a scanty, clingy gown, her eyes lowered, her manner meek as she poured water over a man’s naked shoulders.
In another, she knelt at the man’s feet, her fingers splayed provocatively on his thighs.
Kyle planted his hands on the top of his chair, fingers digging in, holding tight until a wave of dizziness passed.
“Now, you be good,” she called out to the dog, and then her footfalls started back down the hall.
Buddy Baby whined loudly from his temporary prison.
Kyle pulled out his chair, but didn’t sit, his gaze returning to the table, noticing something he hadn’t before.
“I offered him my backpack to chew on,” Lexi said as she entered the room. “Once he gets interested in it, he should be fine.”
“What’s this?” Kyle asked, his voice sharper than he’d intended.
Her smile froze. She glanced to where he pointed. “Your place setting. Why?” Joining him, she leaned over and frowned at his plate and utensils. “Did Buddy Baby drool on your stuff? I had my back turned for a minute when I was checking the chops and he got up on the chair somehow. Maybe he jumped and—”
Kyle laughter interrupted her. Oh god, she was driving him nuts and he was so enjoying it. “That’s not what I meant. Where’s your place setting?”
“Oh.” She straightened and lifted her shoulders. “I’m not eating.”
“Why not?” His head swung to the feast. “There’s enough here for a party of ten.”
“I didn’t know how hungry you’d be. You’re a big guy. I just figured you eat a lot, especially since you haven’t for a few days.”
He slanted her a look.
Her face was all innocence, her expression expectant, as though she hadn’t just bitched at him for making himself scarce.
Kyle turned and advanced, his body crowding her.
Lexi took a step back, more reflexive than anything. He saw that in her eyes.
“You’re not hungry?” he asked.
Eyes on his, she ran her fingers down her hip to her thigh, the edge of her unshapely shorts. Kyle and she were so close, Lexi’s knuckles brushed his leg, leaving a ribbon of warmth in their wake.
He pulled in some much-needed air.
Her gaze settled on his mouth. “I tasted everything while I was cooking. I ate then.”
Uh-huh. “That bad, huh? Afraid to have a real bite, are you? So you’re using me as your guinea pig.”
Her guileless act evaporated, replaced with a snotty frown. “I know you’ve probably killed your taste buds long ago with your crappy junk food diet, but my stuff is good. It’s the freaking best.”
“Prove it.” Taking her hand, he went to his chair and sat, pulling her on his lap.
What comes next is definitely yummy, and I'm not talking about the food. J
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“There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with,” Admiral William Halsey quoted at Brainy Quote. Because I’m an author, I want this blog to be relevant to storytelling, because I’m a reader, I want this blog to be important to readers, because I’m a veteran, I want this blog to honor those we remember this Memorial Day weekend. Heroes and Heroism are the perfect topic, and Admiral Halsey’s quote could not be more apropos. So aside from being ‘ordinary’ what makes a person a hero or an act heroic? Encarta gives the following definitions. 
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