SENSUOUS SUNDAY!

 I thought this weekend, after the lovely Carol Zampa posted a picture of Sean Connery,  I would share with you some REAL men.  Not your namby, pamby so called "film stars" of today...but honest to God "Movie Stars"  the real McCoy.....you may have some of your own that I've neglected....please feel free to throw them in :)

I know Elvis may not be what you'd call a Hollywood Movie Star - but he was a REAL man and quite frankly, as far as I'm concerned, the most beautiful man ever to walk the earth...

Elvis Presley

Burt Lancaster

James Dean

Kirk Douglas

Rock Hudson

Tony Curtis

SSS - Laurel Heights

SIX SENTENCE SUNDAY!

Welcome to another Six Sentence Sunday.  

This week's six is from my completed WIP 

(I've submitted and am awaiting to hear) 

Laurel Heights - let me set the scene

Will and Scott have returned from their first partner-swapping gathering 

at Laurel Heights.  Scott, consumed with jealousy at having to watch

another man touch Will, picks a fight when they get back to the house.

But instead of Will punching him in the mouth, as he thought...

He gets more than he bargained for.

Laurel Heights

“Sco—”  It was Will’s turn to have the words stolen from his mouth as Scott grabbed hold of his shirt and yanked him forward, crashing their mouths together.  He moaned into Scott’s mouth, as the warm wetness of the other man’s tongue forced his lips apart and sucked Will’s tongue into his mouth.  “Fuck,” he groaned, when Scott broke the kiss to slide his lips along Will’s jaw and down the side of his throat, nipping at the fluttering pulse he found there.  “What are we doing?” He all but ripped off the buttons on Scott’s shirt with shaking fingers, desperate to feel the skin beneath. As Scott’s shirt fell to the floor and Will felt the warmth of smooth skin against his hands, he suddenly didn’t care about anything beyond want, right, now!

I hope you enjoyed that little snippet.

Please head on over to SSS to read lots more

wonderful sixes !

 

SAUCY SATURDAY!!

IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!! IT'S SAUCY SATURDAY.....

HOLY CRAP I'VE BEEN GOOD TO YOU PEOPLE TODAY !!!

FRUITY FRIDAY!!

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy......

FRIDAY FREE READ

I thought I might post a little Friday Free Read to start off your weekend :)  I hope you enjoy the first instalment :

Am I Still Enough?

Standing at the window, Travis turned his wedding ring slowly around his finger, watching the sun glint off the gold.  His cell vibrated on the coffee table, signaling the arrival of a text.  He was on his way.

It had started off as harmless flirtation, furtive glances over the photocopier, progressing into coffee breaks together.  Followed by lunches away from the office and long strolls around the park, munching hot dogs and watching the world go by.  He made Travis feel alive again.  Made him feel attractive, wanted, and desired, and Travis wanted him, too.  It had been easy to take a day’s vacation from work.  No-one batted an eye when they’d put in requests for the same day.  Why would they?  Travis was happily married...wasn’t he?

Travis couldn’t actually say he was unhappy, how could he be?  Who would be unhappy, married to the sweetest man on earth?  The man who, for the last ten years had shown him nothing but love and devotion.  Had never given him cause to cry himself to sleep or want to stray.  No, Travis wasn’t unhappy—he was numb.  The spark had sputtered out a while ago.  They no longer dropped everything and took a vacation on the spur of the moment. Nor did they leave each other stupid little love notes around the apartment.  He couldn’t even remember the last time they’d made love anywhere other than their bed.  Hell, they’d christened every single room in the apartment when they moved in, more times over than he could count.  And he couldn’t put anything in the linen cupboard without remembering how he had gripped the wooden slatted shelves, long fingers gripping at his sweat-slicked hips.  But they didn’t do that anymore.  They had three bedrooms, two baths, a mortgage and sex three times a week.  Vacationed twice a year in the same months and alternated between each other’s parents for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  They were... comfortable.

When He’d started at work and his gaze had traveled over him from head to toe, intent in his gaze, Travis had found it exciting, fresh, filling him with memories of how it felt to be at the beginning of something.  How it had been for them, before real life and commitment had entered the equation.  Last week, their month long lunch trips had culminated in Him waiting until Travis had gone to the store room, then following him in, leaning against the door and preventing his escape. 

Not that he’d wanted to escape.  The tension in the air had been palpable and the want rolled off both of them in waves.  The way those beautiful eyes had travelled the length of his body and a predatory smile lifted that wide mouth, had Travis’ thighs trembling.  Travis hadn’t moved when He’d reached out to curl his hands around his upper arms, pulling him up close to His muscled chest.  Travis had known that he should have been shaking his head, not letting his eyelids flutter and close as those lips pressed to his, should have been thinking of his husband. The man he loved, the man who loved him.  Travis had known what he should’ve done—but he hadn’t done any of those things.  He’d just let Him ravage his mouth and had let searching fingers roam over his ass, unable to do anything but whimper against the sensations that flooded through him.

Travis’ cell vibrated again and he picked it up, pressing the little envelope and opening the message.

I’ve just got in the elevator, are you ready for me?

Travis’ stomach flipped as though a thousand butterflies had been released from their cage.  Was he ready?  Could you ever really be ready to break the vows you had made to that one person? He flinched at the knock on the door, taking a deep breath before padding down the hall in his bare feet and opening the door.  There He was in all his statuesque beauty, a dimpled smile on his face, the heat in his eyes evident.  Before Travis could take another breath, He was in the hall, the door kicked shut and his hands on Travis’ face, his tongue invading Travis’ mouth and stabbing at his in needy thrusts.

Travis let himself be walked back into the open plan living-room and the back of his knees hit the couch before He lowered him down on it, that wide mouth sucking Travis’ lower lip into his mouth and caressing it with His tongue.  Travis knew the groan he heard had come from his own throat and it echoed around the quiet of the room.  His hand slid down Travis’ chest, over the waistband of his jeans, and when His large hand palmed his cock through the denim—he froze.  This was wrong, so very wrong.

What the fuck am I doing? Travis pushed at the muscled chest until He lifted himself off and allowed him to roll out from beneath Him and get to his feet.

“Travis?” The voice was filled with confusion and concern.

Swallowing, Travis ran a hand through his disheveled hair.  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I can’t do this.”

“Why not?” He frowned at the harsh laugh that fell from Travis’ lips. 

Only someone who had never been in love would have asked that question and Travis wasn’t sure he could make Him understand. There were a million different reasons.  The fact that He didn’t know that Travis was like a bear with a sore head before his first caffeine hit in the morning.  Or that he had a manly fear of flying and a not so manly fear of anything that had more than four legs and scurried.  He didn’t know that Travis always cried at ET, or that he got the scar on his hip when he fell off a swing in first grade.  Couldn’t know that Travis’ mother’s favorite flowers were Hyacinths, or that his sister was allergic to shellfish.  Wouldn’t know that his favorite movie was The Goonies, or that his guilty pleasure was listening to Duran Duran.  He didn’t know any of those things, but the man smiling out at him from the frame on top of the mantle did.  All those things and more—so much more.

Travis apologized again when he closed the door behind Him, padding back down the hall and into the living-room.  He stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows and rested his forehead against the glass, looking out over the city.  He couldn’t have been standing there more than ten minutes when he heard a key in the front door.  Looking up into the window in front of him, Travis watched his husband wander into the living-room and crowd up behind him.  He smiled at the reflection he saw behinds his own and laid his hands over the warm fingers laced around his waist.  “You’re early.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” Travis asked softly, his gaze locked with the one in the window. 

“For not going through with it.” The gaze didn’t waiver when the realization tracked across Travis’ face.  He simply turned Travis around in his arms and kissed his lips, the merest brush of skin against skin.  “I love you,” he murmured, ten years of feeling and emotion in those three little words and gently lowered him to the carpet beneath their feet, covering Travis’ body with his own.

Feathering his fingers through dark, silky hair, Travis’ back arched and his long legs came up to wrap themselves around his husband’s waist.  He knew.  Had probably known all along.  How could he have ever thought he wouldn’t?  He knew everything.   Curling his fingers around the back of his husband’s neck, he closed the gap between them and mumbled against soft lips.  “I love you too, Dean.”

THE END

FRIDAY FRIENDS - SUE BROWN !

Today I have one of my favourite people with me.  Sue Brown is not only a brilllliant writer (see four 'ls' on purpose) she is also one of my greatest friends and one of the nicest people I know.  Sue kindly agreed to answer a few questions for me on her latest release, The Lord's Tale, Book Three in The Fitzwarren Inheritance Trilogy.  Book One is The Soldier's Tale by RJ Scott and Book Two is the Psychic's Tale by Chris Quinton.  I adore Sue's writing style and the way she weaves her tale through the relationships of her characters and I think everybody should read all three books :)  But enough of my waffling...let's get started ;

Thanks for answering some questions for me, Sue.  

1.                  So who is Sue Brown?

Chocolate addicted, black coffee swilling female, who is a M/M romance writer and a Christian. Passionate about both. Looking for like-minded individuals willing to talk for hours about the most angsty situations for my boys. Oh, must come with own netbook. I don’t share.

    2.         The Lord’s Tale is the final part of The Fitzwarren Inheritance Trilogy.  How did you,

                R J Scott and Chris Quinton come up with the idea?

Chris and RJ came up with the ideas. Aren’t they magnificent? Chris is amazing when she gets going on the curses. I was so deep in university work the two ladies developed the whole idea.

3.                  Did you fight over who would go first, or did you agree the order between yourselves?

It was a simple decision for me. I was writing my dissertation at the time so I wanted to go last. I thought it would be easiest. Hah!

     4.         Was it difficult to build and develop your characters while remembering that you had

                 To break the Fitzwarren curse?

Hell yes! I could have written twice the amount just to give my boys more time. It was a good exercise in concise writing.

     5.         How easy was it to write a Trilogy with two other talented authors?  Did you confer a

                Lot on how each individual book would pan out?

Not really. I needed the others help to wrap up the curse because I was playing with their characters more than in the first two books. Otherwise each book was our own.

    6.         In my opinion, the Trilogy is fantastic and I highly recommend it, everyone should

               Read it – do you have a favourite scene from The Lord’s Tale?

Phil’s conversation with his family after his first night with Lee. I love the fact that his siblings still rib him about his love life.

    7.         When did you know that writing was your passion?

When I was thinking more about sex positions for my men than what was happening on TV. It took over my life.

     8.         What was your first book and how long did it take to get it published?

The Sacrifice in the Making Contact anthology, published by Dreamspinner, was my first attempt at getting a story published, and from starting it to publication was 3 months. Chance to be King was already written but took about 3 months to get published.

    9.         What some don’t realize is that writing is a discipline and you have to proportion a    part of your day to it – how long does it usually take you to complete a manuscript?

How long is a piece of string? I’m a slow slow sloooooooooooooow writer.  If I’m lucky

then I can write about 10k a week. It does take me at least two weeks for a short story and

a few months for longer stories.

10.       Do you outline your plots first?  Or are you like me and just go hell for leather?

Lisa, you know that I just dive in and then flounder mid-plot.

I was being polite!

11.       Out of your body of work – do you have a favourite character?

Luke from Morning Report. I adore Luke for his passion, his possessiveness and his love for his man. Also, cowboys *whimper*.

12.       If you were to offer advice to someone starting out, what would you say?

If you don’t press send you’ll never know.

13.       Who are your favourite authors? Not just in the M/M genre.

David Eddings, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Chris Owen, JL Langley, early Patricia Cornwall, Terry Goodkind, DH Lawrence. I’ll stop now otherwise I’ll be here for some time.

14.       If you hadn’t chosen writing, or rather, writing hadn’t chosen you, what do you think

            You would be doing for a living?

Working in the library at uni. Good job for leaving the brain free but it wasn’t exactly stimulating. I like the people more than the job. I learnt more about Sikh and Hindu attitudes to sex from one conversation that I would from any course.

15.       What do you do in your free time?  And don’t say writing!

What free time?

16.       What makes you laugh?  

My kids fooling around, photos of dog doing silly things, The Two Ronnies (Brit 80s comedy duo), Red Dwarf… lots of things. Also you and Patti Logan keep me in stitches.

Why thank you :)

17.       What irritates you most about other people?

 Most? Do I have to say just one thing?

And finally….

18.       Would you like to share with us your favourite joke? 

Um…

*Snort* I wonder how many people are actually going to answer that last question *giggles* chicken!

Thank you for coming to chat, Sue and I wish you many sales. 

Thanks Lisa *HUGS*

It's been a pleasure talking with Sue and you can find her at:-

http://suebrownsstories.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/suebrownstories

http://twitter.com/#!/suebrownstories

And here’s a little taster of The Lord’s Tale:   Buy Here!

From a book written in 1899


--The History of Steeple Westford by the Rev. Horace Simpkins--

So in the autumn of the year 1644, Jonathan Curtess cursed Belvedere Fitzwarren, saying, "I curse you and your children's children, that you shall all live out your allotted years, and that those years shall be filled with grief and loss and betrayal, even as you have betrayed and bereaved me."

Chapter 1

Phil could hear the rain beating down on the church roof as he waited for the bride to arrive. Inside the small church, the atmosphere was slightly damp and clammy as guests found somewhere to store their sopping umbrellas and attempted to brush raindrops off their finery. It was typical of the Fitzwarren luck that after weeks of fine weather there was torrential rain on his sister's wedding day.

He looked over at Will, the groom, standing alone in the front row. Psycho soldier hadn't bothered to make an appearance as his best man then. Despite the way Phil's friend Sean and Will stood up for the man, there was something about Daniel that Phil didn't like. He was unpredictable, and the fact he was tied in with this curse just made him even more dangerous in Phil's opinion, especially walking around with a knife tucked under his clothing. Why the hell Sean was bumping uglies with the man, Phil had no idea. The groom looked kind of down though. Daniel was Will's best friend, and it was natural he would want Daniel beside him on his special day.

His thoughts turned to his young nephew, fighting for his life in hospital. Each day was a roller-coaster ride for the premature baby, but the young heir to the Fitzwarrens clung on tenaciously. His mum, still recovering from her head injury and the shock of the premature birth, sat by his incubator. Charlie and Carol had both insisted that the wedding go ahead as planned, and Charlie was there, doing his best to wear a smile for his sister's wedding.

The doors to the church opened, and everyone turned to catch their first glimpse of the bride, only to discover Daniel limping down the aisle. Phil sighed as he saw the matching grins of Will and Sean. Who was he to argue with his best friend and his future brother-in-law? He'd be keeping an eye on that knife, though.

The doors opened again, and his sister was there, looking stunning in her wedding dress of ivory and crimson, the silk skirt pooling gracefully to the stone floor of the church. She paused in the doorway as her bridesmaids arranged themselves behind her. Somehow she had escaped looking like a drowned rat; her hair was swept up into chignon and the crimson roses in her hair matched the ones in her bouquet, the blooms from a corner of the castle grounds.

As Diana reached the altar, Will smiled down at her and took her hand. The love on their faces took Phil's breath away, and he was swept with a wave of happiness and envy for his big sister. As the elderly vicar conducted the service, the noise of the rain thrumming down on the roof abated, and soon the wedding party emerged from the church to blink as the late afternoon sunshine bathed the church grounds.

* * * *

Phil held two pints up high as he negotiated the crowd in the bar of the Red Lion. He handed one over to his brother, Charlie, who took the full glass gratefully.

"God, I'm glad that's over," Charlie said, wiping his top lip.

"Hell yes," Phil agreed, loosening his tie. "Do you think we can get out of this get-up now?" He waved vaguely at their suits.

"Probably not," Charlie told him. "Is Di out of her meringue yet?"

Phil peered around the bar to where the bride and groom were sitting, Di's feet in Will's lap. "Not yet, but her shoes are off. Isn't that enough?"

Charlie just gave him a look, and Phil sighed. There wasn't a hope in hell Diana would agree to them losing the monkey suits. The couple hadn't had enough money for a formal "do", but she was going to make the men suffer as long as she could. He smiled as he thought of his tomboy sister, dressed like a lady for the whole day.

"Anyway, I promised Carol I'd come in the suit," Charlie said, pulling a face. "She wanted to feel part of the proceedings even if she couldn't be here."

"You'd better stop knocking that back then," Phil said, indicating the pint of beer that Charlie was already half-way through.

Charlie held up his glass, regarding the dark amber liquid mournfully. "Doesn't seem right somehow. I can't remember the last time I stayed sober at a wedding." He paused for a minute. "I can't remember the last time I went to a wedding."

"Yours probably. Just be thankful you don't have to make a speech, big brother." Phil grinned at the shudder that ran though his painfully shy older brother at the thought of trying to speak in public, even in front of friends and family. There really wasn't anyone here that he didn't know. Di, like her brothers, tended to socialise in the village.

"I told Di that if she wanted speeches she could make you do it. She said if there was anything to say, she could say it herself."

Phil laughed, the laughter tailing off as he caught sight of Daniel and Sean vanishing into the snug with that psychic and his boyfriend. There was something going on there. Those four were getting very cosy all of a sudden. Charlie followed his gaze.

"I wonder what that's all about," his brother mused.

"I have no idea. Don't you think since Mark came on the scene our little curse has got a lot more crowded?" Phil asked, aware he sounded waspish.

Waving at the barman for another round, Charlie looked at him. "Another?" At Phil's nod, he held up two fingers and then said, "What do you mean?"

Phil waited until they both had drinks before he carried on. "Well, one minute it's just the Fitzwarrens' curse, and the three of us knowing everything is going to go tits up, and the next some stranger waltzes in claiming to be a psychic and a descendent of Curtesses, saying he's broken the first part of the curse. Then Psycho gets pally with Sean, and the next thing we know another bit of the story is slotting into place."

There was such a long pause before Charlie answered that Phil looked up. "What bothers you most? Mark's revelations or Sean and Daniel hooking up?"

"You think I'm jealous?" Phil asked incredulously.

"You're not? Just a little? Sean has been your best friend for years, and now that he's hooked up with Daniel, he hasn't been around as much."

Damn, his brother was too shrewd.

Woo hoo!  Go buy it!  Now!!

Join me next Friday when I'll have the wonderful Daniel Christian Juris on the sofa with him - I hope he's bracing himself!