Posts Tagged ‘Breaking All the Rules’
I’m over at Just Contemporary Romance today, talking about my favorite Star Trek Captain.
Since I’ve been writing baseball-playing heroes, it’s been fun to geek out a little with Donovan Marshall, the Klingon-speaking hero of BREAKING ALL THE RULES. In my searches, I discovered this fun T-shirt from Star Trek Shop. It features the Top 10 Reasons Why Kirk is better than Picard:
In case you can’t read it:
10. One word: Hair!
9. Kirk would personally throw Wesley off the bridge
8. Kirk would never sing to children in a crisis
7. Kirk wasn’t shy about taking his shirt off
6. Kirk can beat a Klingon bare-handed
5. Three words: Flying leg kick
4. Kirk doesn’t let the doctor tell him what to do
3. If Kirk finds a strange, spinning probe, he blows it up
2. Kirk never drinks tea, ever (Not sure that’s a selling point …)
1. Kirk can beat a Vulcan at chess
Join me over at Just Contemporary Romance to discuss YOUR favorite Star Trek captain. Mine may not be who you think!
Every time I think I’m going to start posting here more regularly, something happens to throw me back off track. I get busy writing…working…doing sinks full of dirty dishes. Even these My Sexy Saturday posts don’t happen as regularly as I’d like.
This week’s theme is “Sexy Me Up,” and the way I read it, it’s pretty much author’s choice.
Remember, our sexiness can happen anywhere, anytime, day or night. People fall in love in many different ways. It could be on a date, at a school dance, on a hike, with the boy or girl next door, just anywhere two or sometimes more people or beings are drawn together because of that feeling called love.
Let’s do this. I’m sure I can find a nice moment between Van and Allyson, the hero and heroine of BREAKING ALL THE RULES, to share.
*Returns after perusing the manuscript*
Found one! In this scene, Van has talked Ally into having dinner with him. He tries to order for her — a mistake she quickly corrects. 😀
Enjoy!
***
After the waitress left, Donovan frowned at her. Surprisingly, his frown, too, did funny things to her insides. Or maybe the culprit was the delicious margarita she sipped.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
His eyebrows drew together. “You’ve wanted to eat here for eight years and you order the boring chicken?”
“I never said I wanted the steak. I came for the show.”
“But I brought you here for steak.”
“You came for steak,” she corrected before taking another small drink. The margarita was delicious—a perfect blend of salty and sweet. She’d have to be careful not to overindulge, because it’d be too easy to drink the whole thing. “I only eat red meat once a week—and it’s not on Friday night.”
Donovan’s lips twitched into a not-quite smile. “When, exactly, do you eat red meat, Allyson?”
BREAKING ALL THE RULES will be available this month from Turquoise Morning Press. Can’t wait to share all of Van and Allyson’s adventures with you!
With BREAKING ALL THE RULES coming out in a few short weeks, I should probably be giving you a teaser from it.
But when I saw this week’s My Sexy Saturday theme was “My Sexy Addiction,” I couldn’t resist. I simply had to pick a scene starring Mike James.
You see, Mike is probably MY sexy addiction. Don’t get me wrong: I love each and every one of my heroes—all for different reasons. However, if I were pressed to pick one, it’d have to be Mike, the sports reporter/stripper/inveterate flirt who captures the attention of not one but two women of Willow’s Grove.
In OPERATION SNAG MIKE BRAD, education reporter Erin starts out lusting after Mike but soon learns life is what happens when you’re making other plans. Mike, who has what he thinks are good reasons for flirting the way he does, secretly longs for the kind of girl he uses his reputation to hold at bay—until a drunken night with coworker Breanne forces him to face his demons once and for all. (That’s OVEREXPOSED, the third Willow’s Grove book.)
These seven sentences are from near the end of Erin and Brad’s story, in which Mike plays a big part. He’s a third POV in the manuscript—a departure for me, since I usually stick to just the hero and heroine POVs.
See? I know Mike better than any other character I’ve created, so he’ll always have a special place in my heart.
***
She followed her roommate’s finger to the couch, where a shirtless Mike snored. A blanket rode low on his hips, exposing the flat, tan plane of his stomach — and hinting at a bottom half as naked as the top. Erin quickly looked away, finding the cat that belonged to the cat condo in the corner of the room. A big, gray furball watched them from its perch on the back of the couch. She suppressed a nervous giggle and jabbed her elbow into Cassie’s ribs. “Maybe he really does sunbathe in November.”
“Maybe,” Cassie replied, appreciatively ogling the sleeping sportswriter. “I’m beginning to understand what you two see in him.”
“Not me. Not anymore.” Sure, Mike’s … umm … man candy was worth admiring. But she meant it when she added, “I prefer something a little — lot — more real.”
Cassie snickered. “Bree doesn’t share your sentiment.”
Sure enough, Bree’s gaze was still riveted to Mike’s bare midsection. Her eyes glittered with interest. Knowing what it was like to lust after something she couldn’t have, Erin took pity on her. With very little effort, she might be able to get the blanket to shift a little lower.
“Close your mouth, Bree. You’re starting to drool,” she muttered under her breath. Then she cleared her throat — loudly. “Yo, James.”
Bree squeaked with alarm. At the same time, Mike smacked his lips and rolled onto his back. The blanket moved a fraction of an inch higher. Crap. “Not what I was aiming for.”
Operation Snag Mike Brad is still unpublished — for now. But if you liked this snippet, check out my Amazon author page for my published stories.
It’s Saturday — and you know what that means. Time for the My Sexy Saturday blog hop.
I’m in a bit better headspace to pick a sexy scene now than I was a few hours ago. Then, I’d just discovered that when you Google “Arlene Hittle Author,” the first link that comes up (purportedly to my site) misdirects people to some spam site hawking cheap NFL jerseys. I’m still trying to get the mess straightened out, so until then, type “arlenehittle.com” into your browser instead.
This week’s My Sexy Saturday theme is “a sexy Valentine.”
Umm … I don’t think ANY of my books has a Valentine’s Day-specific scene. Most of the action happens in summer and fall. BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER is set in March, after the big V-day. And my novella, HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, happens in winter, covering the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Luckily, I have an out:
” …Share all those sexy moments that you have between your characters even if your story doesn’t exactly fit the theme this week…remember every relationship is important!”
That I can do!
Let’s go with a moment from my upcoming March release, BREAKING ALL THE RULES. BREAKING is the story of a by-the-book health care administrator who finds herself in need of a Klingon interpreter. Of course, the main candidate for the job is a sexy man who’s never met a rule he didn’t want to break. In this scene …
Enjoy!
***
He pressed his lips together and suppressed a sudden urge to kiss her senseless. One of them had to maintain a certain sense of decorum—and apparently tonight, he’d have to appoint himself to the task.
That’ll be a switch.
He tapped two fingers against each knee. Every strike reinforced the message: This is your boss, dumbass. The woman who signs your paycheck.
Okay then. Time to change the subject. Unfortunately, his mouth had other ideas. “What happened to by-the-book Allyson?”
She pouted. “You don’t like the new me?”
“It’s not that.” He gulped again. Maybe air would magically restart the flow of blood to his brain. “I think maybe I like the new you a little too much.”
That scared her. He saw the moment old stuffy Allyson regained the upper hand. She turned back to the mirror and began taming her hair. With every pin that went in, she stood straighter, stiffer—more like herself.
BREAKING ALL THE RULES is set for release the week of March 19. Visit my Turquoise Morning Press author page for already-available titles.
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