In Grand
Slam, Lily Harlem and I took it in turns to write a chapter. Lily began
writing as Marie, so I naturally assumed the mantle of Travis, meaning I had to
write from the male point of view. This freaks some writers out, I know, but it
doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I enjoy it. I’ve done it several times
before, for both gay and straight stories, and I like trying to get into the
male psyche and try to think about women (or men) the way they think about
them, and so on. It’s kind of nice to give my writing a really masculine,
testosterone-fuelled slant, and it was particularly fun to write an entire
novel that way.
And it doesn’t get much more masculine or
testosterone-fuelled than Travis Connolly. He’s a sports star, tennis to be
exact, an alpha male and he’s got a
dark side when it comes to bedroom activities. My imagination was able to work
massive overtime when writing this character, as well as responding to Lily’s
chapters and ensuring continuity, etc.
Despite the fact that I wrote Travis, I still
find him massively sexy. He’s big, broad, knows what he’s doing on a tennis
court and between the sheets. And, despite his dominant personality, he’s not
an arsehole and knows how to treat people. I just hope readers will love Travis
(and Marie, of course!) and much as Lily and I do. We can’t wait to find out.
*****
Excerpt:
“Some people like pain,”
he said, still not looking at me.
“Masochists you mean?”
“Yes, I suppose.”
Shit, was he trying to tell me that he enjoyed
the pain the accident had left him with? If so, we really needed to discuss
this. “That’s not the majority of people though.”
“No, but more than you think. And some people
like administering pain.” He turned to me, cocked his head slightly and moved
into the space I’d left between us.
I looked into his eyes. Swallowed and tasted his
cologne as it traveled into my nostrils and then laced my tongue. “Would you
consider them to be good people, Travis? These individuals that like to hurt
others.”
“I’ve known a few people who like to give and
receive higher sensations, and most of them I consider to be good friends as
well as good people.”
I hesitated, felt his body heat radiating toward
me, wrapping around me as I pondered his words. We were close, very close, and
his consuming presence made logical thinking much harder than normal. “I’m not
quite sure what you’re telling me.”
“You talk about pain like it’s a bad thing,
Marie.”
“It is.”
He smiled but it wasn’t a sweet smile, more like
one of a hunter who’d spotted prey.
“Pain is unpleasant for a reason,” I said.
“Because it’s bad.”
“I disagree.” He raised his eyebrows and widened
his eyes. It was a challenging, cocky gesture.
A tingle snaked its way up my spine and
threatened to wreak havoc in my body by turning into a tremble. But I beat it
down. I wouldn’t let a patient get to me this way. I was the one supposed to be
holding the reins here.
“Maybe, Marie, you should open your mind to new
ideas with a little more grace.”
“I fail to see how I haven’t been graceful in
discussing your theory that pain is good.”
“Can we keep it that way?”
“I hope so.”
“In that case,” he flicked his attention from my
eyes and looked at my hair, “would you like me to demonstrate?”
Damn, the guy made me feel tiny. Even though I
was wearing heels, his broad chest and wide shoulders were looming over me.
“Okay.”
He twitched the right side of his mouth into a
half-smile. Now he looked like a hunter who’d captured his prey. A trickle of
fight or flight seeped into my system. Which would be my best option?
“Now that’s the first rule.” He reached up and
undid the clasp holding my hair on the top of my head. It tumbled around my
shoulders as the clasp fell to the floor.
“Consent.”
“Doesn’t consent require knowing what you’re
agreeing to?” Fuck, with him this close and stroking my hair, spreading it out,
I’d pretty much agree to anything. Who was I kidding? Fight or flight was not
an option, the only thing that shot through my mind was giving myself over to
him. Allowing him to do whatever he wanted, control my body, feed it what it
needed.
Damn, it had been too long since I’d been with a
man. It was making me desperate.
He slotted his other hand over the left side of
my head, the sound of him sliding his fingers over the shell of my ear noisy.
My breath hitched and I locked my knees to stabilize my stance. I stared up at
him, noting the small shafts of black hair sneaking out of his skin on his chin
and the way his bottom lip was a little plumper than the top.
“You see,
some pain,” he said, gathering my hair up at my crown and tugging to create
tension on the roots, “can heighten the awareness of everything else going on
in the body.”
He pulled harder, forcing my head to tip back.
I gasped as discomfort shot across my scalp.
He increased the pressure a little more.
I reached out and clutched at his shirt, felt
his hard chest beneath. “Travis, I—”
“Shh, I’m just showing you.” He slipped his arm
around my waist, dragged me close and yanked my hair, really hard.
“Ow, I—” A barrage of sensations blasted through
my system. The feel of him pressing up against me, hot hard male, all wide pecs
and solid thighs. The pain from having my hair tugged with force, and the
awareness that my belly was shoved right up against his groin. A groin that
held a wedge of thick flesh.
“Just feel,” he whispered, hovering his lips
over mine. “Endorphins are rushing into your bloodstream, giving you a natural
high as pain alerts your nerve endings that something exciting is happening.”
He slid his free hand up my back, tracing the outline of my spine through my
blouse.
I breathed in the air he was breathing out, warm
and sweet. The scream of hurt in my scalp made me want to wriggle but being
held so firmly and confidently kept me still. The heat of the discomfort
slipped down my nape and neck and over my shoulders, then combined with the
lovely sensation of him stroking my back.
“Can you feel it?” he whispered. “Pain mixing
with pleasure, the lines between the two blurring.”
I could feel it with every fiber of my being. My
skin was alive with awareness, my breasts were heavy and desperate for
stimulation, and between my legs I was buzzing for action. Good, hard man
action, preferably of the naked, sweaty variety. “Yes,” I gasped.
*****
Blurb:
California had seduced me with promises of a new
life working at Los Carlos Tennis Academy. What I didn’t expect was the dark,
brooding number one seed, Travis Connolly, resisting my help. He wasn’t
interested in my psychology skills. Instead his attention was drawn to the
edgy, sharper corners of my desires, proving that they existed, setting me
challenges and driving me crazy to the point of combustion.
I’m the best tennis player in the
world—officially—so why would I need a damn woman full of psychobabble to get
me on form? Despite my irritation, however, I can’t resist pushing Marie
Sherratt’s buttons even though doing that shows her the darkest shades of my
lust, the parts of me I buried deep. So I set her a challenge, one she rises
to, one that has me rising too, and before long my game relies on her calling
the shots, hitting the target and bending to my will. One thing was certain,
being not just master of the court, but also of Marie is seriously good for my
soul.
*****
Author
Bios:
Lily
Harlem
Lily Harlem lives in the UK with Mr Harlem and a host of
rescued animals. She is an award winning author of contemporary erotic romance
and writes for publishers on both sides of the Atlantic including Ellora's
Cave, HarperCollins, Total-E-Bound, Xcite and Sweetmeats Press as well as
self-publishing. Her HOT ICE series regularly receives high praise and industry
nominations and sportsmen who are talented both in and out of the bedroom often
feature in her novels. But whichever book you choose of Lily's one thing you
can be sure of is it will be wildly romantic and down-and-dirty sexy. Enjoy!
Lucy
Felthouse
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes
erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres
and pairings, and has over
seventy publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include
Best Bondage Erotica 2012, 2013 and 2014 and Best Women's Erotica 2013. Another
string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of
anthologies. She owns
Erotica For All, and is book editor for
Cliterati.
Find out more at
http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on
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