Something New
It’s time for my second monthly post here, and I have a new release to talk about. I’ll warn you, this will happen more months than not. I write a lot, and it seems like pretty much every month, I have at least one release. But I promise to try not to be all advertisey (is that a word?) I’ll actually talk about things related to the books.
This month’s release, In His Shirt, was a new experience for me writing-wise. I’ve been writing heterosexual romance for Ellora’s Cave for a couple of years now, but in my writing life I’ve been moving away from heterosexual stuff to doing more male/male. I seem to be better at writing the male/male stuff, and it’s more in my comfort zone. I didn’t want to just plunge in with M/M for Ellora’s Cave, though, so I decided to try writing a male/male/female ménage, that is, a threesome in which the men are sexually involved with each other as well as with the woman.
In His Shirt was just released a week ago, so I haven’t gotten much feedback on it yet other than a 3.5 star review in which the reviewer said the story wasn’t long enough. I don’t know what readers are going to think of the MMF aspect. Some readers of male/male romance get irked if a woman is included in the mix; some readers of heterosexual romance are squicked out by guy-on-guy action. But at the end of the day, I have to write the stories I want to write (and read) and hope for the best, and that’s what I’ve done with this.
In His Shirt is available from Ellora’s Cave. Here’s the blurb and a short excerpt:
Marielle has had a thing for her friend Rory since they met, but has never acted on it. The morning after Rory and his roommate Wayne save Marielle from a jerk at a club and bring her back to their place to sleep it off, Marielle decides it’s time to let Rory know how much she wants him. She doesn’t expect Wayne to walk in and join them—and she definitely doesn’t expect to discover Rory and Wayne have a sexual relationship—and they want to make Marielle a permanent part of it.
EXCERPT:
The guys lived in a secure building which meant Marielle had to buzz to be let in. Her only moment of hesitation came when she held her finger over the buzzer. Should I really do this now? Maybe they need a little more time to get over me being a bitch about this. Maybe they don’t even want to see me.She refused to let those thoughts stop her for long. She pressed the button.
Wayne responded almost immediately through the speaker. “Hello?”
“It’s me.” Marielle paused. “Marielle.”
“Did you forget something?” He sounded guarded.
“Yeah, I forgot to tell you something.”
He didn’t answer for several seconds, long enough for Marielle to wonder if he would reply at all. Then the buzzer sounded and the door clicked.
She opened the door quickly and went up to the men’s apartment. Wayne already had their door open though he stood in the opening as if blocking her from entering. “Didn’t you say everything you needed to?”
“No.” Marielle took a deep breath. “First of all I need to say I’m sorry. Second, can I come in, please?”
“It depends on what you’re sorry for.” Wayne glanced over his shoulder. “Rory’s in his room. Asked me to leave him alone after you stomped out of here. You really hurt him.”
“That’s what I’m sorry for.” Marielle’s heart ached. She’d known she had hurt the men. Hearing someone else say she had was worse. “Please, Wayne. Let me in to apologize to him, at least. I wasn’t exactly expecting you guys to ask me something like that and I acted like a jackass because I didn’t know what else to say. I need to talk to both of you if you can forgive me enough to let me in.”
“This better be worth it.” Wayne stepped aside.
Marielle entered the apartment and he closed the door behind her. “It will be,” she said. “Come to Rory’s room with me?”
“Yeah.”
He led her to Rory’s bedroom door and knocked. “Someone’s here to see you.”
“I don’t want to see anyone,” Rory said.
“Yeah you do.” Marielle turned the knob and pushed the door open.
Rory sat up quickly and stared at her. “What are you doing back here? Thought you needed time to think.”
“I had enough time and some advice from a friend.” Marielle paused. She had an entire speech planned but seeing the mingling of sadness and anger in Rory’s expression, she knew she needed something more obvious than words.
Rory had told her to give back his shirt when she’d come to a decision. The best way to let him know she’d had enough time was to do exactly that. She whipped off the shirt and approached the bed in her bra and jeans. “Here. I need to give this back to you.”
His eyes widened. “You’re giving me…?”
“A yes.” She knelt on the bed beside him. “For one month, at least. I need to see if I can really handle it. But yes, I want to be with you.” She looked back at Wayne. “Both of you.”
