Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Ringing in the New Year with Goals


Happy New Year, everyone!
It's a time when we look back at the last year and look forward to the new year. 
So I thought this might be a good time to update my writing projects on here.

I have big plans for 2015!

I'll be the first to admit that I slacked off a bit in 2014.
I plan to fix that this year with a huge release schedule.

I'm kicking off 2 New Series this year:

1. Male Model Chronicles (contemp romance)
*Justin...releasing Jan
*Lance...releasing May
*Joshua...releasing Oct
(with at least 3 more books to come later)

2. The Broken Series (erotic romance)
*Broken Control...releasing Spring
(with 2 more books to come later)

3. The Martin Ranch Series (romantic suspense)
*Right By Your Side...releasing summer
(with 3 more books to come later)


I'm continuing 2 other series this year:

1. Men of Snowcroft (romantic suspense)
*Snowcroft Safehouse...releasing April
(with 3 more books to come later)

2. Through the Veil (paranormal dystopian romantic suspense)
*Allied in Flight...Fall
(with 6 more books to come later)


And then I have 2 stand-alones planned for release this year:

*Photo Op Serendipity (romantic suspense)...late summer/early fall
*Found at the Library (m/m holiday novella)...Oct/Nov


That's a lot of writing, editing, proofing, and re-writing. 
But I am determined this year to do better (i.e. not spend quite so much time reading...LOL)

And to kick the year off right, Amanda Shofner is going to host a January writing camp on her Writing Sidekick site. It will be a relaxed place for us to go, vent, and find support from other writers and kick the new year off right with writerly goals. 

If you're like me and looking for a kick in the ass to get your yearly writing off to the right start, come join us!!


(I will be hostessing writing sprints on Twitter every Wednesday at noon CST throughout the month.)
@ChristiSnow
#wsidekick



Friday, December 19, 2014

The Book Community is AWESOME!!

I just had my cover reveal for the Male Model Chronicles series. If you didn't see it, you need to go check those beautiful covers designed by JSB Graphic Designs using Shauna Kruse's (Kruse Images & Photography) gorgeous photos....you can find the original post HERE.

The response to sharing my covers was phenomenal and I want to give those bloggers and authors a shout-out, but didn't just want to post links to the cover reveal over and over again (because y'all saw that, right?) And yes, they're gorgeous, but 17 times over...yeah, that can get a little old.

But ALL of these wonderful people are doing great things on their sites day-in and day-out so I'm hoping you will go visit them and just give them some love and praise...and maybe find some new blogs/websites that you want to subscribe to along the way, too!















Thank you so much to everyone who helped me!!
smiles,
Christi



Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Cover Reveal: The Male Model Chronicles Series

A note about the power of inspiration...

I follow a very talented photographer on Facebook, Shauna Kruse of Kruse Images & Photography. Just about two months ago, she posted a photo of Justin James Cadwell, stating that this gorgeous model had yet to be contracted for his first cover. That sent my writing muse into frenetic action and two weeks later, Justin was written and this series was born.

Male Model Chronicles…

The Series Order (although every installment is a complete stand-alone work):
  •       Justin (Justin James Cadwell)
  •       Lance (Lance Jones)
  •      Joshua (Joshua Scott Brown)
This series is a whole new venue for me as a writer. The stories are generally contemporary romance although Lance will delve a bit into my more normal romantic suspense arena....and they're shorter. Most the stories will run about 30-35,000 words. They are meant to be fun and entertaining...and Shauna will make an appearance in each story.

While the names (the male models and Shauna only) used in the stories signify real people, the stories are completely fictional. They in no way reflect true events, incidences, or beliefs by these people in real life. Besides the names, everything else is from the author’s imagination and should be taken as such.


Justin by Christi Snow
releasing January 21, 2015

The Model: Justin James Cadwell
The Photographer: Kruse Images & Photography


Justin…

Tara Malone is having one of those lives. Born to Oscar award-winning actor, Anthony Malone, and model-famous beauty, Veronica Scott, she should have it made. But her curvy figure and out-of-control frizzy red hair are just the start of her many, many issues. Now to make matters worse, she’s started out her week by running over model, Justin James, with her car. She had a lot of fantasies about the cover model, but never did any of them include vehicular assault.



Justin James doesn’t have time for two broken wrists, but neither does his over-achieving family. He can’t open up his fridge or unzip his fly without excruciating pain and no one else has the time to help him. Tara already shot him down at the accident scene, but maybe he can work this so that the curvy bombshell has a reason to hang around for a bit. He’s not above using guilt if it means he gets to know her better.



The first in a new series of novellas inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models. 



The Male Model Chronicles.




Lance by Christi Snow
coming Spring/Summer, 2015

The Model: Lance Jones
The Photographer: Kruse Images & Photography

Lance…
As the owner and CEO of Lancer Industries, Matthew Lancer spends his days in three piece suits and conducting meetings that affect the world financial markets. What the world doesn’t know is that Matthew Lancer has a deep, dark secret. He’s actually super-hot, super-sexy, and covered in tattoos. When he can, he spends his free time letting loose as bad-boy male model, Lance Jones. No one knows and it has to stay that way or Lance will lose the one thing that’s keeping his high pressure life sane.

Andi Kelly writes erotic romance. Day in and day out, she imagines a world filled with bondage, multiple partners, and just a few whips and chains. But that’s the fantasy life in her novels. In the real world, she’s an introvert who spends her days at home living out her fantasies through her laptop. Andi’s finally worked up the courage to ask Shauna Kruse if she can sit in on the photoshoot for Andi’s next novel…with her model-crush, Lance Jones.

But Lancer Industries has a mole and it’s put both Andi and Lance in danger. Lance’s two worlds collide and when corporate espionage meets erotic romance, there’s no telling what might happen.

The second in a new series of novellas inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models. 

The Male Model Chronicles.



Joshua by Christi Snow
coming Fall, 2015


The Model: Joshua Scott Brown
The Photographer: Kruse Images & Photography

Joshua…

December is the time for romance, twinkling lights, and roaring fires in the fireplace. It’s also time for the annual Holiday Fantasy Lingerie show. This year, the show has a masculine twist with the introduction of male models who were once soldiers. 

Joshua Scott Brown has made quite a name for himself as a male fitness model since he got out of the Air Force. But nothing prepares him for the media circus that occurs after he catches one of the female lingerie models during the live show, preventing her from a ten foot fall. Now the lingerie company wants to turn that media coverage into holiday profit by pairing him up romantically with the model. Unfortunately, he only has eyes for Autumn Layne, the publicist who keeps pushing him into another woman’s arms.

The third in a new series of novellas inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models. 

The Male Model Chronicles.


******

Because of the nature of the series, I went with a new cover designer, who just also happens to be one of the models, too...Joshua Scott Brown. (His book will be the third in the series.) Joshua's graphic design business, JSB Graphic Design, is still getting off the ground, but he's been wonderful to work with. Always professional, always positive, and extremely talented...

 
Cover Designer: Joshua Scott Brown
Hometown: Murfreesboro, TN
Occupation: Freelance Graphic Designer
Prior Career History: Air Force Veteran as a F-15 mechanic, Graduate from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship, Founder of JSB Designs, Current member of the Texas National Guard, Motivational Speaker
Hobbies: Fitness Model, Outdoor Enthusiast, Avid Reader, Gamer, Fitness Competitor




And the source for ALL of the inspiration for the series...
Shauna Kruse's gorgeous photography with 

An Excerpt....
And now, would you like a special little sneak peek into the opening scene for first book, Justin???


Chapter One
How the hell could she be in the suburbs of Seattle without a single coffee shop in sight? Three hours of interrupted sleep wasn’t cutting it this morning. After a night of never-ending calls from her boss making inconsequential little demands, Tara Malone needed caffeine for her system stat. Otherwise she was liable to kill someone.
She opened the new Java App she’d recently created and loaded onto her cell phone. It loaded through the vehicle’s navigation system. Trying to keep one eye on the road, the majority of her focus stayed on the screen filled with the little coffee cup flags signifying blissful, needed, essential-for-the-functioning-of-life, caffeine.
Good, it looked like the app worked within the parameters she’d created. Finally she spotted the coffee shop closest to her location and tried to figure out which road she needed to turn on when her Bluetooth system rang and the screen blanked to read Satan’s Mistress.
“No!” Tara wailed as she scrambled to block the call so she could get back to the Java App. But as the app lit up the screen again, Tara’s car jumped the curb. She slammed on her brakes. Her eyes flew up to the windshield and all she saw was the horrifying view of a gorgeous man crumpling in front of her car as her bumper slammed into him.
“Oh shit,” Tara whispered into the quiet of the car. “I just killed someone.”

She really should not be allowed to operate heavy machinery without caffeine.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Entering the Debate....What's really hurting our Amazon sales?

I'm an Indie author who's been extremely lucky with how well I've done the first couple of years of writing and releasing my books. I know that and I am so thankful for that.

But like so many Indie authors, I rely heavily on my Amazon sales which I've watched tank over the last few months. (To put this in perspective...my royalties last month were pretty much dead on to what they were the first month of my very first release...and I have 9 books out now...that's terrifying.)



And it should be absolutely stated that a lot of that probably rests on my head. My two big releases this year have been out of my normal genre and at first I figured that was a gamble that simply didn't pay off for me. Lesson learned (although I'm not going to stop writing those series, because I love them...I write for me. I'm lucky in that my family doesn't have to rely on my income to get by so I can write what I want regardless.)

But then I began to hear the rumblings from other Indie's about how Kindle Unlimited has slaughtered their sales. Could that really be the root of the problem? I honestly have no idea. Amazon is very secretive about how all their analytics work. To tell you the truth, I'm just thankful that they worked on my behalf that first year especially with my first release when I had no clue, but had incredible sales anyway. Maybe it wasn't all because no one wanted to read my books anymore. Which face it, no author really wants that to be the case.

But then this morning, I was thinking. Maybe Amazon isn't the big, bad evil. Maybe it isn't either of those things. Maybe there is another culprit that can share a lot of the blame for this circumstance so many of us find ourselves in right now.
Note: this graphic is only here as a graphic of the bundles. I didn't want to single out any other author's group anthology. This bundle isn't available in e-book anymore...just print.

But honestly...
Could we be doing this to ourselves with bundle sales?

And here's why I'm thinking this. I'm a reader. I'm a HUGE reader. In fact, I have a book review blog, Smitten with Reading. Right now, I'm trying to get through a 20-book anthology that was released for $.99. That's huge. 20 books. $.99....as a reader, that is an INCREDIBLE BARGAIN! As an author, it makes me cringe.

At the same time that Amazon's Kindle Unlimited happened, we saw a HUGE UPSWING with the offering of these amazing bundle deals. There are new ones coming out EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I read over 400 books a year, but even at that, for me to read all of this anthology will take me better than a week...more like two weeks. And I read every single day. I'm not your typical reader...not anymore.

But back when I was a typical reader, if I had more than 10 books in my TBR pile, I simply didn't buy anymore books.

With these kinds of bundle deals coming up for sale every single day, there is absolutely no reason your typical reader needs to buy anything else...unless an author comes out with something amazing that they simply can't pass up. Authors...no pressure there, right?

And I know the arguments for them...I know. They are only out there for a limited time, they get you as an author in front of new readers, there's a good chance that these bundles will hit the bestseller lists. I have to ask though...in the long run, are we as authors shooting ourselves in the foot?

When we can no longer afford to write, finding new readers is a moot point because you won't be able to afford to write anything for them to read anymore.

This is NOT a condemnation of anyone doing these bundles. In fact, I'm slated to be in one at the beginning of 2015...so I am certainly not throwing stones. As someone who's sales are hurting, I have to consider all aspects and it was just a thought. Another consideration and I thought it might open up an interesting debate. Does anyone else think this has influenced the decline in sales?

Honestly, my personal decline in sales can probably be contributed to all three things...
  1.  Change in genres for my recent releases
  2.  Amazon's changing programs
  3.  Upswing in huge book bundles which fill up reader's TBR's/time for very little money
There's certainly no one answer or solution. 

For me, I plan to just keep writing what I love and hope that my readers follow along with me and read what I write. But I will tell you, I am even more leery of these bundles as an author the more I think about the long-term impact.

And yes, this was a blog post mainly aimed at authors, so....

If you're one of my readers, THANK YOU!! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for sticking with me and continuing to buy my books. I love you all!!!


I have a ton of new books slated for release 2015. 

If you stuck with me through this rambling post...thank you. I'll have another blog post up next week about the fun stuff...what's coming out soon. And I may just have a cover reveal or two to share along with new story blurbs.  2015 is going to be an amazing year!!

Monday, December 1, 2014

Interview with Christi Snow Romance Author

I don't know how many people are aware of it since he's away at college, but we have a son, Jacob, attending Texas Tech. Over Thanksgiving he was working on a class assignment that required him to interview me. I thought it might be fun to share what he did. The video is basically the story of my writing career.
This was the pic I took of him while he was interviewing me. We were at my parents house in the mountains of NM, so it was gorgeous, but cold. Thanks to my dad who set up the outdoor heater for us while we did this.




Monday, November 24, 2014

Writers' Book Review: Crafting the Character Arc by Jennie Jarvis

For those of you that don't know, I'm also a book reviewer. I review about 400 romance books a year on my sister blog, Smitten with Reading...which normally is enough to feed my need to share my love of books. But sometimes as a writer, I come across amazing craft/non-fiction research books that I may share on here. So, if you aren't a writer, just excuse this blog post. 

(Oh, but if you are one of my readers, I'd love it if you would leave reviews my books. And did you see? Amazon has new author pages. Please, go over there and favorite me as one of your authors so you get the latest emails about my new releases from Amazon.)

Crafting the Character Arc 
Author: Jennie Jarvis
My Rating: A


Story Overview:
Many writers believe once they have their basic plot points in place, their stories are destined to succeed. But many narratives fall flat between those plot points and lose their audience before the big finish. Engaging the audience and moving the story forward in every scene is the responsibility of the characters, not the plot. But while many books on the craft of writing state that characters need to be three dimensional and change, a beginning writer isn’t always sure how to turn these rather abstract ideas into concrete craft on the page.


Crafting the Character Arc offers a practical guide to character creation and development by expanding upon the concept of the character arc and creating a step-by-step guide for writers to ensure that their characters are dynamic and engaging. Using narrative examples from multiple platforms, including novels, films and games, this is the essential guide for helping writers create an active and well-defined character arc.


Crafting The Character Arc is structured in three main parts.


Part One covers the more traditional, basic approach to creating character, including personality traits, depth, secrets, goals versus emotional needs, active versus reactive protagonists, and dramatic functions.


Part Two introduces the Major Dramatic Curve, a detailed pictorial representation of a character arc and its major elements: place of rest, inciting incident, rising action, crisis point, climax and falling action/resolution.
Part Three offers practical applications of the Major Dramatic Curve. The writer is given guidance for using the curve to create a dynamic and engaging narrative work. Lastly, some variations in using the Major Dramatic Curve are explored and exceptions to the rules are addressed.


Character Arcs are a critical part of every story making this guide applicable to multiple mediums: novels, short stories, films, TV, games, plays, and Web series.


My Review:

As a obsessive reader, a lot of my writing is instinctual. I've never taken fiction or creative writing courses and definitely don't have any formal training to do what I do on a daily basis...at all. That's fine, until the book isn't working. The nice thing about those instincts is that I can usually tell when the book isn't working, too. What I can't do a lot of the time is figure out how to fix it. That's where writing craft books come in. But I'll be honest, books about writing beats or acts sound all well and good, but for me, when it comes down to my writing...I'm kind of baffled about how to apply those ideas to my books. Instinct vs. knowledge...not so easy in practical application. 

Which is why when it comes to finding a book like this one, I'm thrilled. This book is so easy to understand. EVEN I can read it and apply it to my writing. Jennie Jarvis has done an amazing job breaking down the writing process (i.e. those beats/acts) into a dramatic curve that works and is easily understandable. She uses a wide range of examples...from movies, to TV shows, to video games to show how the curve works and how to apply it to your work in progress. 

The dramatic curve that she employs (you can see the diagram of it on the cover up there) is made up of seven elements and she breaks down what needs to happen in each of those elements to get your book/story to where it needs to be. She illustrates the ideas so well through movies like Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, and even the not-so-great classics like Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. She even shows how to build that same plot structure within the book for sub-plots. 

It's an incredibly readable book (I read it in a day and a half and am known for never finishing non-fiction books, so that's saying something for me.) She talks about how to develop characters and push them outside their boundaries. She has some great points about protagonists vs. antagonists and how to create conflict within relationships. And as a romance writer, I really liked the point that the antagonist can actually be either your hero or heroine...what a completely revolutionary idea...at least to me where I've always considered the antagonist to be the bad guy. 

The book employs some great writing techniques and I spent the weekend running all my current works-in-progress through the plotting technique the book illustrates with very positive results. 

I definitely recommend this book!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

This has already been a good week...

Hello, all!

Normally, I'm happiest when my word counts are high and the story is flowing. That is NOT this week. LOL! In fact, I'm stuck on my current work-in-progress (WIP), Right By Your Side.

But's that's okay. It happens and then I have to take time to sit back and figure out WHY I'm having an issue. In the end, that usually means that the book will be stronger. It's simply part of the process.

But in the meantime, I am still moving forward on a ton of different projects. Right now, it's looking like I will have 4 releases in the first 4 months of 2015. Whoa, but yay! It just means I am working on a TON of different projects at once. 

And this week, two of those are headed out to my beta readers. JUSTIN (book #1 in the Male Model Chronicles) went out today. And then I hope to send out BROKEN CONTROL (my first erotic romance) out for a second round of betas tomorrow or Friday. 

I also am beginning to get cover proofs for JUSTIN. I can't wait to show y'all.  Maybe I'll have a cover reveal for it soon, because that book will be the first one out in 2015.

If you don't know, the premise of that series is based on Shauna Kruse and her gorgeous male photography that she does with Kruse Images and Photography. All the heroes are real male models, but I've fictionalized their lives. BUT the cover designer for the series is ALSO a male model (and will be the hero in book #3), Joshua Scott Brown. It's been such a fun project all the way around and I'm hoping it will be hugely successful and help promote all of us involved through fun contemporary romances!
The order of the books so far are (if you click their names, you can go see the guys' facebook pages):
1. Justin
2. Lance
3. Joshua

JustinLance
Joshua
Shauna w/ Lance

All the photos are Shauna's work, except the one of her and I think that's probably Lance's selfie skill at work there. ;)

If you haven't heard, here is the story description for JUSTIN:
(m/f contemporary romance)
coming Dec/Jan
Tara Malone is having one of those lives. Born to Oscar award-winning actor, Anthony Malone, and model-famous beauty, Veronica Scott, she should have it made. But her curvy figure and out-of-control frizzy red hair are just the start of her many, many issues. Now to make matters worse, she’s started out her week by running over model, Justin James, with her car. She had a lot of fantasies about the cover model, but never did any of them include vehicular assault.

Justin James doesn’t have time for two broken wrists, but neither does his over-achieving family. He can’t open up his fridge or unzip his fly without excruciating pain and no one else has the time to help him. Tara already shot him down at the accident scene, but maybe he can work this so that the curvy bombshell has a reason to hang around for a bit. He’s not above using guilt if it means he gets to know her better.

The first in a new series of novellas inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models.

The Male Model Chronicles.



Does it sound fun? I had so much fun writing it and am really pleased with how it turned out.

smiles,
Christi

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Whew, that was harder than I expected...NEW BLOG!

Hey, everyone! Wow. I have a confession to make....

I. SUCK. AT. TECHNOLOGY.

hmm, maybe he could come help me!

I've had my author blog for about 3 years now on Wordpress. And I finally gave up. Wordpress and I do not get along. In the last three months, it seemed like every time I got onto there to do a minor blog post, it was screwed up. So then I'd spend the next 2 hours sorting through why it wasn't working right. 

I give up. 

I have been blogging on blogger for almost 10 years. It works for me. I understand it. I can just get on and blog and then I'll have more time to WRITE. 

So welcome to my new blogger author website!!

You should be able to find me two ways. Either through my old web address:
Christi-Snow.com
or
Christi-Snow.blogspot.com

Either works.

I'm hoping now that I will actually blog more. I should. It's also more streamlined so maybe you'll be able to find things easier. 

Let me know what you think and if there's something you want to see, tell me and I'll see what I can do to accommodate you! I hope you'll have fun exploring the new tabs. 

In the meantime, here's a pretty for you...
Meet Justin:

I'm starting a new series called the Male Model Chronicles. Justin's is the first book, inspired by Shauna Kruse's amazing photography and models. These are shorter books (around 25-30,000 words), but I'm already in love with the series. Justin's book is already written and about to head into the editing process. It should be available in late December or early January. I'll be having a cover reveal soon. 

In the meantime, here's the story blurb...
Tara Malone is having one of those lives. Born to Oscar award-winning actor, Anthony Malone, and model-famous beauty, Veronica Scott, she should have it made. But her curvy figure and out-of-control frizzy red hair are just the start of her many, many issues. Now to make matters worse, she’s started out her week by running over model, Justin James, with her car. She had a lot of fantasies about the cover model, but never did any of them include vehicular assault.

Justin James doesn’t have time for two broken wrists, but neither does his over-achieving family. He can’t open up his fridge or unzip his fly without excruciating pain and no one else has the time to help him. Tara already shot him down at the accident scene, but maybe he can work this so that the curvy bombshell has a reason to hang around for a bit. He’s not above using guilt if it means he gets to know her better.

The first in a new series of novellas inspired by Shauna Kruse’s photography and her beautiful male models.

The Male Model Chronicles.

Note: A special thanks to Amanda Matthews who created a couple of the graphics on this page. They're actually for bookmarks, but they work beautifully as page graphics too. As soon as I get the new bookmarks ordered, I'll do some giveaways of them because they are really fun, so keep an eye on this page.

Smiles,
Christi


Thursday, September 25, 2014

Through the Veil is AVAILABLE NOW!

It's RELEASE DAY

for

THROUGH THE VEIL

 

My paranormal dystopian romantic suspense novel. 

 

This book starts an 8-book series in this all new world made up of two societies...the ES, where government and technology rules; and the WS, where society is based upon a respect for the Earth.

 

The world has changed in the last 18 years and this first novel delves into the changes to both the land and humanity in what used to be the US, before it was split in half by a mysterious Veil



Amazon buy links:




58 years ago
a gorge opened up from Mobile, AL to Quebec City, Canada to split the United
States into the Western States (WS) and the Eastern States (ES).

 

40 years
later, a fog rolled in on the WS that they called the Veil. Within twelve hours
it formed an impenetrable wall between the two sides.

 

It’s been 18
years since anyone has known what’s happening on the other side of the Veil.

 

Now, Lori,
an Other, in a desperate attempt at escape from the ES’s torture and
experimentation, has crossed the Veil and found a world beyond belief.

 

Marcus is a
Warrior, but when Lori collapses at his feet wounded and exhausted, he knows he
has to protect her. But seeing that she’s the first person he’s seen in 18
years without wings, he’s worried about what her appearance means for his
people and the world they’ve created since the Veil fell.

 


Two new
societies: one built on a respect for the natural order of nature and the
world, the other built on mistrust and corruption. Can they learn to co-exist
once again?




 
Author's note: While there are serious undertones to the story and plot line in the book, there are also moments of fun that I like to include in all my books. This scene below is one of my absolute favorites from the story. I hope you enjoy it too.


He
hated the way medicine made him feel a disconnect between his head and body,
but what Malcolm said made sense so he relented. “Okay, but no one in this room
is allowed to hold anything I say against me.”

Brooklyn
gave a gleeful look to Lori which sent a chill down his spine before she said,
“Ooh, I like the sound of this. This could be fun.”

Try to keep them from taking advantage of
me,”
he told Malcolm. He’d tried to reinforce the walls again, but it
didn’t help.

“Most men would be begging for two
women to take advantage of them.”

He
just smiled at Lori. He’d never be able to have another secret again. “Sweetheart, if it was just you, I’d be all
for it. It’s Brooklyn I don’t trust.”

“I’ll protect you.”

He
groaned as he told Malcolm, “Let’s just get this over with.”

Malcolm
nodded and injected the medicine into the vein in his arm. An hour later,
Marcus didn’t know which way was up. He knew Malcolm said he’d added 127
stitches into his back and Lori held the place as the most beautiful woman he’d
ever laid eyes on.

As
Malcolm pulled him into a sitting position, he felt the need to wax poetic once
again about her eyes. “Man, have you seen her eyes? They’re so fucking
beautiful, like the petals of a lilac bush in the spring. And when she uses her
power, they flash with brilliant color like bursts of purple grapes.” He
brushed across her cheek, not even wondering about the laughter spilling forth
out of those same eyes right now.

She
turned to the others. “I see why he didn’t want any drugs now.”

Malcolm
shook his head. “Yeah, the big guy has no tolerance whatsoever. Hopefully,
tomorrow he won’t remember what a schmuck he was today. Poor guy is whipped.”

“I
think it’s kind of sweet…you know, in a slightly pathetic kind of way,”
Brooklyn said. Marcus watched as Brooklyn defended him and he nodded with what
she said while he petted Lori’s soft hair. It truly felt like gossamer wings.

It
took him a moment to realize Brooklyn had just called him pathetic. “Hey!”

Lori
reached up and kissed his cheek to distract him. “Don’t worry about it. You’re
really very sweet in a totally manly kind of way.”

He
smiled at her. “And that’s why I like you best.” He started to scowl at the
other two laughing at his expense, but he got distracted by the fact that Lori still
wore her swimsuit wrap top. He started to reach up to hold her breasts as he
said, “Well it’s that and your breasts are the perfect size. Your nipples are
the perfect pink…”

She
jerked back out of his hold while yelling at him in an outraged voice, “Marcus!”

“What?
You liked me touching them just fine at the waterfall.” He looked at her
beautiful face and couldn’t figure out why she suddenly looked so flushed and
angry.

Brooklyn
mumbled to Malcolm, “Damn, I wish I had some way to record this for the other
guys to hear.”

Malcolm
laughed and Lori looked even more mortified than before.

He
didn’t understand what bothered her. “Baby…”

“Don’t
you ‘Baby’ me.” She scowled at him again.

She
really was beautiful even with that frown on her face. Maybe he needed to cheer
her up by finishing what they’d started at the waterfall. But, whoa, wait just
a minute. He frowned down at the front of his shorts where there was a definite
lack of interest going on. What the hell? He’d been half-hard ever since Lori
fell into his arms at the bridge.

His
mortified gaze met Malcolm’s.

“What’s
wrong?” Malcolm asked.

He
waved Malcolm over to him and then turned them away from the girls for a guy
pow-wow.  “Mal, I don’t have an
erection,” he whispered urgently, but it must not have been quiet enough
because he heard Brooklyn snicker.

Malcolm
frowned at him confused. “Um, okay? I wouldn’t really expect you to have one
right now.”

He
didn’t understand. This was serious. “No, I always
have one when Lori is around.”

This
time Brooklyn didn’t even try to quiet her loud laugh. “It is so unfair that
this falls under patient confidentiality.”

He
turned to glare at her, but became distracted by Lori’s sweet indulgent smile.
She was so beautiful. He looked down. Again…nothing. He turned a desperate look
to Malcolm to find him grinning like he found this funny. That shit was not
acceptable. “You think this is funny?” he asked incredulously.

“Well,
maybe a little, but Marcus, you’re fine. It’s just the medicine. It’s deadened
your nerves. All of them. Don’t worry. It will be back.”

He
turned back to Lori and gave her thumbs up. “Did you hear that, Baby? I’ll be
fine.”

He
could see the corners of her mouth quirking up like she fought a smile. “I
never had any doubt.”

He
turned back to Malcolm and grinned. “I impressed her with my big sword.”


Malcolm
groaned and tugged Marcus over to Lori. “Let’s get you home big guy, before
this gets any more embarrassing for all of us. The rest of us don’t have the
luxury of drugs to wipe our memories of this encounter.”


 

Amazon buy links: