Plot Monkeys

As you all probably know, I have a Blaze coming out next month, called PLAY WITH ME.

It’s super-hot, and is part of the Forbidden Fantasies series. I know readers really like the series, and I wanted to come up with a good “forbidden fantasy” so the book would fit well into it. As I said in the Dear Reader letter in the book, I heard from a lot of readers who really liked the “strangers in a bar” fantasy from the 5th story in ONE WILD WEDDING NIGHT, (“strangers in a bar”) so I immediately started thinking about role-playing.

Anybody else remember those 101 Nights of Greeeeeat Sex (and Great Romance) books that came out a few years ago? Where you’d tear out the sheet and “act out” the fantasy? I bought them all — hey, research, tax deductible, yo! They were lots of fun, and great inspiration.

So, I had my fantasy, I just needed to come up with the right couple who’d like to get involved in a little role-playing. Always being one to do the opposite of what’s expected, I really liked the idea of doing a commitment-shy heroine who had a reputation as a heart-breaker and was super-gun-shy about settling down, and a hero who is the ultimate “nice-guy” family man. Enter Amanda and Reese. She’s a free-spirited pilot, he runs his family brewery. She’s the black sheep of her family, who never sees herself settling down, and he’s the oldest in a family of 6 kids, who’s been thrust into the “head of the household” role far too early due to his father’s untimely death.

When they meet, sparks fly, and they both realize that jetting off to meet each other every holiday for some anonymous, no-strings fun, is exactly what they both most need.

Thought you might like to read a little more about them, so here’s a scene shortly after they’ve met. She’s flying him on a small, private charter flight to Chicago, and both of them are already wondering if they really want to say goodbye once the plane lands. And after you read this excerpt, feel free to check out my Leslie Parrish site–I have just uploaded a first-time-anywhere excerpt of my next dark romantic-suspense novel, COLD SIGHT. Maybe you can do a little “compare-and-contrast” on my Kelly vs. Parrish styles! I’d love to hear what you think!

Hope you enjoy!!

PS: If you’d like to order the book, or read an excerpt containing the entire prologue and first chapter, check out eHarlequin:  Play with Me

 Click below the fold for the excerpt!

“Don’t worry, just an air pocket. It’s completely normal. In a jet this size, we just feel the turbulence a bit more than you’re used to.”
Why one little pocket of air was any different than the rest of the big, vast atmosphere, he had no idea. He just knew he didn’t like it. “Okay, uh, stay away from those pockets, would you please?”
“Sure,” she said with a snort and, though he couldn’t see it, probably an eye roll. “I’ll just watch for the yellow hazard signs and steer around them.”
“Your empathy would have been a real help in your job teaching young children.”
Instead of being insulted, she snickered, a cute, self-deprecating sound. “Sorry.” Then, though she didn’t turn completely around, her eyes shifted slightly. Enough to catch a glimpse at his probably tense face. “I like flying better than you, I take it?”
“It’s not my favorite thing to do.”
“And I bet it’s even worse when you’re not tucked inside the belly of a huge 747, trying not to catch the mood of all the other nervous flyers who are envisioning the worst?”
“Exactly.”
She nodded once, then offered, “Doesn’t it help to think something smaller would be easier to keep aloft than some big, monstrous commercial air-liner? Just like a feather on the breeze?”
“No,” he admitted. “Actually all I keep thinking about is the whole man/wings thing.”
“Relax. I haven’t crashed in, oh, a good month at least.”
Not appreciating the joke, he stared, his eyes narrowed as were his lips. “My luck, I get the comedian in hot pants for the pilot.”
“Sorry. Just figured if you laugh a little you might relax.”
“Say something that’s actually funny and I might.” Though, he doubted it. A tranquilizer or a shot of gin might help him relax. Or this woman’s hands. Then again, if this woman’s hands ever did land on him, tranquil almost certainly would not describe his mood.
“Why don’t you try closing your eyes and just pretending you’re somewhere else?”
“Pretend?”
“You know. Fantasize.” Her voice melodic, as if she were a hypnotist, she provided a fantasy. “You’re in a safe, solid car driving up a mountain pass toward a beautiful old hotel.”
“Okay, this isn’t helping. I’m thinking Jack Nicholson heading toward that hotel in The Shining.”
She huffed out a breath. “It’s an exclusive ski lodge, glamorous, not haunted. Around you is nothing but pristine, white snow, blue sky, clear air.”
“Guys with axes…”
“Don’t make me come back there!”
“Okay, okay,” he said with a grimace.
Reese closed his eyes and tried to see it. He really did. But he could conjure up no mountain pass. No car. No ski lodge.
A curvy snow-bunny wearing a fluffy hat, skimpy shorts and skis…that was about as close as he could get.
He sighed. Not necessarily because it was a bad thing, but because the vision was so damn hot it had him a little dizzy.
“Don’t use your imagination much, I guess. I should have known.”
His eyes flew open. “I have an imagination.”
“Uh huh. But let me guess, most of the time what you imagine is getting through the next sales meeting or closing some big business deal.”
Reese shifted a little, not answering. Up until he’d walked up to her on the tarmac, that had been pretty accurate. Since then, though, he’d been imagining a few other things. But to tell her she was wrong meant to spill those thoughts, which he wasn’t about to do—again, at least not after a one-hour acquaintance.
Though, two was looking better all the time.
The plane bounced again, quickly, up and down. Reese’s stomach bounced with it—at least, on the up-side. It didn’t go all the way down and settle back into place.
He felt the blood drop from his cheeks. “I think we just ran over a moose. Or a lost skier.”
“There’s a small fridge between the seats. You look like you could use a drink.” She chuckled. “Or a Valium.”
“Wow. That is first class service.”
“Kidding.”
“Yeah. I figured that,” he said, ignoring the offer. He didn’t need a drink. He just needed a distraction.
Fortunately, one of the sexiest ones he had ever seen was sitting just a few feet away. As long as he didn’t humiliate himself by losing his lunch on the floor of her pristine jet, he fully intended to enjoy spending this flight in her company.
And maybe more than that.
After all, why shouldn’t he? He already liked her sense of humor, the competent way she handled the controls, the low laughter. There was a lot to like about this woman beyond the killer legs. Not to mention the rest of the physical package. She was quick and witty, sharp, smart. Lots to like. Lots to want.
And he could like her, want her…maybe even have her, without any of the complications or questions that would arise if he were within fifty miles of home. There, he never felt free to do something for no other reason than that he wanted to. The idea of heaving aside all that responsibility for a little while, of grabbing onto a good thing and enjoying the hell out of it just because he could, was incredibly appealing.
“Is this your first time chartering?” she asked.
The plane jiggled the tiniest bit and he instinctively clutched the arm-rests. “That obvious, huh?”
“You have that first-timers glow.”
Huh. Did vampires glow? Because he figured his face was probably as white as one.
“Must be a pretty important trip.”
He shook his head. “You’d think so, right? But I’m actually headed to a Halloween party.”
She glanced over her shoulder in surprise. Reese waved toward the front, “Keep your eyes on the road, please.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not about to drive into the back of a slow-moving semi doing fifty during rush-hour.”
He’d just be happy if she didn’t drive into the back of a slow flying goose. A big Canadian one.
Oh, God, one of those had brought down a huge airliner, hadn’t it?
Stop thinking about it.
Right. He had much better things to think about. The way his family business was booming under his management, even in the bad economy. The success of their first nation-wide marketing campaign. The house he’d just finished remodeling and considered his private fortress in the middle of his crazy world. The sexy pilot in hot pants who he now kept picturing on skis, and whose downhill slopes he would very much like to explore. Much better things.
“So, Halloween party, huh?” she said. “If this is you dressing up, what do you regularly look like? I mean, in your real life, are you a biker-dude who usually wears black leather and chains, only, you’re in costume as a boring businessman?”
Reese leaned forward, dropping his elbows onto his knees, and stared at the back of her silky-haired head. “Ahem. Boring?”
“It was a joke. I was just trying to distract you.”
Maybe. Or maybe she really did think he looked boring.
He should have felt a little insulted. Reese had been fending off most of the single women in his small hometown since his high school days. Most of them. He definitely hadn’t fended off all, at least not before two years ago when his life had gotten so out of whack. And he had enjoyed his share of discreet flings through the years. Could’ve had enough to qualify as a half-dozen guys shares if he’d felt like it. His sisters were forever cackling over some of the ways in which the hungry local females tried to get his attention.
True, the females in question were no longer the twenty-something party-girls who’d gone through his revolving bedroom door a few years ago. They were now career-women who saw the steady businessman with a nice income and a reputation as being a great guy who stepped up for his family. But there were still quite a few of them and they definitely wouldn’t say no if he ever started asking again.
He wasn’t the hottest dude in the known universe, and he suspected the money that flowed from his family’s successful brewery was partially responsible for the attention. But nobody had ever called him boring before, that was for sure.
Damn, that was harsh.
And damn, she was right. To hell with all the mental pumping about how great business was, and how many women had made plays for him. His personal life was exactly what this beautiful woman imagined it to be.
Boring.
Boiled in mediocrity and steeped in sameness, he’d allowed himself to disappear into a daily life that wasn’t ever what he’d imagined for himself. Ennui had grabbed him by the lapels of his stuffy suit and forced him to remain in his small box of family, business, responsibility. He hadn’t even tried to step outside that box in a long time.
Maybe it was time to. Maybe he should heed his Great Aunt Jean’s advice: Live, go a little wild, have an adventure.
It had sounded crazy, impossible a few weeks ago when she’d burst into his office. Now? Not so much. Especially because he’d suddenly found someone he wanted to go a little wild with.