Counting down to New Years - Day 24

I wasn't sure if I was going to pull off a Friday Flash Fic this week. With 2 weeks left till Christmas, my EDJ is ramping up and sucking the life out of me... But, I did it :) And that made me very happy.

This is humiliating.

Colin stared at the wall in front of him. Everything about it was normal…tap, showerhead, running water., except that it was all directly at eye level and he was covered in fur ….and female.

Christ, what the fuck happened to me.

“Hey sweetheart, you’re out of sorts today. You okay?” The hunka, gorgeous man currently soaping up his paw with a bright pink sponge, reached up and scratched him between his ears.

Oh, god that feels good. Before Colin formulated the thought, he had already pushed his head against the man’s hand again. He tried for the hundredth time to talk, but the only noise his vocal cords could make was an odd growl and screech. 

“That’s my girl, you just need a bit more love today don’t you.” The man leaning over him scratched down his spine to the base of Colin's tail.

Fuck that feels so damn good, but I’m not a fucking girl and if I knew what happened to my cock I’d feel much better about all this. Colin shifted his weight and almost slipped, catching himself in a split second. Cat-like reflexes, I get it now.  

Out of everything that had happened to him in the last twelve hours, waking up in the form of an apparently domesticated, large, cat, without claws, wasn’t the worst of it. It was the loss of his favourite appendage that continued to be the focus of his attention.

The last foggy memory he had from the previous night was trying to get the guy he’d brought home, out of his bed and out the door. Hook-ups for fine, but Colin didn’t do cuddles of sleepovers and the guy from the bar hadn’t been getting the hint.  Sure he’d been fueled with a bit more alcohol than normal. And yes maybe calling the guy a big pussy might not have been the nicest. But Colin had no idea when the guy replied “I’m not a pussy, but you will be.”..he was serious.

“There we go, baby girl. Let’s get your dried off and out of the tub.” Mr Hunky wrapped a towel around Colin’s head and started rubbing his neck and body.

I wish I knew your name. Colin didn’t believe it was coincidence that the guy who was apparently his keeper, was the same guy who’d brushed him off a few weeks ago. Another crazy bar night and Colin had tried so hard to get this guy into a bathroom for a quickie. He’d wanted to touch the muscles filling out his silk shirt. But no matter what he tried, Mr Hunky wouldn’t give him the time of night.

Now, here I am, finally in a bathroom with you. You’re shirtless, gorgeous and I’m… a fucking pussy cat.

Don't miss out on the other Friday Flash Fics posted today!

Jeff Baker
Elizabeth Lister

'Nathan Burgoine

Patrick Coulton

Ethan Jay Brooks

Jeffrey Ricker

Friday Flash Fiction 12/1 - Hawkeye is the sexiest superhero

It's Friday and you know what that means!! Another fun day of reading shorts and snippets surrounding the same inspirational picture. Courtesy of Elizabeth Lister and Friday Flash Fics. :)

"Hawkeye is the sexiest superhero." Mitch lit a cigarette and passed it to Jeannine before lighting another one. They both perched on a large decorative rock on an upper level garden that looked out over a massive well-manicured green space. One of the owners was doing favour for a friend and allowed them to use the gardens for a photo shoot, at least that’s what the gossip said.

"Purple spandex or Jeremy Renner?" Jeannine had never been one to read anything non-academic unless he’d forced her to go to look at one of his comics. The fact that she knew there was a difference surprised him.

“Oh, how about Jeremy Renner IN purple spandex.” Mitch grinned, that was a mental picture he’d save for later when he was alone.

She took at drag on her smoke. Tilting her face to the sky, she popped her jaw and made a perfect “O” before pursing her lips and blowing a straight line of smoke almost through it before it dissipated. “I’d prefer imagining Jeremy Renner naked.”

“I’ll whole heartedly agree with you on that one.”

Below them, one of the models was posing with a bow and arrow as a series of cameras clicked and whirred. Lights were moved, shades were angled and it all started again.

“Really, who makes the connection between archery and underwear?” Jeannine’s questions startled him out of ogling the picture perfect, high maintenance, boy toys.

“Who cares? It’s fun to watch.” One of the models let his arrow fly…a whole two feet before it plopped on the ground. There goes my Hawkeye fantasy.

“Speaking of naked, this would be much more fun if they weren’t wearing the underwear. They can’t shoot for shit.”

“That would make this an entirely different kind of photoshoot.”

“If it was, we’d probably be getting paid better.” Jeannine sighed as she hopped off the rock they’d been sitting on. Dropping her smoke she ground it under her heel. “Superheros and underwear models do have one specific thing in common though.”

“What’s that?”

“Neither of them notices the help.” She patted him lightly on the shoulder, “Come on, sweetie. We had better get back to the kitchen and make sure lunch is set out properly, before one of those pretty boys freak out because their single blueberry is touching their carrot during their meal.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I finish this.” Mitch held up his cigarette. “Just a couple more drags.”

“Don’t be long; the boss is bitchy today.”

He nodded and winked at her. She rolled her eyes before walking away. They’d been best friends since high school but where her nose had always been in a text book, his had been in a comic. She’d never believed in the fantastic or magic. He wished otherwise because he’d wanted to share this news with her.

As soon as Jeannine rounded the corner and was out of sight, Mitch tossed the half-finished smoke to the ground. Hooking the cord around his neck he pulled out the pendant which had been resting against his chest all morning. The sun glinted off the pale purple rock. He traced one of the metallic bands with his finger and a series of  ornate symbols appeared, glowing brighter than they had this morning.

I might have been unlucky enough to be born into a dimension without magic…but, no one said I had to stay here.

Don't miss out on the other Friday Flash Fics posted today!

Jeff Baker
Patrick Coulton
Elizabeth Lister
'Nathan Burgoine
Jeffrey Ricker

Friday Flash Fiction 11/24 - "Wanyuuugh"

Today's letter is F, brought to you by Elizabeth Lister's Friday Flash Fics :)   

Each week a group of authors write a 500ish word snippet about the same photo. 

Be sure to check out the other authors contributions!! 

I'll put the links in below my submission. 

Some days Kyle wished he hadn’t gotten out of bed and up until ten seconds earlier, he’d believed today was one of them. That was until he came across a beautiful man in the hallway of his apartment building, wearing nothing but a book for modesty.

Kyle opened his mouth to say something but the man lifted one finger against his lips asking for silence. An easy request to grant as Kyle couldn’t think of a single thing to say. He stood there and blinked, not entirely certain if he was dreaming or not.

The muffled sound of something smashing against the other side of the wall caught his attention making Mr. Sexy wince and curse under his breath before meeting his gaze whispering. “I’d wondered who my new neighbor was, but I didn't expect to meet you like this.”

Of course you have to have a delicious accent too. For the love of everything positive in the universe, Kyle, say something!  “Wanyuuugh?” Too late, Kyle realized his tongue had managed to stick to the roof of his mouth. If a massive cavern opened at his feet, he’d quietly step over the edge to his death because nothing could be worse than the embarrassment heating his cheeks.

“Adorable,” Mr. Sexy's lips twitched in a half grin. “You wouldn’t happen to have a towel or even a sock you could spare, would you? It's a little chilly out here.”

"Uh, yyy-es...ah, in...” Kyle struggled with his keys for a moment, forgetting which one opened his apartment, before finally picking the right one and gently unlocking his door. “Do you know what's going on in there?" He opened the door and stepped out of the way allowing his nude neighbor to enter first.

“I imagine they are looking for something I no longer have. Given that fact, I felt it was safer if I hid out here until they left.” His neighbor kept the book in place but walked across the hall as if there wasn’t a single thing unusual about the situation.

“There’s an afghan on the chesterfie...” His brief grasp of English slipped away when Kyle’s  neighbor passed him. His gaze caught the way his back muscles flexed as he moved, a tempting tan line and then the sweetest pale bum. Curved with a light dusting of hair Kyle could easily imagine would feel incredible under his fingertips, 

“You’re quite literally saving my life here, thank you.” His nudist neighbor dropped the book on the coffee table before reaching for the afghan and wrapped it around his hips. “My name is Joel, by the way. And you are?”

“Kyuugh.”

Don't stop here! 

Check out the scenes from all the contributing authors this week.

Jeff Baker
Elizabeth Lister
Jeffrey Ricker
'Nathan Burgoine

Friday Flash Fiction 11/17- F*CK

While setting up my second submission to Friday Flash Fics, I somehow managed to wipe out the first one. Ugh! So my slightly elegant, marginally funny opening has been lost to the depths of the internet. 

In a nut shell...Fun times, lots of authors creating scenes from the same picture and bad language ahead. Comments are always welcome. :)

“Fuck.” Jack shook his foot trying to dislodge the slush that had invaded his shoe. Fucking rain, fucking snow, fucking England “ Icy tendrils crept under his arch and wrapped around his toes as the water made its way through his loafer. “I should be on a beach in Spain but no, I’m in fucking London, in fucking January, on the one bloody, fucking day it decides to dump slush everywhere.”

An old lady tisked at him as she passed, forcing Jack to clenched his teeth together in an attempt to stem the free flowing litany of curse words. His gram would have smacked the back of his head at the first fuck had she heard. Shoving his hands deeper into the pockets of his jacket, he continued his trudge along the Queen’s Walk toward Westminster Bridge.

“Kiss your mother with that mouth?” The woman, who carried a frightening similarity to his Gran stopped next to him.

“Pardon me?” He pulled his gaze from the black Thames flowing past. This is my contact? Are they pulling them out of retirement now?

“Here,” she passed him a small bag. “You’re feeding the birds now, lovie. Mind your mouth, all that cursing offends the clergy.”

“Fuck. The. Clergy.” He snatched the bag and shoved it in his pocket. He’d been all over bloody England running errands for those pompous arrogant bastards. Fetching artifacts and delivering summons, all because they couldn’t find one inexperienced guardian. Whomever this guardian was, Jack was markedly envious of his abilities, He’d give his left nut to get out from under the Clergy’s thumb.

“Why does your generation insist on learning things the hard way?” Her eyes narrowed on him and he could hear her inhale slowly through her nose. Whether the icy spike that rain up his spine was from the freezing rain slipping down the back of his neck or the old woman’s gaze he couldn’t be certain. Either way he was fucked and had to follow this through. “Do as you’re told and perhaps you’ll be a Guardian one day too.”

Jack looked up at the endless grey clouds above him, and tightened the neck of his coat. “That’s never something I wanted.” Unsurprisingly, the old woman had disappeared from his side and he wasn’t interested in seeing which direction she’d headed. If they wanted him dead, he’d be dead by now. His usefulness as a go-for hadn’t wined yet.

Keeping his gaze on his surroundings while avoiding slushy puddles, he continued his journey. Removing the small bag from his pocket he opened it and found bird seed? Why am I not surprised? At least I know now my next stop is St Paul’s Cathedral.  He swirled a finger around in the seed and felt something metal brush the pad of his finger. Hooking it, he pulled it out.

Shock punched him in the chest and he clamped down on the initial instinct to fling it straight into the Thames filthy depths.

We’re Fucked! 

Don't stop here! 
Check out the scenes from all the contributing authors this week.

Elizabeth Lister
'Nathan Burgoine
Jeffrey Ricker
Patrick Coulton

Write this picture #4

Every month I get together with my author friends and we write a short story or scene based on the same picture. The only rule - it has to be at least 250 words. But even that rule can get broken. ;)

It's November so we're starting to loose colour around us as the leaves fall from the trees and everything starts to hibernate in preparation for winter. I guess that's why this picture appealed to me so much.

I'm working on a special project for this spring and it was this picture that gave me a perfect"A-Ha!" moment. As it's NaNoWriMo time I need as many inspirational moments as I can get. I'm not sure if this scene will make it into the final story but I hope so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't get me wrong, J. I'm not here to do a trash piece on you or your restaurant, but you have to admit that the sexual harassment suit against you and your partner aren't to be taken lightly."

J took a deep breath before answering, every time those charges were mentioned he felt his blood pressure spike. North Reddington was a small enough community that nasty rumours about the place he and K had put their heart and soul into could ruin them. The bitch who’d laid the charges had been their previous front of house manager and ex-lover, something he and K swore they’d never do again. 

K patted him on the shoulder, before answering the reporter’s question. "I appreciate your wanting to feature our restaurant in your article and I promise you that we are completely professional here. The charges are from a disgruntled ex-employee and we're confident that they will be dropped quickly."  

He opened the door and a cloud of colourful smoke billowed out at them.  Something smacked against his temple and chin, sending out more clouds of dust that made his eyes water.

 The reporter was far enough away to be spared but he and K were covered in what tasted like chalk. Six balls of colourful cheese cloth gently swung from the door way and a heartbeat later one of their employees burst into the back room.

“Oh shit.” She stopped in the open doorway, biting her lower lip. Dammit his cock jerked in his pants, one of these days he wanted to kiss the sting  away from that lip after she’d been biting it. It was a bad habit of hers he’d noticed over the last six months she’d worked there. H looked up at the evidence of her prank and then back to him and K, her lips twitched with what he suspected was her fighting a smile.

K looked furious, his hair covered it electric purple dust, yellow dusted his ears and there was a blue blotch on one of his cheekbones. J imagined he probably looked as ridiculous.

She was the one woman who could make him and K break their vow of knowing their employees intimately. There was no doubt in his head she was behind the prank and J was acutely aware of the camera man snapping pictures behind them.

“What’s going on here? Is this some sort of April Fools prank? Not exactly proof of the professional attitude you mentioned. ” The reporter looked them all up and down and then looked past them to the waitress just inside the door.

“We were celebrating Holi.” H gave the reporter a bright smile and acted as if they’d planned all this. “J and K will be taking part in the Colour Me Rad marathon next month. All money raised will be donated to the renovations at the children’s hospital.”

 As excuses went it was a pretty good one, except that he wasn’t in any shape to run a marathon and K was too much of a workaholic to take the time off.

“H’s done the majority of planning and encouraging J and my training. She’ll be joining in on the fun.”

Her smiled faltered for a moment and J thought she was about to launch a string of obscenities in K’s direction. “Oh yeah, can’t wait for it.”

The two of them bickered constantly, but J knew of K’s obsession with her. They’d both spoken in length about their desire to share the smart mouthed waitress. That was until that damn lawsuit had been smacked against them. Now, they were committed to running a marathon with the little minx. 

J would much prefer a marathon between the sheets.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be sure to check back!! At the moment I'm the first up this month but I'll be sure to post links to my friend's creations as they are written.

Write This Picture #1

Welcome to the first, of what I hope are many, “Write This Picture” blogs. The premise is simple…Show 20 authors the same picture and you’ll get 20 different stories. J

There is only 1 Rule: A picture is worth a thousand words but we only get 250 to let our muses run wild!

Tonight, I’m creating under a cloud of hair dye fumes. (Nutrisse Cream #42 if you’re curious) I’m not sure if it will affect the final outcome of my writing but as long as no one lights a match I should be fine. 

There are times that I write scenes to help me get to know a character in a book I’m working on. This is a peek at one of my characters in the book I’m working on for the Black Hills Wolves series. My main hero has screwed up and has no idea how to fix it. I’m not sure if this will make it into the final book but it helped me work out some details. J

This picture makes me think of a place where you could go to think and mentally sort out a difficult puzzle. (Like if you make a really bad first impression and now you have no idea how to correct it.)

I fucked up.

Stone stomped along the river’s edge as rain spit down from the dark clouds overhead, adding to his already bad mood.  He realized now that he’d come on too fast and too strong and that had scared the hell out of Josh. Courting and dating were useless gestures in their world. When you met the other half of your soul, you didn’t knee him in the balls and take off running for the hills. But apparently Josh hadn’t gotten that memo. Now he had to try to figure out a way to convince his mate that he wasn’t a dominate monster.

A soft mewing noise cut through his thoughts and he looked around wondering how the hell a kitten made it into a forest all alone. Following the sound, he discovered the corner of a tattered garbage bag sticking out from under a fallen log. It was obvious that it had been torn into by wild creatures searching for a meal. His nose picked up the scent of several creatures and the remnants of their prey but it appeared they’d missed one.

An impossibly small kitten was caught up in layer of plastic. Dirty and covered in bugs, it lay deathly still in Stone’s palm. His first thought was to put it out of its misery before it too became a wild animal’s snack. Unless, I can save him and somehow convince Josh I’m not a monster.

~~~~~~~~

Now, as I got to the end of that I started envisioning Lennie from Of Mice and Men...which makes me sad so my brain quickly shifted to the Bugs Bunny rendition. LOL

Stone is certainly more bad ass than the big white snow monster but it might not hurt if Josh viewed him as a safe harmless cuddle monster.

I also realized then that is was past time to rinse the fumes out of my hair.

~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check out how the other phenomenally talented authors participating this month have translated the same picture!! I was lucky enough to meet both these authors at RTC this year and I can't wait to see them again in 2016. You'll LOVE them!

Nathan Burgoine

Kadian Tracey 

Comments are always welcome below! Say Hi let me know you're here :) If your an author and you want to join in next month. Find me on FB and I'll add you to our group. 
(Here I'll make it easy. Kayleigh Malcolm) 

Summer Blog Hop - Welcome Regina Andrews!

Welcome to my blog, Regina. What is your new book about?

Thank you so much for inviting me to visit. I am delighted to be here. This book is very exciting to me, as it is a re-issue that I am looking forward to having people enjoy.

THE PERFECT PROPOSAL centers on Lindsay Richardson, a quiet elementary school teacher, whose world is turned upside down when she becomes the assistant to Dean Singleton Copley, one of the nation’s most dynamic business leaders in the high-powered corporate world. Lindsay’s father recently died unexpectedly and the school where she was teaching could not allow her time off to take care of her mother, who has Alzheimer’s. Thanks to a chance encounter with one of her father’s friends, businessman Mr. Copley Sr., she is offered a position at his company. When she arrives at work, she discovers she will be working with Dean Jr., the dynamo – not the kindly elder Mr. Copley who knew her father.

This time in her life is a test of her faith, her courage, and her strength. Her questions extend to not knowing what the Lord expects from her regarding her new boss, a dashing bachelor so different from her on the surface. Lindsay begins to see that Dean is scarred from situations in his past. Only faith gives Lindsay the strength to deal with the many challenges of her new position, all her personal crises, and the turmoil in her family life.

Where did you get your inspiration for this novel?

Actually I read an article about a situation like this on the Wedding page of our Sunday paper many years ago. The two met at work and lived happily ever after!

I love “happily ever after” stories. What kind of research did you do for this book?

It was crucial to understand Alzheimer’s disease. There were many questions I had to research, and facts I had to verify. Such as, for example, the matter of a patient wandering away from the house, which is a scene in the book, or the phenomenon of “sundowning”, which also occurs. I tried very hard to treat the entire subject of Alzheimer’s disease and its ripple effect with the utmost respect and dignity. Additionally, I had to research a bit about the various social clubs at Brown University, which involved several enjoyable visits to the University’s facilities.

Did you put real experiences from your research in this story?

At one point I served as a member of the Senior Citizens Governing Board in Rhode Island, and much of my experience from this appointed position could be applied to the subject matter of this book.  The “research” in this case was my actual life experience.

Wow! To use your own experiences is fantastic. You love to write Inspirational Romances. What intrigues you most about writing these love stories? 

To me, the most exciting aspect of Inspirational romance is that unlike a traditional romance with two main characters - the hero and the heroine, an Inspirational romance actually has three main characters – the hero, the heroine and God. That dynamic creates a fluid, vibrant paradigm that propels the story along without my having to construct it, because it is not just the hero and heroine’s thoughts or the way they relate to each other that propels the plot along. Rather, it is the hero and heroine’s relationship with God in addition to their relationship to each other directly impacts the storyline. And since it is a romance and we can be assured of a positive outcome, the path towards that evolves very naturally in my stories. It is guided by human foibles, triumphs and actions -- all held within the loving heart of God.

 Thank you so much for having me visit! 

1. 

   Award-winning author Regina Andrews, a resident of Providence, Rhode Island, grew up in the seaside village of Barrington, about 20 miles South of Providence. After graduating from Providence College she earned her degree in American Civilization from Brown University. The author of numerous works including romantic fiction, plays, essays and articles, Regina is currently working on The Sterling Lakes Series. Regina is involved in numerous community organizations, and is a radio host for In-Sight, an association for the visually impaired. Her hobbies include travel, museums, theater, reading, chorale singing and gardening. She and her husband share their home with a semi-feral cat named Queen Tiana, whom they rescued from a shelter.

To learn more about this author, visit her website at http://www.reginaandrews.com. You’ll find all her books at this site. Here is the link to THE PERFECT PROPOSAL:

http://www.writers-exchange.com/The-Perfect-Proposal.html

Here are some more links where you can find her books:

Writers Exchange E-Publishing
http://www.writers-exchange.com
* Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Writers.Exchange)
* Amazon
(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=%22writers+exchange+e-publishing%22),
* Smashwords
(https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=%22writers+exchange+e-publishing%22),
* Barnes & Noble
(http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/-writers-exchange-e-publishing-?store=allproducts&keyword=%22writers+exchange+e-publishing%22)

From Regina's upcoming release, REFLECTIONS of the HEART:

Cascade closed her eyes, willing her mind to imprint the scene on her heart. The mist, the water, the fall foliage, the gazebo...it all created a mosaic that was the picture of her life.

"This is Sterling Lake. This is me. At least, who I used to be."

She opened her eyes and turning the key in the ignition, drove away into the night.

Two hours later, she pulled into the underground parking garage of her condo complex in Boston's trendy Beacon Hill neighborhood. Lively chatter spilled over from the streets outside as she got into the elevator and pushed '10'.

All the way up, images of Sterling Lake swirled in her minds' eye. Bobby Ryan, her first kiss, in the gazebo. Summer band concerts under the stars at the gazebo. The May procession and crowning the statue of the Blessed Mother in the gazebo. Ice skating in the winter, from the gazebo. And most of all, Dan. How had she strayed so far from there?

"It's like Fr. Greene said. I can't run away from who I am."

The elevator doors parted silently and she stepped out.

"Cascade."

She caught her breath. "Dan?"

"I'm here now, Cascade. And I love you forever."

Her eyes searched his face. "After what happened? All that I did?"

"You are amazing, Cascade." His eyes crinkled. "But - human."

Memories of the troubles she had caused swirled through her. "I never meant any harm."

"Amen." His warm arms wrapped her in faith and love.

Follow the links below to read my fellow tourist’s stories. Remember, we all used the same picture and had to limit ourselves to 250 words.

Sue Roebuck at http://worldofgood-gina-blogspot.com
Regina Andrews at http://kayleighmalcolm.blogspot.com/
Kayleigh Malcolm at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ann-Tracy-Marr/114711658247?ref=hl
 Ann Tracy Marr at http://susanroebuck.com