Bunny Boy
(c) 2009 by Maura Anderson

Shit, Todd hadn’t been kidding when he said this convention would be sorta like a neo-Victorian mosh-pit.

People lined the hallway as far as he could see, dressed in an amazing assortment of costumes. A preponderance of browns in leather and canvas and an huge variety of goggles seemed to be the style of the day for many. The costumes also ranged from elaborate to casual and even minimalistic but, for the most part, they were in good taste. Some had him jealous of their outfits, a few made him wish for eye bleach and a couple looked like they’d mistaken the steampunk convention for a fetish party. Despite the attractive men he’d noticed, he was here with only one person in mind.

A yank on one side of his skirt made Jamie grit his teeth and roll his eyes. These people had NO concept of personal space and kept stepping on his borrowed satin bustle skirt. Hell, it wasn’t like he was invisible in the bright fuschia and black ensemble. Snarl hopefully hidden behind the gauzy veil Todd had swaddled his head with, a quick hip-check persuaded the oblivious woman next to him to back off a bit so he could tug his skirt away from her platform boot-shod feet. She hardly seemed to notice but just the fumes from the amount of spandex and latex she was encased in may have already killed any brain cells she’d once possessed.

He somehow managed not to make a snarky comment about her choice of costeme. Barely.

How the hell had Todd persuaded him to wear this getup? He might be gay but women’s clothes were just not his thing. Especially not bustles that gave him an ass the size of a Suburban and enough yards of screamingly-colored satin that he could have made goth princess party outfits for twenty. And the corset, gods. Not only did it make sitting a trick in aiming and blindly hoping for the best but he was sure Todd had laced it much more tightly than necessary, judging by the determined yanking and the cackle of glee from his friend.

Todd had merely told him that Ben would be at this convention. Jamie had caved instantly and when Todd had suggested a costume so he could sneak up on the gorgeous man he’d had a crush on for years, Jamie’d agreed without asking the questions he should have. Like just what costume and how uncomfortable it might be. There were a lot of men in victorian finery or just photographer vests and goggles. He could have dealt with any of those. Instead he looked like a color-blind Victorian hooker.

And so far he’d not seen hide nor hair – not cute ass – of Ben. Of course he’d not realized there would be nearly a thousand people at this event, either.

The veil tickled his face again and he puffed a quick breath of air at it to get it away from his face. It fell back against his skin right away. Frustrated, he peeled the white gauze up and stuffed it onto the brim of the two foot tall hat pinned to his head with enough bobby pins to overwhelm his grandmother’s beehive. Even with the swath of ostrich feathers, the hat was not coming off unless it took his hair and scalp with it. That was better – now he could see at least.

Tired of standing and posing for pictures, Jamie took a few deliberate steps into the hotel lobby’s seating area and perched on the edge of a red upholstered chair. He quelled a shudder at the lovely clash of fuschia skirt with the chair’s red fabric. The boned victorian corset made it impossible to sit in any comfortable position, though. Maybe he should just give up and see if he could spot Ben tomorrow. Or maybe Ben would come by with everyone else wandering toward the afternoon tea.

Jamie’d finally convinced himself to give up and see if he could escape from the corset’s steel embrace and relax. Then a rich laugh snapped his attention away from his sore ribs. That had to be Ben’s laugh. A heavy shudder flowed through him and goosebumps raised on his arms.

The familiar tall body walked into the lobby from the atrium. Graceful and unhurried, Ben laughed again at whatever the short blonde girl next to him said. He was wearing striped shirt and trousers and a brown leather corset over the top. Jamie licked suddenly dry lips and reconsidered his take on corsets, at least as worn by Ben. The other man unfurled the parasol he carried and struck a cute pose, revealing the white fluffy bunny tail pinned to the back of his trousers and the adorable bunny ears perched on the brim of his brown top hat.

The costume was almost unbearably cute and Jamie’s cock hardened with lust. The leather corset made Ben’s cute butt even more pronounced – and even more attractive. The bunny ears and tail were a reflection of the other man’s fun sense of humor. How had he stayed away from Ben for so long? Whatever resistance Jamie had disappeared when a cute man in a top hat and frock coat began flirting with Jamie’s Bunny Boy. The bitter bite of jealousy churned his gut and when the other man reached out to caress Ben’s short beard, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

He pulled the veil down from his hat again and stood up, shaking his bright-colored skirts out so they settled back into place. Not too fast and not too slow, he stepped behind Ben’s fluffy-tailed ass. No time like the present. A deep breath and he wrapped his arms around Ben’s corseted waist and ground his hard cock against the ass he lusted over.

Ben gasped for a second, then pressed his ass back, rubbing against the cock behind him. Arching a bit, he tried to turn his head far enough to see just who was behind him. “Have we met?” His voice was nervous but held a tinge of excitement.

“Hi Bunny Boy. I’ve been hunting just for you.”

I’m so pleased to finally be able to announce that the Hot Comfort anthology is finally available from Manlove Romance Press!

This print anthology includes my two stories – Bittersweet and Giving Thanks – as well as stories by Jet Mykles, Kimberly Gardner and Luisa Prieto.

You can see more about this great anthology at ManLove Romance Press’s website.

Now that Bittersweet is out, I’ve had some questions about it and wanted to share what happened during the writing of Brand and David’s story. It taught me a few things, trust me.

When I signed up to write two stories for the Hot Comforts anthology from Manlove Romance Press, I pitched the ideas for Giving Thanks and Bittersweet. Several other authors also joined the anthology and it was scheduled for around Thanksgiving 2008.

Because these stories are part of an anthology, it means they really can’t be too long. 20,000 words is a LONG story to have in an anthology. So there’s a maximum reasonable size the editor and publisher expect.

Giving Thanks went pretty well and relatively quickly. I’m happy with it and it really told the whole story I wanted it to.

Bittersweet is a whole other case. I knew a bit about the conflict and the fact it’s very much based on not judging someone by their appearance or what you think they might be like. When I started writing the story, though, I really got into these characters. I sent the first chapter to my test readers and one of them immediately replied that this was NOT a short story.

But it had to be. It needed to be. I literally spent months fighting with this story and trying to force it into an appropriate size and structure. But it fought back. Every time I tried to force Brand and David to get in bed, it came out horribly. Every time I tried to gloss over their personalities and foibles, they seemed like plastic characters. I rewrote it so many times I delayed the whole damned anthology. My deadline was blown and I was so frustrated and in despair it was awful. There’s just no way these characters would behave that way.

Finally I had to step back for a bit from my attempts to force my will on the story and I wrote another chapter, letting myself write what was demanding to be written. There’s a lot of background. There’s a lot of detail and some scenes that don’t have to do with sex but let the readers learn more about who these two people are.

I liked it. It flowed again.

So I finally accepted I could not shoehorn a Happily Ever After into this story. I took it to the point of a Happily For Now but there’s a lot more of this story to come. I’m going to write the rest of their story and see if I can sell it because I want to tell it. There’s pain, misunderstanding, assumptions, sex and love to go.

I know I’ve seen one opinion so far that there wasn’t enough sex and I spent time on things that didn’t matter. I hope that’s not the majority opinion because I love these two characters and the have a compelling and beautiful story to finish. But I did want to share what happened to me while I wrote this story :)

Bittersweet can be purchased from Aspen Mountain Press!

I just love it!

The Rainbow Romance Writers has been accepted as the newest RWA Special Interest chapter.

The chapter’s website states:

Our goals are

• to promote excellence in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender romances
• to help members become published in LGBT romances
• to be an advocate within the industry for our genre
• to be a resource to our members and others on writing and the publishing industry

We are career-focused writers, and what we love to write are passionate, sensual, sweet, and sometimes erotic glimpses of love between LGBT characters.

Chapter officers are:

The board:
President – Jade Buchanan
Vice President – Sara Bell
Secretary – Kimberly Gardner
Treasurer – JL Langley

Website:
Webmaster – Jet Mykles

Newsletter
coming soon…

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make this chapter a reality!