Give it a read and let me know what you think!

Tomorrow we’ll be chatting in Lizzie T. Leaf’s Tearoom at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LizziesTeaRoom/ from 6:00 AM PST to 4:00 PM PST.

Join us for excerpts and fun!!

The story topped out at 11,344 words, I’d originally estimated it at 8k. Oops.

Here’s a short excerpt (behind the cut because it’s ADULT)

They’d survived.

Derek turned in his arms and nestled against him, arms laced around his waist. “That was really weird, you know?” Derek’s blonde head nestled against his shoulder, nuzzling his face against Troy’s neck.

Warmth filled him, a nearly overwhelming wave of tenderness and love. He ran his hands up and down Derek’s back, stroking him through the button-down shirt he’d changed into for dinner. Gods he hoped Derek’s dad would come to his senses and do it soon. Derek was obviously feeling much better with the rest of his family’s backing but he’d worked with his father every day for years and his dad’s rejection had cut him to the bone.

Derek wiggled closer and nipped Troy’s neck. Heat flared through Troy and his cock jerked to instant attention. Shit. What this man did to him was amazing and almost scary sometimes.

He slid his hands down to cup Derek’s tight ass and ground their cocks together through their slacks. “Let’s go inside. This time without your family interrupting us, please.”

His lover chuckled and swayed his hips again. “It’s not my fault they decided to descend without warning, but I’d love to pick up where we left off.”

He growled in response and released Derek long enough to turn and lead the other man into the house and up the stairs. Unable to resist, he pinned Derek to the wall inside the bedroom and devoured his mouth.

God he tasted good. A hint of sugar and spices mixed with the sweet, pure taste of Derek. He’d never tire of the taste. Hell, his lips tingled like they were electrified and he used his tongue to seek out all the tender, sensitive areas of Derek’s mouth.

He was going to come in his pants if he didn’t slow down a little. With a supreme act of willpower, he tore his lips away. “Shower, now.”

He took Derek’s hand again and pulled him toward the big master bathroom. “Strip.”

Troy turned to start the shower running, adjusting the temperature until it was nicely hot but not scalding. Steam began to billow from the huge shower enclosure and Troy turned back to see the sleek, naked body of his partner leaning back against the counter. Despite the casual pose, his thick, hard cock betrayed his eagerness.

Unable to resist, Troy dropped to his knees and swallowed Derek’s cock down with a single, hard suck. Finesse be damned, he needed this man now. The musky, salty-bitter taste of the other man’s pre-cum teased at Troy’s senses. He slowly pulled away, pressing his tongue along the base of the other man’s cock and drawing the motion out as long as possible, then flicking his tongue along the rim of the head before he let it pop from between his lips.

Nearly breathless, he rested his head against Troy’s muscled thigh for a moment and tried to calm himself. As hard as his cock was right now, he might explode just trying to take his pants off.

This story has an interesting history to it. I had been in a chat with Jet Mykles and Anne Cain where our discussion turned to the lack of Thanksgiving themed stories, especially Thanksgiving themed male/male stories. At some point the conversation devolved to specifics and one of them threw out the idea of a food-based story where the guys use gravy as lube. Of course my know-it-all self had to interject that gravy would be too grainy and butter would be better.

Next thing I knew they’d challenged me to write that scene.

I have a horrible personality flaw that makes it nearly impossible for me to resist a challenge. Especially from people I respect. ‘Nuff said.

So I cooked up a scene with Derek and Troy and had a nice little story idea around it. It was maybe 2K words. As you may know if you read my blog, I write a weekly flash fiction free read and those are usually 750 words or so. So a 2K scene is not so out of character. But I did have enough done that I liked it and knew I wanted to finish the story. The question was who to sell it to - I knew it wouldn’t be very long, maybe 8k, and there aren’t many houses that take that might take a contemporary male/male story that short.

At this point I decided to get a few people to look at what I had and give me a sanity check on whether it was worth finishing. It was the first male/male story I’d written and I do have these issue with “suckitis”. So I sent it to a couple of friends who I trust to tell me the truth. They liked it and encouraged me on.

Okay, so it was worth finishing, but I still didn’t know who to sell it to. I was chatting with Laura Baumbach a few days later and mentioned my quandry then asked if she had advice on who to send it to when it was done. To my surprise, she asked to see it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have sent it to her, honestly. I don’t like to presume on friendships and I’m hugely mindful of not calling in favors. I play by strict rules, maybe to an idiotic level in some people’s eyes.

I sent it and spent a little while biting my nails off. I honestly expected a lovely critique that pointed out all the things I’d done wrong. Maybe even telling me to not give up my day job and stick to het stories.

Instead she asked if she could buy it. I had to pick myself up off the floor. Really.

So I signed a contract, then one for another idea I had (Bittersweet, though I didn’t name it for quite a while). Then I started trying to work on it … and trying…. and trying.

This story kicked my ASS.

I have spent more time writing, deleting 99% of it, writing some more and repeating that cycle than anything else. I’ve probably written 25K to get 9K of usable wordcount.

Today I realized what at least one of my problems is. I tried to pants this story and it’s too long for ME to be able to write by the seat of my pants. Most deletions have been because a scene wasn’t moving the story along. It wasn’t serving a purpose. This happens when I don’t know my plan of getting to the end.

No more writing stories without a storyboard for me. As soon as I’ve turned this in, I’m putting together the storyboard for Bittersweet. I refuse to go through this again.

Probably more than you ever wanted to know, but there it is :)

Today I’m inspired by the Appaloosa.

(Archives are on the website, if you want to read the offerings of past weeks)

——————————-

Heart of the Appaloosa
(c) 2008 by Maura Anderson

Sharon forced herself to stillness, barely breathing as she adjusting camera settings and captured the image in her viewscreen. The mirror-like stillness of the lake reflected the almost full moon and stars so perfectly it seemed magical.

She snapped a few more shots of the lake, hoping to capture the awe and serenity of the scene, then rested the camera on her lap and just enjoyed the pristine Idaho night. The deep-voice frogs serenaded her from the shores of the lake. The distant noises of the ranch’s horses in their corral. The small slash of a fish breaching the lake water to catch an insect or two.

What a difference from the city. A pang of fear made her breath catch. She loved it here and loved taking photos but quitting her job to become a freelance photographer was a big risk. The fact she’d been forced into making that switch before she was really ready made her nervous. But she’d make it work. She had to make it work.

A deep breath of the cool, clean air. Then another. She could worry about it later. Right now she just had to enjoy her visit to Coeur d’Alene.

She stared out across the lake again. This land seemed to welcome her the moment she set foot on it. A belonging like she’d never felt in the city or even on her adoptive parent’s ranch. Before now she’d not really thought of herself as superstitious or prone to the fantastic but this was the land of her ancestors and it made a difference.

Motion caught her eye suddenly. Elk? Moose? Something large was in the light woods and moving toward the shore of the large lake. It was close enough she should be able to hear the rustling as it brushed up against the trees and bushes, but she didn’t hear anything.

Finally, washed in the bright moonlight and appearing like a mirage, a horse emerged from the woods. The horse’s head and neck were a dark color but then the coat changed to a light colored blanket with a heavy dusting of dark spots.

“Appaloosa.” Sharon barely breathed the word. Oh so slowly she lifted the camera up and focused in on the horse. Through the camera’s zoom, Sharon could see that the horse was clearly a male. She started snapping pictures as she followed his movements, so excited her hands shook and it was a struggle to hold the camera still.

“Please let these turn out.” There might be a hope with digital manipulation and the moon’s in play.

The stallion—he had to be a stallion with that proud attitude and air to him—looked around and she froze. If he saw her, he might run off. Was he a wild Appaloosa? There were rumors that some still ran wild but not in this area, it was too populated.

The Appaloosa were the pride of her ancestors and considered part of their heritage and strength. A tangible tie to the Sharon she still struggled to come to terms with and know.

He stepped into the shallow water near the shore and lowered his head to take a drink. After a few gulps, he bent his legs and rolled in the water like a child.

The pleasure the beautiful animal seemed to take in the playful action made her chest ache at the same time she chuckled softly. Oh to be that free and have such simple pleasures again.

She continued to snap pictures as he rose to his feet again and shook his entire body, water droplets flying off in all directions. A reflexive duck and she had to laugh at herself, he was too far away to get water on her.

Suddenly the camera’s display seemed to blur and mist and she looked up to see the gorgeous horse was shimmering in the moonlight. A second later and the horse was gone. It its place stood a long-haired, naked man.

I’m blogging today at the League of Amazing Writers about Building Paranormal Worlds. Stop by and say Hi!

I’m joining the following wonderful authors:

Lizzie T. Leaf
Celia Kyle
Kara Griffin

For a chat at Coffee Time Romance! It will be a live chat with prizes and lots of fun so please stop in and join us!

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/ctr_chat.htm

Join myself and the rest of the Fiction with Friction authors the week of the Fourth of July as we take turns posting a scene that will throw sparks for you to enjoy. Some are old, some new, some are parts of larger works but all feature hot manlove!

Jet Mykles will kick off the week with a bang!

I have two stories in this anthology (Giving Thanks and Bittersweet) and I can’t wait for you to read them!