My Sexy Saturday: We go for a ride! Excerpt from The Proud and the Prejudiced
Good morning, dear readers,
As you see, this week's theme is "A Sexy Sleigh Ride." I fear I must disagree with the lovely coordinators of My Sexy Saturday because I do not think there is anything romantic about snow! I tried living in Colorado once, and over Christmas week, we were hit with a blizzard so bad that the only way to get out of the house was to climb through the second-floor window! Snow is wet and cold. And wet! My boyfriend and I were separated for a week during the holidays while I was stuck in the home of my elderly aunt and uncle, with whom? My other elderly aunt and uncle plus my grandmother and grouchy mother. NOT romantic. I'll keep the heat and humidity of Louisiana, thank you very much. Northerners will tell me, "Oh, but you don't have seasons!" Oh, yes we do! Football, Mardi Gras, Crawfish, and Hurricane. I'm perfectly happy having to turn the air conditioner way down so we can enjoy a fire and hot spiced (spiked) cider on Christmas.
Fortunately, they gave me an out: "Sleigh rides are awesome… (THEIR opinion - not mine!)…heck…any kind of ride can be awesome when you have the right someone with you. It can start with a brisk cold night. Maybe the car or the spaceship won’t start."
Since I have just gotten back into blogging, and this is the last Sexy Saturday for a few weeks, I didn't want to skip it. I scoured all of my novels and works in progress and couldn't find ANY romantic scenes in any mode of transportation. In Pulse and Prejudice, I have Darcy riding in a coach a couple of times, but once it's on his first trip to Netherfield with the Hursts and Bingleys, with Mr. Hurst's girth crowding the poor man, er, vampire; and the other is on his way to Rosings with his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. In the sequel I am writing (Dearest Bloodiest Elizabeth), Darcy and Elizabeth do go for a ride in a carriage, but it doesn't go well.... I'll just leave it at that.
So the one and only romantic scene I have involving transportation is in The Proud and the Prejudiced, and they don't stay in the car long. I hope the Sexy Saturday Authors will forgive me for going over the 7 paragraph rule, but most of them are quite short - just a few words - and I had to get Peter and Alice from the car to the sexy bit. Enjoy~
“Would you like to come in for a nightcap?” she asked, then realized she had nothing to drink in her room.
He kept his hands on the steering wheel and his eyes straight ahead. “I can’t.”
Oh. “All right then.” She unbuckled her seatbelt.
“Eileen said you are in a cottage?”
“Yes, just around the main building.”
He turned off the engine. “I’ll see you to your door.”
Neither spoke as they walked on the narrow path to her door or when she turned the key. She turned back to face him, unsure what to do or say.
“Thank you for a magical evening,” she said.
“But magic isn’t real. Is it? It’s all an illusion.”
She couldn’t tell if she detected bitterness in his tone or defeat, but either way it squeezed her heart and made her eyes burn.
“Good night.” She moved to embrace him, a kiss on the cheek; but he grasped her arms and held her back, and she didn’t know how long she could stave off the tears. “I suppose a part of you must hate me.”
He shook his head gently without taking his eyes from hers. His grip tightened on one arm as he raised his other hand to the side of her face and swept his thumb from her temple, down her cheek, to her lips. As he rubbed his thumb on her lower lip, her heartbeats and breaths quickened, and her eyes slid shut. He rolled his thumb all around her lips, inside and out, sending a current of desire through her core until she thought she might burst if he didn’t kiss her.
His thumb still against her lip, he leaned his forehead against hers and spoke with a low ragged breath. “Alice, I can’t. I can’t kiss you.”
Why not? She thought the words but could not speak, too wrapped up in the sensations he aroused in her.
“If I kiss you, I won’t be able to stop. I won’t stop kissing you. And I won’t stop with just kissing you. I will have to make love to you, and you won’t be able to stop me. Not again. Do you understand what I am saying, Alice? If I kiss you, I will not be able to stop until I have had you, completely...”
Oh, I love this couple so much. I guess that's why I had to come back and give them more time together! Remember, all eBook versions of The Proud and the Prejudiced are only 99 cents through the holidays. As far as I'm concerned, that's better than a sleigh ride!
Great snippet, well done!
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