Last day of the Hop

Happy Easter, Good Pesach or Passover, Good Theravadin New Year,  and if I left anything out, Have a GREAT Sunday, April 8!

This is the last day of the Easter Blog Hop and what a Hop it's been!

I want to start off by saying that I truly empathize with everyone busy, cooking, chasing after children, and hiding eggs. I've done my fair share of that and then some. My girls are grown now and doing their own thing this holiday.

My eldest is working for an airlines, so please treat her kindly when you fly--today or any day. It's a tense job, especially around the holidays. I won't name her or say where she works; everyone is somebody's loved one. They all deserve love and support, or at least kindness, while they're doing their job, right? My youngest has a variety of tasks that make up her job, not the least of which includes making the holiday fun for children. I wish her strength and positive vibes; because you never know how other people's children will treat you or what will make them happy or sad.

Now, before I share excerpts and goodies with you, I want to thank so many of you for sharing your holiday plans with me. My sister and niece are going out to find something to get into out in the world. They love egg hunts, even though they're a little older than most egg hunters you'll find. As a blind person, everything is a hunt, so those are not as much fun for me. I'm going to spend the day with you guys, and with the characters from the book I'm wrapping up for you. Hopefully, more on that later.

Since you seemed to enjoy the excerpt from Weakspot yesterday (or was it the day before?) I'm going to post a bit of the sequel, Pet Peeve.

I'm also going to post a bit of Civil Liberties--I've really been into it lately--rereading it. I think it's one of my favorites. I bet I could write ten times as much…or five times--if I had it to do over again.

 Pet Peeve

For five years Renaud Brunet has worked for his uncle as a deputy in Xavier Parish, far away from the ballet world of New York, London, Moscow, Australia—all of it.
_
He’s also avoided feminine entanglements, in spite of a very lusty female werewolf on his tail

Excerpt:

  _

            Everybody has a pet peeve. Finding women in various states of undress lurking around his home definitely qualified as Acting Sheriff Renaud Brunet’s biggest pet peeve.

    

        Damned if there wasn’t a half naked woman poking around on his back porch even now, as he parked in his yard at the end of a long day of work. She didn’t even look up when he turned his truck off.

            He didn’t need to use the exceptional sense of smell or hearing that all werewolves enjoyed to locate her. She was right there in the open, waiting for him and poking around on his property, barely dressed.

            With the exception of Zierra, the female lupine who still haunted him, he hadn’t had to deal with various women trying to coerce him into sex with them for the last five years. It had been that long since he stopped dancing professionally.

            Whenever Zierra did show up, he usually let Ziggy, his best friend and fellow officer, handle her in whatever way the other man saw fit. She hated Ziggy.

            Right now, however, there was no one around aside from himself to deal with the nearly naked woman on his porch. That was a shame because he was very dangerous these days.

As he approached her, the wind plastered the tee shirt she wore against her curves and confirmed that she wore very little else. He thought he knew just how to make this little interloper sorry that she’d intruded upon his sanctuary.

            Pulling his gun from it’s holster, he ordered, “Hold it right there,” in a low, I-mean-business voice.

            The young woman froze in place, bending over a box. Stepping in front of her, he snapped a handcuff on one wrist and, pulling her other arm in front of her, he handcuffed that wrist as well.

            “Sir? Oh!” Her eyes went big and round. “Mr. Brunet, Renaud Brunet? Um, I...” she seemed to be having some trouble forming thoughts. Good. She’d be better off if she didn’t speak and push him further over the edge of control.

            “Quiet, lady!” he barked, hauling her into the house. He flicked on the light switch but nothing happened. Swearing, he turned to his captive. “I guess we goanna have to do this in the dark, no?”

      

      He hauled her up the stairs and into the kitchen. Once there, he turned her to face the back of a kitchen chair.

            “Arms out in front! Hold on to that chair!” he ordered her. “Spread your legs! Wide!”

            She did as she was told. He could smell her fear. There was something familiar about her scent but he ignored it. He was fighting to keep his beast under control right now.

            “Mr. Brunet?” she croaked when his hand skimmed her abdomen. “Please, there’s been...”

            “Hush!” he growled, feeling her shake under his hands as they moved up her ribs. “This is called a body search. It happens when you’re caught breaking and entering or trespassing.”

            His hands traveled over her shoulder blades and back to her ribs, slowly moving up. When he cupped her breasts, she whimpered and tried to pull away. Closing his hands more firmly around the small globes, he moved his fingers until each nipple was caught between his index finger and his middle finger.

            “Don’t. Move,” he breathed into her ear. He pinched her nipples between his fingers. She whimpered again.

            His hands released her now-hard nipples and skimmed down to the waist of her barely-there lace panties. He rested his hands on her hips, pressing behind her, knowing she could feel his hard erection. Usually, he just wanted to get rid of the women. He hadn’t even gotten hard for a woman in five years. This one was dangerously close to meeting the predator that lived inside of him.

Later:

After Cili dropped Paul and Ivanna off at school, she decided she ought to stop and get something to eat. The waitress was asking her about her tee shirt when Ziggy sat down across from her.

Ziggy asked to see both sides of her shirt. She knew Renaud was not that far away. She could feel him but she refused to turn and look.

“I get it! I get it!” Ziggy crowed, laughing. “It’s hysterical!”                    

“I guess I was in a bad mood,” Cili confessed in her usual whisper. “I made it last week.”

On one side, it had a sheep that was obviously electric, dialing a rotary wheel. He dialed the number 594. On the back, the words “YEAH, RIGHT!” were written in large script.

“Renaud really pissed you off, huh?” He was trying to warm up to her but she didn’t really trust him.

“What’s up, Ziggy?” She cut him off as best she could in her breathy, husky voice.

“Odd that you should have that particular shirt on when I make my request…”

She glared at him. “No, really, I’m taking a literature course a few nights a week.” He spoke fast.

“You didn’t know that I have a Bachelor’s in Literature and Philosophy. Nobody does – well, Rory, War, and now you. What do you want, Ziggy?”

“Now, I want help with my homework, but mostly, I need a little favor.” He waited while she sipped her coffee and looked at him.

“What?” Her throat was getting sore and she needed to be careful.

“I have this dog” he began. The look on her face was one of surprise. “Could you keep him for a few nights a week while I’m in class?”

“Why don’t you ask Renaud?” She said right away. “You can’t be gone that long, Ziggy?”

~~~

Civil Liberties

 $3.99

by J.J. Massa

When cop Christian Parker meets D.A. Denny at a bar and takes him home, they have one steamy night of passion. That might be the end of it, but a deposition brings Christian back into Denny's life. Denny tries to deny his feelings for Christian, preferring to be a player, but when a family tragedy brings Christian down, Denny is there to comfort him.

Everything that can go wrong for these two does go astray, and Christian is ready to give up. When another tragedy threatens to tear them apart forever, though, it might just be Denny who has to convince Christian that he's ready to settle down. Can they struggle through everything life throws at them and find a way to stay together?

Excerpt:

Denny came to this bar for the usual reasons--sometimes he needed a man. He liked women well enough. 

There were just some things they couldn’t give to him. Not only that, he had to be discreet. Sure, legally, nobody could say anything about his choice of bed partner. In reality, though, it mattered.

“I’ve been here a couple of times, maybe three or four,” Christian admitted.

“I have seen you here before, but I never noticed you leave with anyone?” Denny made it a question on purpose. What would the other man say? Would he explain why he had never engaged anyone else?

Christian sipped at his drink for a minute and then glanced over at Denny again. “I, um, I’ve got this job…I’m not supposed to be gay, or you know, whatever.”

Denny chuckled again. “You mean bi?”

Christian grinned sheepishly, “Well, I tried to be bi and I don’t think I qualify. Mostly, women just don’t do it for me. My folks couldn’t probably deal with it. My dad’s a military officer. And my job--no way. I, uh, work for the city.”

That statement made Denny feel a bit more comfortable. “Yeah, mine’s pretty much the same. I’m a civil servant, myself,” he admitted, enjoying his scotch. “I wonder, Christian,” he smiled to soften his next comment, “You don’t seem very experienced for someone who is so sure that women don’t work for him.”

“I’ve gone out with women, you know…it’s just…well, I’ve had some experience with men, just casual.”

“My job would frown on it, too,” Denny smiled. “I take it that you’re interested in moving your experience beyond the casual?” he asked, trying to keep it light but get to the point, both at the same time.

Christian picked up his shot of whiskey and gulped it; wide, blue eyes looking at Denny, he nodded. “I, uh, think I know what I want…what I need.”

“What do you think that is, Christian?” Denny asked, his voice an octave lower than normal. Everything about this sweet, young, blond man was pushing all of his buttons.

Christian looked down at the bar and then glanced shyly over at Denny. “I don’t mind being in charge at work…but the rest of the time, I need something else.”

Denny tossed a twenty-dollar bill onto the bar and took Christian by the bicep, appreciating how muscular the young man was. Without a word, the younger man let Denny lead him toward the back of the bar and the rear exit.

Stopping at a hidden alcove near the door, Denny pulled Christian in tight against him. When the other man gasped in surprise, Denny covered Christian’s mouth with his own.

The heady flavor of malted whiskey and healthy young man was overwhelming. They were of a size, though Denny was slightly taller. The slight advantage allowed him more leverage as his mouth caressed over the full, pink lips under his.

He was falling into Christian and he wanted more, needed more. Though it happened sometimes, often in fact, Denny didn’t plan to have sex with Christian in the back of the bar. There wouldn’t be a hand-job in the bathroom for them, no. He wanted plenty of time to explore, play, have his way with the honey blond. 

And, this being Christian’s first full male sexual experience, Denny had every intention of helping himself to any sort of virginity that Christian had left; he didn’t want to do it in the men’s room.

~~~

I'm sure I'll be by later for a last hurrah ; -)   and of course, prizes! I'll double check to see if Drea hands those out, but the surprise chocolate is all me!

Let me know how your day is going. Tell me what you're up to, what you did, what you're reading. Give me whatever you got LOL  I'm interested in what's going on with you, and that's what puts you in the running for the goodies!

Talk to you soon. 

J.J. Massa

www.jjmassa.com

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