Greetings and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where writers from a wide variety of genres share from their work in snippets of ten sentences, with maybe a few more added on for your reading pleasure.

I hope you’re all enjoying the season, staying safe and making the most of the end of this endless year. My family has made the tough decision not to gather, so I’m sad, and grumpy, but I’m keeping my eye on the light at the end of the tunnel.

Today’s snippet carries on with Chapter One from Shameless In Seattle, my contemporary gay romance set to be released in early January. After hanging out with his friend Melanie and speculating on who the mysterious author (pen name Olympia Konstantin) of the Shameless series might really be, Aaron goes home and decides to read a few pages to see how much of his life has been co-opted into the character of Eric Slater.

***

At two a.m. Aaron forced himself to put down Full Exposure, Shameless In Seattle #1 and go brush his teeth. In one hundred pages Eric Slater had more sex than Aaron had in his entire life.  Mel was right, it was compelling in an oddly twisted, squirm-inducing way. And it was funny, sort of tongue in cheek: Tongue everywhere, for that matter.

He rinsed, spat and reluctantly looked at himself in the mirror.  He was no Fabio.  He worked out and never had trouble getting dates, but the description of Eric bore no resemblance to him aside from the gray eyes and black hair.

If only Olympia could see him in worn flannel pajamas, sticky bed hair, bleary two-beer eyes and—what was that?—a caramel ice cream stain on his cheek.  He thumbed it off.  If Marissa Alvarez were there, she’d lick it off and keep on going.

That’s ten. Here’s a few more if you’re so inclined:

“Oh, for crying out loud, stop it!”  He stormed back into the bedroom and stared at the offending object on his quilt.  He had to admit he’d gotten a little hot and bothered reading the damn thing. The point of view jumped back and forth between Eric and Marissa, the tough, no-nonsense cop who despite an excess of smarts, couldn’t resist super jerk Eric. Both of them were emotionally guarded but sexually insatiable. Olympia certainly had a knack for creating steamy pairings, even if they were hetero.

***

Shameless In Seattle, coming in January 2021!

Aaron Schafer, star reporter for the Seattle Times, is shocked to find out he’s the inspiration for a series of bodice-ripper romances written by a reclusive author no one has met.  He’s even more surprised, and disturbed, on discovering intimate secrets from his past buried in the pages of Shameless in Seattle. Who is this mystery author, who has clearly been stalking him and stealing details from his life? Are they dangerous? And worse, will they reveal Aaron’s darkest secret to the world? Aaron decides to stalk the stalker, a decision that will change his life.