Seductive Studs ~ Gryffon Hall

April 1, 2016 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to my blog and another steamy round of Seductive Studs. This week I’m succumbing to WIP love and sharing from the story that is currently my everything. Still shiny and new, I’m having a lot of fun with this twisted fairy tale, working title Gryffon Hall.

After watching his betrothed-to-be, Lennox Asburry, flirting with someone else, Wryler succumbs to jealousy and too much wine, and accidentally flirts a bit himself with the mysterious visitor, Lord Rouchet of Gryffon Hall. He’s about to suffer/enjoy the consequences.

***

Wyler squinted up a velvet sky recently cleared of clouds. It would be a good night for peering through his telescope, if only the stars would stop swarming about so.

“Lovely night after so much rain.”

Wryler snapped his chin down and stood up straight. The voice had come from the shadows toward the stables, along with the sloshing of boots through puddles. With a few more strides Aeric Rouchet emerged from the gloom, that damnable grin on his face.

“Yes. Quite,” Wryler said, “The dining hall got so hot.”

“It did, didn’t it?” Rouchet kept walking and Wryler feared he might plow straight into him. He braced himself for impact but Rouchet stopped a few inches shy of contact. “The fresh air is bracing, but it hasn’t done much to cool the flush in your cheeks.”

“It’s a curse. The blushing,” Wryler said, and damn if his blood didn’t flame even hotter.

“I find it quite becoming.” Rouchet rested his palm against the wall next to Wryler’s head and leaned in. “Is it only the quest for fresh air that keeps you from your cozy bed, Sir Wryler?”

“Yes. What else would it…would I…?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I noticed the young Mr. Arsburry giving you the eye all night.”

“Him?” Wryler snorted. “There’s nothing going on between us, I assure you.”

“Glad to hear it. I thought perhaps you were looking for company.”

“I weren’t. I wasn’t.” Accursed wine!

“But now?” Rouchet placed a finger under Wryler’s chin and lifted it slightly. His looming presence enveloped Wryler in warmth and the musky smell of leather. Rouchet blocked out the sky, the stars replaced by his gleaming eyes. Wryler shrank back against the wall. He wasn’t being held in place, but he might as well have been. He couldn’t move, and didn’t much want to.

***

For more juicy M/M goodness, don’t forget to check out the rest of the hop at www.seductivestuds.blogspot.com

My Sexy Saturday ~ Blame the Equinox

February 27, 2016 by Alexis Duran

Hello and welcome to another round of My Sexy Saturday. This week’s theme is A Sexy Paranormal Romance. I didn’t have to look far for inspiration, as fantasy is my favorite genre to write and contemporary fantasy, or paranormal, adds the extra spice of weaving magic into everyday life.

My seven paragraphs are from a work in progress which I hope I’ll have finished by this summer. The title is A Familiar Fury. Ezra is a magical creature who’s taken human form in order to hide from those of his kind who hunt him.

***

The heat of hundreds of bodies pressed together in the crowded bar irritated Ezra. Usually he took comfort in a warm flock of rutting humans, knowing he was well insulated by their radiating passions, often getting swept up in the mating and connecting with a pleasing companion for an hour or two.

Ezra enjoyed sex, but it was never fulfilling and he never experienced an orgasm, merely a welcome release. This was the price he paid for being free. Only his bonded human could bring him to ecstasy. That was how humans had captured his kind in the first place and Ezra often wondered at the sheer stupidity of it.

Yes, he enjoyed physical sensation as much as the next creature, but to give up not only your own freedom, but the freedom of your kind, for all eternity? No physical experience was worth that, although any of these humans would sell their kind down the river for it, Ezra suspected, the way they pawed and ground into him and licked his neck and fondled him through his clothes.

Tonight, he didn’t appreciate the attention. Stimulation would only lead to frustration and weakening thoughts of how it would be with his master.

Master. The very word made him cringe.

Another fruity drink appeared magically before him. A tall muscular Hawaiian offered it to him, a bribe for a friendly fuck. Ezra appreciated the cut of the man’s jib, but even this brawny, tanned human seemed to pale to insignificance before the image of Ezra’s . . . person. Lately, he’d seen Quinn Nerada in his dreams. The equinox was to blame. Ezra’s stars were unsettled due to his about-face on destiny. They wanted to bring him into alignment, make him bow down before fate. The whole universe conspired against him.

“Drink up,” the tall man said, “You look sad.”

***

My assignment for next weekend will be to write the blog for this WIP! Hope you enjoyed it. Don’t forget to continue the hop to discover a wonderful array of sweet and steamy romance at My Sexy Saturday.

My Sexy Saturday ~ Matthias

January 16, 2016 by Alexis Duran

It’s My Sexy Saturday time again! The theme this week is Our Sexy Boy (or Girl) and I’ve decided to share seven paragraphs from my work in progress, code name Matthias. In this scene, Dylan, a reporter who’s trying to get the dirt on the successful and reclusive Matthias Krall, meets him face to face for the first time since they were in college together, ten years earlier. He’s been chatting with one of Matthias’ handsome minions, Terrance, who was in the process of hitting on Dylan.

***

Dylan looked away, fiddling with his glass again, thumbing away the condensation, wondering how to steer the conversation back to safer water. He was saved by the soft swoosh of the door opening.

He almost dropped the glass when none other than Matthias Krall walked in, casually dressed in black jeans and soft-looking black shirt. Terrance sprang to his feet and moved around the table, hands out.

“Matthias.” His grin could have lit up Safeco field all on its own.

“Terrance.” Matthias’s smile wasn’t near the wattage of Terrance’s, but the look in his eye was one of extreme pleasure. He took Terrance’s hands into his own. “Good to see you.”

Damn, his words carried weight. What might have been a throw away greeting from anyone else sounded like divine absolution on Matthias’ lips. Dylan felt invisible as the two men shared some sort of silent bond. Terrance was dead wrong about that. Matthias did believe in emotional bondage, only to him alone.

Dylan took a quick gulp of water, grateful for the respite that gave him a chance to absorb Matthias’ presence before having to interact with him. Matthias was, of course, handsome beyond reason, the years having refined and chiseled his aristocratic features rather than soften them. His crystal blue eyes sparkled like sapphires, set off by his dark complexion and raven black hair. He was as lean and powerful looking as ever, maybe more so. His jeans fit perfectly. He’d rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing a thin copper bracelet on each wrist. Dylan was a sucker for bling that accentuated the elegant lines of the masculine form.

He swallowed hard and worked on crafting the neutral, slightly wide-eyed and innocent expression that had served him so well in the past. People were only too willing to believe a certain dullness on the part of a too-pretty writer, as Dylan had been called more often than he cared to recall. But would Matthias believe it?

***

Don’t forget to continue the hop at My Sexy Saturday, where a great group of writers share sexy, sweet, steamy snippets in seven words, sentences or paragraphs.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Never Saw Him

December 6, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another exciting edition of Weekend Writing Warriors. Well, I was supposed to start on the promo for my release coming up in January, but then I realized I was ONE snippet away from finishing Chapter 2 of From Mars, With Love. I know, it seems like we should be much farther along, but at ten sentences a pop, it takes a while.

Last week Eli finally found out he’s not being returned to Earth by his rescuers, but dumped at the unwelcoming outpost on Mars, which was definitely not on his to-visit list.

***

The man in black still stood there, pausing as if mildly interested in Eli’s plight. He shrugged and nearly smiled.

“Good luck with that,” he said, and sauntered past. Eli stared after him, taking deep breaths and calming himself before he said something unfortunate to the well-armed marine.

“Who is that, anyway?” he asked her.

“You never saw him,” she said, looking at Eli with a stern, don’t-mess-with-me expression. “I mean it, you never saw him, ’cause if you did, you might require a memory sweep, got it?”

“Never saw who?” Never saw him. As if Eli could ever erase the memory of those luminous blue-eyes.

***

How is it I’ve managed to overlook this motherlode of hunky space guys with guns? SG-Universe – my kind of show.

From Mars, With Love follows the adventures of Eli and his pal Rilke, two down-and-out scavengers from earth as they’re abducted by slavers, arrested by space marines, and dumped on an unwelcoming outpost on Mars. Eli’s troubles are only beginning when he finds out the ring his mother gave him contains the life force of a powerful but dormant alien and the mysterious man he has a huge crush on happens to be an alien artifact smuggler. Eli’s just trying to make it on Mars, but can he survive the dangerous political intrigue swirling around him? This erotic space opera is a work-in-progress. Stay tuned to this blog for ongoing excerpts and updates.

***

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight to ten sentences from a published work or perhaps their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or use the address: http://www.wewriwa.com

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Mars?

November 29, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors blog hop. Hope you had a great Turkey Liberation Day. As a vegetarian, I have to say I’m very grateful for mashed potatoes and butter.

I’m continuing with another excerpt from my m/m space opera in progress, From Mars, With Love. I’ve skipped ahead a bit from the last snippet. Our hero Eli has been transported via shuttle to the Space Marines’s battleship, where he has more rude surprises waiting.

***

A marine with a wisepad on her arm stood waiting for Eli outside the battleship’s dock.

“Passport or ID chip?” she demanded.

“I was swept, as in kidnapped, as in abducted against my will. They didn’t give us a chance to pack our bags or apply for visas.”

“So no identification?” She tapped on the screen, frowning. “Well, you can apply for a long-term squatters permit when we get to Mars.”

“Mars? Wait, no, you’ve got to take us back to earth… all of us.” Eli looked around in a panic, as if someone reasonable might pop out of the ether.

***

Possibly my favorite ‘space guys with guns’ photo yet. ~ Chris Pratt

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Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Classified

November 15, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the best place on the inter-web to discover your next favorite book.

Well, my little NaNoWriMo dreams have already burned up in the flames of reality, but as usual it’s due to good things. I’ve received the first round of edits for Curse of Salar, which means the release date is scary soon! Plus, I’ve signed on for a project with a February deadline, so…poor Eli is going to be stuck with the space marines for a while longer. Maybe I’ll end up publishing the whole story in snippets.

Last week, after an exchange of insults, Eli told the man in black about the other slave ship in the hopes the other captives might be rescued. This excerpt is from my space-opera-in-progress, From Mars, With Love.

***

The man in black didn’t seem upset about being called a habi-brat. Maybe he’d never even heard the slang, having never set his sanitized feet on the ground.

Eli caught up with the closest marine and grabbed his arm. This earned Eli a smack to the chest that sent him stumbling backwards.

The marine’s voice crackled out of the mic in his helmet, “I heard what you said about the sweeper. I’ll mic it up to Con, but don’t hold your breath; we’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

“Aren’t you supposed to stop slavers?” Eli demanded.

“Yeah, but we’ve got a report on alien smuggling earthside and—”

“That’s classified,” the man in black said sharply. The marine shut up and hurried away.

***

EUREKA -- Episode 505 "Jack of All Trades" -- Pictured: (l-r) Colin Ferguson as Sheriff Jack Carter, Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Allison Blake -- (Photo by: David Gray/Syfy)

I don’t know about you, but I miss all the fun-loving end-of-the-world disasters Colin Ferguson narrowly averted every week on Eureka. (Photo by: David Gray/Syfy)

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