WHAT IF WE WROTE.... by Angelica Hart and Zi

A:  I think this is a really good idea!  (Fans the two pages the printer just spit out)
Z:  Doesn't have enough meat. (Peers at the her as if she lost a few marbles and they were now balanced on top of her head)
A:  We're not talking hamburger...but love gone astray, emotions stretched to torturous limits, a woman, a man...errr men....  It has all the markings of hot, steamy, and heart-wrenching! (Fings her arms out as if acting out on stage)
Z:  Do the words, drama queen, mean anything to you.
A:  Betcha readers would love it.
Z:  Then let's let them decide.  (Shouts through a megaphone) Hear ye...hear ye...all readers of steamy and hot, please let us know what you think about this as the beginning of a story.  Your nays and yeas will be the deciding factor.  Also, should this be an erotica by Vixen Bright and Zachary Zane or a romance by Angelica Hart and Zi?
A:  Anyone who leaves a comment with their email addy will be put into a drawing to receive a free e-book from Champagne Books.


THE AFFAIR

The autumn day spilled around her with harbor winds and fluttering leaves, but she couldn’t get past the despair lingering within like a bitter aftertaste. She stared at the ruffled water and the empty boat docks of the Inner Harbor. It had been six months since the affair ended, but she still missed him, still yearned for his touch, for the bits and pieces he returned to her soul, to the kisses that led to scorched senses on the other side of resistance. It hadn’t been just lust, but a love more intense than solar flares and a connection that bled into flesh. But it was one-sided. She knew that from the first, and had accepted it.


Drawn despite infinite reservations, she offered her heart, her body, her very soul, even as she desperately tried to remain detached. He had shattered that detachment without deliberate intention, just as he had shattered her heart without trying. She still couldn’t answer the question if it was better to have experienced the depth and expansion of sensuous, dangerous love that defied convention in every sense of the meaning, or would it have been better to have never known such ecstasy, to live life oblivious to the realization that one could touch the sun and survive.

He would come today, as he came every other Friday, and they’d have lunch at their favorite haunt, indulging in dessert that offered little temperance to the passion she pretended no longer existed. She’d offer her smile and she’d laugh, and they’d be friends on the distant shore of an affair that had nearly destroyed her world.

On this six-month anniversary of loss, she allowed herself to indulge in memories. Her twin sons had fled the nest, not for college, college ended a year before, but for jobs across the country. She found herself empty of all that made her feel real. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her husband, she did, but his cold demeanor and finally years of avoiding the bedroom, left her hungry not just for sexual intimacy but warmth and closeness. Still, they were settled, together, comfortable and compatible in most ways. No one knew the truth behind the perfect couple façade, and they would be shocked that someone of her apparent intelligence had remained in the marriage.

Society just didn’t understand that life wasn’t black and white but held infinite hues of gray with an occasional splash of color that made it bearable. Damon was that color in her world for a sampling of time. Would she have accepted that proffered cup of Chi-tea if she had known what she knew now? Would she have smiled at the stranger in astonishment that he had known her favorite drink? Or would she have offered a cold shoulder and a dour expression. She didn’t know, for one look into those stunning, gray eyes and come-hither grin and she became lost. It was that instant and that final.

“I noticed you get one of these nearly every time I’m here,” he said, taking the seat opposite her without even asking permission. “Thought I save you the trouble of standing in line.”

She stood there, jaw sagging, eyes wide, the mouse in her trying to seek a tongue. “I…ummm…”

“Thank you is the appropriate response,” he said in a way that reeked of confidence rather than arrogance.

“Thank you,” she managed and reached into her purse.

“On me,” he said, stilling her hand with a two-finger touch.

She hadn’t meant to gasp aloud, but she hadn’t expected the instantaneous heat.

Where did that come from, she thought. Where did he come from? Had he been watching her? Should she be frightened? She ate lunch alone at the library cafeteria at least three times a week after a morning spent in a pre-school art room. She was suddenly very self-conscious of her tousled hair and stained bib overalls. She wondered if she smelled like crayons and paint?

“I’m not a stalker,” he said, his gaze seeming to absorb her. “But I pass through this area once a week, stop for lunch and can’t help noticing you.”

“It’s the paint,” she said, trying to explain away being noticed. After all, a mouse wasn’t usually noticed. “I teach art at a pre-school. I guess I shouldn’t be seen in public like this.”

“It’s the smile,” he said. “You smile at everyone. You’ve smiled at me every week for the last two months.”

Her cheeks spotted crimson orbs. She had, but never thought he noticed. Besides, it was just her way of braving acute shyness and pretending people didn’t scare the spit out of her. So, she’d smile rather than speak, rather than ask a co-worker to lunch with her, rather than experience chit-chat, rather than risk rejection....

Storyline: A woman finding confidence and strength during the midst of an affair, the aftermath of the affair and the finding of new love.

The story includes the interactions of relationships and past haunts that had shaped her personality… along with the handling of her husband’s passing and finding love once more, in the shocking arena of the BDSM society.

*** We'd love to hear from anyone interested in what we do. Anyone who writes us at writingteamcw@yahoo.com (Write - Blog - in subject line) and leaves an s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.

Angelica Hart and Zi KILLER DOLLS ~ SNAKE DANCE ~ CHASING YESTERDAY CHRISTMAS EVE...VIL ~ Christmas 2012 http://www.champagnebooks.com/

Vixen Bright and Zachary Zane STEEL EMBRACE
BOOK NOOKIE-A LIBRARIAN'S BUIDE TO THE DO-ME DECIMAL SYSTEM http://www.carnalpassions.com/