Beth D. Carter's Blog, page 72

We Are Not Alone

First of all, thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog hop this past weekend and left a comment!  Two winners were chosen and they've already been notified.  Please visit with me on the 22nd when I welcome the talented Stacey Espino!  Also, next week I'll be "Ringing in the New Year" Blog Hop with another give-a-way!
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I am a firm believer that we are not alone in this universe.  That may make some people write me off as a kook and think I walk around with aluminum foil on my head but I believe what I see and yes, I’ve seen something unidentifiable. 
Perhaps I should start at the beginning.  When I was a teenager in rural Missouri I was driving home one night on a back road where there weren’t any street lights when I saw something in the sky.  It was three triangular lights, very bright, hovering in a bank of clouds.  And it was low in the sky.  I pulled over onto the shoulder, half way into someone’s yard and rolled down my window.  Everything was silent.  You’d expect to hear the drone of an engine or the hum of a motor since the lights were so close, but there was not but silence.
My high school had a football game that night and the bright field lights blazed…but what I was looking at wasn’t that.  This, what it was, was right above me.  That’s when I noticed there were several other cars pulled over looking at the same thing I was staring at.  That’s when a sliver of fear went through me and I started my car back up and got the hell out of there.  Years later, I saw a program on the Sy-Fy channel and there were my triangular lights.  It inspired me to write the book Star Mates.

My next encounter was probably twenty years later.  I was driving back home to LA from Vegas with my mother and son in the car.  We’d just approached Barstow and I saw something in the sky.  At the same time, my son asked, “What’s that in the sky?” This object hovered for a bit of time, and then suddenly shot off, and it was moving fast.  Since it was day light, we were able to watch it and along the horizon line we saw it meet up with seven other similar objects.  They were doing maneuvers planes couldn’t do, like hover and go backwards, and yes, they could be helicopters but they didn’t look like helicopters.  And they were fast, faster than anything I’d ever seen.  I pulled over so we could watch and all three of us watched until the sun started to set and they finally flew off into the distance.
And finally, I saw something just a few weeks ago, at the beginning of the new year.  Living in Los Angeles, our winter nights are pretty mild, so I was sitting in the hot tub with my son looking up at the night sky.  Now, I live near LAX and I know planes.  I see them all the time and I know what they look like.  I saw this small dot near a star far up there, and it started moving…fast.  At first I thought it might be a satellite because you can see them too…but they blink and you know them.  This thing didn’t blink and it was traveling way to quickly.  I mean, one minute it was near this star and then it disappeared into the night light in a matter of seconds. 
In my opinion I think we all see things we dismiss easily as planes, satellites, weather balloons or some other man made phenomena.  But I don’t believe we’re alone in this universe and I don’t think Earth is as isolated as we think. 

Winter Wonder Man Blog Hop & Giveaway!

hdthomson.com 
What makes a hero in movies and books wonderful to the point your toes curl? 

The short answer is he over comes adversity. He’s put into a situation where the easiest path is to give up, but there is something inside him that drives him on, to continue even when others gives up. So while the odds are against him, he would rather fail doing something that is right or something he believes than never try at all. Heroes have hope when all others have no hope.

That type of hero turns my head and heats my blood right up. Wowser! Someone I might never would have thought was attractive suddenly has me salivating.

The longer answer depends on which hero draws you in. You have the flawed characters, redeemed by either love or their own drive. The superheroes, obviously. You have the unsung heroes, the unknown heroes, the regular guy heroes. The heroes of unusual size. Frodo anyone? Die Hard gave us John McClane, a balding middle aged guy who wasn’t the Fabio cover model, but his strength and perseverance made him super sexy. And some might argue with me about this but Christian Bale’s performance in The Machinist was such a flawed person that his redemption at the end turned him into someone that opened our own eyes to our flaws.

Of course, seeing the eye candy heroes on screen is nothing to sneeze at. What red-blooded heterosexual woman didn’t backtrack every time Thor’s chest was bare? Or the desperate kiss Aragorn gives to Arwen? Or Channing Tatum’s ass? Just to make a side note here, I actually did a little research for variety for this blog and there’s a website titled Hot Men of Hollywood (on tumblr) that I got a little distracted by. Perhaps I’m a little shallow for my own personal type of hero. (wink, wink)

Heroes between the pages aren’t that much different than their counterparts on screen, expect instead of visual we have to use our imagination. In my opinion, that’s a little bit sexier because we can incorporate our own fantasy man into the scenario. My favorite literary heroes are the men who start off as shallow or cold and become better men through love. Lisa Kleypas writes these types of heroes awesomely (is that a word?). My favorites: Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent from Devil in Winter & Nickolas from Prince of Dreams.

Then again, sometimes the anti-hero is the best type of hero.  Spike from "Bufffy" was a great anti-hero.  

Call me crazy, but I always loved the bad boy, the not-quite-sterling-hero.  My first crush was a cartoon character named Jason from Battle of the Planet, a Japanese animation brought over to the US in the late 70’s, early 80’s.  And there was Han Solo, of course.  Forget Luke.  I would even root for some of the secondary characters in books, like Ramsey O’Keefe in Amy J. Fetzer’s “My Timeswept Heart".  
Writing a bad boy is a delicate balance of keeping that heart of gold while at the same time having him make terrible choices.  I want my reader to want to reach into the book and shake him silly.  In my book Dreamland, Dicen Burke is one such character.  He’s a rock star that crashes down to Earth when he overdoses.  While in a coma, he travels to 1927 and meets Juliet, who makes him realize that he has to confront his demons.  Luckily, he wises up without losing what made him so appealing to begin with.  If the readers love him and hate him (at times), well then, I’ve done my job.
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Thanks for visiting with me on this Blog Hop! I’m giving away one PDF ebook of any of my titles (winner’s choice)! All you have to do is leave a comment & a way to contact you. No contact, no win. I promise not to spam you, I just don’t have time to track people down.

 ALSO...friend me on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/bethdcartera... ) or follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/BethDCarter ) for upcoming blogs, book tours, releases & give-a-ways!

Topic Tuesday - Self Promoting

"You guys should start a topic about what people do to self promote themselves outside of what their publisher does."
It’s been a while since I was able to participate for Topic Tuesday.  January is shaping up to be a hectic month for me but it coincides with this week’s topic about self promoting.  Publishers don’t do jack shit for authors so it’s a constant battle for writers to find ways to promote their work without pissing off other writers.  I don’t know what works for everyone, but this is my month (and what I try to find for promotion).
2013 was a great year for me in publication because I had eight books published.  I was on a writing schedule where I had one coming out every month and I was about four books ahead.  Now that my publisher passed on a trilogy of books I wrote, I’m in a little bit of panic mode because I’m missing out on that instant revenue.  Now I have to promote my ass off (but that’s okay, I have plenty of ass).
In January, I had a blog hop the first weekend, I have a blog hop the third weekend (16th – 19th), I have a book tour the 20th thru the 26th, I have a final blog hop the 27th – Feb 1st with a featured author promotion on the 29th, and that doesn’t include having guests visit with me throughout the month or me guesting at someone’s site.  Now, that’s a lot of blog hops in one month.
For those of you who don’t know what blog hop is, an author signs up at a linky list to who is hosting.  There’ll be a lot of linked blogs where people will write a post, usually to a specific topic, and then people can enter contests to win prizes.  It’s a great way for people to be exposed to you as a writer and if they win, they’ll get familiar with your work.  Giving away a free ebook is a good way to hook a reader into buying more of your work. 
Now, for my book tour, I actually paid someone to get together a list of new blog sites I can visit in order to reach a broader audience.  I’ll be promoting my Love Story series and one lucky person will win all three ebooks.  (my newest and last in the series releases today!  http://www.bookstrand.com/lights-camera-love-story)
I’ve heard about street teams but I don’t have that kind of following, and I simply don’t know how to maximize my coverage at Goodreads.  I’m on Twitter but I don’t know how much that really helps in people discovering your work.  So I shall be curious to read how other’s promote to learn something new.  Right now I rely heavily on my blog and Facebook because I’m not that social media savvy to get my name out there.

AE Lawless - A Collar for Christmas

AE Lawless will be visiting real soon.  Until she does, please read this captivating blurb from her new book!

Buy Link: http://www.loose-id.com/a-collar-for-christmas.html



For actor Liam, anxiety and panic attacks are old friends, but they only get worse the more famous he gets. Nothing has ever worked to help him control the anxiety until his costar, Aaron, introduces him to bondage. Too bad Liam develops feelings for Aaron and ruins the only solution he's ever found for his neuroses.
Aaron only wants to keep history from repeating itself. He's already had one costar spin out of control, resulting in her tragic death, he can't just sit idly by and watch another friend and colleague destroy himself from the inside out. He'll do anything to keep that from happening--even enter into a non-sexual BDSM arrangement with him.

What starts out as a way to control Liam's anxiety becomes so much more. At least for Liam. So, tired of pretending he doesn't want Aaron in his life for good, Liam decides to give him the perfect Christmas gift. The kind that will show Aaron exactly what Liam wants from their relationship: the collar he's been dreaming of Aaron putting on him for months.


Book Links:Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18806544-a-collar-for-christmas


About The Author A.E. Lawless
A.E. lives in south Louisiana where everything is bigger, covered in camo and made with more butter. She sweats her way through the summers because she loves the people, the food and the culture found only there.

She couldn't manage any writing at all without copious amounts of coffee and her writing partner: her cat Bacon

  Author Links:Website: http://lawlessfiction.wix.com/home
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ae.lawless Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/aelawlessauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7254452.A_E_Lawless

Romance in France - Blog Hop!

Just hit the picture above to travel to others in the hop!

Paris is probably the widely thought city for love and romance.  The architecture, the history, the passion, the coffee and pastries...I could write a whole dissertation on the pastries alone!  I’ve been to Paris three times and lived there for four months in 2004 and I’ve set two of my books in this amazing city.
Yet, my very first visit to the city was under less than desirable circumstances.  My boyfriend and I flew there eighteen days after September 11th, 2001, and needless to say it was a very stressful visit.  If I hadn’t paid months in advance for the trip I might have canceled, but we went and I still remember sitting under the Eiffel Tower with military men with machine guns walking around.  Every trash can in the city had been sealed off, we were told, because of bomb threats so trash was everywhere in the streets.
Paris in October is cold.  And once I walked down the Champs-Élysées bundled up while snow blanketed the city.  I was almost the only person out that day as it snowed heavily.  It was amazing to feel like I was all alone in such a city.
During the time I lived there in 2004, my boyfriend (same man) and I traveled to Giverny, to see Monet’s house.  I recommend taking the trip to Giverny in Spring, because the train trip from Paris is on one of those trains that still has vinyl on the seats.  In spring, it won’t be so hot for your thigh skin to melt into it, saving you a little discomfort.  When you get to the city where the train stops, named Vernon, you will realize that Giverny is about three miles away, and to preserve the historical importance of Monet’s house, you will be told the best way to get there is bike riding. 
Let me assure you, even if your ass is not prepared for a three mile bike ride, the countryside is mainly level and there is a marked path to follow.  Just as soon as you get through the city of Vernon, that is, and the traffic.  Once you get to the house and fall in love with the flowers (again, Springtime is best for optimal enjoyment of the flower gardens and numerous bees), you’ll notice that there is a parking lot full of cars and you start to wonder where the hell did they come from because by now your tail bone is sore as hell! 
The bridge of the famous lily pond is breathtaking.  You know the one I’m talking about.  It’s the most romantic place on earth to stand on, hold the hand of your loved one, and blink like crazy as about a hundred pictures are all snapped at once because you two make such a lovely picture.
As you walk through the house and take the tour, you will slowly come to realize that at the end of the day you now have to bike ride the three miles back.  And if you fail to make the last train back to Paris, you’ll have to find a room somewhere, so I hope you can speak French.  And also, by the end of the day, you’ll discover most of the restaurants are closed, so McDonalds it is.
Paris itself is smorgasbord of sensation.  At least, it is unless you’re planning to live there.  Then it’s like any other city with the hustle and bustle, expect don’t expect elevators in any historic building (which is basically all of them), and you end up renting an apartment on the sixth floor.  Have you ever wondered how French people can eat all that bread and all those pastries and stay thin?  Because they live six flights up a spiral staircase. 
In my novel, True to Her Heart, the hotel that Molly stays in was real.  It was under renovation, smelled with paint fumes, and the elevator was out of order. I like to write as much real life situations into my stories as possible.  The window she looks out and spies on Shane was real.  The trips she took and the places she saw were the same journeys I took. 


I have incredible memories of Paris, of France, and of Europe in general.  My seven year old is looking forward to when he can travel up the Eiffel Tower.  But first, our next family vacation will be to Japan where we plan on hiking up Mt. Fuji to see the daybreak over the clouds.
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Thanks for visiting with during this Blog Hop!  One person will win a free ebook of any of my titles, winner's choice, all you have to do is leave a comment (and a way to contact you...no email no win).  The winner will be chosen at random on January 6th!  Thanks so much!

Topic Tuesday - Best & Worst of 2013

This weeks topic is "The Best and Worse of 2013 and what you would like to see in 2014."I’m sure this week’s topic is personal and even it’s not, I’m going to treat it as such.  World news is depressing enough…I don’t want to rehash it.  Of course, most reading this won’t care a fig about what my best and worst was this past year but here it is anyway.  
My best was definitely my writing career.  I managed to publish eight books in 2013 and while that may sound amazing, I actually wrote some of them in 2012 and only three were best sellers. 
My worst?...only three of my books were best sellers. 
I’m not much into fashion or trends so I can’t even talk about what was hot and what was not.  But I like music and some great songs came out in 2013.  Imagine Dragons “Radioactive”, Avril Lavigne “Let me Go”, A Great Big World “Say Something”, Zedd “Clarity”, Katy Perry “Unconditionally” & “Roar” (amongst others).  There were some movies I loved too: Star Trek Into Darkness, The Mortal Instruments, Thor 2, Hunger Games-Catching Fire, & The Croods to name a few (there were lots more I liked, just don’t have the space to list all of them).  I also got back into watching K-dramas (Korean television). 
As for 2014, I think enjoying each day is going to be a big resolution for me.  I had a birthday last week and just turned…a year older…so it’s important to me that I take time to enjoy the world around me.  My family and I are planning a huge trip to Japan in three years and we want to climb Mt. Fuji so I have to be in shape for that. 
And of course, writing.  Hoping this is the year that I can justify not going out and finding a real job.  So buy my books, people! 

Topic Tuesday : Things that lift the Blahs

In honor of Carrie Underwood's interesting revival of "The Sound of Music" I would love to hear about your favorite things to shake of the blahs! When your life bites and your ass stings and the corner has been bad. What makes you not feel so bad. Or what are your favorite things about the holidaysThese past two months have somewhat kicked my ass.  Brian and I have been sick, Hadrian has had a head cold and my mother was hospitalized.  I’ve also had no motivation to write because I’ve been too busy running around trying to make Christmas as festive as possible. 
Which makes this week’s Tuesday Topic interesting.  What shakes off my blahs when life beats you down.  Well, lately it’s been watching Korean Dramas.  I love K-drama shows and I’m in the middle of my fourth one this month.  I saw “Scent of a Woman”, “The Great Doctor”, “To the Beautiful You”, and now “Master’s Sun”.  If you watch K-dramas then you know what I’m talking about…if you don’t, you’re probably thinking I’m weird.  And you’d be right.
But now it's Christmas Eve and tomorrow I get to see the joy on my son's face as he opens up all his presents.  He added two things to Santa's list so I ended up running around today until I found them because Santa doesn't run out of presents, you know.  I hope everyone who reads this to has a wonderful tomorrow, whether or not you celebrate for religious reasons, for Santa Claus reasons, for just having the day off reasons....whatever the case may be, I hope you have a great day. 

Saturday After Dark Presents...A Man After Midnight

http://theafterdarkworld.blogspot.com

Last night I went to a Burlesque show with my BFF, Lark.  It was in Santa Monica at a magic store called Magicopolous.  It was supposed to be hosted by Justin Willman but that was one of many disappointments last night.  The night only got better (sarcasm) when I went to the rest room and a man decided to change the toilet paper...and my stall door didn't work.  I was caught, literally, with my pants down.  After that, the show that was supposed to start at 10:30pm finally went on at 11pm and the painful dialogue in between each dance was as cringe worthy as one could imagine in a magic store theater.  The theme was absinth but the only reference was the two narrators getting drunk and a lit up green fairy twirling with LED lights.
I'm being really negative but there were some high lights to the show.  For instance, the first burlesque dancer was very beautiful, with a rocking body doing a fan dance.  She returned later to do a dueling tassel dance (breasts vs. ass cheeks) to a banjo tune.  Then there was the girl who parodied Mylie Cyrus's Wrecking Ball.  So hilarious I was crying.  
But the high lights were few and far between and by the time the end came all I wanted was a drink.  The show did give me some ideas I'll probably incorporate in stories later on, and with that thought came this scene from my book "A Man After Midnight", where Caroline is taken to a sex club and watches a couple through a window.  It was inspired by my trip to live sex show in Amsterdam's Red Light District. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Caroline didn't answer, but kept her eyes glued to the scene before her. One woman knelt down in front of the man beside her and took his long shaft into her mouth, holding on to his hips to help guide him in and out. The man splayed a hand in her hair, the look on his face rapturous.
 The second pair started touching each other, bringing to mind her first encounter with Wren. She could see fingers coated with juices as they touched each other.
 Seemingly overwhelmed by the scene around them, the final voyeurs succumbed, the woman falling to her knees as her partner mounted her from behind. Caroline saw when the man entered, his hips grinding furiously as the woman pushed back into him.
 Caroline grew hot, and a fine sheen of sweat covered her forehead. Her nipples hardened into little pebbles. She felt liquid heat pooling between her thighs. She waited with anticipation for someone, anyone, to climax.
And soon she got her wish. The dancing couple lost control. Caroline saw the man's lips tighten, and the grip on his partner's hips whitened. She saw the base of his cock swell with each thrust. The voyeurs behind the couple weren't fairing much better as their passion claimed them.
 And just as Caroline was positive someone was about to come, the light went out and the music stopped.
Caroline blinked and then jumped to her feet. “Hey! Come back!” She looked at Wren, who watched her with narrowed eyes. “Bring them back!”
“I can‟t do that. The show is timed,” Wren explained quietly.
Caroline turned back to the dark window, her hands clenched by her sides, tension heavy through her shoulders. “That‟s not fair,” she muttered.
 Wren stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. He made soothing motions to try and calm her. “It's not supposed to be fair.”

“That was the most erotic thing I've ever seen in my life,” she said, letting her head fall forward as he rubbed.
 “Do you still call it porn?”
 She shook her head.
 “You’re the most erotic thing I've seen,” he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling, causing her stomach to tighten in wicked response. She bent over slightly, bringing her rear into direct contact with the hard bulge between his legs. She wiggled her hips, working his cock deeper between her ass cheeks.
 “I want you,” she said in a breathy tone.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Blurb: When her friend, Aldy, invites her for a weekend vacation in New York City, Caroline Grace jumps at the chance. She meets the handsome and sensual Wren Calder, and is immediately swept off her feet by the powerful attraction she feels toward him.  She doesn’t hesitate to indulge in a one night stand, but Wren has other ideas.  He proposes a no strings weekend fling and Caroline decides it’s just what she needs to get over her divorce.   
Wren slowly frees her inhibitions, opening her to a sexuality Caroline has long denied herself.    He shows her a world of voyeurism, the thrill of sex in public, and how she loves to be lightly dominated.  Overshadowed by the mistake she made in the past, Caroline leaves at the end of the weekend vowing to forget him. But she soon comes to the conclusion that getting over Wren is going to be a little more difficult than she thought, because she realizes just how much she’s fallen in love.  
Where to Buy:  www.bethdcarter.com

These are a few of my...Favorite Books

Going around on Facebook is a question asking to write 10 books that have stayed with you. They don't have to be great works, just books that touched you.  And while I have a list of "Must Read" books at the bottom of my blog, I wanted to share a few that I haven't put down.

1) Colter's Woman - Maya Banks because after I read it I knew this was the type of genre I wanted to write.

2) Heaven Sent by Jet Mykles because it was my first MM romance (too!) and it was AMAZING!!

3) The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton because I love crying when reading.

4) Avarian Rising by Judith Tarr because the prose is beautifully written.

5) Prince of Dreams by Lisa Kleypas because...well, every Lisa Kleypas novel really. It's Lisa Kleypas!!!

6) The Mortal Instrument Series by Cassandra Clare because she's a master story builder.

7) The Harry Potter books by JK Rowland because they made realize the value of a series.

8) Breathe by Abbi Glines because it was my first New Adult book.

9) Beautifully Damaged by LA L.A. Fiore because it was so emotional with a bit of mystery and I love a bit of mystery.

10) Zombies Don't Make Good Pets by Ashlynn Monroe because it was an erotic romance with zombies!!!

Welcome Karenna Colcroft!

Too Busy

In our current day and age (does that phrasing make me sound old?) most of us have far too many demands on our time. Jobs, family, friends, the Internet… the list goes on and on.
For some people, there are just too many things, and something has to give way. When one is trying to make a living and make something better of their life, there might not be time for the Internet. Or for TV or reading.
Or, in some cases, for a relationship. A relationship takes time and effort to make it work, and some people feel unable or unwilling to put that much time into it. Instead they choose one-night stands, fuck-buddies, or friends-with-benefits so they can have a sexual connection without the added time and energy of maintaining a relationship.
The main character of my new male/male novella Whatever He Wants, Randall, is a working grad student who has devoted his life to school and his job. And, on occasion, to indulging his sex drive by hooking up with people he meets in class, at work, or at parties. Randall calls himself the “king of one night stands,” and his motto is “Get in, get off, and get out.” With all the other demands on his time, Randall doesn’t want the complications and added stress of a relationship.
That is, until he meets Isaiah. At first, when he and Isaiah start chatting at a party, Randall thinks of the other guy as just another one-night stand. However, Randall quickly realizes he wants more.
But Isaiah is aware of Randall’s reputation, and wants to show him what it feels like to be played. At the end of the night he walks away, and Randall doesn’t know whether he’ll ever see him again.
Whatever He Wants was released December 4 from Ellora’s Cave, http://www.ellorascave.com/whatever-he-wants.html, and is also available on third-party retail sites.
Karenna Colcroft is the alter ego of a shy, sedate wife and mother who is not a werewolf. She has been writing stories since age five, and started writing erotic romance in 2006 on a challenge from a friend. Her first book was published in 2009. Karenna lives in the northeastern United States with her two teens, her real-life romance hero husband, two cats, and a pet mouse who is plotting to take over the world.
Find out more on Karenna’s website, http://www.karennacolcroft.com; Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/karenna.colcroft, and Twitter, @KarennaColcroft.
Here’s the blurb and a short excerpt from Whatever He Wants:
Grad student Randall has a reputation to uphold. He’s too busy to fall in love, and is known among his friends as the king of one-night stands. He prefers it that way until he meets Isaiah at a party.
Against all of Randall’s expectations, Isaiah turns out to be exactly what he’s looking for, and for the first time Randall’s heart gets involved. Randall doesn’t know whether Isaiah is truly interested in him or just playing the player, but to find out, Randall will do whatever Isaiah wants.
EXCERPT:
Isaiah ended up eating only half his meal. He kept exchanging heated looks with Randall until Randall could barely stand it, and apparently Isaiah was just as turned-on. He shoved his plate away and tossed some cash on the table. “I’ve got yours. Let’s go.”“Where?” Randall asked.“Your place.” Isaiah smiled. “I want to see your bed.”Randall grabbed him by the jacket and dragged him outside. Isaiah laughed the entire way to Randall’s apartment.The second they were inside, before Randall even managed to speak Isaiah pinned him against the door, holding Randall’s hands to his sides. He crushed his mouth hard against Randall’s, teeth and tongues colliding so forcefully it hurt. Randall didn’t give a shit. He was here with Isaiah. With Isaiah’s body against his, cocks rubbing together through their jeans, heat building between them until he thought he would burst into flames.And that was just a goddamn kiss.Isaiah broke the kiss but stayed against Randall. “Do you feel how hard I am, baby?”“Yeah.” Randall tried to pull a hand free to cup the pleasing bulge between them but Isaiah tightened his grip. “I want to touch you.”“I’ve been this hard for you all week,” Isaiah growled. “All fucking week all I’ve thought about was plowing into your tight little ass and stroking your cock and making you scream. I jerked off so much I was almost raw and it wasn’t enough.”“Because it wasn’t me,” Randall said. He was elated. Isaiah had suffered just as much as he had. Had wanted him just as much. He hadn’t been the only one to have a miserable week, and now they were going to make up for it.“Because it wasn’t you,” Isaiah agreed. “What about you? Did you play with yourself while you thought about me? Did you come so hard you saw stars while you dreamed about having me play with your dick? Tell me, baby. Tell me how bad you missed me.”Such intense arousal rushed through Randall that he almost wasn’t able to collect himself enough to speak. “Bad,” he blurted. “So, so bad. I stroked off every day. Saw you. Your eyes. Your hair. Your hands and cock. All about you and you weren’t here and I wanted to fucking kill you.”“We really did a number on each other.” Isaiah let go of him and stepped back. “You only wanted a one-night stand last week before we hooked up, didn’t you?”“Get in, get off, get out.” Randall took a deep breath and adjusted his painfully hard cock inside his pants. “The usual when I go to parties. But it wasn’t enough. I knew that before you even started to fuck me. I knew I wanted more. I wanted longer.”“So did I.”           Isaiah stepped forward and touched his lips to Randall’s again. This kiss was a stark contrast to the previous one. Gentle, not rough. Tender, not forceful. Full of emotions Randall had never imagined feeling, let alone admitting to, but they were all there bare and obvious. And mutual.