I have a confession to make. I normally don’t set out to write m?nages. Not because I don’t like them–quite the opposite, in fact–but because my story ideas are usually rather straightforward. One man, one woman, engaged in something exciting, with a heavy dose of hot-and-steamy action. See? Simple, right? On occasion, I start out with a story idea that just begs to be written with two male heroes, but again, I stop there. Two men, hot for each other, are forced to overcome some extreme obstacle to find their happy-ever-after.

So how did I end up with nine published m?nage stories? Simple. The characters refused to be involved in anything but a m?nage.

Oh, I tried talking them out of it. I plotted their story a certain way, wrote comprehensive character sheets and in-depth outlines and created entire scene summaries that clearly detailed a one-on-one relationship.

And then my characters laughed at me. Once I sat down and started writing, they had their own ideas about who they were going to love, and who they were going to make love to. Often, it was the characters I least expected to have a starring role that ended up being a major part of the story.

In DIRTY LOVE, a futuristic m?nage, the second hero was supposed to be–wait for it–the villain. So much for that, right? I started writing, and I realized the heroine really, really liked this man. And he wasn’t just pulling the wool over her eyes like I originally thought. No, he was a genuinely nice guy. Then as I later found out, the two heroes had a relationship that went back a long time. So I scrapped all my well-laid plans and let my characters lead the way.

How about a couple of excerpts to illustrate what I mean?

These are from DIRTY LOVE. This first excerpt is taken right out of the scene when I realized that the villain wasn’t going to work as a villain, and that in fact he had a much more important role to play.

—

Isy had never been a risk taker. She couldn’t chance being turned in for pursuing a relationship with Connor, but giving in to Trevor wouldn’t be much better. The law was too strict to circumvent. At best, she’d lose her clinic. At worst, her freedom.

Isy ground her teeth, then forced herself to relax her jaw. Not for the first time, she wished she’d been born a century earlier. Life must have been so much simpler in the 1980s.

Damn. Connor was sinful, but Trevor was no less tempting. He was thoughtful, intelligent, attractive. Very attractive, if she had to be honest.

Chiseled cheekbones and a sharp, angular jaw dominated a classically handsome face. Light eyebrows nearly blended into his tanned skin. Blue-gray eyes, faded in contrast to Connor’s blazing sapphire, could make any woman melt under their scrutiny.

He kept his hair trimmed short, only about a quarter of an inch above his smooth scalp. The military style appeared to age some men. Not Trevor. Clean-shaven, he looked a decade younger than his forty-five years. His trim build and the effortless way his loose jeans hugged his lean hips added to the allure.

It would have been so easy to give in to his smooth seduction, yet she’d resisted. For weeks, she’d been pushing him away, coming up with excuse after excuse not to invite him inside. Not to be alone with him.

At the time, she’d convinced herself she was simply done with men. That ship had sailed, as her mother used to say. Society demanded she play the role of celibate spinster the day she turned forty, and she’d been happy enough to act the part.

Hadn’t she?

Apparently not, judging by the way she’d practically thrown herself at Connor just minutes earlier.

Every muscle in Isy’s body tensed as she prepared to push Trevor away again. “I’m sorry, I really am. Maybe some other time.” She forced a smile, but she could feel her lower lip quiver. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out she was nervous, so she dropped the act. “I’m tired, and I still have testing to conduct tonight.”

“I see.” Trevor made no effort to hide the open interest that lit up his eyes. “Anyone promising?”

She chalked it up to professional curiosity. “Perhaps. I’ll let you know.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but nodded instead. “Well, why don’t you keep the food and flowers anyway? Think of me while you’re eating.” He winked. “I’ll think of eating you.”

—

But the real kicker came at the end of the next chapter. Read on… you’ll see what I mean:

—

Connor pressed the tips of two fingers against her clit and rubbed slowly in small circles. His gaze pinned hers. “Good?”

She said something incomprehensible. A cry and a moan and his name, all rolled into a sigh of breathless wonder.

He grinned, and the sight of that genuine smile made Isy’s heart do a summersault.

“More?”

Like he had to ask. She licked her lips. “Please.”

So polite. Her voice so damn steady, despite the fact she felt as though she was coming apart at the seams from the inside. The urge to clamp her thighs around Connor’s handsome face and grind her pussy against his mouth knocked the air from her lungs. She fought for control, each breath coming in a harsh, ragged gasp as potent need clamped down on her belly and twisted.

Lust knifed her, and still, Connor went slowly. Maddeningly slowly.

He placed sweet, soft kisses to the inside of her thigh. His warm lips caressed her skin and the tip of his tongue left a wet trail in his wake. Each brush of his mouth felt like a sensual embrace, engulfing her flesh, driving deep inside her where the taut need and the silly girlish fantasies had been lying dormant for so long.

The progress of his mouth wasn’t even a kiss any longer. It was a getting-to-know you exploration, each erotic lick branding her, claiming her.

When he finally reached her pussy, he hovered there, his lips tantalizingly close to her aching center. She felt his breath, every puff stoking flames of raw need, making her quiver while her emotions spiked and spiraled out of control.

One more second. She only had to hold on for one more second and he’d give her what she craved. He’d cover the remainder of the distance and clamp his mouth to her pussy in a soul-shattering, mind-numbing intimate kiss.

She ground her teeth together so hard her jaw hurt. Her fingernails dug into her palms. Her breath jerked in tiny little spasms that held her on the edge of climax. One touch of his lips, one fleeting dab of his tongue, and she’d come so hard and so fast that she’d howl with the endless pleasure of it.

Lightning-fast, before she could even fathom the cruelty of it, Connor rose to his full height. His chin grazed her cheek when he leaned in again to whisper in her ear. “I can do this for hours, Isabel. Hours. And then, just when you think you can’t take any more, you’ll beg me to fuck you. You’ll be so hungry for my cock that you’ll plead with me to shove it inside you and take you, again and again and again.”

“No.” A croak of denial, but she meant it. She couldn’t succumb to the maddening sexual urges. No matter how agonizing they were, or how tantalizing Connor was. She wouldn’t give in.

“No?”

Not Connor. Another voice. A man, somehow familiar.

Isy struggled to make sense of what she was hearing, but her body betrayed her, quaking and making it impossible to think past the agony in her clit and the throbbing heat inside her clenched cunt.

“No,” she repeated. Too dangerous. Too easy to fall, too hard to let go.

Her hands flew to the acute twinge between her legs. She knew her body. One touch would relieve the temporary madness, but she couldn’t do it without her fingers, or Connor’s fingers, or his tongue, or–

Connor was faster. He grabbed her wrists, pushed them together and yanked her hands over her head, holding them there.

Pleasure and pain mingled inside her. She tried to twist out of his grasp and shift on the now-warm surface of the counter. Her pussy left a slick trail of cream along the glossy finish.

“Well, then…”

That voice again. The other one.

“If you won’t take Connor’s cock, have mine.”

—

You guessed it. That other voice is Trevor’s, and I guarantee Isy wasn’t half as surprised as I was!

The moral of the story? Let your characters lead the way. They always know best.

And if you want to learn more about Isy, Connor and Trevor, pick up DIRTY LOVE at Amber Heat.

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