Maren interviews romance novelist and fellow Philadelphia Flyers fan Susan Scott Shelley. They talk about sports, writing, and what it feels like to find and follow your passion.
The music played during this episode:
Music: “Washed” by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Follow Susan on Instagram: @susanscottshelley
Check out Susan’s books at https://www.susanscottshelley.com/
Follow Maren on Instagram: @supermaren
Purchase Maren’s book, Pandemic Passion: A COVID-19 novella on Kindle: https://amzn.to/3guGck0
Transcript
(orchestra tuning)
Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of romance novels.
I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.
In this episode, I interview romance novelist Susan Scott Shelley. We talk about sports, romance, writing, life, and what it’s like to find and follow your passion.
So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!
(intro music plays)
Welcome back. I’m so happy that you pressed play on this episode. I’m really excited about today because I’m kicking off my interview series with a romance novelist. She is a USA Today bestselling author. Her name is Susan Scott Shelley. And I’m actually not going to say very much besides that, because I want to get right into the interview. So I’ll see you on the other side.
Maren: I am so excited to have Susan Scott Shelley here with me – USA Today bestselling author, Susan Scott Shelley. She writes stories with heat and heart where love always wins. Her romances give readers lighthearted and emotionally satisfying escapes into happily ever after. In addition to crafting stories, she’s also a professional voiceover artist and enjoys lending her voice to a wide range of projects. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and is an avid fan of her hometown sports teams. Her favorite things include running, sports, especially hockey, hard rock, but will listen to anything from heavy metal to show tunes and writing about people from all walks of life finding their special someone.
You can get in touch with her at SusanScottShelley.com, and we will talk about that a little bit later, but welcome. Thank you so much for joining me, Susan.
Susan: Thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be here.
Maren: Okay. The first thing I want to talk about is, actually there are two, one is the voiceover thing, but I want to get into sports kind of right away, because we are both in Philly. I’m actually in New Jersey, but I’m, like, right outside of Philly. And obviously with Philadelphia, it’s all about the sports, like, Eagles fans are kind of insane!
When I met my husband, my husband’s from South Jersey, so that’s how I ended up here. He is a diehard Flyers fan and I had never, ever watched hockey before dating him, and he got me into it. I actually really like it. So hockey’s my favorite sport of all, and I’m not a sports person at all!
Susan: Hockey is absolutely my favorite of all the sports. It’s the one I’ve been following the longest, since I was a kid. And then I went to my first game, I think I was 12, because my uncle had season tickets and he took his boys, and he took my older sister, and then I got to go once. And my first game, there was a fight on the ice. There were like, all the players swarming in. So I was like, this is the best game ever. And then just the way they cut across the ice and just the talent with the scoring, and – it’s just, it’s my absolute favorite. So I’ve been a Flyers fan, yes, since I was about 11.
Maren: Wow. And the violence on the ice. Is that like, it’s just exciting? Or–?
Susan: I enjoy. I mean, I don’t like, how do I put this this way? I’m in very much a classic middle child where I don’t like fighting, I don’t like conflict. I have a hard time being mean to my characters in my books. But I also, being a middle child and having a bunch of siblings, I am very, very protective of them, especially the babies who are no longer babies.
So I love when you’ve got a guy out there who, his job is to protect his teammates. And if someone’s gonna mess with your star player, they’re going to send a message that that’s not okay. But I don’t like cheap shots. I don’t like dirty fighting, but I think a well-placed hit has its place sometimes. I like the checking. I like the physicality of the game.
I really like that it’s such a family mentality. So one of the reasons I really write sports is I like the team aspect. I like the guys all working together. I like the strategy. I like the support they give each other, especially now with, you see on their Instagram accounts you see how the guys are off the ice too, and just the way they interact and everything.
Maren: How did you get into sports? Has it always been just a part of your family?
Susan: So I also hardly play any sports, which I find very funny. I blame the fact that I’m near-sighted and have an astigmatism on my lack of spatial, my spatial issues. I played softball for a couple of seasons, didn’t really like it. Played soccer for a year, didn’t really like it. But I’ve always loved watching it.
My grandfather was a diehard Eagles fan. Very much an armchair quarterback. So I’d be sitting sometimes at their house on a Sunday, and he’d be yelling at the TV, and I would have no idea why. And then I now yell at the TV when things happen. But I’ve watched hockey since I was 11, like, diehard watched as many games as I could.
Football, I didn’t get into until I met my husband. He’s from Buffalo, so he was very much, you know, like Buffalo sports. And that was the first time I really got into it. Like I would watch football with my grandfather, but I didn’t really care back then.
But for them, honestly, I had a period of – and it’s interesting the way that romance novels are there for you in times of crisis, that you can escape into that. But I found that too with sports. In the late 2000s, so like 2008-9 ish, I had a battle with, I would probably say depression.
That was my first time ever experiencing that. And I was also home, because I was in between jobs at the moment, back then, for a couple of months. And I just literally laid on the couch, and I watched NFL Network. And I just lost myself in the drama of the preseason, cause it’s just a way of connecting. It was my escape for a while. I never really talked about that with anyone.
But it’s just an escape. It was just something where you can just lose yourself in it. Or if you’re meeting someone for the first time and then you find out they’re a sports fan, you have an instant connection. One of my friends was on a cruise years ago in Greece, and her husband is a big Baltimore Ravens fan. And there was one guy on the ship who was wearing a Ravens t-shirt and it was like, boom! That would be me if I see somebody with a Flyers thing on nowhere near Philly.
Maren: Well, and the Flyers colors are so bright, you know, that bright orange is just like–
Susan: I enjoy wearing them as well, yeah.
Maren: So, how did you get into writing romance?
Susan: So I was in the insurance industry, and I like to say it was my soul crushing job. I hate sales. I don’t want to be pushy. Like, I’m not going to try and sell you a product if I don’t think you need it. And I didn’t like that aspect of it. I had been reading romance for years and I just had stories in my head. I said to a friend, “I wish I could just be doing this during the day to give this a shot.”
And I mentioned it to my husband, and literally like a few days later, I come home and there’s a netbook waiting for me, so like a little baby laptop. And he’s like, “I think you should give your dream a shot.” Obviously I had to keep my full-time job for quite a while, until that switched over into my new fun job, but he supported me from the beginning and I appreciated that.
So that’s when I started tinkering around. On my lunch hour, I would drive somewhere, and I would write. Literally I was working in an office park. So I would drive to a cemetery, because I needed something close where I could just, you know, be five minutes away, but away from the office atmosphere. And I would write, and then after work, I’d write for an hour, and then that’s how I really got into it.
But I knew nothing about craft back then. I was just throwing stuff down as it came to me, like scenes that had no place in an actual sequence of events, just whatever popped into my head. But I enjoyed it so much.
I kept at it, and jobs came in, here and there. I stayed in insurance for a little bit, you know, hopped around. And then I kind of fell into the voiceover work. And so I’m doing that now and then still writing as well. The voiceover stuff has been so much fun.
Maren: I was just going to say, so what do you do? What are you voiceover-ing? Is it cartoons? Is it commercials? Is it–?
Susan: I want to be a cartoon character so bad. I would love that so much. Cause my goddaughter watches, like, you know, she was watching My Little Pony for a bit and I’m like, I want to be one of the horses!
But I’ve done corporate voiceovers, I’ve done a lot of web explainer videos. I do some commercials on Spotify for a retail carrier. So I’m kind of all over the place and I love that. I enjoy it so much, whether it’s explainer videos or exam prep or ESL things, or things for colleges or kids. I just, I love it. And I’m so grateful for this, that it is not insurance.
Maren: Did it just sort of fall into your lap or was this a–
Susan: Yeah, my husband has worked for years as an audio producer. And he worked for a company that did a lot of radio and TV, car commercials and things. And every once in a while, they would need a girl to come in and say, “X car company gave me a great deal with my horrible credit!”
But they didn’t want to pay me for my one line because, “Oh, she was just works up the block. Let’s just get her in.” And that bothered me and that bothered my husband. And he said, “Well, let’s just start doing this on our own part-time.”
So I put together a demo and I started auditioning for a ton of things. And so did he, because he also does voiceover work in addition to the sound design and his audio production, and it’s slowly grown from there. My very, very, very first voiceover opportunity was voicing a PowerPoint for CBD oil. I just, the guy was so wonderful. He says, “I’m happy to give a newcomer a shot.” And that was just, that got me my first, that my first gig. So yeah.
Maren: That’s great. I love stories like that. We just kind of have to follow what life gives us and see where it takes us, you know?
Susan: I’m so grateful for it. I wasn’t happy for a long time in my job, because I felt like it wasn’t making a difference and it didn’t feel authentic and it didn’t feed my soul. And I reached a point where outside events were happening, and I was just like, I need something that feeds me and feels better.
And then the opportunity came. It came in a way I did not see at all. But this voiceover is, it’s also wonderful, because I can do it from home. So I can wear leggings and whatever I want, and I don’t have to wear heels anymore.
Maren: So being in a pandemic, that doesn’t change anything. You’re working from home for everything.
Susan: I will say at the beginning, some of the, companies we do things for, because of the shutdown, the retailers weren’t open. So some of the voice things did shift and it was a little slow for a bit. But I’m really lucky that not much changed for me. I mean, we’ve been at home now for years.
Maren: Yeah. It is interesting, you know, and I’ve, talked about this on previous podcast episodes, but being a singer it’s really hard because we’re super spreaders. We’re, we’re dangerous. A lot of my friends in the singing community have had to really shift. And there’s been a lot more just, okay, well, how do we record? Let’s set up studios in our houses, you know, that kind of stuff. So I’m sure quite a boon that your husband is an audio engineer, and has been able to help you.
Susan: He’s amazing. He does more than I do in that aspect of working with companies and creating those things for them sound-wise. But we have our closet, which is our recording booth. It’s cozy! I’m going with cozy. It’s a little booth, but it works.
So we’ve got the setup down pat. We know what it’s like to live and work with somebody all of the time, which I know is a huge adjustment for so many people.
I’ve been grateful that it’s been an easy transition for me because not much in my daily routine has really changed.
Maren: Even though romance is, it is an escape, there is also loss and there’s stuff that like, you have to go through a dark moment in order to get to, you know, the end. And I think that life is like that too. If we spend too much time just being like, “Everything’s fine, it’s all fine!” Then you’re actually robbing yourself of the full experience.
Susan: You don’t grow unless you have an uncomfortable situation. Every situation is an opportunity for growth.
Maren: Have you ever been to the opera?
Susan: I am very sorry to say I have not. I would love to go because I love musicals. I love live theater. I’ve only been to a few shows, which I’m sad about. I would definitely want to do more. We were actually supposed to see more this year and then COVID happened. But I’ve seen opera on PBS.
That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to being live! I love PBS. I was watching Josh Groban this weekend with a special they had. So I’ve watched PBS performances of opera. I guess the other closest is, I love Andrea Bocelli’s voice, and my grandmother loved the Three Tenors and Pavarotti, but that’s probably because we’re like half Italian, but, um, I love it.
So I was in chorus in high school and I’ve done a few musicals growing up in the local theater production. I’m a soprano, but I can’t hit those really high, beautiful notes. And I’m in awe of people who can and just have these loud, amazing voices. When I get to go, I will just sit there and just be amazed at everything.
I would absolutely love to – when we finally can – go and see an actual production.
Maren: You know, it’s so interesting to get different people’s perspective on it since I grew up in a musical household. Opera was always a part of my life. I love it for the reasons – it encapsulates a lot of mythical, very large, passion driven, stories that have, they’re larger than life. They’re just like completely larger than life. And, obviously when you watch, the singing is larger than life too, but some of the plots are really ridiculous. Like, okay. In Turandot, the queen is this horrible woman, right? Anybody who wants to marry her has to answer three riddles. And if they get one of them wrong, they get beheaded, you know? So like, who would want to? This one guy is like, no, I’m going to do it.
And he actually happens to be a prince in disguise, you know? And–
Susan: Of course. I love that.
Maren: And he does. He figures out all of the riddles, and then, you know, it’s hard for her because she’s like, “Well, wait a minute. I didn’t want to have a relationship. I didn’t want to fall in love. I didn’t want any of this,” you know? He does win her over and then it’s a happy ending. They fall in love, but it’s also like completely ridiculous, like, completely ridiculous.
Susan: I love that. It’s like, it’s almost like a soap opera or something. And I also like that one because you hear so much in romance, when you’re being taught craft and things, the goal of the person is they should not want to fall in love or, you know – I mean, I break that all the time because some of my people are like, they’re lonely and they’re looking for love, maybe not with that particular person or whatever, but, I’m very much looking forward to checking out that Opera on the Mall.
Maren: I’m actually curious about your story craft, because I’m a pretty new actual writer-writer, like, novelist-writer. What do you find the most challenging about story craft?
Susan: For me, it’s often throwing enough conflict at them. And I think that’s because I don’t like being mean to anyone, whether they are fictional or real. It’s really hard for me to do that. Craft has evolved for me. The way I plot my stories now is completely different from the way I did things early on.
But I think your process changes as you change. So for me, it’s probably making sure there’s enough conflict. And my books are more lighthearted. Nobody dies. I don’t kill anybody anyway, because just for me personally, I just, I like to read more lighthearted.
I do touch on things that have happened. I have a band of brothers, so my brothers span three, at least three of my series because the one brother is in my hockey series, the other brothers are in my football series, and that also ties into my bakery series, and into another series as well. And they lost their mother very early on to breast cancer. And that’s affected them, all of them, in different ways because the baby was two when it happened and the oldest was 11.
But you see in their books, it’s affected them in different ways. One of our fellow authors, Jeff Adams, says he writes nice guys being nice. That’s kind of what I do too. But that’s probably the thing I struggle with the most. But I have a really good critique partner. That’s a lot of fun. Brainstorming plotting sessions are probably my most favorite thing, whether it’s my book or helping somebody else with their book.
Maren: I recorded both of your excerpts. What kind of music would you want to play?
Susan: Sometimes I will hear a particular song and it will be that one song that will play on continual repeat while I write this book, whether that takes months or not, I’m sure I drive my husband crazy with my continual playing of one song. For Sugar Crush, I actually have a playlist for that.
Hometown Hero, I do not. Hometown Hero, because there’s so much baking in the book, I literally had The British Bake-Off playing and that music to me is so soothing and lovely. So I had British Bake-Off basically playing, the series running, doing Hometown Hero. But for Sugar Crush, I have my list here cause I didn’t want to forget anything. I had a mix of horror movie soundtracks because Jack is a horror writer in that book. And then Gabe hates horror – so Gabe is totally me – mixed in with Michael Bublé, Maroon Five, Lady Gaga, and Ed Sheeran. But if I get stuck, and if nothing really comes to me, I just put on my regular playlist, which is a mix of Shinedown and Volbeat and Foo Fighters, Josh Groban, and Rob Thomas.
I’ll just throw in whether it’s like 90s grunge all the way up to literally musical soundtracks. Michael Ball is a British actor- singer. He was in a show called Aspects of Love and he sings the song called “Love Changes Everything.” And I love that song. So that song basically is on every playlist for any book I have. Cause it does.
I get a lot frustrated when people write off romance as being silly and stupid. Because it’s relationships and it’s how you change, how somebody helps you change, you’re a different person.
Even if it’s a friendship or a romance, the people you meet, not every time, but relationships can change you. So, I just like “Love Changes Everything.” It’s so perfect.
Maren: It’s so true. And I love that song, absolutely do adore that song, and I completely agree. Part of the reason why I started this podcast was I wanted to just break open this idea that romance novels are just fluff and, you know, whatever.
Susan: I get, I also think that people say that because it, you know, if it’s written for women, it’s immediately pushed aside. And I heard that too, from a female, suspense writer – or true crime, I’m trying to remember exactly what she does – but she had mentioned that she was in an airport, waiting. And there was this guy thumbing through books, and he looked at hers, read the back and put it back down. And she was just like, “Oh, sir, excuse me. I was just wondering, why did you put that back down?
And he’s like, “Oh, well I don’t read female authors.”
Maren: What?!
Susan: And just, she’s like hit the New York Times list several times and she’s amazing. That’s why then you have so many females writing under male pen names. If you go all the way back to, um–
Maren: George Sand.
Susan: Yes. And then the Brontë sisters originally published under, oh gosh–
Maren: Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.
Susan: Yes, yes.
Maren: Well, exactly. That’s the thing. It’s like, such, uh, like, sorry, that, that in today’s world?
Susan: Yeah. Like this literally happened a couple of years ago. It just boggles my mind. But I mean, I know it’s a societal thing and that’s, I’m really hopefully like, changing for the better and all that stuff.
Maren: The other thing that I find curious is the fact that like somebody talked about my show as opera porn and I’m like, it’s neither opera nor porn, but I mean, I kind of understand what you’re saying, you know, like I definitely talk about sex and I sing, you know, about sex.
And so there is that, right? But it’s not porn.
Susan: I think it’s sort of being comfortable with female sexuality and why would it be wrong to have her celebrate and own that in herself? And it shouldn’t be, because it’s not wrong for men to do that. So it’s definitely something that’s sort of been like hardwired into, you know what I mean?
Maren: Yeah. I mean, I completely love all of the steamy sex scenes that are in romance novels. Like I love them, you know?
Susan: There’s so many workshops when you go to all of these conferences and there’s several workshops on that as well. And you know, if you’re going to put a scene in, it needs to have a reason to be there.
How is this changing the relationship? How is maybe the first time different from the second or third time? Because, how is it going from being in lust into being in love? And what does that look like? And you better make sure that hero or heroine or whatever pairings you have gives a damn about how the other person is being taken care of.
They mirror real relationships a lot. I mean, yes, sometimes there’s aliens or shifters, which I love paranormal romance so much. I love shifters so much.
Maren: I will confess that I have never, ever read a paranormal – well, no, I can’t say never paranormal cause I’ve read some vampire stuff – but never anything with like, I’ve never read aliens and definitely not shifters.
Susan: Shifters I love.
Maren: So that’s interesting, like, people shapeshift?
Susan: Whether it’s wolves, bears, lions. Actually I read one where they shaped shifted into cats, so, like housecats! It was fabulous. During the pandemic, the romance novels that I’ve read have primarily been shifters. I’m reading about werewolves falling in love, a werewolf and a fairy. I’ve been into fairies forever and I probably should, you know, write one and not just–
Maren: Yeah!
Susan: I’ve been very much sticking to contemporary, but I do have a half-written novel that takes place in the realm of Faerie. So I should really go back to that. That would be fun.
Maren: I would love that. Oh my god.
Susan: I am very much into like Celtic lore and mythology and you know, everything.
Maren: Most of the romance that I’ve read and consumed has been like pretty standard, hetero, vanilla, stuff. I love historical romance, that’s my jam. One of the reasons why I love that you gave me two excerpts, one being male-female, and the other one being male-male, is that there are definitely people who don’t, they don’t know that there’s a lot of homosexual romance out there.
Susan: There’s so much, and there’s so much now where years ago, you might not have seen it because maybe publishers weren’t publishing it, which is a problem. But they’re publishing it more now, and there’s a lot of indie stuff and it’s amazing. We’ve got our little Philly writing group, we’ve got, a few amazing authors who write M/M and who write maybe M/M/M. It’s so good. We do a novel in June put together by one of our Philly friends, Xio Axelrod, called Love is All. So it’s put together for Pride, and all the proceeds go to an organization.
We did the Trevor Project one year, we did GLAAD, we did the William Way Center in Philly. And that’s a really good project for me to be a part of. I really enjoy that. So that’s when I started and that was the spinoff from my, uh, one of my hockey players is from Philly. And so his family is here. So my football series starts off M/M, and, uh, that’s the baby brother and one of the football players. So that was my first jump into it. But I really enjoy creating those worlds and crafting those characters. And for me, love is love. It’s just the same.
I enjoy reading everything. I also enjoy writing everything.
Maren: Yeah. And, you know, there’s so much about pulses racing, you know, that like is everybody can feel that.
Susan: Exactly. Yeah. It’s universal. Like you said, pulses racing. The feeling you get when you’re attracted to someone. You feel that electricity regardless of who you are. It’s important to me too, to write it, but also to read it and also to celebrate the other authors that I know that write it because absolutely own voices, we should be raising them, definitely. But writing them I feel like I’m doing something I was meant to be doing, in a way. And maybe that’s changed a bit over the years of how much I do and when I do it, but that’s also because of life, and you change as a person. But I still enjoy it.
So for me, romance novels were an escape for a long time. So I’m hoping, my biggest thing would be to be able to say, “Here, I produced this thing!” And that then you, a reader, then gets to say “This was my escape. And I really liked being there.” That hopefully then will feed them in a way that makes them feel nice and warm and loved and, that would be the biggest thing, is to have someone say that.
Maren: That’s so beautiful. I’ve been thinking a lot about mission and purpose and vision. That really plays into making whatever it is, whatever artistic project that you’re working on, be bigger than who you are.
Susan: Yes. Once I found out about your podcast and I listened to episodes, first of all, your voice is just so nice and soothing and lovely. And I could play in the background, but I love it. Like, I genuinely love that you have stories that you’ve created for your characters from your – I just am like, this is fabulous because I would wonder about, well, what if those two were, or, you know, just like – and I just, I love that you do that. It’s just such a cool, unique thing and that you’re sharing it with everybody is just, it’s awesome.
Maren: Thank you. Yeah, I certainly had fun writing it all and, there’s more, there’s, there’s so much more to come and like more ideas.
Susan: I love it.
Maren: For me, it’s interesting because I consider myself to be really at the beginning stage. I have not written a novel; I’ve written like a six-chapter book.
But I would love to actually do that, make it more than just a couple of scenes here and there, that are condensed little stories. I would love to really flesh something out and see what actually is going on in these people’s lives. And what’s holding them back and how they can help each other and all of that kind of stuff.
Susan: You so should, because, like, just listening to what you have written, you’re such a descriptive, like such a good writer that I would really love to see, you know? Yes. Give me more, give me absolutely. Give me more. I want like the whole story about these people. Yes.
Maren: Okay, well, thank you so much. This has been amazing and fun. And I hope that we can stay in touch. I mean, we are in a Philly writers’ group, and I’m going to be a lot more active with them.
Susan: You joined our group. I’m so, so happy to have gotten to know you and thank you so much for having me on. This has been such a fun time spent with you. I really have enjoyed it.
Maren: Thank you. And tell our listeners how they can get in touch with you.
Susan: So the best way is my website, which is SusanScottShelley.com. And that has all of my social media links. And it has some bonus, little baby excerpts, stories, that go along with some of my novels. So that’s all there. And, yeah, I hope you check it out.
Maren: Awesome. All of that stuff is going to be in the show notes. And I had just such a great time, so thank you again.
Susan: Me too. Thank you so much.
And I’ll leave it there. Just a reminder. I will be alternating these interviews every other week with my own stories. So you can look forward to seeing my podcast pop-up every week for the next 12 weeks, at least. But they will be alternating: story, interview, story, interview. I have been writing a little bit more and so I have some brand new hot-off-the-presses stories to release.
I’m really excited about this season. And I hope that you are too, after hearing that interview. Thanks again to Susan Scott Shelley for taking the time to talk with me, and definitely take a look at her website and read her books.
Speaking of books, here is an excerpt of one of hers.
Sugar Crush (excerpt)
From Sugar Crush, from the Bliss Bakery series by Susan Scott Shelley.
Brows raised, Jack bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t annoy you too much this week?”
“Annoy? Definitely not.” Only a few steps separated them. Gabriel eliminated the distance. “Distract? Definitely yes.”
Jack’s lips parted with his soft inhale. His tongue peeked out to wet his lips, and he looked up at Gabe, eyes shining, and shifted even closer. “The feeling’s mutual.”
“I distract you?” The idea was gratifying.
“So much.” Voice soft, Jack stroked warm fingers along Gabe’s beard. Their faces were inches apart. ” All week, I was distracted by how much I want to kiss you.”
Desire pounded a steady beat, demanding action. Gabriel clasped Jack’s shoulders and then flexed his hands, kneading the muscles, aching to get closer. “Like you said, the feeling’s mutual.”
” So maybe we should stop thinking about it and just… act.” Jack slid his hand into Gabe’s hair. He strained forward, and Gabe pulled him the rest of the way.
The first touch of soft lips robbed him of his breath and shot electricity through him. It was like nothing he’d felt before. Soft and hot, and Jack. The sweetness from the candy lingered among the darker notes from the coffee. Addicting. And he needed more. Clutching fistfuls of Jack’s hair, he angled their heads until he could deepen the kiss.
Jack met him head-on, licking at Gabe’s mouth, seeking entry, fighting for control as they tangled together, torso to torso, and tasted and tempted and teased. That wicked tongue sent tingles all the way to Gabe’s dick. Pulse throbbing with want, want, want, he gave in, letting Jack take the lead.
Strong hands backed him into the counter, and then Jack pressed in, keeping him there, eliminating every inch of space between them. He moaned as Jack’s hands roamed to his chest, raking over the material, then traced his lips along Jack’s jaw line eliciting, a shiver from the sexy writer. Jack directed Gabriel’s mouth back to his own and kissed him as though Gabe was the source of everything necessary in life, as vital as air and water and sunlight.
To Gabriel, Jack was as bright as the sun.
Kissing Jack was everything he dreamed it would be.
When breathing became necessary, he pulled back and stared into Jack’s deep chocolate eyes. His own stunned expression reflected back to him.
Jack gazed at him, lips swollen and red and slightly parted. ” Thinking about what just happened will be a whole other distraction.”
The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived, written, and edited by me, Maren Montalbano. The background music during the story was “Washed” by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com. The theme music was written by yours truly. If you liked what you heard, I invite you to give this podcast a 5-star rating! I’ll see you next time.