Julia Barrett's World

But first, the important stuff. J Yes, I’m hosting a scavenger hunt today. Periodically, I’ll be posting four questions here and at my site. You’ll find the rules and choice of prizes at www.tinadonahue.com Just click on the scavenger hunt link on the home page!

Now, to my post:

Yes, building emotional depth in an erotic romance can be done. What’s more, it should be.

We’ve all read erotic romances in which the couple go at each other like there’s no tomorrow because she thinks he’s hot and he’s drooling over her great rack, big blue eyes and legs longer than the state of California.

While the sex might be well written and definitely brings a flush to our cheeks, we feel vaguely dissatisfied when the story’s over. Why? It certainly isn’t for lack of carnal acrobatics. It’s because we didn’t feel emotionally connected to the people inhabiting the book. We learned so little about them except that they liked sex and each other. We had no idea what makes them laugh or cry. . .what moves them emotionally. More importantly, what brought them to this point in the story.

In my latest release, Lush Velvet Nights, I wanted to give Nathan some baggage so he’d be afraid to love again and to commit. His fear of true intimacy with Adriana is what fuels their story and causes her to fight for his love, knowing he cares for her deeply. I believe it adds richness to the sexual content.

Here’s a blurb and an excerpt to illustrate what I mean:

Lush Velvet Nights - When wanton desires & love demand all…

During the day, Adriana’s a lonely corporate heiress, helming a supermarket empire. At night, she hires escorts, scripting provocative fantasies of kidnapping, lust, submission and endless longing. It’s all she has to excite her until she meets Nathan Wynn. Tall, blond and muscular—like a modern-day Viking—Nathan’s a labor relations attorney representing Adriana’s union employees. His imposing presence intensifies her basest desires. When he protects her from an escort he believes is an attacker, she knows he’s wonderfully dominant and unrestrained. Fascinated by Adriana’s underlying sensuality, Nathan brings her to his secluded mountain estate, determined she submit fully to his hunger. At a gentleman’s club, he makes certain she denies him nothing. Engaging in a seductive sexual journey, Nathan’s caught off-guard by his stunning need for Adriana. An attraction he fears because of past events in his life. A growing emotional connection she will not let him deny.

EXCERPT:

(In this scene, Adriana learns Nathan’s daughter from his failed marriage wasn’t really his child – a matter he didn’t realize until the girl was two years old. Adriana tries to draw him out but he’s resistant, wanting to keep their relationship light, sexual. . .it provides the conflict and the depth):

Uneasiness flooded her features. “You took a call as I left the elevator. Was Echo expecting you?”

He stepped back with the name, a familiar pain settling in the center of his chest. “What?”

“Was she your date? Did something happen and she couldn’t make it?”

Head lowered, he pretended to fish his keys from his pocket. “No and no.”

“Is she your wife? Do you have a wife?”

His face lifted. Her obvious worry tempered his surprise and irritation at the intrusion into his private life he never shared with anyone. “No, I’m divorced and blissfully single.”

Her expression still questioned.

The words came before he could stop them. “Echo’s my daughter.”

Adriana’s brows lifted. “I didn’t know you had a child.”

“I don’t.”

Confusion swept over her features, narrowing her eyes. “You just said you did.”

True. An automatic response he couldn’t seem to overcome even after all the years separating him and Echo. Cursing himself for telling Adriana anything, he decided to explain and get it out of the way so they could concentrate on their weekend. “Until Echo was two I believed she was mine. A few months after Hayley and I got divorced, she married Echo’s biological father. Echo has his genes, but I’ll always consider her my daughter.”

Rarely had Adriana witnessed the level of pain she saw on Nathan’s face and heard in his voice. Heart aching, she longed to gather him in her arms and offer whatever comfort she could. Instinct advised her to back off and keep quiet. He didn’t need to confess humiliating details of his ex cheating on him and keeping his daughter’s paternity a secret for two years.

Good god. How in the world could any woman do such a horrible thing to a man, or rather, two men? Hadn’t she seen the unconditional love on Nathan’s face the first time he held Echo and felt her weight, marveled at her warmth and indulged in the wondrous scent of her skin? Hadn’t she cared about her lover and what she’d deprived him of? Lost moments he’d never get back…their daughter’s first step, tooth, smile, words.

The enormity of her betrayal consumed Adriana’s thoughts and stole her ability to make small talk.

Fifteen minutes into their ride, the steady hush of air from the car’s heater mingled with the swishing windshield wipers and an Anita Baker CD. The singer’s rich voice was grown-up and womanly, the way Adriana sensed Nathan liked his females. Anita’s signature style added unmistakable seduction to the songs.

Nathan eased the Rover to a stop behind a long line of cars and glanced over. “Temperature all right?”

In the glare of headlights coming from the opposite direction, his blond hair appeared much lighter, his expression neutral, his previous pain dismissed or suppressed.

Adriana caught a glimpse of it in his dark eyes. He seemed so young suddenly, hurting and lost. Tenderness surged through her. Prudently, she kept it from her voice, not wanting to sound as though she pitied him. “Actually, I’ve already turned off the heater on my seat. I’m a little warm.”

He glanced at how his parka shrouded her. “The coat does come off.” His face lifted. “So do your clothes.”

Her heart leapt at his change from hurt to hungry and the surprising seriousness in his eyes. “You expect me to strip in here?”

With a smile, he turned back to the traffic. Rain pounded the windshield and roof. The music and Anita’s voice enticed. “You said you were warm.”

“We could turn down the heat.”

His hand stopped hers from adjusting it. “I’m not hot.”

Liar. His fingers burned against hers.

“Go on,” he said, running his thumb over the back of her hand prior to releasing it. “Take the parka off …for a start.”

Defiantly, she crossed her arms over her chest, refusing him. She liked the bulkiness of his coat, especially on a wintry night filled with dark promise. Its fabric held his masculine scent, arousing and comforting. Its heaviness reminded her of his arm around her waist, his large body intimidating yet protective.

He flicked on his turn signal and eased his Rover into the next, faster lane. “Suit yourself. For now.”

And later? What then? Her sprinting pulse and uncivilized thoughts answered. Images unwound in her mind of Nathan using his size to overpower and tame her, imprisoning her arms above her head, his knees spreading her thighs, their naked bellies touching, his sex seeking hers as he taught her surrender and submission to their basest needs. Her throat went dry. After a brief struggle, she managed a swallow and a reasonably steady voice. “What happens when we arrive?”

He accelerated, jockeying the Rover into another lane. “I’m going to strip you bare and enjoy every inch of you with my mouth, hands and cock.”

His casual tone made his promise all the more lewd. Blood thudded in her ears. Her eyes darted to him.

Undoubtedly sensing her scrutiny, he looked over. Headlights exposed his expression and eyes. A mixture of feral lust and human need sparkled in them. “Are you afraid?”

“Should I be?”

His expression got devilish. “You sound like an attorney.”

“No, I don’t. You dodge questions much better than I ever could. Like the one I just asked.”

Brows lifting, he glanced back at the cars moving at a crawl. “You have nothing to fear no matter what we do. I’d never harm you.”

Puzzled at his comment, Adriana straightened and leaned toward him, her hand settling on his upper arm. Despite his suit jacket and topcoat, she could still feel his impressive biceps. “Of course you wouldn’t. I wouldn’t be here if I thought otherwise. You’re not that type of man.”

He flicked his gaze at her then watched the car in front. “Outside of negotiating a contract for your union workers and slugging fake kidnappers, you don’t know what kind of man I am.”

“I have a fair idea. Are you trying to talk me out of this?”

Although he’d stopped again with the clogged traffic, he kept his attention on the vehicles ahead. “I don’t want you to have any illusions about me.”

Was her interest so obvious? Did he believe she wanted to make more of this than it would ever be? Her hand slipped from his arm, an almost too quick reaction. To compensate, she made her voice breezy. “Such as?”

“What happened with Hayley wasn’t her fault. It was mine, no matter what you’ve been thinking.”

Adriana hadn’t expected him to bring the subject up again or to be so blunt. She settled back in her seat. “I wasn’t thinking anything.”

“A little advice.” He turned his face to hers. “Don’t ever play poker. You don’t hide your emotions all that well.”

Disconcerted, she mumbled, “Really.”

“Yeah, really. Like your current indignation.” His voice teased. “You’d like me to shut up.”

She lied. “Not at all.”

Giving her a scolding look, Nathan accelerated with the rest of the traffic. “That’s exactly what you want. Believe me, you’re easy to read. Earlier, in the conference room, your attention kept drifting. Each time I saw you staring at me, I thought you were interested, at least until we got to the garage… I didn’t know about Fred showing up.”

She muttered, “His name’s Ed. Although he probably prefers Max.”

“Were you fantasizing about him?”

A quick blush scalded her cheeks. Thankfully, the dark kept him from noticing, and her unease didn’t show in her voice. “I didn’t know who the agency was sending. I can’t fantasize about someone I don’t know.”

“Your image of him then.”

Uncomfortable with the conversation’s direction, she wanted to hedge and figured he’d just keep asking until he got the truth, which he could apparently read on her face. “Actually, I was thinking about a Viking.” She added no more, not about to confess he’d been the inspiration.

His head swung to her, pausing briefly and returned to his lane. “You like football players?”

Adriana’s laugh broke free before she could stop it.

“I take it that means no?”

Still giggling, she answered. “Not a Minnesota Viking, the real ones from history. And no, I loathe sports. I learned them to please my dad, but…” Her words and laughter halted as she recalled the stats she’d memorized, the plays she’d studied and dissected so she could discuss them with her father, a rabid fan. Her efforts went unnoticed. During the games, he surrounded himself with a group of his male VPs, relieving him of having to deal with her on all but the most superficial level, just like an employee.

She remembered the look in Nathan’s eyes earlier, the anguish in his voice as he’d said Echo’s name. She tried to imagine her father having the same depth of feeling for her and could not. Sorrow at a loss she’d endured all of her life deadened her voice. “Sports bored me to death.” Sighing deeply, she turned down the heater’s fan and continued, unable to help herself. “My father and I were never close, no matter how hard I tried to please him. I don’t believe he ever really wanted me as you obviously still want Echo. I just don’t understand how you could think what happened was your fault. Stop me if I’m out of line here, but did you cheat on Hayley before she cheated on you?”

The last strains of music faded, leaving only the sound of pelting rain and beating wipers. Nathan’s eyes flicked to the CD player then back to the road. He put on his right turn signal and edged through traffic to the slowest lane. The Rover’s headlights shone on the street sign indicating the next exit, an overpass miles from the turn-off they should be taking.

Adriana’s stomach sank with disappointment. Did he plan to get off and head back to L.A. because of her out-of-line question?

“No, I didn’t cheat on her,” he said.

*** By bringing in their past and their vulnerabilities, I believe it made their journey to love – and the sex scenes – that much deeper and richer.

Lush Velvet Nights is available from Ellora’s Cave: http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-8298-50-lush-velvet-nights.aspx

Website/blog/video trailer for Lush Velvet Nights: www.tinadonahue.com

And don’t forget to participate in today’s scavenger hunt!!!

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