I realize that I seemed to disappear for several days, but that’s because I’ve been doing a handful of different things… all at once š
NANOWRIMO — I’m working on my NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) story. If you want to cheer me on, here I am at NaNoWriMo.org: HarperKingsley. The title of the story I’m working on? “Across Two Divides,” by Sol Crafter, which you can find with the rest of the NaNo stories at Smashwords. 100% sampling if you want to read along š Across Two Divides.
I’m writing my heart out and I’m actually really enjoying this story. Feedback is much appreciated.
RUMBLE BUNDLE EBOOK GIVEAWAY — I’ve got a giveaway going on. You can enter now and it runs until December 15th. The bundles include exclusive content.
What I’ll be giving out:
- 10 ebook bundles of “Across Two Divides” and “Woke Up In Vegas,” by Sol Crafter.
- 10 ebook bundles of “Leviathan,” “Piece of Cake, Slice of Pie,” “Tuesday Night,” “Spun,” and “From Diamond to Coal, Arc 01.”
EXCERPT — Here, enjoy the start of “Woke Up In Vegas,” by Sol Crafter.
Title: Woke Up In Vegas
Author: Sol Crafter
Characters: Riley Curtain, Brent Caldwell, Natasha Swaggart, Geoffrey Heele
Genre: mm contemporary romance
Excerpt Rating: teen+
Warning: there’s some swears. Just a heads up about that
Ā WOKE UP IN VEGAS
by Sol Crafter
They lay sprawled across the tangled sheets, their faces turned from each other but their dark hair meshing on the pillow. Morning light edged in around the gaps in the curtains and the only sound in the room was their quiet breathing. The second double-bed across from theirs was still made up, a miniature pink bowling bag the only thing to disturb the white-on-white comforter.
The hotel room door slammed open with a panicked “Oh holy shit fuck!” from the woman that burst in. Her blond hair was in wild disarray around her shoulders and her tiny black dress was missing one strap and looked as though it had been hastily pulled down over her head. There were still traces of vivid red lipstick around her mouth and her mascara had been smeared to the point of raccoonishness.
Riley jerked upright on the bed, then clutched his head with a heartfelt groan. His usually sun-gilded skin was sickly and gray, his forehead dotted with sweat. “What?” he rasped, blowing out his cheeks. His stomach roiled unpleasantly and for a second he thought he was about to vomit on himself, but he managed to swallow it back down. “Natasha?”
“You gotta help me, this is so stupid, how could something like this have happened? Why would you let me do this?” she shrilled, digging her hands into her hair.
“Nat. Nat. Natasha!” Once he was sure he’d gotten her attention, Riley patted the air in front of himself with his hand. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What did you do? Why are you freaking out?”
She licked her lips, her wild brown eyes focusing on him. “This,” she said, holding out her left hand.
Riley had to squint to see, then it took a moment for it to click. “Is that a ring?”
“It’s a motherfucking wedding ring!” She shook her hand furiously at him. “I’m that stupid chick that wakes up in Vegas fucking married to some guy I met last night. How the hell could you let this happen to me?”
His mouth just opened and closed soundlessly as he stared at that glint of silver on her ring finger. He remembered her disappearing early in the evening with the guy she’d spotted in the bar and he’d ended up staying longer doing Tokyo Shooters and slurping down Washington Apples until everything turned into a big ol’ memory blank. And sometime in there she had to have gone to the Marriage License Bureau they’d been joking about when they’d come into town and gotten herself married to someone.
Natasha always seemed to get caught up in crazy situations, but this was the first time she’d gotten drunk married and he honestly didn’t know what he was supposed to say. His brain felt slow and he groaned, rubbing his face with his hands. “I can’t handle this shit right now. I think I still need to sober up.”
She put her hands on her hips and gave him a sour look. “You can’t handle this shit? I can’t handle this shit. I’m the one that went out there and got married to some guy I met in a bar last night. At least you just brought your guy back to your room; you weren’t stupid enough to marry him.”
“What are you talking about?” Riley asked. He was surprised to see that he was still dressed, though he’d lost his shoes and socks somewhere. He was even still wearing the navy blue zip-front hoodie he’d slipped on before they’d gone out.
She pointed next to him on the bed and Riley looked to see a tangle of short dark hair belonging to the back of some man’s head. “Who’s that?” he whispered, giving Natasha a wide-eyed look.
She shrugged. She’d always had an easier time dealing with his drama than sticking to her own. “Who knows. You must have met him after I left you at the bar. You don’t remember him at all?”
Riley shook his head. “I don’t remember talking to anyone. I was just drinking, having a good time.” He pulled his legs up against his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees. “I’m still dressed, so obviously we just came back here to pass out.” He took comfort in that. He’d never been the kind of guy that went out for one-night stands.
“Lucky you,” Natasha said, but the bite was out of her tone. She was peering at the guy curiously, a little furrow appearing between her brows. She’d walked closer to the bed, but the guy was on the side closest to the wall and she couldn’t get a good view of his face.
“So loud, what’s going on?” a sleep-roughened voice asked accompanied by a rustle of sheets being kicked down the bed as the man turned his head to face them. He blinked sleepily and there was a rash of dark stubble on his cheeks, but Riley couldn’t help gaping in recognition.
His breath caught in his throat and his eyes ran up and down the jeans and black tee shirt clad body of Brent Caldwell, his favorite British actor. There was no mistaking that internationally famous face, framed by the white of the pillow and looking like something right out of one of his movies or Riley’s fantasies.
Riley flicked a quick glance at Natasha and had to hope that his eyes didn’t look as crazy as hers did. He forced his lips together and tried to appear cool, though a whimper may have escaped his throat.
Waking up after a night of drunken debauchery with a handsome movie star like Brent Caldwell had been the kind of thing he’d dreamed of as a teenager–a nerdy, lonely, gay teenager. Actually waking up with Brent Caldwell himself might have just blown something in his brain, though he was a bit disappointed to have both of them be clothed. He didn’t even have any happy aches in private places to feed his spank bank for the future, because there was no way something this awesome could ever happen again.
“Oh, it’s you.” Brent Caldwell gave him a warm smile that made something shift low in Riley’s belly. “How are you feeling? You were pretty wasted.”
/EXCERPT
