Road Trips, Steak Soup & Hot Men

By Morticia Knight (Guest Blogger)

Hi Lisabet – Thank you for hosting me at your blog! Stay tuned for a giveaway opportunity just before the excerpt *wink*

I love road trips. There’s something very freeing about getting in the car, and taking off to somewhere new. Of course, car snacks are a big part of the adventure – but I could do a whole other different post just on that subject. However, one adventure in particular did involve food – but it was part of the destination rather than the journey. It was a quest for steak soup and spicy spinach - artichoke dip from Texas Land ‘n’ Cattle.

I had visited my daughter in Texas, and stumbled upon this magnificent restaurant with the above-named goodies. However, upon my return to California, I discovered there weren’t any Texas Land ‘n’ Cattle restaurants to be had. My younger daughter and I were commiserating during the Christmas holidays just how nice it would be to have a bowl of that wonderful soup and tasty dip. This is the part where the internet was useful instead of just annoying. As it turned out, there were no locations of the restaurant anywhere in California. Nada. But interestingly enough, there was one in Mesa – a Phoenix Arizona suburb.

So I mapped it out. At the time we were living in the mountains above Palm Springs, and if we went down the other side and kept heading east - it would be a mere 4 and a half hours to steak soup land. Yay! It’s not as if we had any other plans that day – or for a couple of days after. So I loaded myself and the twelve year-old into the van, and off we went. And yes – it was very delicious. But another even more wonderful thing happened when we were there: we learned all about a new place.

Mesa and the surrounding desert is an amazing mixture of Native American and early western settler history. There is a wonderful natural history museum, an arts center, historic homes, and ancient ruins to visit. My favorite was the Casa Grande National Monument that contains the ruins of the Hohokam people that disappeared almost a thousand years ago. They were very advanced for their time, and several tribes in the state claim to be descended from them.

In my MM series, Uniform Encounters, all of the stories take place in Mesa. The most recent release, Arresting Behaviour, involves a homicide detective and a Native American poet and artist who believes that the Hohokam are his ancestors. Jake the detective is trying to question the artist Quinn on what he knows about the victims, but Quinn is not interested in anything the police have to say – he’ll take care of things himself. The following excerpt is the moment when the two men in the story meet for the first time. For your chance to win an ecopy of either Arresting Behaviour or Set Ablaze (Uniform Encounters Book One), leave a comment below about your favorite road trip experience. I will pick a winner one week from today, and announce it in the comments section – good luck and enjoy a taste of Arresting Behaviour.

Native American Quinn and Detective Jake come from two opposing worlds. But when opposites attract, the result is explosive.

Excerpt

"What is it, Cole? Why are you acting like this?”

“What do you mean? I’m not acting like anything. Come on, let’s go to the ruins, the guard won’t be back to that section for over an hour.”

Cole pulled abruptly away from him, and picked up his pace, heading over to where the Hohokam had lived in a peaceful community hundreds of years ago. Quinn followed him wordlessly, not missing the hurry in Cole’s steps, as well as the lack of secrecy in his pace. He might as well announce to the world that they were there with all of his crunching and grinding on the dirt. They reached the edge of the ruins, and went behind one of the rectangular structures made from calcium deposit. This had been the main formation where—it was surmised—the community had gathered. It was also where certain star constellations could be seen when peering through the cuts in the middle of the stone, and gazing towards the sky. It had taken a long time for researchers to discover this—at first puzzling over the openings in the caliche walls.

Quinn placed a hand reverently on the side of the structure. He began to enter and Cole yelled out, “Wait!”

Quinn froze and frowned at the man. Barely above a whisper he said, “Keep your voice down. The guard could still be within earshot.”

Cole cleared his throat. “I…just don’t want to go in there.”

“Cole, I needed to see you like this because of the murders. I want you to reconsider what we talked about before. I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay here right now…”

Cole’s eyes widened as if he were seeing something that Quinn couldn’t.

“I’m so sorry—please forgive me.” Cole dropped his head and began to weep softly.

“What the…?”

“Gotcha!”

Someone’s strong hand seized his shoulder, and Quinn whirled around, ready to take his assailant down, assuming he must be the killer. Instead, he came face to face with several officers approaching from all around the ruins, guns drawn. He looked down into the face of the man who still gripped Quinn’s shoulder. This officer was bronze-skinned with a mop of close-cropped, curly dark hair. He wasn’t in a uniform, but instead had tight black jeans on and a snugly fitting T-shirt that wrapped nicely around the young man’s lean and lightly muscled torso. His eyes were what set off the rest of his face - large and saucer-like, a deep brown Quinn could easily drown in. A smile began to curl at the corner of his sumptuous mouth, producing an adorable dimple, and Quinn felt his cock twitching at the sight of it.

What the hell is the matter with me?

Quinn got a hold of himself. “What’s this all about? Get your hand off of me!”

He went to push what he knew was a cop’s hand off him, even if it did belong to the sweetest and most delectable guy he’d encountered in a long time.

I feel his spirit…

No, it couldn’t be. He had no idea what was happening to him or why there were so many strongly conflicting emotions assaulting him at once, but he was not going to go down some weird road fantasising about a cop.

“My dear, Quinn,” said the man, who insisted on keeping a hand on his shoulder, “I do believe you’re trespassing in the ruins tonight. Isn’t that correct, Mr Stillman?”

The cop looked towards Cole who was now blubbering into his hands. He merely nodded, not able to look Quinn in the eye.

This is the man who said he loved me more than anything. The man who said he would die for me.

Just like all of the others, Cole had only been caught in a sexual thrall, nothing more. He allowed the familiar numbness to wash over him, soothing his body with emptiness. It was the void that protected him from becoming too emotionally attached to anyone, and prevented him from believing that someone really cared.

“So as long as we need to take you downtown on this trespassing charge, I thought we could chat about a few other things while we’re there. Sound good?”

Quinn stayed as cold as stone inside. His gorgeous cop was no different than Cole, or any of the others that had piqued his interest at one point.

Spirit my ass. I’ve been betrayed by someone I was trying to help. I’m not going to let myself even think of another man in any other way than a body to spend my lust on—it’s obvious no one can be trusted.

Quinn stared straight ahead and betrayed no emotion as he was cuffed, and the sultry officer led him by the elbow to a patrol car. His life had turned upside down ever since these killings had begun, and men who didn’t deserve to die horribly had been struck down, seemingly because they had once been with him sexually. Was Cole behind all of it then? Maybe the sexy, nerdy historian that worked at the centre was really some crazed psychopath who had a bizarre agenda.

The only thing that he knew for sure was that he wasn’t telling these cops a thing. Not a goddamned thing

Available now at the publisher:

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2176

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Arresting-Behaviour-Uniform-Encounters-ebook/dp/B00DJ8FUPA/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372053157&sr=1-12&keywords=morticia+knight

And All Romance ebooks:

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-arrestingbehaviour-1223864-153.html

About Morticia

Erotic Romance author Morticia Knight enjoys a good saucy tale, with MM and MMF pairings. Since she loves several genres, you may find your heroes in a contemporary, historical, paranormal or sci-fi setting. One of her passions is bringing people's fantasies to life on the page, because life is too short for even one boring moment. Her stories are volcanic in heat, deep in emotion, and sprinkled with doses of humor. 

 

When not indulging in her passion for books, she loves the outdoors, film and music. The Pacific Northwest is the ideal spot to enjoy both hiking and beachcombing. Once upon a time she was the singer in an indie rock band that toured the West Coast and charted on U.S. college radio. She currently resides on the northern coast of Oregon, where the constant rain and fog remind her of visits to her family in England and Scotland when she was a child.

Morticia has a three-book series called Uniform Encounters set in the Southwest that features those yummy men in uniform - available in 2013. She is currently working on a new MM series, as well as a steampunk horror and a sci-fi ménage.

Visit Morticia at www.morticiaknight.blogspot.com

Friend her on facebook, or follow her @morticiaknight on twitter.