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:
And
All Romance ebooks:
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.
