It seems that we all love a flawed character, especially the sultry men that remind us of a passionate moment or are the poster child for our darkest fantasies. While he may be a sexy man that appears confident and rugged, there is always something about him that is human, or so we hope. I don’t think any of us want our guy to be perfect, because we know there is no such thing. Sadly the trends in romance writing require that the man is a near God. Stud like at six foot something, he has to be perfectly carved and all male. Our heroines however, are supposed to be real women. They will never be model perfect thin with long blond hair and dazzling blue eyes. They are like you and me, worried about the way they look and act, or always striving to improve whether their love life or their financial position. Our women are strong willed and hungry to taste life in a different fashion. That’s why we love the characters we write and read. How many times do you find yourself searching for your favorite author simply because you take comfort in the characters that he or she develops?
I think that is one reason our hero always hides something damaging to him personally and the secret is so horrible in his mind that the new love of his life could not understand and certainly will never forgive him. We live an every day life with trials and tribulations and long to delve into our fantasy worlds where knights on white steeds really do exist. No one wants to read about the car breaking down and the bills that can’t get paid this month. That’s real life. We want what most of us will long for, a bit of mystery, a touch of horror and a moment filled with raging passion. That’s why the characters are filled with desperation and desire.
Interesting in that in Revving Her Wild Engines – the piece started out frivolous enough, she wanted a fantasy and the spark was a torrid internet tryst with a man she had never met and simply talked to on Facebook. That’s real enough of course and sadly many marriages have ended because of infidelity that can be directly tied to social media, but the two in my saucy story are single and unsure of ever tasting love again because of traumas they both experienced in the past. Granted, I have to admit that the sex on the back of a Harley is hot, sizzling. Whew baby. But I realized the story was missing something, heart.
So, my heroine was given a terrible past that kept her kidding behind her computer screen and his character was given a damning secret that he harbored so closely that only one of his close friends knew about the moment nearly destroyed him. Sadly they had no idea who to express what they had been through and the combined secrets threaten to destroy their blossoming love. As with the majority of romance novels, whether they are erotic or very tame, there is a happy ever after or at minimum a happy for now, but it comes with a price. You’ll have to read it to find out!
I won’t give any secrets away, but I’ll give you a taste of the angst they both feel during the wonderful sexual weekend. Excerpt from Revving Her Wild Engines.
David’s eyes darted back and forth across hers, his anxious. “Stephanie, what is it? Is it me?”
She shook her head. “God, no, David. It’s not you at all. It’s…it’s me. It’s that I’m…I’m…I’m…ugly.” The last two words were barely a whisper. “There’s no way you could possibly want me. I am forever damaged!”
He inched forward but didn’t try and touch her. “Damaged? Ugly? Oh gal, you are dazzling. Why would you say that?”
Stephanie looked toward the gentle waves, calming her nerves and finally glanced back into his eyes. Seeing his outright concern warmed her heart.
“It’s true. I’m not good enough for you or for anybody else. I don’t know, David. I wish I could explain it to you.” She hated the worthless words but couldn’t think of any others.
David opened his mouth and then closed it. Nodding in acquiescence, he turned to stare out into the blue grey water. When he turned back, his eyes held a haze of mist. Holding his hands up, he moved toward her slowly and pulled his tee shirt down from his neck, nearly ripping the thin material. Exposing mottled skin, a zigzag of burns permanently scarred the man.
“It’s I who’s damaged and ugly, a beast of a man.” His words were hoarse and filled with angst.
And what David has had to deal with for two long years is torture. There are some twists involved as well as delicious sex, but in the end, their relationship boils down to trust and understanding. They finally were able to talk about the past and their outstanding fears in order to make certain decisions. We all have those moments in our lives and our past identifies how we handle our every day situations. Of course their issues are much larger than life, but they are certainly things we could have gone through.
In trying to find the perfect guy to select as the Harley rider, I had such difficulty. I even tried a contest to see if there was one hunky guy out there that really owned a Harley that would model. Sadly, there were no takers. So I picked a sexy stock photo that has nothing to do with my guy in the book. David is in his fifties and not the long haired stud muffin you will see in the trailer. It’s interesting the reactions I have received. I wish I could have found the perfect guy to relay what I was thinking, but the story will tell the tale.
We place a lot of ourselves in our characters and while their secrets sometimes mirror our own, we as writers make them bigger, more traumatizing and certainly the ramifications more caustic. Is that something we want to read about? I think we all enjoy two people overcoming the odds and finding that bit of happiness, that slice of passion that was buried deeply inside of them. Don’t you?
Hope you enjoyed!
Kisses xxx
Cassandre
Passion with a Dark and Dangerous Twist 