Sunday, February 16, 2014

PURPLE PROSE by Sam Cheever

PURPLE PROSE by Sam Cheever

Forget being creatively blocked. Forget being purple. They just want to survive the process of writing the book!

When she hits the writer's block of all writer's blocks, Lindsey Prince thinks her muse has abandoned her. But she opens her door one day to find a gorgeous new one standing there, "anxious" to help her finish her current project. There's only one problem... her new muse, Zahn, has been turned purple by Calliope, Chief of the Muses, for indulging in Purple Prose. Unfortunately, his fate rests on Lindsey submitting a purple prose free manuscript to her editor. No pressure there.

To make matters worse, Zahn apparently has a powerful and cranky ex-girlfriend who isn't all that thrilled by the growing attraction between Lindsey and Zahn. She'll do anything to stop Lindsey from submitting that manuscript. Anything. Based on the extremely heated "research" she and Zahn have been indulging in, Lindsey knows her sexy IR story will sizzle. She only needs to live through the process of writing it.

No easy task, that.

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Excerpt:

The door to what was apparently my guest room was closed. I stood outside in the hallway for a few moments trying to work up the courage to knock. What Zahn told me at dinner had freaked me out. I’d been worried a lot lately about my inability to put words on paper. I’d begun to suffer under not only the pressure I was placing on myself, but also the pressure I’d been feeling from my editor, Cathy, at my lack of writing production.

I hadn’t sent anything to Cathy for six months. She’d been carefully nudging me with questioning phone calls for the last three. I was in trouble and didn’t need any more pressure.

My plan was to tell Zahn he had to leave. I couldn’t deal with the responsibility for his life as well as mine. It was too much. I had enough problems of my own.

I bit my lip and lifted my fist to knock.

“Come in, Lindsey.”

I frowned at the door, my hand hovering. How’d he do that?

I opened the door and gasped. My mouth hung open as I viewed the unfamiliar room.

“I made a few changes.”

Zahn lay in the middle of the biggest bed I’d ever seen. It was covered by a gold silk comforter that looked about eight inches thick. He leaned against a headboard that reached almost to the ceiling and was padded in the same gold silk. He wore only a pair of black boxers. They shimmered in the soft silver light cast by a matching pair of crystal lamps on either side of the huge bed.

I stepped into the room and my feet sank into the deep, soft pile of an exquisite carpet in a deep cappuccino color. Paintings of nudes in various suggestive poses lined the walls, and shimmering gold fabric draped the window. In the far corner, perched on an oversized tree in a pot, Mike dozed with his head tucked under one wing.

“Wow.”

“I hope you don’t mind. I needed to move a few of your things.” Zahn smiled.

I frowned. “Where’d you put all the boxes?”

“Around. Is there something wrong? You look worried.”

I bit my lip, unsure how to begin. Zahn patted the bed next to him. “Sorry, I didn’t think to add a chair. I usually just lie on the bed when I’m in here.”

I licked my lips, unable to stop the lustful thoughts flying through my mind. “That’s okay, I’ll stand.”

Two long creases appeared between his eyebrows. “Whatever it is, Lindsey, just spit it out. You’ll feel better.”

I opened my mouth, forcing the words out through a suddenly clenched throat. “It’s just that…well…I don’t think I can help you.” When he frowned, I rushed ahead with my excuses. “I can’t even help myself. I don’t want to be responsible for you being purple the rest of your life. It’s just too much pressure. I’m having enough trouble as it is…”

Zahn levered himself off the bed and started toward me.

My heart stuttered at his size and incredible beauty. At five-foot-three, I felt like one of the little folk standing next to him. His skin, looking black instead of purple in the silver light, shimmered like polished ebony. I knew it would be warm and smooth like the most expensive silk. His legs were long, straight, and muscular enough to be masculine, but not in the least bulky. His hips were narrow and his chest broad, with well-defined pecs. My muse was perfection in the male form. As he approached, his sexy almond eyes watched me with the intensity of a jungle cat on the prowl.

He lifted his big hands in my direction.

I flinched away, terrified by the feelings he’d conjured in me just by walking across the room.

Zahn placed his hands on my shoulders, moved them down my arms, and grabbed my hands. My pale skin looked true white against his darker flesh. “I know you’re scared and a little confused by all this, Lindsey. But I’m here because you need me. Not the other way around. I’m purple because of what I did. My actions. You have absolutely no responsibility for my problem.”

As he spoke, his skin warmed noticeably, and something soothing slid from him to me through our clasped hands. I shivered under the pleasurable assault, and my nerves settled.

Zahn leaned close, tilting his head with a soft smile. “Does that help?”

His breath danced softly across my face, and I opened my lips to pull it in. I slid my tongue over my lips as if to taste him.

Feeling slightly dazed, I started to nod but caught myself and shook my head. “No. I just don’t want your help right now. I didn’t ask for a muse and I don’t need one.” I jerked my hands from his and stepped back. I’d come into the room with firm objectives, but somewhere along the way my intentions got fuzzy. With a simple touch, he’d made my thoughts lose focus and overwhelmed my will with his. I didn’t know if he’d done it on purpose, but the result was the same. It was disconcerting.

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