I love having friends pop in to visit and today I’m thrilled to have Neve Wilder stop by. She has a new book coming out called Center of Gravity and it sounds fabulous – definitely one I’ll be reading. Check out the guest post and there’s an excerpt too. PLUS a free book to download.
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Thanks for having me, Nic! I’ve spent the past several months working on my first m/m novel to be released October 4th, called Center of Gravity. It’s a slowburner May-December romance that I’m really excited to get out. But as I was working through edits, I was itching to work on something lighter and faster paced. These two characters, who are roommates in a house located off-campus, sort of swam to the surface of my mind and wouldn’t leave me alone. So I ended up sitting down and, over the course of a couple of days, let their story spill out. I’ve made it available for free download on Instafreebie. It’s a fairly quick, steamy read, but I had so much fun writing it.
I love reading about how other authors write, so I thought I’d share a bit about my process. The way it typically works for me is that an inkling of a story will arise in my mind and float around for a while, gathering steam, forming into a plot. I let it marinate that way and if, when I go to try to create some sort of loose outline, it doesn’t gel, it gets to hang out for a while longer to either coalesce into something I want to write or be discarded if I can’t get any traction with it. By the time I sit down to actually start writing a story, it’s usually been baking in mental oven for awhile and I get excited to finally start focusing on it.
Nate and Eric’s story, Watch Me, was sort of an anomaly for me in that I had a basic premise—roommates who become entangled—but not much else. I prepared to let the story work itself out in my mind for a month or so, but when I woke the next day, these characters just sort of popped up and said hello. When I sat down to work on my current WIP, what came out instead was their story. I finished it quicker than anything else I’d written, and it was so satisfying to just basically unleash their personalities and try to keep up with them as I typed. It was so much fun, and eventually I think they will have their own book. But for now, I’m glad to share this short story with you all and an exclusive excerpt from it.
BLURB:
University student Nate Sanders has been happily subsisting on the typical frat boy diet of booze and sorority girls until the night his enigmatic housemate, Eric, busts in on him taking care of some solo business.
Ever since then, Nate can’t get Eric off his mind. With an upcoming exam in Calculus, his weakest subject, Nate needs to buckle down and focus. But when he takes Eric up on an offer to help him prepare, their study session ends up veering wildly off topic.
EXCERPT:
When I finished the math problem, I dropped my pencil on the table and collapsed back into the couch with a long exhale. Eric checked my work, then gave me a nod. “Looks good. I think you’ve got it.”
“Thanks so much, dude, really. This is a huge load off.”
He started chuckling, and it took me a second to realize what was making him laugh, but when I did, that stupid flush started crawling up my cheeks again. I smeared my hands down my face like I could drag the color away. I’d worked myself up so much over the past few days I was about to explode just being near him. I was probably throwing off pheromones like a motherfucker. Was he really unaware? Something about the way he was looking at me made me think he knew exactly how much he’d been on my mind lately.
“It’s not a big deal, you know. I’ve been busted more times than I can count on both hands.” Why? Why did my cock twitch at that?
“Though—” His head tipped to one side, his eyes going distant. “Can’t say I’ve ever actually busted in on a guy and then he shot his load in front of me. Killer timing on that one. Your face, man.” He made a whooshing sound effect. “Shock and awe.”
“Yep, no need to rehash. I was there.”
He grinned as I went redder.
“I’m just fucking with you.” His grin waned when I didn’t smile, and his expression sobered. “I’ll stop.”
“No it’s fine, just—” I shook my head. “I’m making things awkward. Let’s just stop talking about it.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. But really, no need to be awkward. Honestly, at the risk of having you go full bro jock on me, it was pretty fucking hot.”
He did this thing with his lower lip, where his teeth clamped down on the corner, while tendrils of fire crept through me and stoked my pulse. Raw, smack-you-upside-the-head desire coiled in my pelvis. Just that last sentence had unleashed it, and now I was sporting a raging boner. The look he turned on me then was one of assessment, but whatever was in my expression was enough to swivel his head back to my textbook. He dropped the pen he was holding between the pages and stood, shifting, but not enough to hide his own erection.
“Anyhow, if you need more help, you know where to find me.”
I sucked in a breath as he started for the door. “Eric.”
He twisted back toward me in a slow quarter turn, his brows jumping up. For a minute, I wondered if somehow he’d known this was about to come, if he’d known the second after he walked in on me and had just been waiting. But his expression revealed nothing more than open curiosity.
And God, I had to admit how hot he was right then, the dark tousle of his hair, the intense green-brown stare, that plump, lush mouth of his. He probably got as much ass as he wanted, regardless of gender. I reminded myself I was no slouch either. I had to in order to have the confidence to say what I did next.
“It was hot. For me, too. Obviously.”
Silence. Patient, excruciating silence. Then he wet his lips, and I watched rapt as the pink tip of his tongue slid along his lower lip before his teeth snagged that plump bit of flesh and trapped it. My heart thundered in my chest. “In fact, I was wondering if…if it could happen again.”
“Me walking in on you?” He asked it carefully, studying me.
“More like…maybe you watching me?” Holy shit, I couldn’t believe I was still talking.
Download Link (newsletter opt-in optional): https://claims.instafreebie.com/free/ByMDQ0Zd
ABOUT NEVE:
Neve Wilder lives in the Southern United States, where the summers are hot and the winters are…sometimes cold.
Her favorite stories always contain romance. Incidentally, this is also what she likes to write. Slow-burners with delicious tension? Yes. Whiplash-inducing page-turners, also yes. Down and dirty scorchers? Absolutely. And every flavor in between.
She thinks David Bowie was the sexiest musician to ever live, and she’s always game to nerd out on anything from music to writing.
And finally, she believes that love conquers all. Except the heat index in July. Nothing can conquer that bastard.
Social media links:
Website: www.nevewilder.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nevewilderwrites
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