Relationships and Ribbons & Bows

One of the main reasons I love to write is the exploration that comes with it and I’m not just talking about the research. Through the written word, I can delve into emotions and fears without having to leave the safety of my recliner or deal with the nasty consequences that come with them. It’s the same when writing about relationships. I want to explore the various types of relationships that exist and see how they function with different people without the girls packing my bags and throwing me out on my ass. And not just romantic entanglements, either. I want to explore family, friends, and coworkers as well. Of course, the romantic ones are more fun and the steamier the research, the better the work.

In Losing Faith, I followed the Greers as they opened their marriage up to outside sexual exploration and the emotions they find themselves experiencing because of it. I don’t care what anyone tells you, great sex comes with emotions, even the one night stands, and Faith and Selby run the gamut of them in the first Rutherford novel. In Sibling Rivalry, we see two very different sisters with drastically opposing views on life, sex and relationships, as well as the man who wants to explore the bedroom with both of them. Roll the Dice and Come Halloween deal with grief and how people handle the passing of a loved one, but each in a different way. How do they go from saying goodbye to being able to love again? Can they move on or will they forever be sitting at the tombstone of their departed spouse?

Ribbons & Bows is no different when it comes to the journey of exploration. When creating the characters Brandon and Caiden, I wanted to describe two completely different men with varying lifestyle choices. Caiden is a romantic professor who loves to hang out at the beach and sketch. Brandon on the other hand is a lawyer who demands structure and loves a dominant/submissive way of life.

The idea behind the novella is to explore how different people touch and fulfill different aspects of our personalities. We all have friends who do this for us––share our love of sports when our spouse can’t tell the difference between football and swimming, enjoys our tastes in music and literature, shares in our hobby or love of wombats. However, I wanted to explore something deeper. I didn’t just want the wife to wave goodbye to her husband as she’s going off to her book club while he stays home and watches westerns. Furthermore, I didn’t want to just connect with the mind, but to get the heart and body involved in it as well. It goes beyond hobbies and likes. These men touch Susanna in different ways with her heart and body, as well as the way she sees herself. She discovers she cannot do without either of them. “They both made her feel completely different things and she craved them both. To Caiden, she was a princess, if not a queen, someone he fawned over, worshiped. Brandon brought her down from that pedestal, using her for his desires. To one, she was royalty, while to the other, she was a slave. Two different worlds and they both excited her to the point of confusion. Together, they made her whole. How could she split herself in half again once she had discovered what completed her? Without both of them in her life, she would never feel whole again.” Of course, Susanna doesn’t realize this until she’s already caught between them and feeling pulled in both directions.

To make matters just a little more interesting, I made all of them roommates and now Susanna is having a hard time keeping each of the men from finding out about the other. She feels guilty, of course, but she can’t bring herself to choose between them and she definitely can’t stop. The sex is too good.

There will be those who think Susanna is just a cheating woman, greedy enough to get what she wants without worrying about the consequences to her roommates. Perhaps she is, but that is only one small aspect of who this character is and what drives the story. What would some of us do, if we could have every part of our being touched, to feel like a queen as well as the toy? What will Susanna do if either of her lovers discover her infidelity? Or worse, what if they both find out? One thing is for sure, this Christmas is about more than pretty wrapping paper. It’s about what’s in the heart and soul of Susanna Tawnie.

You can pick up your copy of Ribbons & Bows at Amazon ~ http://amzn.to/1Wr5uUh

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Until next time, keep chasing your fantasies!