Writing real life…one book at a time
I have been slacking and procrastinating so much over the past few months, but I’m back on the writing grind now. My current work in progress, Extracurricular Activity is coming along nicely. I’ve tried stepping outside my literary box and trying some different things with character, plot twists, and story lines, so it’s taking me longer to write and finish this, but it’s almost complete. Stay tuned!
**unedited excerpt from Red Hot Rebound..COMING SOON**
Summer and Dionne were spending the week at The Harrington Oceanside Hotel & Spa, a contemporary, luxury boutique hotel which offered the absolute best accommodations money could by. The 39-story private hotel boasted they have the best view of the Miami skyline and it was located only minutes from the Port of Miami. If guests didn’t want to leave the hotel, the state of the art bedrooms with floor to ceiling windows, full service spa, bowling and billiard rooms, media room, and many dining options provided plenty of indoor entertainment.
“I’m having fun by relaxing in the room watching this big screen tv and ordering complimentary room service.”
“Nope, you’re not. Get up, get dressed. We’re going to go down to ThreeFortyFive restaurant and have brunch before we head to the beach.”
“I’m not hungry; you go ahead. I just want to sleep,” Summer said with a sullen expression on her face. Damn, I wish she’d leave me the hell alone.
“You slept on the plane, you slept most of the day yesterday, and you can sleep when you’re dead. Now, get up and I refuse to take no for an answer. The way you’re moping around here, I’m almost embarrassed to call you my cousin. And have you even bathed since we’ve been here, because you kind of smell. I know you just got dumped, but you won’t find another man walking around here with a funky coochie. Please get up and go wash your ass, girl.”
“Oh, alright. I’ll get up. Lord knows I don’t want to embarrass the almighty Dionne. And I don’t even smell that bad,” Summer said, taking a whiff of her underarms to be sure. “Okay, so I forgot to put on deodorant,” she said wrinkling her nose as a faint onion-like smell wafted from her armpits. “But I’m not hungry and I do need to take a shower, so I’ll just catch up with you later.”
“Fine, but I want you to get out of this room and go enjoy yourself today, even if you just go sunbathe on the beach. As a matter of fact…,” Dionne said while digging through her Gucci Soho leather shoulder bag- compliments of Marcus’ credit card- looking for a business card. She used her cell phone to call down to the hotel spa and make an appointment for Summer to get pampered.
“It’s all arranged; you need to be at the spa at 11:30 on the dot, my treat. I put it on my credit card, so all you have to do is show up. And let me tell you, Mekhi- the masseuse I arranged for you to see- girrllll, that man is so good with his hands, you’ll definitely need to take an extra pair of panties with you, if you know what I mean,” she promised with a wink.
“Okay, okay…I’ll go get the massage and then I’ll meet you down at the beach later. Will that get you off my ass?” Summer snapped.
“Perfect. I’ll see you later.”
Dionne exited the room and while Summer wanted to lie back down, she really could use a massage. She grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand and tapped the screen. The L.E.D. notification was blinking, letting her know she had missed messages…but none of them were from Justin. She rolled her eyes and placed the phone back down on the stand, then got out of the bed. Dionne would kill her if she didn’t go get the massage she’d so graciously paid for.
After a quick shower, she packed her beach bag so she wouldn’t have to come back to the room, then headed down to find the spa, which was on the twentieth floor of the hotel. She sat in the waiting area and admired the beautiful space while she waited for her name to be called.
About ten minutes later, a man who can only be described as looking like a younger version of Morris Chestnut, called her to the back. He was wearing the spa uniform- a white polo shirt and white pants- which fit snugly on his butt, bringing attention to it’s perfect proportion.
“Lord, forgive me for these nasty thoughts I’m having right now,” Summer whispered to herself under her breath. In spite of the silent prayer she’d just said, she couldn’t take her eyes off of this man’s ass.
“I’m Mekhi, and I’ll be servicing you today,” he said, stopping suddenly, which caused Summer to walk into him. He smiled, revealing thirty-two perfect, white teeth.
Embarrassed, Summer simply nodded and smiled as he held his hand out, gesturing for her to step into the private room where she’d be getting her massage. She’d been two seconds from grabbing his ass when he turned around. The treatment room was dimly lit but very inviting, with it’s beautiful floral arrangement and a water fountain, which was in the corner of the room. The sounds of the flowing water was both calming and beautiful. The massage table was almost as big as a twin-size bed.
“I’ll leave you alone to get undressed. Would you like something to drink, water or wine, perhaps?” Mekhi asked.
“It’s a little early for wine, but a bottle of water would be fine.”
“I’ll be right back. Make yourself comfortable.”
After Mekhi closed the door, Summer stripped down to her underwear. She removed her bra, but left her panties on. Surely, she wouldn’t need to take them off just to get a massage. Fine as that masseuse is though, if he wants to ‘massage’ my kitty, I’d probably hop right out of these bad boys real quick, she thought. After she put on the complimentary plush white bath robe, she climbed up to sit on the massage table and waited for Mekhi to return.
A few minutes later, he re-entered the room and handed her a bottle of water. Summer couldn’t help but allow her eyes to travel the length of his body. Even in his uniform, it was obvious he worked out a lot. His biceps bulged from underneath the sleeves of his polo shirt and she’d already practically drooled over his butt earlier.
“Are you read to begin?” Mekhi asked, squirting some lotion onto his hands.
Summer couldn’t help but notice how big his hands were as he rubbed them together. “Uh huh,” she said as she took a sip of the water and squeezed her thighs together tightly, trying to stop the vibration sensation in them. Maybe this massage was a bad idea. She hadn’t expected to have this kind of reaction to a random hotel employee.
“Okay, then; go ahead and remove your robe and lie down on your stomach and we‘ll get started,” Mekhi told her. He turned his back to her and gathered all the oils he’d be using while she un-robed and laid on her stomach. She pulled a towel over her backside as she got comfortable on the table.
Mehki began the full body massage ritual by starting at her feet, focusing on pressure points as he rubbed them. Next, he glided his hand up to her calves, deeply massaging first one and then the other, before he moved his hangs higher, to rub the backs of her thighs. Summer bit her lip in an attempt to stifle the moan that took form in her throat and threatened to escape her mouth when Mekhi’s large hands squeezed her ass as he slowly and thoroughly massaged her body, and her breath caught in her throat when his fingers nearly touched the forbidden spot between her thighs as he continued his treatment. Summer simply closed her eyes and tried to block out the dirty thoughts that crept into her head as Mekhi relieved her of pain and stress. Damn, if only he’d move his hand a little to the left.
“So, are you from around here?” Mekhi asked as he worked.
“No, I’m visiting with my best friend, Dionne for summer vacation,” Summer responded.
“Cool. You enjoying it here so far?”
“I guess.”
“You guess? Miami is one of the most beautiful vacation destinations in the world, and you have to guess?”
“I’ve only been here two days, and I have mostly stayed in my room.”
“Jetlag had you tired?”
“Not really….I just didn’t feel like getting out of bed. I honestly didn’t even want to come on the trip, but Dionne would have never let me hear the end of it if I hadn’t come.”
“Why didn’t you want to come, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Summer shrugged as Mekhi rubbed her shoulders. “I just…have a lot going on right now that’s keeping me from enjoying myself.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Man problems, let’s just leave it at that.”
“Ah, I see,” Mekhi said, she his hands dropped back to Summer’s butt and he squeezed her plump cheeks again, which caused Summer to twitch. She held her breath as his fingers glided up and down the inside of her thighs again, the tips of his fingers barely grazing her Georgia peach.
This feels so inappropriate…yet so good at the same time, Summer thought to herself.
“Can you turn over onto your back now?” Mekhi’s deep voice said, breaking her thoughts.
Summer turned over and looked up at Mekhi, who stared down at her with unmistakable lust in his eyes for a brief moment before he began his work. Just as before, Mekhi began at her feet and worked his way up. Even though Mekhi made sure not to touch any of the forbidden areas, he’d let his fingers glide dangerously close before he’d move to another spot.
“Does this feel good to you?” Mekhi asked as he looked down into Summer’s big, brown eyes while he rubbed the inside of her thighs, applying just the right amount of pressure to them to cause her thighs to tingle in reaction to his touch.
“Yes.” Summer’s voice was barely a whisper and her eyelids fluttered rapidly. She bit her lip and groaned when Mekhi’s fingers repeatedly grazed the inside edge of her underwear and she was sure he was going to touch her there. To her disappointment, he remained professional and never did.
Mekhi grasped Summer’s forearm and lightly massaged it, all the way down to fingertips. “Did you know that the wrist has direct access to one of a woman’s erogenous zones?”
Summer shook her head no. “What are erogenous zones? And no, I didn’t know that.”
Mekhi turned her arm so that her palm was facing upward and slid his fingers along the crease inside her wrist and rubbed it, applying slight pressure to the spot right underneath her palm. He gently pressed the spot with his thumb, which caused Summer to flinch a little. “Erogenous zones are sexual pressure points, basically.” He pressed the spot again as he looked down at Summer’s face to gauge her reaction.
“What was that?” she asked. Whatever Mekhi had just did, it immediately awaked all of her sexual senses and sent a tingling jolt of energy throughout her entire body.
“That was me finding one of your g-spots,” he answered as he moved to the other arm and began the same ritual.
“Wow, who knew the wrist could be so exciting?” Summer said nervously. She was still trying to recover from whatever Mekhi had done a few seconds ago when he’d pressed that spot on her wrist.
“So, man problems, huh? What happened, you guys broke up?” Mekhi asked after a few moments of silence.
The thought of Justin and his betrayal put a bitter taste in her mouth and she scowled as she recalled catching him at the mall with another woman.
“That bad, huh? Wanna talk about it?”
“He told me that he thought we were moving too fast, then the next day I saw him at the mall kissing another woman.”
“Ouch. I’m sorry,” Mekhi said sympathetically.
“I am too. It hurts a lot because I thought he was the one. But at least now I know the truth,” Summer said, unable to hide the sadness in her voice.
“I don’t know anything about you, but I know you’re a beautiful woman and your boyfriend sounds like a jerk. Trust me, he’ll regret his decision, watch and see.”
Mekhi’s words were meant to make her feel better, but Summer’s wound was still fresh and it was too early to be optimistic about the future.
“Well, we’re done. Would you like to take a shower? If so, I’ll escort you to the locker rooms.”
“Has it been an hour already?”
“Time flies when you’re enjoying yourself,” Mekhi told her as he gathered his oils and put them away.
“I guess so,” Summer mumbled. If she wasn’t ashamed, she’d pay for another massage, but the pamphlet she’d read in the waiting area stated everything had to be done by appointments only.
Mekhi offered her his hand to help her down off the table, which she accepted. “I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of your trip. Try to have some fun while you’re here. It would be a shame to come all this way and let your ex keep you from having fun, because I’m sure he’s having his fun.”
“Thanks,” Summer snapped, annoyed at Mekhi’s statement.
“I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” he tried to explain.
“It’s okay. You’re probably right- while I’m spending all my time thinking about him, he’s probably not thinking about me at all.”
“He’d be a fool not to be thinking about you,” Mekhi told her, licking his lips while he let his eyes travel up and down her body. It dawned on her that she hadn’t put the bathrobe back on, and her breasts were on full display.
“I hope you will accept my apology because what I’m thinking right now is extremely unprofessional and I’m trying not to step out of line, so you’d better hurry up and put that robe on now before my thoughts become actions,” Mekhi said.
“What are you thinking because I just might be thinking the same thing?” Summer asked, looking up at him from under her arched eyebrows mischievously. I can’t believe I’m standing here boldly flirting with a man I just met, but what the hell.
Excerpt from Red Hot Rebound…COMING SOON!!
It’s a hard job, but somebody has to do it…
Not every book you write will become a best-seller. Not everyone will like what you wrote, and as a writer, you have to learn to be okay with this fact. Don’t take negative reviews and comments personal. Instead, just keep writing. Don’t quit and don’t give up. The more you write, the more you know and grow. I can remember back in 2014 when I decided I wanted to try my hand at writing cozy mysteries. I had this story concept that I thought was cute, so I sat down and wrote the book. Once it was published, and readers started leaving reviews, I cringed at some of the negative ones. It was only the second book I’d ever written, so I hadn’t grown my thick skin as an author yet. I took the reviews personal and even removed the book from Amazon.
Then, just when I started questioning myself as an author, a book club left a 5 star review on Amazon and Goodreads for the same book (because even though you un-publish it on Amazon, customer’s can still leave a review) In addition to the lengthy review they left, detailing everything they liked about it, I started getting even more great reviews from customers. I quickly learned that just because a few people decided my book wasn’t for them, they didn’t speak for everybody. Never let negativity stop you from doing what you love. Some people thrive on being mean and leaving nasty reviews, just for the hell of it. There’s no right or wrong way to write, and you have don’t need to worry about getting it right the first time.
J.L. SAPPHIRE 