Guest Blog: Anne Tenino

Welcome to the next stop on the Frat Boy & Toppy Blog Tour Extravaganza! *confetti*

On this tour, I’m writing a series of posts on how I cook up a story. Not a how-to manual, just a how-I-do manual, wherein I reveal all the dirty little secrets about how I approach a story, using Frat Boy & Toppy as an example.

For a schedule—with links—of all the places I’ll be on my tour, visit my blog, http://annetenino.com. There you will also find information on my tour contest—I’ll be giving away a Frat Boy & Toppy notebook, signed paperback copy of 18% Gray, and e-book of my next release, Turning Tricks. To enter the contest, you must ferret out the three questions (each in different blog tour posts) and answer them in one email sent to anne@annetenino.com. I will chose one winner at random from all the emails received by 11:59 pm (PDT/GMT -7:00) April 3^rd.

Enjoy!

That Smexual Feeling

The biggest sexual organ is the brain. Beverly Whipple (of G-spot fame) says so—along with a bunch of other scientists. As a writer of highly sexual romance novels I take comfort in this. Until we can come up with the phallic-shaped vibrating book (New & Improved! Now with Tongue!), the only way we can get readers in the mood is by stroking minds.

That’s why foreplay is so important. Frat Boy & Toppy truly shines at (in my humble opinion) is foreplay. It’s important in real life, but it’s doubly important in fiction. The precursor to foreplay is sexual tension, which the author builds from the first meeting of the protagonists, if not before.

But tension is something slightly different from foreplay—it’s more like fore-foreplay—and I’m writing about foreplay today. There’s tension in FB&T, but most of it is on Brad’s (Frat Boy’s) side, while Sebastian (Toppy) goes from low-level interest to all-systems-go rapidly.

Foreplay begins when your characters know sex is imminent, barring acts of God (or shortages of Levitra—bathtubs optional). Tension is something characters can build unconsciously, but foreplay is fully conscious. It’s also often awkward for first-timers.

Brad’s had sex before, let’s get that straight—as in, he’s only had straight sex. Gay sex? Not so much. He’s in the position of losing his virginity for the second time at twenty-one when foreplay commences with Sebastian.

Here’s an excerpt of the first-time foreplay scene between Sebastian and Brad. This is a somewhat extended section from Chapter Twelve. Brad has come back to Sebastian’s place with him, and they both know they’re about to get it on. The scene begins in the car, and Brad has just confessed to doing something really stupid in order to get Sebastian’s attention.

Sebastian leaned forward the rest of the way. “I’d already noticed you.” He laid his mouth on Brad’s. He didn’t kiss; he brushed their lips together until Brad came forward that extra millimeter and kissed Sebastian. He cupped the back of Brad’s head and tilted it, sliding his tongue over Brad’s lips and into his mouth and then Brad didn’t really remember much clearly except finger-tingling, heart-pounding want.

Sebastian pulled Brad forward into his body, bringing Brad’s chest against his. Brad had handfuls of Sebastian’s coat and the desire to get to what was underneath, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything because Sebastian’s tongue was stroking inside his mouth and his hand was on Brad’s head, directing him, fingers scrubbing through his short hair.

Suddenly a horn blared, really close, and Brad shot up. His heart ricocheted around in his chest and he looked wildly out the window. He felt Sebastian’s fingers on his cheek. “It was you, Brad.”

“Huh?” He couldn’t see anyone outside.

“You hit the steering wheel and honked the horn.”

It took a few seconds to sink in. Brad looked down at Sebastian uncomprehendingly. He could see Sebastian better here in the light coming from the window. Sebastian had that teasing smile on his face. That, more than his words, told Brad everything was okay. His muscles relaxed and he collapsed against Sebastian, his forehead in the crook of Sebastian’s neck.

“Let’s go inside, yeah?” Sebastian said into his ear, his breath making Brad shiver. Brad nodded into Sebastian’s neck.

Sebastian led Brad to a second floor apartment, walking silently beside him, and somehow it made Brad feel . . . he didn’t know, exactly. Protected wasn’t quite right, but it wasn’t all wrong. He felt like Sebastian was sort of taking care of him. Solicitous. Walking through the door after Sebastian had opened it and stood aside, Brad felt Sebastian’s hand brush his lower back. Guiding him or something.

Inside the apartment, Sebastian took off his coat and threw it over a chair, walking into the kitchen area while Brad shucked the light jacket he’d managed to grab on his way out of the frat. It was dark and silent in the apartment. Sebastian turned on a light over the stove, making it just bright enough that Brad felt comfortable.

“Want something to drink?” Sebastian asked, staring into the open fridge. He was gripping the handle really hard.

“No. Um, no thanks. I just kinda want to . . . can you come here?” Brad wasn’t having any second thoughts, but he needed to get this show on the road. He scratched behind his ear but made himself stop.

Sebastian slammed the fridge shut and walked into the living area and right into Brad, lifting his head to Brad’s, stroking Brad’s side with a soothing hand. Brad opened for him immediately, following Sebastian’s lead when Sebastian kissed him. Let Sebastian pull him down onto the couch, then laid on his back when Sebastian pushed on his shoulders.

Sebastian propped himself on one elbow over Brad, distracting him with kisses for he didn’t know how long. At some point he felt Sebastian’s hand slipping under his shirt, Sebastian’s fingers feeling his muscles and dipping into Brad’s navel. He shuddered when Sebastian did that, and gripped his shoulders. Sebastian pulled back from their kiss and whispered, “I’ll be right back.”

What? Where was he going? Sebastian leaned back in and kissed him again. “Right back,” he promised.

Left to himself on the couch, Brad started to get nervous again. He’d forgotten it before, with Sebastian touching him and making him feel like a live wire. He sat up, unsure what he should be doing. Hesitantly, he pulled his T-shirt over his head. When it cleared his eyes, Sebastian was standing in front of him, something in his hand, staring at Brad.

Sebastian dropped the lube and condoms he was carrying onto the coffee table in front of the couch, focused on Brad’s chest. Brad couldn’t look away from the lube and condoms. Three condoms? He swallowed, thinking of Sebastian’s fingers covered in lube and touching him. Pushing inside him and stretching him open.

You know at this point they’re going to hook up, but to find out how it went you’ll have to read the book. And if you have read the book and are playing the Frat Boy & Toppy Blog Tour Extravaganza *confetti* contest, here’s a little surprise for you—the third and final question for the contest: Who says “Brad’s gay” to the frat?

To purchase Frat Boy & Toppy, visit Riptide Publishing http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/frat-boy-and-toppy

*****

Raised on a steady media diet of Monty Python, classical music and the visual arts, Anne Tenino rocked the mental health world when she was the first patient diagnosed with Compulsive Romantic Disorder. Since that day, Anne has taken on conquering the M/M world through therapeutic writing. Finding out who those guys having sex in her head are and what to do with them has been extremely liberating.

Wondering what Anne does when not writing? Mostly she lies on the couch, eats bonbons and shirks housework.

To find out more about Anne and/or the blog tour contest, check out http://annetenino.com.