Thursday, May 28, 2009

Never say Never!

When I started writing erotic romance, I had no intention of writing menages. They just didn't appeal.

I think part of the problem is I'd read too many BDSM stories that involve the sort of menages that leave me cold. They always seemed to revolve around the idea that one submissive wasn't enough for a dominant, or on the other hand that the dominant had the right to offer his submissive to whoever he chose. Neither arrangement appealed to me, or to my characters.

But guess what my first published story included?

Yep. A menage. An all male, paranormal one to be precise.

I didn't intend it to. And like Jamie, looking back I can see that there is something in common about the psychology that leads into the menages. The characters don't start out wanting a threesome. It's not their fantasy or anything like that. It's just what turns out to be right for them. It's what they need to have their happy ending.

Take Nicky and Charles from The Gift for example. Nicky doesn't like the idea of menages at all, but he knows that his master has enjoyed them with other lovers in the past, and he he can't settle until he's at least tried it and seen what all the fuss is about.

And since there's been a very cute and enthusiastic spirit of Christmas Past lurking around throughout the book, one who is about to disappear into the either before the end of the night, this is their perfect chance.

It's the only threesome I've ever written where all three characters didn't live happily ever after all together at the end. That said - it sure as hell makes them all very happy while it lasts!

Nicky glanced at the spirit. He looked even more nervous than him. Nicky offered the spirit a reassuring smile as they joined him to stand at the edge of the bed.

Charles wasted no time with preliminaries. The toga was barely held together by a few clips and pins. They were gone in moments. A gentle nudge backwards and the spirit lay sprawled naked on the bed.

Nicky crawled across the mattress to him. While his master hadn’t shared him with another man before, Nicky was well aware Charles loved the sight of two men enjoying each other’s bodies. He kissed the spirit, guiding him to lie back comfortably on the mattress.

If the spirit did not have the strength and muscular bulk of his master, then he was still well-built, with a fine torso of sculpted lines. It was strange to explore another man’s body, but it got easier as Nicky got used to it. He ran his hands over the spirit’s skin, enjoying the way his touch affected the spirit.

He was so innocent and untried, so responsive to every finger tip trailing over his body. Both Charles and the spirit followed his every movement over the spirit’s skin. Nicky bit his lip, realising Charles took more pleasure in watching him with the spirit than he would probably gain from topping the spirit when the time came.

He looked to his master. Charles smiled at him. Leaning over, he brushed their lips together. It looked like a gentle touch, beneath the surface his tongue thrust hungrily into Nicky’s mouth. The spirit could not see that, it was theirs, their private moment in a shared bed.

Nicky smiled when Charles broke the kiss. The spirit watched them, slack jawed. Nicky turned back to him and kissed him. Nicky had rarely taken the lead with any lover—certainly not with his master. It felt awkward at first to feel in charge of everything, to be the man guiding the novice rather than the novice himself.

The spirit gradually relaxed and began to return Nicky’s caresses with tentative touches of his own. He didn’t have Charles’s way about him. His hands felt pleasant on Nicky’s skin, but there was nothing special about his touch.

A finger tip trailing along his spine sent a shockwave straight through him. Nicky looked over his shoulder at his master. Charles’s touch always felt different. Nicky tried to hold back a shiver as he kissed his way down the spirit’s body.

When he reached the spirit’s erection, Nicky carefully wrapped his lips around the tip. He’d always liked going down on men, even before he came to his master. There was something about it that always made his own arousal peak, but the spirit wasn’t used to the sensations as Charles was. His hips bucked wildly, Nicky only just managed to ride out the motion.

The spirit put his hand on the back of Nicky’s head.

Nicky forced himself to stay still and not panic. He closed his eyes for a moment.

“He doesn’t like anyone’s hand on the back of his head,” Charles said for him.

Nicky opened his eyes and looked up at them both.

The spirit took his hand away. “I’m sorry, I…”

Charles took the spirit’s hand and softened the correction by leading it back to Nicky’s neck. “He likes you to touch him here.”

He guided the spirit’s fingers to trail along his neck, underneath his ear, to touch the sensitive little spot which made a shiver run down Nicky’s spine. He gasped, sucking firmly around the spirit’s cock.

The spirit groaned his pleasure.

A few moments later, Nicky felt another hand on the back of his head, a more familiar touch that didn’t make him feel panicked. He looked up at his master.

“You said…” the spirit whispered to Charles.

“I am not just anyone,” Charles said simply, “I am his master.”


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The thing about that one, is that it was a very specific circumstance. Charles and Nicky were able to work out something in their relationship without running the risk of bringing someone into their lives for anything longer than that night.

My next attempt was somewhat different.

I wrote Between Tooth and Paw for a specific anthology call. The menage had to be MFM - that's the one where the two guys are straight, in case your wondering. Quite a change of direction for a writer who usually writes MM!

I'll let you in on a secret - this story almost drove me crazy. I put my name down for the anthology while I was in a bit of a strop over something entirely unrelated. I didn't actually think about if I could write it until it was too late.

Luckily, it turned out to be a challenge in all the best ways.

By far the hardest part was trying to think of a reason why two dominant men would want to share one submissive. The answer was easy in the end. If they want her, they have to share. And since they really do want her, they have to - although that doesn't stop them bickering the whole time.


“I want you to ride me.”

Jasmine immediately pushed herself up onto her elbow, ready to get into whatever position he wanted. Stafford knelt on the bed behind her and gently guided her to spread her legs so he could put his knees between them. She leaned forward putting her hands on the mattress, as if she thought he wanted her doggie style, like the damn wolf inevitably would. Sitting back on his heels, Stafford pulled her back close to him instead, so she would be able to ride him.

She hesitated for a moment, and then she seemed to realise what he wanted and she nodded her understanding. “Yes, sir.”

“That’s right,” he soothed, as she he guided her to lower herself down onto the full length of his erection. Stafford pushed her hair aside and kissed her neck as she settled onto him.

Looking across at Hayden, still watching their every move, Stafford met his eyes as he bit down on her neck.

His teeth sliced neatly through her skin. She threw her head back with a pleasure filled gasp as her muscles clamped down around him.

Hayden tilted his head to the side, frowning as if he only then realised Stafford told the truth when he said human women enjoyed being bitten by him. Stafford smiled against the cut and teased it with his tongue as blood began to seep into his mouth.

She was so sweet, so perfect, and he didn’t need Hayden’s sense of smell to tell him she wasn’t afraid anymore—he could taste her pleasure, hot and eager on his tongue. He rocked his hips, pushing his cock deeper into her slit as she rode him and he felt her pleasure grow and double.

Reaching around with his free hand he teased her nipple between his thumb and forefinger the way she seemed to like so much. She seemed to appreciate a rougher touch than other women in his experience. A sharper pinch of his fingers, a scrape of his nail across the nipple and she gasped and writhed around his cock for him.

He closed his eyes and sucked at the small wounds on her neck, coaxing the blood to flow more freely as his fingers danced across her breasts. Jasmine shakily took up the rhythm he set for her and she began to ride him properly. She took control of the movements, leaving him free to concentrate on the feeding while she worked hard and fast for both their pleasure. All of a sudden she faltered, gasping and bucking as her rhythm deserted her.

Endorphins failed to pour into his mouth. Her blood made it very clear she hadn’t come. He frowned, breaking the bite to speak to her.

Something moved against the base of his cock.

“What the…!”

He looked down. Hayden’s head was down between her legs, lapping at her clit as she rode him, and the damn wolf wasn’t being too careful about who received the benefits of his tongue’s attention.

Before he could reach around Jasmine and push the other man away, she moaned low in the back of her throat and dropped her head right back onto his shoulder. She shifted in his embrace, turning her head to rub her cheek against his neck. Her eyes were closed, but he didn’t need to see into her eyes to see her pleasure.

She reached back for him. One hand threaded into his hair to guide his lips back to her neck, begging him to resume the feeding. Her other hand went behind his waist, to slide down over his arse. She whimpered and tugged at his body, pleading with him to thrust into her, imploring him to ignore the other man and finish what he had started.

Stafford automatically kissed the wound on her neck. His every instinct told him she was right. What the pup did was irrelevant. He could wring Hayden’s neck for his impudence later. Right then, when pleasure was flowing through her veins and straight onto his tongue, there was nothing to do but keep going.

Warm breaths caressed his cock as Hayden’s tongue worked Jasmine to fever pitch, but right then it was impossible to care if those breaths belonged to a man or a werewolf or anything else.

Jasmine whimpered again and bit her lip. Her rhythm was shot after the shock the wolf had given her, but she was still doing her very best to ride him, encasing his cock in her hot, wet slit only to slide off him a little way and repeat the process again and again.

With each bit of pleasure his teeth and the other man’s tongue gave her, she writhed against him, no longer able to think but only to react. The hand she’d tangled in his hair, slipped forward to stroke his cheek, then she arched sharply, pressing herself back against his body. Her hand went to his hair again, as if those strands twining through her fingers represented her only grip on reality.

Her other hand left his backside and move forward to tangle into Hayden’s longer, fairer hair too.

She was so close to coming, Stafford could taste it. She tried to say something, but she couldn’t even seem to catch her breath to ask either man to push her over the edge.

Stafford pressed his teeth deeper into her jugular.


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As for what comes next?

I've come a long way from not liking menages. For a start I understand now that I do love menages were the characters all live happily ever after together. And I know that I love a certain combination of characters.

MFM and MMF are very nice, but MMM is the one that seriously rocks for me.

Two minor characters make an appearance in Between Tooth and Paw. Mr Washington and his submissive Ethan Stewart. I am head over heels in love with both of them. And they are now the starting point of a whole series of MMM paranormal menages.

What about you? Always in favour of menages? Is there a type of menage that rocks your boat or turns you off more than all the others?

Kim Dare.
Kink, love and a happy ending. Do you Dare?

6 comments:

  1. I find I prefer M/M/F, M/M/M, or M/F/F. I actually wrote an M/F/F, which I quite like, but I know that two women together doesn't appeal to everyone.

    I'm in favor of menages when the concept meshes with the characters involved. If it does, then it can be awesome and very hot.

    Blessings,
    Dena

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  2. Neat! Interesting to see how you tackled a topic you didn't think would be to your tastes. Kudos to you on those stories.

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  3. Interesting that you should say that MMM is your preference. I think it must be technically the hardest to write because you have to keep using everyone's name to be clear about who is doing what to whom.

    I think that even more than in couple erotica, menages need tension. So I think my favorite is M/F/M where one of the parties males is not quite as bi as the other. In one case, one of the men was uber hetero, in another case, one of the men really felt himself to be completely gay. This leads not only to sexual tension, and some suspense, but character tension too - which is nice. But then none of my stories ever have happy endings :-P

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  4. Hi Dena,

    I've never had a go at writing a MFF, but I have written a few FF stories, and I really enjoyed writing two woment together. Although you're right that anything involving FF seems to be less popular in general. I've never really understood why more women don't like it.

    Thanks for commenting,

    Kim.

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  5. Hi Helen,

    It's always good to try something a little bit different. Although there were times I wanted to strangle the characters in the process!

    Thanks for commenting,

    Kim Dare.

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  6. Hi Remittance Girl,

    Pronouns do get tricky. I've found it's not quite so bad if you make sure the charcters are very physically different and have different roles. It's not always ideal to be referring to someone as the blond or the larger man or the dominant, but if you can identify characters that way, it does make things a little bit easier.

    I'm with you on the tension. Since my characters tend to be quite possessive, I like to use that to up the conflict between the characters. I'm a huge fan of happy endings, but I like to keep the reader guessing as to how that ending will come about.

    Thanks for commenting,

    Kim Dare.

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