Temptations of Desire by Tempeste O'Riley

“Beautiful,” Bathasar murmured, dragging a hand down over Nadir’s chest. Please remember that this is Sexy Snippet Sunday and, thus is NSFW or under 18. Just a peek, but I just love this little bit. And he certainly came out the better for it, in the end.ĭo you, as readers, like to know about the music that inspires stories? Do you listen to the playlists as you read? Would you want to know, perhaps, what songs might go with a particular chapter (if they do)?

But he needed it, needed to go through it. Stubborn as the day is long, no doubt about it, so he did bring it on himself. Poor Teman, he really had a rough time of it there. He fought the emotions, fought the memories, fought all of it. Yet again, the knot in his chest tightened, and he couldn’t breathe. He was free, he was out, where he needed to be. Tears leaked as Teman struggled to push the thoughts away. He closed his eyes again instead, but the image of Bathasar, black hair spread out on the pillow, gray eyes full of love, just replaced the flames. He curled up on his side and stared into the fire-a dangerous thing to do when alone in the desert, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The memory of that night crashed into him hard, and he could swear he caught Bathasar’s scent mixed with the smell of the flowers and the lake. He remembered smelling the flowers as they walked to the camp, and again when he and Bathasar had made love that night after they’d returned to their tent. And the night he introduced his… introduced Bathasar to his mother came back to him.

But it was nearly impossible, because on that light wind was the smell of the flowers that grew along the waterbank-the sweet desert roses. So, if you don’t want to be spoiled, stop now!Ī soft breeze swept up from the lake, carrying the night smells to Teman, and he closed his eyes, trying not to think about it. If you haven’t read Choices, I’ll warn you there’s a bit of spoiling ahead. (I just re-read it to find the spot and paste it in here and, yeah, ended up bawling. In fact, it hit me so hard, I had to struggle for a moment because the emotion in this scene and the one preceding it are quite difficult. I came to me, clearly, the scene leading up to this, the setting, the emotions, everything. I’d been working through bits of the book in my head and when I heard it, bam, it hit. I’d been driving along, minding my own business, listening to my entire music library (a not-insubstantial list, in fact) and this song came up. Much of my writing comes out of an emotion I feel when I hear a song. Desert Rose from Sting is one of those that inspired an important scene from the Choices. Music has always inspired me, whether it’s an entire story, a single scene or a line or two, it doesn’t seem to matter. Today, I want to go back to one of the songs from my Golden Collar playlist. Welcome back to another Music Monday post.

Temptations of Desire by Tempeste O'Riley