It must have something to do with all that sweaty humidity that encourages muscles to glisten. Maybe it’s the rowdy Cajun music, sultry wail of a sax, or the beckoning naughtiness of the Quarter that drops inhibitions faster than the top on a Bourbon Street stripper. Or the food with its tang and bite of exotic spices that warms so good all the way down. Or the accent – oh, cher! that lazy drawl and earthy patois that isn’t quite Southern or refined like French Creole, but you could listen to it all day . . . and night. Whether they wear Armani in urban highrises, pole piroques over the deceptive calm of weed-choked backwaters, or tend bar where an exclusive clientele comes to howl and literally let their hair down, bayou-bred bad boys are irresistible.
What’s the attraction? Seriously? They’re hot, dangerous, ferociously protective, and did I mention preternatural?
The bayou is more than a location. It’s an attitude, a way of living life, a cultural heritage as deep as the secrets hidden behind heavy moss and eerily beautiful tombs. The appeal for me began with Anne Rice’s fatally morose Louis, then was tantalized by Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunters and Kresley Coles’ MacGrieve clan, and then permanently underlined by those half-dressed hotties in True Blood and the Originals. It’s no wonder that the paranormal heroes in my “By Moonlight” series hail from those mysterious, steamy byways. It helps that New Orleans is my favorite place to visit for research and all the trimmings.
Here’s a taste of what I’m talking about. Meet Max Savoie from my “By Moonlight” series in this excerpt from CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT. Max will be back in REMEMBERED BY MOONLIGHT in October!
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Their room was on the second floor facing the courtyard, where jovial diners drank Hurricanes and listened to a wailing Doug Kershaw tune. The sound filtered up through the open balcony doors to mingle with cool shadows.“This is nice.”
Max’s arms slipped about her waist. “It is nice. Dance with me.”
He didn’t have to coax her to lean into him. With her head pillowed on his shoulder and her eyes closed, Charlotte let herself be moved by the music and Max Savoie.
After a few minutes of sensuous shuffling, he tipped her chin up for a long, very thorough kiss while never missing a beat. Her heart was pounding by the time he eased back into a series of soft, searching nibbles.
When she started to reach for him, he caught her wrists and held her arms down at her sides. “Hands off, Detective,” he murmured against her mouth. “Just stand there and let me work.”
She closed her eyes, trusting him the way she could no other, wanting him the way she would no other.
His tongue slid across the parted welcome of her lips, teasing lightly until she moaned. When he eased her shirt over her head she offered him the curve of her throat, shivering when his mouth moved down to the valley of her collarbone, chasing along those tempting contours with the sweep of his lips as his clever fingers worked the hooks of her bra. Then that barrier was gone, as well.
“You’re all I could think about,” he confided softly. “The feel of you. The scent of you. The taste of you.”
She toed out of her boots and tore open her zipper. His hands covered hers, warm, effortlessly controlling.
“Let me do that, sha.”
He peeled down her jeans, kneeling to pool them at her ankles so she could step free. His strong fingers massaged over the tops of her feet, around her slender ankles, stroking up the sleek muscle of her calves, kneading the tight curve of her thighs. Working out the tension, building up the anticipation.
“How much did you miss me, cher?”
She let go with a sigh. “Like air. Like light. Like sound.”
“Yeah?” He combed back her hair with a tender touch.
“You rock my world, Savoie.”
“If I haven’t yet, I’m about to.”
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For more bayou heat visit http://nancygideon.com/moonlight-home.html For a look at my new contemporary romance, TOTALLY YOURS, written under the pen name Dana Ransom, stop by my Blog.Happy reading! Laissez le bon temps rouler!
Nancy Gideon is the award winning author of over 55 romances ranging from historical, regency and series contemporary suspense to paranormal, with a couple of horror screenplays tossed into the mix. She works full time as a legal assistant, and when not at the keyboard, feeds a Netflix addiction along with all things fur, fin and fowl. She also writes under the pen names Dana Ransom and Rosalyn West.
1 comment:
Recently they found out that most of the happiest cities in the US were in Louisiana. Out of the top ten, there were at least seven from there... who knows, it could be the hot men!
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