posted on October 19, 2015 by Sharon Hamilton

DO I OWN MY CHARACTERS OR DO THEY OWN ME?

Sharon HamiltonI know they own me. Does that sound strange? They don’t care about my schedule or my personal life, what I have committed to. When they want to be written they take over and barge in. I’m looking at them in the doorway of my writing bridge, all hot and bothered and barely legally dressed, and I surrender. I can’t resist.

Thank goodness I’m still happily married, even after all my numerous fantasy infidelities. I get sucked into these stories so bad I start calling my husband by my hero’s name. I don’t listen when people talk to me because I’m in the fantasy of my story. The dogs don’t get fed and some of my houseplants don’t get watered and die.

I start buying new lingerie and nightgowns, get more red put into my hair and am lured by the pretty pictures in tattoo parlors.  I buy coffee and then walk out without waiting for it to be made. I start listening to more Two Steps From Hell and less Secret Garden, and I burst into tears over silly things. I have little patience for anything worthy of news and that definitely includes politics. I’m like, “wake me when it’s over.”

Some of you are saying right now, “Sharon needs a mental health day.” Maybe you’re right. But for today, I can’t think about that. I’ve got a story to write in a brand new series to plot out. There could be an 80% off sale at Nordstrom’s and I’d rather be at my computer.

Okay, they’re calling me in the next room and I gotta go. My Lucas wants me to party with him today, because it’s his release. Now all of you get to enjoy him. But he still owns me.

SharonHamilton_Lucas2_1400SEAL Brotherhood, Band of Bachelors: Lucas:
Excerpt

“You’re Marcy Gelland?”

            When she turned, his dark hair and deep blue eyes threw her off-balance for a bit. He was stuffed into jeans that were baggy at the calves and knees, but well filled out in the butt and groin area. And he’d caught her checking him out.

His eyes smiled while his lips didn’t move except for a tiny muscle on his left, which was a good thing. The resulting dimple at the left side of his mouth was giving her palpitations.

            Well, of course he’s handsome, Marcy. What did you expect?

            He smelled of fresh soap, wore a white button-down shirt with rolled-up long sleeves, showing his corded muscles and multiple forearm tats, including a string of frog prints going from his wrist to the crook in his arm. She was glad she’d decided to wear her dark blue suit, her power suit. She needed the strength and resolve it gave her.

            Standing, she extended her hand and felt him give her a full-contact handshake ending with a little squeeze. He returned her palm in an altered state. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure her little dangle earrings were shaking.

            Picking up her file, she asked him to follow her to the conference room. She could easily imagine him gazing at the movement of her hips under her skirt, so she attempted to walk completely without swagger, so as not to encourage him further. His mannerism wasn’t at all what she expected when he pulled out a chair for her. She was forced to say thank you, and then felt his fingertips glide across the top of her shoulders as he returned to his side of the table, sat with his fingers folded on the tabletop in front of him.

            Marcy recalled what Connie had told her. He could be a charmer, and no doubt he was on his best behavior right that moment. If he expected any special favors, he was sorely mistaken. She inhaled, elongated her neck, settled her jaw and applied her professional mask as she met his stare.

He was stoic, seemingly unaffected by her in the slightest, leaning back against the padding in the office chair, breathing shallowly, but drilling her with his gaze. She could tell he was checking her out elsewhere, with his peripheral vision, but was skilled enough to hide it.

            In spite of herself, she was dying to know if she’d measured up.

            Get hold of yourself. He’s a predator, after all. Good at sizing up people, assessing his odds and calculating weaknesses. “So, Mr. Shipley—”

            “Lucas. You can call me Lucas if you’re going to rob me. No need to be all formal about it.”

            “I’m not robbing you—”

            He put one paw on her hand, the one clutching the legal-sized manila folder with the listing information in it. The action made her jump and immediately pull away.

            “Marcy, may I call you Marcy?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Let’s cut the crap. I’ve given it some thought for, oh,” he pulled out his cell phone and checked the time, “about thirty minutes. She can have the house. She can keep it, sell it, give it away to a homeless shelter for all I care about it. That’s no longer a place I want to have anything to do with,” he said, pointing to the folder.

            “Mr. Shipley—”

            “I said call me Lucas,” he interrupted.

            “Mr. Shipley, this hasn’t been negotiated and until you get yourself an attorney, you shouldn’t be offering anything like that to me. I’m supposed to be an impartial neutral party to this transaction, representing both of you—”

            “Sure you are.” His arms were crossed and his left eye squinted, pulling up the left side of his lip.

            “Well, you’re certainly not making it very easy for me.”

            “What freakin’ rule says I’m supposed to make it easy for you? You think this is freakin’ easy for me?”

            “No. But I’m here to get your signature on the listing contract for the house. Only the house. I’m going to tell your wife—”

            “Soon-to-be ex-wife.”

            Marcy nodded and stared back at his oversized fingers. She saw cut marks on the inside of his bent and misshapen forefinger and a scar running up from the knuckle of his middle digit to above his wrist. The scar was nearly covered by a patch of dark body hair. He was missing the last joint on his fourth and little fingers. The vision distracted her until she saw him dip his head down, looking up and across to her side of the table, expecting an answer.

            “You were saying something about my ex-wife?”

            She took a deep inhale. “Mr. Shipley, I was offering a peace pipe, of sorts. We can do this contract, and I can get the house on MLS tonight or first thing in the morning. I’ll tell her you wouldn’t agree to the other two houses. Perhaps, with your cooperation here, this afternoon, I can convince her not to pursue the other two homes.”

            He leaned back in the chair, hiding his hands underneath the table. His chest fully rose as he gulped in air, and then his shoulders dropped as he exhaled. The scent of his body laced with what smelled like menthol shaving soap hit her in the face like a blast furnace and, in spite of herself, made her panties wet.

            “And just why would you do that?”

            She didn’t really have an answer, because it had just come to her as a strategy and she had no idea from where. “Just…I don’t know.” She shrugged, seeking words to describe what she couldn’t. Her insides were a jumbled mess. “I guess I feel like we should take this in little bites. The whole enchilada is probably hard to swallow at this point in time, Mr. Shipley.”

            Oh, no. There it is again, looking at me that way. The edge of his upper lip curled in amusement. If they were familiar, if they were a – What in the devil are you doing, Marcy?  By the arch of his dark brow, she could tell he was tempted to say something dirty about the size of her mouth and the whole enchilada, and she worked very hard to put it out of her mind.

            She closed her eyes so as not to watch him, putting her forehead into her palm, trying to seize back control of the conversation. It was no use, when she opened her eyes, and regarded the hunky SEAL sitting in front of her, with that sexy way he objected to everything she was trying to do, even the favor she was trying to bestow on him, the butterflies in her stomach instantly multiplied. Connie was right. He was a charmer of the professional class. A sheer force of nature. Her heart was beating like she’d just run a marathon.

Normally, the calmest person during a negotiation, but today, right then, she was losing it, big time. She’d never before met someone who affected her so. Was she excited for the challenge, or was it something else?

God help me.

Leave a comment today and I’ll pick one lucky winner to receive a copy of Band of Bachelors: Lucas, or any other of my SEALs backlist.

Audible Amazon Amazon UK Amazon AU Amazon CA
Amazon FR Amazon DE Barnes & Noble iTunes

Sharon Hamilton

Sharon Hamilton

NYT and USA/Today Bestselling Author Sharon Hamilton's SEAL Brotherhood series have earned her author rankings of #1 in Romantic Suspense, Military Romance and Contemporary Romance. Her other Brotherhood stand-alone series are: Bad Boys of SEAL Team 3, Band of Bachelors, True Blue SEALs, Nashville SEALs, Bone Frog Brotherhood, Sunset SEALs, Bone Frog Bachelor Series and SEAL Brotherhood Legacy Series. She is a contributing author to the very popular Shadow SEALs multi-author series. Her SEALs and former SEALs have invested in two wineries, a lavender farm and a brewery in Sonoma County, which have become part of the new stories. They also have expanded to include Veteran-benefit projects on the Florida Gulf Coast, as well as projects in Africa and the Maldives. One of the SEAL wives has even launched her own women's fiction series. But old characters, as well as children of these SEAL heroes keep returning to all the newer books. Sharon also writes sexy paranormals in two series: Golden Vampires of Tuscany and The Guardians. A lifelong organic vegetable and flower gardener, Sharon and her husband lived for fifty years in the Wine Country of Northern California, where many of her stories take place. Recently, they have moved to the beautiful Gulf Coast of Florida, with stories of shipwrecks, the white sugar-sand beaches of Sunset, Treasure Island and Indian Rocks Beaches. She loves hearing from fans through her website: authorsharonhamilton.com.

https://authorsharonhamilton.com

Sharon Hamilton Contest

Sharon Hamilton is giving away signed paperback copies of SEAL MY DESTINY, to two winner.

Enter Here

37 thoughts on “DO I OWN MY CHARACTERS OR DO THEY OWN ME?”

  1. I can’t wait to read Lucas!!

    1. Love that, Melissa!! He’s waiting for you!

  2. Robin Henley says:

    Had a great time at the party last night even though I had to skip out early to go back to work. Can’t wait to get started on this book! I know it’s gonna be another winner as always. Congrats on your release!!

    1. Thank you, Robin. And yes, you won some things last night, so those will be posted as soon as I can get my brain around it!! Thanks so much for showing up!

  3. Janet Overstreer says:

    Oooohhhh…Lucas is going to be a “very good challenge”!!!

    1. Yes and he’ll be worth it!!!

  4. snoopyvet says:

    I missed a lot of the party but it was still great. Already started Lcas been reading today between breaks from canning

    1. Canning! Awesome. Hope you are enjoying him. Yes, we had fun last night. Thanks for showing up!

  5. julie says:

    I’ve just finished it. Loved it and spending time visiting all friends is always fun

    1. thanks, Julie. Yes, loved bringing in the older SEALs. Going to do it again.

  6. Jennifer Schultheis says:

    Sounds good! Can’t wait to read Lucas!

    1. Thanks, Jennifer! He was and still is a labor of love…

  7. Jami Birnbaum says:

    You are a new-to-me author and this sounds like a great read!

    1. Awesome, Jami! Welcome to the slippery SEAL side!! We have fun and the guys aren’t half bad either! Enjoy!!

  8. Nicole Garcia says:

    Can’t wait to read this! And you are too funny. That’s exactly how I feel when I read. The story takes hold of you to the point where you want to do nothing else but sit and read. So write those stories!

    1. Thanks, Nicole. And BTW, congrats on your recent success!!! Whoo Hoo!!

  9. Deb Diem says:

    Your characters not only own you, they own all of us readers too!

    1. Thanks dear! I so appreciate that, Deb!

  10. Pamela Reveal says:

    All i can say is I count down the days to each New Release…. your books are so full of emotions i can see how you get carried away..Thank you for such amazing books

    1. Ahhhhh. thanks so much Pamela! My pleasure!!!

  11. Jackie says:

    Great chemistry!!! I’m all about those smexy seals.

  12. Jackie LePree says:

    Great chemistry! I love those smexy seals

    1. Thanks, Jackie!! Me too. Love writing them.

  13. Dawn Buchanan says:

    Sharon you are my hero. I get sucked into your stories too!!

    1. Dawn!!! I love it!!! Let me get out that old sucking machine and get it revved up with this next one I’m knee deep bloody in!!! Thanks so much for stopping by to brighten my day. We writers live for these comments.

  14. I’ve read all of your other SEAL books, and am looking forward to the new Series!
    I’m going to Kallypsocon 2015 and hope to see you there 🙂

    1. Awesome (and I apologize if this gets posted 3 times, kept kicking me out!). I have some fun things planned, and it will be so great to see you. I think we’ve met before, right? Any books you want me to be sure to bring?

      1. Yes we did 😉
        I had breakfast with you and Vella Day at TNEE 2015 in Las Vegas.

        1. Thats right!!! So you know I like to bring nice SWAG!!! Will be great to see you again!!

      2. As far as books go, I’m primarily a kindle reader.
        But I would’t mind a copy of this one 🙂

        1. Doubt it will be out then, but I’m working on it. You’ll probably have to bug me, but when it does come out, I’ll make sure you get a copy. Create Space is slow and I haven’t heard back from them.

  15. Therese lopez says:

    I loved this book so much!! I read it in one sitting. I’m going to read it again this weekend for the second time!! This book was awesome!!

    1. Ahhhh, thank you so much Therese!! You make a writer’s day!

  16. Pamela Reveal says:

    Lucas was a awesome read so looking forward to more in this new series. Thank you Sharon Hamilton

    1. Pamela!! You are so welcome!!!

  17. Sunday nelson says:

    Can’t wait….love your books so much…

Leave a Reply to Sharon Hamilton Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest from our Blog

Mahoney & Squire – Military Women’s Fiction – Meet The Characters

Have you met the men and women of Mahoney & Squire, my high-stakes, high-octane military action adventure series? Let me introduce you! Captain Kathryn “Kate” Mahoney, USN Call Sign “Scarlett” Ambitious, strong-willed, patriotic, and assertive, Kate Mahoney is often derided as a “bitch” by the old school naval aviation community. She struggled through dysfunctional relationships,… Read More

Read More