What is it about opposites attract?

Hi everyone –

It’s great to be back on the Writerspace Blog! My new book, Pirate’s Paradox, is a paranormal romance set on the high seas as a crew of immortal pirates are led by a psychic into the middle of Atlantis to find the Orichalcum Key and save the city of Savannah from being drowned underneath a tidal wave.

But even more than all that, it’s about the age-old trope of opposites attract.

In this book, the hero is the ship’s navigator, Caleb. He’s been alive now for over 250 years, and he’s spent that time immersing himself in science and facts. He’s also a little eccentric, filling his house with late night gadget purchases from QVC and infomercials. Although he drank from the Holy Grail and hasn’t aged since, he still staunchly clings to only believing in what can be proved in a lab.

Magic doesn’t exist in Caleb’s world.

But his world will never be the same the day Diana walks onto the deck of the Sea Dog and asks the crew to sail out to a set of coordinates that Caleb knows are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. How could that possibly save Savannah?

But as they get to know each other during the voyage, they begin to realize that they complement each other like yin and yang, each making the other whole.

And in saving each other, they end up saving all of Savannah and Atlantis, too.

I love paranormal romance!

Here’s a little scene of Caleb & Diana:

She followed Caleb into his kitchen and almost giggled when she noticed all the infomercial microwave cookware on the counter. There was the microwave omelet maker, a quesadilla maker, a smokeless grill, and sitting on the other side of the stove was a Vitamix machine, a dehydrator, and a set of genuine Ginsu knives.

He turned around to face her, his shirt still open. His unruly hair was mussed even though he’d tied back the top to keep it out of his face. He crossed his arms, giving her a nice showing of his forearms. His expression made it clear that he had no idea how sexy he was.

Maybe getting him alone was a huge mistake.

She pressed her lips together, gathering her thoughts, then whispered, “Is there something I should know about that you can’t discuss in front of my friend? I don’t get it. If we sail all that way and there’s nothing there, that’s on me, not you. What are you afraid of?”

He leaned in closer, keeping his voice down. She tried not to notice the way he smelled like leather and brandy. Too late.

“I’m not afraid. I’m fucking exhausted.” He straightened, putting more distance between them. “I don’t know how much you know about sailing a Spanish galleon, but it’s physically taxing and the last time we took the Sea Dog out, she almost didn’t make it back home. Forgive me for wanting to avoid another damned disaster.”

She frowned, her brows pinching together. “You think we’re going to hit a storm.” Over the years as she’d opened her third eye and developed her psychic gifts, she’d grown to recognize the “knowing” and trust it. And suddenly the image from her dream of a city built of concentric circles surrounded by water filled her mind’s eye. “You’re worried we might actually find Atlantis.”

He shook his head, his brow furrowing. “Impossible. It’s fiction.”

So he said.

She’d seen that spark in his eyes before he could bury it. She was on to something. “You’re trying so hard to cling to that belief, aren’t you?” Her crown chakra was wide open, her connection to spirit giving her the extra insight she needed as the pieces came together. “That last trip you took with your crew really has you shaken up.”

Suddenly she saw a tarot card in her mind. The nine of swords. And then it all made sense. He was so burdened with his worries…

“You can’t sleep.” She gestured to the gadgets on the counter. “That’s why you’re buying all this stuff off TV. You’re running from something.”

He blinked, staring at her like she’d grown an extra head. “How could you…”

Diana shrugged and crossed her arms, her hip jutting to the side. “I could tell you I’m intuitive and psychic, but you can’t test that with science, so…”

He came closer, and she took a step back until her ass bumped into the counter. He searched her eyes and his raw whisper tugged at her heart. “It’s not that I can’t sleep. I won’t.”

She raised a brow. “Everyone has to sleep.”

“I can’t die.” He shook his head. “That makes sleeping optional. I just need to keep busy.” He broke eye contact, focusing on the kitchen floor. “Why are you really here? The crew already voted to take the journey.”

She reached up to touch his cheek and he froze as if time itself had stopped. She couldn’t breathe, but it had been an instinctive ache to soothe his pain.

His skin was still warm from his earlier work out as she waited for his eyes to meet hers. The moment his gaze lifted to her face, her heart stuttered. She swallowed the lump in her throat and whispered, “I’m counting on you to get me to the coordinates. Can you do that?”

He studied her face and finally nodded. “Aye.”

She started to lower her hand and turned to leave, but he caught it in his, the touch sending a jolt of awareness through her bloodstream.

His voice was deep and solid in spite of his exhaustion. “Don’t go.”

She raised a brow. “Give me a reason to stay.”

A muscle clenched in his cheek. “I had a dream too.”

So what about you? Do you believe opposites attract? Have you ever been attracted to anyone who seems to be the opposite of you?