{"id":1623,"date":"2017-01-19T01:05:24","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T06:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/?p=1623"},"modified":"2017-01-28T00:12:17","modified_gmt":"2017-01-28T05:12:17","slug":"story-sample-a-not-so-hollow-heart-by-sharon-maria-bidwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/2017\/01\/19\/story-sample-a-not-so-hollow-heart-by-sharon-maria-bidwell\/","title":{"rendered":"Story Sample: A Not so Hollow Heart by Sharon Maria Bidwell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"Title:<\/strong> A Not so Hollow Heart
\nAuthor:<\/strong> Sharon Maria Bidwell<\/p>\n

Blurb:
\n<\/strong>
\nMason\u2019s more scared of love than he is of the walking dead.<\/p>\n

Mason\u2019s facing more than one apocalypse. The darkest hours are those spent alone when memories surface and the touch of his lost love can make the most erotic of dreams horrifying. He\u2019d rather face danger than recollect how he loved Antonio, and what he was prepared to give up for him. He\u2019s never going to fall in love again\u2026a vow that wavers when he rescues Kyle.<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s certain luck had more to do with saving Kyle than anything he did now Mason fears something more than the walking dead. He\u2019s afraid giving in to lust may lead to love, if homophobic hatred doesn\u2019t murder them first.<\/p>\n

Excerpt:<\/strong>
\nEven when Kyle put on some weight, his cheekbones would stand out, perfectly underscoring those eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry?\u201d He\u2019d forgotten Kyle\u2019s question.
\n\u201cEver wonder which is worse? The zombies or the humans who hurt each other even though the world\u2019s gone to hell?\u201d
\nMason wasn\u2019t sure the world hadn\u2019t always been hell, flashing back on how he and Antonio had fought for acceptance, but he didn\u2019t have the heart to say so.
\n\u201cThe humans,\u201d he replied with only a slight pause.
\nKyle swallowed. The scrawniness of his frame made his Adam\u2019s apple bob in both a grotesque and oddly inviting way. \u201cGlad I\u2019m not the only one to think so.\u201d He didn\u2019t sound happy, though.
\nMason stared at the man in the bed, and the man stared back. Kyle\u2019s tongue flicked out, then vanished back inside his mouth. He grimaced.
\n\u201cDoc says licking my lips is not doing them any good. He gave me this.\u201d Kyle shifted, making a weak attempt to reach for something on the bedside table. Almost by reflex, Mason walked over and picked up the object, which turned out to be a small jar labeled with spiderlike writing.
\n\u201cSome woman\u2014Patricia? She\u2019s making this stuff?\u201d
\nMason nodded in answer to Kyle\u2019s questions. The people here had needed to go back to basics for many things\u2014food, drugs, even items like salve. He looked up in time to see Kyle almost lick again, once more resist. Mason focused on the condition of Kyle\u2019s mouth rather than the pink and enticing flash of his tongue. At least his lips had improved\u2014dry instead of cracked, except for a couple of particularly nasty fissures where they\u2019d split and bled.
\nKyle\u2019s eyelids fluttered and closed. His head slumped to one side.
\nMason unscrewed the lid of the jar, then hesitated, mindful enough to check the cleanliness of his fingers. He\u2019d washed his hands when he arrived\u2014Miles insisted there be no infection in his \u201chospital\u201d\u2014but still, he checked. Satisfied, he dabbed a small amount of the salve on his index finger. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over the patient.
\nMason had to be careful\u2014Kyle\u2019s lips were dry\u2014but tracing them at first made Mason feel a peaceful connection he hadn\u2019t enjoyed for a long time. He intended nothing sexual, took a simple pleasure from caring for someone. Then as sensation spread out from his groin into his thighs, he almost gasped at the sudden, unexpected, and intense arousal\u2014made even worse when Kyle opened his eyes. For a second they stared at each other. Then Kyle\u2019s mouth unlatched. He took the tip of Mason\u2019s finger between his teeth. Seeming almost unnecessarily cautious to make sure the forefinger didn\u2019t drag over his lips, Kyle applied pressure with his teeth and then used his tongue to lap what remained of the salve from Mason\u2019s fingertip.
\nThe hot, wet, fluttering impression against one of his digits did nothing to make Mason\u2019s erection wither.<\/p>\n

Purchase Link:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.loose-id.com\/authors\/q-t\/sharon-maria-bidwell.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sharon Bidwell was born in London on New Year\u2019s Eve. She has been writing professionally for many years, with her first short story receiving praised for being \u201cstrong on characterisation, and quite literary, in terms of style.\u201d Her work has appeared steadily in both print and electronic publications. With a repertoire of twisted tales and a love of cross-genre writing, it surprised everyone (including herself) when she branched out into erotic romance under the name Sharon Maria Bidwell, including Snow Angel and A Not So Hollow Heart. . These works have been critically acclaimed and often described as \u2018deeply passionate\u2019. Sharon\u2019s worlds are vivid, unexpected and sometimes intensely magical. Sharon writes whatever her warped mind can come up with and is quite capable of writing something darker, grittier, and even outright twisted. She was propelled into the universe of Steampunk as one of the writers for\u00a0 Space: 1899 & Beyond, and recently wrote her first piece of Doctor Who related fiction. During her writing career she\u2019s lived in a house with a Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs, shared a publisher with the creator of Roger Rabbit, and has taken a trip to Jupiter. Only one of these has been in her imagination.<\/p>\n

Author Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/about.me\/sharonbidwell<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.sharonbidwell.co.uk<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/sharonmariabidwell.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: A Not so Hollow Heart Author: Sharon Maria Bidwell Blurb: Mason\u2019s more scared of love than he is of the walking dead. Mason\u2019s facing more than one apocalypse. The darkest hours are those spent alone when memories surface and the touch of his lost love can make the most erotic of dreams horrifying. He\u2019d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[249],"tags":[281],"class_list":["post-1623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story-sample","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/SMB_ANotSoHollowHeart_coverlg.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kq3e-qb","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1623"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1626,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623\/revisions\/1626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/compellingbeastsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}