Michelle: Michelle began her semi-prolific writing career long ago in junior high when she and her then-best friend wrote and illustrated their own Indiana Jones comic books. Star Trek fan-fiction quickly followed, as well as Star Wars fan-fic. Later, she dabbled in her own science fiction stories and some historical fiction (princesses, towers, and handsome princes!), and finally found her footing on contemporary ground. Michelle is a member of Romance Writers of America. She resides in suburban Fort Worth with her cat and her precocious son. In her spare time, she enjoys watching hockey, reading, adding to her shoe collection and–of course!–drinking coffee.
Cate: Tell us about TAKE ME I’M YOURS and where it's available.
Michelle: TAKE ME I’M YOURS is a contemporary romance about Graeme, a love-struck painter, and Marion, a jilted woman trying to recover. It’s available as an ebook and can be purchased via Cobblestone’s website.
Cate: Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Michelle:
Blurb:
Marion is mending a broken heart. When her fiancé leaves her at the altar, she picks up the pieces and tries to get on with her life. She finds solace in her work at the gym and art lessons.
Graeme has never fallen in love. As a celebrity in the art world, he can have any woman he chooses. Yet the one he really wants has eluded him for years…until a chance encounter brings Marion and Graeme together, giving him his shot at having the woman of his dreams…and drawings.
Can Graeme’s love mend her shattered heart?
Excerpt:
Moments later, as Marion grasped the warm cup of coffee in her hand, she turned to find someone she knew sitting in a corner of the coffee house. Graeme Butler hadn’t noticed her entrance, since he had his head buried in his laptop.
With a deep breath, Marion headed over. There wasn’t any reason why she couldn’t say hello to an old friend. Was there? And she hadn’t seen Graeme since… She mentally calculated how long it had been. Several months, to be sure. The last time being a night of shooting pool and drinking beer not long after Ethan left a horrendous aftermath in his wake.
Determined not to allow the painful memory of that day to cloud her thoughts, she pasted on a bright smile and sauntered over. She’d forgotten how good looking Graeme was, with his strong jaw line shadowed by a goatee. He shoved his hand through his dark blond hair, which had golden highlights that didn’t come out of a box—Graeme wasn’t that kind of guy.
“Well, hello, you,” she said in her sweetest voice.
Graeme looked up, question then surprise flickering through his devastating blue eyes. His mouth broke into a wide grin, and he looked genuinely happy to see her.
“Marion?”
“Are you as surprised to see me as I am you?” she asked as he rose and came around the table.“You have no idea.”
He folded her into his powerful arms, hugging her tightly and squeezing her to him, then kissing her soundly on the cheek. He smelled of soap and something else—a spicy scent she didn’t know. It made her knees weak, which was totally unexpected, because Graeme wasn’t the weak-in-the-knees kind of guy…or was he? Stepping back, he looked her up and down, his gaze sweeping over her.
She should have been incensed that he looked at her that way. But somehow, it wasn’t the same creepy look Ethan had given her only moments before. This one was less on the lascivious side and more on the…well, since he was a man, his intentions were probably less than honorable. She found she didn’t mind so much when Graeme did it.
“You look fantastic. I haven’t seen you since—”
“I know.” She cut him off and put up a Don’t-Go-There hand, refusing to allow him to speak aloud the words of those fateful events. “It’s been a while. How are you?” She smiled, incredibly happy to see him.
He waved her to a nearby cushioned chair, and she gratefully sat down. After saving his document, he shut down the computer and closed the laptop, then leaned back in the chair, propping his ankle on his knee. He gave her his full attention. “I’m great. Couldn’t be better.”
Damn, he looks sexy. There was something ruggedly handsome about him, yet she knew underneath that tough exterior was a sensitive guy. Of course, he never liked that to be common knowledge. He liked to keep up the rough façade. In the few years she’d known him, he’d always been super nice to her, and she found she could be herself with him.
A vision of him dressed in a tux with a blush colored tie and cummerbund flashed through her mind. He had looked so handsome that day. So suave and debonair. And now she couldn’t stop looking at him. He had the best forearms and hands. Nice, strong looking hands.
She held her cup in her hands to keep them from fidgeting. “What are you up to these days?”
“Just working. I’ve got some new clients lately, so the business is going really well.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She forced her gaze back to his face, noticing for the first time the new facial hair. One corner of his mouth was upturned in a grin. She resisted the urge to reach out and run a finger down his stubbly chin. “I like the goatee.”
He ran his hand over the beard, his skin bristling against the coarse hair. “It’s something I’m trying out.”
“Well, it looks great,” she said. “And how’s Charlotte?”
“Uh…” He cleared his throat. “That was over a long time ago. Shortly after you and Ethan—”
“Stop.” She held up her hand. “Please don’t say it.”
“Sorry.” Looking sheepish, he picked up his paper cup and sipped his coffee. “I don’t mean to keep bringing it up. I figured after that day in the church, you’d never speak to me again.”
“Why’s that?” She quirked an eyebrow and leaned forward, placing the cup on the table. She wondered why Graeme thought she would shun him.
“I was the one who delivered Ethan’s bad news,” he said.
“Oh, right.” She twisted the edge of her worn shirt around her forefinger. “Speaking of the devil’s spawn… I actually ran into him this morning.”
“Here?” Graeme sat up straight and glanced around the nearly deserted coffee house. He looked as he if were ready to fight.
“No, no. Down the street at the café. I was having brunch—”
“Alone?”
“Yes.” She paused, unsure why that mattered. “Anyway, he just showed up out of nowhere. Told me he made a mistake and he wanted me back.”
“Fuck him.” He scowled, clearly unhappy with his friend’s actions. His face had lost the light he’d had only moments ago and turned dark and serious. Snatching his coffee, he sat back in the chair again, relaxed.
“No, thanks.” She snickered at her own joke then blushed for laughing at herself. “I’m not sure what makes him think I’d want him back, especially after what he did to me.” Looking back up, she met his gaze. “All that time we were together, he lied to me about his business dealings.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he did Web design for a…” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “…porn Web site.” Clearing her throat, she glanced around to see if she had been overheard. “Did you know that?”
When Graeme was silent, she was certain it was from sheer shock. That was her first reaction as well. “I had no idea. And all that time we were together, he hid it from me. Talk about a scumbag!”
“Yeah,” he agreed, his voice muffled behind his coffee cup.
“I wouldn’t have made it such a big deal if he hadn’t cheated on me with half the girls from the Web site. Of course, I found out about that after we broke up, but still…the nerve of that guy.”
This time, Graeme cleared his throat. “How did you find out about all that?” He carefully placed his coffee cup on the table, then fixed his gaze on his computer. Was he avoiding her gaze on purpose?
Marion gave him a pointed look of disbelief and snatched up her cup, taking another sip of the tepid liquid. Either he really didn’t know, or he was just as guilty as Ethan was for pretending not to know. “You never knew, Graeme? You were his best friend, after all.”
Graeme kept his eyes on his laptop monitor. “Ethan and I shared a lot, yes. But he never shared that information with me. It’s sort of written in the Man Rules.”
“Man Rules?” She had to chuckle.
“Yeah,” he said with a cocky smile. “Never share information that can incriminate you.”
“Ha, ha.” Marion first wanted to smack him for the remark, but his big, silly grin made her fall into laughter.
“Anyway, Ethan had his chance with you, and he blew it. His loss.”
Her eyebrows shot up. She was surprised to hear this from the man who was supposed to be Ethan’s best man and best friend.
“You deserve better than him, Marion. I always thought so.”
“I…don’t quite know what to say.” A heated flash went through her, and her palms felt as though they had suddenly caught fire, forcing her to put down the cup once more.
“He’s an idiot for letting you go.” He snatched his coffee again, the liquid sloshing, and sipped. “What’d you tell him?”
She smirked, remembering her lie. “First I told him too bad, and then I…” She stopped, waving the thought away. “Nothing. It’s silly.”
“If you said something that will make that asshole suffer, please share. I haven’t spoken to him since that day in the church.”
She blinked. Graeme, it seemed, was full of surprises. She had no idea the two of them hadn’t spoken in the last six months. So, Ethan had lost his fiancée and his best friend all in one day. Interesting.
“You haven’t?”
“No, I haven’t.”
She wanted to press further, to find out exactly why the two hadn’t spoken to each other in so long. Was Graeme sore because Ethan made him do the deed? Or was there something else underneath the cool façade he wasn’t telling her? She suspected the latter. What did Graeme care, really, if Ethan ditched his girlfriend? Unless…
Unless deep down, Graeme had feelings for her. The notion seemed so ridiculous, she quickly pushed it away. Graeme wasn’t interested in her any more than she was interested in the guy who owned this coffee house.
She stared down at her lap, toying with a string on the edge of her shirt. “Anyway, I sort of told him I was seeing someone.” Looking up through her lashes, she added, “And that I was almost engaged.”
“I see.” Graeme downed the rest of his coffee and set aside the empty cup. He reached for his laptop and shoved it in its case.
She suddenly worried she had somehow upset him. “But, you know, I was just lying to get him to leave me alone. I’m not seeing anyone. I’ve tried to date, but it’s just…too much. I haven’t been able to do it. I don’t think I’m ready.”
He stopped, looking at her with those blue eyes, and smiled. She wanted to melt into a puddle. “Marion, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. I’m not Ethan.”
“But I—”
“You want to go for a walk?”
Cate: Loved it! Especially the “Don’t Go There hand” – too funny. What inspired you to write about the theme? Michelle: TAKE ME I’M YOURS is actually the third in a trilogy (with perhaps more to come; not sure yet) and follows the lives of those folks who live in Fort Worth and quite often frequent THE BITTER END COFFEE HOUSE. I thought it would be fun to write about people living and working in an urban setting. The first book, TALK DIRTY TO ME (Samhain Publishing, 2006), was about a phone sex operator and the sexy phone on the other end of the phone. The second book, NICE GIRLS DO (Samhain Publishing, 2007), was about a stripper trying to reform her life. All are available as ebooks.
I think what inspired me was mostly I just wanted to write some hot romance. LOL I had no idea it would take off and be so much fun to write. I have a fourth book planned but I haven’t had a chance to finish it yet.Cate: Any specific inspiration for your characters (an actor/actress or personal hero)?
Michelle: I picture Graeme as a Simon Baker kind of guy and Marion as Holly Hunter. Those actors were really the inspirations for the characters.
Cate: Oo, Simon Baker’s so debonair. I love Holly Hunter too. They’d make an interesting combo.
How do you pick the character’s names?
Michelle: I like something that sounds good. Especially when I’m going to be spending a lot of time with them! LOL
Cate: What's next for you?
Michelle: I just finished a fantasy about a female gladiator that’s currently on submission with an agent. I’m not working on an urban fantasy based on Celtic mythology. I’ve been so busy lately with life things that it’s hard to focus and I feel like I’m losing touch with some of my writing friends and writing in general. I’m hoping things slow down soon!
Cate: Wow, a female gladiator - what an intriguing concept. Best of luck with it! I hope things slow down for you, too. It’s tough to balance sometimes.
At what age did you discover writing and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.
Michelle: I really started writing in high school with my friend. We wrote and illustrated our own Indiana Jones comic books. Then I wrote a lot of really bad fan-fiction (Star Trek, Star Wars, Blade Runner). I stopped writing for years and then took it up again about 8 years ago when I was on maternity leave. I wrote my first book which ended up at about 90,000 words and just really sucked. A few years later, I started writing serialized fiction with a now-defunct publisher. I wrote two series—one contemporary and one time travel. In between writing the serials, I started writing contemporary romance (TALK DIRTY TO ME) and sold to Samhain in late November 2005. I was so thrilled with my first published book. And Samhain is really awesome to work with.
Cate: Do you have a writing routine?
Michelle: I used to write every single day for at least an hour but now it’s very sporadic.
Cate: What’s the most challenging aspect of writing? Most rewarding?
Michelle: The most challenging is finding the time to write! The most rewarding is when someone emails you and tells you how much they loved your work.
Cate: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Michelle: I’m a fan of urban fantasy and really enjoy reading Karen Mare Moning’s Fever series. I also like Vicki Petterson’s Zodiac series. There are a lot more but I can’t think of them right now! LOL
Cate: Where can readers find you on the web?
Michelle:
Facebook: http://www.facebook/AuthorMichelleMiles
Website: www.michellemiles.net
Blog: www.michellemiles.net/blog
Monthly at Pop Culture Divas: www.popculturedivas.com
Thanks for being my guest, Michelle! Best of luck with Take Me I'm Yours!
