Love Notes by Kris Ripper
Alisha left the first note in a place she knew Ed would find it. Stuck to the screen of his phone as he was running out the door one morning.
He texted her when he got to work: Is this a commentary on my phone use? Um. In other notes, I guess I should be writing, not checking my phone for notifications.
She sent back a smiley and No, babe. Just thought I’d kick off a little game with an easy one.
Easy one?
That time she just sent back a tongue-out smiley and nothing else.
The second and third sticky notes (in neon green and neon orange) were left in conspicuous places in his room. And by “conspicuous”, she meant “in with the sex toys and also in the underwear drawer”.
The notes weren’t intense or anything. The green one said Hey, you. The orange one said, Wear the blue jockey shorts.
No big deal.
He somehow snuck the first one onto her pillow before he left one night. He had a late night event he was supposed to write about, and she was sad to watch him go. Maybe he’d known how bummed she was, or maybe he’d just found an opportunity and taken it.
The note was yellow, probably chosen in haste, and all it read was XOXO.
Alisha would never tell anyone that she kissed it before tucking it into the travel journal she kept beside her bed.
She picked him up for lunch one day and slipped a sticky note into the sea of sticky notes lining his monitor. It took him two days to find it.
That one had read Send me a selfie. She knew he’d gotten it when she got a selfie of Ed raising an eyebrow at her.
God. He was so sexy. Time to step things up.
The next three were increasingly suggestive, over a period of about a week. And finally, after the third, he sent her a digital sticky note that read Quit turning me on.
Which made her giggle.
They went out dancing that night, and it was fun. Dancing with Ed was always fun. They were hot and heavy and laughing and sweating, just like usual. Then Ed reached into his pocket and pulled out…a sticky note. Of course.
She laughed louder. “You didn’t!”
He held it up so she could read it.
Kiss me.
And hell yeah. She took his face in her hands and kissed him, bodies pressed against each other, music blaring.
When they finally ended up back at her apartment it was late and both of them were tired. Not too tired for her to find a sticky note and a pen. Maybe being exhausted made her brave. She’d planned to write Fuck me. But instead she wrote Make love to me.
And immediately decided to take it back, except Ed came out of the bathroom when she was still sitting there, and flipping the note pad so he couldn’t read it only made him zero in.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing.”
Ed grinned and held out his hand. “C’mon.”
It was a nothing thing. There was no reason why it should make her feel so exposed. But as she pushed the note pad across the table she bit her lip.
Ed looked, and the grin froze, faltered, changed.
Alisha’s teeth dug deeper into her skin.
“Aw. Babe.” He tossed the notes and slipped in between her and the table, tugging her face up to his. “I will make love to you every day. Whenever you want. You know that, right?”
And maybe she did, or should have, but hearing the words was better. “Yeah.”
“Good.”
This kiss was deep, and intimate, and promised so many things. Alisha would have had no idea how to even ask for such a kiss.
He took her to bed, and yes, this—this was exactly what she wanted, exactly what she needed. Everything both of them needed.
About The Queer and the Restless
Ed Masiello has been on testosterone for a year, is working his dream job as a reporter, and is finally passing as a man (so long as you don’t ask his abuela). But the investigation of a murder case is starting to take over his life. Afraid he’s becoming obsessed, he goes to the local club to relax, and meets the flighty, whimsical Alisha.
Alisha is a free spirit who’s tossed aside ambition for travel and adventure. Her approach to life is a far cry from Ed’s, and while Ed has always assumed that meeting his goals would make him happy, Alisha is much more content than him—despite all the plans she can’t yet fulfill.
As their relationship heats up, so does the murder case. Alisha thinks Ed needs a break, but someone’s got to find this killer, and he wants to be there when it all goes down. Besides, taking off into the great unknown with Alisha is crazy. But opting for what’s safe is just another way of living in fear, and Ed vowed to stop living like that a long time ago.
The Queer and the Restless is available from Riptide Publishing. http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/the-queer-and-the-restless
About Kris Ripper
Kris Ripper lives in the great state of California and hails from the San Francisco Bay Area. Kris shares a converted garage with a toddler, can do two pull-ups in a row, and can write backwards. (No, really.) Kris is genderqueer and prefers the z-based pronouns because they’re freaking sweet. Ze has been writing fiction since ze learned how to write, and boring zir stuffed animals with stories long before that.
Connect with Kris:
- Webiste: krisripper.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/kris.ripper
- Twitter: twitter.com/SmutTasticKris
Giveaway
To celebrate the release of The Queer and the Restless, one lucky winner will receive an ebook from Kris’s backlist! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 5, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!
love the title
ReplyDeletejmarinich33@aol.com
So sweet! Thanks for the post
ReplyDeletelegacylandlisa(at)gmail(dot)com