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Showing posts with label Elise Hepner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elise Hepner. Show all posts
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Sunday Snippet #76
Roped Emotions
by Elise Hepner
Ellora’s CaveSeptember 14, 2011
“What in Christ’s name…”
I must be hearing echoes from the town nearby, where Mother sells her herbs and braided goods. No one ventures this far toward my tower because Mother’s gone to great lengths to see that they don’t—bear traps are her new favorite method of discouragement. Once one life is claimed, I imagine word spreads fairly quickly to stay away from the area. Why then are there hoof beats that make my head pulse with a slight pain?
There’s no understandable excuse I can delude myself with any longer. Before I can focus on the consequences, I swing my head out the window into the oppressive, humid summer air. Just the very top of his head is visible, his hair brushing past his cheekbones, glowing from the sunshine and shot through with gold. Never have I seen a color so close to my own before—not that I see many people.
For a few moments I can’t quite come to terms with his presence and it’s not for a lack of staring that my pulse inevitably echoes inside my head like an overbeaten drum. This is my chance. Mother won’t be back for quite some time with her wares. He’s circling the tower, slouched over a horse who looks a bit like a nag. Certainly not a proper horse for a man with such fine clothes in gorgeous colors and sumptuous fabrics.
There’s no going back from this moment. It’s a certainty that makes my teeth chatter in a wash of cold fear, despite the heat, and my hands clasp around my middle as I try to hold myself together. He hasn’t looked up yet, more intent on studying the free-standing structure than noticing my shadow plastered across the grass. My mind is desperately working out what I’ll cry out to him. Even as my throat closes with an infusion of happiness that makes me rock on my feet.
“Excuse me?” A tentative question I’m not sure he will hear because it can’t be any louder than a frightened whisper. “Sir, you’re really not supposed to be here.”
Somehow, I’ve managed to make this part louder because he glances up—and his slack-jawed expression is a blow to my chest. He possesses the most gorgeous cobalt blue eyes. Underneath my ribs, the pain grows until taking a full breath is hard. Mother is right, he hasn’t even overcome his shock as my heavy plait of hair rests down the stone side of my prison. He’s not to be trusted.
What am I thinking? He won’t even come near me to aid my escape and his eyes are swamped in confusion—and there’s a flash of unreadable emotion that I refuse to question. He must leave here now and I must somehow convince him to bring no one back with him. I won’t be paraded around for anyone’s amusement. This man has made a mistake coming here.
Yet, there’s still a part of me that grips the windowsill until my palms are numb and that clings to the hope that he will at least acknowledge me. So long since I’ve had any kind of normal conversation. One that didn’t revolve around my hair, my rules or my mother’s day. Won’t he say anything? I’m as trapped by his thick silence as I am by the beauty of his face.
“Please, you must go and tell no one about what you’ve seen. You shouldn’t have ignored the traps. They are there for a reason.”
I don’t know how I’ve gotten that all out because my main focus lies on the foreign stirrings of heat in my cheeks as the pulsing sensation twists lower in my abdomen. What is happening to me? With a certainty that surprises me, I find myself clenching my thighs together, only to have the subtle touch of flesh-on-flesh be more than I can bear. He has yet to take his gaze from mine and a shudder slips up my spine.
“How long have you been here?” His voice carries the strain I hold back and I’m slightly put at ease that at least we are on similar ground. “Who did this to you?”
“For a man who is about to leave, I don’t believe it matters.”
The words barely tumble out of my mouth before I clamp my hand over my lips. I hadn’t meant to be so harsh and instantly regret it. He is so handsome—and these sudden urges, they are overwhelming and confusing to the point where I wish to completely remove the problem. My lips part in an apology and I watch a jovial grin span from ear to ear as he laughs at me until I can’t hear anything but the frantic beat of my heart.
Who is this man? Now he stares at me with a playfulness that washes a wave of goose bumps across my flesh. He doesn’t seem offended, merely amused at my suggestion that he leave. To further that fact, he quickly dismounts and ties his horse to a nearby tree branch. While I can only stare at the way his tight riding boots and breeches hug his muscular body from his calves all the way up to his perfectly rounded buttocks.
Though I’d learned of desire from my mother—and all its wicked principles—I never expected it to rear its head in my lonely, simple world.
However, now my life spirals out of control quickly enough that I tilt back against the wall to my left and watch with trembling hands. This mysterious man climbs the wall of my tower as if it had been built to be climbed so easily—without any aid from my hair. One strong, sun-kissed hand and booted foot at a time. When he offers up his hand to me to pull him over the side, what choice do I have? Even a man that strong would eventually grow tired and plummet to his death—and I want him tucked close to my body, not on the ground.
“I was beginning to wonder what it took to get some assistance.”
He softly grunts and clasps my hand hard enough that I gasp as I shift my weight to pull him over the side. Muscles I didn’t know existed inside me burn with sharp pain from disuse because of my isolation. His touch radiates heat all along my arm. If it wasn’t for his precarious situation, I would fight to pull away on instinct—but as it is, he manages to throw himself into my home with as much grace as a charging boar—and he trips, falling on top of me and sending us to the hard, stone floor.
His surprisingly soft hand brushes the hair out of my face and lingers, gently stroking, down my cheek. Should I be frightened? Probably. At the moment I can’t bear the thought that my first sincerely gentle touch from a man would be anything but special. His sharp leather scent surrounds my tingling skin.
“Isn’t this a day for surprises?” His gaze cuts through all the fear inside me and his mouth holds the subtle curve of a half smile. “I should move myself off you, this isn’t proper at all when we’ve barely been introduced.”
Yet he doesn’t move an inch.
A realization whips through my mind and would have left me on the floor if I wasn’t already pinned there by a gorgeous man who touches me with such reverence I might weep. When will this happen again? After this twisted, meandering path of fate, there is no doubt I will be alone again—and I want a loving memory to cling to at night when my old fears tighten my chest until I can’t breathe. This is a choice I can make for myself. And I won’t live the rest of my ordinary, sheltered life not knowing true passion when it burns across my skin.
“They call me Rapunzel.”
“Samuel.”
His inviting smile lights up my whole world.
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Guest Post: Elise Hepner
Dear Readers, Today I have a special treat for you... A guest post from author Elise Hepner. Elise is celebrating the release of her lasted book, Roped Emotions (info below). Elise lives with her husband, two ferrets, and an eccentric cat in Maryland. She spends the majority of her free time in her basement office concocting smutty characters and sinful situations that leaves readers satisfied. When not writing, she researches everything from automatons in the 18th century to gladiatorial rules in Ancient Rome. She prides herself on being an avid information hound as well as a blog reading addict--which is her favorite way to procrastinate. Her previous publications include books and stories with Excessica, Ellora's Cave, and Cleis Press.
Today Elise provides us with an interview with Rapunzel (from her book, Roped Emotions), which was printed in the publication, Thought’s Today, one of the premier discussion pamphlets in the Kingdoms. Please help me welcome Elise and Rapunzel to That’s What I’m Talking About. Take it away...
What is a typical day like for you?
Rapunzel: Most every day is exactly the same as the one before it. I wake to what little sunshine I can garner through my small window in my tower room and set to washing with cool lake water while my mother stands watch to observe me. She wishes to inspect me to ensure I’m clean enough for my morning lessons. What little food I receive to break my fast is given to me and I nibble it as my mother and I discuss the commandments carved above my pallet with a strict recitation of each one.
If I’ve gotten my studies correct then she rewards me with a trinket or a book to while away the hours. After my lessons my time is my own—though I wouldn’t say it’s freedom. My mind spins with possibilities about the outside world and where I fit into it. It’s a wearying train of thought. Though watching the world outside change and shape itself to new spans of time is one of my greatest pleasures.
What are the commandments?
Rapunzel: Be Ever Watchful Of The Forest,
Mind Your Mother,
Know Thy Place Between These Walls,
Don’t Speak To Strangers,
For Every Brushstroke Let There Be Three,
Eat Every Morsel,
If They Do Not Know You They Will Hurt You,
Mother Will Keep You Safe,
Honesty Will Set You Free.
Why do you adhere to these rules?
Rapunzel: Because there are less literal ways of breaking them that have put a few loopholes in my path.
How has captivity affected you?
Rapunzel: I know no other way except my tower, so to me, it is all as it should be and what isn’t—well, I’m not afraid of taking dangerous chances so long as I stay inside my tower. If I were to choose one difference, per se, it would be that I’m a little stuck inside my own head for both pleasure and entertainment. I weave intricate stories and plays inside my head because there’s no other reality left to me.
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| GRIMM FAIRY TALES Comic #19 by Zenescope Entertainment |
What is your favorite book in your collection?
Rapunzel: My mythology book is by far my most treasured, it’s good to have an understanding of a belief in a higher power when stone walls greet me every morning.
If you could do anything for a day free of your tower, what would it be?
Rapunzel: I would very much like to go to a place of books, where they have them by the thousands, and I would like to learn how to cook my own food so I would no longer have to rely on my mother for such things.
What do you consider to be the ultimate freedom?
Rapunzel: Being able to cut my hair would be a dream come true.
What do you consider “love?”
Rapunzel: Someone who will not stifle my learning, my understanding of the world, or my own curiosities. I couldn’t say my mother is the definition of love, though she has brought me up in the best way she knew how to.
Book description:
Rapunzel is trapped by the harsh, inescapable reality of her prison, so she builds vivid sexual fantasies where she has full control and no one can take it away. If nothing else, at least she has command over her thoughts.
When Prince Samuel climbs into her tower it’s a small, satisfying excuse to break the rules—until his gentle touch coaxes out her trust. But it’s not enough. No longer can she keep her dark, sexual secrets inside. Rapunzel yearns for rough, passionate sex—a way to unlock her sensual freedom for good.
Vulnerable but unable to turn back, Rapunzel leads Prince Samuel on an intimate journey to define their sexual limits while twisting their definitions of control forever.
Thank you to Elise and Rapunzel for stopping by That’s What I’m Talking About.
You can find Elise on line at:
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Be sure to return on Sunday for an except from Roped Emotions.
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