HOT NEW RELEASES THIS WEEK: Kelly Jamieson

I’m currently in the air flying home from Las Vegas to New York after my whirlwind trip to the PBR Finals, and while I’m a guest of Delta thirty thousand feet in the air and sans WiFi, Kelly Jamieson is manning my blog and bringing you news on her new release, coming tomorrow from Samhain publishing.

Please welcome Kelly! ~ Cat

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Thank you, Cat, for having me here to celebrate our shared releases together! Your latest of your Red, Hot & Blue series, BULL, sounds fantastic, and Bull…well, yum. 😉

Yesterday I posted at the amazing Mari Carr’s blog a little about how Rhythm of Three came to be written. I’d never intended to write a sequel to Rule of Three, but as I mentioned yesterday, I did have a feeling there was more story to tell.

In Rule of Three, Chris, Kassidy and Dag talk through some of the problems they are going to face in a polyamorous relationship—how co-workers will judge him, how their families will react, how Dag is becoming part of an already established relationship. In Rhythm of Three, they actually face these obstacles, and more.

The one problem I did not want these characters to face was jealousy. I do believe that if there is jealousy in a polyamorous relationship, that relationship is not going to succeed. In Rule of Three, Chris, Kassidy and Dag did not feel jealous. Within the polyamorous community, the concept of compersion helps us understand how this could be. Compersion could be considered the opposite of jealousy:

“Compersion is a state of empathetic happiness and joy experienced when an individual’s current or former romantic partner experiences happiness and joy through an outside source, including, but not limited to, another romantic interest. This can be experienced as any form of erotic or emotional empathy, depending on the person experiencing the emotion.” Wikipedia

Here’s snippet from Rule of Three where Kassidy and Chris talk about jealousy:

She turned to Chris. “What about you? You’ve never been jealous of me and Dag.”

He moved his head slowly, side to side. “No. I never have been. I don’t know if I can explain it…” He paused, searching for words. “I feel happy when you’re happy―even if it’s with him. And I want to give to Dag. I feel like I’m giving him something when you and he…make love.”

“And I felt like you were giving me something,” she said with a smile. “Like you’d given me a special gift I didn’t even know I’d wanted.” And she wanted to give him that too. So much.

“There’s no room for jealousy in this,” Dag said in a firm voice. “For any of us. Ever. If anyone ever feels that way, you gotta say something.” And his gaze zeroed in fiercely on Chris.

Jealousy would have been an easy conflict for these three to face, something everyone would relate to, would almost even expect in such a relationship. But I didn’t want to go there because I felt if any of the three experienced jealous, the relationship was doomed. Here’s a short excerpt from Rhythm of Three where Kassidy could have been jealous—enjoy!

Rhythm of Three

One woman, two lovers. Double the pleasure, or double the trouble?

Rule of Three, Book 2

Former goodie-two-shoes Kassidy now has three pairs of shoes under her bed—hers, Chris’s and Dag’s. While she relishes the hot threesome that makes her friends jealous, she can’t deny things are…complicated. Namely, whom to tell about their unconventional relationship, and whom to keep in the dark.

In the dark category? Definitely Chris’s parents, which should be simple, since they live far away. Except they’ve sprung a surprise for their son’s thirtieth birthday. They’re coming for a visit. Then there’s Kassidy’s best friend Danielle, who’s home from Europe, clueless to recent events, and flirting with Dag like crazy.

Awkward!

Family, friends, coworkers and a wedding put three lovers’ best intentions to the test, making them wonder if this unique brand of love has a chance in hell of working out.

Product Warnings: Contains three vulnerable hearts engaged in a ménage a trois, some man-on-man action, sizzling exchanges of graphic language, and rock-your-socks explicit sex. So yeah, it’s dirty, but also sweet.

EXCERPT:

Kassidy opened the door of the condo later that night and pushed inside with her big shopping bags. “Hello! Anyone home?” She tripped into the living room, a wee bit buzzed from several cocktails with the girls. The television was on but silent. She took in the trail of clothes—men’s shorts, T-shirt and boxers—and followed it to the bedroom, amused.

She paused in the open door and in the light from the living room saw Dag and Chris in bed, asleep, both on their bellies, faces toward each other, Dag’s hand resting on the middle of Chris’s bare back, the covers down around their waists. She smiled.

They were beautiful. Dag’s dark, messy hair contrasted with the white pillow, the skin of his arm darker against Chris’s golden tan. Her heart squeezed with love for them both.

She moved into the room, still carrying her purchases, and the noises caused Chris’s eyes to flutter open. “Hey,” he murmured, “you’re home.”

She sat on the bed next to him and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “I am. You guys are in bed early.” He met her eyes and she smiled at him, wordlessly communicating with him. His answering smile melted her. She touched his face with her fingertips as Dag stirred next to him. “Okay?” she whispered.

He caught her hand and kissed her fingers. “Yeah. Great. I love you so much, Kass.”

“Love you too.” She looked at Dag, blinking his long, dark eyelashes, and she leaned across Chris to kiss him too. “And you.”

“Babe. What time is it?”

“Just past ten.”

“Huh. Guess we crashed.”

“Yep.” Her smile widened.

“How was your girls’ night?” Chris asked, rolling over and shoving pillows behind him.

“It was…good. Except…” she sank her teeth into her bottom lip, “…Danielle sort of spilled the beans about us to Sarah and Tyra.”

“Oh.” Dag and Chris exchanged a look.

“You don’t look too upset about it,” Dag observed.

She sighed. “No. It was fine. Although…all we told them is that I’m sleeping with both of you.”

“Ah. Okay.” Another exchange of eye contact.

“Basically, they’re jealous,” Kassidy said with a grin.

“As they should be,” Dag said.

Chris and Kassidy laughed.

“I bought a dress,” she shared. “Wanna see it?”

“Sure.” Dag too sat up and leaned back against the headboard.

“I’ll put it on.” She stood, eager to show them her sexy new dress. “I got shoes too, and they’re so cute.” She took her purchases into the bathroom and changed in there, smiling at her reflection in the mirror, excited to show off for her two guys.

Her two guys who’d apparently just had sex with each other. And looked so happy and content and satisfied. Too bad she’d missed it, but she was happy it had happened. She knew they’d needed it. This relationship was weird, for many reasons, but it struck her that not only was there one relationship between all three of them, there were also three relationships between each of them. And each of those relationships was unique and had to develop at its own speed and in its own way. The relationship between Chris and Dag was different than between her and Chris, or her and Dag, but no less important, and she wanted to make sure that they had the time and opportunity for it to grow as it should.

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