Champions - Let's Talk Inspirations by Sidney Bristol

Hello readers, I have a guest on my blog today. Please join me and give a warm welcome to Sidney Bristol, author of erotic contemporary romance novel Flirting with Rescue published by Ellora's Cave. I've read her book and it's steaming hot. Make sure you pick up a copy too. I will be giving away one copy of her book to one lucky commenter at the end of the week. So make sure you leave a comment.

Sidney, over to you.

Thanks so much to Kiru for hosting me today!

I know it’s March, but I’m still celebrating my recent release, Flirting with Rescue. The book started out as a dare by a friend and critique partner of mine. It was simple, write something scorching that made me blush. I took that gauntlet and decided to write something I knew about. Champions.

For me, I started with my heroine. Cody Lynn is a former champion barrel racer turned vet. She has a soft spot for animals in need, especially when it comes to horses. In a lot of ways, she could have been any one of my neighbors growing up!

Scott was a little harder to figure out in my head, but I knew he was going to be a champion for animals. We all like an alpha hero, someone who will fight for our heroine and save the day, but I wanted him to have a passion for something. One thing that he got out of bed for every day. Everyone loves a guy with a pet, so why not one that owns an animal shelter?

Deep down, when I started writing this story, I wanted to talk about abused horses. Here in Texas, and anytime you drive across state lines with a horse trailer, cops will stop you under the suspicion of trafficking drugs. It’s a sad reality that many horses have been used as the conduit through which to transport narcotics. This story is set in New York, where this kind of trafficking is less common, but not unheard of. Heck, I remember being stopped when we were traveling into New York City for the Belmont Horse Fair, and we were pulled over for a thorough search!

I’ll admit, the topic of abused and neglected animals gets me a little riled up. When I was a teenager, and still showed horses competitively, my horse was a rehab animal. She’d been abused actively for years, and it took the girl who owned her before me a very long time to put her pieces back together, but my horse was a fighter. Even as she turned twenty-one, a very old age for a mare, she competed on the level with horses a decade her junior – and won. She’s a champion in my book, a real fighter. In a way, she inspired me to write Flirting with Rescue.

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Author Bio

It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life.  She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

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Flirting with Rescue   Ellora’s Cave | Barnes and Noble | Amazon

Blurb

Sparks—and clothes—fly when hot veterinarian Cody-Lynn Parker shows up at Scott Carillo’s animal shelter. Scott’s had a bad run with women, but he can’t keep his hands off Cody’s luscious curves.

Cody’s trying to be professional, but she can barely concentrate on work thanks to her craving for the tall, dark and sexy Cuban. She kisses caution goodbye and Scott hello when his shirt comes off.

Between naked star-gazing and naughty massages, their steamy fling turns into an affair of the heart. But when thieves target Cody, she finds herself flirting with danger, and Scott wants to rescue her whether she thinks she needs it or not.

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Excerpt

“He has three legs,” Cody said.

“Don’t tell him that.”

Scott handed her a pitiful nylon leash. Tripod looked up at her with intelligence in his brown eyes. His front left leg was missing, but Scott was right about one thing, no one had ever bothered to tell Tripod he shouldn’t be able to do something because he was missing something as minor as a leg.

“He was a guard dog. He still knows his commands. We just haven’t found someone who wants to take a chance with a dog that could be aggressive.”

“All right.” Cody nodded and crouched in front of the large brindled dog. He showed neither aggression nor a desire to be friendly; he was an animal who knew to reserve judgment of a person until they proved their worth. “Well, Tripod, I can’t believe they’re calling you that, but let’s show you where the food will be.”

Cody ran a hand over his short fur coat and twitched the leash. Tripod moved without difficulty, the front leg hopping along like a pogo stick while the hind legs moved normally. Though she’d anticipated he’d move slower, Tripod easily kept pace with them as Cody took him around to the back porch where she’d put out dog food and water.

Tripod lapped at the water and sniffed the food.

“Checking the vittles?”

Scott snorted. “Do you actually say that?”

“What?”

“V—”

“Vittles?” She grinned. “No, just sounded right.”

Kneeling next to Tripod, Cody pulled a dog collar out of her pocket and clipped it around his neck. She needed to get him a set of tags.

“Okay, buddy, welcome home.” Cody slipped the nylon leash and collar from the shelter off him and patted his hindquarters.

“Cody, that’s not a good—”

“If he doesn’t choose to stay here, nothing will keep him here. Besides,” she shrugged, “he knows where the food is now. If he’s as smart as you say he is, he’ll be fine.”

Tripod, by some uncanny canine knowledge, looked up at the two of them as if to say, “I’m right here.”

“You tell him, Tri.” Cody grinned, butterflies flitting around in her stomach.

She’d debated calling Scott earlier, but with the uncertainty of the evening trespassers she’d wanted someone else to talk to, and she didn’t have to explain her worries to him. Scott understood and he’d reacted almost how she expected he would. The urge to protect her, to get to the bottom of things and figure out that the men responsible for Pepper and Rider’s deplorable treatment were out on bail—those she had expected. She hadn’t expected him to get her a guard dog. Some girls wanted jewelry or other presents. Cody liked animals, and a three-legged dog no one else wanted was the best present she’d received since her college boyfriend gave her a pink shotgun for Valentine’s Day. Even having Scott back at Grandpa G’s place was enough for her.

Uncertainty made her ask herself the tough questions. Was he there because he wanted to be? Or did he feel responsible for her? She didn’t want to be an obligation. Cody was a big girl and could look after herself, but she didn’t mind his company.

She craved it. City boys might be her new thing, especially ones with sexy accents.

“How’s everything else?”

“Good.” Cody stood, dusting her hands on her thighs. “Rider and Pepper are looking better. Do you want to see them?”

Scott considered the question for a moment, giving her a wicked smile and watching her from under half-lidded eyes. “No.”

Well, hello, mutual hunger.