Wild about That Thing

By Lisabet Sarai

There's more than one way to beat the blues.

She’s always been proud of her sensual nature. Now it seems to have landed her in an impossible situation. Two lovers...and she wants them both.

Ruby Jones has clear priorities. Her teenage son comes first, then her struggling blues club. Her love life ranks as a distant third, despite the efforts of Zeke Chambers to convince her otherwise. Zeke's the lead singer in her house band, a devoted friend, and an occasional lover. He can drive her wild with desire, but can't get her to make a commitment. Deserted by her cheating ex-husband, Ruby's determined she's going to make it on her own. She's hot-blooded like her bluesman daddy, happy to satisfy her physical cravings, but she's not about to let any man into her heart.

The stranger who takes the stage on open mike night upsets the delicate balance in Ruby's world. From the moment Ruby sets eyes on him, Remy Saint-Michel inspires irresistible lust and inexplicable sympathy. Confused, guilty and worried about her prized independence, Ruby decides that the only way to deal with the two men is to push them both away. Zeke and Remy, however, have other ideas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lisabet Sarai
• Release date: Dec 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215599563

Lisabet Sarai

I became addicted to words at an early age. I began reading when I was four. I wrote my first story at five years old and my first poem at seven. Since then, I have written plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundred page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – more than fifty single author titles including eight full length novels, plus dozens of short stories in various collections. My credits include contributions to the Lambda winner Where the Girls Are and the IPPIE Best Erotic Book of 2011, Carnal Machines. My gay scifi erotic romance Quarantine won a Rainbow Awards 2012 Honorable Mention. I have also edited a number of acclaimed erotica anthologies. Currently I am responsible for the charity erotica imprint Coming Together Presents, which as of December 2014 has published six volumes by top erotic authors, supporting causes such as Amnesty International, Planned Parenthood, and the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America.I have more degrees than anyone would ever need, from prestigious educational institutions who would no doubt be deeply embarrassed by my chosen genre. Aside from writing, travel is one of my most fervent passions. I’ve visited every continent except Australia, though I still have a long bucket list of places I haven’t been. Currently I live in Southeast Asia with my indulgent husband and two exceptional felines, where I pursues an alternative career that is completely unrelated to my creative writing.For more information about me and my writing, visit my website (http://www.lisabetsarai.com) or my blog Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com). Join my VIP email list here: https://btn.ymlp.com/xgjjhmhugmgh I also hang out at Goodreads, (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/83387.Lisabet_Sarai) because I love the idea of a social network focusing on the love of reading. I’m not on Facebook, because I don’t trust it.

Book preview

Wild about That Thing

Lisabet Sarai

© Second edition copyright 2023 Lisabet Sarai

All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author and not encouraging piracy of copyrighted materials. For permission to use portions of this text, other than for review purposes, please contact Lisabet at [e-mail].

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older.

This book is intended for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

No generative AI training use. For avoidance of doubt, the author reserves the rights, and no other person or agency has rights to, reproduce and/or otherwise use this Work in any manner for purposes of training artificial intelligence technologies to generate text, including without limitation, technologies that are capable of generating works in the same style or genre as the Work, unless they obtain the author’s specific and express permission to do so. Nor does any person or agency have the right to sublicense others to reproduce and/or otherwise use the Work in any manner for purposes of training artificial intelligence technologies to generate text without the author’s specific and express permission.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following word marks mentioned in this work of fiction.

Heineken Beer: Heineken Brouwerijen B.V

Time Out: Time Out Digital Limited

Jim Beam: Beam Suntory Inc.

Ivory Soap: Proctor & Gamble

Juicy Fruit: WrigleyCompany

Johnny Walker: Diageo plc

Alka-Seltzer: Bayer AG

I’m Wild About That Thing- Lyrics by Spencer Williams

Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out – Lyrics by Jimmy Cox

When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too) - Lyrics by Big Bill Broonzy

The Sky is Crying – Lyrics by Elmore James

Born Under a Bad Sign – Lyrics by William Bell

Rock Me Baby – Lyrics by B.B. King

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Monsoon Fever Blurb

Monsoon Fever Excerpt

About the Author

A Final Message from Lisabet

For everyone who’s ever had the blues

Chapter One

It was going to be a good night. Ruby could feel it in her bones. Only ten thirty, but most of the tables clustered ‘round the stage were full. Lori had already lugged two extra cases of Heineken—tonight’s beer special—up from the basement, and from the looks of the empties accumulating in front the customers, they were going fast. The bartender caught Ruby’s eye and gave her a thumbs up. Everything under control.

Up front, the Night Travellers hit a dark groove, wailing through Born Under a Bad Sign. Zeke’s fingers flew over the strings, improvising a high riff, while Jojo’s bass kept the song grounded. If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all, Zeke growled, torturing his guitar to match the pain in his voice. Damn, but the man sounded black, despite the mop of straw-colored hair he kept pushing out of his eyes. Born in Mississippi, he must’ve soaked up blues in the water and the air. Certainly he could play with the best. Ruby was lucky to have him and his band, given the pittance she could afford to pay them.

As if he sensed her attention, Zeke picked her out of the shadows at the back of the club. She felt the warmth of the smile he beamed to her, a smile totally at odds with the desperate mood of the song. You know why Zeke plays here, her inner critic commented. You’re just taking advantage of him.

He gets what he wants, she argued with the internal voice that sounded so very much like her mother’s. I treat him fine. Of course, she got as much out of their relationship as he did. Zeke was a strong man with powerful desires. He could set her on fire. It wasn’t her fault that he was so sentimental. You wouldn’t expect it from a rough-and-tumble guy like Zeke Chambers—ten years a New York cabbie, a guy who’d seen every horror the city could dish out.

Her phone vibrated in her jeans pocket, interrupting her train of thought.

Hey, hon. What’s up? You should be in bed.

I’m going, Mama. I just want to finish this chapter…

Isaiah Jones, it’s nearly eleven and tomorrow’s a school night! You shut your light off right now!

Okay, okay, Mama! But don’t forget about your meeting tomorrow with Ms. Rodriguez.

Oh, right. Ruby sighed. Isaiah’s grades were good but he was so small that he tended to get bullied. She needed to put a stop to that somehow. Thanks, hon. Three-thirty, right?

Uh huh.

I’ll be there, don’t worry. Then we’ll walk back home together. Maybe stop for a banana split.

Yum!

But only if you go to bed right now, you understand? I don’t want to have to come upstairs and make you!

Of course. Good night, Mama.

’Night, sweetie. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Ruby fought against the wave of guilt that threatened to swamp her. Sure, it would be better if she could awaken with her son, make him breakfast and see him off to school like a normal mom. But the club kept her up