Writin’ Dirty: Throwing the Bedroom Doors Wide Open

I don’t remember how old I was the first time I read a book where an amorous couple, after exchanging words crackling with innuendo, swept off together in a passionate rush and…shut the bedroom door. Cut to the next page, and the story continued on its merry way. Wait, I’d think. What the heck are they DOING in there?!?

Now, after *mumblety-cough* years on Earth, I know. Nookie. Sexy time. Intercourse. Making love. However you say it, those people were gettin’ down. But it was private. Personal. Not something to be crassly splashed across the page, so to speak.
Despite first-hand knowledge of the activities in question, I never lost my fascination with what people get up to when the hormones started raging. I know what I’ve done—hell, I was there. But what do other people do? Clearly, we aren’t all having sex the same way. Isn’t that part of what makes humans so very interesting?

Maybe I’m a voyeur, but to this day I’m let down by a closed bedroom door in my romance. Some people prefer to leave the nitty-gritty to the imagination, but those characters may be doing things I’ve never even dreamed of! What better way to learn what does—and really doesn’t—work for me than to be allowed to peek in on my favorite characters’ most explicit moments? How better to understand the deepest desires, fears, hopes, and dreams of the characters I write?

Erotic romance peels back the velvet curtain on our heroes and heroines’ sex lives in delicious detail. In my new novella Absolve Me, Liza Branscombe is a sex surrogate—a licensed therapist who uses physical intimacy to help her clients lead more fulfilling lives. Given her profession, you’d expect Liza to be comfortable with her sexuality.

But her newest client, Dominic La Sera, has reason to keep his sexual desires well-hidden. Dominic’s spent more than a decade as a priest, keeping his innate sexuality cinched down so tightly he risks losing everything in a violent explosion of repressed need and want.

Sex plays a critical role for both Liza and Dominic. I couldn’t imagine trying to tell their story without it. What these two do, say, think, and feel during their sessions isn’t just about getting off. It’s a front-row seat to who they are and why they make sense as a couple.

And let’s face it: who doesn’t want to be a fly on the wall when a smoking hot priest breaks down and demands to release what he’s been hiding beneath that starched collar? Goodness, is it hot in here, or is it Dom and Liza?
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’Fess up, dear readers: Do you prefer open- or closed-door sex scenes in your romance?