I have a few secondary characters that people have liked, however, the one that most have talked about or written to me about, is Edward, the gay best friend from Sugar Rush. So, he’s my snippet for today.

Edward is Jane’s business partner in their spicy chocolate truffle business. They met in a candy making class and became fast friends. They share a loft, share a business, and share everything else, except for sex. He is the best gay friend, and yeah, I know, cliche, but he’s wonderful. And Jane would be LOST without him.

Snippet:

“What’s wrong?”

She whirled toward Edward and planted her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong? You sent me out there with an empty box of truffles. You sent me way the hell out there to a gorgeous hunk of man with an empty box of truffles. Why, Edward? Why on earth would you do that to me?”

He didn’t even look chagrined. He didn’t look surprised that she’d figured it out. He didn’t even look at her with a hint of embarrassment at having been caught setting her up. He just gave her a straightforward look, and she knew she wasn’t going to like his answer.

“Do you want the truth, Jane? Do you really want the truth?”

“Of course I want the truth.” She did, didn’t she? Yes, yes, yes. Truth was a good thing. Right? Right.

“All right, then. I did it because I am tired of you sitting in that chair, staring out at nothing, watching all those awful reality shows. You’re eating truffles and junk food and, quite frankly, it’s depressing. I am tired of it. Phillip’s gone. He broke up with you and yet the world still goes round and round. Let it go. Move on with your young and wonderful life because he sure as hell moved on with his.”

Dammit. She didn’t like the truth. She’d have preferred he lie through his pearly whites. She didn’t like the truth because he was right. Phillip had dumped her and moved on with his life and his lovers. What was her problem? It wasn’t like Phillip was really worth pining over, not like, say, Cowboy Surfer would be. If ever there was a man worthy of moping and crying over, it was him, not some GQ cover model wannabe like Phillip who had the emotional depth of a shot glass and probably not even that deep.

But that was all beside the point. Edward was in the wrong here.

“You’re not even going to deny trying to set me up with him? Jeez, Edward.” Jane honestly didn’t know if she should hit him or hug him. Deep down, she knew he had her best interests at heart. “Oh, and speaking of young lives…how young is he?”

Oh now his cheeks turned a little pink. Interesting. “I don’t know.”

He was trying to ignore her by busying himself with wiping the kitchen counters, tidying the canisters, fiddling with the edges of recipe pages. She wasn’t buying it. “Don’t give me that. You do know. How young is he?”

“In his twenties.” It took a second, but when she didn’t say anything, he looked up and was met with her stare. They both knew she could outstare him any day of the week, so she stood there with her hands on her hips, tapped her toe, and waited. “Oh fine. He’s twenty-six.”

Jane closed her eyes, hung her head, and groaned loud and long. “Twenty-six?” Oh God, she was robbing the cradle. “I can’t believe you set me up with a…a…kid.”

Edward sighed dramatically, and it brought her head up. “He’s not a kid. He’s an adult, barely ten years younger than you. A beautiful adult too, in case you hadn’t noticed. Do you know how many women and men would just die for him to look in their direction? And he’s interested in dating you.”

“Well, he’s too young, and I don’t want to date. Don’t you remember me swearing off men? And as for the interested in dating me comment…please,” she scoffed. “He hadn’t even seen me until today and for all you know, this little meeting you arranged could have gone horribly wrong and he’s no longer interested in me.”

She spun away and finished undressing. Her shoes; her lovely, sexy, Carrie Bradshaw-esque shoes were long gone and carelessly tossed into a corner with the word ridiculous echoing through their laces. The bottoms of the snowsuit were flung over the back of the chaise, and she walked across the loft into her bedroom in her long underwear.

Self-consciousness and modesty were long gone between her and Edward, both knowing the other couldn’t care less about being seen in underwear or naked. She stripped down to her pink cotton underwear, unhooked her matching pink bra and tossed it into a corner, then put on her most favorite outfit of late: gray sweats and purple wooly socks. “How did you meet him, anyway?” she called out, loud enough to be heard from the bedroom.

Once changed, she returned to the main room and curled up in her favorite, aforementioned chair. It, too, was purple. She had spent way too much time moping, pouting, and crying over a jerk that hadn’t even had the decency to end their two-year relationship in person. He’d sent her an e-mail, of all things, the day after they’d gotten back from a Labor Day weekend trip. A day later, she’d found a box outside the loft door full of stuff given and shared between them. He wanted no reminders of their time together and for some dumbass reason thought she did.

Calling him a jerk was really far too generous.

“A bar.”

Jane’s attention was back on Edward. She swiveled around in the chair and knelt on the plush cushion, with her gaze riveted on her roommate, both her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “A bar? You were in a bar? A non-gay bar?”

“Yes,” came his exasperated answer. “Why are you so surprised?”

“Are you serious? Edward, I’ve known you for a long time now and while I don’t pretend to know everything about you, I do know that you don’t go to straight bars.”

“Very well. If you must know, I was there with a…friend.”

Edward left the kitchen with a truffle in his hand and came toward her. She held hers out to receive the confection. “What kind of friend?”

“None of your business. I thought you wanted to know about my meeting with Mr. Hunky.”

“I do, it’s just… Okay, okay, you met him in a bar. And?”

She broke the truffle apart and slipped half of it in her mouth. Her eyes closed as the candy melted on her tongue and a small bit of heat kicked the back of her throat. She moaned in pleasure. They never got old, these truffles. She would bet her heart alone had healed because she had been consuming them in mass quantities every day for the last few months. What they were doing to her hips was a different story, one she would deal with later. Much, much later.

“And I thought that he might be good for you. He’s a solitary guy, normal. He’s new to the area, not looking for anything, not running away from anything either. He seemed nice enough that I had to try.”

She popped the other half of the truffle into her mouth. Edward really did love her, but… “Did he know you were setting him up?”

“Yes, but he didn’t know when. I didn’t tell him anything about you. Except…well, except that you were getting over a breakup. Nothing else, though. I mean, at least not the humiliating way it happened, not even that you’ve been dragging out the recovery for months.” Another piece of candy was deposited in her hand as he walked by and into his bedroom. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a date tonight, and I’d prefer not to be late.”

So not only had he set her up with the Hunk of the Month, he’d also spilled how pathetic she’d been. Fabulous.
Wait a second. “A date? You have a date? Oh my God. Who else have you set me up with, Edward? And what time is he showing up?”

“No one,” he called from the other room.

Great. Just great. “I hope he doesn’t mind sweats because I’m not changing clothes again. I might even go scrub the makeup off my face so he gets the au naturel vision,” she mumbled.

Edward walked back in, and she turned in her chair, snuggling down into its comfy plushness. “Did you record my show?”
He slipped into his black trench coat and wrapped a bright blue scarf around his neck. “No.”

“Why not? I asked you before I left. I said please and everything.”

“Those shows are awful, Jane. They have nothing to do with reality.”

“Exactly. Why do you think I watch them? They’re stupid and funny and not at all like my life.”

“Your life is wonderful.”

“Right.”

“Take care of yourself tonight. No more sweets. Eat a salad. Drink some water. And don’t wait up. I hope not to be back until morning.”

“Not until morning? Edward, no date of mine is going to last so long that you can’t come home.”

“Jane, I do have a date. I am going out. I have not set you up with anyone else tonight.” He winked at her and blew her a kiss as he left.

She sighed and looked around the empty room. “Well damn, now what?”

End Snippet

Now, don’t forget to visit the other wonderful authors and read their snippets on secondary characters:

Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Taige Crenshaw
Vivian Arend
HelenKay Dimon
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Shelli Stevens
Jody Wallace
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd

Have a great weekend, y’all!!!

~lissa