Romance and erotica authors Lynn Townsend and Elizabeth L. Brooks have joined forces to assemble this collection of "flash-fiction" ultra-short stories generated in response to prompts offered by fans and friends and touching on dozens of aspects of lust, love, and desire.<br><br>The stories in this collection span contemporary, historical, steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, taking you from a modern living room to the high seas to Victorian London to planets and times at the edge of imagination. Explore relationships all along the romantic and erotic spectrums, including the thrill of a one-night stand, the fierce burn of rivalry, the heady flush of new romance, the intense trust of BDSM, and all the pros and cons of long-term partnerships. Meet characters who defy conventional gender boundaries, including a preoperative transmale, several aliens, and a few characters whose genders are left open to reader interpretation. Sexual orientations on display vary nearly as widely, with groupings that include M/F, M/M, F/F, and F/F/M -- not to mention those aliens!<br><br>With 46 stories to choose from, there's something here for every moment and mood, something to whet any appetite.

Whetting the Appetite

“Hey, babe,” Sean’s cheerful, masculine voice crackled over the line. I groaned.


“No. Laurel, please, do not do this,” I begged. I would have gotten down on my knees if she’d even glanced in my direction, but she didn’t. She never did.


“Hi, Sean.” She didn’t look at his picture in the caller ID box, the one he’d sent her of him, standing against the backdrop of the coffee-shop where they’d met. “I’m really sorry for the late notice. Damn bureaucracy. Tim’s called me in to help out with this year-end inventory.”


“I literally just got off the phone with him. I can’t make it tonight. I am so, so sorry.”


“Yeah. Okay, then. Well, I’ll talk to you later then.” The phone went dead in her hand. Call ended.


Chapter 55