Double Dare - Saskia Walker

The central plot idea for my novel, Double Dare, stemmed from a conversation I had with a close and dear friend a few years ago. Kate is a practising psychologist and we were talking about the fact that her job often intimidated men. Over a couple of glasses of wine, we started joking about the fact it could be worse, and we came up with some other jobs that might send men running to the hills, brain surgeon, artificial inseminator, that kind of thing. Even though the wine was leading us astray somewhat, we had to face the fact that it's hard to avoid the job topic altogether when you meet someone casually.

But what about a little white lie, we considered, just to begin with?

After another few sips of vino, it seemed like an option. Then we realised the problem: if the conversation developed and she liked the guy, she would then have to sort it out.

I am happy to report that shortly after Kate met the love of her life and is now happily married with a gorgeous little girl! The idea of the little white lie that has to be undone stayed with me, though, and my heroine in Double Dare became the woman who gets herself into that very muddle, because she fibs on the spur of the moment, thinks it's just a fling, and falls in love.

Abby is a high-powered finance manager, but often finds her job intimidates men. When she bumps into a gorgeous courier the sexual chemistry between them is electric. She tells him she's a receptionist because she doesn't want to scare off this attractive, compelling guy.

Abby is an independent, sexually confident woman who goes after what she wants, daring herself to take that extra step in life, for the adventure. Meanwhile, Zac is delivering papers, but he's not just a courier. His family own the financial investments that Abby is currently managing, so he has to work out if she's trying to work some angle on him, lying and getting close to him. As a result, he goes along with her little façade while he runs his own investigations on her, which sucks him into the subterfuge and makes him even more of a dark horse than her. He is communicating with her daily about investments, whilst also "managing" the intense sexual attraction between them.

Barely.

Ahem.

When I write contemporary erotic romance I aim to create confident, three-dimensional, and realistic characters who are put in situations that are unfamiliar, to see how they cope, because I think we can all relate to that. I confess that what I loved most about writing Double Dare was the trauma my poor hero went through. Zac is a very sexy, confident and powerful man — the ideal man for Abby. As he falls in love with Abby, he has to deal with his own trust issues, and take responsibility for his heritage, whilst also deciding when to tell her that he knows who she really is. How will she react? Does he know her well enough to gauge that? This poor man goes through the ringer deciding what is best for her, because he loves her and doesn't want to mess up. Meanwhile, Abby knows this is more than a fling, and she has work out when to make her little confession, hoping that isn't the very thing that might send Zac to the hills. Let's just say the fact they can't keep their hands of each other complicates matters even more. Neither of them want to take that risk, but both know they have to, in order to make something more lasting possible. I hope readers have as much fun reading about it as I had writing it!

Saskia
http://www.saskiawalker.co.uk/