Travel Bug Tuesday

Travel Bug Tuesday: One Night in Vegas~Part III

| Melia Alexander

(If you missed last week’s installment of the true adventures of erotic romance author Delilah Marvelle, click here.)

The bar was freakin’ CLOSED! I couldn’t believe it.

My gal pal had been kidnapped by crazies and I was too late to stop them! Now what the hell was I supposed to do? P1170687

I was halfway out of the shopping mall door when I got a weird text.

Delilah: No, no! I’m good and com I NH back 🙂

(That’s a quote, too!)

Now I knew she was really in trouble – there was a pretty good chance she was handcuffed to the headboard of some creepazoid’s bed. He’d grabbed her phone and was texting for her. The dude couldn’t even spell. . ..

Desperation prompted me to call her. Yep, for lack of any other option I called her, conveniently forgetting she hadn’t picked up when I’d tried a few minutes before. Was I ever relieved when she freakin’ picked up.

Me: Where are you? You’ve scared the crap out of me. What the hell was I supposed to tell your husband and kids if you’d disappeared on me?
Delilah *giggles like a naughty kid*: I’m fine. I had the best time. I had two. TWO!

At this point, it could’ve been two of anything, and I really didn’t want to know what.

Me (using as firm a tone as I could manage – kinda hard when I was shaking from relief!): Stop. Where are you? Look around and tell me what you see. And for the love of God don’t move.

With the phone pressed to my ear I quickly re-traced my steps to where my gal pal sat ever so innocently on a bench just inside the mall entrance from the hotel. She jumped up and ran towards me, laughing like she’d had two shots of absinthe-the-evil-drink. Gee, come to think of it, that’s exactly what she’d had. *Sigh*

Jessica Adams, the heroine of my debut book, MERGER OF THE HEART, would’ve thrown her uneaten bag of peanut M & M’s at Delilah. I, on the other hand, knew the night wasn’t over. I still had to get her back to the room and into her bed where, hopefully, she’d stay for the rest of the night.

You’d think that’d be easy, right? Remember, this is Ms. Marvelle we’re talking about!

Drop on by next Tuesday to see how the evening ended. . ..

~Melia

Travel Bug Tuesday: One Night in Vegas ~ Part II

| Melia Alexander

(If you missed last week’s post on the true adventures of erotic historical romance author Ms. Delilah Marvelle, click here.)

Vegas in June translates to oppressive heat during the day, even though my hair seemed to love it. That night I went searching for my research-seeking roommate, Delilah Marvelle, half the population of Vegas must’ve been walking The Strip, the collective body heat reminding us we were in the desert, no matter how pretty the lights looked.

But I digress.

As I emerged from the hotel into the thick crowd to cross the street, I dialed up Delilah’s phone. No answer.

The writing muse who lives in my head perked up. (She would be the same one who doesn’t come around when I’m desperate for inspiration. *Biotch*)

What if, at that very moment, some nasty dude was hitting on Delilah?

Thank you, La Muse. Not.

I called Delilah again. Nothing.

What if she’d been kidnapped by big, nasty, mustached dudes who were going to use her as a sex slave?

Holy crap. What if? I mean, we were in Vegas, after all. Anything was possible. Well, there was only one thing to do. I figured if I hurried, I’d catch the bastards in the act, kick them in the balls, grab Delilah, and make a run for it.

Yep, that’s what gal pals did for each other, right?

I sent a text: “I’m coming to get you.”
 Just in case the goons had her phone.

Impatiently, I dodged around gawking tourists until finally, finally I reached the bar she’d mentioned. P1170601The one that served the evil absinthe. The one that had caused me to wander into the night looking for my friend. The one that was also . . . closed.

Closed. As in, no Delilah anywhere.

If I were Jessica Adams, the heroine in my debut book, MERGER OF THE HEART, what started out as a one bag of Peanut M&M night, quickly escalated to three bags.

Good thing she wasn’t the one searching for Delilah.

I’ll see you back here next Tuesday, because the evening wasn’t quite over. . ..

~Melia

Travel Bug Tuesday: One Night in Vegas

| Melia Alexander

It all started with a plan.

Not my plan, mind you, but that of my super-talented Vegas conference roommate, Delilah Marvelle . . . who always seems to find ways to smack into adventure (read: trouble). Delilah writes erotic historical romance, and craves any bit of knowledge she can get about how her characters might have lived. So I’m never surprised when she goes after research material. Hence this particular evening.

Her text message: “There is a place that does absinthe. I have to go. Will you go with me?”

Absinthe? Uh. . . no. Wasn’t that drink illegal? (By the way, Delilah does plan to post the history of absinthe, so check her blog!)

20140624_211650I’d planned to go to a really rousing game of bingo with other Entangled Publishing authors in our publisher’s suite.

So. Delilah, being who she is, went without me. Without anyone, actually. (What can I say? We opted for bingo.)

But I first made sure to note where she was headed, the time she’d be back, her promise not to talk to strangers or weirdos – at which point she reminded me we were in Vegas, which meant her agreement would equal a boring evening so why bother to go? *Sigh* I hate when she makes a good point. . ..

Through most of bingo I’d get some sort of an update – she even sent me a picture.  2014062495220234Still not sure what this is so you’ll have to read her post to find out.

Anyway, all was well until this exchange at 10:31 PM –

Delilah: “On second one. OmG, awesome.”
Me: “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

Then nothing. Nada. Lights out. Not a peep.

I wasn’t concerned. After all, she was a grown-ass woman who was capable of taking care of herself. Right?

Then again, this was Vegas.

I got to thinking that as far as stress levels went, for the Peanut M&M-eating heroine in my book, MERGER OF THE HEART, this whole adventure would’ve started out as a one bag crisis (eaten because she couldn’t decide which lounge outfit should be worn to the bingo game), then quickly escalated to two bags with the last of Delilah’s texts.

But it only got worse.

Join me at the next Travel Bug Tuesday as the adventure continues. . ..

~Melia