Initiative: Tales of Erotic Boldness

 

“Thirteen tantalizing tales that are passionate, unexpected, sophisticated, and romantic.”
Kristina Wright

 

“If you like your erotic fiction intelligent and arousing, you’ll love Emerald.”
Ashley Lister

 

 

With encounters between strangers, hotly developing romances, forays into domination, and sometimes all of the above, Initiative delivers sizzling stories of sexual grit and satisfaction.

From audacious proposals to first-time exploits to newfound inner confidence, taking initiative delves into the risqué in these thirteen smoldering tales. An accidental catalyst invokes a bold move in “Fulfillment,” while the brassiness in “Shift Change” belongs entirely to narrator Stacey. “Who’s on Top?” sees a meeting between fans of rival baseball teams turn into a game of chance and wits, and “The Beast Within” offers a present-day “Beauty and the Beast” rendition that puts a twist on ugliness, beauty, pain, and pleasure—and the surprising ways they can intertwine.

Sometimes brazen, sometimes subtle, the initiatives between these pages always showcase the erotic and how it can both inspire and evoke our most emboldened selves.

2021 GOLD MEDALIST FOR EROTICA IN THE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER “IPPY” BOOK AWARDS
2021 WINNER IN ROMANCE: EROTICA OF THE AMERICAN FICTION AWARDS
2022 INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD FOR EROTICA
 

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Table of Contents

Rules
Shift Change
Lotus
Payback
The Beast Within (A Modern-Day Fairy Tale)
Who’s on Top?
Winter
City Girl
Sunshine
Kissing Cassie
Fulfillment
A Few Hundred Dollars
Changing Tides
 


Excerpt

-from “Winter”

When Sherry emerged into the front desk area Saturday morning, her five lodge-mates were in full view at a large table on the other side of the half wall. Her face reddened as she realized she was not going to get away with avoiding talking to them much longer. The one that had spoken to her at the desk Thursday night—Mr. Wyatt, Kevin had called him—had his back to her. Today he was in a navy-blue fleece.

The group was just starting to stand, and Sherry noticed the dishes on the table and deduced they had just finished breakfast.

“Good morning,” she said quietly as a few of them caught sight of her when she entered the dining area. The one in the navy fleece turned, and she caught her breath as he met her eyes. Breaking into the easy smile he’d given her at the front desk, he stepped forward and offered his hand.

“Hi. I’m Dan,” he said. “This is Larry, Stuart, Brett, and Kelsey.” He indicated each of the others in turn as she shook their hands, immediately forgetting which was which.

“Sherry,” she said, standing somewhat awkwardly as the group started to gather the outerwear they had set on nearby chairs.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sherry.” Dan’s brown eyes held hers. Up close, he appeared a few years older than she had originally thought, perhaps nearing fifty. His thick, dark-brown hair was edged with gray, and his face showed a comfortable maturity.

“What brings you to Alaska, Sherry?” the one that might have been Larry asked as he shrugged into a heavy black parka.

Sherry took a breath. She didn’t feel much more inclined to have this conversation with the current group than she had her coworkers earlier in the week. “I…was just looking for a place to retreat for a few days and basically relax,” she said, her cheeks reddening a little. “In fact, I hope I haven’t seemed rude not talking to you before now…. I just didn’t really come to socialize.”

Somewhat to her surprise, the group nodded as if in understanding, and she felt as though they actually did.

“Is this your first time in Alaska?” Dan asked.

“Yes…I have a feeling it’s not yours?”

“We’ve all been to Alaska a number of times, though this is the first time we’ve managed to come as a group for a few years. We’re from Vancouver. Brett and Stuart are brothers, and the rest of us have known each other for decades.”

“Far too long,” possibly Kelsey grunted, and Sherry smiled. She was enjoying their brief interaction more than she’d expected to. Something was missing here: a sharpness, a facade, some edge, or something she didn’t even usually identify because she was so used to it. It made interacting with people noticeably more enjoyable.

“Well, don’t hesitate to let us know if you need anything or just want company for a while. We know this area pretty well.” Dan flashed his disarming smile at her, and Sherry tried to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. His sincerity was downright refreshing—almost enchanting, actually.

[…]

As she headed down to the river for a hike, she saw a set of tracks in the snow. Stopping, Sherry studied them with an utter amateur’s eye. From what she had read about animal tracks in this area, they appeared to be from a moose—surprisingly large, spread out due to the animal’s long strides, and hoof-like. When she looked more closely at one, she saw the two telltale toe tracks—dewclaws, if she recalled correctly—of the moose’s hoof.

With a strange sense of poignancy, Sherry straightened and looked out at the river, registering the wildness she had known existed on this planet but had never fully appreciated. The river and the atmosphere were still, and there was no sound on the frigid air surrounding her. Which did not mean, she was coming to understand, that nothing was happening. Amid this deep quiet, the unmoving surface of the water, a natural network of beings hunted, tracked, dug, foraged, observed, stored…existed. They conserved energy as they needed to and navigated winter with instinctual efficiency and brilliance.

The rain startled her. Sherry looked up and saw the gray cloud cover she somehow hadn’t noticed juxtaposed with the light that still loomed over the distant mountains. The drops tapped like icy fingers on her shoulders as she breathed deeply and let the chill penetrate her in a way that was not unpleasant but rather, she suddenly noticed, made her feel more alive. The sheer rawness of it was riveting; an inexplicable exhilaration took her breath away.

When her clothes were soaked, she turned and started the short distance back to the lodge. Her body seemed mysteriously in collaboration with the environment rather than resistant to it, and she didn’t even pull her fleece from her backpack as she made her way through the now-slushy snow toward the outside entrance to her room.

As she neared the building, she noticed movement through a second-floor balcony door several rooms down from hers. Recognizing Dan and his fellow travelers standing just inside it, she looked away quickly, her cheeks heating. She was suddenly keenly aware of her hardened nipples beneath her wool turtleneck. While she felt a characteristic urge to cover or hide herself, another part of her felt something quite different—something that made her straighten her back imperceptibly, allowing her breasts to be in full view of any potential gazes through the glass. Her breath deepened as she imagined their private stares.

 


 

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