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After Midnight
Richard knows he's not happy; he knows his wife isn't unhappy, but life seems to have come to a grinding halt and the only things holding them together are habit and a piece of paper. When Marissa takes a dislike to the new neighbor, it's nothing Richard hasn't seen before. The neighbor, Tristan, on the other hand, is everything Richard didn't know he'd been missing all this time.
- GenresGayM M Romance
22 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Audra Red
18 books29 followersAudra Red, known for her gay romance trilogy "Chalk Butterfly," is an ex-librarian and copyeditor turned romance and erotica connoisseur. She is currently working on a handful of gay romance novellas along with spicing up her writing catalog by penning pure erotica shorts. Look for both audio and print versions of her works in the near future!
From heart-melting romance to titillating erotica, Ms. Red hopes to help bring the gay romance genre to a more mainstream audience.
Visit Ms. Red online at www.audrared.com for news, banned books and more!
From heart-melting romance to titillating erotica, Ms. Red hopes to help bring the gay romance genre to a more mainstream audience.
Visit Ms. Red online at www.audrared.com for news, banned books and more!
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 8, 2010
The Sip short story line from Torquere varies in word count and length and this particular offering is one of the longer stories. Richard is a man unhappy in his marriage to a typical, shrew like woman so when he becomes attracted to his sexy, younger neighbor, the justification for the infidelity is already given. However, it still is cheating even if neither Richard nor his wife is happy so anyone having a particular problem with that trope ~ be warned. That said, readers who are not bothered by a husband cheating with another man can delve into the interesting, if not believable, story.
Richard once hung out in gay bars in the eighties but thought he put all those feelings aside a long time ago. Richard muses that he’d gotten over his attraction to other men when he fell in love with his wife Marissa in college and have since been together for over twenty years. At some point their marriage fell apart and Marissa is shown as a screeching harpy that embarrasses Richard, yet he sneaks around afraid of her discovering him fooling around with his neighbor. This leaves Richard as a weak character, lacking any strength to get out of a bad situation but more than happy to sneak around when his wife can’t find out. He even thinks to himself he will have to be more careful ‘lest she discover his fling with the new neighbor. All of this combining to make Richard less than sympathetic as a main character.
Likewise Tristan is not altogether a great character as he’s more willing to insult and demean Richard’s wife while hitting on Richard. Tristan also has an extended masturbation scene in his pool that is humorous and one would think uncomfortable, given the distance he actually travels while masturbating. Here is part of that scene where Richard has stumbled upon Tristan masturbating while leaning against the side of the pool before moving closer.
--
"Tristan moved away from the wall, swimming quickly to the end of the pool that was closer to Richard. He put one of his arms up on the ledge and laid his head down on it, his other hand still under the water. He groaned as his arm moved, Richard could see the muscles of his back shifting in the moonlight.
'Shit,' Richard whispered. He pushed his hand down his boxers and stroked himself gently. This wasn’t a good idea, but it felt so fucking good.
Tristan seemed to feel the same way. He shifted up a little, and Richard realized he must be near the ladder. More and more of his skin became visible as he ascended the ladder one step at a time. First his chest was revealed, and then his stomach. Only his groin remained hidden by the water.
His long, graceful arms were visible, his right hand obviously busy in the water."
---
The scene goes on as Richard watches and Tristan climbs out of the water and flops onto a nearby chair ~ all the while continuing to stroke his erection. Talented bit of movement which is then eclipsed when Tristan agrees to allow Richard to have sex with him without a condom. Although the clear lack of strident morals would show a good reason to use protection, the quick offer of bareback sex had me blinking and wondering.
While this isn’t a bad short story, it had some problems from the very typical characterization of the wife as a shrew to the unbelievable attraction of a sexy, young man to an older man who is cheating on his wife. This doesn’t get into the traveling masturbation scene and the lack of protection. While romance stories tend to be about fantasy, this story wasn’t successful on that front. Even though infidelity itself doesn’t necessarily bother me in a story, the clear justification here that it’s acceptable since the wife is a shrew is typical and weak. Positives were that the author attempted to give a fuller story with characters, background, and resolution to the conflict presented rather than just filling the pages with a sex scene or two. If the problems I mentioned don’t seem like they’d bother you, check out this sip.
Richard once hung out in gay bars in the eighties but thought he put all those feelings aside a long time ago. Richard muses that he’d gotten over his attraction to other men when he fell in love with his wife Marissa in college and have since been together for over twenty years. At some point their marriage fell apart and Marissa is shown as a screeching harpy that embarrasses Richard, yet he sneaks around afraid of her discovering him fooling around with his neighbor. This leaves Richard as a weak character, lacking any strength to get out of a bad situation but more than happy to sneak around when his wife can’t find out. He even thinks to himself he will have to be more careful ‘lest she discover his fling with the new neighbor. All of this combining to make Richard less than sympathetic as a main character.
Likewise Tristan is not altogether a great character as he’s more willing to insult and demean Richard’s wife while hitting on Richard. Tristan also has an extended masturbation scene in his pool that is humorous and one would think uncomfortable, given the distance he actually travels while masturbating. Here is part of that scene where Richard has stumbled upon Tristan masturbating while leaning against the side of the pool before moving closer.
--
"Tristan moved away from the wall, swimming quickly to the end of the pool that was closer to Richard. He put one of his arms up on the ledge and laid his head down on it, his other hand still under the water. He groaned as his arm moved, Richard could see the muscles of his back shifting in the moonlight.
'Shit,' Richard whispered. He pushed his hand down his boxers and stroked himself gently. This wasn’t a good idea, but it felt so fucking good.
Tristan seemed to feel the same way. He shifted up a little, and Richard realized he must be near the ladder. More and more of his skin became visible as he ascended the ladder one step at a time. First his chest was revealed, and then his stomach. Only his groin remained hidden by the water.
His long, graceful arms were visible, his right hand obviously busy in the water."
---
The scene goes on as Richard watches and Tristan climbs out of the water and flops onto a nearby chair ~ all the while continuing to stroke his erection. Talented bit of movement which is then eclipsed when Tristan agrees to allow Richard to have sex with him without a condom. Although the clear lack of strident morals would show a good reason to use protection, the quick offer of bareback sex had me blinking and wondering.
While this isn’t a bad short story, it had some problems from the very typical characterization of the wife as a shrew to the unbelievable attraction of a sexy, young man to an older man who is cheating on his wife. This doesn’t get into the traveling masturbation scene and the lack of protection. While romance stories tend to be about fantasy, this story wasn’t successful on that front. Even though infidelity itself doesn’t necessarily bother me in a story, the clear justification here that it’s acceptable since the wife is a shrew is typical and weak. Positives were that the author attempted to give a fuller story with characters, background, and resolution to the conflict presented rather than just filling the pages with a sex scene or two. If the problems I mentioned don’t seem like they’d bother you, check out this sip.
Displaying 1 of 1 review