Hi, Lou Sylvre here, invading Rhys Ford’s blog by invitation for the last stop before home on the Saving Sonny James Road Trip blog tour. Yep, that’s right. Vasquez and James book 4 relaesed 11/18, and three weeks later I’m still celebrating and Luki and Sonny are still traveling. Thanks Rhys, for letting the guys visit San Diego, and letting me camp on your web. I’ve decided not to put the blurb here, but I hope some blog readers might be interested enough to read it at the Dreamspinner Store, where you can also read an excerpt and buy the book, if you like. 🙂
This post is sooooo late. So, to try to make amends to readers who have been patient I’m offering not one, not two, but four chances to win. Two prizes of Saving Sonny James signed paperback, two prizes of any Vasquez and James ebook. You see, I and my characters Luki Vasquez and Sonny James were supposed to be here days ago, but… well, they stayed in San Diego, lollygagging while I went to Bent-con, meeting up Rhys and a lot of other wonderful Dreamspinner Press authors, readers, and great people who stopped to talk at the booth. The boys (Luki and Sonny) didn’t join me there until the very last hours of my stay. Sonny pleaded with me—he really loved San Diego, Rhys’s town—and Luki was looking at me threateningly, so … how could I refuse?
You may recall they were in San Antonio, where they had a lovely romantic time, but the Mustang needed work on the way in—Sonny had to drain the fuel and replace the fuel filter. He figured the fuel line got clogged in all the dust when they hit that anomaly on I-90, on the way to Ohio. (Their earlier adventures on the Saving Sonny James Road Trip Blog Tour are chronicled. See http://www.sylvre.com for links to read about it!)
So they were late getting to San Diego, but they’ve had nothing but good times there.
They went to Cabrillo Beach.
And the art museum…
…because Sonny wanted to. They almost had a little tiff about that. Not because Luki didn’t want to go, but because Sonny was convinced Luki was only saying he’d go because he’d do anything Sonny wanted.
“That’s right, baby,” Luki responded to the accusation, “I’ll do anything you suggest.”
They were in the Hillcrest neighborhood—an “historic gay community” in San Diego, after a self-guided walking tour of the various bars and joints—including the oldest gay club in the neighborhood (or so the write ups say), The Brass Rail. They had decided to forego all of them for the Top of the Park later in the day, and Sonny had been leaning on the fender of the Mustang—parked streetside—until Luki popped up with that response. At that point, Sonny stood up straight and put both hands on his hips. “Well, why the hell do you say yes when you don’t want to go.”
Luki, for once, decided not to give in to Sonny’s hand-on-hip scare tactics. He dropped the volume of his voice until it was but a rough whisper. “You’ll notice I didn’t say I didn’t want to go. I said I’d do what you wanted to do. Three reasons: one, when I do these things with you, I always learn something I’m glad to know; two, you always have this wonderful look on your face—intelligent, interested, stunning, and I like seeing it; and three, you know so much more than me about what makes an object beautiful and meaningful, and I like to stand with you and try to see what you see.”
Sonny rolled his eyes and heaved a very Sonny-like sigh. “How the hell am I supposed to argue with that?” He glared, but it wasn’t long before that turned to a smile and an unsuccessfully repressed giggle. Luki’s kiss shut that off, and it wasn’t long before they were leaning against the Mustang’s fender making out like teenagers. A few catcalls from passersby and they quit, laughing again, and breaking apart to get back in the car and on their way to their destination.
So they went and looked at the art, and all those things Luki described as usually happening with Sonny did indeed happening. While they were there they went through the exhibit on torture tools—the horrifying stuff, not playroom toys—in the Museum of Man. But Sonny couldn’t quite find beauty in what he saw there, and Luki had to go to the men’s room to vomit, so they left. After that, they visited an exhibit of Edward S. Curtis photographs documenting the lives of Native American (Indian) people in the 19th century.
Sonny didn’t say much. Luki held his hand.
They had an early dinner after that, at Top of the Park, overlooking Balboa, the water, and the city. They took advantage of the opportunity to dine outdoors enjoying the warmth of Southern California in fall, as compared to the November chill at home, and watching the changing view. As they sipped coffee after the meal, the sun fell low over the water and began to transform the world’s colors.
Sonny seemed distracted by that show, and Luki had an idea. He reached into Sonny’s jeans pocket—not an unpleasant experience for either, though Sonny flinched a bit, taken by surprise. But Luki only took Sonny’s keys.
“Let’s go now, baby. You look at the sunset; I’ll drive you to the beach. I think you need to collect some colors in your head for a tapestry. Am I right?”
Sonny just smiled and said, “You love me, don’t you?”
After blue twilight, night fell, and Sonny reclaimed the keys and drove them back to the hotel. A long night of sex followed (no details here, but imagination is encouraged) and then sleep. Luki woke up the next morning looking straight into the waking reality of Sonny’s wide, loving eyes, and promptly forgot his dreams.
The next morning, they went to Sea World. Yes, Sea World. They were splashed by whales and serenaded by seals.
At the zoo they met the famous flirting and procreating pirate panda, Gao Gao, who has made quite a name for himself.
Luki bought a key chain with a polished amber stone holding a perfect little mosquito from some millions of years ago.
Sonny said, “Thanks. Beautiful. Why?”
“So you’ll think about the way I buzz kisses in your ear, like this,” Luki demonstrated, “every time you start the car or unlock the door to our home.”
“I think I’m about ready to go there. Our home.”
“Me too, but we can’t. Ms. Sylvre wants us to go to Bent-con.”
“I don’t want to go there.”
“I know, but she’s the author.”
“And she did get us out of that mess in New Zealand.” Sonny added.
“Yes, she did,” Luki agreed. “And she sent us to San Antonio. I really liked, um… some of the stuff we did in San Antonio.”
Sonny smiled. “Here too, right?”
After Sonny nodded, he bluntly changed the subject, only about a ninety degree turn this time. “I want to go to… maybe Macy’s or something. An upscale department store.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll drop you back at the hotel.”
“What?”
“Luki, you heard me, why ask what?”
“Fine.”
“Don’t pout,” husband.
When Sonny came back to the hotel, he passed Luki, who was laid out quite sexy on the bed—though that certainly wasn’t his intent—and went straight into the bathroom and closed the door. When he came out, he had applied mascara and, Luki thought, maybe eyeliner, and his smooth skin was even smoother, and his lips had a shine suspiciously like that which comes from a tube.
“Am I beautiful?” he asked Luki.
“Of course your beautiful.” Luki felt completely knocked off balance—Sonny had never done anything like this before.
“And?”
“And… I don’t understand. Why?”
“I want to go to Lips—hot drag dinner club. I already made the reservations. But in case you get there and start thinking the ladies in the drag show are sexier than your average weaver, I want to make sure you know that I’m right there to take care of any alternative fantasies needs that might arise.”
“Um…” Luki tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t get him in trouble?
“Let’s go, husband. We’ll be late for our reservations. As much as I love the way you look right now, you’ll have to put on a shirt.”
Luki did as directed, and got spiffed up a bit so the newfound Sonny-in-lipstick would walk proudly on his arm.
As they left the hotel, Sonny stopped and looked at him, and smiled a gorgeous smile. It was admittedly a little more clearly visible with color on the lips, but not more beautiful—Sonny’s smile could not be improved upon in Luki’s opinion. But Sonny said, laughing a little, “You still love me even though you know now I’m a little crazy?”
“Sonny,” Luki said, “sweetie. I’ve always known you’re whacked, and it’s kind of fun finding out all the ways in which that’s true. Of course I still love you.”
They went to Lips, where the food and show was fabulous. But when they got back to the hotel, Sonny asked, “So which of those drag queens did you like the best?”
Luki, who truthfully had kept his eyes only on Sonny, as usual, responded, “There were Drag Queens?”
Sonny took off his impulsively but artfully applied make-up and took his husband to bed, rewarding him very well for saying the right thing at the right time.
Comment on this post to enter the prize drawing!I’ll award it on 11/18, one month anniversary of Saving Sonny James release.
Rhys Ford 