Readers have a list of their favorite dominant characters. Here's a running list (yes, these dominant men show up in a series of books and some to a screen near you):

• Christian Grey (over 100 million books sold of E. L. James' trilogy, film opening in time for Valentine's Day 2015)
  
• Gideon Cross (I LOVE Sylvia Day, optioned by Lionsgate for TV adaptation)
  
• James Cavendish (R. K. Lilley is so cool, too!)
• Ethan Blackstone (Raine Miller's creation)
• Damien Stark (J Kenner/Julie Kenner's creation)
• Chris Merit (product of Lisa Renee Jones, TV show optioned to STARZ)
• Jesse Ward (the one in Jodi Ellen Malpas's trilogy)

A Dominant does not need to appear authoritarian, gruff, aloof, and guarded. To earn the respect and trust a submissive needs to bare and surrender her heart, mind, body and soul, the Dominant needs to:

• be emotionally accessible
• exert power and mastery over oneself
• maintain balance and control of self and situation/scene at hand

I almost wanted to re-title this post "Battle of the Alphas" or "Duel of the Dominants" but the good thing about Book Boyfriends is that we can "cheat" under separate covers... They'll never meet each other. :-)

Okay, technically, the picture below shows a riding crop. However, two words can come across to some people as cheating. So between the two words, I chose the noun instead of the modifier. Drum roll, please...

C is for Crop. 

Not the stuff you plant, harvest and eat. 
It IS the thing you use to beat.
(Okay, so that nearly rhymed.)

The narrower the surface the more it hurts.
The broader the surface, the more distribution of the pressure 
(or pain... or pleasure).

Whack!

Present yourself.

On the second day of BDSM, 
my lover gave to me, 
the letter B for Bondage. 
(sung to the tune of 12 days of Christmas)

I was thinking of joking and saying that B is for BDSM. However, since that's just too obvious and covers too much ground, I thought that a photo of a bound position was the best way to go about this.

In my current work in progress, although there is a bondage scene, the characters haven't reached the familiarity of a scene such as that you see at the right. 

It takes trust on both sides for such a scene to happen. Thus, the bondage scene that appeared in the first part of the book is relatively tame compared to this. :-)

So maybe later the two can get further into the lifestyle.

Okay, so I am starting this pretty late in the game. I just found out about the annual A to Z Challenge where bloggers are supposed to go through the month of April (Sundays off) blogging at least a hundred words on a different but related topic each day. So minus the four Sundays, the thirty days in April go down nicely to twenty-six, which just so happens to be the number of letters in the English alphabet.

Of course, since I write kinky smut, I thought I could challenge myself to think of something from A to Z. Since I'm already 6 days behind (I'm supposed to be on the letter F tomorrow on Monday), I thought I could at least have a late start and try to finish on time by blogging on Sundays anyway. Think I can do it? ... I am in the midst of writing a kinky book right now. Oh, well. What the heck. I might as well have some fun!

So Letter A. The first thing that came to my mind was A for Alpha. What can I say, I have an alpha male--the lead man--in my book. Shall I talk about Clark Mannings, the lead man in my current work in progress?

Well, he's built, but not as built as the guy you see at the right. He's had some time to work with his hands to appreciate physical labor. Then, he got interested in the manufacturing industry and has been looking into alternative technologies to produce biodegradable and food grade packaging.

Clark has had the hots for this lady he's been watching for two years now. She's quite a nut to crack and he's vowed to get her beneath him. I just finished writing a really raunchy intimate scene between them--just last night actually. Think he will get his lady? Of course! How is the question!!! :-)

Gosh, how do erotica writers make it through the night without feeling horny? Jeez. I like hearing about the life and times of romance writers. Check out one of my favorite authors, Lisa Renee Jones, on that topic here.