Hearing Voices
All stories, in my experience, begin with a spark of an idea. It can come from anywhere. An image, a line of dialogue, a problem in need of a solution. For The Harder We Fall, the spark came from one simple, but endlessly intriguing, question: What if?
It all began when I decided to start a meditation practice in an attempt to calm the voice inside my head. You know the voice. It’s the annoying one that prattles on incessantly. It narrates your day or replays old arguments or reminds you that you really should be writing right now, Rebecca! Ugh. I had to make it stop.
One trip to the Google Play Store later, I downloaded a free meditation app made right here in Australia and got started. My eyes were closed. My legs were folded. I sat up nice and straight with my hands palm up on my knees. And I listened.
The voice on the app introduced me to the benefits of meditation and how to go about it. It was a nice voice. Male. Slightly rough. Pleasant. I liked the voice. It was easy to listen to.
And then I wondered… What if there was a man who listened to a meditation app and became enthralled with the voice he heard? What if he was intoxicated by the voice? Seduced by it. And then, what if he had the chance to meet the man behind the voice? How would he react?
Before long, the questions began piling up and I was off on a hunt for the answers. Tristan’s journey took me to a lot of places I didn’t expect to go based off those initial questions. There was a lot of sadness, but also moments of laughter. Let’s just say, Tristan didn’t turn out to be thrilled by the way Sam was able to ‘manipulate’ him with his vocal cords.
I wish I could say my meditation practice is going strong and my voice is quieter than it used to be. I can’t. But the experience of giving it a shot did lead me to a story that became much deeper and more meaningful to me than I ever would have thought possible based on its spark. For that I’ll always be grateful.
Sometimes, I imagine that much of the clamour in my head comes from the voices of the characters who need their stories told. If so, Tristan would have been a pretty loud contributor. He was a man in desperate need of peace. With Sam’s help, he was finally able to find it. So perhaps, in some small way, my head is a little quieter now, after all.
For years, I’ve been bound by sleeplessness and sorrow. His voice threatens to set me free.
Book Title: The Harder We Fall
Author: Rebecca Raine
Cover Artist: Bec Rivers
Release Date: March 29, 2021
Genre: MM Romance
Trope: Hurt/Comfort
Themes: Grief, Penance, Personal Growth
Length: 70,000 words
It is a standalone book.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Blurb
Insomnia. It’s part of the penance I pay for my greatest mistake. But when an ill-timed doze behind the wheel of my car nearly introduces me to a pole, I know something has to change.
Sleep with Me, a locally-made meditation app, promises a cure. I don’t expect it to work. Nor do I expect to become enthralled by the voice of its creator, Sam Stephenson. His ability to coax forth my nightly surrender is unnerving. I have to meet this man and learn the secret behind his techniques, so I can evict him from my head—and still get a good night’s sleep.
In person, the quiet and reclusive Sam is his own kind of complicated. He needs my business skills as much as I need his meditation skills and we forge an unlikely partnership. But the attraction between us soon flares into passion and, as we grow closer, I start to long for more than my guilty conscience will allow.
I have no right to love, not after the damage I’ve done. How can I give Sam all he deserves, when our chance at a happy ending was ruined before we even met?
“We’re running out of time.”
“So, we are,” I say with a false show of surprise. “It’s my fault, of course.” I pause, trying to figure out how to word the next part without making it obvious this was part of my plan all along. “I could always email you the questions. Then you can take as long as you like to answer them. After you send them back, I’ll write up a plan and we can meet again to discuss it.”
He looks aghast at the idea. “That’s a lot of work. I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”
“Actually, Sam, I’m the one asking for more of your time.” I brandish my most charming smile. It’s worked on men in the past, though I’m not usually trying this hard for the win. Desperation may have knocked the polish off.
Sam’s mouth drops open and somehow he manages to look panicked and thrilled at the same time. “You want to see me again?” he asks. “For the quid pro quo, I mean.”
“If you don’t mind.” I try to look calm, but my pulse is roaring like an express train. If he says no, I’m screwed. “I know this is all a bit odd, me coming to you the way I have. I suppose I hoped, once we met, you might be willing to give this whole process some more time.”
He shifts in his chair again, his gaze dropping. There’s no sign of his earlier trepidation, though, only a subtle wariness. “This was never going to be one hour, was it?”
“Not really, no,” I say, surprised at my honesty. “Not if we’re both going to get what we want from this.”
I can feel his attention all over me, even with his gaze glued to the table. “What exactly do you want from me, Tristan?”
It’s the voice. Right there in front of me. Coming from his mouth. Holy fuck.
Hearing that voice say my name, after all the ways I’ve used and abused his—in curses and moans and whispered pleas—is a goddamned fantasy come to life. Lust surges through my veins and I want to growl in frustration. This infatuation has to end. “I need to stop sleeping with you.”
His head snaps upright and we both gasp.
My right hand slaps over my mouth. “Fuck, I didn’t mean it like that.”
Looking away again, he releases a shaky breath. “It’s all right.” He runs absent hands along his arms, soothing a severe case of goosebumps. Sam is responding to my voice, my words, the same way I inevitably respond to his.
How would we respond to each other’s touch? Stifling a groan, I shift clenched fists into my lap. That’s not what this is about. I’m obsessed enough without learning the texture of his skin and the taste of his—
Sam starts to laugh, really laugh. “That stupid name,” he manages to say between breaths. “Sleep with Me. It wasn’t even my idea, but it certainly does get a reaction.” There’s another peel of laughter, as if he’s releasing all the tension from his body, and I find myself joining in. Every time we look at each other it gets worse and before I know it my stomach is sore from laughing. It feels good to laugh at myself. Weird, but good.
“Let me rephrase,” I say as we start to regain our composure. “What I mean is, now you’ve succeeded in getting me to sleep, I want to figure out how to do it on my own.”
“Should be easy enough. It’s probably something in the phrasing.”
Reality seeps back in, killing off the last of my amusement. “No, it’s something else.” Sam isn’t the first person to tell me to let go of my guilt. My mother used to say it constantly. It wasn’t your fault, Tristan. You shouldn’t blame yourself.She didn’t believe her words any more than I did, but she tried. “I don’t know what it is about you that’s different. I don’t think it’s necessarily something you can teach me, but whatever it is, I need to figure it out.”
“So, what’s the plan?” he asks with a baffled expression. “Are you going to hang around me until you get your answer through osmosis or something?”
“Maybe? I don’t know.” I drop my head into my hands. “Honestly, I’m making this up as I go along.”
“You and me both,” he says with a snort. “I don’t know if I can give you the answer you’re looking for, Tristan. But I’ll try.”
Slumping back in my chair, I release a sigh. “Thank you, Sam.”
He smiles that tiny smile and I try not to drool when his cheeks turn pink. “It’s my pleasure.”
Rebecca is a long-time lover of all things romance. Whether it’s a book, movie, or real life, she will always have more fun if there’s a love interest thrown into the mix. She lives in Queensland, Australia with her very own hero husband, two quirky kids and one big, black dog. Other than reading and writing books, her favourite things include loud music, enjoying a glass of wine on the patio, organising everything in existence, and spending too much time on the Internet.
Sign up for Rebecca’s newsletter and receive
a FREE copy of All the Broken Pieces
Social Media Links
Blog/Website | Facebook | Facebook Author Page
Pinterest | Instagram | BookBub | Goodreads
Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win
one of five ebook copies of The Harder We Fall
Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here