Inner Goddess: Mateo: Jazz Saxophonists and Kissing Carma

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Mateo: Jazz Saxophonists and Kissing Carma

by Tara Rose

In SEDUCING CARMA, Passion Peak Colorado 1, hero Mateo Alvarado is a jazz aficionado, and he plays a tenor sax. He reveals to heroine Carma Mandanici his love of both the instrument and the music, but Mateo only plays for fun. In the first scene where Carma is inside Mateo’s wing of rooms at the ranch, she finds prints of jazz musicians on the wall, and Mateo plays his saxophone for her. I thought it would be fun to go behind the scenes and discover some of Mateo’s favorite jazz saxophonists.

In the 1930s, during the swing and big band era, Mateo’s favorite era of music, saxophonists like Johnny Hodges, who led the saxophone section in the Duke Ellington Big Band, were featured soloists.

In the early 1940s, jazz saxophonists such as Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt moved away from the strictures of big band jazz, shifting toward from danceable popular music that would come to be called bebop.

Coleman Hawkins had a unique, raspy tone, and he became the preeminent tenor saxophonist in swing music. He developed his style as a member of Fletcher Henderson’s big band, and later toured the world as a soloist.

Ben Webster, is best known for his time spent in Duke Ellington’s band, in which he was the leading tenor soloist for about eight years, from 1935 to 1943. He recorded a version of “Cotton Tail” that is regarded as one of the gems from that period.

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BLURB for SEDUCING CARMA

Carma Mandanici is forced to confront her abusive past when an uncle she barely knows leaves her a large amount of money. She seeks comfort in the arms of longtime crush, Mateo Alvarado.

Mateo is more than happy to help Carma start to heal from her past, as well as explore her BDSM fantasies. But Mateo has a tragedy in his own past that he must confront before he can become a Dom to Carma, or allow himself to fall in love with her.

Blaine Peterson and Mateo have been friends since they met as freshmen in college. Blaine left behind a secret that involves his ex-submissive when he moved to Passion Peak to take a lucrative job and start over. He’s falling in love with Carma, right along with Mateo. But when his secret catches up with him, he might lose both his friendship with Mateo, and the one woman he can’t live without.

EXCERPT from SEDUCING CARMA

“I wanted an open concept up here, which is why this is one big room.” He pointed toward a hallway at the opposite end of the room. “There’s a half bath and a closet down there, and off the kitchen is a screened-in balcony that overlooks the east pastures.”

He motioned her through a second set of French doors and onto a balcony that gave a stunning view of the mountains in the distance and the swimming pool below. “I love to come out here at night and just sit.”

Carma scanned the horizon. “There’s Sleepy Cat Peak.”

“Yes. Do you believe in it? The legend?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I have about three hundred pamphlets from The Sleepy Cat Society that I’ve collected over the years, but I haven’t read one of them.”

Mateo laughed. “What do you do with them?”

“Put them in a drawer. I feel sorry for them, so I’m always reluctant to say no when they stand on the street corners downtown and pass them out.”

“They’ve been doing that since before we were born, Carma.”

“I know.”

“Don’t tell me you have a t-shirt or two as well?”

She shook her head. “No. But my oldest sister, Caprice, has one of those throw pillows they were selling last year.”

“Think I should get one?”

She laughed. “No. The colors are all wrong for your decorating style.”

Mateo put a hand up to his forehead to shade his eyes. “I just realized that Blaine can see this same view from his new condo.”

“Is that the new client you told me about?” She didn’t want to tell him that Van had already told her about Blaine.

He nodded. “Yes.” He led her back inside and toward a spiral wrought-iron staircase. “All the bedrooms are up here.”

They ascended, and he led her past the first two rooms, one on each side of the hallway. “I bought bedroom sets for both so now I have guest rooms, but I don’t have much use for either, to be honest. It’s just that I can’t figure out what else to do with them.”

“I wish I had three bedrooms. I live in a one-bedroom apartment that’s about the size of your kitchen.”

He smiled. “What would you do with the spare rooms if you had them?”

“No clue, honestly.” She laughed softly, and it felt nice to do so. Holding his hand sent warmth throughout her body. His touch helped fill the chilly places that had settled around her heart this morning.

When they reached his room, he motioned her inside first. It was decorated in rich tones of navy blue and maroon, and totally fit his personality. The room smelled faintly of sage and vanilla, which surprised her. In fact, the entire ambiance was different than in the other the rooms, though she couldn’t say why. “It’s lovely, Mateo. Really comfortable and inviting. I’d never be able to leave it.”

“Well, we don’t have to, Carma.”

She didn’t turn around, but she felt his presence behind her. The only part of his body she touched was his hand, and now that contact felt electrified, as though the air was charged with energy from a looming thunderstorm.

“Should we bring the chicken up here to eat?” he asked, softly.

This time she did turn around because she suddenly became convinced he was teasing her. She was wrong. His face held nothing but sincerity. As she stared into his eyes, she watched the emotions cross them, and just before he bent his head and kissed her, she’d known he was about to do it.

She clung to his hand and kept her mouth closed as his full lips moved over hers, sending jolts of desire straight to her nipples and clit. Carma had never been kissed like this. It filled her entire being, making her dizzy with need and a longing she couldn’t hang a label on. It washed away the guilt and the shame, and it soothed the fear and hesitation.

The scent in the room combined with his, and with the smell of the roasting chicken downstairs, until she couldn’t distinguish one from the other. She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders as his tongue teased her lips. When she parted hers to let it inside, a loud moan escaped her throat. So this was what it was supposed to feel like…this heady desire that made her feel as if she were melting into him.

Mateo’s tongue worked its magic inside her mouth as Carma pushed closer to his body, this time acknowledging the bulge in his jeans instead of ignoring it. One hand moved over her hair, softly stroking it, and the other brushed down her back until it rested on her left ass cheek. She moaned again as an image of that hand spanking her rose up. Where the hell had that come from?

She didn’t care. This time, instead of pushing away the decadent thoughts like she usually did while she was cutting his hair, she let them happen. This wasn’t sordid, and it wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t humiliating or embarrassing. It was erotic, and passionate, and she wanted more.

She moved her tongue over his, trying to imitate what he was doing. She must have done something right because the hand on her hair suddenly tangled itself in her strands. The hand on her ass squeezed the cheek, and then lightly slapped it.

Carma groaned and moved her lips and tongue more boldly now, pushing her body closer to his. An urge to grind against his erection overtook her, but she wasn’t feeling quite that uninhibited yet.