Burning Ultimatum (Trevor's Harem #4) (21 page)

I wait for her to break, but she’s keeping a straight face. At least from the nose down. Her eyes are guffawing already.
 

I’ll force her to break by straightening my own face and playing along.

“That’s not romantic,” I tell her.

“It’s not?”
 

“At least not conclusively.”
 

“You’re sure?”
 

“An increase of D2 receptors might just make it easier for me to pay attention.”
 

“Yes,” she says. “And I want your attention. In my pants.”

I watch her. Still not laughing, though it’s a near thing. “You’re bluffing.”

“Reach in and see.”

Instead, I reach into her purse. And pull out a dense scientific paper about prairie vole neurochemistry.

“I was studying up,” she says. “I want to understand how to change my brain so I can like someone who’s as big of a fucker as you are.”
 

I watch her for a long time. Then, finally, she cracks. And I crack. And we shake the Camry with laughter until we’re spent.

I toss the paper into the back seat.
 

“We don’t need to study this shit,” I say.
 

“No?”
 

“We’re already geniuses in the fields of mammalian mating and bonding,” I say, leaning in to kiss her.
 

She meets my eyes.
 

“Prove it,” she says.

READ THE STORY OF CASPIAN WHITE … AND HIS DARK OBSESSION

GET GAGGED HERE:
http://aubreyparker.net/gagged

“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do,” Caspian says. “I’ll just force you to do as you wish.”

I’ve always been a good girl. Partly by choice, partly because of my mother’s shame and my father’s belt.
 

Caspian White is strong. Handsome. Powerful.
Frightening
. The world knows his name, envies his wealth, suspects his kinks, and fears his wrath.

I’ve kept myself pure, and that’s drawn Caspian to me like a predator to prey.
 

I don’t want to do what he wants me to. I just want to conclude my business with Caspian and go.
 

But Caspian seems to have been watching me for a while. I’m a target, and he knows me too well.

I’m afraid he’ll force me to do things I’ll regret … and that if he does, my shameful half will enjoy it.

Gagged
is a STANDALONE dark erotic romance.

CLICK THE LINK, AND GET
GAGGED
RIGHT NOW:

http://aubreyparker.net/gagged

CHAPTER THIRTY

On February 3 of 2016, the day after the first book in the
Trevor’s Harem
series came out, I made a post on
my Facebook page
that said this:
 

Turns out I can make arginine vasopressin receptors sexy. Who knew?

In the way that neurotic creative types like me sometimes fret, I actually worried about that post. Not a lot, but definitely a little. By making that post, I was letting my dork hang out (though not in the way you might like to see Daniel’s dork hanging out), and I wondered if anyone would see it and think, “Wait. I’m not going to read Aubrey’s books. I’m not looking for a lecture.”
 

Ultimately, I think it was ridiculous for me to worry. Bridget and Daniel’s story isn’t about neurology any more than it’s about psychology or evolutionary biology, though it definitely contains all three. Not to put too fine a point on it, Bridget and Daniel’s story is about
Bridget and Daniel.
It’s about two people who overcome who they are, heal each other, then fall in love and live happily ever after, just like any romance. The rest is setting. A thriller-style romantic suspense might have guns and car chases, and
Trevor’s Harem
has this.

I’m an unapologetic nerd, so one thing you should know to expect from me and my stories is that I’m going to populate my worlds with things that interest me. Like my friend and fellow author, Julie (J.A.) Huss, I’m a trained scientist. I’ve always been interested in how things work — and, relevant to the
Trevor’s Harem
series, what makes us tick.
 

I seldom do formal research for my stories, but I do delve into what piques my interest … and what comes out of that
delving in
looks a hell of a lot like research. So as I started writing
The Burning Offer
(book 1), I became very interested in what made Daniel as broken as he was — why he wanted so badly to punish Bridget. I already knew Bridget because I’d written her before in
The Boss’s Daughter,
but watching them together made me wonder what pushed her buttons too, and why. Of course, that made me curious.
 

And that’s when the research came out.

During the time it took to write all four of the
Trevor’s Harem
books, I listened to maybe five or six audiobooks all about the science of who we are as a species, specifically where it comes to mating and relating. One I’ll mention (simply because its title will give you an idea of how this particular nerd spends time) was called
The Chemistry Between Us
. And one thing I remember thinking, as I expanded my knowledge of why evolution wired male and female brains the way it did, was that although most studies are done on animals, plenty of non-invasive studies have been done on people, too, and the results are similar.
 

In some ways, we’re just as programmed as rats.

In the story you just finished, someone (I forget who and refuse to look) says that strippers get more tips from men when they’re ovulating. That’s true. Men just find them more attractive at those times.

There’s a section, when we first meet Caspian White in person, where Daniel is thinking about how women tend to mate preferentially with one type of man and settle down with another. I don’t think I mentioned this in the text, but this double intention has resulted in a shitload of cuckolds the world over. Basically, a key strategy is to fuck a guy with great genetics (apparent by masculine traits like a square jaw) and then get a more stable guy to help raise the baby.
 

Daniel once mentions that after his woman has been with a rival, a man will ejaculate harder and in greater volume. That’s true, too. Men actually buy vitamins to blow bigger loads, but hey, watching their wives with someone else will do the same thing. Sperm wars are real. Even on the cellular level, guys are duking it out to get the girl.
 

Even the bit about the scientists who fetishized female rats to prefer males wearing little leather jackets? Yep, also true.

But the key difference between we humans and lab animals (and this was what really hit me, and settled in as a key theme) is that while animals are mostly responding to fatalistic chemistry in their brains, humans can use their big, evolved higher minds to change our destinies.
 

So consider this:

You see the hot guy at work, and he comes on to you. Your brain fires up and makes you ready to go. You’re in the groove, hardwired by evolution to want him in
your
groove. But then your big human cortex says, “Wait a minute. I love my husband, and this guy will tell everyone I’m a slut.” And so you don’t go with the hot guy, even though your loins are burning to.
 

That, to me, said “free will.”
 

That, to me, said that love really
could
conquer all.
 

Now, I definitely fudged the science a bit. You have to, if you expect a story like this to work. So no, there’s no special printout in real life that could prove, conclusively, that two people are forever bonded and in love. I’m glad there’s not because that’s what hearts are for. Similarly, although oxytocin does bond people to each other and create trust, it isn’t magic. There have been studies with people taking intranasal doses of an oxytocin spray, and they do become more trusting and open and sympathetic, yes … but the skeeves out there selling oxytocin cologne as rohypnol light (“spray yourself with oxy, and chicks will dig you!”) are still, blessedly, full of shit. And although epigenetics (the ability of our environments to change gene expression) is real, the only way to lengthen the AVPR1A gene’s promoter is through a gene-swapping science called transgenics. Promoters don’t grow like dicks when people are in love, but it’s true that if you swap the genes, you can make a faithful animal promiscuous and vice-versa.
 

Oh, and do you know what else is totally real? PRAIRIE VOLES. Just look at these adorable motherfuckers:
 

And they really are naturally monogamous. They’re totally adorable, unlike their whore cousins, montane voles. There are even memes out there showing prairie voles with hearts around them and stuff. Who says science and romance don’t mix?

I don’t start books with big themes. When I try, things turn out pretentious. So when I started this series, I literally had no idea where it would go. But what happens is, themes start to emerge as I go, and then I latch onto them. And for
Trevor’s Harem
, the idea of “love can change a person’s stars” became the biggest theme of all.
 

See, Eros was looking for a measurable way to describe love and male-female interaction, and thanks to Bridget’s unique makeup, she was
The One
, so to speak, according to Halo.
 

But love can’t be measured. Or predicted. You can’t find love through a lens, no matter how many hormones and evolutionarily fine-tuned neural pathways attempt to compel us.
 

And that, I thought, made for a damned fine failure on Eros’s part.
 

Why couldn’t Bridget have won the contest and ended up with Trevor?

Because she has a brain. And she has a heart. And her heart was owed to Daniel.
 

Anyway, you haven’t seen the last of my geekery, I’m sure. If you keep reading my books, I promise I’ll always write whatever the hell interests me as long as it serves the greater love story. I figure those put off by mentions of arginine vasopressin receptors will just stop reading, and that’s okay. I’ve still got you, dear reader. We get each other, just like a couple of pair-bonded voles.
 

So. Anyway. That’s it.
 

The next story I’ve got for you is
Gagged
, which is Caspian White’s tale. You know how Caspian kind of backs away from Bridget in the
Trevor’s Harem
books because he’s already obsessed with someone else? Well, I happen to know who that is. Her name is Aurora … and you can find out just how far that particular obsession goes in
Gagged
. So stay tuned for that one for sure.

The best ways to keep on top of my releases is to join my email list. You can do that at
http://aubreyparker.net/deals/
. As the name implies, that’s where you’ll find out about my new releases and (drumroll, please) any
deals
I offer. You’ll also know out about my giveaways and contests when I have them. All sorts of good shit.
 

I’m also on Facebook, which I’ve recently been shocked to find I enjoy. In the past, social media and I have had a hot-and-cold history, but these days I’ve really dug talking to friends and readers online.
You can find me here on Facebook until my friends list maxes out
, so come on over and add me if you’d like. Either way you’ll for-sure want to
Like
my Facebook page so you can be there when I’m around and doing stuff there. You can find my Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/AubreyParkerBooks/
.
 

That’s all I’ve got for you right now. But please do stick around, if you like my breed of romance. I love writing it, and I’d be delighted for you to keep reading.
 

— Aubrey