Birthday Bash Day 21 - Poppy Dennison

First of all, I’d like to thank Emily for having me and wish her the happiest of birthdays! I had the pleasure of meeting Emily at the Coastal Magic convention in Daytona this year and she’s such a doll!

Emily asked me for my most memorable birthday experience, and boy is it a doozy. Picture me, young and innocent. (Oh hush, peanut gallery. I was young and innocent once! I was, dangit!) I’ve never been a birthday party kind of gal. I’m more of a have dinner with friends type. So when my friend, we’ll call him X to protect the *snerk* innocent, asked me to go out with him, I was a bit hesitant. Couldn’t we just have a nice dinner?

But no. X would not give in. He had a plan in mind. Something to broaden my horizons. So I got gussied up—do people still say gussied anymore or is it just a southern thing?—and off we went. To a gay bar. The only gay bar in town. The gay bar with a really raunchy reputation.

So, sweet and innocent Poppy went to the bar with wide eyes and, I’ll admit it, a bit of excitement in my wee little heart. Oh was I ever in for it. Who knew when my sweet little self walked in on X’s arm that I’d be in for such a wild night?

The music was fast and lights shone brightly. There was a drag show early—my first experience with drag queens and oh are they amazing!—and then the real fun began. I ended up sitting at the bar while X got his groove on. It was a blast. Everyone was so nice and I’ll confess I got my groove on a few times too.

It got late. There may have been a few cosmos involved. Then…drama! The guys decided, for some reason I’ve never been quite clear on, to have a kissing contest. Hey, I was all for it! Boys kissing? Yep. Worked for me. I ordered a new cosmo and prepared to enjoy the show.

Then things got really…exciting. How would they decide who won? Who could be an impartial judge?

All heads swiveled in one motion to me, the only gal in the bar. Ever seen a deer in headlights? Yep. I vaguely remember a big debate. Mostly me saying it wasn’t a good idea. (See…innocent! I swear! I protested… a lot!!) But they weren’t having any of it and I had just enough vodka in me to finally shrug and say ‘okey dokey’. Yep. That’s exactly what I said. They all laughed about it.

So, up I went onto the stage. Yep. They did it on the stage. Fortunately, I had altoids in my purse, cause yeah…

Contestant #1 strolls up, his significant other standing to the side grinning like a loon. I puckered up, and he laid one on me. I mentally scored him. It was nice, a little more tongue then I normally prefer. *blinks* Yeah. I thought that. I blushed a brilliant shade of poppy red.

Contestant #2 swept me back in a dip and plastered his lips to mine. Once I recovered from the dizzy spell (remember, I’d had a few cosmos), I gave him a higher score than #1 . Not as much tongue…

Then there was a murmur through the crowd. Contestant #3 stepped onto the stage. He wasn’t the best looking of the three, not that it mattered. It wasn’t like I stood a chance with any of them. LOL. His boyfriend danced at the side of the stage, a strangely eager expression his face. I was puzzled. What was the big deal?

He stepped up to me, cupped my cheek gently in my hand, and gave me the best kiss of my life. No kidding. Boy could kiss. My knees grew weak, my heart pounded, my stomach had little butterflies. He stepped away. I blinked, then pulled him back and kissed him again. What? It was a contest! I had to make sure I had enough *ahem* evidence to award the prize.

Yeah. He won. A lot. *nods* His boyfriend, not wanting to be left out, joined in. And no, I’m not making any of this up. I promise. So Contestant #3 won, I got a cup of coffee as a thank you for being the judge. (Hmm…I wonder now if there is some sort of connection between my addiction to coffee and that amazing kiss…probably so. *slurps coffee* Ahhh, good memories.)

Now, you’d think the story was over there, wouldn’t you? I went home, slept off the cosmos and went about my life. A few days later, I took my nephew in for Christmas photos. (My birthday is in December.) Wanna guess who the photographer was? Yep. Contestant #3. I froze, blinked, turned a brilliant shade of red. He burst out laughing. Those are the best photographs ever. What? The man was talented all around.

So there you have it. My most memorable birthday experience. I can’t say as I’ll ever have one quite as memorable as that.

Happy Birthday Emily! I wish you lots of birthday kisses too!

In honor of Emily’s Birthday, one lucky commenter will win an ebook of their choice from my backlist. Just leave a comment with your email address to enter, and don't forget to enter the grand prize giveaway here.

Author Bio:

A sassy southern lady, Poppy Dennison developed an obsession with things that go bump in the night in her early years after a barn door flew off its hinges and nearly squashed her. Convinced it was a ghost trying to get her attention, she started looking for other strange and mysterious happenings around her. Not satisfied with what she found, Poppy has traveled to Greece, Malaysia and England to find inspiration for the burly bears and silver foxes that melt her butter. Her love of paranormal continues to flourish nearly thirty years later, and she writes steamy love stories about the very things that used to keep her up all night. If her childhood ghost is lucky, maybe one day she’ll give him his own happily ever after.

Visit her on her website

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