I would like to welcome Cara Bristol who’s going to give us a sneak peak into her own blind dating experience…welcome Cara! (I have to say I LOVED Body Politics)
Blind dates,
matchmaking and Body Politics
By Cara Bristol
I remember my worst blind date. The guy
stood me up twice – in the same night! I’d “met” him through
a small video dating service and after speaking on the phone, we’d
arranged to meet for a drink. This was before cell phones, and I
waited 45 minutes in a cocktail lounge (feeling very conspicuous) and
he never showed.
When I got home, I called him and left
a message. He returned my call and apologized over and over (but did
not give me an explanation) and begged for another chance. I
reluctantly agreed to meet him again, this time for coffee. I waited
15 minutes. No show. I left him a message to never call me again.
About a month later, the woman who
owned the dating service told me he wanted another chance. By
that time I was dating the man who would later become my husband, but
I wouldn’t have gone out with him if he were the last man on earth.
Other blind dates arranged by friends
were simply…boring. I had nothing in common with the men I’d been
fixed up with. Which leads to the crux of the matter: matchmaking is
a skill and an art. Too often well-meaning friends and family are so
eager to see you in a relationship, they’re desperate to pair you
up with somebody, anybody, without taking into account values, likes
and dislikes, interests. Just because you breathe and he breathes,
doesn’t mean you’re a perfect match.
Sometimes our “friends” get it SO
wrong, we can only wonder, “What were they thinking?”
“Don’t they know me at all?”
Stephanie Gordon of Body Politics
trusts that she and her friend Elizabeth Davenport are on the same
wavelength. Stephanie is the founder and administrator of a feminist
program. Elizabeth is a champion of women’s legal rights. So when
Elizabeth says she has a man for her, Stephanie agrees to the date,
confident that Elizabeth knows her ideal man is a sensitive,
liberated male.
But who does Elizabeth set Stephanie up
with? Mark DeLuca, the criminally sexy, but domineering and
chauvinistic deputy chief of police. Worse, Mark is a member of the
Rod and Cane Society, an organization of men who spank their wives to
maintain domestic discipline. How could Elizabeth have gotten it so
wrong? And while Stephanie instantly rejects Mark, he’s very much
taken by her. And Mark isn’t one to take no for answer…
Body Politics Blurb
Feminist Stephanie Gordon knows the
instant she meets blind date Mark DeLuca it’s going to be a wasted
evening. Sure the deputy chief of police is criminally sexy, but he's
arrogant, domineering and sexist. Thank goodness after the date ends,
she'll never have to see him again. A member of the Rod and Cane
Society, an organization of men who discipline their women by
spanking, Mark DeLuca is attracted to Stephanie like a paddle to a
well-rounded ass. He sees beneath the shield of feminist militancy to
the soft, sensitive woman she tries to hide. When she storms away in
a snit, the chase is on. Can a man who spanks convince a diehard
feminist her true strength lies in submission?
Body Politics Excerpt
(Stephanie is the parking lot
talking to her friend who fixed her up)
She dug her cell from its pocket in her
purse.
Elizabeth answered on the first ring.
“How’d it go?”
“Do you know where he had me meet
him? A bar for spankos! I thought you knew this guy!” She wanted to
give Elizabeth the benefit of the doubt, but she was pissed.
“Bottom’s Up?”
“You’ve heard of it?” Stephanie
gasped.
“What happened? What did he do?”
“He tried to…” Manhandle me.
Okay, that was a little strong. He’d grabbed her arm, but she had
freed herself easily, and he’d employed no further effort to detain
her. But he’d insisted on paying for her drink, disrespecting her
financial independence. Grudgingly she admitted he probably viewed
his behavior as chivalrous. “It wasn’t what he did. It’s
what he is.” She glanced over her shoulder at the bar’s
entrance. No sign of Mark. She swallowed over the lump in her throat.
Good. She’d be a fool to consider dating a man like him.
“What is he?”
“A sexist,” she hissed. The most
dangerous kind. The type who could entice a woman to abandon her
principles for a screaming oh-baby orgasm. But not her.
Elizabeth laughed.
“It’s not funny. I thought you and
I were on the same wavelength.” Either Elizabeth had suffered from
a lack of judgment, or she’d betrayed Stephanie for some nefarious
purpose. The former wasn’t the friend she respected, and the latter
hurt too much to even contemplate.
“He’s not a sexist. But he is
dominant, a man of conviction.” Amusement had vanished from
Elizabeth’s voice.
“I need a man who treats me as his
equal.” How could Elizabeth, of all people, not get it?
“How would you describe yourself?”
Stephanie straightened and threw back
her shoulders. “I’m independent, assertive, strong.”
“So what kind of man would you
envision as your equal? Dependent, wishy-washy, and weak?”
Put like that, it kind of made sense.
Hell, the wishy-washy weak part described her ex-husband to a T.
Maybe that explained why she’d had such bad luck with the men she’d
chosen. It wasn’t that she wasn’t their equal—they weren’t
hers. But she’d downed half a Bottom Burner. Maybe it had muddled
her reasoning. Shouldn’t she stick to her guns? She knew better
than anyone what she desired.
“Stephanie.”
She jumped and squealed at the rough
sound of her name. She clutched the cell to her ear and stared at
Mark. How had such a big man moved so silently over the graveled
parking lot? Her mouth dried, impeding speech. “I-I’ll…uh…call
you back,” she said into the phone.
“Give him a chance,” Elizabeth said
and disconnected.
Buy Links
Cara’s website/blog:
http://www.carabristol.com
Follow Cara on Twitter: @CaraBristol
Thanks Cara for joining me!
Thank you, Constance, for having me today!
ReplyDeleteYou’re welcome Cara :)
ReplyDeleteBind dates :) Been there, done that, thrown away the commemorative tee-shirts! Props to you Cara for your willingness to share your experience. I "can't go there" in recounting mine. I'm not that much of a masochist.
ReplyDeleteBut, now that I think about it, I never had any successful relationship come from going on a date, blind or not. I've had three long-term relationships and all evolved out of situations where we were friends first for a very long time, in one case several years, before one or the other worked up the nerve to ask for "something more."
Good post.
Hugs,
claire