Wednesday, March 20, 2013

My First Time...



** Please follow the instructions at the end of my blog to enter to win the giveaways. You have a little homework to do but it will be worth it! **



Buy First Comes Marriage HERE
by Christian Ramos

I’ve never been in love.

I’ve been engaged twice. And been stranded at the altar both times. But it wasn’t until after I’d tucked my tail between my legs, drank an assload of Jack, and sorted through the BS once my binge-soaked brain functioned normally again that I admitted both women had done me a favor. Who thought getting married ‘til death do you part was a good idea anyway?

My big, fat, Latin family did. My father wanted grandsons to carry on the Ramos family name. My mother wanted grandchildren to spoil rotten. And hell, I'd tried my best. But after two humiliating trips up the church aisle and right back down it again, marriage, kids and love weren’t on my radar anymore.

Not until I was staring 40 in the face. Then those things were back on my radar.  Big time. Suddenly, having kids and a woman to share my life (and bed) with had moved from dead last on the Chris Ramos bucket list, to the top. But holy hell, the thought of trying to find the future Mrs. Christian Ramos made me break out in a cold sweat and shrivel my balls.

When my college roommate, Jackson Castillo, asked me to be his best man at his wedding, I rented the tux and flew out to Vegas, although I had every intention…no, I had an obligation, to talk him out of the marriage. He’d met his bride through some online dating service, 1Night Stand. The whack job owner, Madame Evangeline, had coerced him into going on a date with a woman who wanted someone who looked like her dead boyfriend. Or something. Who cares, it was crazy and I had zero intention of letting Jackson ruin his life. Friends don’t let friends marry crazy bitches.

Leah was anything but crazy and Jackson, the stoic, uptight, career-driven bastard that he is, had fallen for her in a big, hard way. It was painful and more than a little nauseating to watch them together. 

So, naturally I contacted the whack job owner, Madame Eve. What the hell, I had no real hope to have what Jackson and Leah do, but if all I got out of it was a one-night stand, I didn’t care.

A few weeks later, I got the email I’d been waiting for from Madame Eve. But she hadn’t found me a date. She’d found me a wife. Queue my best WTF expression as I stared at the screen. I groped for my cell phone in an incredulous panic (if there is such a thing).

Me: “Dude, I got a response from your whack job friend, Eve.”
Jackson: “Oh yeah? Who’s the lucky date?”
Me: “You mean, who’s the lucky wife?”
Long Pause from Jackson, then: “Bwahahaha!”

I thought I was going to have to send the asshole a case of Depends because I’m pretty sure he pissed himself laughing so hard.

Long story short. I agreed to marriage. I don’t know why. It seemed like a good idea? I wanted to have children before I was old enough to be their grandfather? I was tired of my parents pushing me to settle down? I was tired of being alone? All of the above….

I flew out to Las Vegas with the asinine hope that my future wife, Beth, and I would be, if nothing else, compatible. But when we met, I didn’t like her….

I fell in love.





**Tell me about your first love, or your second-and-even-better love, or something you love, even if it's not human. I love to hear a good how-we-met story, so please share yours. One lucky commenter will win a $10 Amazon gift card from me and a copy of Jackson and Leah Castillo's story, To Feel Again**



Valerie Mann is the superwoman every woman tries to be…mother of five attractive, successful children, vixen in and out of the bedroom, runway model fashionista, extreme gardener, and just recently crashed on bestseller lists as a romance author.

In real life, Valerie is the mother of five lovely, but ordinary children. Sure, she’s a vixen in and out of the bedroom, which explains the herd of kids. The closest she gets to a runway is an airport, and while she thinks gardens of all sorts are wonderful, she figures that hobby can wait until retirement, if her knees last that long. And that crashing you heard was Valerie collapsing on the couch at the end of a very long day. As for romance, she writes and likes to think she can tell an amazing tale of love or two. Her husband of nearly thirty years won’t read her stories because they make him blush but is content in the knowledge he’s the inspiration for every one of them.

Valerie currently works as a managing editor for an electronic publisher and is the co-owner of a company that provides editing services for writers.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

27 comments:

  1. nice post sharing great information related to online Dating

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for being a part of the blog hop.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for being a part of the blog hop.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well since I've not found the right person to be in love with yet, I will say the most important person I love is my daughter! She means the world to me! Thank you for the hop and giveaway! mikiajanai@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is such informative info. Thanks for sharing. Have a fun blog hop!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My favorite part about spring is flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well I met my love on the internet, long before all of the dating sites, back when chat rooms were the in thing.
    Thanks for being part of the fun blog hop.
    skpetal at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Haven't met my love yet, but I do like the 1NS series!

    vitajex(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I met mine when he came down to cut my friend's grass, I had sworn off men by the time he came in my life and he ended up changing my mind.

    vampiremistress2010(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  10. My first love was so long ago I really don't want to think about it.lol

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My life kinda sounds like the excerpt.Bad Bad relationships, 3 daughters, Single mom. Then when I was 37yrs old I finally met the love of my life. My soulmate Raymond. I moved back home to mom & dads. I swore I would never, ever date a man from where I lived. "I was wrong"...lol My Raymond was divorced with 2 daughters, just broke up with a girlfriend. I had just broke up with boyfriend # God only knows...lol A friend got us to meet & well Its been almost 8yrs we have been together. :D He is my heart and I love him more now than I did back then. :D Sometimes it takes a while to find the right one. :D
    Missie Jones
    missie25524 (at) netzero (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I haven't met mine yet.
    Thanks for the chance to win!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  14. My first love didn't end well...don't want to talk about it. Thanks for taking part in this hop.

    kareninnc at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I still remember my first love, it was at school.. seems I still cannot forget him once and for all..
    swordlily_girl(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love wearing the light colors of spring, there are so many.
    magic5905 at embarqmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm still in love with my first love, he's my husband and the love of my life.

    smurfettev AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Haven't met anything resembling 'the one' yet, but when I do I hope we're friends first... I've been really lucky with friends-them I love more than I can say.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I don't remember my first love. But I do remember the date of my first date with my hubby. And it was wonderful!

    Thanks for being in the blog hop.
    roya-clan@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am married to my first real love. Met a week after graduation and that was almost 20 years ago. We met on the "Parkway" a place where guys brought their cars to race. And the girls came to check out the guys and the cars. My hubby had a souped up 78 El Camino (My favorite car) I still tell him today... If you didn't have that car, I might not have looked your way. We had a long road, health issues, ups and downs.. but our love is stronger today than yesterday. Love stands the test of time with us... can't wait to see what tomorrow holds for us.
    tigerfly139@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. I feel like my first, and hopefully last, real love is the man I am married to :)

    dreammie_angel at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  22. My first real love was my children. I've always picked men who weren't good for me so no luck in that department. But my children are loving and supportive and intelligent and fun and witty. I enjoy them as human beings:)

    cc_clubbs[at]yahoo[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  23. My first love was a little ball of fur that my father brought home--tucked in his jacket--one day. He had bought a Siamese kitten for my mother when I was around 5 or 6 years old. We names her Samira. She was a tiny, loud thing and she slept with me almost every night until I went away to college. I still think of her often.
    catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  24. I haven't met mine yet.
    Thank you for the chance!

    spamscape [at] gmail [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks for the giveaway!

    Still waiting on finding mine... I have 2 kitties I love for now.

    bookish(dot)stacy(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  26. I love 1NS books! Hubby and I met about 25 years ago when I was working a summer job and he was my "supervisor". We became fast soulmate friends overnight and had tried to date but it was wrong...like dating a brother! We lost track of each other for a couple years and then I found out he was still around. We went on a date for pizza and that was it! We have been married for over 18 years and have a 14 year old, the light of our world! Life isn't perfect but it sure is great and I wouldn't have it any other way!

    books4me67 at ymail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  27. I loved Chris's post! :)
    This sounds like an awesome read! I have read some 1NS stories and really enjoyed them.
    I met my love, my husband at a company party, where my mom (who also worked with us) introduced me to him. We had an amazing night of talking, dancing and laughing. It took 2 years for him to ask me out (only when my mom gave him permission), but he was definitely worth the wait! ;)
    I love books, too. I enjoy immersing myself in their worlds and characters.
    trb0917 at gmail.com

    ReplyDelete