Bedhead

BEDHEAD is an Ellora’s Cave erotic romance novella, part of the multi-author Skin Deep Series.

Here’s a blurb and adults-only excerpt.

Bedhead is a book in the Skin Deep series.

Michele Peterson is young, pretty, healthy…and bald. Being a woman with alopecia isn’t easy—not only do strangers treat her as if she’s a cancer patient, but hiding her bald head under a wig is hard on her sex life. Michele can’t shower with a lover or feel his hands tangled in her hair in the throes of passion. So at the age of twenty-six, she remains a virgin. Then a generous benefactor agrees to finance hair transplant surgery. Just in time too, because Michele thinks she’s met The One.

Andrew Calhoun doesn’t understand why the incredible woman he’s falling for is so distant—pulling away just as he thinks they’re making a connection. When he discovers her secret, he’ll have to make her realize that bald really is beautiful—before she goes through a potentially dangerous cosmetic surgery just for his sake. And the best way to make her feel desirable…is in bed.

By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age. If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary to exit this site.

An Excerpt From: BEDHEAD Copyright © SHOSHANNA EVERS, 2011

All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.

Andrew stared at Michele in surprise. Her long blonde hair was a wig? He’d never have guessed, perhaps because it just never would have occurred to him to think it might be. Some brown, short crinkly hairs stood out on her mostly bald head in patches. Her eyes were red and weepy as she quickly pulled the wig on.

“Michele?”

He didn’t know what to say, what to do. It wasn’t fair—he’d finally found a woman he could talk to and laugh with, a woman who turned him on like crazy, and she was sick. Had to be. Chemo made people lose their hair.

“Oh god, Michele,” he whispered, pulling her in close despite her stiffness in his arms. “You have cancer.”

“I do not have cancer,” she spat. “I’m perfectly healthy.”

“But, why—”

“It’s called alopecia, okay? I’m bald, that’s all. Don’t worry, I won’t make this any more awkward than it already is. I’ll leave now.” She squirmed in his arms and he released her.

“Wait,” he said, touching her arm. “Why do you have to leave?”

“Are you serious?”

“I’m so sorry I upset you. I know I’m not smooth and I’m so embarrassed—”

“You?” she asked incredulously. “You’re embarrassed? How do you think I feel?”

Andrew shook his head. “As long as you’re not sick, that’s all that matters. I don’t care that you’re wearing a wig.” He paused, thinking about what he’d just said. Was it true? Did he really not care Michele was bald?

She was still a beautiful woman, even without the wig. And now that he knew her baldness wasn’t indicative of cancer, he felt so relieved that she probably could have been missing a limb and he wouldn’t have been turned-off.

“You’re still hot,” he said finally.

She snorted and folded her arms over her chest.

“I mean it.”

Michele glanced pointedly down at his groin. He’d lost his erection. Sighing, he dropped his arms from her waist.

“That’s what I thought,” she whispered, her voice sounding raw and hurt.

“Gimme a break,” Andrew said. “I literally thought you were dying. Of course that made me go limp. But now that I know you’re okay, I can easily prove to you that you still turn me on.”

“If I lost my hair from chemo, it would mean I was getting treatment, not that I was dying anyway. I would be a survivor. Instead I’m just—”

“Beautiful,” he interrupted.

Michele raised her drawn-on eyebrows. “Yeah, right.”

Damn it.

Andrew pulled her against him and kissed her, forcing away the last two minutes from his memory so he could concentrate on the feel of her sweet lips on his. She let out a small sigh of pleasure and he ran his hands up over her breasts, dipping one finger below her neckline to touch the lacy bra beneath her shirt.

He started to pull her shirt up over her head but stopped himself. If he did that her wig would end up on the floor again and Michele would never forgive him twice for the same stupid mistake.

“I have an idea,” she whispered.

“Okay.” He held her tight against him, letting her feel his thick cock hard against her thigh. She really did still turn him on. There was something about her that made all his hormones go into overdrive. He felt like a horny teenager again.

“I’ll go into the bathroom and get naked,” she said. “Then I won’t have to worry about you tearing my ugly wig off again.”

“Or you could just leave it off so we don’t have to worry about it,” he suggested. “Either way. And it’s not ugly.”

“I may be about to fuck you, but I don’t know you well enough to be with you without my hair on. I can only be one kind of naked with you.”

“You have to stop saying the word naked if you want me to keep my hands to myself,” he said.

She smiled doubtfully and walked toward the bathroom. He smacked her ass as she went, eliciting a delightful yelp.

 

Michele closed the bathroom door behind her and took a deep breath. Her worst nightmare had just come true. She stared at herself in the mirror and grabbed some toilet paper to wipe her eyes, being careful not to dislodge the fake eyelashes.

Her wig came off in front of the one man she wanted to be totally sexy and desirable in front of. But…the world didn’t come to a crashing halt, as she’d always sort of imagined it would. He did go soft though, and he’d stared at her with a look of pure horror that she’d never forget.

Why, why did he have to be so damn sweet? What if he was really grossed out, and just didn’t want to hurt her feelings? Was this—her very first time having sex—going to be a pity fuck? Or something that he’d laugh about later with his buddies?

She could imagine the conversation.

So get this, guys. I bring this chick back to my place to bang, and her hair plops right off her head onto the floor! And I still banged her.

Yeah, they’d probably all lose their shit over that one. Big fucking joke.

Forget it. Straightening her wig, she stepped out of the bathroom. Andrew’s face fell when he saw her still fully dressed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t do this.”

“Okay,” he said. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything you don’t want to do.”

Ha. More like he didn’t want to be stuck pity-fucking a bald chick. Michele forced a smile on to her face and shrugged. But he really did look dejected. Could he really want to be with her, even after seeing her without her wig?

“Look, Andrew, you’re a stranger, so I’m going to be straight with you. I’m a virgin.” She felt herself blush at the words but she pushed on. If she didn’t tell him everything now she never would, and then she’d never see him again. “I’ve never felt comfortable enough about the whole alopecia thing to have sex with a man, and having you take my wig off was probably one of the most embarrassing things that’s ever happened to me.”

“Oh god, I am so sorry, Michele, I really am,” he said, grasping her hands in his. His hands felt so large and warm and comforting. “And if I’d known you were a virgin I would have probably not come on so strong. And now I’ve completely scared you off.”

Hearing the sincerity in Andrew’s voice, Michele found herself smiling. “Actually, I’m pretty sure that I’ve completely scared you off.”

“Great minds think alike,” he said.

She laughed at what had quickly become their inside joke. “I’m not so easily scared.”

“Me neither.” He leaned in and kissed her tentatively, pausing as if to ask her implicit permission. She responded by kissing him back, running her hands along his broad shoulders.

“I’m not ready to have sex with you,” she admitted.

“That’s fine, I understand,” he said. “We just met.”

“For some reason I thought it’d be easier with a stranger.”

Andrew shrugged. “Let me play with you. We don’t have to have sex.”

“Promise me you won’t go anywhere near my wig.”

Andrew looked chagrined but he nodded, pulling her toward him by her waist, his fingers on her waistband. “Someday you’ll let me touch of all you,” he said, unzipping her fly. He slid his hand into her panties.

Bedhead is part of the multi-author Skin Deep Series. Currently there are these books available from the series: