A friend of mine just finished reading a draft of the next book coming out, Skoli on Ice and she asked me where she could find a Russian of her own. It struck me, not for the first time, that everyone has a different kind of man that appeals to them. For me, it was my first male lead, Johnny Scalera, in Cold Sweat. I had a definite picture in my mind from listening to all those heavy metal drummers when I was younger. Physically fit, long hair, bulging biceps from pounding those skins, tattoos. The thrumming beat they set carried the band’s rhythm and style. Musicians seem to call to me although none so much as that kind of percussionist.

The female lead of Cold Sweat was also a musician in her own right. Tish was a pianist, in every sense of the word, and I listened to hours of music by talented female classical performers absorb the essence of who they were and how they played, and somehow translate it into words. Tish was a virtuoso, who had passion and heart, with not only a talent for the keys, but a growing sense of who she was as a woman.

Some might say Johnny and Tish are two of my favorite people because their story was the first published as an eBook. But they weren’t my first couple. I’d written several books that have yet to see the light. And have written several since but it’s Johnny that still pulls at my heartstrings.

Who are you drawn to as a male lead? Musician, cop, Marine, fireman, athlete, other?