Here’s a rough excerpt from the holiday novella I’m writing right now. I also wanted to share a photo of Lola, Jericho’s Maltese. I’m trying not to let her steal the book. I want to trade my crazy husky in for a Maltese. (Don’t tell her that.)
I also wanted to remind you that you can still check out the delicious books in the Touched for the First Time book celebration. If you love sweet virgins, these books are for you!
Every Day Without You is a M/M novella that takes place over a couple of Christmas’s, a Winter Solstice, and a New Year. It’s a Contemporary PNR with two settings—urban and fantasy. Basically, it’s the story of Jericho, an artist who can’t move on after a bad break up. The Earth Mother, the Fae queen, loves him and is upset he’s no longer painting. She sends one of her servants, an Imp, Kenric, to get him over his ex and make him paint again. Kenric assumes he can manage this by fucking him. It’s not going to be that easy.
***
I want to touch his cheek. My index finger curls up, scraping the rug. I don’t act on the feeling. There are so many reasons not to go there.
“What was your partner’s name?”
That was a surprise. “Stephan.”
His nose crinkles, hiking his glasses up. “That sounds weak.”
A snicker escapes me. He’s so weird. “You think?”
He rolls on his side, facing me, propping his head up with a crooked arm. “Yeah, it does. And he must have been a complete moron to have left you.”
“Uh, thanks.” That sounded so insecure.
With a heavy sigh, he flops back down and turns over on his back. One hand trails down his chest. It’s covered by a shirt, but I know what lies underneath. I imagine tracing in between those pectoral muscles with my fingers, my nails grazing his skin.
Lola gives a whine and drags herself, on her belly, across the rug. She ends up between us. I lean over to pet her and give her smooches. She licks Kenric’s nostrils, then kisses his glasses and his entire face. He moans and shields his head. I chide her, but I also laugh. “No, Lola! He doesn’t like doggie kisses.”
He plucks her up and holds her over him. His glasses are smudged and kicked up on one side, half off his face. Quiet now, Lola cocks her head at him. “She is kind of cute, isn’t she?” He sets her on his chest and pets down her back.
“She likes to be stroked behind her ears.” I demonstrate. He copies me, and then our fingers touch.
His eyes are bright in the darkness. They’re an almost preternatural green, like a cat’s. I would paint him in monotones—his skin gray as a corpse—shrouded by darkness. The only color would be those eyes, partially hidden behind his glasses.
A hunger fills those cat-green eyes. He peers directly into me, caressing my dog’s neck like I want him to caress my body. I long to melt into him. To feel his hard body against me. To fill his muscular hole with my own hard flesh.
It’s been so long since I’ve been inside another man.
I suck a deep breath to clear my head. I barely know this guy. I’m not promiscuous; never have been. And what would it mean? He’s not Stephan. I don’t love him. No one will ever be Stephan. That was a one in a million kind of love. This would be a meaningless fuck with a stranger.
***
Here’s a picture of what I imagine Lola looks like. Isn’t she a cutie?
Hope everything in your life is good!
Always love,
Sionnach
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