Earlier this week I signed my second contract for an M/M Erotic Romance and I’m ecstatic it’s with Dreamspinner Press! I found some of my earliest M/M Romances there and am tickled they want to add me to their impressive list of authors.
The working title is Sea Change, and it was drafted about a half-mile from where this picture was taken. This picture is a few years older than the story, but my view was pretty much the same! I’ve already posted two snippets on Six Sentence Sunday and was about to repeat one of them when I realized my superstition about posting non-contracted work seems to be baseless. Maybe I’m a little like Neil and posted them behind my own back because it’s actually lucky?
If you think you’ve read this before it’s not because your ESP is working overtime, the beginning is familiar (and I’d still advise squinting a bit as you read because it’s unedited) but this time it doesn’t stop with a tease of muscular stomach . . .
[After lunch in a little tourist-trap diner/tavern on the Oregon coast.]
They each had two balls left on the table and Ty asked if Neil wanted to make it more interesting.
Neil laughed. “Not sure I can handle more interesting. But what do you have in mind?”
“Loser buys dinner.”
Ty bent over to line up his shot and his tank top draped over the table, giving Neil a prime view of tanned chest and a tease of muscular stomach. Ty missed an easy bank shot.
“Or I can get it after I win.” Neil sunk the two-ball in the side, and then bumped a stripe in for Ty along with the six. As he lined up the eight-ball Neil realized what he’d done. He’d just asked this young guy out to dinner. He’d never asked anyone out before, not once, and this seemed as though he’d done it behind his own back. His hands shook enough to ensure the cue ball followed the eight straight into the pocket.
Ty laughed. His laugh made Neil grin even through the burning blush he was sure encompassed his entire face, neck and most of his chest.
“I warned you I wasn’t very good.”
Ty shook his head. “You weren’t kidding.” He replaced his cue in the rack and maybe he was a little pale when he turned back around. “You don’t have to—”
“You’re suggesting I welch?”
Ty’s grin returned that fast, forcing Neil to wonder again about his age. When he grinned like that he looked almost as old as Neil himself, who wasn’t quite ready to admit he was pushing forty. But when he’d turned away from the cue rack he’d seemed barely old enough to be in the bar. Ty’s grin stretched and Neil realized he’d been staring.
“Where would you like to eat?”
“You’re buying, so you decide.”
“My hotel has a restaurant next door. I don’t know if it’s any good . . .”
Okay that was mean, I admit it, but you’ll have to wait and see what happens next. In the meantime, click on the banner and head on over to Facebook to see who’s posting this week!
Charley Descoteaux 
Congrats to you Charley. You must be thrilled. A second book!!!!
Thanks! I am–it’s been so hard to concentrate this week! *lol*
absolutely!!
Aw, you tease! I like Neil already. That was a great snippet…guys playing pool are hot 😀
Thanks for coming by, Jade! They sure are, especially when they don’t realize how hot it truly is. 🙂
Congrats on the new contract Charley! I’ve very happy for you. Great excerpt too, btw 🙂
Thanks, Anne! 🙂
Congrats on the new contract! I really like this snippet, mostly because it’s really, really, good and partly because I’ve done things behind my own back. Great snippet.
Thanks, Jess! He’s a little on the hapless side, but I love Neil.
So nice that there’s a restaurant so close to the hotel, hmmm? I love this combination of sweet, uncertain, and sexy.
It’s a tourist town, so every other driveway is either a hotel or a restaurant. Completely innocent reference to the hotel. *angelic smile*
Uh-huh. Sure. 😀
Love a first “date”. Nicely done, Charley. 🙂
Thanks, Siobhan. 🙂
yeay!! Congrats on the new contract! Well deserved, too — loved the snippet xx
Thanks, I’m excited to dig into editing & all that other fun stuff!
Tease! And congrats on the new contract! Yay! Loved the excerpt and left me curious about Ty’s age.
*lol* It took me forever to find out how old that dude really was! This story is all in Neil’s POV & the poor guy is horrible at that kind of thing, but he has his reasons. 😀
Thanks for stopping by on a weekend when you’re so busy, Elyzabeth!
That snippet reminded me of one of those scenes where the pursued says, “No.” and then, “stop” again a few more times, really meaning yes, until it evolved into, “Don’t stop.”
Well done!
Except in Neil’s case it’s more like “what?” and “who, me?”
Thanks! 🙂
Congratulations on the new contract! From this snippet, I can see why your writing is in demand. 🙂
loved your style of writing and congratulations on the contract. How exciting. 🙂
Ooooh! Must read! When it gets pub’d you will have to post the link in Saturday Studs so that I can run out and buy it:)
I’m loving your writing style of show and tell, then don’t tell. Tricky!