Welcome, welcome! Nice to see you! If you’re coming in from A.S Fenichel’s blog, then you know that today is Teaser Tuesday. And if you’re new here? Well, today is Teaser Tuesday! You get to come in and have a taste of something new.
Now, my only issue is what new thing to serve? Should it be my newest finished manuscript? Blood Bound is an erotic paranormal romance where vampires and humans live side by side, set in a modern New York City. It’s still in edits, so things might be a little raw. Or perhaps I should serve up some of Bones of Earth, my ongoing new adult fantasy serial. Chance of spoilers on that one, though. It’s book three of a four book series.
Hrm…
Well, why not both?
Here’s a slice of Blood Bound: (A completely SFW excerpt)
Daniel laughed and hung up, then took his cup of coffee out into the living room. “Hiro!” he called. “Clara is here early! She’s on her way up.”
Hiro appeared in the bedroom door. “Is she?” he asked, coming out into the living room. He was mostly dressed in a gray suit, but he had his coat thrown over his arm, and a tie was dangling from one hand. He held it up. “Do you know how to tie this, Daniel?”
“A tie?” Daniel asked. He nodded. “Yeah, I can do that. Need help?”
Hiro laid his coat on the back of the couch and handed the tie to Daniel. “If you would?” he asked.
Daniel smiled and ran the silk through his fingers. He moved over to the couch and perched on the arm, then gestured Hiro closer. Hiro came to stand in front of Daniel, and Daniel draped the tie over his own shoulder before reaching up to fasten the topmost button of Hiro’s shirt. “Do you want fancy, or functional?”
“Functional will do,” Hiro answered. “I will have you show fancy to me later.”
“Sure,” Daniel said as he raised Hiro’s collar and picked up the tie. It was dark blue, with a pattern in silver that made Daniel think of fancy marble tiles. He slid the tie around Hiro’s neck and positioned it, hearing a soft chime. A moment later, Clara’s voice rang out.
“Good morning! I brought bagels and babka. And I brought hot chocolate, Hiro.”
“Just a minute, Clara,” Daniel called back. He checked the lengths of the ends of the tie, then started working, wrapping and tucking, then wrapping and tucking again, winding the silk around itself, then up and tugging the end down through a loop to form a perfect knot. He adjusted it, then smoothed Hiro’s collar. “There you are. All put together.”
Hiro smiled. “You did that well,” he said. “What is it?”
“Full Windsor.”
Hiro nodded. “And what would have the fancy been?”
“Either an Eldredge or a Trinity. I like them both. But they’re better with a solid tie. For a pattern like this, a Full Windsor is better. Or a Victoria.” Daniel grinned at the look on Hiro’s face. “I checked a book out of the library. All sorts of fancy knots for ties. I picked it up when I thought I’d be going in to the prep school. Thought it would be useful.”
“It is extremely useful,” Hiro agreed. His smile softened, and he raised his hands to rest on either side of Daniel’s neck. “I repeat. The rest of the vampires in New York are blind. And I am very lucky.”
“I think I’m the lucky one,” Daniel replied. He reached out and tugged on Hiro’s tie. “I’m going to enjoy taking care of you.”
Hiro leaned down and kissed him, and time seemed to stop. Daniel slid his hands down Hiro’s chest, letting them come to rest on his waist for a moment before hooking his fingers into the belt loops on Hiro’s pants and tugging him closer.
“I have an idea for tomorrow,” he murmured when Hiro let him breathe again.
“You’re thinking,” Hiro grumbled. “I’m doing something wrong.”
“Well, I have clothes on,” Daniel pointed out. “That’s an automatic penalty on the kicker.”
Want to know what the idea was? Well, you’re going to have to be patient. This one is going off to Circlet.
Now, for Bones of Earth, I’m going back to the beginning. So here, have some fantasy new adult poly romance.
There was a definite taste of spring in the air, for all that the wind off the ocean was still brittle-cold. Owyn stepped down off the front stoop and shoved his hands into his coat pockets, heading toward the center of Terraces and the healing complex. He needed gloves, he reminded himself. He should really stop by the dispensary. He made a mental note, and then promptly forgot again as he started to review his running mental checklist.
Finish the assessment of which houses had been too badly damaged by the winter storms to be immediately habitable. That he should be finished with today.
Determine which of those houses could be repaired, and which needed to be demolished. He’d told Jehan that he could have that report ready within a week of finishing the assessment. So far, he expected to be on time.
Arrange repairs on those houses that could be finished first. He needed to work with Marik on that — he had a better idea of who could do what in Terraces.
Seal off the houses that were going to be demolished. See what could be salvaged from them. That needed to wait for spring and warmer weather, he thought. So did the repairs. But having a list of which to do first would be a good thing.
Convince Aria that she was wrong. An ongoing project, and one with no end in sight.
Find Aven. Another ongoing project.
Overthrow Mannon and see Aria on the throne as Firstborn. Tabled until he finished the last two.
He sighed and hunched down into his coat as a cold wind trailed down the back of his neck. It had never gotten this cold in Forge. He’d never seen seen snow like he’d seen this past winter. Or storms, for that matter — one right after the other, with no respite to repair damage or bring in supplies. There were still a lot of people living in the shelter caverns beneath the healing complex, because their homes weren’t safe. And they’d stay there until he finished his job. Which meant that he needed to go to work.
If you want to know more about Owyn and his world, you can catch up by checking out the first two Heir to the Firstborn books, or by joining me over on Patreon, where I put up one chapter of the serial every Friday night
Now, our next stop on today’s tasting menu is over with Caro Kinkead. I have no idea what she’s serving today, but I’m sure it’ll be fun!
