Hello! Instead of rambling along, I thought I offer an exclusive excerpt later on in my newest novella, Treasure Trail. This excerpt comes out of Chapter Two. I hope everyone enjoys learning a little more about Derick and Chris.
Derick stepped out into the main room. He dropped his backpack on the end of the bar and leaned against it. He walked down about halfway. Chris sat on a stool with three plates in front of him. Two were empty while he worked on the last plate. A glass of tea rested near the plates. With an amused shake of his head, Derick took the empty plates and added them to a bucket for washing in the morning. “Are you enjoying yourself with this caloric feast?”
Pausing with a forkful of decadent double-chocolate brownie, Chris looked up with a smile. A smear of chocolate was on the corner of his mouth. “After the workout I had the past couple of days, umm, yeah, I’m gonna fill me up with all of this. Since I’m not having sex, chocolate is the next best thing. Same rush of endorphins. Right?”
Derick raised his eyebrows in surprise. “So I’ve heard.” Though he wanted to clean the smudge for Chris, he pointed to the corner of his mouth. “Missed a spot.”
“What?” Chris moved his other hand and found the smear. He licked the chocolate off his finger. “Can’t waste any of it. What have you heard?”
Derick got hard at the sight of Chris licking the chocolate. He cleared his throat, poured himself a glass of iced tea, and then circled around to sit on the stool next to Chris. “About the endorphins, I mean.”
“Right. Sorry, a bit off tonight. Long day. Hell, Mondays, I swear, they bite you in the ass,” Chris said before he stuffed the forkful in his mouth and slowly pulled it back. His lips and tongue working the edges were so damn sensual they got Derick’s cock harder. “This is one helluva brownie.”
Derick shifted on the stool and carefully took a sip. “I’ll tell the chef you enjoy it.”
Chris swallowed the bite and licked the chocolate off the fork. He scooped up another generous morsel and held it toward Derick. “Want some? It’s the last plate, so it’ll be all gone. You know you wanna.”
“I had… umm….” Derick stopped and looked at Chris’s eager gaze along with the brownie. “Sure. I’ll get another fork.”
“No need. I don’t have germs. I promise.” Chris cupped his hand under the fork and leaned closer so Derick didn’t have to stretch far to reach it.
“I’m taking you at your word. If I get the flu….”
“I’ll bring over homemade chicken soup, lots of medicine, tissues, blankets, and me with all of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series. ’Cause, don’t know about you, but that elf, Legolas, and the head dwarf, Thorin…. Hello. I got a huge man crush on them,” Chris said as he wiggled the fork. “Go on. It won’t bite back.”
“Since I have the entire series on HD Blu-Ray, extended editions with all of the appendices, there wouldn’t be a need for those particular ones. But I wouldn’t mind the company and a personal nurse to soothe and comfort me while I suffer from the man flu.” He opened his mouth and let Chris slip in the decadent bite. He closed his lips around the fork, staring at Chris as he pulled back, leaving the fork empty. He licked around his lips to catch any leftover chocolate and chewed.
Chris wiggled on his own stool with a wide grin. “Are you a fellow Tolkien geek who has to learn more?”
“Of course.” Derick took a few sips to wash down the brownie. “Who wouldn’t want to know more about Middle Earth?”
“See. That’s what I tell the numbskulls all the time, but they don’t get it,” Chris said with a shake of his head. “Of course, I do the same thing with all of the Pirates movies. I try to claim the movies are research for work, but after the twentieth-something time…. Well.”
“It gets into a gray area about the whole ‘work’ claim. Personally, I prefer the Marvel movies.”
“Oh, be still my bleeding heart,” Chris said and pressed his hand against his chest. “All those gorgeous manly bodies in tight suits. A gay man’s dream come true on the big screen.”
Derick chuckled. He took a few more sips to keep his nerves calm, though he was enjoying their conversation. “Are you really sitting here to enjoy a decadent brownie and talk about movie stars?”
“I figured you would ask soon,” Chris said, then licked the fork after scraping the plate clean. He set it down and looked at Derick. “Guess you wonder why I’m here so late.”
“It did cross my mind.”
“We just wrapped up a late practice, and I was in….”
“The area?”
Chris wiggled the fork toward him with a grin. “We can go with that. Was actually closer to the fort, but I do have to come past here on my way home. Thought, why not? I figured I could see if you were still open. Jim was kind to let me in before he locked the gates. In addition, he gave me all these yummy goodies. Either way, here I am.”
“Then you didn’t come here only for the brownies.”
“Oh, well, getting a chance to talk to you again was my first reason. Especially since my wacky friends aren’t here. I didn’t know about these chocolate wonders. Though I’m not going to forget about them anytime soon.”
“So….”
“So…,” Chris repeated and then a sheepish grin filled his face. “Reason I’m here.”
Derick waited him out.
“Just wanted to talk again. Without the liquid courage. Was rather embarrassed about how off I was.”
“Oh, I don’t think I mind the tipsy you. It was endearing,” Derick said and paused for a moment.
STATES OF LOVE – Florida
Treasure Trail
Nicole Dennis
Publisher : Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 24th, 2016
Blurb:
Owner of Matey’s Tavern, a popular brewpub-tavern in St. Augustine, Florida, Derick Keyes loves his adopted hometown and job. He also harbors a crush on a pirate captain.
Tour guide for the popular Pirate Pub Walking Tour, Christopher Easton portrays a pirate captain as he takes visitors on a guided tour of St. Augustine, stopping at certain taverns for a pint of grog and tales of the golden age of piracy. With a little liquid courage, Chris breaks the endless looping dance and talks to Derick. Things change between them. Derick wants a chance for more with Chris.
During the Annual Pirate Festival, Derick creates a treasure hunt for Chris after “cursing” him. To break the curse, Chris must find four clues before the final battle on Sunday night. Only then can the curse be broken.
States of Love: Stories of Romance that span every corner of the United States.
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Nicole Dennis
Dreamy…Sensual…Forever Love
A quiet one, Nicole Dennis curled up with the latest book of a favorite author. Since the beginning, there were these characters in her head, worlds wanting to be built on paper, and stories wanting to be told. She began writing during class and continues to this day. Now she can let others into her imagination and worlds that always celebrate the love between two or more people within LGBT, paranormal, and fantasy.
During the day, she works in a quiet office in Central Florida, where she also makes her home, and enjoys the down time to slip into her imagination. She is owned by a semi-demonic tortie calico, affectionately known as Fat Cat.
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