Cat
and mouse game
I'm very happy to
be a guest on Smoocher's Voice today! Dreamspinner Press will publish my new
release, Tidal Change, on September 17th. Tidal Change
is a shape-shifter story but it also has fantasy/fairy tale elements because
the main character, Marty, is a merman.
Have you ever had
a crush on someone, but didn't know whether the other person reciprocated your
feelings? I'm guessing most of us have been in that situation before. I
remember from a long, long time ago (and no, I'm not that old but it seems as
if it's been an eternity ago) the simmering sexual attraction between me and a
certain guy. We'd been friends forever, but there was more going on. Still,
neither made the first move, and after a while it felt like a cat and mouse game.
Will the cat get the mouse or not? We probably should've figured out which of
us was the cat—maybe then things would've been different. For me, it was
probably for the best, because I met the most wonderful man later. :)
To get back on
track, um, to get back to Tidal Change: As it says in the blurb, Rick
and Marty are attracted to each other, but every time Rick tries to get closer
to Marty, he pulls away. They're already friends, have a lot of shared
interests, and spend a lot of time together. Then there's also the sexual
attraction, which Rick is sure isn't one-sided, but Marty never acts on. No
matter how much Rick tries, Marty always shies away at the last second. Will
they still find their HEA?
Okay, that's only
a rhetorical question, but I'm sure you get my gist. Main question is—how will
they get to their HEA?
How about you?
Did you find your HEA already or are you looking out for it?
Buy link:
Blurb:
Something draws history teacher Rick Grady across the
school hall to German teacher Marty Lindson. Maybe it’s their shared love of
the ocean. Maybe it’s just that Marty is so hot, but maybe it’s something
more—something mysterious. All Rick knows is that every time he gets close,
Marty pulls away. After another cancelled date, Rick goes to Marty’s apartment
to demand an explanation. And what Rick discovers blows his mind.
The ocean calls to Marty because he’s a merman. He’s
been afraid to get close to Rick, not just to keep his world a secret, but
because Rick is his mate. And to claim his mate would change everything about
Marty. No matter how much he loves Rick, he doesn’t know if he’s ready to alter
his entire life.
Excerpt from Chapter Two:
“So what is it this time? I swear you’re
harder to catch than anyone else I’ve ever tried to date. We do have fun when
we’re together, like yesterday. We both like bowling and prowling over the flea
markets. And we both like going to the theater. Are you so hung up about our
age difference?” Rick made no attempt to hide the tiredness in his voice.
They’d never talked about Marty’s
resistance to starting a more intimate relationship, and so far, Rick hadn’t
pressed the issue. He’d been pissed off several times, yesterday being just the
latest occasion, but he’d always tried again and again. Still, for everyone
there came a point at which he couldn’t hold back any longer. He’d pursued
Marty for months now, and he still didn’t know whether Marty was genuinely
interested.
Wearing a wide-eyed expression, Marty
nudged Rick’s good leg with his foot. “No! It’s not such a big difference
anyway.”
“Twelve years is not a big difference?
Marty, I’m forty-six.”
“I know.” Marty smiled, then chortled.
“I made sure the whole school, or at least the whole staff, knew about your age
when you had your birthday last month.”
“Yeah, you did. I should have spanked
you for that,” Rick rumbled, even though he had to admit to himself the
surprise party had been the best birthday celebration he’d had in over a
decade. Not even Miller and Thatch’s attempts at getting into Marty’s pants had
dampened the fun.
“Sorry, I’m pretty vanilla, so no kink
for me,” Marty quipped.
“You could show me just how vanilla you
are?” Rick raised his eyebrow while he slowly pushed his hand up Marty’s thigh,
closing in on his crotch. Maybe boldness would do the trick?
Marty tensed up, but he didn’t stop
Rick’s approach, just peered at him with an expression Rick couldn’t interpret.
Marty’s chest rose and fell fast. Rick stopped at the point when he could trace
the bulge in Marty’s pants with his fingers. Marty gasped and Rick threw all
caution to the wind. He hauled himself out of his chair, stepped between
Marty’s dangling legs, and kissed him, all the while hoping Marty had locked
the door.
Marty responded eagerly. He opened his
mouth, allowing Rick’s tongue entry. Rick moaned at his first taste of Marty, a
combination of bitter coffee and something sweet, something that had to be
uniquely Marty because Rick had never tasted anything like it before. When he
ended the kiss, Marty’s eyes were closed and his lips puffy.
He dropped another kiss on Marty’s cheek
when Marty opened his eyes, looking bewildered, even stunned. Marty brought a
hand up to touch his lower lip, then whispered, “You kissed me.”
Rick snorted. “I’m glad we’re on the
same page.”
Marty rolled his eyes and punched Rick’s
biceps none too gently. Marty’s eyes crinkled when he couldn’t keep a smile
from appearing.
“So are we going out tonight?” Rick
asked.
The smile slipped from Marty’s face. He
shook his head. “No. Not tonight, I’m sorry.”
A bucket of cold water couldn’t have
sobered Rick up quicker. He withdrew his hand from Marty’s thigh and stepped
away. Marty canceled at least every second or third date they agreed on. Rick’s
shoulders slumped while weariness surged through him.
Right now, he only wanted to get to his
apartment and sleep for the next twenty-four hours and forget about chasing
Marty. With his cane clutched in his left hand, he grasped his backpack and
shouldered it on.
“Rick? We could… we could just make a
new date. How about Sunday? I don’t need to grade any papers on the weekend.
I’ll do all the grading during the week.”
“Doesn’t fit with my schedule. I need to
finish grading my tests. I don’t care if your German students can wait.” Rick
didn’t bother to hide his irritation. He faced Marty. “I’m done making an idiot
of myself. If you’re seriously interested, you know where to find me.”
“But—”
Chris T. Kat
Chris
T. Kat lives in the middle of Europe, where she shares a house with her husband
of many years and their two children. She stumbled upon the M/M genre by luck
and was swiftly drawn into it. She divides her time between work, her
family—which includes chasing after escaping horses and lugging around huge
instruments such as a harp—and writing. She enjoys a variety of genres, such as
mystery/suspense, paranormal, and romance. If there's any spare time, she
happily reads for hours, listens to audiobooks or does cross stitch.
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