My upcoming Loose Id title HOW TO SAVE A LIFE is the first book in a new series that's releasing next week. So today I thought I'd share a preview of Walter and Kevin's story.
Title: How to Save a Life
Author: Sloan Parker
Genre: Gay Romantic Suspense
Length: Long Novel
Blurb
Reporter Kevin Price has a knack for tripping over his own feet. And everyone else’s. He’s in over his head undercover at the Haven, a swanky gay sex club, determined to find out why members of the club keep vanishing. Five minutes inside and he can no longer deny the truth about his sexuality. He turns to the one man he can’t get out of his head, the sexy ex-cop handling security. Too bad Kevin doesn’t trust cops. Not since the only night he let himself be with another man.
Walter Simon doesn’t do the club scene anymore. Not since he found love and lost it. That doesn’t mean he’ll let anyone hurt more innocent gay men. Even if that means going head-to-head with the klutzy, closeted, much-younger reporter. Kevin has information about the disappearances. Better to keep him close. And safe.
Neither is at the club to hook up or fall in love. Now they must work together amid their growing passion in order to uncover the truth before more men disappear.
Note: How to Save a Life features Walter Simon, a secondary character from MORE, but can be read as a stand-alone story.
Excerpt
Walter brushed the back of his index finger over Kevin’s lips. He’d always
loved kissing. Even in his youth, when most of the guys wanted nothing more than
the fucking or the sucking, he’d loved the kissing and touching and exploring.
Kevin liked it too. He was sure of that. He’d felt it in the first kiss. And the
second.
“I know what you want. And so do you.” Walter gave up on the
touching and offered Kevin a little distance. “You’ve never been with a man,
have you?”
“Yes. No. Yes.” Kevin blew the hair out of his eyes. “Yes, I
have.”
“What? You get stroked off by another boy in junior high school?”
“No.”
“You did more than a teenage experiment?”
“Yes.
Sort of.”
Walter moved in close once more. “I’m guessing it’s been a
very long time, and you’ve been denying yourself what you really wanted most of
your life—what you still want.”
It took a moment, as if he had to force
his body to comply, and then Kevin nodded.
“You’re not out?” Walter
asked. Without giving it much thought, the tone of his voice had shifted to
something softer.
“No.”
“Do you have a wife?”
“No. I
wouldn’t…” Kevin gestured with his hand between them.
“A girlfriend?”
“Yes. I mean, no.”
“Which is it? If you can’t remember if you
have a girlfriend, then trust me, you don’t have one anymore.”
“I don’t.
Have one anymore, I mean.” Kevin sucked in a deep breath. “Talking to you is
exhausting.”
“Talking to you is entertaining.”
Kevin rolled his
eyes. He sobered. Staring at Walter’s shoes, he said, “I left her. My
girlfriend, Sondra. A couple of months ago.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work
out.”
“We’re still friends.” Kevin lifted his head. “We’ve been friends
for a long time.”
“Which is why you stayed with her for so long.” Walter
took another step closer. “And now?”
Kevin evaded his gaze again.
The silence stretched on between them. Walter wasn’t about to back down. He
had years of experience pushing people for the truth.
Something told him
with Kevin, there was a fine line between not pushing enough and pushing too
hard.
KEVIN DID NOT want to talk about this. Yet a part of him
longed to do just that.
Here, in this room, with a gay man listening to
him, he couldn’t pretend any longer. He wanted to kiss Walter again, let his
tongue wander over those lips, down along the skin of his neck to the warm flesh
under his clothes, his chest, and lower to his abs, and even lower. He wanted to
taste it all. He couldn’t hide from that fact. Not any longer.
He’d
known for months now that he’d been heading to this moment. Whether he’d wanted
to admit it or not."
It had been easy to keep the promise he’d made in
his youth. At least while he’d been with Sondra. He wasn’t a cheater. Now that
she was gone, now that he was here, now that he’d felt this man’s touch…he was
done holding back.
Walter cupped his chin and forced him to look up.
“I guess I can’t hide from it forever.”
“That’s good. You don’t have
to hide. Not here. Not in this room. Not with me.”
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE coming January 15th to Loose Id.
Sloan Parker
has been writing and playing with fictional characters for years, but
she finally found her true passion when she began telling stories about
two men (or more) falling in love. Now she spends her writing life
creating m/m erotic romances and romantic suspense. She loves to explore
the lives of people who are growing as individuals while falling in
love. Her greatest moments in life are spent with her family, her
friends, and her characters. www.sloanparker.com
