Thursday, November 23, 2017

Let us be thankful for many things

November 23, 2017

Standing Guard

Long ago I tread a path
A misty woodland way
I had no company along the trek
So the trees could have their say

They spoke to me in silence
With movement seen not heard
And I replied in quiet kind
Walking without a word

The day ahead held demands
Devoid of mist and air
I could not whine or complain
Or do what trees don't dare

Beneath the ground unseen by all
Their roots do intertwine
Reminding me the path ahead
Leads home to all that's mine



Happy Thanksgiving!

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com



Wednesday, November 15, 2017

The Back Stairs by KC Kendricks for the MidWeek Tease


November 15, 2017
**Updated 4/2/21 - the MidWeek Tease blog hop is closed.**

 Welcome to the world of a true shapeshifter - Sundown's world. His kind can take on any form they choose - which gets pretty interesting for Sundown's lover, Fallon. 

This week for the MidWeek Tease, I have a couple of excerpts from The Back Stairs and the beginning of Fallon and Sundown's story. Be sure to check out all the MidWeek Tease offering using the list at the end of this post. Enjoy!

_*_*_*_*_


He smiled, and I melted inside, but I kept my best officer of the law face sternly in place.

“I heard it on the grapevine, Lieutenant. The fire marshal made us stop using smoke signals because it sent the boys in the station house into a tizzy.”

I knew the man he spoke of, and my cop composure cracked as I grinned at him.

“That would do it. Listen, whatever your name is, someone’s son is dead, and I need to find out who killed him, and why. If you don’t have any pertinent information, I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

He regarded me coolly, his green gaze strangely familiar. I’d seen him somewhere before, and it would bug the hell out of me until I remembered where. 

Why had Muffin told me to come here? My cop instincts, which were pretty good, said this fellow had told me the truth when he said he didn’t know Carlton. Those same instincts whispered the man was hiding something, though. But who didn’t have secrets?

“Come in and have a seat, Fallon. I happen to have some very good Kona coffee beans. I’ll grind up a few and put on a pot to brew.”

The hair on my arms prickled with unease. “How do you know my name? I didn’t give it to you.” 

My business card simply said, ‘F. Roxbury’. I didn’t give my name to Muffin, either. As for the coffee, Kona was difficult for me to turn down. 

“Word travels around here.” He took a step backward and motioned for me to take a seat at his table. 

I took a breath to tell him I was leaving, and caught the aroma of fresh-brewed java beneath the scents of sandalwood and patchouli. I was tired of getting jerked around, even by a man so incredibly sexy. Put it on to brew, my ass. 

“You’re awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you? I don’t need pseudo-intimate conversation any more than I need to flirt.” 

He shook his head. “You didn’t listen very well, Fallon.”

“Listen to what? I’ve a mind to haul your scrawny carcass down to the precinct house and let someone else pick your brain for answers, but I don’t have a legitimate reason to have you interrogated. Yet.”

“Tough talk, but you don’t mean any of it. Please, Fallon. Come. Sit at my table, and think of nothing but my very good coffee.”

Would it be so bad to spend half an hour talking with this attractive young man? Heaven help me, he drew me, a tired moth to his steady flame. And he had my favorite coffee, already hot.

Words echoed in my memory. I tried to pull them in so I could hear them again. What had Muffin said? More importantly, it was what she hadn’t said. She didn’t actually say anyone here knew Michael Carlton. 

“I’ll sit at your table on one condition.”

He tilted his head, a smile teasing his full lips. “Oh? What is that?”

“You tell me your name.”

Was it victory I saw in his green eyes, or desire? I needed to know if they were the same. His chin lifted as his gaze locked to mine.

“You can call me Sundown.”

_*_*_*_

And later...


Sundown shook his head. “She didn’t see Michael Carlton, dead or alive, or anyone else go in or out of the alley until your people showed up.”

I clamped down on my anger. “That’s good to know, but I need to hear it from her.”

“Do you?” He cocked his head to the side. “You’re out of luck, Fallon. She is gone from here, and it is beyond my ability to bring her back.”

“Why’d she send me here, then?”

His green eyes flashed with his inner fire, anchoring me where I stood. “So I could give you want you needed, Fallon. What you need me to give you again.”

“Don’t be so damn sure of yourself. I don’t need you.” I lied, and he knew it, the knowledge reflected back at me in his level gaze.

“Come inside and tell me you do not need what I offer you.”

I didn’t think I could. My resolve to bully him into giving up Muffin’s whereabouts waned with every pheromone-laden breath I took. I stood inside the ring of warmth and scent that surrounded him. My erection relentlessly swelled toward completion, and I couldn’t stop it.

“I can’t compromise my investigation further, Sundown. Carlton’s parents are flying in to claim the body. I need to have answers for them.”

His fingers grazed mine, the gentle touch heating my blood.

“I knew you were a good man. I trust you, Fallon. Will you trust me?”

“I trust you to be nothing but trouble.”

_*_*_*_

ABOUT THE BACK STAIRS:

Fallon Roxbury has a nose for trouble and the uncanny ability for landing in the middle of it the moment he finds it. While investigating the gruesome murder of a young male prostitute in the red-light district, Fallon gets a whiff of something very strange. Forensics has unidentified hairs. Very unidentified hairs, like nothing in any of the textbooks. Following a tip from a person of interest, Fallon meets Sundown, an apparent hustler who knows a lot more than he will admit.

Getting personally involved with Sundown breaks every rule in the police manual, and in Fallon’s own personal code. Sundown is like a drug, and Fallon can’t stop at just one hit. When Sundown is forced to reveal the truth, Fallon’s world is turned upside down, and he’s left with only two options: check himself in for psychiatric evaluation, or accept a new reality with a strange shift.

Shapeshifters, that is.


The Back Stairs (Book #1 of the Sundown saga) is available at:







KC Kendricks
twitter.com/kckendricks










Sunday, November 12, 2017

A updated cover for Desert Snow

**updated March 29, 2021**

November 12, 2017


The adventure in Photoshop continues! 

One of the cool perks of making my own covers is the ability to create a new cover when the original cover begins to annoy me for some reason. 

Or I get sucked into reading some article that says two characters on a cover are more effective than one, which is what happened here. Whatever, eh? 

I do confess to cheating a bit. I had the cover stock for both these guys in the files. I like the guy in white - what else would someone at a White Party wear? The other man? Let's pretend his shirt is white and he's just standing in a shadow. 

The plan was to go back through the blog and update the previous cover on all the posts but I don't think that's going to happen. The most recent ones about Desert Snow are updated and I'm going to let it go with that instead of driving myself crazy. I've done enough of that lately.

KC

Check out the Desert Snow page for all the info.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Puppy love

November 5, 2017

Deuce and I took a long walk through the woods yesterday. It was a perfect autumn day for it about 65F with the sun shining. The spousal unit, also known as "Daddy," stayed home to watch our progress on his phone. 

You see, Deuce has a tracker on his collar. His Daddy said he got a good laugh watching the blue line go forward and back, to the left, to the right, and then forward again. 

I walked about two miles. Deuce? He probably covered about five miles. The dog couldn't go in a straight line even for a Griller treat. 

He's a very animated and expressive fellow, our Deuce. We enjoy having him, every day. And I enjoy sharing Deuce through his blog, Deuce's Day

He's quite a fellow.

KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Tango in the Night by KC Kendricks for the MidWeek Tease

November 1, 2017
**Updated 4/2/21 - the MidWeek Tease blog hop is no longer open.**

Welcome to Wednesday and another MidWeek Tease blog hop! This week, I have a little tease from Tango in the Night. This has long been a favorite story of mine (yes, the author does get to have a few faves).

Enjoy!

_*_*_*_*_


Ellis sat behind his desk, chin anchored in his left palm while his right index finger idly tapped the page in front of him. Lucky for me, a member of the janitorial staff busily washed the windows in my new office and I had an excuse not to go in there yet.

I had two choices. I could hide my interest in him, be the gruff senior agent, or I could let him know how strongly he had things stirring inside me. If I chose the latter, we needed to hash a few things out, namely how not to allow a mutual sexual curiosity affect the job.

Standing in the doorway, looking at him, I didn’t know which would win today. Ellis glanced up and saw me. He straightened, his chest expanding as he drew in a deep breath. I nodded and stepped into the squad room.

“Ellis. Are you on call, or just catching up?”

“I’m puzzled, mostly.”

I snorted and let the southern drawl creep into my speech. “Ain’t we all, most days?”

He almost smiled, the corner of his mouth twitching, and mimicked my accent. “I heard you hailed from Ken-tuck.”

“Yep. With a name like ‘Jubal’, where the hell did you think I was from?” I snagged the nearest chair and rolled it a bit closer to him. “What are you puzzled about?”

His gaze drilled into mine, his warm blue eyes eloquently saying he meant me. I smiled to let him know I appreciated his interest, but was careful not to show encouragement. He must have gotten the message. He flipped a folder at me. “There’s a few missing pieces here.”

I opened the folder and kept my surprise out of my voice. “This is an old case. I worked it for a while, but it went cold.”

“It ties into a new one, I just know it.”

A cold fist seized my heart. This case was potentially dangerous. I looked up at him. Ellis was running on instinct and that gut feeling that settled over you when you know what you can’t yet prove. His earnest expression begged me to believe him. I did, and I wished to heaven I could warn him off this one, but it would tip my hand.

“Keep digging, then. Trust your gut.”

“Should I trust what my gut says about you, Agent Graham?”

I closed the file and laid it back on his desk, my gaze flicking to the window washer. He was finished, putting all his supplies back in his cart. I waited until he exited to reply.

“Ellis, you and I need to get a few things straight.”

He tapped the signet ring. “That’s not your initial. The guy you were with last night?”

“No. I was with a friend last night. You were on a date.”

“So, maybe I should take you out on a date.”

“Ellis…” I froze as his fingers closed around mine, a delighted little quiver pulsing through my penis. I was intensely curious about the man, but we were in too public a place for this to continue. I pulled away. “Don’t do that here.”

“Will you go out with me, Jubal?”

Persistence was a good thing for a drug enforcement agent to have, but I wasn’t sure I liked his directed at me. I wasn’t sure I didn’t like it, either. It was certainly different to be on this side of the pursuit.

“Why did you come to my house last night?”

Ellis looked away as a flush crept up his neck. “I needed to know if your boyfriend lived with you.”

I clamped down on my temper. He was out of line, and his eyes said he knew how far. I counted to five before I responded. “He’s not my boyfriend. Don’t do it again. If he sees you dogging me, it’ll scare him.”

“Like I’m scaring you, Jubal?”

“You’re not scaring me.”

“Oh, the hell I’m not.” Ellis leaned back in his chair. “Okay. We’ll do it the old southern way. Even straights say a year is enough to mourn. You can play the reluctant widower for another two months. I’ll let you. Then you go out with me.”

“Boy, you don’t know anything about me.”

“Wrong. You were all anyone talked about when I transferred in. I took notes.”

“You’re an arrogant fucker, aren’t you?”

Ellis grinned as he stood and stretched, treating me to an eye level display of the full, rounded bump at the base of his zipper. He looked down at me, his expression pure insolence.

“Takes one to know one, Agent Graham.”
_*_*_*_*_*_

TANGO IN THE NIGHT

Jubal Graham is back on the job after a shooter took the life of his long-time partner, and sent him into a coma followed by months of rehab. Determined to have justice, Jubal is focused on finding a killer, not a new romantic entanglement. Ellis Banks, with his smoldering blue eyes and denim-clad swagger is a distraction Jubal can’t afford – or ignore.

Ellis Banks came to Philadelphia to bust a drug operation; one that connects to the same case agency legend Kentuckian Jubal Graham is working. Ellis finds himself drawn to Jubal, but Jubal holds him off. Sure that Jubal is interested, even though he wears his slain lover’s ring, Ellis mounts a determined siege.

Jubal’s surprise at having a suitor develops into a growing affection for Ellis, one clouded with old fears. Fate ripped one lover from his arms, and now Ellis is in the line of fire. Jubal’s courage can protect Ellis, but is it powerful enough to love him?


Tango in the Night is available at:
                           Amazon     iTunes     Barnes and Noble     KOBO


KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/kckendricks
www.facebook.com/kckendricks