Wednesday, June 27, 2018

A Cat Named Hercules - The Midweek Tease #MidWeekTease

June 27, 2018
**Updated 4/2/21 - the MidWeek blog hop has been discontinued.**



Welcome to this week's MidWeek Tease! To celebrate the newest member of my family, Loki, and to honor Shooter, the real Hercules of the story, I'm featuring an excerpt from A Cat Named Hercules.

Enjoy!

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“I know I don’t want one. Galen Widmyer is a vet. I asked him to come take a look.” Cass motioned at an approaching figure. I forgot about the cat in favor of staring at the man coming my way.

He was five-eleven, or maybe even six feet tall, slender, with a mop of curly light brown hair. His long legs were encased in snug, faded denim that showcased lean thighs. The soft fabric clung to the outline of his penis, snaked down to the left. Sunglasses hid his eyes, but nothing could hide the lazy, fluid way his body moved. He could fuck me any time, any place, any way.

Cass introduced us. We nodded and murmured the proper words of greeting at each other. Damn, I wished I could see his eyes.

“Well, let’s see what you have here.” He accepted the kitten from me and the light brush of his fingertips to mine sent a powerful jolt of carnal speculation through me. Galen scratched under the kitten’s chin. “This one has great markings. All black with white whiskers, a white chest and belly, white toes, and a small white goatee.”

With practiced hands, he lifted the stubby black tail. “Congratulations. It’s a boy.”

I squinted. I didn’t see any evidence of the kitten being male—no balls. “How can you tell?”

He raised the tail again. His fingers were long and slender, much like the man, and I wondered if he played the piano. They were also grass-stained. I surmised he’d been on the weed-pulling brigade.

“See the two dots, Shiloh? Male. If we could see a dot with a dash below, it would be female.”

“Okay. I know nothing about cats so I guess that’s a good first lesson. But shouldn’t he have, you know, balls?”

Galen ruffled the kitten’s fur and rubbed his ears. “He’ll grow ’em in a few months. Are you going to keep him? If so, I have several more lessons for you, all unpleasant.”

Cass laughed. “Just look at him, Galen. He can barely stand it you’re holding his flea hotel. Yeah, he’s keeping the cat.”

I glared at my friend. “Don’t you have work to do?” I looked at Galen. “Do you think he’s just lost?”

Galen made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “Look around. No one lives here, and the closest house is half a mile away. This little guy didn’t wander here by himself. Someone tossed him out or his mother’s a feral cat and, given his situation, would be about to abandon him to ensure her own survival for her next litter. Either way, he needs a home.”

The abrupt weaning I understood, but the other? Who would do that to such a helpless creature? “Then I’m keeping him.”

“In that case, your kitten has fleas, ear mites, and a touch of conjunctivitis. He’s also undernourished and almost surely has worms.”

My heart pounded as I snatched the kitten from Galen’s hands and tucked him safely against my chest. “Is he going to die?”

Galen pushed his sunglasses up to rest on top of his head and grinned at me. I fell into his gorgeous hazel eyes as he stared into my sky blue orbs with open curiosity. Damn, the man had long eyelashes.

“He’ll be fine. Do you think we can finish our chores here this morning, or do we need to go straight to my clinic so I can treat him and fix you up with what you need?” He poked the kitten’s paw and those tiny, wicked claws popped out again. “You’re in for a real treat with this little guy.”

I’d go anywhere he asked me to go, but I didn’t want to appear too eager. “Oh? Why is that?”

“They call cats with these black and white markings a ‘tuxedo’ because, obviously, they look like they’re wearing one. This fellow has the added bonus of white ‘gloves.’ Tuxedos tend to have a lot of personality.” Galen squeezed my elbow. I thought his hand lingered a moment too long, but perhaps it was just wishful thinking.

“C’mon. I’ll tell the other work crew they’ll have to finish pulling up these bricks and we’ll go to the clinic.”

“Thanks, man. I owe you.”

I knew I was in two kinds of trouble when he nodded and grinned. “I’m afraid you will. This first checkup is going to be expensive.”

I didn’t give a damn how much it cost. I had a cat, and my cat’s sexy vet was welcome to anything he wanted to get him healthy. 


A CAT NAMED HERCULES
Book V in the Men of Marionville series

New in town, Shiloh Rudy joins a group of civic-minded volunteers to better acquaint himself with his recently adopted community. It’s a good way to make friends, network, and help make a difference, not to mention perhaps meet someone interesting  - in a romantic sort of way. The one thing Shiloh didn’t expect was a love to rival all others to come with four white paws.

Gale Widmyer is on his feet and moving forward after piecing his life back together following a series of wrong choices. In his darkest moments, the one bright spot in his existence was the fulfillment of his dream to become a veterinarian. Gale’s making good on a promise to himself when an abandoned kitten leads him to Shiloh Rudy and a chance at the happiness he never hoped to have.

Laying the cornerstone for a developing relationship comes easy for Shiloh and Gale. But the wounds of the past often remain unhealed at their deepest point. A few careless words erects a wall of silence between the two men, one Shiloh has to breach if he hopes to win Gale back. It will take more than apologies to win Gale’s forgiveness and put old fears to rest. It’ll take a cat named Hercules.

_*_*_

Available now at:

Amazon
www.amazon.com/Cat-Named-Hercules-Marionville-Book-ebook/dp/B01EQK69GI

iTunes/Apple
itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1103999657

Barnes & Noble/NOOK
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-cat-named-hercules-kc-kendricks/1111327926?ean=2940152835441

Kobo
www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-cat-named-hercules-1

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



2 comments:

Christiane France - Author said...

Great tease from a great story. But then how could a story not be great if a kitty is one of the characters?

Anonymous said...

Oh, I just loved this tease. I'm mummy to two tuxedo cats, and they sure do have heaps of personality :-)