Teaser for Nocturne by Andrea Randall & Charles Sheehan-Miles

Coming September 2013.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18040296-nocturne

Gregory. March 2001.

“What is it?” Karin shouted at me over the extremely loud music. It was good music, full of rich overtones and an unusual Caribbean beat. My eyes involuntarily followed Savannah Marshall as she and her boyfriend, Nathan, moved back to the dance floor. Savannah wore a form fitting red dress that flared at her hips, revealing shapely legs which were accentuated by matching heels. I took a too big sip of my gin and tonic, forcing myself to look away from her as she walked away.

“What is what?” I asked.

“You looked startled!”

I shook my head dismissively. “It’s nothing. Please continue.”

“How about we dance instead?”

I suppose I knew that was coming. Karin and I had been out on several dates, virtually all of them venues I had selected. The Opera, the symphony on one of my rare nights off. Elegant dinners.  For this date, I’d asked her where she wanted to go, and she’d selected Salsa dancing. Not something I normally did, but I suppose if one is dating, you must make some compromises. And, after all, the music was good.

We moved out to the dance floor. Thanks to my mother’s insistence when I was a child, I’m not a bad dancer, though it’s not something I particularly enjoy or seek out on my own. I put an arm on Karin’s waist, and took her left hand in my right, and we began to dance.  I swung her around on the floor, and she laughed, and my eyes involuntarily fell on Savannah Marshall again, in that red dress, with her boyfriend’s hands inappropriately sliding down her waist and too low on her back. It shouldn’t bother me, but it did. Did that young man have no culture at all? I turned with Karin, so aggressively she almost stumbled, so that my back was to Savannah. But my thoughts lingered on the narrowness of her waist and the way the bodice of her dress hugged her breasts.

Annoying thoughts. Inappropriate thoughts, considering she was a student. A student who was out on a date with her boyfriend. While I was also on a date. But there was no denying that she was an attractive young woman. Flighty, sometimes maddening, but attractive. It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed her, and it troubled me.

The band slowed down, and the couples on the floor moved closer together. Karin folded herself into my arms, nestling her chin against my shoulder.  She was pressed fully against me, and we swayed slowly with the music.

“I’m getting to like you a lot, Gregory.”  Her whisper was right in my ear. I squeezed my arms tighter around her, because that seemed all the response that was called for.

I sighed a little as Savannah and Nathan swung into view again. They were appallingly close, and his hand was resting just on the top of the curve of her ass.  She was truly a remarkable young woman. And probably deserved someone a lot better than Nathan, who was little more than an immature boy. I almost let my mind run to the thought of her in bed, and my body involuntarily responded.

I tried not to freeze, because Karin noticed. And pressed herself against me, tighter.  “Gregory?” she said.

“Yes, Karin,” I murmured.

“Let’s go back to my place?”