November 17, 2012

Below is a sneak peek at my current obsession, Arctic Absolution:

It was a long night for Jaye Larson. More than ever, the cabin felt too big, like it was sprawling out around him in all directions. Full of shadowy nooks and places for someone or something to hide, he felt lost inside of it. It was only a couple hundred square feet max but, after spending two straight years in a tiny, sparse cinderblock cell where he could stretch his arms out and touch both sides of the room at the same time, he had gotten used to being comforted by cramped areas.

In his cell, everything was under control. He knew what was in it and where everything was. There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to go. And that was good. When you had as many enemies, real or imagined, as he did, it quickly became crucial to get a handle on all of your shit.

Lying on a few thick blankets on the wooden floor in front of the now-roaring fire, he curled up on his side and focused on the licking, writhing tongues of flame reaching up from the chunks of lumber he’d tossed in the fireplace. Under his right hand, beneath the blankets, he could feel the outline of his knife. Its nearness helped him to calm down a little more. The itching, scraping panic faded back a little.

He had thought that coming out to the middle of nowhere to live in peace, away from everyone he ever knew, and away from the world in general, would fix what was wrong with him.

It hadn’t.

Jaye wanted to be alone but there were still people around – too many of them. As if the universe was intentionally trying to kick him in the ass, it had set Tropper Rowe in his path. Trooper Rowe who was obviously gay – obvious, at least, to Jaye.

Being able to read other guys had become Jaye’s strong suit, his supreme talent. It was a well-honed survival skill. Before the men he encountered could act, before they could even think too clearly about their intentions, he was able sense what they were going to do.

It was like a tickle under the skin, and it gave him just enough warning to brace himself, duck or get the fuck out of the way. He used to not try very hard at all to pay attention to things that happened around him, but getting shish kababbed on the end of a butcher knife did funny things to someone.

Arctic Absolution is Lynn Kelling’s forthcoming M/M Romance novel. Click here to add it on Goodreads.