Take a Chance on Me is Quinn's story, and it's coming out in early October, exact release date TBA (I always just send them to Amazon the moment they're done, so I can never really predict what day that'll be). His love interest is a police officer named Duke, who's been in the background over the course of several books in the series (he was Cole's uptight roommate in All I Ever Wanted, which came out in June).
Here's Quinn on the cover:
He's a ballet dancer, and absolutely passionate about his craft. In a scene I just wrote this past weekend (which still needs to be edited), he and Duke are having dinner at Chance and Finn's house (the main characters from Coming Home, book 9 in the series). I love several things about this scene: getting to really learn what ballet means to Quinn, revisiting some of our old, familiar characters, including sweet, fragile Elijah (who we also met in Coming Home), and watching Duke's reaction at the end of the scene. Just to set it up a bit, this is told from Quinn's perspective. He's just arrived at the house and is meeting Elijah for the first time. I hope you enjoy it! <3
And then there was Elijah. I’d been told the
tiny, blue-eyed blond was nineteen, but he looked much younger. He sat off by
himself with his knees pulled up to his chest, reading a thick textbook, and he
glanced up and nodded when Chance introduced us. On the drive over, Duke had
explained that Elijah and Colt used to date, and that Finn had become Elijah’s
legal guardian, because the kid had been a runaway with no one else to turn to.
That had to be awkward, living with his ex-boyfriend’s family.
Elijah seemed completely isolated, even in a
room full of people, and I found myself wanting desperately to be his friend. I
knew Finn and his family cared about this kid, but he just looked so fragile,
and his eyes were haunted, in a way that resonated with me, deep down. Even
without knowing the particulars of what he’d run away from, I understood, and I
wanted him to know I did.
At the same time though, I knew at a glance
that it’d be way too easy to overdo it and freak him out. So I reeled in the
urge to give him a huge hug, and instead, I plucked three cookie pops from the
bouquet I’d begged Duke to make for our hosts. I gave two of them to Colt and
Cory as I joked about ruining dinner, and then I crossed the room to Elijah and
said, “Please accept this raccoon on a stick, from one hot blond to another.”
When he grinned, it felt like a total win.
He took the treat from me and asked, in a
soft voice tinged with a faint southern accent, “Where’d you get a
raccoon-shaped cookie?”
“I coerced my boyfriend into baking them for
tonight,” I said as I sat down in the club chair beside his. “It’s part of a
woodland-themed cookie bouquet. There are also bears, pine trees, and a ton
of squirrels. But I happen to think the raccoons are the best, because of those
little masks. They’re like, nature’s Hamburglars.”
When Elijah burst out laughing, I wanted to
do a fist-pump. Apparently it was fairly unusual, too, because every member of
his family stopped what they were doing to glance at him. Fortunately, he
didn’t seem to notice, and he asked, “Why a woodland theme?” He started to
raise the cute critter to his lips, but then he took pity on it and chose to
save it.
“My thought process basically consisted of,
‘well, who doesn’t like squirrels?’ Later on, I realized my logic was faulty,
because anti-squirrel prejudice is actually rampant in our society. But by
then, Duke was fully committed to the woodland theme, so it was too
late to bail out.”
Elijah grinned and said, “Did you buy the
sweater to match the cookies?”
I looked down at my snazzy red sweater with a
raccoon knit into the front of it and said, “Oh no, I already owned this.”
“Seriously?”
“Dude, do you have something to say about my
righteous raccoon sweater? Because this is bad-ass!”
“If you say so. Where’d you find it?”
“At a yard sale! Oh my God, they’re so much
fun! They’re like, a huge scavenger hunt, except you don’t know what you’re
looking for when you start off.”
He grimaced a bit. “So, that’s a used raccoon
sweater.”
“Yeah, but it still had the tags on it,
because who on earth besides me would ever wear such a thing?”
“I have absolutely no answer to that.”
“Yeah, me neither, actually.”
After a pause, he said, “So, Finn mentioned
you’re a ballet dancer when he was talking you up earlier. I’m curious, are you
able to stand en pointe?”
“Yup.”
“I’ve always wanted to ask, doesn’t that
hurt? Because it looks incredibly painful.”
“Hell yes it hurts! Here’s a little secret
about ballet: it all hurts.”
“So, why do you do it?”
“Because some things are worth suffering
for.”
“Is it, though?”
I said, “I think I love ballet in part because it’s difficult, and because it
pushes my body to its absolute limit. It’s hard to explain, but I get a deep
sense of satisfaction out of excelling at something so challenging.”
“That makes sense.”
“I also happen to think ballet is one of the
most beautiful things in all the world.” I lowered my voice and admitted
quietly, “And when I dance, I feel beautiful. It’s the only time I do. Or it
was, before I met my boyfriend. He makes me feel beautiful, too.” I grinned
shyly and glanced at Duke across the room, who was chatting with Chance and
Finn around the long, stainless steel bar that fronted the kitchen. “Ballet
also makes me feel powerful, and in total control of my body. I needed that
desperately when I was a kid. I guess I still do.”
Elijah met my gaze, and a look of
understanding passed between us. I knew right then he’d been hurt, the way I
had. Or possibly far, far worse.
After a moment, he said, “I’ve never seen
ballet performed live. I’m curious now.”
I said, “I’m doing a show in three weeks, so
I’ll send you and your family some tickets if you want. Just be forewarned, the
show gets a bit adult in parts.”
When he reached up to tuck a strand of hair
behind his ear, the sleeve of his huge, blue cardigan fell back, revealing a
delicate charm bracelet. His voice grew softer than usual when he said, “That,
um…that might be a bit uncomfortable for me.”
“How about coming with me to watch the San Francisco Ballet perform?”
“I don’t know. I don’t do well with crowds.”
I got up and bowed deeply, then said, “In
that case, I cordially invite you to the patio for an uncrowded and
family-friendly performance of one of my very favorite routines.”
Elijah’s eyes went wide, and he stammered,
“Um, you really don’t have to do that.”
I’d obviously crossed the line from friendly
person to scary lunatic as far as Elijah was concerned. I tried to reel it in a
little by dropping to one knee, so I wasn’t standing over him, and saying
softly, “I’m a lot, I know. When I meet somebody I want to be friends with,
like you, I usually try too hard and just make it awkward. But there’s one
thing I can do well, and that’s dance. And yeah, I know it’s weird to want to
dance for you, but weird is kind of what I do.”
He watched me for a moment, then asked, “Why
do you want to be my friend?”
“Because you laugh at my jokes, and because
you think that cookie is too cute to bite its head off, which makes me think we
have a lot in common.”
He glanced at the cookie pop in his left hand
and said, “I’m actually considering shellacking it, so it’ll last forever.”
I tilted my head toward the patio at the back
of the building and said, “Come on, let me show you what ballet is all about. I
already embarrassed myself with the raccoon sweater and the bizarre request to
dance for you. Let me achieve the trifecta of awkwardness by actually going
through with it.”
Elijah stared at me for a moment, and then he
grinned a little and said, “It’s nice not being the weirdest person in the room
for once.”
I jumped up and exclaimed, “That’s a yes,
isn’t it?”
He got up too and said, “Sure. Why not?”
A few minutes later, Duke, Elijah, and the
rest of his family were lined up in chairs on the edge of the patio, which had
been cleared of furniture. I’d done some stretches, stripped down to just my
jeans, and cued up a song on Finn’s stereo, which he’d very accommodatingly
relocated to just inside the back door. I stood facing the bay and my little
audience, lit by the strands of white bulbs which rimmed the cement patio, and
said, “I wanted Elijah to experience ballet first-hand, so thanks for humoring
me. This is the number I performed when I auditioned for the San Francisco
Ballet. I hope you like it.” Colt and Cory looked bored, while everyone else
had a politely interested expression fixed in place. They were probably
expecting the death scene from Swan Lake, or some tired shit like that. I
grinned a little and pressed a button on the antiquated stereo.
Everyone’s eyes went wide when Bohemian
Rhapsody started to play, even Duke’s, and he should have known me well enough
by that point to guess I wasn’t going to do anything conventional. During the a cappella introduction, I swung my arms
around and leaned so far backwards that my fingers grazed the concrete. Then I
moved deliberately around the patio, executing a series of pirouettes, arms up,
toes pointed, head back, in perfect form, just like I’d been taught.
When the tempo picked up, I brought it. I
leapt high into the air and spun, dropped onto the deck and rolled across it,
then pushed off, arching my body. For the next few minutes, I reacted to the
music, I became it, forgetting everything but how to move. I executed a flawless
series of grand jettes, wide, soaring
leaps across the stage. I felt so alive! My body responded with everything it
had. It knew that routine, every note, every moment. I swirled across the
stage, bending, twisting, and leapt into the air again, defying gravity, completing two complete
rotations before I landed. I reached out, elongating my body, then jumped and
spun again. It was as natural and familiar as breathing. It was strength and
beauty, power and grace. It was everything.
As the final notes of the song faded out, I
slowed, then stilled with one arm raised overhead and my right leg stretched
behind me. All was silent for a moment. I’d forgotten where I was. Then someone
exclaimed, “Holy shit!”
I looked up and remembered my little audience
beside the bay. They were still staring at me with wide eyes. In the next
instant, Elijah leapt to his feet and started clapping wildly. The rest of the
group followed his lead, and I grinned embarrassedly at my standing ovation and
took a bow.
Duke crossed the cement patio to me, dipped
me back, and kissed me passionately. Then he looked deep into my eyes and whispered,
“You astonish me.”
