Cover Reveal!
I've been pretty bad at this blogging thing, but I wanted to show you guys the cover for my upcoming book: Lady and the Space Tramp, coming out February 2017!
I've also included a little snippet for you to enjoy :)
{{In this scene, Melody's agreed to go to the interplanetary dating agency known as "Celestial Mates" to meet the man her cupid claims is her perfect match. She'll quickly learn that her road to true love isn't without its share of potholes. }}
“How hard is it to find a working transporter in this place?” Kon muttered as he rifled through yet another poorly-secured supply closet. As much as he appreciated the escape from the Catchers, he didn’t particularly want to stick around this place any longer than was strictly necessary.
Places like this made Konrad uneasy. Sort of itchy just under his skin. It was something about the bright artificial lights — so inferior to real starlight — and the tidy rows of desks and doors and the dizzying patterns in the carpet. He couldn’t stand it. It was almost worse than the little cell the Catchers would’ve thrown him in.
Almost.
“It would be a lot easier if you knew that they check them out on the fourth floor,” came a familiar sawblade voice.
Kon froze, knowing he’d been caught. He turned slowly on his heel, plastering on an easy, innocent smile. “Bally good to see you — you mind if I call you that?”
“Obviously.”
Kon laughed, crouching down to Ballok’s level to pat him on the shoulder. “I was wondering where you’d gone off to. Was gonna head up the search party. Couldn’t bear to think of you out there in the cold dark universe all alone.”
Ballok tensed the moment Konrad touched him and his face turned a dark red, his little storm cloud cloak darkening, sparking with lightning.
“Right,” Konrad said, pulling his hand back from the cupid’s shoulder and standing up to his full height, trying to look apologetic. He was never supposed to be caught — there was still the little complication of the contract he needed to fulfill. He didn’t think Celestial Mates would hesitate in handing him over to the Catchers if they thought he was incapable of being cooperative.
“You stood her up. You know how bad that makes me look? You need to get your act together or I’ll ship you straight off to the damn Queen myself, do you understand me?”
Thunder filled the hallways and Ballok’s storm cloud enveloped them both, lightning striking the floor perilously close to Konrad.
He jumped back, holding up his hands and nodded. “Yeah, of course. She probably thinks the worst of me now, huh?” Though he was only trying to sound remorseful, Kon was surprised to find that he did feel guilty about leaving this unknown woman out to dry. Why he cared, he couldn’t say, but some small part — maybe not so small — wanted to do right by her. Even if he wasn’t exactly sure what that meant.
Ballok’s cloud receded and he seemed to get a handle on himself as he took a deep breath and conjured a cigar. A passing cupid in the hallway made a face and gave a pointed cough as they waved the smoke away and hurried past.
Kon had to laugh at the absurdity of it all. “But they say nothing about the lightning,” he muttered, in awe. What kind of crazy outfit were they running here, after all?
“Lucky for you, I decided to cover for you,” the cupid said. “If she asks, you were filling out paperwork, got it?” Ballok’s wings extended and lifted him from the ground as he turned and headed back down the hallway, expecting Konrad to follow.
“Consider it got,” Kon answered with a tiny salute Ballok couldn’t see.
As they headed down the hallway, it hit Konrad what they were doing. What they were really doing. He was supposed to be headed to meet this girl — this stranger — and he was expected to fall in love with her and live happily ever after?
That wasn’t how real life worked and he knew it, but how could he explain that to this poor sap? The poor girl was clearly lonely if she signed up for a dating agency. If Kon rejected her, it might just be the last straw to breaking her fragile psyche.
No, he needed to let her down gently, or back out of this now.
Now was good.
“Uh, Ballok? Can I talk to you about some—”
“Here we are, Miss Melody Martin,” Ballok said with a wave of his arm. And in that moment, all objections fled from Konrad’s mind because he was dumbstruck with the sight of her.
She was perfect. An angel. Silken hair pale as platinum pulled up away from her face. A beautiful face with round eyes cast down and her petal pink lips pulled into a frown. Melody. His heart felt like it would beat out of his chest and Kon wondered how the hell Ballok managed to pull this off. How he’d found this woman who’d stepped right out of his dreams.
He stared at her in open-mouthed appreciation, completely lost for words.
“Hi, you’re Konrad, right?” she asked, lifting her eyes to meet his. The moment he looked into those dark brown eyes, he was sunk. Lost adrift, searching for something to cling to as a tidal wave of longing crashed into him. He tried to shake himself out of it, his mind warring with his racing heart.
Sure, she was pretty, but there were billions of pretty girls in the universe. No need to get all tongue-tied over this one.
“Guilty as charged,” he said with a grin, extending his hand. She took it, her grip tentative and chilly, but there was still something there. Something that made Kon not want to let go.
“Well, there’s some final paperwork for the two of you to fill out and then I’ll be out of your hair,” Ballok said, clearing his throat to break the tension sizzling between the two.
Melody sat back down in front of Ballok’s desk and tapped her fingertips together like she wasn’t quite sure what else to do with herself. Kon sank into the chair next to her, equally flummoxed. She wasn’t unfortunate-looking or reeking of desperation. She wasn’t at all the kind of person he expected to be introduced to.
“This is weird right?” she asked, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I mean, it’s not just me, this is super awkward?”
Konrad laughed and nodded. “What did you expect when you signed up for this?”
She shrugged, rubbing a spot on her forearm absently. “I guess I didn’t know what to expect. My curiosity got the best of me,” she said, scratching the spot on her arm now.
“Gotta be careful with curiosity,” he said. “Some things you’re better off not knowing.”
She frowned and Konrad’s gut did a little flop of remorse. He didn’t need to be callous toward her just because he’d gotten himself into a bind he didn’t see a way out of. There was her psyche to consider, after all.
“Are you one of those things?” she asked, rubbing that spot on her arm until it was red. Nervous tic?
It was Kon’s turn to frown. His immediate answer was ‘yes,’ but he didn’t say it out loud. Some part of him didn’t want to scare her away. At least not yet. Not until he knew if there was any merit to this ridiculous dating agency thing.
He eventually shrugged. “Tough to say, but— Hey, you’re going to hurt yourself like that,” he said, reaching out to still her hand. Her arm was bright red now from the rubbing and she looked embarrassed when he pointed it out, snatching her hand away from his.
“Sorry, it’s just that chip they gave me, it’s itchy.”
Konrad froze, his hand falling away from her like she’d been contaminated with Andoran Flu. “They chipped you?”
Her eyes widened, sparkling with confusion and uncertainty. “Well, yeah. Ballok said that everyone who travels between planets has one — for safety or something?” She shrugged, starting to rub at the spot on her arm again before she stopped herself.
Konrad let out a bark of humorless laughter. “Safety, right. More like they want to track your every movement,” he said. He couldn’t believe they’d already gotten to her. She never stood a chance.
“Who’s they?”
Kon’s jaw dropped. “Where are you from? You don’t know about the Queen or microchips? What backwater quadrant of the Universe did Bally pluck you from?”
Though he was curious for the answer, there were more pressing issues at hand. Like the fact that these Celestial Mates people were chip-happy Queen-lovers. He needed to get out of this place before they found out he was chipless.
Then again, maybe they already knew. Ballok saved him from the Catchers — why else would he be running from them if he wasn’t chipless? That’s all the Catchers did — picked up strays to force a chip on them — or worse. Well, and worse. The chip was inevitable. What they decided to do with you after that was normally far less pleasant.
“Come on,” he said, standing and reaching for her hand, pulling Melody to her feet. She swayed at the sudden movement, but Kon held on long enough for her to steady herself. “We need to go.”
“Go?” she said too loudly. “Go where? Ballok will be back with the paperwork and—”
“Forget Ballok. We have more important problems and we need to get out of here, fast.”
