And is Never Shaken Taster

Hi guys. It looks like the release date for And is Never Shaken is pretty solid, so it will be out next Wednesday from Dreamspinner Press. There's an excerpt on the website, but in celebration I'm going to post a different, work-safe snippet under the cut. Enjoy!





They rode up in the lift in silence, Andy still leaning into Cassian’s side, and without hesitating they went to Andy’s door. Andy regretfully let go of Cassian to unlock it, and took a few steps inside to turn on the lamp by the door, taking off his coat and scarf and tossing them onto the sofa. Cassian followed him in and Andy locked the door behind him.
“Just toss your coat on the sofa with mine,” he said.
“You play?” Cassian asked, looking at the electric keyboard near the window as he undid his coat and pulled it off.
“Yes,” Andy said, as he moved into the kitchen, switching on the overhead light and automatically starting to make coffee. “My piano is at home, and there wouldn’t be room for it here anyway, so I bought that one secondhand. Would you like some coffee?”
“No, I’m fine. You have a real piano? You must be a serious musician.”
Andy decided he couldn’t be bothered to make coffee just for himself and leaned on the counter, admiring the shadows on Cassian’s face in the dimly lit room.“I love to play, and I love music, but I’m not good enough to be a professional. I could have become a teacher – my mother and father run a music school out of their house – but I wanted to do something that was just for me.”
“And so you decided to restore books?”
Andy smiled. “This really smart guy I met recently told me that words are the key to each of our unique fears and dreams. I happen to agree.”
Cassia ducked his head a little shyly. “Would you…play for me?”
“Sure,” Andy said, coming out of the kitchen. He brushed past Cassian and let his hand stroke slowly along Cassian’s back as he passed, a move that felt entirely natural and which had Cassian casting him a smoldering look.
“Any requests?”
“No.” Cassian moved to perch on the arm of the sofa. “Just whatever you feel like.”
Andy switched the keyboard on, sat down on the little stool he’d placed beside it, did a couple of scales just to warm up, and then let his fingers move as they wanted. He played ‘The Heart Asks Pleasure First’ from Michael Nyman’s score for the film ‘The Piano’. He had played the piece so often that his fingers flew across the keys almost without thought and he was able to lose himself in the beautiful simplicity and joy of the music.
The composition was short, so when Andy finished he segued smoothly into Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, which was a little less familiar, and forced him to concentrate.
When he finished he looked up, flexing his hands. Cassian took a deep breath. “You’re brilliant. I can’t believe anyone ever told you that you weren’t good enough to be a professional.”
“My mom is a very exacting teacher, and she made sure I practiced until I was as good as I could be. But professionals have to have something more than persistence. They need to have genius. I don’t.”
Cassian crooked his finger, and when Andy left the piano Cassian caught hold of the front of his sweater and pulled him over to stand between the older man’s spread legs.
“I am so hot for you right now,” he muttered into Andy’s hair, and Andy put his arms around Cassian’s shoulders, which were the same height as his like this, and leaned into him.
“If I promise to play for you whenever you want, will you please stop playing Gnossienne no. 1 over and over again?”
Cassian stiffened, then relaxed. “I get it. The music comes through the wall. So you were playing ‘Let’s Get it On’ on purpose earlier?”
“Yep. But don’t try to change the subject.”
“You don’t like Gnossienne no. 1?” He asked carefully, putting Andy back from him a little and framing his face with both hands.
Andy sensed that the answer was important, but he couldn’t lie. “It’s a beautiful piece of music. But whenever I hear it, it makes me unbearably sad. It always has, even as a child. So no, I don’t like it.”
Cassian smiled blindingly and tugged him back into a tight embrace. “God, you’re perfect.”
“I am?” Andy asked, half laughing, happy to hug Cassian back. He could feel Cassian getting hard against his hip and wiggled a little, getting his own cock into a good position. “What, music critique turns you on?”
“It does when you do it,” Cassian said. “I’ll stop playing it. I don’t need to hear it anymore. Can I ask you a question, Andy?”
“You can ask,” Andy said. “But I may refuse to answer if it will embarrass or incriminate me.”
“How old are you?”
“Oh, that’s easy. I’m twenty two.”
“So you were born in 1987?” Cassian said, his hands tightening against Andy’s back.
“Yep. How old are you?”
“I’m forty. Forty-one next June.”
“That’s a pretty scary age difference,” Andy said. “Are your friends going to make fun of you, going out with a twink?”
“They won’t be my friends anymore if they do,” he said simply.
Andy pulled back, unable to wait any longer. “Are we going to make love tonight, Cassian? I’m not rushing you, but I need to know now so I don’t get too excited.”
Cassian stood up, taking Andy’s hand. “All you have to do is ask, baby.”