Sneak Peak Sunday is a blog hop where authors share a snippet of a book or work in progress. More snippets can be found by checking out twitter tag #sneakpeeksunday.

This week, I’m sharing a snippet from a soon-to-be-released Spring Fling short story Slow Waltz (coming May 7th from Loose Id). It continues the adventures of Rhys and Silas from Close Quarter. Here’s the blurb:

New lovers Rhys Matherton and Silas Quint finally have a chance to breath easy and enjoy a well-earned respite on board a transatlantic cruise to New York City. But the lack of danger gives Rhys too time to think about the enormity of falling in love with a man who isn’t human. He’s not sure love at first sight can last, especially when your lover is fae. Sure, the sex is fantastic, but that’s not enough to hang the rest of your potentially immortal life upon.

To distract himself, Rhys suggests he and Silas take a set of lessons to learn to waltz. The plan backfires when they are paired with two older women—one of whom reminds Rhys of his recently deceased mother. Instead of being able to ignore thinking about his future with Silas, he’s actively questioned about his lover. And it seems the whole boat knows who he’s sleeping with.

As Rhys learns the steps of waltz, he has to decide if he’ll continue to dance around what he feels for Silas or if he’ll finally learn to trust in his partner’s love for him.

In this snippet, Rhys has just finished his first dance class learning how to waltz. He’s been partnered with an older woman named Debbie:

Scott clapped again. “Well done, everyone! Time to let you go for lunch. Please try to be back by two thirty, and we’ll learn some finishing moves and variants to the dance.”

They broke apart. Debbie patted him on the arm. “You did well, young man.” Again, she winked. This time, he couldn’t help but smile. “And if he’s good to you, you keep that man.” She eyed Silas as he approached. “He looks like he’s worth the work.”

Debbie left them and joined Faith, and the two women headed in the direction of the self-serve buffet.

“I’m worth the work?” Silas’s breath grazed Rhys’s ear, smoky and rich. A spark of heat settled at the base Rhys’s spine.

“Only if you’re good to me.”

A wicked grin was Silas’s answer. “I’m very good to you.”

Rhys matched Silas’s expression. “Hungry?” He wasn’t talking about food.

“Very.”

They headed to the forward elevators.