You’ve Got A Friend In Me

Friends. They are the people in our lives who mean a great deal to us. Some of us have more than we can count, while others have only one worth boasting of. In any case, good friends are hard to come by and we should never forget the much needed joy they bring to our lives.

As necessary as friends are in real life, they’re also needed in romance novels. They not only help to establish realism within the story by putting the characters in believable conversations and realistic situations, they also assist with character establishment and development. Through a simple conversation between the protagonist and their friend, the reader gets to glimpse deeper inside the hero/heroine’s persona by seeing how they interact in a comfortable environment.

In Ræliksen, my hero’s friend was Tait. In Mac Liam, it was Marcas. And in Silent Partner, Grayson has a good friend that he, too, can confide in. His name is Richard and today, I’m featuring a conversation between the two of them. It’s one of my favorite scenes with these guys because, like normal male friends, there is a lot of humorous banter going on. With this scene, I’m able to roll the story forward through the pace of the dialogue, while allowing the readers to know more about the hero without actually describing him.

To set the scene, it’s the morning after Grayson and Chloe’s one-night stand and he’s in the process of realizing he’d like to know her better now that the “sex” has been had, which is completely unusual for him. I hope you enjoy.

*And remember to leave me a comment on this post with your email address so you can be entered in my Blog Tour Giveaway! The prize includes an autographed print book from my backlist (winner’s choice), assorted bookmarks, and a $15 gift certificate to Amazon! See HERE for contest details.

 

Silent Partner

By Renee Vincent

Turquoise Morning Press

ISBN (Print): 9781935817581

ISBN (Ebook): 9781935817598

Available Now At:

Amazon | Kindle | Nook | Sony | 1Place For Romance | All Romance EBooks | Smashwords | Digi Books | Joseph Beth | Coffee Time Romance | Diesel |Turquoise Morning Press | Book Strand

Excerpt:

A knock at the door broke apart Grayson’s thoughts, and for a split second his heart leapt.

Had she come back? Was she not able to stay away from him any longer than he could from her?

Elated to find out, he ran to the door, his bare feet almost slipping out from underneath him as he turned the corner. Grabbing the door handle, he threw it open, a huge smile plastered on his face.

“Oh,” Grayson mumbled, after setting eyes on his friend, Richard, dressed in the normal suit and tie. “It’s just you. Come on in.”

“Nice to see you too, Gray.”

Grayson turned on his heels to hide his rolling eyes as he wandered into his living room, plopping down on his plush black leather couch. “Is this going to take long? I’ve got some place to be.”

“Dressed like that?” Richard asked sardonically. “Doubt you’ll get very far unless you’ve taken up exotic dancing now.”

Grayson glanced down at his bare chest and half-opened fly. Grimacing, he zipped his jeans. “So, what do you want?”

Richard casually strolled into the room, paused at the other sofa across from him, and sat down just as purposefully. There was a certain air of cautiousness in the way Richard unbuttoned his Italian suit coat before sitting, almost as if he were about to address a panel of uptight board members from his downtown artist cooperative, R. Fitzgerald Gallery.

“What’s up with you, Richard?”

His friend took a deep breath and smoothed his tie. “We have to move forward.”

Grayson drew backward. “All right,” he said with hesitation. “But don’t I, at least, deserve dinner and a movie first?”

Richard sighed. “I’m serious, Gray. I agreed to take on this dance club and studio as your friend, but I’m speaking to you as a co-owner. We’ve been open now for more than five months, but the studio has lagged behind. I know you are searching for that perfect female partner but—”

“Richard, I’ve—”

“Dammit, Gray, let me finish.”

Grayson threw up his hands, giving his friend the floor. “Have at it…”

“Thank you. As I was saying, I know you don’t want to open the studio until you find your dance partner, but we need someone by the end of next month. I have contractors coming in this afternoon to renovate and that is that. I don’t like pushing you or stepping on your toes, you know that. But this is a business arrangement and banks don’t give a fuck about your perfect partner. They want payments at regular intervals and we don’t have the budget for putting this off any longer. We barely have enough for the labor. There. I said my piece.”

Grayson laughed and headed toward the kitchen. “You want a drink?” he asked over his shoulder, still amused by Richard’s subtle tyrant.

“No,” Richard replied, following him into the next room as Grayson pulled an Evian out of the fridge. He leaned across the marble countertop. “I want an answer from you. I want an ‘Okay, Richard, let’s do this thing.’”

Grayson twisted the top of the water bottle and drank heavily, his eyes fixed on his eagerly awaiting friend. After gulping down half the water, he smiled and quoted verbatim, “Okay, Richard. Let’s do this thing.”

“Gray, could you at least take me seriously for once?”

“I am taking you seriously. And I said Okay.”

It was Richard’s turn to draw back. “Really? You’re fine with this?”

Grayson took one more drink and replaced the cap. “Yeah. Give the keys to the contractor and let’s get this baby up. Why are you so surprised?”

Richard thought for a moment. “Because…you’re never this appeasing. Normally, you are adamant about taking things on yourself and not letting others take charge. I half expected you to refuse the idea of the contractor coming in, and I planned on getting an earful of why we shouldn’t open next month. So, why the change of heart?”

Grayson continued to smile. How could he not? The thought of dancing with last night’s woman, night after night, was worth smiling about.

A light bulb went off in Richard’s head. “You found a dance partner?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Excellent!” Richard exclaimed, slapping his hands together. “What’s her name?”

“No idea.”

Richard’s face fell. “You don’t know her name? Then how did you meet her?”

Grayson heard the coarse speculation in his friend’s voice. “I met her last night at Gyrations.”

“So, you were able to see her dance,” Richard tried to reason. “This is good.”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

Richard gave him a sideways glance. “I’m assuming she left you with some type of contact information?”

Grayson turned around and replaced the water bottle inside the fridge. “Not exactly. She left early this morning before I could ask her.”

Richard’s eyes widened as he drew in a deep breath. “You slept with her?”

An automatic smile returned to Grayson’s face despite his friend’s blatant disapproval. “Yes, I did.”

“Oh, don’t look so proud, Gray. This is a legitimate business we’re trying to run here, not some underground escort service.” Richard pinched the bridge of his nose. “And how in the hell can you bring a woman into your home, into your bed—a woman you know nothing about—and still sleep at night?” He threw up a quick hand, silencing Grayson. “No. Forget I asked. I don’t want to know. And wipe that smirk off your face. This is not in the least bit funny.”

Grayson gave it his best shot, rubbing his taut grin downward with a stiff hand, but it was useless. Watching Richard sweat was quite entertaining.

“I’m serious!” Richard barked. “Don’t get me wrong, I know you have impeccable taste in women and it never ceases to amaze me the caliber of ass you’ve had in your possession, but sleeping with a future employee for the sake of determining her qualifications is no way to run a business. I don’t need a bunch of prostitutes hanging out on the corner. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Will you relax, Richard,” Grayson waved off as he walked through his living room. “She’s not a prostitute, nor have I ever resorted to being a ‘skip.’ By the way, I resent that, too.” He was done with this conversation, done with being reprimanded like a gullible teenager, and decided to prove his friend wrong by doing what he had intended all along—find her and offer her the dance position.

As Grayson strolled down the hall into his bedroom, he found Richard close behind, his mouth still going. “How do you know she’s not a prostitute? You don’t even know her name for shit’s sake! For all you know she probably skipped out with your wallet, caught a cab for New York, and is at Nordstrom’s right now, buying her pimp-daddy a really nice shirt.”

Without looking back at his friend, Grayson grabbed his wallet out of his dresser drawer and threw it at him.

Richard caught it, relieved he was wrong, but continued to berate him. “Okay, so she’s a stupid whore—”

“She’s not a whore,” Grayson corrected as he pulled out a clean pair of jeans and boxers, and laid them neatly on the edge of his dresser.

Richard flipped the tri-fold on the unmade bed to his right and leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “Fine. Let’s say she’s not ‘turning tricks’ with you. What if she’s just a lonely, desperate housewife and you were nothing more than a good fuck on a Saturday night?”

Grayson turned his back on Richard and entered his walk-in closet, ripping a white button-up shirt from the hanger, his irritation climbing. It was not so much that his friend was insulting him in the same breath as he was the unknown woman, but that he knew Richard was probably right. What if the woman’s only purpose was to get laid? She sure fit the criteria if he had to look back on it. Skipping out before sun-up…never mentioning her name or asking for his. Hell, when he thought back on last night, she never even said one word.

Not a damn thing.

He walked back out to face the music, his lips tight against his teeth. As he looked at Richard, his unmade bed nagged at him. Without a second’s hesitation, he walked passed his friend and began making his bed while he spoke. “You and I are very different. We always have been, Richard. You were born into money, I wasn’t. You found your soul mate in high school, I didn’t. You’ve traveled the world, and I’m grounded here in Boston. But we do have one thing in common. And that is we’ve always trusted each other. Hence, this business arrangement. So, I’m going to ask you to find that faith in me and realize my name is on those papers too. I may not have a prestigious gallery with my name plastered across the expressways, but I have just as much invested in this club as you do. I’m not going to do anything to damage this opportunity or our friendship. But I do need you to trust me.”

“I’ll be a sonofabitch,” Richard muttered, shaking his head. “You’re into this chick, aren’t you?”

Grayson ran his hand threw his hair, those words settling heavy in his gut. He didn’t like admitting a woman was finally able to get into his heart, a heart heavily guarded by walls of reluctance and aversion—especially a woman as elusive as his one-nighter. But damn there was something different about her. Something alluring…something he had to have more of.

“Yeah, I’m into her,” Grayson allotted grudgingly. “So what?”

Renee Vincent’s Blog Tour Giveaway:

Follow me through my blog tour and leave a comment at each blog to be entered to win big prizes!
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#1 – April 12 Romance by Chance
#2 – April 13 History Undressed
#3 – April 18 Coffee And Romance…A Book Blog
#4 – April 19 Tina Donahue Presents…
#5 – April 20 Beyond Romance
#6 – April 20 Tess MacKall’s Hotter Than A Sultry Southern Night
#7 – April 20 Romance Junkies
#8 – April 21 Sweet N Sexy Divas
#9 – April 21 Romance Books R Us
#10 – April 25 – 29 Chicks of Characterization
#11 – April 26 Heart of Romance (Interview)

#12 – April 28 Keri Ford’s blog