Cover Reveal ~ Touches by Alina Popescu ~ (Excerpt)

Cover Reveal ~ Touches by Alina Popescu ~ (Excerpt)

Touches is a collection of four contemporary gay romance short stories following the same cast of characters. They can be read in any order, but to better immerse yourself in the characters' lives, reading them in order is advised.

Synopsis

Sometimes a single touch is enough to change everything. Physical or emotional, a touch can tilt the world on its axis and shift your entire life. It can lead to hell, or it can lead to paradise, but things will never be the same…

A TOUCH GLAMOUR
Tudor has big plans for New York City.
Ditch his homophobic colleague. See a musical. Definitely check out the go-go boys. 
Meeting one Phantom on Grindr wasn't in the script.
Tudor gets caught up in a whirlwind when his favorite musical character steps off the stage and into his life.

A TOUCH OF PARADISE
Hauled to work in Hawaii, Tudor has little time to enjoy the island paradise.
His obnoxious friend Radu has it much easier, using his free time to set Tudor up, dangling a willing Hawaiian beauty in front of him.
Having been burned by long-distance relationships before, Tudor stubbornly resists Kahoni’s advances.
But can Tudor be worn down enough to enjoy a touch of paradise?

A TOUCH OF KINK
A moody and angry Tudor follows his friend, Radu, to the airport to pick up a client. 
Despite Radu’s efforts, he’s still sulking over his boyfriend, Kahoni, not being able to fly over for his birthday. 
But the airport only opens up the door to a stream of steamy surprises for Tudor. Will his mood improve?

A TOUCH OF GAY
Radu has always joked with Tudor about his friend’s gay rubbing off on him. Neither of them has taken that joke seriously until Radu’s meltdown and crazy confession: Radu thinks he might be gay. 
Despite Radu’s insistence that Tudor’s gayness has helped him figure out his own, there’s more to that story of discovery. Charismatic, sexy, and all around amazing Marius, the man Radu has been crushing on for months, pushed the loud-mouth, offensive Radu into exploring who he truly is. 
Figuring out he wasn’t all that straight is the easy part. Getting enough courage to talk to Marius, that’s a whole different challenge, as Radu seems to turn into a stuttering idiot around Marius. Will Radu learn to be confident enough to pursue Marius? Or will Marius act faster and challenge the confused Radu too soon?

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Excerpt

With a noncommittal grunt, Tudor turned around and walked toward the door. Radu could follow or not, he didn’t much care. He went straight to the reception area and asked if there was a place to eat nearby. They were exactly five minutes from Times Square, so he expected fancy, expensive, and not necessarily the best food ever. The guy at reception was their first guardian angel in this city and told them about a nice little diner down the street from the hotel. Tudor moaned his approval and saw the teen swoon a little. He thanked him with an unnecessarily wide grin, just to make him feel good about himself and headed through the door.

“So we’re eating greasy diner food?”

“Radu, most of your lunches at work are either KFC or McDonalds. Don’t tell me you’re suddenly worried about your health and what goes into your mouth.”

“Well, no, but I’d expected you to be… you know?”

“Be what?” Tudor said, stopping in his tracks and shoving his hands into his jeans’ pockets.

“You know!” Radu insisted, a sleazy grin twisting his face. “All about health and your looks.”

Tudor chuckled and shrugged, then continued toward the diner he could now see. He licked his lips in anticipation—diner food was one of his many, many very guilty pleasures—feeling a tingle of delight in his gut. On his last trip to the US, he’d eaten every meal of every day in a diner, until he was so sick of the stuff that he needed a break. A short one, half a day, to be exact, and then he’d started it all over again until he went back home.

“No, seriously. I did not expect you to eat anything that was not healthy and tasteless,” Radu whined as they were shown to a booth in the rather large diner.

“That’s because you have misconceptions about a lot of things,” Tudor hissed through his teeth. “Healthy food does not mean tasteless. It just means healthy. And while I do work out a lot and generally take care of myself, I pretty much eat anything. I just don’t indulge often in all the crap you gulp down every day.”

“Is that because the boys wouldn’t want you anymore?” Radu asked, grinning wolfishly, as if he’d finally gotten an official come-out speech. For a second, Tudor worried if they had some sort of betting game at work, something like how many days it would take for him to either come out or kill Radu. Then he realized they surely did, most likely on both counts.

“Well, I do enjoy being attractive, it makes it easier to get whoever I want into my bed. That’s not the only reason why I prefer healthy food though. I’d been on the school’s volleyball team throughout high school and have been taking karate lessons since secondary school. I just got used to eating like that.”

“So you’re a black belt and can kill me with your fork or something?”

“I don’t need any weapon to kill you, Radu,” Tudor said, lowering his voice and smiling sweetly at him. He was delighted to see Radu’s eyes pop out and his breath hitching. Yeah, fucker, you should be afraid.

About the author

Writer, traveler, and coffee addict, Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and even won awards in local competitions. She has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm, which explains her deep love for vampires and is also to blame for this trilogy.
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