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    Station to Station: The Men of Marionville, #7
    Station to Station: The Men of Marionville, #7
    Station to Station: The Men of Marionville, #7
    Ebook121 pages1 hour

    Station to Station: The Men of Marionville, #7

    By KC Kendricks

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    About this ebook

    Scott Thomas is tagged to oversee the new commuter rail line from Easton to Marionville, a high profile project that demands expertise. His love of trains makes him a natural for the job. When a friend invites him on a Mystery Train Dinner Adventure, Scott's onboard for an evening of fun. He gets more than he ever dreamed about when he meets his ideal tall, dark haired stranger on the adventure.

    Dakota Reece views the new commuter rail as the opening he's needed for him and his brother to build their own firm and future. Planning a start-up company while working on the commuter rail project is hard work, and Dakota takes an evening off to relax on the Mystery Train. When the train stops to serve dinner, Dakota is boldly cruised by a fellow passenger. He has to get to know this smart, sexy man and asks Scott to join him for a drink.  

    Scott and Dakota hit it off and a quiet cup of coffee leads to unexpected possibilities - and consequences. When Dakota makes a sudden decision to advance his timeline, Scott will do whatever is necessary to keep them together, on track, and avoiding derailment.

    * * *

    Dakota fell into step beside me as we climbed the stairs. "This is some place, isn't it? Booze, boys and boogie."

    "Yep. I generally stick to the cafe when I come here, but every once in a while I go downstairs to the Cancun Bar."

    We agreed on a table against the rear wall. He pulled out my chair and then sat across from me, his hands folded on the table.

    "I'm really surprised this place doesn't have a back room. It's got everything else a guy needs for a memorable night on the town."

    "The back room is tucked in behind the stage. Go through the arch with the twinkling white lights. You gotta pay the cover charge to conduct illicit activities with strangers at Frolic."

    He grinned, his silver eyes glittering in the low lighting. "I think you'd be worth the five bucks tonight."

    I bet he was worth a lot more. "Thanks. I think. I'm getting a decaf. What would you like?"

    "Oh, no. I asked you, so I'm buying."

    As we were only talking about two dollars, I didn't argue. The server arrived and greeted me by name. Dakota ordered two decafs and then blinked at Charlie's retreating backside. He lowered his voice.

    "I don't want to be politically incorrect here, but is she…"

    "Well, she is for tonight. Tomorrow, he'll be in a suit in a corner office on the ninth floor."

    "Damn. No offense to present company, but Charlie is fucking hot."

    "Charlie does have that effect on everyone. Thanks for the coffee, by the way."

    "My pleasure. Will you have dinner with me tomorrow evening?"

    "Hell, yeah, but I insist on at least Dutch treat." I pointed my finger at him before he could speak. "If you argue, we'll end up at the food court at the mall."

    Dakota rested his hand, palm up, on the table between us. I smiled and laid my hand in his. Little tendrils of heat snaked up my arm and made me shiver as his fingers closed around mine. I should've paid the cover charge so I could haul him into the back room, but rushing could ruin a lovely friendship. 

    "When did you move to Marionville?" I asked.

    He sipped his coffee. "I don't live here. I've been in and out of town on business for the last year or so. But if my company is awarded part of the new commuter rail job, I'll move here for the duration."

    It was just my luck the most interesting guy I'd met in the last twenty years might be gone for good in a week. And if not, I had an even bigger problem, like a  conflict of interest problem.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWhite Deer Enterprises/White Deer Books
    Release dateApr 18, 2016
    ISBN9781533727732
    Station to Station: The Men of Marionville, #7
    Author

    KC Kendricks

    KC Kendricks calls herself an accidental writer. After completing her first novel writing as Rayne Forrest, she was urged to submit it to a publisher, and everything snowballed from there. Today, the author has had over seventy books published. In July of 2021, she tried to retire but her employer offered her a deal to work at home. She accepted. Now she balances work, writing, and hearth and home in a controlled chaos. A native of scenic western Maryland, the author enjoys most activities that don’t include snow. In warm weather she might be found walking the dog, biking on the C&O Canal towpath, planting delicacies in her garden for the deer to munch on at night, playing in the creek, or lazing on the patio with her Kindle reader or laptop. She recently began to research her family history and can't drive past a cemetery without stopping to search for family sites. Her mission is to photograph old tombstones before the elements erode the stones and the names are lost to time. For more about KC Kendricks and Rayne Forrest’s writing life, please visit the Between the Keys blog at http:kckendricks.blogspot.com . If you’d like to know more about the author’s country lifestyle and her daily activities full of simple country pleasures (and a lot of work), please visit the Holly Tree Manor blog at http://hollytreemanor.blogspot.com . KC can be reached through her blog, Between the Keys. All comments are strictly moderated by the author and personal messages are treated as such. Follow the author on Twitter for up-to-date announcements at Twitter.com/KCKendricks.

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      Book preview

      Station to Station - KC Kendricks

      About Station to Station

      Scott Thomas is tagged to oversee the new commuter rail line from Easton to Marionville, a high profile project that demands his expertise. When a friend invites him on a Mystery Train Dinner Adventure, Scott’s onboard for an evening of fun. He gets more than he bargained for when he meets his ideal tall, dark haired stranger on the train.

      Dakota Reece knows the new commuter rail is the opening he’s needed for him and his brother to build their own firm and future. Planning a start-up company while working on the commuter project is hard work. Needing an evening off, Dakota takes a trip to relax on the Mystery Train. When the train stops to serve dinner, Dakota is boldly cruised by a fellow passenger. He has to get to know this smart, sexy man and asks Scott to join him for a drink.

      Scott and Dakota hit it off and a quiet cup of coffee leads to unexpected possibilities - and consequences. Their budding relationship could cause a multi-million-dollar conflict of interest. When Dakota makes a sudden decision to advance his timeline, Scott will do whatever is necessary to keep them together and on track.

      Praise for the writing of KC Kendricks

      Author Kendricks creates a wonderful, wisely plotted, and carefully written scenario that helps get [Station to Station] to its destination – 5 stars from an Amazon reader

      Scott and Dakota romance was interesting and pulling. Their romance is realistic both emotionally and from plotted point. Great work with this story! – Goodreads

      I love the men of Marionville. They're successful, strong, passionate, attractive and for me they're like comfort food. Just a fun, quick read, with an easy to follow plot line, some steamy sex scenes and a HEA or at least a HFN. - Goodreads

      KC Kendricks never disappoints!"—Fallen Angel Reviews

      ..beautifully moving in all the right places...KC Kendricks gives us a well-crafted tale- The Romance Studio

      Good to the last word....- Sensual Reads

      ...Seriously entertaining and totally engaging...- Joyfully Reviewed

      ...solidly written contemporary romance...-Jessewave

      The Men of Marionville Series

      A Hard Habit to Break

      Open Roads

      What You Don’t Confess

      Your Whisper in the Dark

      A Cat Named Hercules

      Leather Jackets

      Station to Station

      Dreams to Sell

      The Right Brew

      Where There’s Smoke

      Bourbon and Blues

      Twice Removed From Yesterday

      Station to Station

      About Station to Station

      Praise for the writing of KC Kendricks

      CHAPTER 1

      CHAPTER 2

      CHAPTER 3

      CHAPTER 4

      CHAPTER 5

      CHAPTER 6

      CHAPTER 7

      CHAPTER 8

      CHAPTER 9

      CHAPTER 10

      CHAPTER 11

      EPILOGUE

      Books by KC Kendricks

      About the Author

      Bonus selections from Dreams to Sell

      Dear Readers,

      CHAPTER 1

      For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for trains. As a small child, riding in the car with my parents, every time we came to a train crossing, I’d search up and down the tracks, hoping to see the engine coming. If we were fortunate to catch a train, I’d hang out the window and wait for the caboose. Sometimes, if the conductor was on the back platform, I’d wave, and he’d always wave back. It’s the way things worked in those days. I’m sure my excitement amused my parents, but isn’t it a child’s responsibility to entertain his parents?

      I must have mentioned my train fascination in some forgotten conversation with my buddy Travis Templeton. When the City of Marionville, my employer, joined with Marionville County and Easton Township to build a commuter rail spur, Travis convinced the town council I was the only person to oversee the job. I was surprised to get the assignment since there were a few guys with more seniority begging for it, but I wasn’t about to complain. The team, which included Travis and me, dug in and buckled down to the necessary months of planning a project of this scope required.

      A few days before the City of Marionville was ready to award the winning bids to contractors so the work could begin, Travis stopped by my office and invited me to accompany him on a Mystery Train dinner adventure. I didn’t hesitate to accept that either.

      It’s not like it was a date. I knew his partner Heath, who was out of town on business, and it was a simple matter of not wanting the non-refundable ticket to go to waste. I tried to pay Travis for it, but he insisted it was his treat. That’s just Travis. Maybe someday I’d meet a guy like him to call my own.

      Arriving at the departure site for our mystery evening, I discovered I was part of a larger group that included several of Marionville’s A-List gays. I knew Travis moved in high circles, but I was nonetheless impressed. They greeted me warmly as I took my seat and Travis did introductions.

      Business tycoon and restaurateur Dylan Donaghy and his legal eagle partner Cass Barlow, and Donaghy’s right hand man Noel Springs and his partner Tyler Phillips, a big landowner out by Easton, who was also an ace auto mechanic by day. Every gay in Marionville knew these guy’s names, and I was honored to meet them.

      I didn’t know a lot about the evening’s entertainment, but it didn’t matter too much. I was out of the house and in fun company. What I did know was there were actors on the train and they put on a traveling mystery production. Act One was played out on the way to an old restored train station boarding house, where the passengers disembarked and enjoyed a fancy dinner, served by the actors. During the meal, the plot would, as they say, thicken, and the mystery would subsequently be solved on the return trip.

      The old dining car had been restored and converted for about forty guests, and instead of dinner, cocktails were served on the outbound trip. We had a corner booth that easily accommodated six grown men. Dylan ordered what I considered to be an expensive wine and six glasses. I must’ve had a strange look on my face because he smiled at me and said he had to get the wine or Travis would whine. I laughed along with everyone else and that’s when I saw him.

      He was in the opposite corner booth at the far end of the car with four men and one woman, and I knew, while she was seated beside him, she wasn’t with him. My gaydar is that good.

      Mr. Gorgeous was maybe six feet tall, or maybe only five-eleven. Height isn’t where the inches count the most with me. He had deep-set arresting silver eyes under slightly bushy dark brows, short black hair, full rosy lips, and a close-cropped beard. He also had a little scar under his right eye that screamed bad boy to anyone paying attention. Dressed in stonewashed blue jeans more washed than indigo, a white shirt open at the collar and a navy sport coat, he was the sexiest thing I’d seen in a decade.

      And then he winked at me, and I sort of forgot where I was for a moment.

      Men like him didn’t wink at guys like me. It’s one of the rules of nature. Beauty attracts beauty and that left me out. I was about as appealing as a fence post—a skinny, unremarkable stick. My hazel eyes were too small for my face, and my brown hair had these weird and unwelcome red glints, not to mention for my forty-first birthday I grew the first of an increasing number of gray hairs. The truly gorgeous men had never looked my way and winked, for God’s sake. I was invisible to them.

      It was their loss because I was a great catch, even if I did have to say so myself.

      Travis snapped his fingers in front of my face. Well?

      I blinked. Well, what?

      They laughed at me. Every last one of them. Dylan stopped first and poured a bit more wine into my glass. I asked what it is you do for the City of Marionville.

      Oh. I’m a project manager. It’s a fancy title that means I’m the one who coordinates schedules when the different city departments need to work together as a cohesive unit with an outside contractor. The way the town is growing, I stay pretty busy.

      I looked at Dylan, then let my gaze slide beyond him to the other man. He was drinking beer from a longneck brown bottle, his long fingers firm on the dark glass. My insides started to dissolve. Travis nudged me.

      Earth to Scott. Earth to Scott. Come in, Major Thomas.

      Funny, ground control. I’m sorry, Dylan. I don’t mean to be inattentive, but my mind did stray.

      Travis snorted. Just whip out your phone and take a picture of the guy, okay?

      Heat spread across my cheeks. "I think you should do it. You have a

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