Category: Contemporary fiction

An Alisa Review: Meik & Sebastian (Obsessed #2) by Quin Perin

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Ever since the first sexual encounter with Sebastian, Meik has felt off-kilter.

He can’t sleep, can’t eat, can’t work without thinking about the musician and so, Meik decides to settle into an arrangement with him. There is no love. There is no romance. Sebastian gets a warm place to sleep, and Meik gets to keep his boy toy.

The perfect bargain.

But when Sebastian’s presence triggers memories of his first and only love, Meik unravels under the reminiscences that carved him into the man he is today. Will Meik be able to hold himself together or will his carefully crafted badass image fall apart?

This is the second book of the Gay Erotic Romance “Obsessed” which features explicit adult m/m content as well as romantic elements. The book ends on a cliffhanger.

This story delves deeper into Meik’s subconscious and gives us a little background on him.  I am enjoying the way the authors are presenting the stories and it’s written in a way that I don’t necessarily have to like the characters to like the book.  I’m not usually good with cliffhangers but I’m trusting they will get the next segment out quickly.

Meik is still an ass in this story but we get the chance to see he wasn’t always that way and we see a slight crack in his walls when Sebastian is sick.  I find myself being impatient for the next story so that I can see what happened to make him the way he is now.  We see Sebastian but other than fighting back with Meik on being tested he is just there for Meik’s enjoyment.

The cover art by Vanessa Rödiger is nice and typical of serials matches the other stories.

Sales Link: Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 100 pages

Expected Publication: September 1, 2018

Edition Language: English

Series: Obsessed #2

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Something About Us (Saint and Lucky #2) by Riley Hart

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

I had the pleasure of reading this immediately after completing Something About You, book one in the series. Both books were terrific, and this one seamlessly built on the foundation Lucky and Saint began in book one.

Lucky leaves his family and small hometown for the first time in his life as he accompanies Saint back to his world in LA. Fascinated, frightened, and frustrated all come to mind when I think of Lucky’s first weeks with Saint. The traffic is overwhelming and dangerous, and he’s unemployed and feeling down because not only is he not contributing financially, he knows he’ll never earn enough to be Saint’s equal. Speaking of that—Saint has friends and acquaintances, a job, and an important role in society as a supporter of AIDS research and other charitable organizations in the LA area, and the few times Lucky is included, he’s most definitely an outsider.

Though he finally obtains a job in construction, he continues to feel “less than” and Saint inadvertently feeds into that by not including Lucky in his after-work get-togethers and by avoiding taking Lucky to his usual West Hollywood haunts. And on Lucky’s end, he commits a relationship no-no by not telling his boss and coworkers that he’s bisexual and living with a man.

But in the house? In their little love bubble? The two are solid. Or so it seems. Each is holding back a bit, Saint out of habit, Lucky out of fear of the unknown. It takes a crisis for them to finally take a break and work on themselves so they can be healthier together.

I loved the way the author worked to build this relationship from the ground up, knocking down the bad bricks, so to speak, and starting again each time to cement a solid relationship. Yes, I know that’s a terrible pun, but it fits. But most of all, I loved the way Lucky allowed his softer, more feminine side to not only come out but to come out with no fear. Starting with a discussion of wearing feminine underwear in book one, Lucky owns it in book two, and ultimately is solidly okay with his desire to be feminine in some ways on some days.

After a lot of work individually and together, the two eventually manage to merge their lives completely, and the story ends on a solid HEA. I highly recommend this series to all who love an MM romance, interracial couples, genderfluid characters, and a crossover visit from other characters. I nearly forgot to mention Lucky stopped at a restaurant in Virginia to see Nick (Crossroads). He and Saint first stopped there in book one when they discovered the restaurant on their way to DC and met the owner, Nick, and his partner, Bryce. I loved both vignettes as they were seamlessly woven into this series. This is a story I can most highly recommend but if you can pick up book one first? All the better. Though this can be a standalone, it really needs book one to complete your enjoyment of the characters.

And the cover? Designed by X-Potion Designs, it’s a black-and-white shot of two hot men in an obviously sexual position.Perfect for this story, and most definitely attention-grabbing.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 198 pages
Published August 12th 2018 by Riley Hart
ASINB07GDQ3K11
Series Saint and Lucky :

Something About You

Something About Us

Don Travis on his characters, the series and new release ‘The Lovely Pines (A BJ Vinson Mystery #4)’ (author guest blog)

The Lovely Pines (A BJ Vinson Mystery #4) by Don Travis

DSP Publications
Cover Art: Maria Fanning

Sales LInks:  DSP Publications | Amazon

More links below

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Don Travis here today, talking about characters, the evolution of his  BJ Vinson Mystery Series and the latest story, The Lovely Pines.  Welcome, Don.

 

 

 

 

Winery Worker Gunned Down in Middle of the Night

Police Investigating Whether Murder is Connected to a Prior Break-in

This was likely the Albuquerque Journal headline in my fourth novel in the BJ Vinson Mystery Series, The Lovely Pines. The killing follows what seemed a harmless act of simple vandalism, a break-in at the Lovely Pines Winery and Vineyard. With this, the story is off and running. Readers meet old friends and are introduced to new ones. BJ’s there with his significant other, Paul Barton, his business partners in Vinson and Weeks Confidential Investigations, Hazel and Charlie Weeks, old Mrs. Wardlaw, the across-the-street widow who’s a retired DEA hand. And, of course, there’s Lieutenant Gene Enriquez, BJ’s old riding partner from his days as an Albuquerque Police Department detective.

As an author, it’s amazing to me how new stories play off old ones. BJ’s involvement in The Bisti Business is what sent the winery’s new owner, Ariel Gonda, to him for help. I’ll swear, I had no inkling that Ariel would reappear down the line when I named him the Swiss national treasurer of Alfano Vineyards in Napa Valley. In fact, we never met Ariel in Bisti. He was just a name. But he stuck with me and muscled his way into my book. And most people figure authors create characters. Often, the truth is that characters in our heads create authors.

The book’s blurb gives you the flavor of the novel:

 

When Ariel Gonda’s winery, the Lovely Pines, suffers a break-in, the police write the incident off as a prank since nothing was taken. But Ariel knows something is wrong—small clues are beginning to add up—and he turns to private investigator BJ Vinson for help.

BJ soon discovers the incident is anything but harmless. When a vineyard worker—who is also more than he seems—is killed, there are plenty of suspects to go around. But are the two crimes even related? As BJ and his significant other, Paul Barton, follow the trail from the central New Mexico wine country south to Las Cruces and Carlsbad, they discover a tangled web involving members of the US military, a mistaken identity, a family fortune in dispute, and even a secret baby. The body count is rising, and a child may be in danger. BJ will need all his skills to survive because, between a deadly sniper and sabotage, someone is determined to make sure this case goes unsolved.

Now let me give you a short scene that comes at the beginning of the fifth chapter of the book, which will explain the imagined headlines above:

*****

The phone rang at five thirty the next morning. Paul groaned and turned over. I swore for the thousandth time to delist my home number from the directory.

“Vinson,” I mumbled into the pesky instrument.

“BJ, this is Ray Yardley.”

I sat up, suddenly wide-awake. “Why is the state police calling me at this ungodly hour?”

Ray and I met back when we were both APD cops. We’d worked together on a couple of cases before I got shot and he went over to the state boys. He was a good man. Must be. He was a lieutenant now.

“Your client insisted I call you.”

“Bless my client. Which one should I thank?”

“Fellow by the name of Gonda out at the Lovely Pines Winery. There’s been a homicide involving one of his employees, and he said you were working on something that could tie in.”

“Who got killed?”

“A fellow by the name of Zuniga. Bascomb Zuniga. Know him?”

“Talked to him yesterday for the first time. He seemed like a decent kid. When did it happen?”

“Sometime last night. Fill me in on your involvement, will you?”

I took Ray through the situation and asked if I could walk the scene of the crime.

“Not right now. The crime scene boys still have it. Hell, I don’t even have access yet.”

“Who has jurisdiction?”

“When the call came to central dispatch, it was routed to us. We’ll probably retain control, but Sandoval County has a deputy out here. An officer named Roma Muñoz. Know her?”

“No. She have any experience?”

“Been a member of the department for ten years now. I’ve worked with her before. Prickly but competent. I’ll put in a good word for you. Why don’t you drive on up and wait for us at the house? Your client’s pretty broken up. We had to physically remove him from the crime scene and forbid him to return. And we could use some help making sense of things. His English deserts him, and he shifts into a foreign language now and then. Sometimes it sounds like French and sometimes it sounds like German.”

“He’s a naturalized citizen from Switzerland, so it’s probably a little of both. It’ll take me better than an hour to clean up and get up there. Will you still be around?”

“Oh yeah. I’ll meet you at the Lovely Pines. That’s a hell of a name, isn’t it?”

“But appropriate. It’s a pretty place.”

I hung up and found Paul staring at me through sleep-filled brown eyes. “What’s up?”

“I am, I guess. One of Ariel Gonda’s people got himself killed last night. You catch some more z’s. I’ll try to be quiet.”

“Naw, I’ve got to get moving anyway. I’ll fix breakfast while you shower.”

*****

Now they say I have to tell you something about myself. Sometimes I think that I write stories because my own life is so boring. There’s not really much to tell. I grew up in southeastern Oklahoma as a tubercular child, a mama’s boy who lived in libraries. Believing I could not physically participate in sports, I developed absolutely no interest in them, thereby putting miles between me and my peers. College sent me to Texas; the US Army, to Germany. That is when I found out I could do anything anyone else could do… sort of late in life to learn that. I painted still-lifes for a while but gave up painting to return to writing. I wrote and sold sixty or so short stories under a pseudonym, published seven novels under that same name, but wanted to write mysteries under Don Travis. So I did. And here we are. Hey, I warned you it was boring.

What am I up to now? Abaddon’s Locusts, my fifth BJ Vinson book has been put to bed by DSP Publications and scheduled for release January 22, 2019. Once again, I reached back to Bisti for some of the characters and set a lot of the action on the Navajo Nation reservations in New Mexico. The sixth, The Voxlightner Scandal, is abirthing in my computer as we speak.

Many thanks to Stella and Melanie at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for allowing me to guest post this blog. This is not the first time they’ve been so kind, and it’s sort of hard to let them know how much I appreciate it.

Now my mantra: Keep on reading. Keep on writing. You have something to say… so say it!

I encourage personal contact by readers. They don’t know it, but I draw on them like some old vampire for literary sustaining energy. My personal links follow:

Blog: dontravis.com

Email: dontravis21@gmail.com

Facebook: dontravis

Twitter: @dontravis3

And some buy links for The Lovely Pines:

DSPP ebook: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-lovely-pines-by-don-travis-457-b

DSPP paperback: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-lovely-pines-by-don-travis-468-b

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lovely-Pines-BJ-Vinson-Mystery/dp/1640805052

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lovely-pines-don-travis/1127915422

Again, thanks to Stella and Melanie, and a shout-out to DSP Publications—without which there would be nothing to read.

Release Blitz – Second Chance Ranch (Montana #5) by RJ Scott (excerpt and giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 55,300 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
 
Montana Series
 
Book #1 – Crooked Tree Ranch – Amazon US | Amazon UK 
Book #2 – The Rancher’s Son – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #3 – A Cowboy’s Home – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #4 – Snow In Montana – Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Blurb
 

Rob runs to Crooked Tree determined to find a safe place for his nephews. A family for them is the final thing on his list, and then he can vanish completely. Falling for a local paramedic along the way is a disaster in Rob’s otherwise perfect plans.


Paramedic Aaron, the middle of five brothers, would like someone to love. A great believer in fate he is convinced though, that one day he’ll find someone. He just never thought it would be a man in so much pain, or that children would be part of the package.


Rob is ready to leave. Aaron wants him to stay. Their love has an expiry date, and it’s tearing them apart. Can they find a way to save what they have?


The Final book in the Montana Series

 
Excerpt
 
Chapter 1


Rob Brady knew three things. His sister was dead, he was the guardian to her two boys, and he was stuck in Hell.


And why am I fixating on Hell?


Oh yeah, the room, the kids, the crushing grief of absolutely fucking everything.


If Hell was a small, airless room with no windows, a flickering light, and two utterly silent children staring at him as if he’d personally murdered their mother.


Oh, and a thin-lipped woman from Child Protection Services looking at him the same way.


Of course, he hadn’t killed his sister because he only ever took out the bad guys. With ruthless efficiency, he’d carved out the poison in the US and kept its citizens safe. Most people would’ve described him as an assassin, but he was more than that; the last resort when normal lines of defense failed.


At least, he used to be until he caught a bullet things went pear-shaped.


“How long have they been on their own?” Rob Brady didn’t know what else to ask. He wanted to be angry with the DCFS but how could he be? Instead, he wavered between anger and guilt, and it was guilt that was winning.


“Mr. Brady, they were never on their own.”


“My sister—” He stopped talking when he realized he was just about to state how long ago his sister died when her children were sitting right there in the room. Lowering his tone, he then turned to Sylvia from the DCFS, efficient and steady, and just ever so slightly pissed at him. “A year. They’ve been on their own a year.”


Sylvia inhaled sharply and clutched her folders to her chest.


“And for a little less than that, we have tried to track down their uncle and been unable to find anything.”


“I know. I get that.” Anyone trying to find him would reach several dead-ends whichever way they went. First of all the navy and his time in the SEALs, then when he joined the team combatting mainland terrorism. At every turn, his existence was classified, and in the end, he’d become nothing more than a ghost. “That isn’t my point.”


Sylvia tapped a finger on the files in a steady rhythm. “Then please, can you enlighten me as to what exactly is your point?”


He opened the door and gestured for her to go into the hallway, following her out and shutting it behind them. He had questions and didn’t want to ask them in front of his nephews.


“Why has no one adopted them? Why don’t they have a forever home with a new family?”


“Because your sister’s intention was that you would take the boys. It’s explicitly stated in every legal form we have, and it was her dying wish.”


“But she couldn’t have known I would ever come back. Or that I was even alive…” He floundered for something to say. He’d come back to town on the off chance he’d see what was left of his extended family from a distance, and instead, he’d learned his sister was dead, after losing a battle with cancer, that there was no father in the picture, and that his nephews were in the system.


“Nonetheless, they are legally your responsibility. Given you worked so hard to get authorization from Governor Chilton, something I’ve never seen before, along with psych evals that no normal person would have access to, you are now in a position to leave with your nephews.”


The minute he’d heard about the boys, he’d realized he needed to get things done. He’d called in favors, had people who owed him create a backstory so tight he seemed like Mother fucking Teresa, and now he was here. His nephews needed a home, and he thought on his feet because he only had another three good months to put anything in place for them. He wanted them looked after, safe, and so he had one more mission before leaving. He’d have to delay spending his last weeks on a beach in Aruba, sipping cocktails and sleeping with anything that moved.


“I can take them today?” he asked. A small, hesitant part of him wanted her to say no, that there were more details to be ironed out.


“Yes.”


“Now?”


“Yes.” She pursed her lips as if it were against her better judgment. But he’d passed all the checks, and the references were sound, he had the governor’s endorsement. It was done.


“Okay then.”


He pushed back into the room. Bran, the older of his two nephews, stared at him steadily. Toby, the youngest, sniffled and gripped his brother hard. Any ordinary uncle would’ve hugged them close and told them everything was going to be okay. But he wasn’t a regular uncle, and he swore Bran knew that because there was accusation in his eyes.


You don’t even know us; he seemed to be saying.


Was it right for Rob to be taking them from their new foster home? They’d been placed with a family currently fostering six kids, and on the surface, everything seemed okay. He’d done his due diligence, and the parents checked out, but there was a weird vibe in the house, a rule of fear, and he didn’t like it.


He’d stayed alive this long by listening to his instinct, and his gut told him he should take Bran and Toby, that he was the boys’ kin. He also knew where he could find them a better home. In the mountains, with rivers and horses, and a whole group of people who would look out for them.


“Everything will be okay.” Was he reassuring himself or the boys?


If anyone who knew him had seen he was being handed two children to take care of, they’d call the cops.


Of course, he could handle the cops. He’d done it before, but the kids would slow him down. Unless he strapped them to his back and—


“Mr. Brady?”


Sylvia talked to him, or at him, and from her expression, she wasn’t impressed he’d stopped listening.


“Sorry, say again?” He glanced at Toby who was sniffling harder and snuggling deeper into his brother. I should go to Toby and…


And what?


Do what? Say what? Scare the kid rigid by being all up in his face?


“We need an address for our records. Unless you reside with Governor Chilton?” The last she added sarcastically.


Oh yeah, a house, an address, he probably needed those. He’d managed to fool them with his credentials so far, and the recommendation he’d gotten from the governor for a favor owed had cut through the red tape. The address was easy; it was the only place he had on his to-do list, the one where the kids could maybe have a home. He just needed to hire a lawyer, update his will, get Justin to agree to his proposal, and he’d be able to leave without any worries.


“Crooked Tree Ranch, outside of Helena, Montana.”

RJ’s goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.

RJ is the author of the over one hundred novels and discovered romance in books at a very young age. She realized that if there wasn’t romance on the page, she could create it in her head, and is a lifelong writer.

She lives and works out of her home in the beautiful English countryside, spends her spare time reading, watching films, and enjoying time with her family.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit and has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

She’s always thrilled to hear from readers, bloggers and other writers. Please contact via the following links below:

Email RJ (rj@rjscott.co.uk)

 

 

 

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A MelanieM Review: Irresistible by Andrew J Peters

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

 

What if the gods created a man so beautiful, he was irresistible to anyone? 

Brendan Thackeray-Prentiss is an Ivy League-educated trust-funder who Gotham Magazine named the most eligible gay bachelor in New York City. He lives for finding his soulmate, but after walking in on his boyfriend of three transcendent months soaping up in the shower with an older female publicist, he’s on a steady diet of scotch, benzodiazepines, and compulsive yoga. Men are completely off the menu.

Callisthenes Panagopoulos has a problem most guys dream of. With the body and face of a European soccer heartthrob, the vigorous blond hair of a Mormon missionary, and a smile that makes traffic cops stuff their ticket books back in their utility belts, he’s irresistible to everyone. But being a constant guy-magnet comes with its discontents, like an ex-boyfriend who tried to drive his Smart car through Cal’s front door. It makes him wonder if he’s been cursed when it comes to love.

When Brendan and Cal meet, the attraction is meteoric, and they go from date to mates at the speed of time-lapse photography. But to stay together, they’ll have to overcome Cal’s jealous BFF, Romanian mobsters, hermit widowers, and a dictatorship on the brink of revolution during a dream wedding in the Greek isles that becomes a madcap odyssey.

A gay romantic comedy of errors based on Chariton’s Callirhoe, the world’s oldest extant romance novel.

I cannot begin to tell you how close to a one star rating this book came.  Had I written the review shortly after I finished it, it might have even garnered a zero, that’s how truly awful a mess I feel Irresistible by Andrew J Peters is.  But I  have waited until the light of day and some distance between me and it (and loads of coffee) before sitting down to right this thing.

My how that helps!

Where oh where to begin?  How about the  two main characters (of no depth and weird backgrounds) fall instantly in love and get married by page 35?  Yes indeed.  Even though one has had serious issues with a previous boyfriend with stalker issues (ongoing), an absolute nutjob of a “bestfriend” who is currently with him on vacation who’s every word and action screams sociopath,  now hooking up with a rich someone with the judgement of a kumquat? All within the first 50 pages and boom they are getting married!

If I could have, I would have stopped right there because there was nothing believable about any of them.  But no,  I said  I’d read this book.  Smh.

So prep work is ongoing for the marriage, sociopath bestie is not happy and all of a sudden in Chapter 8?  We get another pov!   Up to three now.  We are flip flopping formats and povs all over the place. Yes, the author brings in another person’s perspective because let’s crowd the field as the plot is about to take flight into whackydom with bombs, explosives, Arabs, mad Greeks, Sheiks, and you name it.  None of which, again really make any sense.

More of a hodgepodge of action elements shuffled together, thrown into a narrative pot and voila! Another chapter is born! And another and another. And so on.

I was never so happy to have made it out of a book alive.

And that ending….shudders.

If you are dying to read a book by Andrew J. Peters, I suggest you look elsewhere.  Truly there is nothing Irresistible about this story in my opinion.

Cover art by Natasha Snow:  Best thing about this novel.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published August 13th 2018 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781949340402
Edition LanguageEnglish

  • Reviewer’s Note:  I just realized that I’ve read books by this author before, his Werecat Trilogy and loved them.  I clearly didn’t recognize his writing here.  So here is another reason not to base an author on just one story.

An Alisa Review: Back to You (Directions #3) by Jena Wade

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Victor Docimo loved his mate more than anything, and he’s worked hard to provide Charles with the life that he deserved. He’s strived to be the Alpha that his own Father was not.

Charles spent the last twenty-six years mated to his perfect Alpha. He raised their son and managed their home. He’s tried to provide his Alpha with a family, despite the fact that he can’t have more children. After seeing Victor with another Omega, he begins to wonder if he’s enough.

Now, the two of them must face their greatest challenge yet, something that shouldn’t be possible: a broken bond.

I’ll start off by saying I was glad to see Victor and Charles story, though much of it was hinted at in the other books.  There are also overlapping portions that are basically word for word to the first book that had me skimming a portion or two and while I don’t like to do that I also don’t like reading the same thing twice especially since I read all of these pretty close together.

Victor and Charles have built a life together and are beginning to reflect upon the life they built and how they want to go forward.  It was hard to see both of these guys hurt for different reasons but it felt like they used it as a reason to be apart for a while when they could have been working on building up their trust in each other.  I was sorry it took Charles being hurt for them to get their head out of their asses and talk about their feelings.  It was great to see them essentially become newlyweds which is probably something a lot of couples could benefit from as they get older.

The cover art by Silver Heart Design Studio is nice and similar to those in the series, though I don’t think the baby worked for the basis of this book.

Sales Links: Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 120 pages

Published: July 25, 2018

Edition Language: English

Series: Directions #3

Release Blitz – Top & Tails (With a Kick #9) by Clare London (excerpt and giveaway)

 

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 46,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Lou Harper
 
With A Kick Series
 
Book #1 – A Twist and Two Balls – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #2 – Hissed as a Newt (Sue Brown) – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #3 – Slap and Tickle – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #4 – Bells and Balls (Sue Brown) – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #5 – Pluck and Play – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #6 – Nice and Snow – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #7 – Smack Happy – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #8 – Double Scoop – Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Blurb
 
Three
men, one love—and a passion he only ever dreamed of.
 
Karel
Novak is content with his busy job in hotel refurbishment, enjoying the social
scene in Soho, London and the company of new friends he met through working at
With A Kick. All he’s missing is a special man in his life. Or maybe two.
 
His first
meeting with the mercurial pole dancer Leroy and his socially anxious partner
Griff isn’t impressive, but none of them can ignore the sexual spark that
flares between the three men.
 
Their
relationship builds in steps of passion, frustration, and finally love. Both
Leroy and Griff have complex issues in their lives to work through, and at
first Karel brings a new dynamic that both settles and supports them.
 
But
although he loves his men, Karel gradually realises the issues are still
present. His partners struggle with living individually as well as together.
His heartfelt wish is for them to create a lasting bond as a trio—but that
means putting others first, all too often.
 
And will
that mean sacrificing his own joy and dreams?
 
Excerpt
 

Karel needed to stop this conversation. Not that the guys weren’t perfectly entitled to talk about whatever they chose, in their own home. But he didn’t want to get drawn into—


“There are several sculpture exhibitions in the arts festival, one at the local school.” Griff opened the booklet, as if ready to search the index.


“Karel?” Leroy was looking at him curiously. His hand squeezed Karel’s, his thumb distracting, massaging Karel’s wrist. He threw a comment to Griff, over his shoulder. “Let’s talk about something else.”


“Huh?”


Leroy rolled his eyes. “Man, it’s too late tonight for chatting about art and stuff. Isn’t it?” The question was aimed at Karel.


“I… don’t mind,” he said.


But Leroy laughed. He swept the brochure from Griff’s hand, dropped it on the far end of the counter, then turned fully to face Karel. “Yeah. Talk about something else, Griff. Something just for fun. Like the time you made chilli frozen yoghurt and burned my mouth at the same time my tongue froze to my teeth—”


“—or the time you bought kids’ dance tights by mistake, fell over trying to put them on, and nearly strangled your balls?” Griff countered.


Everyone laughed. The awkward moment had passed. Karel was relieved he hadn’t been led astray by his own worries. The kitchen was suddenly full again of amused banter, with Griff leaning over the counter to gossip, and Leroy’s soothing yet stimulating touch on Karel’s skin.


And underlying all of it, a thread of fizzing, humming desire growing between them. Karel wondered how he would have coped if the conversation had gone a more cultural route, when all he could think about at the moment was energetic, obscene sex with these men.


He didn’t think he was presuming anything, either.


Finally, Leroy collected their empty plates, placed them in the dishwasher, then sauntered back to where Karel sat. He didn’t sit back down again, but stood there, his hip nudging Karel’s. Griff wiped the counter briskly but thoroughly with a wet cloth, placed it neatly on the side of the sink, took off his glasses, then came to stand beside him.


The dance was moving into its second set.


Karel stood, as steadily as he could. His skin prickled as if electricity sparkled over it, and his limbs felt almost too weak to respond. But when Leroy leaned in to kiss him, he was more than ready. He cupped Leroy’s cheek, thumbing the gentle bed of stubble, enjoying the brush of Leroy’s hair on the back of his hand. Karel pushed his tongue gently at Leroy’s mouth and the lips parted quickly, eagerly, for him. They kissed in near silence, the only sound their panting, the soft slick of their mouths.


And Griff’s soft breath in Karel’s other ear.


“We’ve taken this evening in the wrong order,” he said. When Karel turned reluctantly from Leroy’s kiss, he found Griff staring at him with a slow, seductive smile that Karel hadn’t seen before. “Dessert before the main course.”


“No,” Leroy said from behind Karel. “That was only ice cream. The proper dessert hasn’t even been served yet.”


“Whatever,” Griff murmured, rolling his eyes like Leroy had earlier, still smiling at Karel. He lifted his face for a kiss. His lips were plumper, his mouth wider. Karel didn’t know why he should be shocked that Griff’s taste was so different, but he was delighted by it. Griff was surprisingly assertive, thrusting his tongue into Karel’s mouth, his beard softly tickling Karel’s chin.


Leroy hadn’t moved away. His breath was warm on Karel’s neck, but Karel appreciated the way Leroy took his time: no one was hurrying. He relaxed into Griff’s kiss as he had Leroy’s, and behind him, Leroy’s lips touched the nape of his neck, kissing around to Karel’s throat and down towards his collarbone. Griff nipped briefly at Karel’s lower lip, just shy of breaking the skin and Karel gasped. Leroy slid his fingers briefly, tantalisingly, under the neck of Karel’s T-shirt, running along the seam, tugging it away from his body.


“I worked on the site today,” Karel said, not surprised to find his voice was hoarse. “I’m sweaty. My clothes are dusty.”


“You can shower here,” Griff said quickly. “If you want. Or…”


“…No. Do it after,” Leroy said, just as quick. His tone roughened. “I want you like this.”


Jesus. A wave of desire swamped Karel from head to foot. He leaned away from Griff as Leroy peeled the T-shirt over his head.


Griff’s gaze dropped to Karel’s chest and he licked his lips.


Leroy sighed happily. Then he took Karel’s hand and led him out of the kitchen.

Clare took the pen name London from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters.


Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind . . . she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.


All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!

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