Two Chicks Obsessed with Books & Eye Candy

Sharing our love of M/M Romance

Pure Dumb Luck by Dahlia Donovan: Exclusive Guest Post, Excerpt, and Giveaway

by

 When two small-town country dudes win the lottery, they finally find the courage to speak their truth.

An unexpected adventure follows.

Linwood “Woody” Robinson has a routine. He works for his baby brother in construction, buys three lottery tickets every week, and lusts after his best friend from high school. He’s done the same thing for twenty years.

Eddison “Eddie” Howard owns the only gas station in their small South Carolina town, sells lottery tickets, and lusts after his best friend from afar. They joke around but never speak their truth. He knows they’re cowards but can’t seem to find the courage to bridge the gulf between them.

And then they win eighty million dollars.

Life changes.

They go from never talking about their feelings to facing the world together.

Can anything pull them apart?

Title: Pure Dumb Luck

Author Name: Dahlia Donovan

Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing

Release Date: Saturday, September 28 2019

Story Type: Novella 20k-50k

Word Count: 30000

Cover Artist: Booksmith Design

Genres: MM Romantic Comedy

Pairings: MM

Tropes: friends-to-lovers

Keywords/Categories: travel, millionaire, best friends, adventure, hurt-comfort, comedy, foodie

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QueeRomance Ink

When I’m writing, I generally have a music playlist (or two), but I’ll also have one for movies and TV shows. Not for every novel, it’s just for certain stories I need a little help getting into the vibe. Pure Dumb Luck was definitely one of those.

I thought I’d share ten of the TV shows that I watched while writing my fun travel rom-com.

And they’re not in any particular order.

  1. Travel Man (So damn funny)
  2. World’s Most Dangerous Roads
  3. Amazing Hotels
  4. Parts Unknown
  5. Kindness Diaries
  6. Departures
  7. Stephen Fry in America
  8. Ugly Delicious
  9. The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan
  10. The Layover

How about you? What are your favourite travel-themed TV shows?

“Go inside. Buy your lottery tickets. Shoot the shit—all calm and natural-like.” Woody gripped the steering wheel of his pickup truck tightly, trying to talk himself into getting out of it. A familiar pep talk. Familiar and oft repeated. “You’ve known Eddie since elementary school. You’ve been staring at his ass since he played quarterback to your running back in junior high. No point in getting all fucking weird around him now.”

Patting the bobblehead football player on his dashboard for good luck, Woody reluctantly slipped out of his truck. He slammed the door and plastered a grin on his face. Lottery tickets wouldn’t buy themselves.

And Eddie had already seen his truck. If he ran away now, he’d never hear the end of it. The temptation to get back into his vehicle was strong.

C’mon.

This is not even close to the hardest part of your day.

Except it had definitely become the most difficult daily event. Woody had never considered himself a coward, yet every single morning, he walked into the gas station to see his best friend, the person he’d been in love with for years, and said nothing beyond small talk.

He never told the truth of the ache in his heart growing too painful to ignore. He couldn’t. What if Eddie rejected him?

“Your usual?”

Woody grinned at Eddie, who ran the family-owned gas station in their little country town nestled in the middle of a national forest in the southern Appalachian Mountains. “You know me. Boring as shit. I’m consistent, at least.”

“One large coffee, one pack of powdered donuts, and three lottery tickets. Two for you, one for me.” Eddie rolled his dark brown eyes and held out a large hand for the card Woody held out to him. “You never change, dude. You’ve been doing this for twenty years—since high school. I know Coach said you were full of dumb luck, but I don’t think he meant with the Mega Millions.”

“Have a little faith, Eddie.” He grabbed both his breakfast and the lottery tickets, winking at his oldest friend, who hadn’t changed much in the thirty years since they’d known each other. Still as fucking hot as the day I first saw him in the shower at the gym. His warm brown skin had glistened under the shower. Maybe stop thinking about Eddie naked in the middle of the gas station. “We still on for fishing this weekend?”

“Unless you get lucky with your numbers. If you do, we’ll go fishing on a yacht instead of your granddaddy’s rickety old boat.” He tapped a finger against the ticket stub in Woody’s hand. “Go on. Get your ass out of here. You’re ruining the atmosphere. Plus, I like watching you leave.”

For the past twenty years, they’d danced around each other. Woody had given up on anything happening between them outside of harmless flirting. Maybe it was too clichéd—two former jocks who fell in love on the football field finally getting their chance in their late thirties.

It sounded like a cheesy movie plot.

The only way I’m getting lucky at this point is with the lottery tickets.

And I’m all out of luck with that as well.

Dahlia Donovan wrote her first romance series after a crazy dream about shifters and damsels in distress. She prefers irreverent humour and unconventional characters. An autistic and occasional hermit, her life wouldn’t be complete without her husband and her massive collection of books and video games.

Author Website: https://dahliadonovan.com/

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/dahliadonovan

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/DahliaDonovan

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dahliadonovanauthor/

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8184061.Dahlia_Donovan

Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/dahlia-donovan/

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dahlia-Donovan/e/B00KFNZFHU/

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Ground Zero (Zero Hour Book One) by Aimee Nicole Walker: Blog Tour, Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

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Ground zero, noun: the center or origin of rapid, intense, or violent activity or change.

Heat, humidity, and homicide are things veteran detective Sawyer Key expects to encounter on his first day with the Savannah Police Department, but the hostile reception from his new partner catches him by surprise. Sawyer isn’t a stranger to heartache and recognizes that Royce Locke is a wounded man who’s reeling from a devastating loss. Relentless and patient in all things, Sawyer is determined to make the new partnership work.

Savannah, Georgia is known for her quirky people, oak trees draped in Spanish moss, and antebellum architecture. Beneath the Southern charm and hospitality, festering hatred and violence is soaring with the summer temperatures. Locke and Key find themselves at the epicenter when their first case involves the death of a former shock jock who appears to be the victim of vigilante justice.

Opposites in nearly every way, the two detectives set aside their differences to take back their city and restore law and order. From this reluctant truce, an intense attraction grows that will either tighten or shatter their tenuous bond. Falling for his partner spells inevitable disaster, but Sawyer’s always been a sucker for wounded things. Sawyer could be the key to the life Royce has always wanted, if he’s brave enough to trust him. The fuse is lit, the clock is running, and the zero hour is upon them. Tick tock.

Ground Zero is the first book in the Zero Hour series, which follows Locke and Key’s investigations and evolving relationship. Ground Zero has a happy-for-now ending with no cliffhanger. It contains mature language and sexual content intended for adults 18 and older.

Ground Zero

Zero Hours Series

Aimee Nicole Walker

M/M Romance/Mystery

Release Date: 09.22.19

Cover Design: Jay Aheer

Photographer: Wander Aguiar

Model: Jacob

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Locke in his tight black tee and shoulder holster. Locke sitting astride his motorcycle. Locke staring at Sawyer’s strip of exposed skin. Locke’s sexy voice when he’d admonished him for making assumptions about his acceptance levels or possibly even his sexuality. The last one reached Sawyer at the deepest level. The dreams went on and on until Sawyer woke with a leaking, aching dick with only himself to relieve it. 

There would be no going back to sleep until he took care of his body’s demands. He hadn’t been this aroused since… He couldn’t finish the thought, wouldn’t allow anything to disrupt his driving need for release. Bones made a grumbling noise and jumped off the bed when Sawyer yanked open the bedside drawer at an ungodly, predawn hour. Smart cat. He fumbled around, searching for the lube to rub one out but paused when his hand bumped into the flesh-like dildo. It had a suction cup on the base, and Sawyer took it into the shower when the need for penetration overwhelmed him. This was one of those times. 

Throwing back the covers, Sawyer grabbed the dildo and lube before padding across his room to the bathroom, his swaying balls so heavy and full they ached. While waiting for the water temperature to heat up, he ran a hand over his chest, sucking in a sharp breath when his fingers brushed over hardened nipples. He closed his eyes and pictured Locke’s face pressed against his pecs, licking and sucking his nipples while Sawyer fisted his blond hair. 

Fantasies of Locke kissing a path down his body, stopping to dip his tongue inside his navel before running his nose through his happy trail, made him moan out loud. Sawyer fisted his throbbing cock, wanting to put himself out of his misery but not eager for the fantasy to end.

My favorite book from this author!

I was a fan of her Curled Up and Dye series, as well as the spin off. There are some other books in there, stand alones and even a collaboration with another author. I’ve read most, and this is my favorite.

Down to the why. There seems to be sort of a maturity to this book that I haven’t gotten before. Maybe because she has a nice back list behind her. Maybe she specifically looked to write this one differently. I don’t know the answer.

We meet Sawyer in the office of his new chief of police on the Savannah PD. He meets his new partner shortly after at a brutal crime scene. Locke is resistant, to say the least. In fact, early on he gives Sawyer a bit of a speech about how they won’t be friends in any way. Locke is a grieving, broken man.

But they work well together and there is no denying that. And then a drunk Locke shows up at Sawyer’s door.

It’s assumed that Locke is straight. And even after that night with Sawyer, he never says one way or the other. And Sawyer only questions him once. But the part I liked the most is that he just went with the flow. No internal dialogue of “omg what if I am gay?” “I’m touching a penis that isn’t mine!”. I read a lot of first time gay or gay for you books and those lines get really tired. So it was refreshing.

AND there were crimes in the book. That they worked on and solved. It wasn’t just them getting together, but also story. And no, they weren’t hard to figure out mysteries. But enough of a story, well stories, that they were well told and didn’t rush.

And except for silly, being a jerk kind of things, there were NO PET NAMES! Sorry. I despise cutesy pet names. There’s enough levity so it isn’t too serious, it is serious without being angsty and it is hot without relying on sex scenes in every chapter.

This is a great start to a new series and I cannot wait for more!

4.5 Pieces of Eye Candy

Ever since she was a little girl, Aimee Nicole Walker entertained herself with stories that popped into her head. Now she gets paid to tell those stories to other people. She wears many titles—wife, mom, and animal lover are just a few of them. Her absolute favorite title is champion of the happily ever after. Love inspires everything she does, music keeps her sane, and coffee is the magic elixir that fuels her day. I’d love to hear from you 

https://linktr.ee/AimeeNicoleWalker

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Under Pressure (Love and Football, Book 1) by Lauren Ashley: RB, Excerpt, Release Day Review and Giveaway

by

Rookie quarterback, Drew Carmichael, is under pressure like never before.

When Drew abruptly and unexpectedly comes out of the closet, his life is upended. The media is hounding him. Fans and haters are scrutinizing him nonstop. Worst of all, team management is wary of him, unsure if he’s worth all the hassle.

He’ll do anything to stay on his homestate’s NFL team, including pretending to be in a serious and committed relationship. The only problem is his fake boyfriend is Scott Hunter-the irresistible pop-country music star and his secret teenage crush.

Scott Hunter is used to being under pressure. He’s dealt with it his whole life, handling it all with grace and an unwavering smile on his face.

When his manager presents him with the long-awaited opportunity to come out of the closet, he jumps on it, no questions asked. Pretending to be Drew Carmichael’s boyfriend should be easy. Simple. Fun.

He never expected or wanted to start caring about the golden boy of football. That’s definitely not part of the plan. Neither is fooling around with him on a football field…

Touchdown.

Under Pressure by Lauren Ashley

Series (name + # in series):  Love and Football, Book 1

Publisher:  Self-Published

Release Date (Print & Ebook):  October 8th, 2019

Length (Print & Ebook): approx. 50,000

Subgenre:  Contemporary Romance; LGBT romance, sports romance

Warnings: Brief mentions of religious upbringing/unsupportive parents, past sibling death from car accident.

Amazon US – Kindle Unlimited

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My stomach suddenly rumbles, loud enough for Scott to hear, ruining the moment.

“Hungry?” he asks knowingly.

My stomach rumbles again.

“Maybe just a little,” I joke, already feeling my cheeks heat up. So much for not blushing.

“We’d better get you fed.” There’s an easy, amused smile on his face that puts me at ease.

“Let’s see what breakfast essentials you picked up,” I declare, rubbing my hands together. “This is going to be the true test of compatibility. I take my breakfast foods very seriously,” I say, half-jokingly, wiggling my brows up and down in an exaggerated manner.

“Bring it on.” He leans back slightly, casually crossing his arms over his chest, and watches as I lean over the kitchen counter.

I grab one of the three medium-sized white boxes, using my powers of deductive reasoning to determine that they contain the much needed breakfast essentials. I pop the box open and am surprised to see six donuts topped with just about everything you could think of. Cereal, crumbled candy bars, marshmallows, gummy bears, candied bacon bits, icing, and powdered sugar.

I groan, tempted beyond belief. My football career calls for a pretty strict diet, but at heart I’m a sugar addict.

“Do the other two boxes have donuts in them as well?” I ask, curious.

“Yup,” Scott confirms. “There from a local favorite of mine. A place called Baked N’ Glazed.”

“Good to know I’m not the only one with a sweet tooth.” Between Mary Alice’s cupcakes, last night’s Oreos, and now these, I’m slowly but surely turning into a fatass. My trainer is going to fucking kill me come Monday morning.

“I have no idea what you’re taking about,” Scott denies. If it weren’t for the twinkle in his eyes, I might actually believe him.

“This is a judgment-free zone. You could admit that you dip French fries in milkshakes or that you put pickles in peanut butter sandwiches and I wouldn’t even blink.”

This was cute. An overly sanitized, pretend boyfriend romance between a rookie quarterback and a country music star. Of which, I am guessing, the author knows nothing about.

What we get is a nearly perfect world. Where the just out of college rookie quarterback not only rarely goes to practice, but he is also the first string starter. There’s a brief mention of some of his team mates not being happy that he is out and proud, but other than that there are no repercussions whatsoever. Not from his team, not from other teams, not from the media or the fans. Lucky him. Even his conservative all American Texas family is totally fine with it.

Same with Scott. Although he has been in the spotlight for several years, when he suddenly announces he is gay, with a hot football boyfriend, there is no back lash. I’d like to live in this perfect world.

The fake boyfriend ruse doesn’t last long as it is pretty much love at first sight. Nerves? Nah. Freak outs? Definitely not.

It had a good premise and could have gone somewhere, but this was like the Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood version of a gay romance.

2.5 pieces of eye candy

 

Lauren Ashley discovered her love for books at an early age. She is a hopeless romantic at heart and believes that everyone deserves their happily ever after. An East Coast native hailing from the Tri-State area, Lauren hates the cold weather, but loves her chunky sweaters and cups of coffee. When she’s not writing, she can be found traveling, binge-watching TV, spending time with loved ones, and obsessing over all things Harry Potter.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/authorlaurenashley

Twitter: www.twitter.com/authorlashley

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/user/show/100794438-lauren-ashley

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Conspiracy Theory (Hamarsson & Dempsey #1) by Elle Keaton: New Release Review and Giveaway

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Years of grueling police work have left Niall Hamarsson jaded and disillusioned with life…although it’s likely he’s been that way all along. The last straw lands when the DA refuses to try a case Niall worked for years to bring to justice. Within hours he finds himself heading to the only place he’s ever been able to call home—a place he knows he doesn’t belong.

Mat Dempsey returned to Piedras Island after his father’s death. These days he’s Island County’s sheriff. He’s happy enough, even if moving home from San Francisco effectively forced him back into the closet. Mat’s well-ordered universe collapses when a local’s body is discovered floating in the cold waters of Hidden Harbor’s marina. All hell breaks loose in the community, and accusations fly…all coinciding with Niall Hamarsson’s return.Niall and Mat have a history, and it’s not one Mat’s proud of. He owes Niall an apology, even if it means getting down on his knees. However, Mat’s first priority is investigating the murder before his community tears itself apart and he may have to ask the aloof Niall Hamarsson for help.

Push apart, pull together, yes or no… The chemistry crackles between them but will the two men be able to put aside their pasts and embrace a future?

Maybe.

Length: 78,000 words approx.

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design

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Okay… there’s a lot to go over here, so first, we meet Hamarsson when he’s handing in his resignation letter to his boss (which she doesn’t accept), and he’s hitting the road/ferry, back to the island of Piedras where his grandparents took him to live after his mother disappeared, leaving him in a closet for an undetermined amount of time. Now, I do love a good wounded bird and Hamarsson, who’s name is Niall, has a lot of baggage from his childhood…. So much so that he can’t even sleep inside the small cabin he’d once lived in, he slept out in a tent in the yard, in snowy weather… but, we’ll come back to that.

Now, leaving the city, his job, his now kind of ex boyfriend that we didn’t meet, he’s back on the island at the cabin that he inherited after his grandparents passed and he’s upset to find that it hasn’t been taken care of like he’d thought. With nothing else to do while he hides away on the island, he starts fixing it up, but injures himself, leaving him with nothing to do at all. That’s when he hears of the goings-on in town that just so happened to have started around the time he got to town.

A murdered young woman, a conspiracy theorist group, a generations-long feuding historical family, a closeted sheriff and a wounded and hiding homicide detective are all thrown together and seriously, it’s just one big ol’ coincidence after another for Sheriff Dempsey. The small island never sees much crime and certainly nothing like murder and conspiracy… but Mat Dempsey’s got his work cut out of him with a mediocre department and a meddling blast from his past that he’s at odds with more often than not.

I am going to say that it took me way too long to get into this one, as the two guys never really got together and didn’t even kiss until 97% in. I figured it was the start of an upcoming series and I liked the fact that the two have history. Not only did they kind of grow up together, Hamarsson didn’t have the upbringing Mat did, even though his grandparents did try their hardest to love him all better, he just didn’t trust… especially when leaving the abuse and neglect from his mom to the tormentors of the town bullies and school and being the weird kid, I could understand that chip on his shoulder. It made me want him to get a happily ever after that much worse! I think I shipped Nial and the dog more than anyone else because Niall and Mat didn’t get along the majority of the book and when they did admit it and attempt to do something about it, the book was over!

The big conspiracies were also hard for me to get into because they just seemed too many to be believed. It spanned both mens families, exes, random women in town and Niall hadn’t been back to the island in ten years and how did everyone know everyone? It was just a jumbled mess for me and I hate that I couldn’t follow along because two cops? The wounded bird syndrome, a big protective pupper, a wonderful, loving, accepting mother, karmic death of bigoted bad guys… I mean, these are all my favorite things!

I want to say that I might give the next one a chance, because I do feel like the next one will tie so much together that I felt was missed out on in this one, but I”ll have to wait until Spring of next year to find out and to be honest, I just don’t know if I have the patience; not only to wait until spring of next year, but also to get through a whole other book to get some sort of happy for Hamarrson.

At least the bad guys didn’t get away with being bad guys?

2.5 Pieces of Eye Candy

Thanks for stopping by, I’m Elle Keaton and I hail from the northwest corner of the US where we are known for rain, rain and more rain. I write the Accidental Roots series, set here in the Pacific Northwest featuring hot mm romance and the guarantee of a happy ending for my men. They start out broken, and maybe they end up that way too, but they always find the other half of their hearts.

I started writing way back when but only began publishing about two and a half years ago and now have nine books out. Each features a couple in my little universe, sometimes there is added mystery and suspense.

Thank you for supporting this Indie Author,

Elle

Find me, follow me, friend me:

Website: https://www.ellekeaton.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ElleKeatonWrites

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HighwayToElle/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/elle-keaton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elle.keaton_author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateQueenRdz1

Amazon: https://amzn.to/ek-amazon-profile

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/ek-gr-profile

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Confessions: Bailey By Ella Frank: Cover Reveal

by

Black and white. Right and wrong.

That’s how Craig Bailey has always lived his life.

The son of a fallen, decorated police officer,

he’s had no choice but to follow the rules.

Until he met the ultimate bad boy

and decided to follow him instead.

 

Henri Boudreaux is everything Bailey never knew he wanted.

Mysterious, sexy, and hiding more secrets than friends.

He’s exactly the kind of man Bailey knows could break his heart.

 

But there’s a vulnerability to Henri that calls to Bailey.

A longing for a connection that Bailey is unable to resist.

And while Bailey has always lived his life on the straight and narrow, he is now beginning to understand that falling in love is never so black and white.

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 28th, 2019

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Confessions #1

Confessions #2

Confessions #3

Confessions #4

Confessions #5

 

 

Dog Tagged by James Brock: Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

by

Drill instructor Sergeant Clay Norris has his hands full. Between new recruits and a Senior Drill Sergeant with an attitude hanging over him, the last thing he needs is to develop a crush on one of his trainees, but Private Chevy “Banksy” Banks is an Adonis he is unable to resist. A natural leader, the young man draws the other troops in with his easy manner and warm-as-the-Sun smile, a combination that melts the trying-to-sound-tough young Drill Sergeant.

When the Senior Drill manages to tear the two men apart before anything beyond fantasies and longing glances can happen, Clay tries to move on and forget Banksy, throwing himself into his career, knowing that he may have to wait until he retires from the military to be able to partner up, while understanding the irony that he is defending a freedom he is not yet allowed, the freedom to be who he is and to pursue the person he loves.

Fate brings Clay and Banksy together again for a brief and joyous reunion when they are able to begin planning a future, that same fate cruelly ripping them apart once more, with each facing a trauma alone.

Dog Tagged is set post DADT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) and pre the policy’s repeal; a time when being openly gay had seen many a lost career in the service. Sexually explicit in places, this story offers only a glimpse of how some men and women serving their country are not afforded the same rights as the heterosexuals with whom they fight side by side.

Author Name: James Brock

Publisher: LaVation Publising

Release Date: Wednesday, July 31 2019

Format: Paperback, eBook

Is This Book Romance?: Yes

Price: 1.99

Story Type: Novella 20k-50k

Word Count: 33K

Cover Artist: Joleen Naylor

Genres: MM romance, MM Military Romance

Tropes: Soldier meets Soldier, Soldier loses Soldier, Soldier fights like hell to get Soldier back.

Keywords/Categories: Insta love, Military, Military romance

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“We need service from the hottest clerk in the place,” I jauntily bellowed, loud enough to be heard over the pulsing music blasting from the sound system as we swung up to the counter.

Well I was more drunk than jaunty and holding the blond (who must have had a name other than ohfuckyeah, which is what I had been calling him the last few days) so tightly it was as if we were one unit.  Truthfully I doubt I could have stood alone without some serious swaying going on.

Evan, hot as ever, came out of the back room, smiling wide he when he saw me and dropping the bundle of clothing in his arms, running across the room and into a hug with me, ignoring the blond.

“You Jerk!”  he yelped, tightening his arms constrictor like until my breath was nearly gone.

Lucking I was mostly operating on liquor by then, air had become somewhat secondary.  “I’ve been checking my phone fifteen times an hour waiting for an update!  Where’s Chevy?”  his ability to ignore the blond hanging on my left side made me wonder if he had lost use of some of his vision.  “And, um, seems like you have been celebrating something…,” he said with a sniff toward my liquor-soaked body then let his eyes trail up and down my frame before finally cutting them to the guy I was with.  “Is it a career change, have you left the Army and taken up stripping?”  he finished while looking up and down my outfit of cut off jeans and a far too tight tank top stretched over my torso.

“Nope, but yup on the celebrating!  Did my tour and heading back for another so we are gonna keep our party going and YOU,” I said with a jab as his chest while hooking a finger down into the deep vee neck of the tee shirt he wore, “have to come have fun with us!”  My finger lingering on the smooth skin of his chest as I felt my cock thicken.

For the second time that day I was not thinking of Chevy.

Smiling in a very controlled way Evan took step back.

“And you might very well be invited back to Caesar’s-own-Fucking-Palace-Hotel where I have a fucking room with a fucking Jacuzzi tub….,”  I slurred with a leer as the blond humped my leg and Evan carefully kept out of the range of the finger I was desperately trying to snag his tee shirt with again.

“How about,” Evan countered, smile brightening while he took another careful step back to stay out of my range, “we go have some dinner, my treat, as a welcome home?”

“How about we drink some dinner, let’s go paaaaaaarrrrrttyy, ‘m man!”  I yelped back, thinking myself so clever and so genuinely glad to see him.  Reaching back out I stroked a finger down the center of his chest again.  If I had done that the first time I met him in the shop he would have drug me into the back room and thrown me down on the floor and ridden me like a circus pony.

“I’m really sorry, could you excuse us?”  Evan said to my “date” while forcing his fingers down into the pocket of his jeans and bringing out a crumpled twenty-dollar bill.  He thrust it at the young man attached to me like a barnacle.  “Why don’t you go over there,” he pointed to one of the many, many frozen beverage stands the city has to offer a thirsty guy with a healthy libido, “and have one on me.  We won’t be long.”

The blond snatched the bill and turned before Evan finished speaking.

Clearly money talks in that town as the guy who had been my rock, my shoulder, my friend the last few days turned away from me without a look back, making a beeline for the adult Slushee stand.

“God it’s good to see you,” I said, not noticing or caring that the man attached to me a second ago had left as quickly as a witch in Oz as I pulled Evan in for another hug.  I’d had many arms around me in the last two weeks but this was the first real set of arms, arms that cared as it were, since Chevy had pushed me away.

Seeing Evan brought a wave of memory about Chevy to the forefront of my mind, which I pushed away as quickly by glancing over at the back of the blond who was already sipping a neon colored drink and openly flirting with the hot guy behind the counter.  There was no passion in his eyes, no warmth in his smile and no wings inked across his scrawny chest but he was there, which was all that mattered now.  I might have to pull him off the guy he was drinking with but that was of small matter to me then.

“It’s great to see you too, Clay, but what the fuck is going on?  You don’t live here so you don’t know the skank you have hooked up with.  I hope you are being safe because that one,” he said with a nod of his head toward the adult Slurpee sipping blond, “has a tenth-visit-free punch card at the free health clinic.  There aren’t many gay clubs here, so the locals get to know each other.  To be blunt and kind that one,” he said with another nod toward my date who was now stroking a finger along the arm of the server at the adult Slushee stand, “is one of the many guys who live off the kindness of strangers with his body.  He doesn’t have a job other than picking up men in bars and telling them they have pretty eyes before asking them what they have in their refrigerator.  He is one of more than a few around here who are way too long in the tooth to still be trying that act.  He’s a sad case now and his story is going to end up tragic.”

I knew Evan was being honest and probably speaking the truth, but I just wanted to forget.

Chevy had told me he did not want to be the charity case of anyone so by the Gods I would not be a savior the anyone.  If I could not save Chevy Banks what did I care for the outcome of a blond whose name I could not remember?

This one was a hard one for me to read. Lots of sex with others outside the main couple and call me old fashioned or bitter either one, but I just don’t like that. It was hot and smutty, sure, but I’m a sucker for a one and only…I don’t wanna read about how much you love somebody but sleep with other people. Even if the circumstances forced it to be that way. I get where they were coming from, forced apart by a homophobic higher up and one outranking the other making it impossible for them to have anything, I get it… but as long as DADT was a thing and everything had to be done in secret anyway, why not? I dunno…. And then later when you get pushed away and don’t fight for him, I mean, yeah… sure. I guess.

I just couldn’t get past it.

I know life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows with happily ever afters and lovers that don’t cheat and wars don’t kill innocent people and all that, but I just don’t want to read about those lol I get enough bad news in real life.

If you like loads of army talk, cringy dirty talk, closeted homophobes that literally get away with ruining people’s lives and hookups with others outside the one you claim to love, then this might be the book for you. It just was not for me.

2 pieces of eye candy from me because at least they ended up together.

James Brock is an Amazon number one best selling author, with fifteen M/M romance novels published and two family autobiographies.

Once upon a time he sold comedy to Joan Rivers and Phyllis Diller, was published in every gay men’s magazine on the market (when there was a market, those dinosaurs were killed off by DVD, which were in turn eaten by streaming and on demand…), the Seattle Gay News and Seattle Standard and essays with the late great Alyson Publications.

James lives in Seattle.

Author Website: JamesBrockBooks.com

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/Men-Overboard-100109810041126/

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesbrockbooks

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