Archive for the ‘book release’ Category
Relased Early: If Wishes Were Horses
May 15, 2014 
Filed under: book release, contemporary, cops, cowboy, m/m
Vendors were fast to get things loaded up so if Wishes Were Horses is ready for you now! You can get it at Amazon in ebook or print, at ARe, and at Smashwords. Barnes and Noble will be up soon as well as iBooks and Kobo.
I’m so excited about everyone meeting Ken and Andy!
Blurb:
Kenneth Carver had everything growing up except warmth and acceptance. When protecting his family’s name became more than he could bear, he came out as gay, sold his company, and bought a horse ranch.
Andrew Wofford’s last undercover assignment nearly cost him his sanity. Now he has another chance of catching the drug runner who killed one of his informants and then escaped, but gruesome flashbacks threaten his ability to function in the field.
Andy’s latest investigation sends him to Ken’s ranch where he poses as a ranch hand. Ken is a prime suspect, but Andy refuses to believe Ken is guilty, in part because Andy is falling for him. Ken knows Andy isn’t who he seems, but he can’t bring himself to push the man away. When Ken hears rumors that someone is using his land to move drugs out of the city, he worries that it’s Andy.
Neither man can trust the other even though that’s exactly what their hearts tell them to do.
From Chapter One (for another excerpt, see the book page):
Ken wrapped his hand around the ornate door handle and tugged. He was not going to ring the bell at his childhood home, though that was what his parents expected. Even as a kid, he’d been treated more like a visitor than a member of the family.
He stepped into the foyer and glanced around. His mother had redecorated since he’d been here last. But the style still screamed ostentatious wealth like it always had. He strode down the hall and into the dining room where his parents were already at dinner. He was an hour late, and his mother wouldn’t have risked upsetting Renata, the cook.
Thinking of Renata made Ken smile despite the tension pulsing through him. She was perhaps the only person on Earth his mother was afraid of.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said as he took a seat.
His mother sniffed. “It was to be expected.”
His mom was justified in starting without him. He’d never been enthusiastic about family gatherings, but he’d shown up late or failed to show at all since he’d stopped hiding who he really was—a gay man who disagreed with the way his father ran Carver Corp.
Of course, if his family had ever given him a warm reception, he might have tried harder to be punctual. Tonight, though, his tardiness had been unpreventable. He’d been stuck in a meeting for hours, finalizing the sale of the company he’d built, an offshoot of his family’s conglomerate. He grinned as he laid a starched linen napkin in his lap. His parents were going to be pissed even though he had sole ownership and the capital he’d invested had all been his. The idea of anything bearing the Carver name being sold outside the family would give his father a heart attack if he had a heart.
Ken had arranged to have dinner with his parents so he could let them know before the news became public, more courtesy than they deserved considering they’d have taken the company from him in half a second if they’d had legal grounds to.
His mother looked up from her plate wearing the cool smile she used for public appearances. “How have you been, Kenneth?”
“Just peachy, which you’d know if you ever called,” he responded, giving her the false look of graciousness he’d been schooled in from infancy.
“I’m not the one who broke off contact.” Her ice calm infuriated Ken.
“If you hadn’t insisted—”
His mother interrupted. “The only time you called even before the tacky airing of your private business was when you needed something, so don’t try the guilt trip with me.”
His father cleared his throat. “You said you had something important to tell us.”
Ken nodded. “Yes, sir. I do.”
“Then let’s get down to business before we all lose our goddamned appetites.”
That’s how it’d always been. Business first. As far as his father was concerned, his family was just another arm of Carver Corp, a public relationship requirement.
Conversation stopped as the main course was brought in. Ken acknowledged the servant who’d just set his dinner in front of him with a warmer smile than he’d given his parents, even though he didn’t recognize her. He looked down at the steak, grilled asparagus, and creamy mashed potatoes with gravy on top and nearly sighed. This might be the last meal of Renata’s he’d ever have, and he doubted he’d get to eat it.
“I sold Carver Pharmaceuticals.”
“What? That’s impossible,” his father stammered.
“I assure you it’s not. I put out the word that I was looking for a buyer. I found one, and we just signed the paperwork. That’s why I was late.”
His mother pinched the bridge of her nose as if trying to fight off a headache.
“I’ll top the offer,” his father said as Ken had predicted he would. That was the main reason he’d kept things silent until the deal was done.
“The deal has been finalized, and my buyer will not be accepting offers.” He’d given the man, an old friend from boarding school, a good price, a steal really, and he’d put a clause in the contract that his friend could not sell the business to anyone in Ken’s family.
“He’ll take mine,” Mr. Carver insisted.
“He can’t. The sales agreement won’t allow it.”
His father narrowed his eyes and then almost smiled. “I hadn’t given you credit for being that big of a bastard. You’ve got bigger balls than I thought to try this shit with me.”
“I learned from the best.”
Baby It’s Cold Outside Blog Hop
Jan 3, 2014 Filed under: book release
Brrr! It is cold right now. What’s your favorite thing to do a cold day? Mine is to make cookies and cocoa and then curl up under some blankets on the sofa and read. I’m excited about all the wonderful reading I know I’ll discover in 2014, but I also wanted to share a list of some of the best books I read in 2013. These aren’t in any particular order and there are many more I could add, but here goes…
A Casual Weekend Thing by AJ Thomas
Catch A Ghost by SE Jakes
Touch and Geaux by Abi Roux
Shock and Awe by Abi Roux
Dirty Laundry by Rhys Ford
Catch Me If You Can – by LB Gregg
Rarely Pure and Never Simple by Angel Martinez
Corruption by Eden Winters
Chase the Storm by VM Waitt
Left on St Truth Be Well by Amy Lane
If you’re looking for something else to warm you up, what about two hop cops, the bartender they love and plenty of steamy action between the three of them….
Sorting Out by Silvia Violet
Jack, Gray, and Mason have accepted that love comes in many flavors and settled into a three-way relationship. Things haven’t been easy, and now that Mason has gone back to school and Gray is interested in a detective position, Jack is feeling lonely. His lovers aren’t around very often, and he misses lying around in bed, enjoying the benefits of living with two hot men. But Jack has secrets. He’s uncomfortable every time he puts his uniform on. He’s never recovered from seeing Mason held hostage, and he’s no longer sure he was meant to be a cop.
While stressing over his own future and facing pressure from Gray and Mason to bring their relationship out of the closet, Jack is severely wounded in the line of duty. His recovery, both physical and emotional might be more than their unconventional relationship can bear. Jack is going to need all the courage and support his lovers can give him if he’s going to bring himself back from the dead and create the life he wants to live.
Excerpt:
Jack heard the door open as he pulled a pan of hot caramel popcorn from the oven. Perfect timing. Mason was home and hopefully Gray had been able to get most of his paperwork finished, so the three of them could curl up together and continue their third run through the fourteen brilliant episodes of Firefly. Why oh why had it been cancelled and how had he not known about its awesomeness until Mason came into his life?
Their schedules had kept them apart for the last few nights and Jack had been looking forward to this all day, the three of them snuggled on the couch, watching TV until they started to doze off like an old married threesome. Who would need to go out with two amazing men at home? He could happily hole up for weeks just cuddling, fucking, and cooking for them.
Mason dropped his bag on the table and came up behind him. He kissed Jack’s neck as he grabbed a handful of popcorn that he immediately threw back into the pan, yelling, “Hot!”
“Of course it’s hot. It just came out of the oven.” Laughing, Jack grabbed Mason’s hand and kissed his palm. “Is that better?”
“No, but this will fix it.” Mason kissed him, sliding his tongue along the seam of Jack’s lips until he opened for his lover, letting him get a taste. Desire rose swiftly, and he clutched at Mason’s hips, pulling him in tight, letting him feel his cock, which was now hard and needy. Maybe Captain Mal would have to wait after all.
The sound of Gray clearing his throat brought them up for air. Mason stepped back, grinning at Jack. “That was a delicious hello.” He turned toward Gray, but when Jack saw the expression on their lover’s face, he knew they weren’t getting the same kind of greeting from him. He looked serious and…scared? Jack’s stomach knotted.
“What is it?”
“I need to talk to you. I waited until Mason was home, but I… Maybe you should sit down.”
“Gray, what’s wrong?” Jack asked, the caramel he’d tasted as he coated the popcorn lying heavy in his stomach.
Mason laid a hand on his arm. “Are you okay? You’re really pale.”
Jack ignored the question. “Don’t make us wait.”
“Thornton, the lieutenant from Major Crimes that I told you about—” He glanced at Mason. “He’s been encouraging me to take the detective exam. He wants me in his unit.”
“But—”
Gray held up a hand. “Yes, it would mean we wouldn’t be partners anymore, but it would also mean we could be out if we wanted to. We’ve been talking about making a change, and you’ve known I was thinking about going for a promotion.”
“Yeah, but, I…” Nausea tightened Jack’s throat.
Mason reached for Jack’s hand and squeezed. “This could be good for all of us. Let’s think about it.”
Jack looked at Mason. He had known this would happen sooner or later. Gray was right about it being for the best, but Jack had continually pushed it to the back of his mind.
“I just want us to—” he started, but Gray interrupted him.
“I told him I’d take the exam.” Gray looked at the floor as he spoke.
“What?” Jack roared, fear replaced by anger that threatened to scorch him. “How dare you do that without talking to us!”
“I shouldn’t have, but he’d already asked me before, and I’d put him off. He told me I had to let him know today, and you said you’d support whatever I wanted so—”
“I didn’t mean for you not to even tell me. Couldn’t you have mentioned this when he asked you the first time?”
“I—” Gray ran a hand over his ruthlessly short hair. “I should have. I’m sorry, but—”
“But what?” Mason asked after Gray was silent for several seconds. Jack was glad he’d spoken up, because he wasn’t capable of saying anything nice.
Gray sighed. “I knew Jack would react just like this.”
Fuck you. “When it was still something to actually discuss instead of something dictated to me, I would have talked to you. Now that you’ve kept it from me and decided to just walk away—”
“I’m not walking away.”
Jack snarled at him. “We’re partners, Gray, and now we won’t be.”
“We’ll still be partners in the way that really counts.”
Would they? “What about Mason? Didn’t you think maybe he wanted a say in this?”
Mason glanced at Gray, and suddenly, Jack knew. “You told him, didn’t you? When Thornton first asked you, you fucking told Mason and not me.”
Gray closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. “He told me to tell you, told me I shouldn’t wait, but I wanted to think about it. I didn’t want to upset you if I was just going to turn it down.”
“Newsflash. I’m upset.”
“Jack—”
Mason started to interject, but Jack held up his hand. “There’s no point in talking anymore. Gray’s made his decision. Thank you for actually trying to bring me into it.”
“I made up my mind to take the exam. That doesn’t mean I’ll take the position. That’s why I wanted to talk.”
Jack shook his head. “You’ve made up your mind. I can tell. If you get the job, you’ll take it.”
“I want to stop hiding,” Gray said. “But I want this to be a decision we all three make.”
“No, you just want me and Mason to agree with you,” Jack said, venom in his tone.
“That’s not true. I…fuck, Jack. I love you.”
Jack’s anger deflated, leaving him feeling wrung out and hurt. “I can’t imagine being a cop without you.”
Gray took a step toward Jack. “I’ll still be here.”
“We’ll all be together.” Mason spoke at almost the same time. He sounded scared, desperate. Fuck Gray for putting Mason in the middle like this, for going to him when they’d sworn they’d keep everything out in the open.
Like the time you talked to Mason about Gray seeming depressed, and he encouraged you to talk to Gray, but you didn’t. Is that what you mean by out in the open?
God, Jack hated that sanctimonious voice in his head.
He held up his hand, knowing he’d cave if Gray touched him. He’d let Gray have his way and forget how angry and hurt he was until it simmered long enough to explode again. “If you really wanted to discuss it, you would have talked with me the minute you started seriously considering taking the exam.”
“Would you have listened? Really listened?”
Jack wanted to scream that he would always listen to Gray, always consider what was best for his lover without being selfish. He wanted to stop being scared he couldn’t hold it together as a cop if Gray weren’t by his side, but he couldn’t make the words come.
Instead, he grabbed the pan of caramel popcorn and flung it across the kitchen, enjoying the ear-splitting clatter as the pan bounced on the tile. Then he stomped to their bedroom and slammed the door.
Seconds later, he heard the front door bang shut.
Buy it at Amazon, ARe, or Barnes and Noble
Sorting Out is available now!
Dec 29, 2013 Filed under: BDSM, book release, contemporary, excerpts, first chapter, m/m, men in uniform, menage
Sorting Out, the sequel to Fitting In is now available at Amazon, ARe, BN, and Smashwords. Here’s an excerpt from Chapter One….
Jack heard the door open as he pulled a pan of hot caramel popcorn from the oven. Perfect timing. Mason was home and hopefully Gray had been able to get most of his paperwork finished, so the three of them could curl up together and continue their third run through the fourteen brilliant episodes of Firefly. Why oh why had it been cancelled and how had he not known about its awesomeness until Mason came into his life?
Their schedules had kept them apart for the last few nights and Jack had been looking forward to this all day, the three of them snuggled on the couch, watching TV until they started to doze off like an old married threesome. Who would need to go out with two amazing men at home? He could happily hole up for weeks just cuddling, fucking, and cooking for them.
Mason dropped his bag on the table and came up behind him. He kissed Jack’s neck as he grabbed a handful of popcorn that he immediately threw back into the pan, yelling, “Hot!”
“Of course it’s hot. It just came out of the oven.” Laughing, Jack grabbed Mason’s hand and kissed his palm. “Is that better?”
“No, but this will fix it.” Mason kissed him, sliding his tongue along the seam of Jack’s lips until he opened for his lover, letting him get a taste. Desire rose swiftly, and he clutched at Mason’s hips, pulling him in tight, letting him feel his cock, which was now hard and needy. Maybe Captain Mal would have to wait after all.
The sound of Gray clearing his throat brought them up for air. Mason stepped back, grinning at Jack. “That was a delicious hello.” He turned toward Gray, but when Jack saw the expression on their lover’s face, he knew they weren’t getting the same kind of greeting from him. He looked serious and…scared? Jack’s stomach knotted.
“What is it?”
“I need to talk to you. I waited until Mason was home, but I… Maybe you should sit down.”
“Gray, what’s wrong?” Jack asked, the caramel he’d tasted as he coated the popcorn lying heavy in his stomach.
Mason laid a hand on his arm. “Are you okay? You’re really pale.”
Jack ignored the question. “Don’t make us wait.”
“Thornton, the lieutenant from Major Crimes that I told you about—”
He glanced at Mason. “He’s been encouraging me to take the detective exam. He wants me in his unit.”
“But—”
Gray held up a hand. “Yes, it would mean we wouldn’t be partners anymore, but it would also mean we could be out if we wanted to. We’ve been talking about making a change, and you’ve known I was thinking about going for a promotion.”
“Yeah, but, I…” Nausea tightened Jack’s throat.
Mason reached for Jack’s hand and squeezed. “This could be good for all of us. Let’s think about it.”
Jack looked at Mason. He had known this would happen sooner or later. Gray was right about it being for the best, but Jack had continually pushed it to the back of his mind.
“I just want us to—” he started, but Gray interrupted him.
“I told him I’d take the exam.” Gray looked at the floor as he spoke.
“What?” Jack roared, fear replaced by anger that threatened to scorch him. “How dare you do that without talking to us!”
“I shouldn’t have, but he’d already asked me before, and I’d put him off. He told me I had to let him know today, and you said you’d support whatever I wanted so—”
“I didn’t mean for you not to even tell me. Couldn’t you have mentioned this when he asked you the first time?”
“I—” Gray ran a hand over his ruthlessly short hair. “I should have. I’m sorry, but—”
“But what?” Mason asked after Gray was silent for several seconds. Jack was glad he’d spoken up, because he wasn’t capable of saying anything nice.
Gray sighed. “I knew Jack would react just like this.”
Fuck you. “When it was still something to actually discuss instead of something dictated to me, I would have talked to you. Now that you’ve kept it from me and decided to just walk away—”
“I’m not walking away.”
Jack snarled at him. “We’re partners, Gray, and now we won’t be.”
“We’ll still be partners in the way that really counts.”
Would they? “What about Mason? Didn’t you think maybe he wanted a say in this?”
Mason glanced at Gray, and suddenly, Jack knew. “You told him, didn’t you? When Thornton first asked you, you fucking told Mason and not me.”
Gray closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. “He told me to tell you, told me I shouldn’t wait, but I wanted to think about it. I didn’t want to upset you if I was just going to turn it down.”
“Newsflash. I’m upset.”
“Jack—”
Mason started to interject, but Jack held up his hand. “There’s no point in talking anymore. Gray’s made his decision. Thank you for actually trying to bring me into it.”
“I made up my mind to take the exam. That doesn’t mean I’ll take the position. That’s why I wanted to talk.”
Jack shook his head. “You’ve made up your mind. I can tell. If you get the job, you’ll take it.”
“I want to stop hiding,” Gray said. “But I want this to be a decision we all three make.”
“No, you just want me and Mason to agree with you,” Jack said, venom in his tone.
“That’s not true. I…fuck, Jack. I love you.”
Jack’s anger deflated, leaving him feeling wrung out and hurt. “I can’t imagine being a cop without you.”
Gray took a step toward Jack. “I’ll still be here.”
“We’ll all be together.” Mason spoke at almost the same time. He sounded scared, desperate. Fuck Gray for putting Mason in the middle like this, for going to him when they’d sworn they’d keep everything out in the open.
Like the time you talked to Mason about Gray seeming depressed, and he encouraged you to talk to Gray, but you didn’t. Is that what you mean by out in the open?
God, Jack hated that sanctimonious voice in his head.
He held up his hand, knowing he’d cave if Gray touched him. He’d let Gray have his way and forget how angry and hurt he was until it simmered long enough to explode again. “If you really wanted to discuss it, you would have talked with me the minute you started seriously considering taking the exam.”
“Would you have listened? Really listened?”
Jack wanted to scream that he would always listen to Gray, always consider what was best for his lover without being selfish. He wanted to stop being scared he couldn’t hold it together as a cop if Gray weren’t by his side, but he couldn’t make the words come.
Instead, he grabbed the pan of caramel popcorn and flung it across the kitchen, enjoying the ear-splitting clatter as the pan bounced on the tile. Then he stomped to their bedroom and slammed the door.
Seconds later, he heard the front door bang shut.
The Hot Cowboy Roundup Blog Hop
Dec 8, 2013 Filed under: book release, cowboy, m/m
I’m so excited to be part of the Hot Off the Range anthology! I love cowboys be they hard-riding cattle drivers from the Old West, modern day ranch hands, or space cowboys.
We giving away gift certificates and books. There are details below so don’t forget to enter! Click here for a list of all the posts.
I also love to bake. It’s the one hobby I manage to fit into my life no matter how busy I am. When I write, I like to include this love of baking (and eating) in my stories. Here are the first paragraphs of Accounting for the Hero…
Grant leaned on the porch railing and looked out across the dry fields. Most of the grass had turned brown after a long summer with almost no rain. The cattle were skinny, and they hung their heads, looking as if they didn’t have the energy to move. Grant didn’t have the money for extra feed, and no one would buy the animals from him with them looking like that. There had to be a way to turn this mess around, but hell if he could see it.
He took another bite of the chocolate cake his aunt had brought him when she’d visited earlier in the day. He’d given up on slicing it and was now eating directly from the cake plate, pretending he was evening up the edges. Unfortunately, his aunt didn’t have any better ideas than he did. She’d told Grant’s grandfather to sell and move to town when his health started to fail, but he wouldn’t give up the farm, especially not to developers, and now, with Grandma gone too, the land no one wanted was all Grant’s
Whenever I make a cake, I often catching myself “evening up the edges” after it’s been cut. Those pieces obviously don’t count. *grins*
Later in the story, Miles, makes a cake for Grant, and this is Grant’s reaction:
“I love dessert,” Grant said, his voice all swoony. He couldn’t make himself care that he sounded like a twelve-year-old girl with a rockstar crush.
Miles grinned. “It’s nothing fancy, just pound cake.”
“Never discount the importance of cake.”
When I bake I love to share what I’ve made and to pass on recipes to other bakers. So today I want to share the recipe for the chocolate cake Grant is eating. It’s quick (almost as quick as a mix) and I make it often with my daughters helping me.
Grant’s Chocolate Cake
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder (Dutch process cocoa will give you the richest chocolate taste)
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup boiling water
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the boiling water and mix until well combined. Don’t worry if the batter looks too thin.
Pour into 2 greased and floured 9in cake pans.
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Then remove from pans and cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
Melt butter and sift in cocoa (un-sifted cocoa tends to leave lumps in the frosting). Then add powdered sugar alternately with milk until frosting has a good consistency. Stir in vanilla.
Here’s a larger helping of Accounting For the Hero….
“So you don’t have any experience working on a farm?” Grant asked.
“Not really. No.” Miles chewed his lip again and ran a hand through his hair. Grant realized he was openly assessing him, but he couldn’t stop. Miles’s hands were smooth and beautiful. They belonged on a piano keyboard, not wrapped around a pitchfork. Of course, they wouldn’t look bad wrapped around Grant’s… No. Not going to go there.
Grant frowned at him. “What I really need is someone who not only knows how to work a farm but also how to manage one. This land was my grandmother’s and I want to keep it, but I need someone experienced to help me get the farm back on its feet.”
“I work real hard, and I’m a fast learner,” Miles said.
“That’s great, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, and I don’t know what I’m doing, then we’re not going to get much of anywhere are we?” Grant wondered why the fuck he’d invited Miles to the farm when he’d known the man wasn’t qualified. Maybe in the back of his mind, he’d convinced himself Miles would turn out to be 6’5” and solid as concrete so at least he could do some of the heavy labor Grant had been struggling with, but Grant had no business leading Miles on. He needed someone who knew how to run a ranch, not a hot boy in tight jeans.
Miles looked Grant up and down. Heat rose into Grant’s face as the young man’s gaze slid down over his worn jeans to his dusty boots and back up. Suddenly, Miles didn’t seem like an innocent boy anymore. There was definitely heat in his glance. Grant’s gaydar started sending loud signals to his barely functioning brain.
“You look like you know what you’re doing,” Miles said. His tone wasn’t overtly flirtatious, but his words had Grant’s cock taking notice.
Grant gave a nervous laugh. “So just ’cause I wear my jeans well, I must be a real cowboy? Trust me. Looking like a cowboy doesn’t qualify me to run a ranch, especially not one that’s been neglected for years.”
“Look. My mama died in a car wreck last month, and my stepdad took off, saying he ‘couldn’t handle it.’ She’d been out of work for a while and had almost nothing, especially after helping me with tuition for UT. My aunt and uncle took my brother in, he’s fourteen, but they won’t have anything to do with me ’cause…well, they just won’t have me. I said I was home from school for the summer, but the truth is I won’t be able to go back, not until I earn the money for tuition. I need to stay close to my brother, so I have to find a job around here. My aunt doesn’t want me around him. They’re trying to turn him against me, but I’m not going to let that happen.”
Grant was almost certain Miles’s aunt and uncle had rejected him because he was gay, but if he did his hiring based on feeling sorry for the applicants, he was going to guarantee the ranch’s bankruptcy. “That sucks, and I’m real sorry, but this ain’t a charity.” Grant felt like an ass, but he couldn’t do Miles any good if he couldn’t pay him, and he wouldn’t be able to unless someone helped him turn the ranch around.
Miles nodded. “I know. I just… I’m sorry I wasted your time.”
He turned to go, and the look on his face sliced right into Grant’s heart. Don’t do it, Grant cautioned himself, but the warning did no good. “Wait!”
PRIZES!
You really think we’d have a blog tour without prizes. Pfft. No! We Most definitely have those. What do you need to do? Go to the different posts and leave comments and email addresses.
$10 All Romance Gift Certificate
$15 Amazon Gift Certificate
Hot Off the Range Anthology (eBook)
Your Choice of eBook from Toni Griffin’s Backlist
Your Choice of eBook from Angel Martinez’s Backlist
Your Choice of eBook from Silvia Violet’s Backlist
Your Choice of eBook from Freddy MacKay’s Backlist
In ADDITION, we are participating in Rafflecopter.
If you make a comment, FB like and tweet our blog hop, then each time you do so will enter you. For those to count though, you need to use the widget.
Needing A Little Christmas – Caramel Cake Recipe
Dec 2, 2013 Filed under: book release, contemporary, holiday, m/m, recipes, sweet treats
In Needing A Little Christmas, Mac’s mama sends Eli a caramel cake and the two men get to know each other while enjoying it. Here’s the delectable recipe she used…..
Mac’s Mama’s Caramel Cake
You will need three layers of your favorite yellow cake. I love the one here but you will need to multiply by 1.5 to get three layers. If tackling this well-worth-the-time caramel is all you’re up for, then use Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden mix. It’s, in my opinion, the best yellow cake mix out there.
Caramel Icing
3 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1.5 sticks butter
1T white corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Put 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. As the sugar melts, shake the pan so the sugar coats the bottom but don’t let it run up the sides. Stir gently so the sugar browns evenly. When the sugar is almond the color of the skin on an almond, slowly pouring in the evaporated milk while stirring vigorously. The mixture will boil rapidly and start to seize up but keep stirring, breaking up the chunks of sugar. When all the milk is combined with the sugar, add the rest of the sugar, butter, and corn syrup. Mix well. Attach a candy thermometer and bring to a boil. Boil for 10-20 minutes or until the candy thermometer reads 248F. Stir occasionally. If you see any signs of burning, turn the heat down a bit. Be very careful. The mixture can splatter and you don’t want to get burned!*
When the mixture is at 248F, remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using a paddle attachment, turn the mixer on low and add the vanilla. Be very careful, it could splatter and it will still be very hot. Continue mixing on medium until the mixture begins to thicken and lose it’s shine. Working quickly while the caramel is still pourable, pour or spoon 1/2 cup on the first layer and spread over the top. Add second layer and repeat. Add top layer, repeat and then use remaining caramel to cover the sides.
*You may want to keep a bowl of ice water nearby. Submerge skin immediately if you are burned.
And now for a bit of Mac and Eli…..
Needing A Little Christmas is available at Amazon, ARe, and Barnes and Noble.
Several minutes later, Mac had unloaded all the wood and gotten a fire going, and I’d made coffee and served cake. When we were seated at the table in the kitchen, I took my first bite of the gorgeous caramel cake and sighed. Forget sex. I was going to come from eating this cake.
“Oh my God, this is the best cake I’ve ever had.”
Mac smiled, not the sly sexy grin he’d given me earlier but a little-boy smile of pure joy. “It’s my great-grandmother’s recipe. Christmas just wouldn’t be right without caramel cake.”
I stared at him in horror. “This wasn’t supposed to be for your family tomorrow was it?”
He shook his head. “My mom always makes several of them. We give them as gifts and one would never be enough for us anyway.”
“I feel honored to have one. You don’t even know me; your mom doesn’t know me. I could have been an asshole or even a serial killer.”
Mac laughed. “Nah. I could tell you were all right when we talked on the phone. You sounded like a nice guy who was having a rough time and then got stranded. And I should know. I get plenty of assholes calling me demanding a load of wood five minutes ago because their cabin dropped below eighty toasty degrees for five seconds or expecting me to clear a foot of snow from the driveway of their artfully-decorated cabin so they can get their BMW down the mountain without a scratch. They don’t get the family treatment or the family rates. But I could tell from your voice that I was going to like you.”
Like I could tell from yours that you are a sex god. “Thanks. You sounded like a good guy too.” A good guy? Had I really said that?
He grinned. “I aim to please.”
Mischief Corner Books New Shenanigans Blog Tour
Aug 30, 2013 Filed under: book release, contemporary, excerpts, m/m, paranormal
Mischief Corner Books – What Happens When Creative Minds Start Thinking Too Much
We didn’t set out to do this. Honestly, we didn’t. MCB was born of a need to keep a bunch of friends writing together who miss each other too damn much. We live all over America and even in Australia, for gosh sakes, and we only get to see each other maybe once a year, if that.
It’s tough being separated but group writing projects made us feel like we were still in the same room, bouncing ideas off each other, making outrageous suggestions just to see if someone would take us up on it. Someone always did. But the more we worked on these things, the more we realized…we needed to go legit. So Mischief Corner Books was born as a company.
Today, we thought we’d share some details and some snippets of MCB stories – both from the current release and some past ones that are getting ready for individual release soon.
The current release, Horns and Halos was a reader selected anthology. We like that kind of thing. You guys tell us what you want. We go out and interpret the request each in our own unique way. We had three takers on this one: Toni Griffin, Freddy Mackay and Angel Martinez, and while we had originally asked for short stories, this collection of three tales ended up at 99K words. Um. Yeah. Some of us need to learn the meaning of short. *ahem*
The prompt? Write a story about angels and/or demons. Take your cues from whatever culture you like. Write in whatever genre you see fit. We ended up with an interesting trio.
Archie’s Accidental Kidnapping by Toni Griffin (M/M Fantasy – Hellhound Shifters)
Hell may not have any fury like a woman scorned, but even that’s nothing compared to a Hell Hound when you get between him and his mate.
Snippet:
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Sleeping. What does it look like I’m doing?” Archie asked quietly as sleep tried desperately to take him away. Really, Archie was starting to wonder about his kidnapper with a question like that.
“You get kidnapped and think it’s okay to just go to sleep?” The man sounded genuinely confused. Archie didn’t know why. Everyone needed sleep.
“See, told you that you kidnapped me.”
Internment by Freddy Mackay (M/M Fantasy)
Tadashi’s life spirals out of control, and he hides away on his mountain taking care of the one place he knows he is safe, and people are safe from him. But the world has a way of interrupting life.
Snippet:
The squirrel danced around the broom, determination on its face. It sat back on its hind legs and pointed at him. “Bad human!”
“Argh!” God, it talked. It really fucking talked. The broom came down on instinct, landing right on top of the demon squirrel. It squeaked. That seemed normal.
“Stop trying to squish me!”
That did not! Its tail flicked wildly under the bristles.
“Get this broom off me!”
“Stop talking!” he demanded, his chest heaving. His head felt kind of light. That couldn’t be good.
Hell For The Company by Angel Martinez (M/M Science Fiction/ Humor
Shax, the Demon Prince of Thieves, has reconciled himself to exile. He has a grand time careening around the galaxy as a high-end, intergalactic purloiner of pretties. Everything’s going just fine, thank you very much, until he comes across an injured angel in a psychedelic alien jungle.
Snippet:
“Ver.”
“Hey, trouble.”
Shax sipped his coffee, staring in confusion down into the not-quite-empty-anymore hold. “We have cows.”
“You figured that out all by yourself.”
“They’re…floating.”
“Yeah.” Steam rose from Verin’s nostrils when he snorted. “They’re antigrav cows. The guy explained the science-y stuff about how they have some kind of extra antigrav stomach built into their genetics but I wasn’t really listening.”
Cabin For Two was our first anthology, inspired by…our cabin. Ha. That’s where we all met, though, and it was quite an inspirational place 🙂 Next month, we’ll start releasing the Cabin for Two stories as individual pieces, nice little bite-sized Mischief Corner stories just for you. A few tastes to hold you over:
Their Natural Habitat by Silvia Violet (M/M Contemporary)
A forest ranger and his lover just want a nice weekend away. The bear baiters have other ideas.
Snippet:
Dan had been told how to handle a bear encounter countless times. Why the fuck couldn’t he remember what to do? He looked down stupidly at the flashlight in his hand. Carry a flashlight if you go out, Parker had said. What the hell was he supposed to with a flashlight? Shine it in the bear’s eyes? That seemed unwise. Try to bash it over the head? That would be sheer stupidity.
A loud clang behind him nearly stopped his heart. The bear dropped to all fours and took off into the woods. Dan stared, unable to move.
“You okay?”
Parker’s voice snapped him out of his paralysis.
He turned to see his lover holding a large bell. He tried to find the words he wanted to say, but his mouth just hung open as he tried to remember how to breathe.
Parker lifted the bell. “I keep this on the porch, because it’s good for scaring off bears.”
“You could’ve told me that.”
Three Little Words by Mathilde Watson (M/M Historical
Lifelong friends have returned from the Korean conflict and now need to fight their way through the feelings they’ve harbored for each other for so long.
Snippet:
Hugh opened the door and disappeared inside. Gary followed him into the bedroom and took in his surroundings, once again frozen in place. The room had a tiny closet, a chest of drawers… and one large bed. Only one. Gary swallowed hard and watched as Hugh moved around the room.
“My things are all in the bottom two drawers. You can have the two on top. And I’ve got some extra hangers in the closet… What is it?” Hugh frowned at him from across the room. Gary took a deep breath, willing himself not to panic. He cleared his throat.
“Where…” One word and he ran out of air. Gary took another deep breath, carefully trying to keep his tone light. “Where do I sleep?”
Hugh looked pointedly at the bed. His eyebrows were drawn together over a puzzled expression. “In the bed.”
“With you?”
“Well, yeah. Unless you want to sleep on the floor…” Hugh sighed, his voice softening. “I warned you that this place was small. But the bed, it’s big enough for the both of us.
We’re on a roll now – look for lots more in the future, including our (yet to be titled) Cowboy anthology coming out later this fall! Stay with us folks. It’s going to be an interesting ride.
Guest Author: Sara York
Aug 29, 2013 Filed under: book release, guest blogger, m/m, paranormal, shapeshifter
I love shifters. Silvia’s Wild R Farms series drew me in and had me falling in love with the characters. She always does such an excellent job of creating worlds that are believable and characters that are amazing.
When Linda and I started writing Prodigal Wolf we wanted to make the shifters believable. We wanted the characters to be more than just wolves who occasionally turned into humans or humans that occasionally turned into wolves. We wanted fully formed characters that were shifters and couldn’t be separated from or exist without the other piece of themselves. Of all the wolves, I think Ted is my favorite. He’s comical but dangerous. Ted isn’t the main focus of book one, but he’s a big part of it. Ted’s humor comes from his laid back attitude. He’s masterful but in a calm way.
My next favorite would be Carlo. He’s all smoke and shadows with a dose of sexy and dangerous. Tall dark and handsome along with smart make him one hell of a man. Add to that the animalistic nature that is his beast and he’s the total package. Carlo is the central character in the Wolves and Waves series, featured in book one but his story isn’t resolved that quickly.
Then there are the twinks, Kevin and Grady. They are cute and sweet but together, they are trying to hard and they might just ruin the best thing to happen in their lives. Through their fumbling, Kevin and Grady might just find happiness, if they get their head up high enough to see that they have something special.
I hope you enjoy Prodigal Wolf and our guys. Prodigal Wolf is available at most online ebook retailers like Amazon
Blurb: Carlo has a problem; after years away he’s finally returned to his South Carolina roots – but instead of peace and quiet all he’s found are nosy wolves, romancing twinks, an out of control roommate threatening to expose them all, and a demanding Alpha who just won’t go away.
All his Alpha wants is to show Carlo who he really is, and where he belongs. But Carlo Montefiore is a man fighting his instincts, memories, and responsibilities. His beachside home was supposed to provide sanctuary, but pack politics, unruly roommates, and human neighbors at risk of discovering that shifters exist, are making life anything but peaceful. Twinks Kevin and Grady have their own problems. Two college freshmen are no match for a couple of hot wolves who like to play chase. If they don’t stop playing games they’ll miss the biggest thing to happen in their young lives—love.
Excerpt:
Joey moved to stand beside him at the sink. “Whoa! Dude!” he threw over his shoulder, “Ya gotta check this out—twinkies!!!”
Ted tossed his rag on the board and crowded in to check out the scene. “Sweet!”
Two slender young men were unloading a little red Audi A3 hatchback, pulling bags and suitcases out of the rear. They looked like twins from this angle—all light brown curls and tan skin. Typical East Coasters in their pastel polo shirts and colorful madras shorts. You could literally pick them out of a Vineyard Vines catalog. Everything you ever thought about a preppy was currently bent over across the way. “Yum!” Joey couldn’t resist. The change in Carlo was immediate, his eyes darkening, a scowl fixed on his face. One glance had Ted slinking back to his seat at the table.
“That is exactly what I’m fuckin’ talking about! You stay the fuck away from them! You do not shift in the house without drawing the curtains… No. Wait. No fucking shifting in the house at all. You want to run, you take a drive and walk into the refuge or head to Pinckney Island. Period.”
“Hey! What the fuck Carlo. You can’t tell me…” Joey was protesting when a finger jammed into his breastbone, Carlo’s breath in his face, brows drawn.
“Grow up, Joey… Just….” He jammed his finger, highlighting each word with a thump before moving back to lean against the counter, running his fingers through his thick black hair.
“Shit. I need you to drive to Beaufort and pick up a package. I also have a list of errands, it’s there on the counter…”
Joey stared at the man. Carlo was completely losing it.
“Christ Carlo, just chill. I can pick up the stuff later—”
Carlo growled, his eyes narrowing and turning yellow, indicating the wolf was about to show. “Pick it up now.”
“Fuck! Just because Angelo crawled up your ass this morning doesn’t mean you have to take it out on us!”
“That’s the prob, Carlo wants Angelo up his ass…” Ted muttered under his breath.
The silence was shocking and Joey knew they’d gone too far. Normally they kept their razzing at a low hum, but this morning he and Ted had thrown wisdom out the window, pouncing on the man.
Pride Blog Fest 2013
Jun 10, 2013 Filed under: book release, cowboy, m/m, paranormal, shapeshifter, web event
Hi everyone! I’m happy to be part of the 2013 LGBTPride Blog Fest at Naughty Editions reviews. I love writing about LGBT relationships and giving my characters happy endings. I hope that eventually all LGBT people will be able to publicly take pride in who they are and that everyone in our society will realize that we’re all just people no matter who we love.
Today in celebration of Pride Fest I’m giving away all three ebooks in my Wild R Farm series. To be entered to win leave a comment here.
In the Wild R Farm series, my characters face predjudice both because they are gay and because they are shapeshifters. Just as there are those in our society today who tell LGBT people that their actions are sinful, there are people in my shapeshifter world who preach that changing form goes against God and that shapeshifters shouldn’t take their animal forms. In other words, they should suppress who they really are.
The third book in this series, Embracing Need has just been released. I hope you enjoy Tristan and Wes as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.
Embracing Need (Wild R Farm 3) by Silvia Violet
Blurb:
Horse shifter, Tristan Hayes, doesn’t believe in relationships. He believes in hot, sweaty one-night stands that leave him aching for days.
Private investigator, Wesley James, is looking for someone to settle down with, but it’s never occurred to him that someone could be a man.
Tristan loves a good game, so he flirts with Wes, never thinking anything serious will come of his attraction. Wes fends him off, but after three months of cat and mouse, both men are worn out from fighting what they feel.
When a young woman from Tristan’s herd goes missing, he asks for Wes’s help. Tristan keeps up his flirtatious façade until Wes calls his bluff, taking him out for dinner and dancing. As they search for the missing shifter, Tristan struggles to believe Wes could care for the man Tristan hides beneath his abrasive exterior.
Excerpt:
Tristan was sitting in a chair on Wes’s front porch with his feet up on the railing when Wes pulled up.
Wes jumped out of his car, but his messenger bag tangled on something, and he tripped as he tried to yank it free. After cursing and kicking the car door, he turned back to Tristan, who was doing nothing to hold back his laughter. “If you were hoping that would turn me off, it didn’t work.”
Wes flipped him off, but Tristan just smiled. Wes’s T-shirt stretched across his muscular chest as he worked to catch his breath. His well-trimmed, dark beard begged Tristan to rub his face against it and find out if it was as soft as he imagined. Even the annoyance in Wes’s rich, brown eyes only made Tristan hotter, because knowing he could fluster Wes so easily was a major turn-on. Not that Tristan had any business pushing Wes’s buttons more than he already had. The right thing to do was to keep things businesslike, but he just couldn’t help himself. Years of overindulgence made his desires impossible to curb.
“What are you doing here?’ Wes asked, his tone implying Tristan was the last person he wanted to see even though the fact that he was still not breathing steadily after falling out of his car belied his disinterest.
“I have a business proposition.”
“Is that an innuendo?”
Tristan grinned. “Do you want it to be?”
“I’ve never paid for sex, and I don’t intend to start now.”
“Ouch.” Tristan stuck out his lip, and Wes laughed, too good-natured to stay annoyed.
“I do have to say it’s unsettling to find you all cozied up on my porch.”
Tristan stretched deliberately, letting his shirt ride up. He ran a hand over his chest and across his toned abs, stopping just short of his crotch. “I have been getting rather comfy waiting for you.”
Wes eyed him suspiciously. “What are you really doing here?”
“Are you afraid I’m here to demonstrate my riding skills?” He pushed up the hat, the same straw one he’d been wearing when he’d last seen Wes.
Wes’s gaze strayed to the hat and then skittered over Tristan’s lean body. “No. Yes. Damn it, Tristan, quit being so fucking infuriating.”
Tristan took pity on him then. “A young woman from my herd is missing, and I need your help to find her.”
Wes sighed. “Calling the police is out of the question?”
“Yeah. We don’t involve humans in our affairs unless we absolutely have to.”
Wes stared at him. “I’m human. Did you forget that?”
“Oh, you don’t count.”
Wes glared. “I don’t?”
Heat rose in Tristan’s cheeks. “You know what I mean. You’re not going to try to force us to adhere to your human ways.”
Wes shook his head. “I’m not going to force you to do anything.”
“Really? Are you sure? I’ve been such a bad boy. You might need to teach me a lesson.”
Wes growled. “Knock it off.”
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” Tristan asked, gesturing toward Wes’s front door.
Wes sighed. “Do I have to?”
“Well.” Tristan paused to fan himself dramatically. “It is a bit warm out here.” With Wes so close, warm was an understatement.
When they got inside, Wes offered Tristan a bottle of water from the fridge. He took it, then watched, paralyzed, as Wes cracked his own bottle open and gulped it down, the muscles of his throat flexing, his large hand wrapped around the bottle.
When Wes put the bottle down, he seemed to realize Tristan was staring at him, and his cheeks reddened. Tristan looked away and opened his own water. He really needed it now, since all the moisture seemed to have left his mouth.
“I’m assuming you haven’t eaten dinner,” Wes said.
Tristan shook his head.
“Then let’s go get some. I even know a place where after we eat, you can show me your dance moves like you’ve been threatening to do.”
Tristan stared, openmouthed. He’d been teasing Wes about taking him out dancing since the day they met, but he never thought Wes would propose such a thing. “What are you up to?” he asked. Calling his bluff. That’s what the bastard was doing.
Denying Yourself – Amazing Reviews
May 20, 2013 Filed under: book release, m/m, paranormal, review, shapeshifter
I’m so excited about the wonderful reviews I’ve gotten of Denying Yourself like this one from Whitney at Live Your Life, Buy the Book – “This book left me all swooney and happy. I was sucked from the first few pages. Matt and Shane were just meant to be together. This is one of those hard-fought roads to love for a love that was there from the start. Really tragic but beautiful.”
And this one from Tyra at Guilty Indulgences -“This book may be a paranormal but the feelings of self loathing and denial not to mention the addictive personality traits are very real. Shane could be any teen today struggling, looking for approval and love. This is an emotionally intense story about self acceptance.”
Lucky from Mrs. Condit Reads Books had this to say – “Silvia Violet writes stories of amazing and powerful shifters, but what happens when the shifter doesn’t want to be one? What happens when he has fallen so far that there is nowhere else he can go? These are the questions that begin in the next section of the book. They’re not easy things to answer. Some of the answers are not pretty. Some are disturbing, even to the point of wanting to scream no at what Shane does. Ms. Violet doesn’t sugarcoat it at all. I know that Shane is meant to be with Matt, but it’s a lesson he needs to learn.”
To read an excerpt, go here.
New Release! Fitting In
Feb 24, 2013 Filed under: BDSM, bears, book release, contemporary, D/s, first chapter, m/m, men in uniform
Fitting In is now available at Amazon, ARe, BN, and Smashwords. Get your copy today!
Blurb:
Two cops walk into a bar. Mason, the bartender, waits for the punch line, because no way in hell are these ridiculously hot men real cops. They’re straight out of a cop-fetish fantasy. But he quickly learns that Jack and Gray are the real deal, and they want him in the worst way.
What starts as a night of hot, three-way sex becomes a lot more. The two cops fulfill Mason’s submissive fantasies, but they also meet a more basic need, comfort. They want to take care of Mason, to offer him unconditional friendship, but their concern for him unnerves Mason more than even the kinkiest sex.
To find happiness with his new partners, Mason must change his belief that love is as much a fantasy as a pair of gorgeous, handcuff-wielding cops landing in his bed.
Excerpt:
Two cops walked into a bar. Mason, the bartender, waited for the punch line, because no way in hell were these ridiculously hot men real cops. They were one hundred percent fantasy material. He hoped to hell they were strippers, and they’d be willing to do a private performance for him.
Their dark blue uniforms were snug, hugging their bodies in all the right places. The taller of the two men was big enough to bench-press Mason. His shirt looked like it might burst at the seams, and Mason hoped it would. Dark, wavy hair fell over his forehead and softened the hard lines of his face. His eyes were dark without being warm, just right for a cop.
His partner was shorter, about Mason’s own five foot eleven or so. He had buzz-cut dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He looked younger than his partner, like he hadn’t been out of the academy for long, but he was just as ridiculously hot as the bigger man. His looks were the all-American-boy type. He’d probably played baseball in school and won the heart of every girl he smiled at. He was a perfect counter to his partner’s rough, domineering appeal. They could play a scintillating game of good cop, bad cop, and Mason would love for them to play it with him.
If Mason were in a porno, the cops would cuff him and drag him to a back room where they would proceed to plow his ass until he couldn’t stand up. Sadly, this was real life. They were probably relentlessly straight and only here for a beer.
They headed toward the end of the bar by the register where there weren’t any customers during the midafternoon lull.
“What can I get for you, officers?” Mason asked.
The big one smiled. “Anything cold.”
The shorter man punched his partner’s arm. “Nothing. Thank you. We’re here on official business.”
The big man rolled his eyes. “Can’t I at least get a soda?”
“Fine. Two Cokes please.”
Mason was glad to have the simple task of scooping ice and pouring fountain drinks to distract himself for a few minutes. What official business would they have here? While the occasional fistfight broke out, most typically during the NCAA basketball tournament, Nathan’s Public House was hardly a hotbed of crime.
He picked up the drinks and faced them again, willing his hands to stop shaking. It wasn’t like he hadn’t served plenty of attractive men in the past. What was it about these two that had him so stirred up?
He set the drinks on the bar in front of them and watched as they both took a sip. His cheeks heated when he realized he was staring, openmouthed, at the flex of muscles in the bigger man’s throat as he swallowed.
Focus, Mason, focus. “So…um…what kind of business brings you here?”
The shorter man smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Officer Jack Abney, and this is my partner, Gray Sadler. We want to talk to the staff who were working last night when Gino’s was robbed in case anyone might have seen or heard something that will help with the investigation.”
Mason took Jack’s hand. His skin was softer than Mason expected, and he held Mason’s hand a few seconds longer than he needed to. “Um…I’m Mason Shields.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Shields,” Jack said, grinning.
Mason thought he might melt, but this wasn’t a time to become a puddle of lustful intentions. The robberies had shaken up most of the business owners in the part of downtown Durham where Nathan’s was located. The break-in at Gino’s was the third one in the area, and all the robberies were believed to have been inside jobs pulled off by well-organized professionals. The occasional group of kids breaking a window and trying to get into the till or taking valuables customers foolishly left lying on the seats of their cars wasn’t uncommon, but this type of systematic criminal activity was something new.
“I was here last night, but until I heard sirens, I had no idea anything was going on. It was really crowded, and I had a long line at the bar so I was focused on making drinks and keeping customers happy.”
Jack stood up and looked toward the windows. “Not much of a view of the place either.”
Mason shook his head. “Once the lights go out over there, I can’t see a thing, especially with people blocking my view out front.”
His partner, Officer Sadler, looked at Mason then, his dark eyes calculating. “We understand one of your servers worked at Gino’s until a month or so ago.”
“Yes, Gwen did.” The idea of Gwen working for a band of criminal masterminds was ludicrous. She could barely manage to serve a couple of tables without fucking up their orders.
“Was she working last night?” Gray asked.
Mason thought through the evening. Gwen had been there, but he didn’t remember seeing her after the dinner crowd left, and he’d wondered why they were understaffed when the rowdy game watchers filled the place up. “She was, but her shift must have ended by nine.”
“Is that unusual?” Jack studied him as carefully as his partner had. Having the two gorgeous men staring at him was doing unsettling things to his insides, and his expanding dick was making his pants uncomfortable.
“I guess so. Kinda. Usually most of the waitstaff works until eleven on weekends, but I really don’t think—”
Jack held up his hand. “Just routine questions.”
“Okay. Maybe it would be better if you talked to my manager.”
“We will,” Gray assured him. “But right now, we want to talk to you.”
His voice was low and sexy. If Mason didn’t know better, he’d have thought Gray was flirting with him, but he had to be imagining it. Jack was staring at his partner like he’d lost his mind.
Mason looked back at Gray and was caught by his cool gaze. He bit into his lip, needing the sharp pain to break the spell and allow him to look away. Gray exuded dominance. Mason had no doubt he was a man who expected to get his way, and Mason would be happy to give him just that. The thought of being pinned under him and told exactly how to please him made Mason shudder.
Needing to break the tension vibrating among the three of them, Mason said, “The bartender knows all, is that the theory?”
“Something like that.” Jack’s sly grin made Mason’s knees weak. These two were going to be the death of him.
The officers asked a few more questions, but Mason truly didn’t have anything useful to tell them so they moved on to questioning the servers.
He was glad there weren’t many customers in the bar because both cops had asses worthy of his devoted attention. He sighed as he watched them while pretending to wipe down the bar. What he wouldn’t give to peel them out of their tight blue pants and get a closer look.
The intensity of his attraction puzzled Mason. Gray’s size and dominating presence pushed all his buttons, setting off submissive fantasies that had him reeling. And Jack, Mason could imagine him reveling in a hard, rough fuck or giving the orders himself with the confident air he used for interrogation. If the two men had told him to drop his pants and bend over the bar, he truly might have done it, which unnerved him. While he’d had his share of hook-up sex with no names exchanged, he wasn’t usually quite so slutty.
Maybe the fact that it had been months since he’d bothered to find a partner at all was part of the problem. He’d never really enjoyed the anonymous club sex, but he’d learned the hard way that depending on someone to be there for you was pointless, so he wasn’t much for relationships either. Hitting the clubs was the easiest way to take care of his sexual urges. He’d stepped out of his comfort zone often enough to keep from dying of unfulfilled lust, but the last few times he’d hooked up with someone in a grungy bathroom, he’d felt more sick than satisfied after it was over. For the last few months, he’d reveled in his nerdy side, the side of him that still hoped to go back to college, get his degree in chemistry, and then move on to grad school. Instead of going out he’d been spending his time off reading scientific journals and watching his favorite Star Trek episodes over and over. Perhaps he was experiencing temporary insanity from lack of sex.
