Текст книги "Mummy Dearest "
Автор книги: Josh lanyon
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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 7 страниц)
When life hands you lemons…make cookies.
Life, Love and Lemon Cookies
© 2011 Ally Blue
A Love’s Evolution Story
Chris Tucker’s perfect life has just gone up in smoke. The fire that destroyed the best restaurant in Asheville took his head-chef dream job along with it—and the owner is walking away. Sure, Chris still has his beautiful home and blissful marriage to his soul mate, Matt Gallagher. But for the first time in his working life, he’s unemployed and spiraling into depression.
Matt’s trying hard to be supportive, but it’s tough when every time he tries to get Chris to open up, the man shuts down tighter than a live clam. Maybe it’s best to hide his hurt and back off. Yet as Chris’s fruitless search for work wears on, Matt begins to wonder if his lover will ever come around.
As the tension between them reaches breaking point, Chris faces the fact that it could be the end of an era for him and Matt. Unless one sweet idea can turn his mounting troubles into a fresh-cut path back to the arms of the one man who makes him whole.
Warning: This book contains gay sex, lots of angst, occasional smartassedness, and an abundance of cookies. Ally Blue and Samhain Publishing will not be held responsible for any resulting food-porn habit.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Life, Love and Lemon Cookies:
Chris was taking the second batch of cookies out of the oven when Matt shuffled back into the kitchen, looking wary as a rabbit in a kennel. “Hey.”
“Matt.” Setting the baking stone full of cookies on the stove, Chris pulled off his oven mitts, hurried to Matt and wrapped both arms around him. He rested his forehead on Matt’s, savoring the feel of Matt’s body pressed against his and the warmth of Matt’s palms on his hips. “I’m so sorry, love. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s all right. I shouldn’t have pushed you to talk when you just wanted some space.” Matt’s lips quirked into a wry smile. “I know cooking is your security blanket. I guess it just bothers me when I know damn well you’re not okay and you pretend you are.”
Chris frowned. “Do I do that?”
“Not a lot, no. But sometimes. When you don’t understand how you feel. You’re kind of a control freak that way.” Matt pulled back enough to gaze into Chris’s eyes. His expression was unusually serious. “I know this thing about The Falls hit you hard. I just want to help.” He raked his fingers through Chris’s hair and traced the shell of Chris’s ear with his thumb. “Just talk to me.”
Chris shook his head. “Honestly, I’m not sure how to feel right now. I don’t have a job anymore. After fifteen years at The Falls, I’m out of work.”
Matt stroked his fingertips down Chris’s neck. “I’m sorry.”
“I’ve worked since I was fourteen.” Chris laid a hand on Matt’s cheek. “I don’t know how to be unemployed. What on earth do I do, Matt?”
The big blue eyes softened in sympathy. Slipping one arm around Chris’s neck and settling the other hand on his rear, Matt tilted his head upward and covered Chris’s mouth with his own.
Chris couldn’t say the response was unexpected, and he certainly couldn’t pretend he didn’t want it. Nevertheless, fear and worry nagged at the back of his brain in spite of the baking-induced calm.
“Come on, babe,” Matt whispered against his lips. He shoved his hand down the back of the soft drawstring pants Chris had been slouching around the house in for the past few days and squeezed his ass. “Let it go. Just for a little while.” Matt trailed kisses down Chris’s throat and dug his tongue into the place that always made Chris shiver. “Let me make you forget about everything except getting your cock up my ass.”
A firm thigh nudged between Chris’s legs. Matt’s hips rolled, and Chris felt the swelling hardness behind the zipper of Matt’s jeans. He pulled Matt closer, baring his neck for more sharp little nips and delicate kisses. “You’re so crude.”
Matt chuckled with Chris’s skin caught between his teeth, let go and licked at the place he’d bitten. “Your mouth says crude, but your prick says hot.” He rubbed his thigh against Chris’s cock, which had gone predictably stiff at the combination of Matt’s touch and his words. And yes, they were crude, not that Chris minded. Obviously.
Chris moaned when Matt undid his drawstring and closed those clever artist’s fingers around his erection. “I… I should…” He swung a hand toward the cookies sitting on the stove. Heat wafted from the open oven. “Cookies. I should take the cookies off the sheet.”
“Fuck the cookies.”
A shove of Matt’s hand sent Chris’s pants slithering to his ankles, and he gave up. He went for Matt’s fly and flipped open the button. “Even I don’t love my lemon cookies that much.”
Matt fell forward, snickering into the curve of Chris’s neck. “Oh my God, the mental picture. I’m scarred for life.”
“You have no one to blame but yourself.” Chris undid Matt’s zipper, pushed his jeans and underwear out of the way and tugged on the stainless-steel ring piercing the head of his cock. “Get undressed, my darling.”
Matt shimmied out of his jeans, kicked them aside and tore his long-sleeved T-shirt over his head. He let it drop inside out onto the kitchen floor. Grinning, he slipped his hands beneath Chris’s sweatshirt to caress his bare skin. “Now you. Take this off.”
Chris obeyed, letting his shirt join Matt’s on the floor. He stepped free of his pants and pulled Matt’s naked body into his arms. Chris ran his palms up and down Matt’s bare back while they kissed. God, he loved the feel of Matt’s skin beneath his hands. Loved the way Matt arched into his touch, his moans low and sweet, his fingers threading into Chris’s hair and digging bruises into the muscles of his shoulder.
Six years and change after the first time they’d made love, their mutual passion hadn’t diminished. Chris loved that best of all.
When Matt broke the kiss and tried to turn around—no doubt to bend himself over the counter—Chris got a double handful of luscious ass and hung on tight. “Don’t move.”
“But, don’t you…” Matt’s breath stuttered when Chris rocked against him again, creating a mind-melting friction between their cocks. “Oh fuck, Chris.”
“Mmm.” Chris buried his face in the curve of Matt’s neck and breathed in his familiar scent. “I want you like this.” He moved his hips, rubbing the head of his prick against Matt’s. “Just like this.”
He couldn’t have said why he felt such a strong need to hold Matt while they brought each other off, to kiss him and look into his eyes and feel his heart beating, but Matt seemed to understand. With a swift, brilliant smile, he pulled Chris’s hips tighter to his and leaned in for a kiss.
The two of them hadn’t done anything as simple as rubbing off on each other in quite a while. Right now, with Matt’s cock solid and hot against his and Matt’s mouth bleeding hungry little noises into his own, the part of Chris’s brain still functioning wondered why not. Surely nothing had ever felt as perfect as Matt’s hands on his skin, Matt’s tongue stroking his, Matt’s body pressed close while the fire built inside him.
Cut and run, or stand and fight…the heart knows where to draw the line.
Push Pull
© 2011 Joely Skye
Wolf Town, Book 2
Despite living together in Wolf Town for three months, Scott Lund and Rory MacIntyre share only one piece of common ground. Love. For Rory, life is all about connection—family, his pack, home. But for Scott, connections spell danger—for himself and everyone he cares about.
The bottom line is, Scott has only a small window of time to treasure every moment with his lover. In the not-too-distant future, real life will come knocking and he’ll be forced to return to his isolated existence.
Inevitably, a shadow from Scott’s past edges too close for comfort. Yet Scott discovers his plan to cut and run isn’t as simple as it sounds. Especially when Rory—and everyone else in Wolf Town—seems determined to convince him that holding on will cause a lot less damage than letting go.
Warning: Contains mind control, wolf shifting, skittish lovers, mated lovers—and a happily ever after.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Push Pull:
Rory woke to Scott struggling in his sleep. This happened occasionally and a couple of times Rory had caught a flailing elbow in the ribs because he hadn’t warned Scott before he reached for him.
“Scott, wake up, baby.” Ready for any response, Rory touched Scott’s arm. Scott lunged to sitting, pulling in a loud, panicked breath. “It’s me.”
Recognition came immediately, as revealed by the relaxation of Scott’s shoulders. Rory wrapped an arm around him, and Scott sank into the embrace, face resting on Rory’s shoulder. He placed a hand on that hot cheek and Scott mumbled, “I don’t want to go.”
Rory frowned. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Scott clutched him tighter, and Rory smelled his distress.
“Oh, Scott.”
Scott shook his head against him. “It’s fine, I’m fine.”
“I know you’ll be fine. I’m sorry I overreacted earlier. I’m a bit embarrassed.”
“You’re embarrassed. I was the one standing in a towel while your entire family inspected me.”
Rory didn’t quite get why Scott cared about nudity to the extent he did, but the why of it didn’t matter. It just was. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “Here, drink.”
Scott gulped down another glass of water, then padded off to the bathroom. Rory retrieved some orange juice and more Tylenol.
It took Scott a moment to realize that the orange juice and Tylenol was for him.
“It’s been four hours, you can take another dose.” Rory pointed out the instructions he’d carefully read on the bottle, after receiving similar instructions from Teo. Once Scott swallowed the pills, Rory frowned. “You should have told me the house was too cold for you. I didn’t know that.”
“I can always wear a sweater. That usually does the trick.” Scott tried a grin, but it didn’t quite work. “I don’t like being such a burden.”
Rory just shook his head, though the words upset him. He felt like he hadn’t been seeing Scott clearly for a while. Was this what made Scott take on so many of their chores? The idea made Rory feel a little sick with guilt. “Hey, never that, never a burden. Okay?” He took the empty glass from Scott who crawled under the covers. “Don’t say that.”
Rory lay down, tugging Scott back to spoon him, and Scott arranged his body so they touched as much as was possible, legs tangled. Rory wondered how Scott’s feet could be cold when the rest of him was so hot.
“You’re too good to me,” Scott said wonderingly, and it felt like a knife twisting in Rory’s gut, because Scott meant it.
“Not true. I’m going to do better, much better.”
“Couldn’t be better,” Scott muttered.
Rory kissed the back of his neck. “Hush now. Sleep.”
Scott gave a soft grunt and promptly did exactly that. An unprecedented occurrence. It took Rory a good half hour to fall asleep himself.
The weekend passed in a bit of a haze. Scott mostly felt exhausted and feverish. He was embarrassed by Teo’s second doctor visit and Rory’s solicitousness, but didn’t have the strength to do much about it.
Fortunately by Monday morning he felt more himself. Not well enough to work, so he called in sick and they got a replacement. However, it took some effort to convince Rory that he should go off to work and Scott would be okay by himself.
Rory plopped himself on the bed and wrapped himself around Scott. For the first time since turning sick, Scott felt an answering tug in his groin and he grinned at Rory. “I think I’m feeling better.”
Giving Scott’s half-hardened dick a pat, Rory said, “We’ll take care of you later.”
Scott swallowed. “Rory?”
“Mm-hmm?” Rory kissed Scott at the junction of his shoulder and neck, making him shiver in a pleasurable way, which sure as hell was a nice change from shivering in a sick way.
But the words stuck in his throat as Scott realized what he really wanted to say. So instead, he slid up against Rory, something that his lover always reacted to.
A groan came from deep within Rory’s chest, and Scott wondered if it was a werewolf thing, it sounded so primal at times, or just a Rory thing. He didn’t care as he undid Rory’s pants, found him hard and wanting, leaking a little. He wrapped a hand around the warm skin, seemingly steel underneath, and stroked him up and down. “Have you been like this all weekend?”
A hoot of laughter was followed by “No! I was worried about you.”
“Well, worry no longer.” Scott slid a thumb around the lubricated glans, stroked again, even as Rory’s fingers crept up his back and into his boxers. It was an anchor, that warm, sure palm on Scott’s back, a promise of sorts so that when Rory’s other hand found Scott’s balls and cupped them, Scott didn’t jump, simply pulled in a short breath.
The tumble of emotion threatened to paralyze him, and he kept his focus on Rory and his velvet-steel cock that continued to harden under his ministrations, even while Rory mirrored Scott’s actions.
Hard breathing followed, Scott’s heart unable to keep up, or that was what he thought when it all became too intense. Focus, focus, and he concentrated on pleasing Rory, stroking him just right. Scott didn’t let himself think about Rory’s hands on him, only his on Rory. If he let himself really go, Scott sometimes believed all his fears would tumble out of him, and he couldn’t allow that.
Rory had to be kept safe.
Rory’s cock, like the rest of Rory, responded to Scott’s touch, hardening, body stilling, even as Scott’s own body reacted. The moment burst forth then, Rory coming with his signature shout, and Scott’s hand overflowed with warmth and wet. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. But before Scott could focus on what Rory was doing to him—there’d been a brief break while Rory had spurted—Scott felt a strong clasp at the back of his neck and his mouth came under Rory’s, a deepening kiss, giving him air, taking it back.
It was suddenly too much, his body straining for release even as it yearned for more Rory and more touch. Scott’s mind went blank, and he gave himself over to Rory. It was always a surprise when Scott just let go, unable to speak, not under the amazingly pleasurable onslaught of Rory’s skilled kissing.
Mummy Dearest
Josh Lanyon
The truth is out there. Way, way, way out there!
The XOXO Files, Book 1
Drew Lawson is racing against the clock. He’s got a twenty-four-hour window to authenticate the mummy of Princess Merneith. If he’s not at his boyfriend’s garden party when that window closes, it’ll be the final nail in their relationship coffin.
The last thing he needs traipsing on the final shred of his patience is brash, handsome reality show host Fraser Fortune, who’s scheduled to film a documentary about the mummy’s Halloween curse.
The opportunity to film a bona-fide professor examining the mummy is exactly the aura of authenticity Fraser needs. Except the grumpy PhD is a pompous ass on leave from his ivory tower. Yet something about Drew has Fraser using a word he doesn’t normally have to draw upon: please.
With no time to waste—and a spark of attraction he can’t deny—Drew reluctantly agrees to let Fraser follow his every move as he unwraps the mummy’s secrets. Soon they’re both making moves behind the scenes that even the dead can’t ignore…
Warning: Whoso shall ever open this tomb, er, book shall suffer the curse of the Pharaohs. Okay, maybe not. But set aside a chunk of time for marauding mummies, too many cosmopolitans, illicit sex in hotel rooms, and other non-academic shenanigans.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520
Macon GA 31201
Mummy Dearest
Copyright © 2011 by Josh Lanyon
ISBN: 978-1-60928-536-4
Edited by Sasha Knight
Cover by Kanaxa
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: October 2011
www.samhainpublishing.com
