Book Blast ~ Head Games by Eileen Dreyer

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Eileen Dreyer will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

She's seen it all, until…Head Games, a Medical Thriller from Eileen Dreyer —St. Louis, Missouri-Present Day—

St. Louis death investigator and trauma nurse Molly Burke has seen just about everything, until gifts begin showing up on her doorstep—gifts like human eyes and painted bones—the signature of a twisted serial killer.

Complicating the dangerous situation, Molly’s 16-year-old nephew unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep, with problems of his own.

Now, Molly must balance the investigation into the mind of a monster, who’s taking her back to the worst years of her life, while launching a rescue mission for her nephew. The question is, will she survive either?

Publisher’s Note: No one writes medical thrillers better than former Trauma Nurse, Eileen Dreyer. This tight medical thriller contains profanity consistent with the salty speech of crime investigators and does NOT contain sexual content.

“A tensely plotted thriller that compels the reader to the last shocking page…Dreyer deftly displays her droll sense of humor while spinning a tale of taut terror…complex, riveting, funny, and compelling.” ~The Denver Post

“Nearly flawless. The dialogue is witty, yet shot through with verisimilitude. The insights into hospitals, medical examiners’ offices, police departments, and the military are stunning.” ~St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Read an Excerpt

Magnum was barking so loudly he was going to wake up the baby at the end of the block. Pointing to her nephew, Molly addressed her friend the cop. "Don't let him out of your sight. I'll be right back."

"But Aunt Molly—"

But Aunt Molly was already stalking through the kitchen, where she could just make out Magnum's massive head outside the door.

He had something. Something he dropped every time he started barking, and then picked up again, like a furry bellboy with room service.

Something white.

That shouldn't have given Molly the creeps. Tonight, it did. It looked like a flower box, the kind long-stemmed roses come in.

Probably something that had been tossed over the fence from the neighboring streets. Molly's yard sided along Euclid, where an eclectic crowd frequented the trendy shops and restaurants tucked all along the Central West End. Since she'd moved home, Molly had found everything from condoms to a full-sized mannequin dressed as Fidel Castro in her backyard.

But the way Magnum played with that box made her think she had more than Castro on her hands.

Pushing the door open, Molly reached out, and Magnum obliged, dropping his prize in her hand. Slick with dog drool and ragged with careful gnaw marks, it was, indeed, a flower box. And it wasn't empty.

"Uh, Dee?" she called, suddenly even more worried about those notes she'd been getting than she had been. "Can you come in here?"

He did, which set Magnum off all over again. Molly shushed the dog and motioned the policeman over as she laid the box on her kitchen table and opened it.

She saw the glint of gold first. Nestled in layers of white tissue. Heavy and solid. But not all gold. Decorated in gold. Painted with gold hearts. Gold hearts and red crosses.

And letters. Words.

"What the hell—" Dee muttered, leaning in for a closer look as Molly pulled the last layer of tissue apart to fully reveal what lay within.

"It's a fake," Molly insisted, even though she knew better.

She didn't touch it, even though she wanted to. She didn't pick it up or tilt it over just to make sure she was right.

She didn't have to, really. After all the time she'd spent in EDs and Medical Examiners' offices, it was virtually impossible for her not to recognize a human thighbone.

A thighbone painted with the salutation "This is for Molly Burke."

About the Author:

New York Times Bestselling, award-winning author Eileen Dreyer has published 40 novels and 10 short stories under her name and that of her evil twin, Kathleen Korbel in contemporary romance, paranormal romance, historical romance, romantic suspense, mystery and medical forensic suspense. A proud member of RWA's Hall of FAME, she also has numerous awards from RT BookLovers and an Anthony nomination for mystery. She is now focusing on what she calls historic romantic adventure in her DRAKE'S RAKES series. A native of St. Louis, she still lives there with her family. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight.

http://eileendreyer.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EileenDreyer
https://twitter.com/eileendreyer
https://www.instagram.com/eileendreyerauthor/
http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/19012.Eileen_Dreyer
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/eileen-dreyer

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Head-Games-Thriller-Eileen-Dreyer-ebook/dp/B08BX7B4YF/
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/head-games-eileen-dreyer/1137244643
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/head-games-28
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/head-games/id1520717910

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blast ~ The Promise Kept by Maggie Mae Gallagher

 

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Maggie Mae Gallagher will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Cybil Roe gave her heart away thirteen years ago only to have it wind up shattered. With painstaking determination, she has rebuilt her life into something to be proud of today. Yet all her future plans are upended when the only man she has ever loved returns to Echo Springs. Nor does it help that he seems bound and determined to draw her back into his life. Cybil vows to stay away from him, no matter what seeing him all the time does to her resolve.

Miles Keaton wiped the dust of his hometown off his shoes years ago, never expecting that life would lead him back to the place where he had begun. Coming home to Echo Springs, to Cybil, to start a new law practice and a new life is a risk he never thought he'd take. She hates him – with good reason. Years ago, he walked away when she needed him the most. But now is he back, and intends to argue the case of his life, one more important than any he has debated in a courtroom, because she is the one woman he cannot live without.

Can Miles convince Cybil to take a second chance on him, or will a secret she has kept all these years destroy any future they might have?

Read an Excerpt

At five until seven, Alex texted her that he was outside the building. Cybil headed down the wooden stairs that tended to creak in spots. At least the lighting in the stairwell was decent, glowing off the muted tan walls to create a warm atmosphere. When she strode across the small building lobby that was really nothing more than an oversized foyer and opened the door, she noticed that the lights in Mr. Biddle’s office were on already. The old codger did like to get an early start.

She pushed open the front glass and wood door to permit entry to her client. Admittedly, Alex was an attractive man in his black workout gear. His naturally wavy blond hair was meticulously trimmed, his angular jaw clean shaven, his cheekbones sharply pronounced, and he had a mocha gaze that always seemed set to smolder anytime he glanced in her direction. She just wished his smolder, along with his six-foot lean build, did something for her girly bits, but it didn’t. Maybe it was because she knew him well and thought he had the personality of a turnip. Not to mention there was an undercurrent of menace she sensed that he tried to hide behind a polished sheen that she didn’t trust. She kept her grimace to herself and said, “Alex, come on in.”

“Cybil. You look refreshed this morning,” Alex said, telling her with his gaze that he appreciated her, the way a man did a woman he found attractive: his gaze roving over her body, warming over the sweet spots like he was a lion envisioning sinking his teeth into a gazelle.

A part of her wished she could feel something for him, anything really, other than mild annoyance.

Before she could reply, Clark Biddle shuffled out of his office, wearing gray tweed slacks with a matching suit jacket, a bright canary yellow dress shirt, and a multicolored plaid bow tie to complete his ensemble. For a man in his eighties, he was rather spry and moved with efficiency.

“Cybil, I’m glad I caught you. If I could have you come into my office for a few minutes so I can introduce you to your new landlord?” Clark’s voice boomed and echoed in the stairwell.

“I have a personal training session. Can it wait?” she asked, indicating Alex with a slight nod as he crowded her. Really, the man needed to learn about personal space.

“It shouldn’t take more than a minute,” Clark said, his bushy, stark-white eyebrows raised. The tufts of his matching white hair were in wild disarray and windblown. Clark’s hair, for all his styling clothing wise, always looked like he’d stuck his finger in an electrical socket and was just too busy to care about taming what was left on his balding dome.

With a sigh of defeat, because she knew Clark well enough that he wouldn’t let up until she capitulated, she turned to Alex. “Would you mind going on up and getting yourself warmed up on either the treadmill or elliptical? I’ll be right up.”

“Sure thing, as long as you don’t forget about me,” Alex teased in an attempt to flirt with her.

Her annoyance at his insistent innuendos climbed, but instead of showing it, she pasted a bland smile on her face and said, “I won’t. I’ll be up shortly.”

Alex gave her what she was sure to his mind was a sexy half grin and a swaggering tilt of his head intended to make her swoon. Too bad it made her want to roll her eyes and ask if that move had worked for him in the past. As Alex ascended the stairs, Clark steered her into his office. The man without fail smelled of peppermint and Old Spice aftershave.

“Now, as I mentioned last week,” Clark said, “the terms of your lease will stand for the full twelve months. Then you will have to negotiate a new lease with your new landlord.”

Cybil replied, “Thank you, I appreciate that. I—”

Oh, sweet biscuits and gravy, no!

Not him. Anyone but him. She’d take the devil himself in exchange. Give her Beelzebub, give her Hades, give her the Hells Angels biker gang, all of them, over the man sitting so casually in Clark’s office like he owned the place—which from all indications, he now did.

“Cybil. Good to see you. From what I understand from Clark, you’re one of my new tenants,” Miles Keaton said in his deep baritone voice as he rose from his seat when she entered the office.

“No,” was all she could say. He couldn’t be her new landlord. Surely she was still in bed and having a nightmare. That was all. She would wake the moment her alarm rang. Any minute now.

Miles raised a golden brow in her direction. His turquoise eyes, the ones that had haunted her dreams for thirteen years, regarded her coolly, with indifference.

It would have been far better if he had gotten fat or gone bald over the last thirteen years, losing some of the tousled golden hair that always looked like he’d run his long, sturdy fingers through it a hundred times. But if anything, he was like a fine wine or scotch, where he’d only gotten better, more potently gorgeous and alpha with age. The handsome, strong lines of his face had matured, and there were crinkled lines at the corners of his enigmatic eyes that glimmered with intelligence. He hadn’t shaved today, and there was a hint of darker golden stubble gracing his square jaw, framing a pair of the most kissable lips she’d ever seen and tasted on a man. His six-foot-two, broad-shouldered frame, which had always been solid, had thickened and filled out with muscle. He wore a pair of tailored black slacks that rode low on his lean hips and a crisp salmon dress shirt, unbuttoned at his neck, that should have looked girly, but which made Miles appear even more dominant and alpha, if that were possible.

The man had always been a walking wet dream. And dammit, but her girly bits awoke like a princess awakening from true love’s kiss, and were throwing an excited rave at his presence.

About the Author:

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Maggie grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Maggie never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.

Maggie is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes erotic romance under the name Anya Summers (http://www.anyasummers.com. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the United States Midwest with her two furry felines.

Website: https://www.maggiemaegallagher.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MagMaeGallagher
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/magmaegallagher
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7846308.Maggie_Mae_Gallagher
Twitter: https://twitter.com/magmaegallagher?lang=en
Amazon Author Page US https://www.amazon.com/author/maggiegallagher
Amazon Author Page UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Maggie-Mae-Gallagher/e/B00JG1IIVC/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/maggie-mae-gallagher
Newsletter: https://www.maggiemaegallagher.com/newsletter/

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2UbMvQE
Nook: https://bit.ly/3dyNhyN
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3dHWzYE
iBooks: https://apple.co/2XwRPQI

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blast ~ Two Ink Minimum by Michel Prince

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Michel Prince will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

In book one of Permanent Hangover, all Finn Gardner wanted was a breath of fresh air when he stepped into the alley behind the Permanent Hangover Bar and Tattoo Parlor. At first sight, he’d thought it was just another homeless person to shoo away from the building. Instead, he found someone who needed help - his help. Having been given a second chance himself, Finn believes in paying it forward. The Hangover has taken more than one lost soul in over the years.

Bailey Parson needed to get away. She left her life in Chicago behind and escaped to St. Paul, but she never once thought far enough ahead to what her next step would be when she arrived there. To her, what she was running from was much more to worry about than some half-baked plan. After a month stuck on the streets, a new need arose, as the temperature started to drop - survival.

Given a chance by a stranger, Bailey works to find her way. Not only winning over customers and the staff with her smart wit and empathy, she wins over the standoffish tattoo artist. Keeping their relationship forward focused, Finn hoped to avoid both of their baggage. However, when Bailey’s past threatens to destroy everything they built together, Finn’s left with decisions to make.

Does he give up the beautiful curvy woman, the only one whose touch calms him? How much of his dark past would he need to unlock to save her? A past with the potential to destroy what they have together. More importantly, can the lovers turn the scars of the past into a design strong enough to see them through any challenge? Or, will the permanent ink leave them with open wounds and no chance of healing?

Read an Excerpt

“Nevaeh is an outlet. One that needs little attention,” he confessed as his chest pressed against her back. The warmth leached from her, melting more than the flurries from the touch. Brushing her hair to the side his fingers tickled her neck as he leaned down.

“What did you do with her?”

“You want to know how I touched her? Every detail?”

Her eyes fluttered as his voice got harsh.

“I make her face away from me.” His hands slid down Bailey’s arms, and once again he wrapped his fingers around her wrists. This time he brought them above her head and placed her palms flat on the door. Hardness pressed against her mid-back, dwarfed by his height and encompassed by him, heat leached from his body to hers. “She grips the top of the bathroom stall. I don’t want her to look at me. Talk to me. The moans she makes annoy me to the point I almost stop, but my body protests. It wants me deeper inside. Pounding at an ungodly pace because all I want to do is get away from her.”

“Why do you do it then?” Bailey’s voice struggled to escape her lips. The gooseflesh wasn’t coming from the cold. Her core ached at the vision he’d placed in her head. Even with the cruelty, she wanted the touch. Yearned for it to the point her legs weakened.

“Punishment.”

Bailey turned around to face him. “For you or me?”

Finn leaned down, and for the first time in her life, a man touched her in a way that didn’t make her skin crawl. Cupping her cheeks, he dipped his head. Her heart beat hard against her chest and blood rushed to her lips causing them to throb in anticipation.

“I don’t like to be touched. It burns me in a way I can’t stand,” he said as his lips caressed hers with an absent touch. “She doesn’t require much. Whether it’s her mouth, ass, or pussy, she is a receptacle more efficient than my hand.”

“You don’t even like to touch yourself?” Bailey asked as her hands itched to reach for him and feel his body. No touch rule. One she hadn’t seen before. How degrading she thought and realized he was holding her.

“I like the thought of touching you, Bay. A little too much.”

About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author, Michel Prince, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science. Michel writes new adult and adult paranormal romance as well as contemporary romance.

With characters yelling “It’s my turn damn it!!!” She tries to explain to them that alas, she can only type a hundred and twenty words a minute and they will have to wait their turn. She knows they’ll eventually find their way out of her head and to her fingertips and she looks forward to sharing them with you.

When Michel suppresses the voices in her head, she can be found cheering for her son in a variety of sports. She owes a huge thanks to her family for always being in her corner and especially her husband for supporting her every dream and never letting her give up. Michel was awarded Elite Status with Rebel Ink Press in 2013, the service award for her local RWA chapter Midwest Fiction Writers in 2013 and 2014, and Sweetest Romance at IRAE 2015.

She resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, and dogs, Bolt and Sawyer.

http://www.MichelPrinceBooks.com
http://www.facebook.com/MichelPrinceBooks
http://www.Twitter.com/MichelPrince1
http://www.instagram.com/michelprincebooks

Buy Links:

Amazon US https://tinyurl.com/rb6spvm
Amazon UK https://tinyurl.com/v6txpp2
Amazon AU https://tinyurl.com/r8rrqr8
Amazon CA https://tinyurl.com/u2272pz
Nook https://tinyurl.com/v45648s
Kobo https://tinyurl.com/skt5ak6
Apple https://tinyurl.com/t7uhjks
Google https://tinyurl.com/y78ze7dt
Audible https://tinyurl.com/ybhokp9m

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blitz ~ Jackal by @harleywylde #mcromance #hot #erotic #bookblast

Jackal
Harley Wylde
(Devil’s Boneyard MC #1)
Publication date: October 12th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Josie: I spent an amazing three days with Jackal before he disappeared, back to his club, the Devil’s Boneyard. He’d made it clear what we had was a temporary thing — he never wanted the picket fence and kids. I was fine with that. Then I faced the scariest thing ever. Telling my big brother, Tank, a Dixie Reaper, I was pregnant and alone at the age of nineteen. He wanted to go after Jackal, but I wouldn’t let him. I wanted this baby, and I knew Jackal wouldn’t. I never expected to see him again. Funny how fate has a way of surprising you.
Jackal: I’ve thought about Josie often since I walked away from her over two years ago. When I’m finally back in Dixie Reapers territory, I knew I’d look her up, see if we could have some more fun. I never counted on the little girl glued to her hip, or the fact the kid was mine. So I did what I do best. I ran. But now I want something I’ve never wanted before. My family. Because Josie and our daughter, Allegra, are exactly what’s been missing in my life. I just have to do some groveling and hope she’ll forgive me. Easy, right? I’ve never had a woman tell me no.
Figures the one I want more than anything might be the first to send me packing. But when she gets an unexpected visitor who threatens her and our child, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe. Now that I’m ready to keep my woman and kid, I’m not letting anyone take them away.
WARNING: Lots of over the top hot sex, an alpha biker who just can’t seem to get it right, and an adorable little girl who will steal your heart. Guaranteed HEA. No cliffhanger.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

99¢ for a limited time only!

—

EXCERPT:

I got on my bike and went in search of Tank’s house. The car parked in the driveway of the green house looked to be the same one that had been outside the clubhouse that night over two years ago. I killed the engine on my bike and walked up the porch steps, then knocked on the door. A slightly curvier Josie opened the door, her hair up in a messy bun, no make-up on her face, but fuck if she didn’t look gorgeous. Her hips seemed a little wider than before and her breasts looked bigger too. She damn near took my breath away, and I knew I was staring. There were dark circles under her eyes, and there was a yellow smear on her tank top, but I ached to reach for her.
I smiled. “Hi, Josie.”
Her eyes went wide and she stepped outside, pulling the door mostly shut behind her. She cast a nervous glance into the house before facing me again.
“What are you doing here, Jackal?”
“I came to help Zipper and I wanted to see you.”
She nervously looked over her shoulder again through the crack in the door, pulling it closed a little more before looking at me. Something was up, but I didn’t know what. I knew Tank wasn’t in there, so who was? Was there a guy in there she didn’t want me to see? I hadn’t really thought about her hooking up with someone while I was gone, but I should have. A beautiful redhead like Josie? She probably had men falling at her feet.
“You should go,” she said.
“Go, but… What’s going on, Josie? Are you pissed I didn’t call?” I glanced at the door, anger burning in my gut. “Is there someone else?”
“Please, Jackal. I can’t do this right now.”
She stepped back inside, careful that I wouldn’t see into the house, then shut the door. I heard the lock click and her footsteps wander away.
What the fuck was going on?

Author Bio:
Harley is the international bestselling author of the Dixie Reapers and Devil's Boneyard series.
When Harley is writing, her motto is the hotter the better. Off the charts sex, commanding men, and the women who can't deny them. If you want men who talk dirty, are sexy as hell, and take what they want, then you've come to the right place.
Harley Wylde is the "wilder" side of award-winning science fiction/paranormal romance author Jessica Coulter Smith. For fans of Gay Erotic Fantasy Romance, Harley/Jessica also writes as Dulce Dennison.
Check out Harley's other books, and read some random facts about the author, at harleywylde.com.
Follow Harley on Amazon to be notified of new releases, or sign up for her newsletter.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Out Now—Silent Voices by Thom Collins (@thomwolf @realthomcollins) #gay #romance #thriller

Out Now—Silent Voices by Thom Collins (@thomwolf @realthomcollins) #gay #romance #thriller

A desire for justice as strong as their passion for each other.

Concerned about the welfare of his young cousin, Josh Jackson, a restaurant owner, traces the boy to Winterstone Grange, a gated manor deep in the country. Miles from anywhere, the protected walls of this stately house conceal dark secrets. Josh’s search brings him into contact with Ed Brolin, a handsome journalist who has spent weeks investigating the secrets of the Grange and its owner. Ray Armstrong is a wealthy business man with influential connections in Parliament and the police. Ed knows exactly what goes on at the Grange but without evidence, he hasn’t got a story.

Drawn together by instant attraction and a powerful hunger for justice, Josh and Ed are determined to expose the sordid secrets of the grange despite the risks it poses. Josh has never met a man like Ed before—so strong, determined and masculine. Falling in love is easy. But they’ll have to put their emotions aside if they’re going to give a voice to all the silent victims of Winterstone Grange.

Get your copy at any of these fine retailers: 

Pride Publishing: https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/silent-voices
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2oWUfrx
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2nx15UR
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/silent-voices-15
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/silent-voices-thom-collins/1126168330

*****

Now for an Excerpt: 

Josh Jackson didn’t worry when his cousin failed to come home. It was Saturday night and Kevin was eighteen. Josh wasn’t about to impose a curfew on the kid. Neither was he going to babysit. Kevin was old enough to take care of himself.
Josh checked Kevin’s room when he came home from work at one o’clock. The spare bed hadn’t been made since Kevin had gotten out of it that morning and yesterday’s clothes were all over the floor—discarded jeans with his boxers still inside them, a scruffy T-shirt and a pair of dirty socks. The smell of the socks hit him from the doorway. Despite the reek of cheap deodorant and aftershave filling the room, the socks were pungent. Teenagers. Josh wasn’t about to tidy up after him so he left things as they were, including the damp towel draped over the foot of the bed. The kid was only staying a

few nights. If he wanted to live in a mess like that, so be it, so long as he left the place as he’d found it when he moved on.
Josh shut the door and went to bed. He wished his cousin luck. If the boy wanted to get laid, he’d rather he did it somewhere else. It was bad enough that Josh’s lodger, Bobby, regarded the place as a Grindr pit stop, without his cousin treating it like a knocking shop, too.
Josh read for a while and half-listened for the sound of Kevin coming home, but eventually fell asleep.
He wasn’t overly concerned in the morning to find Kevin’s room just as he’d left it, though by now it smelled considerably worse. The fancy fragrances had worn off and all that remained was the fetid odor of teenage sweat and damp towel. So, he stayed out all night. Good on him. Josh had been a teenager once, a horny one at that, so he could totally relate. Kevin wouldn’t get the chance to fuck around much when he was at home. His mother had very rigid views on that. It wouldn’t have mattered whether Kevin had turned out straight or gay. His mother had raised a good boy and intended to keep him that way.
Kevin will be going back to her in a couple of days. He might as well have fun while the leash is off.
He was a good-looking lad. Josh knew he’d be popular in town. A little baby-faced for his age, but with the family features of blue eyes and blond hair, his fresh twinkie image would attract plenty of attention. He looked a lot like Josh had at that age. Josh had been a slim-looking twink until well into his twenties. It was only in the last few years he’d filled out with muscle and looked more like a man. The beard helped. How grateful he’d been when the ability to grow more than a few wisps of pale chin-fluff finally occurred. He kept it neat with a regular trim, but now that he had grown a beard, he couldn’t ever see himself being without one.
Josh called Kevin’s mobile while waiting for his morning coffee to brew. It rang a few times before going to voicemail. “Hi, it’s me,” he said. “Not checking up on you, I just want to know you’re okay. Give me a ring back, or a text when you get this message. Just to say you’re alive… Otherwise I’ll have to call your mother,” he added jokingly and hung up.
He had bigger concerns than a randy teenager. His restaurant, The Cellar Steps, was short on staff today and fully booked for both lunch and dinner. He’d asked all his remaining staff to come in early to help with the prep and service, which meant getting in even earlier himself. As the owner, it wasn’t necessary, since he employed a manager for the day-to-day running, but Josh believed in setting an example from the top down. That meant rolling up his sleeves when things got tight. He thought about putting a little cash Kevin’s way to help out, if he arrived home in decent time and wasn’t too hung over.
He heard the heavy thud of the newspapers landing in the hall. Perfect timing. A little news and some freshly brewed coffee. A relaxing start to an otherwise hectic day.
Josh sat at the kitchen table with multiple Sunday supplements spread all around him when Bobby stumbled out of his bedroom in just his boxers and a T-shirt, yawning and scratching his belly and balls at the same time. His semi-hard dick waggled in the front of his shorts. Bobby lurched into the bathroom and returned a few minutes later, looking fractionally more awake, minus morning wood.
“Coffee?” Bobby asked. “Okay if I help myself?”
“You know where it is,” Josh said, drawing back from the stench of alcohol that came off him in stale waves. “Jesus, your blood must be one hundred proof.”
“I think I’m still drunk,” Bobby observed. “The hangover hasn’t kicked in yet.”
“I don’t envy you when it does.”
“One cup of this and I’m crawling back beneath the duvet.”
Josh looked at him uncertainly. An idea had just occurred to him. He hoped he was wrong. “I don’t suppose my cousin is under that duvet with you?”
Bobby chuckled, his dark eyes crinkling. “Wouldn’t that be something? He is kinda hot. But little blond cupcakes are not my thing. In Kevin’s case, I could make an exception. Maybe.”
“But did you?”
“Too close to home, bro. The kid’s a cutie but he ain’t worth the earache. I’d never hear the last of it.”
It was some relief. Josh didn’t have a problem with his young cousin fucking around—but with Bobby, no way. His lodger was a good friend but a total slut. Kevin would need a lot more experience under his belt before he was ready for that old hound. “I don’t suppose you do know where he is? He hasn’t been home.”
“He’s between somebody’s sheets, all right. I walked into town with him last night, had a drink and showed him where to go.”
“You left him on his own?”
“No, he left me. I guess I cramped his style. He headed off toward Gala Square with a group of studenty types. He didn’t know how fast to ditch me once he got to talking to people his own age.”
Josh loosened up again. He’d been right about Kevin. He knew what he was doing. A young man in a new city making friends fast. There was nothing to worry about.

*****

About the Author: 
Thom Collins is the author of the novel Closer by Morning, with Pride Publishing. His love of page turning thrillers began at an early age when his mother caught him reading the latest Jackie Collins book and promptly confiscated it, sparking a life-long love of raunchy novels.

His novella Silent Voices will be published by Pride in May, followed by the novel Anthem of the Sea, the first book in the Anthem Trilogy. He has recently finished writing the second book in a series and is making plans for the third.

Thom has lived in the North East of England his whole life. He grew up in Northumberland and now lives in County Durham with his husband and two cats. He loves all kinds of genre fiction, especially bonk-busters, thrillers, romance and horror. He is also a cookery book addict with far too many titles cluttering his shelves. When not writing he can be found in the kitchen trying out new recipes. He’s a keen traveler but with a fear of flying that gets worse with age. Since taking his first cruise in 2013 he realized that sailing is the way to go.

Find him at: 
Blog: http://www.thomcollinsauthor.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter:   @thomwolf     and  @realthomcollins
Email: thomcollinsauthor@aol.com

Release blitz organised by Writer Marketing Services.