Inside Heat by Roz Lee

About the Author…

Roz has been married to her high school sweetheart for thirty-two years and is the proud mother of two grown daughters, both in grad school. She divides her time between her home in rural New Jersey and Los Angeles, where her husband works. She's never without her laptop and prefers to write with her Labrador Retriever, Betty Boop, by her side. Roz admits she's addicted to Facebook, chocolate, and travel, not necessarily in that order.

When she's not clicking the computer keys, she's either on the road looking for a new adventure, or at the gym, where she claims some of her best ideas come to her while she's on the elliptical. She confesses some of that has to do with the hot, sweaty men to be found there too, but don't tell her husband. He thinks she goes there to stay in shape!

Musing on Adulthood and Summer Nights

We’ve passed another calendar milestone on the road to putting 2012 behind us. Daylight Saving Time is here again, and it's got me thinking.

Since becoming an adult – some odd decades ago – it seems as if each year passes faster than the previous one. Perhaps you've noticed this as well. I vaguely remember as a kid thinking childhood was going to go on forever. This was before Daylight Saving Time existed, and summer nights were long and filled with all manner of nocturnal activities like frog hunting, catching lightning bugs and playing hide and seek. The time when I would make decisions for myself was so far in the future I couldn't fathom it. *snort*

Then one day I woke up and realized I was the adult. I was the one expected to make the decisions for myself, and my dependents. Yes, dependents. Children. Little people who depended on me to choose wisely, keep them safe and nurture them. It was a sobering thought.

When had this happened? Why hadn't I noticed before?

Tough questions for a mother living several large states away from her support system. Somehow, I muddled through it. I put on what I still think of as a costume – my – I'm-the-adult-do-as-I-say-because-I-said-so, costume and played the role. What else could I do? They were there, looking up to me, expecting me to play the part.

I doubt Broadway or Hollywood will ever come knocking at my door based on my performance, but I think I carried the role pretty well for someone who had never read the script. Just so you know – there isn't a script. I found that out along the way too. It was all improvisation – from the word go.

Today, my girls are grown – adults, if you will, and from my vantage point, they turned out pretty darn good, even if they've never known a pre-Daylight Saving Time summer night.

So, what does an out-of-work improv actress do with her time? I write. I guess it's my way of reliving those long summer nights when creativity was the name of the game, while still wearing the Do-as-I-say costume of adulthood. I find my characters – creations of my imagination more malleable than the creations of my flesh. My characters take on the personality I wish upon them, not the one they inherited. They do as I say or I delete them. (Not recommended for the other kind) Their thoughts and words are mine as they rarely were, or are, with my children.

It's a heady feeling, knowing I have so much control of others – even if they are only figments of my imagination. I enjoy creating characters, giving them a life, a voice and yes, love. In my latest, INSIDE HEAT, I've gone back to those summer nights of my childhood, to the baseball field bathed in artificial light, to kids dreaming of the glory of playing in the Major Leagues someday. My characters, Jeff and Jason Holder grew up with that dream, and for them it came true. Now they're looking for the woman they can share it with, and Megan Long just might be that woman.

Grab your peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jacks and join me in the bleachers for nine innings. Come on, it's a nice night for a ballgame.

Book Title: Inside Heat

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Publisher: Roz Lee

Purchase:

Amazon  

B & N 

Format: eBook

Blurb:

It's about more than scoring–It's about hitting a home run.

Jeff "The Terminator" Holder is the closer for the Texas Mustangs' baseball team, and revered throughout the Major League for throwing inside heat. His twin brother, Jason, the Mustang's catcher, leads the League in hits. They share a love of the game, as well as their identical DNA – but that's not all they share.

         

Pediatric Nurse Megan Long doesn’t know baseball, but she does know a sexy guy when she sees one - or two. When she seeks out an autograph for one of her patients, she falls under the spell of two of the sexiest players in baseball. Unable to resist their charms, Megan finds herself in bed with both men, but falling in love with only one.

       

Locked in an epic battle against the steroid pumping Martin McCree, Jeff's obsession with striking out McCree strains his relationship with his brother, and leads to an injury that threatens his career and dents his ego. Megan does her best to get through to him, but if Jeff can't see past his failings to find the love she's offering, he's going to strike out in the biggest game of his life.

Megan can't believe her luck when twin professional baseball players Jeff and Jason Holder turn their attention on her. She may not know baseball, but she knows a sexy guy when she sees one – or two! 

The relationship makes it to first base in record time – but a Grand Slam is in Megan's future.

Excerpt: R

Bit by bit, Megan relaxed in their company. They had a way of telling stories that was amusing to watch. One would start, and by some secret cue, the other would continue. It was as if their brains were sync’d by an invisible cord. Prepared to find something to dislike, she chastised herself for categorizing them before she knew them.

Jeff insisted on dessert, and they lingered over the mountainous chocolate cake and another bottle of wine. They were nearly through when Jason spoke. “Why don’t we take some chocolate cake home. Then we can smear it all over each other and lick it off – real slow.”

Megan wasn’t used to drinking more than an occasional glass, and at first, she attributed what she’d heard to the three glasses she’d consumed tonight.

“What?” She closed her eyes and forced her brain to focus. Surely, she’d misheard Jason’s comment. She was long past trying to deny her attraction to the pair, but conjuring up propositions went way beyond fantasizing. It bordered on drunkenness and possibly, insanity. “Would you repeat that, please?”

Megan mentally congratulated herself for sounding rational when she was working with seriously compromised judgment.

Jeff touched her lightly on the arm and she turned her now pounding head in his direction. “Jason can be a bit crude sometimes. I apologize for his behavior.” He shot his brother a look that said, "Way to go, asshole," then turned his attention back to Megan. “What he meant to say, was, we’d like for you to come out to our house this weekend. We want to get to know you better, and give you a chance to get to know us.”

That sounded more rational. Megan tore her gaze away from Jeff, and risked a glance at Jason. His smile made her insides warm, or maybe it was the wine. Jeff’s fingers still rested lightly on her forearm, not demanding, but conveying a message all the same. She jerked her arm off the table and twisted her hands in the cloth napkin in her lap.

“No pressure,” Jeff said. His voice vibrated along her nerve endings. “We like you, a lot. And we think you like us. We want to explore that further, to see if perhaps you might like a lot more from us.”

“I think I’ve had too much to drink. What exactly are we talking about here?”

“This isn’t the place to go into details, but I think you know. We want you, Megan. Both of us. We’d like to find out if it’s something you’d be interested in. We don’t expect you to answer right away. That’s why we want you to come out to our place. You can see the way we live. We can discuss the details then, if it’s something you think you might want.”

She didn’t know what to say. It seemed she had heard Jason correctly. He’d asked her to go to bed with them, tonight. More specifically, he’d suggested licking her body – all over – and allowing her to do the same. It hadn’t been her overactive imagination, spurred on by too much wine. As appealing as that sounded, and she wouldn’t lie to herself, it did sound appealing; she wasn’t into that kind of thing. At least she didn’t think she was. She didn’t do no-strings-attached-kinky-ménage sex.

“I’ve got to go.” She jerked her purse off the back of the chair as she stood. Her head swam, and this time, she knew it wasn’t entirely the fault of the alcohol. She was off balance, but she couldn’t blame it on drinking – not entirely. She made it as far as the front door, and turned to ask the maitre d’ to call a cab. Two towering males blocked her way.

“We have a car waiting. We’ll take you home.” Jeff slipped an arm around her waist while Jason signaled to a car parked down the street. The sleek black town car pulled to the curb, and a moment later Megan was in the backseat, flanked by the two sexiest men she’d ever seen. Jason asked for her address, relayed it to the driver, then closed the partition, sealing them off from the world.

One hot hand skimmed her thigh, sneaking under the hem of her dress to stroke dangerously close to her throbbing parts. Another slipped around her neck, long fingers massaging her nape as the thumb stroked her jaw, gently turning her face in the opposite direction from where the other hand had come from. She found herself looking up into Jeff Holder’s eyes. Before she could form a protest, he bent his head and took her lips in a kiss that loosened every muscle in her body, and did serious damage to her moral fiber. The hand on her thigh tugged, and her legs slid open. Fingers stroked a path to her core, and she groaned against Jeff’s lips as another set of fingers joined the fray. Her thighs spread wider in silent invitation.

***

You can also find Roz Lee at:

Website

Blog

Facebook

Twitter 

Demons by S.F.Spencer

About the author…

I grew up reading fantasy - David Eddings, R.A.Salvatore, Tolkien, Michael Moorcock - and began writing my own stories at an early age. I had a vivid imagination, which was further fuelled by the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons. I'd had an idea for my first novel and over the course of many years, I wrote several variations of Demons, all of them centred around my D&D character, Mecel. Eventually I moulded these drafts into something I would allow other people to read. The positive feedback I received was so encouraging that I took steps toward publishing it, finally producing it as an ebook on Amazon. Writing is something I do in my spare time and for the enjoyment of submersing myself within the realms of fantasy. When I'm not working for the National Trust, I'm out and about with my camera or playing guitar or creating videos, but all I want is to share my words with the world and have the world give me the thumbs up.

Author Name: S.F.Spencer

Book Title: Demons (Part one Corilon of Corsden)

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Amazon Kindle

Purchase  

Format: ebook

Blurb: 

Demons is the first in a magical new series of 'sword & sorcery' novels by S.F.Spencer, exploring the thin line between good and evil, hero and villain. Corilon of Corsden is a man with a past he works hard to forget. Once a court mage for the Baron of Corsden, contentment came to an abrupt end when he was attributed blame for a series of sacrificial murders in the town he was charged with protecting. Stripped of his magic by a rival mage, Mecel Corilon was then banished in disgrace, sending him on a journey of madness. Seven years later and he believes he's finally rebuilt some semblance of a life, only his world is about to turn upside down again...

Excerpt:

Mecel closed his eyes and tuned out all sound but that of his own heart beating loud in his ears. Lorina was at his back, Thallion to his right, and that was as far as he allowed his senses to extend. Don’t get hit, he told himself.

Before he’d even opened his eyes, Mecel sprang into movement and parried a dagger that had been on its way to gutting him. With a flick of his sword he deflected the weapon before cutting the orc in two, spinning around to slay his second before facing a third. Bodies dropped at his feet with the regularity of raindrops from an oncoming thunder cloud, but still the orcs came. From out of the corner of his eye he kept watch over Lorina, but she showed no signs of needing help, and Thallion was swinging his axe with the practised skill of a master.

Trelain was surrounded by his men, all of them fighting to protect a Prince who looked angry at being kept out of the fight. None of them looked to be injured though, but then, Mecel didn’t think the orcs were paying them much attention. They all seemed to want to fight him, and for a long time, they did just that. Until:

“They’re retreating!” cried Lorina triumphantly, pulling her sword from yet another dead, green body. Mecel cut down one, two, three more, before getting the chance to look around and see that she was right.

“Don’t let them get away!” roared Trelain, and his men charged after the fleeing orcs, disappearing into the trees while Monti, panting from exertion, took up protective residence beside him. Lorina, resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath, exchanged grins with Thallion. When the barbarian’s eyes fell upon Mecel, however, his triumphant grin faded.

“What is it?” he asked. “Are you hurt?”

Mecel was frowning thoughtfully down at the dead that scattered the ground in a sea of green blood. “No, I’m not hurt. It just seems too easy.”

“Easy?” exclaimed Thallion, laughing. “You call that easy? We were outnumbered five to one!

“Exactly. So why did they run?” Mecel looked questioningly at Thallion, unease knotting inside his stomach. He peered out into the darkness beyond the fire light. The night was quiet – too quiet, and Mecel couldn’t even hear the sounds of Trelain’s men chasing after the orcs that had fled. Something wasn’t right.

“Trelain, call your men back.”

The Prince looked at him, uncertainty gnawing at him like he was gnawing at his thumb nail. “You think it’s a trap?”

Before Mecel could respond, something grabbed hold of his leg, just below the knee. Startled, he jumped back – or tried to – but the dead orc’s hand remained firmly clamped around his calf and he fell. The ground was suddenly a writhing mass of limbs, some severed, some not, and now everyone found their legs being grappled as the hands tried to pull them down.

“The fire!” yelled Mecel, struggling to disentangle himself from the grip of hands that were clawing at his body, “Use the fire!”

The corpses were regaining the use of their heads now, and Mecel found himself having to fend off sets of rotten, broken teeth as well. Somewhere behind him he heard Lorina cry out – whether from pain or fear, he couldn’t tell – but try as he might he couldn’t escape the orcs to even turn his head and look at her. He could hear Monti cursing and swearing as he hacked at the bodies, but the dwarf was quickly overcome due to his lack of height.

A pair of jaws clamped around Mecel’s forearm, biting down hard on the soft flesh, and he let out a cry of pain. Somehow he managed to twist his arm out of its mouth and punch the reanimated orc away.

Thallion came into view, shaking oil out of a flask and all over the bodies on the ground. A moment later and there was the putrid stench of burning flesh. The smell crawled into Mecel’s nostrils like slime, making him choke and gag; none of the orcs screamed or shrieked their pain – they were already dead.

Teeth sank into his shoulder while hands took hold of his throat. Lorina appeared above him, kicking and stabbing at the orcs that had smothered him. With her help, Mecel managed to drag himself out from under them just before Thallion set them alight with the burning torch he’d taken from one of the camp fires. Lorina dropped to her knees beside him.

“Are you alright?” Mecel asked her, ignoring the blood that was pumping from his arm to check her over for injuries.

“Oh my God,” she breathed, quickly removing her shirt and wrapping it around his arm. Even as he began to feel faint, he took comfort in seeing that she was wearing something else beneath that shirt, a kind of corset made of hard leather. It was with alarm that he realised the rune on his chest felt hot, and was growing hotter.

It’s awakening! screamed the voice of panic inside his head.

Just stay calm… he told himself, closing his eyes in order to concentrate, …stay calm and regain control.

 “Thallion!” Lorina shouted urgently.

“Hold on!” he called back, still dealing with the last of the animated bodies.

  

Mecel couldn’t understand his weakness of late. He could see the doors again, doors he’d kept closed for so long, and prayed to the Gods he would be able to keep them closed. He tried to think when he’d first shut them and of the man who’d helped him do it, but he couldn’t focus. Was he really weakening?

  

Lorina was holding his hand but he was close to being overcome with panic. His rune was burning now, threatening to take him, to take his mind and consciousness, and no-one knew what he would do then. When the rune had him, it was like he was somebody else. When the rune had him, he never knew what he did or where he was – what if he attacked his friends?

What if I attack Lorina?

  

“Thallion, please!” shouted Lorina, close to tears herself. Monti hunkered down beside her to peer at Mecel, his expression immediately becoming one of concern.

  

“He doesn’ look so good,” he commented, taking Mecel’s wounded arm and looking beneath the makeshift bandages. “Nasty bite…bleedin’ well. It should be cauterized –”

  

“No!” exclaimed Mecel. Something like that would definitely send him over the edge. He could feel something inside him, something foreign and sharp crawling beneath his skin which had nothing to do with the rune, he was sure.

  

Before he knew what was happening, he was convulsing. Lorina threw herself on top of him to keep him from hurting himself as he arched his back, shaking violently, the veins in his neck standing out so much they looked as though they might burst. It was like what had happened in their bedroom, back at Galor, only this time it was worse. Am I awake? he had asked Lorina.

  

Give yourself to me…echoed the chilling voice of something that wasn’t quite human, a voice that only Mecel could hear. He immediately recognised it as belonging to the thing of his nightmares, and losing control over the rune on his chest suddenly became less important than keeping the demon out.

    

I can see into your soul, the demon all but cooed, and what a wasted life you have led. Failure and loss has dogged your every footstep. What makes you think you can defeat me, mortal? What makes you think you can be successful where countless others have failed?

  

It felt like his entire being – his very soul, even – was being invaded and ravaged by spiritual pestilence. Vaasz had forced his will and mind into Mecel and was now dipping his clawed fingers into every part of him. The rune on his chest was burning hotter than ever. His body seized and bucked and convulsed as every muscle tightened and twisted in revulsion, trying to expel the demon.

  

Turn around now and forget this foolishness. Return to whence you came, and perhaps I will spare your soul the torment that awaits all others. It is what your heart desires anyway. I can taste your fear.

  

“Fear? Fear fear fear feaaaaargh!” screamed Mecel, in a rage. The rune felt as though it was burning a hole in his chest, but right now it didn’t matter, because the demon had just made its first mistake and had unwittingly strengthened his resolve.

  

“You fear me!” he screamed. “You fear me! Get…out…!”  

  

Vaasz had been trying to convince him to give up, and Mecel believed with great conviction that it was because Vaasz felt threatened by him. The constant nightmares, the frightening illusions – it was all scare tactics. He knew that now.

  

I will destroy you, mortal! I will feast on your very bones and confine your soul to infinite torture –

  

With the help of the rune and a huge, concentrated burst of will power, Mecel expelled the roaring demon from him. For a moment he lay there still and panting, allowing the sensation of relief from intense pain to wash over him. The rune cooled too; it must have been reacting to the demon’s magical forced entry of his body. After all, it was a kind of anti-magic field, which was why he was no longer capable of being a wizard.

  

Mecel locked eyes with Lorina, who was still laying across his chest and staring wide-eyed down at him, breathing hard. Silently she pushed herself off him, and Mecel rolled over to be sick, the nausea not passing until he’d brought up the entire contents of his stomach.

 

Be sure to check out S.F. Spencer’s writing at her:

Website

An Interview with L.M. Brown

Please join me in welcoming author LM Brown as she shares with us a little about her writing, why she'd like to have a twin, and where she'd like to visit.

Be sure to check out the excerpt for her new book, Between Heaven and Hell, after the interview.

1) Links to website and list of books with purchase links.

Website
Blog

Books in order of publication:

Touch of a Ghost (ebook and audio)

Driving Me Crazy (ebook)

Gift of Love (ebook anthology with Lydia Nyx and Shawn Bailey)

Between Heaven & Hell (ebook)

Silver Shorts (ebooks – free reads)

All available from Silver Publishing

2) How long have you been writing? What got you in to writing?

I have been writing since I was a teenager. I used to love getting the homework assignments for English that let me give my imagination the freedom to run riot.  Although it was nerve-wracking when one of my stories was read out in class for the other students to hear, it was also a defining moment for me when, after the lesson was over, one of the class members, who was not a particularly close friend of mine, came up to ask to borrow my book to read what happened next, since time had run out and the teacher had had to cut short her reading.  That was the day I realised I wanted to be a writer.

During my later teens and early twenties, other stuff got in the way of my writing, but I rediscovered it via fanfiction and eventually found my way back to writing original stories just a few years ago when readers of my fanfics kept asking why I didn’t write for publication.  I realised I had no answer for that other than procrastination and decided to give it a try. 

3) What was your first published book? Looking back, is there anything you’d change about it?

My first published book was Touch of a Ghost, a novella which was published the Halloween before last.  At this point I don’t think I would change anything about the story, though my opinion may change in years to come when I have more experience with writing in general.

4) What or Who has influenced your writing?

I don’t think I can say that anyone in particular has influenced my writing, apart from my awesome editors, of course, who are so patient with me and I am forever in their debt.

I am an avid reader and always have been.  Chances are many of my favourite authors have influenced me in some way, and there are certainly a lot of them I admire out there, but I don’t try to copy their styles or emulate them. 

5) Where do you get your ideas?

I get my ideas from all over the place. Mostly they just pop into my head, usually at a very inconvenient time, when I have no pen and paper handy and no time to write. 

The idea behind Driving Me Crazy, for example, came from a radio station call in where listeners had to guess the most embarrassing reason for failing a driving test.  Although I missed the end of the show (thanks to the evil day job) and never found out the actual answer to the question, the idea of someone failing their driving test because of crushing on their instructor had taken up residence in my head and that was it.

6) What hinders your writing? (distractions? noise?)

My biggest distraction these days is probably a toss up between the internet and my kittens.  The former is very distracting since it is so easy to lose track of time whilst surfing the ‘Net.  The latter resent anything on my knee that isn’t them and have a tendency to sprawl all over my laptop, my arms and my chest, making writing pretty much impossible.  But I adore them so they get away with it most of the time. 

7) What genre are you most comfortable with? What would you like to explore?

I am pretty much only in one genre at the moment, that being gay romances.  I have written (but not published) het romances as well, and may well try to get one or more of those published in the future.  At the moment I am happy with writing about my boys though.  I tend to stick to contemporary and paranormal for the most part.

I would like to explore some of the other sub-genres, such as fantasy, futuristic/sci-fi in the future and have some stories in the works that are inching into those realms.  I just need to get more comfortable with world building before I let them loose on the general public.

Another genre I would love to write is historical romance, but that is a long way away, mainly because of the amount of research I would have to do before venturing in that direction. 

8) Are you a by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of writer, or do you have to use an outline to put your collective thoughts into some semblance of common sense?

I probably work with a bit of both.  I start of with a general idea and write by-the-seat-of-my-pants to begin with, but as the story progresses and starts to come together I start outlining things that are going to happen. 

It is very rare I outline things right from the start, as the stories tend to drift off in other directions as I write them down.  My m/m/m story Between Heaven & Hell is a prime example of that, since it started out as a m/m story with no hint of a three-some in sight.  What began as a short story about an angel and a demon fighting over the same mortal, ended up as a ménage novel (with two sequels planned) when the sexual tension between the two immortals got way out of hand. 

9) Which of your books is your favorite? Why?

My favourite book, at least at the moment, is probably Between Heaven & Hell.  It is a “first” for me in several ways and will probably remain my favourite for some time to come.  It is my first novel, as opposed to short story/novella, my first ménage, and my first book to have unique cover art all of its own. 

10) Do you incorporate some of yourself into your characters? Personality traits? Likes? Dislikes?

I think there is probably a little of me in some of my characters, though probably not much since I am one of the many straight females out there who writes stories about gay men.

Occasionally you might hear a character sounding a little snarky, and chances are that is my personality bleeding through. There is probably quite a bit of me in Mel, the best friend of Nick from Hey, Baby, my contribution to the Gift of Love anthology.

11) What do you think is the perfect hero/heroine? Why?

I think the most perfect heroes/heroines, are those that are quite clearly not perfect.  Perfect is quite boring and the more perfect a character is, the more he/she will grate on my nerves.  I’m certainly not perfect and I like characters I can relate to.  I like flawed characters who make mistakes and learn from them, who grow as characters as we follow them on their journey. 

A perfect hero/heroine, for me, is one that is anything but.

12) What is your latest release? Please share the blurb and purchase info with us.

My latest release is my first novel, Between Heaven and Hell, which is the first book in my Heavenly Sins series.  It is a male/male/male ménage story and is available now from Silver Publishing.

Blurb

Angel Machidiel (Mac) and demon Alastor have been denying the attraction they feel for each other for centuries because relationships between angels and demons are forbidden.

Things change forever when they both fall for the same mortal man and begin a relationship with him. Together with Tristan, the menage they form is filled with jealousy and insecurities, passion and love. Only time will tell if the relationship they have forged together is made in Heaven or Hell.

Purchase

13) What do you have in the works?

I always have a lot of stories “in the works” so to speak, though at the top of my list of those I am working on is the first sequel to Between Heaven & Hell, which is tentatively titled Between Good & Evil.  This picks up where Between Heaven & Hell finishes and continues the story of Tristan, Machidiel and Alastor. 

I also have a couple of short stories in the works that I am hoping to get accepted for a couple of open calls as well as my previously rejected story, The Heart of Eden, which is currently undergoing revisions.

I am also regularly participating in the Silver Shorts Free Reads and Wednesday Briefs, which are prompt based stories and free to read on my blog on Wednesdays during the weeks I participate.

14) Do you have any suggestions/comments for prospective authors?

I think the only advice I can offer, being very new at this and still finding my feet, is not to give up and to go for it.  I spent a lot of time procrastinating before submitting my first story to a publisher and a lot of it was down to nerves. The thing to remember is if you don’t try you’ll never know if you would have got that all important contract.  But if you don’t even try, then you’ll never make it.

JUST FOR FUN:

If you could be an animal, what would it be? Why?

I think if I were an animal it would be one that can explore where I, as a human being cannot.  Normally I’d say any type of bird and see the world from the skies, but an underwater creature is also appealing, especially if it is one that can explore the depths of the ocean. 

If you had super powers, what would they be? Why?

The ability to split myself into two would be awesome. One me could go do the evil day job while the other does the writing job.  Though I know which one I would want to “be” if that was the case.  I find there are never enough hours in the day and this would certainly solve the problem.

If you could change three things in the world, what would they be? Why?

I’d end war, poverty and prejudice if I had a choice.  I think the reasons why are pretty obvious, the world would be a better place.  J

Is there anywhere you’d like to visit? Why?

I would love to visit Egypt, but I am a bit fearful I would end up passing out because of the heat.  I am in England and we aren’t used to the scorching hot weather over here.  I would love to see the Pyramids, since I love history and ancient history in particular.

Between Heaven and Hell

Heavenly Sins Book 1

Genre: Male/Male/Male Paranormal

Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Silver Publishing

Purchase

Format: ebook

Excerpt – PG15

Tristan moved the computer mouse over the play button and clicked it. The video stream began with an out-of-focus shot of what appeared like the carpet in the study. Then the image panned out and he saw the face on the screen. It was the face that looked back at him from the mirror, yet he had no recollection of making this recording. Of course, that had been the whole point, hadn't it?

"Er, hi," the man on the screen said awkwardly. "I'm Tristan Garrett and in a matter of hours I'm going to lose my memory. But I guess you already know that.

"Your parents and the rest of your relatives should believe you're dead by now, so don't go looking them up or anything like that. Your parents were…"

Tristan watched himself falter on the screen.

"Damn, this is pointless," the recorded Tristan said. "I can't tell you all about your life in just a few hours. There'd be stuff missing and it'd be like a half-written story with gaps and plot holes. So here's the important stuff. The stuff you really need to know. It all started on Halloween night the year before last…

* * * *

Tristan Garrett could feel the man's eyes on him as he moved away from the bar. Like many of the men in The Inferno, the stranger had gone all out for Halloween and was the very image of a sexy, badass devil. He wore a pair of fake red horns atop his head; they poked out from his shoulder-length, ebony hair and the lights of the club caught them each time he turned to survey the crowded room.

Even from a distance, he looked amazing. Tristan admired the way his tight leather trousers hugged his shapely arse, and his hands itched to trace the washboard abs that were only partially covered by the black vest.

Tristan wasn't the only man in the club following the devil's movements. Several had approached him only to be turned away after only a moment. The direct approach didn't seem to be working for this guy.

"He's out of your league," teased Lawrence, Tristan's best friend and former lover, when he caught Tristan checking out the devil for the third time in under ten minutes.

"No such thing," Tristan replied lightly. "You're the one who taught me to go after what I want and not let anyone tell me I'm not good enough for them." 

Lawrence took a swig from his pint of beer before he answered. "Fifty quid says you can't pull him."

Tristan watched as the devil rebuffed the latest man to approach him. The devil smiled in his direction and even though he hadn't said a word, Tristan sensed he might have a chance if he were to try his luck.

"I'll take that bet," Tristan replied quietly. Maintaining eye contact with the devil, he slowly finished his beer and put his glass down on a nearby table. Turning back to Lawrence, he nodded towards the dance floor. They had played this game countless times, and it almost always worked. Lawrence led the way and Tristan followed. Moulding their bodies together, Tristan's back to Lawrence's front, they began to slowly move in time to the pulsing beat of the music.

Tristan closed his eyes and rested his head back on Lawrence's shoulder, letting the taller man set the pace. He knew his fair-skinned looks and spiky strawberry blond hair were complemented by the contrast as he nestled against Lawrence's dark hair and bulkier frame. He was a fit and healthy twenty-seven year old man, and while he wasn't the best built guy in town, he knew how to draw attention to himself when he wanted to. Right now he wanted the attention of the devil focused on him. He wasn't going to chase the other man to win the bet; the devil would come to him. He was absolutely sure of it.

Lawrence whispered the devil's movements in his ear. "He's watching us. We're turning him on. He's watching me grinding my cock into your arse and wishing it was his."

Tristan moved back against Lawrence as the other man's fingers slowly rubbed their way closer to his groin. He guessed that within five minutes the devil would be approaching him, just as they had planned. The devil wouldn't care he was with another man right now; he'd step in and claim what he wanted, no matter who stood in his way. "Soon," he whispered, as the slow beat of the music changed to a faster, insistent pace.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, a hand on his chest caused him to open his eyes. "May I cut in?" the man in front of him asked politely.

Tristan blinked in surprise. It wasn't the devil who stood before him. Instead, a blond Adonis was asking him to dance. Piercing blue eyes pinned him to the spot and he nodded mutely. The man pulled him into his arms so they were dancing face to face, and close enough for their erections to touch through the material of their jeans.

Lawrence looked slightly unsure as he stepped away. Tristan shrugged and smiled. "Guess I owe you," he said. The dark-haired devil had left his spot near the bar and disappeared into the crowd. Tristan realised he must have misjudged his potential conquest. He should have kept eye contact with him.

Still, the evening wasn't a complete loss, not if he ended up going home with the man who was holding him close right now. The devil was forgotten as Tristan gave himself up to the music and the man who held him in his arms.