The steps became narrower and ended next to a magnificent oak door. Darian sighed, knowing he was lost. #MMromance #midweektease #MWtease

Thank you to Angelica Dawson for hosting 

#MWtease 

The #midweektease blog hop

This week's teaser is from

The Dreamboat

Darian rushed to the castle early. He sought out the treasurer and pled his case for advance wages. The keeper of monies laughed at him. Darian slunk away. He went to the cavernous room where the musicians practiced, rehearsed, and wrote new material. The dance troupe filled the room with choreography, spinning, diving, and jumping, in readiness to entertain the queen that evening.

The viola player came to him as he stood at the door.

“Queen Lissabella is using the southern long-room for lunch today. Since you’re new here I’ll take you.”

Darian needed a lute that day. He still smarted from the treasurer’s laughter and denial of an advance on his wages. He shook his head at the viola player. “I know where it is. I need to collect instruments from the storage chamber,” he lied, wanting time alone.

The other musician shrugged and left him.

Darian edged around the dancers. He checked his guitar in its ornate leather case. I wonder if this would fetch much at the pawnbrokers. Then he put it back on the shelf where it was safer than in his apartment. He took a castle lute from the stand and wandered out to the corridors. It can’t be that hard to find the southern long-room. I know where the south half-moat is. Into his mind dropped the memory of Indigo approaching him as he waited at the skeeter tether park. His heart pounded and butterflies whirled in his stomach. Darian took a fork in the wide stairs that seemed to him to lead in a southerly direction as he thought about Indigo. I can’t wait to see him again, to kiss him, to tell him how I feel.

He climbed higher without thinking. The steps became narrower and ended next to a magnificent oak door. Darian sighed, knowing he was lost. He tried the door. It swung inward, open. Darian looked in. Lining the room was row after row of dresses and cloaks, shawls and jackets. At the far end was another door. Darian strode to it and opened it. This must be a dressing room or maybe where the queen’s apparel is stored when she’s tired of it. He glanced around quickly as he traveled through the room. It must lead somewhere … her sleeping chambers are in the other turret.

The other door opened onto a smaller room still laden with clothes hanging on rails, but at the window end, a dressing table faced the light streaming in. Panic gripped Darian. I am in someone’s chambers, and then, glistening at him from a silver dish next to a set of hairbrushes, Darian saw jewelry. He rushed to look. From somewhere deep within his psyche his younger self’s thief rose. He eyed the jewelry hungrily. An emerald bracelet and a sapphire ring called to him. He grabbed them and stuffed them into his pants pocket. His heart ached. I shouldn’t do this.

“What are you doing here?” a woman’s voice demanded.

He spun around. “I got lost. I opened doors thinking there was a way through to the southern long-room.” He gave the woman a helpless look.

She frowned. Another woman joined her and stared at Darian.

“I leave the room for two seconds and this happens. Don’t breathe a word to anyone about it. I’ll be fired for sure. Zelda, show this idiot to the southern long-room. I can count on you?”

Darian saw the anguish in the first woman’s eyes and cringed with shame.

The second woman, Zelda, nodded emphatically. “Certainly.”

He followed Zelda down the stairs he’d taken, along corridors, over a courtyard and up another flight of stairs. The other musicians gave him glares when he strode into the luncheon chamber moments before the royal party and guests arrived.

Copyright E.D.Parr November 2017 Evernight Publishing

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http://www.evernightpublishing.com/the-dreamboat-by-e-d-parr/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077TB36FS

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http://www.bookstrand.com/the-dreamboat-mm

HOP to the next #midweektease

Dante loved it when he arrived bare chested and desperate for kisses #MMromance #midweektease #gayromance

This week's #MWTease #midweektease is from E.D.Parr's

WIP, MM fantasy romance, String of Pearls

the follow up to , The Dreamboat

Viridian darted down the back street. Not many people knew it led right past a trade entrance to the castle grounds. No one knew that the gate there was the only part of the outer wall that was alarmed. For six feet on either side of the gate, the walls were vulnerable. An agile person who could scale the wall would gain access to the royal garden.

Viridian was not only agile, his natural strength was enhanced by his daily workouts. He was determined to see his lover tonight. His cock stirred at the thought of Dante. He pictured Dante’s thick dark hair streaked elegantly with silver. Viridian licked his lips. He could conjure up the feel of Dante’s mouth on his if he concentrated. He pulled off his shirt and pushed it into the back pocket of his leather pants. The gate loomed in the darkness. Lit by moonlight, the pillars on either side gleamed with embedded flecks of gold. Viridian leapt.

He went into a forward roll on the lush turf beyond, before springing onto boot clad feet and standing to take a swift look around. As expected, no one used the lawn at that time of night. He sauntered across it breathing in the beautiful fragrance of magnolia blossom from trees that lined the pathway to the villas where the queen’s elite pilot-explorers lived. He ran his hands through his hair to take it back behind his ears. A smile spread on his face. Dante loved it when he arrived bare chested and desperate for kisses. Viridian’s cock pulsed as he imagined Dante’s ice-blue gaze ranging over his body before he grabbed him and ravaged his mouth. Stars, I need him tonight.

Viridian took the path that led to the rear of Dante’s dwelling and the garden door that always remained unlocked. No one expected anything but safety within the castle walls. He silently turned the white crystal handle and entered. He knew the layout of furniture in the room, and so Viridian made his way across it without glancing around. He’d negotiated the long leather couch, on his way to Dante’s bedchamber, when a voice sent surprise and fear spiking through his body.

“I thought you’d slip up one day.”

Viridian spun around peering through the darkness at the man who lounged on a chair in the corner of the room. “Who are you and why are you in Dante Pepper’s home?” He put authority into his tone hoping this would confuse the man.

A soft sound reached him—a muffled click of fingers. A bright blue flash accompanied the click, and then the room lit up. Somehow, the man had lit the ceiling and floor lamps without using the panel of switches on the wall.

Viridian stared at the man who sat confidently, one leg crossed over the other and with a smile on his gorgeous face.

“Indigo Vaughn.” Viridian’s shoulders drooped and his voice dropped to a murmur as recognition shivered up his spine.

The head of royal security and powerful warlock stood, and walked toward him.

“Exactly right and you are?”

Copyright E.D.Parr 2018

Find The Dreamboat

 #scifi #fantasy #magic

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/the-dreamboat-by-e-d-parr/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077TB36FS

Global Amazon link http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B077TB36FS

http://www.bookstrand.com/the-dreamboat-mm

Gorgeous, powerful warlock, Indigo Vaughn, sells his magic spells to people looking to make a dream come true. One night, as he gazes down on the city below from his sky barge The Dreamboat, he wonders why, in centuries, his own wish for a man to love hasn’t materialized.

Beautiful, sexy, Darian O’Harr has suffered his fair share of misery. He’s a musician and learned long ago to sing for his supper. New to the city, he comes to Indigo seeking a spell that will bring him the love of a handsome man.

HOP to the next #MWTease

The cocoon of intimacy that had surrounded them on the train had gone #ValentinesDay #MMromance #gayromance #midweektease

In #midweektease we're visiting

Dale Walker and Valentine Steel again

in 

Falling Star Valentine

Read the #MWTease

Dale knew the station well and where to get a cab easily. He turned to Valentine. The cocoon of intimacy that had surrounded them on the train had gone. The sense of heightened emotion had dissipated. His heart still harbored affection for Valentine and he wished the guy would answer, but now the crisp day harried him to start his new life. The busy station ignited his business persona.

“I have to get going, Valentine. It was great to be with you. I enjoyed your company. Look, do you want to share a cab somewhere? Exactly where are you heading?” He knew his tone held impatience, and he felt it a little, but deep down he didn’t want to leave Valentine.

People surged around them as they stood by the carousel. The sound of train engines hummed and travel announcements echoed. The wind blew a candy wrapper in a strange dance around their feet.

Valentine stared at him silently with his sky-blue eyes wide.

Dale experienced a moment of regret and an urge to drop his bag and pull Valentine into a hug, but he crushed it and turned away. He strode along through the back of the station and took a short fenced route to the cab rank.

It was only when the cab driver hopped out of the car to help Dale put his bags in the trunk that he saw Valentine had followed him.

Valentine stood on the sidewalk with sorrow radiating from his entire body.

Emotion swept over Dale. He went to Valentine. “You have nowhere to go do you?”

“Not yet. I mean no, no I have nowhere.”

Amusement brought a grin to Dale’s face. There was something so endearing about Valentine. “Get in the cab. I have to check out an apartment and make sure I haven’t rented a dump.” The excitement and happiness in Valentine’s expression hit Dale hard. I do care about him. Who the hell is he?

Dale gave the cab driver the address of his new apartment and slumped back onto the leather bench seat. He heaved a sigh and turned to Valentine.

“You can’t keep being so mysterious. I know you haven’t told me the truth and yet I still feel something for you.” He laughed softly. “Something unexplainable. Where’s your luggage?” He only just realized Valentine didn’t carry any.

Valentine raised his hands in a quick gesture. “I have none.”

“When we get to my apartment, you’re telling me exactly who you are and what’s going on, or, even though you make me smile, and my heart wants you, I can’t be leaping into another relationship when I’ve only just gotten over Jack. I discovered too late he wasn’t exactly the man I thought originally.”

A smile formed on Valentine’s face as Dale spoke. His eyes filled with a loving expression. He nodded as he answered. “I will. Your heart wants me. That makes me so happy.”

Dale looked away. He smiled to himself as he stared out of the car window. Rain splattered against the glass. The cab slowed in traffic on the main street and brought into Dale’s line of vision shop windows full of hearts and Valentine’s Day gift ideas. They crawled past a candy shop with a huge red neon heart in the window. Light pulsed through the fat shape at intervals, as if beating. Is it coincidence that I meet a gorgeous but eccentric guy on Valentine’s Day, or weird? Yeah, it’s weird.

The cab made a right turn and sped along the next street. Then it darted left down a narrow avenue. All at once, they were on a street full of medium height buildings, each with balconies, many of which housed huge pots of greenery or small tables and chairs. The cab drew up outside a building—pale stucco wet with rain, and the driver turned around.

“Here you go, buddy.”

Copyright E.D.Parr 2017 Evernight Publishing

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/falling-star-valentine-by-e-d-parr/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MV2VKAJ

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MV2VKAJ

http://www.bookstrand.com/falling-star-valentine-mm

Amazon global link http://a-fwd.com/asin-com=B01MV2VKAJ 

HOP to the next #MWTease

Aaron George thought he’d lost the love of his life seven years ago #MMromance @maiadylanauthor @evernightpub

Thank you, for hosting me for, One Last Hit. This novella released in February with Evernight Publishing as part of their Romance on the Go line.  If your readers would like to they can post questions to me on Twitter tag me using @Maiadylanauthor and I will answer them as I see them.

One Last Hit

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Purchase Links:

AMAZON UK:  http://amzn.eu/9tgi7Ty   

AMAZON AU:  https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B079MFLMPH

AMAZON US:  http://a.co/1Yylx8T

AMAZON CA:  http://a.co/e7nNnSM

EVERNIGHT:  http://www.evernightpublishing.com/one-last-hit-by-maia-dylan/

Book Blurb:

Aaron George thought he’d lost the love of his life seven years ago. Right up until he pulled back the curtain of a hospital examination room and found Marshall Armstrong tending to a bullet wound on the other side. Then the night got really strange. They found themselves getting shot at and running for their lives.

Marshall Armstrong had finally come for Aaron. He’d been working toward it from the moment he’d had to fake his own death. Now, just when he had enough money and resources to take Aaron back, Aaron’s father, Franklin George knew his son was alive and that Marshall had a few secrets of his own.

Can Marshall and Aaron get back together as they work to make this one last hit before they disappear forever, or will their shot go wide and leave them with nothing?

**MM

The story…

STORY EXCERPT:

Aaron growled. “Maybe I’ve gotten better at lying now. I’m way more secretive than I was when you knew me. Everyone thought I was dead. I left the day of the explosion with nothing but our emergency pack. No one knew I was here living my life until recently.”

“I’ve always known where you were,” Marshall answered honestly. “You took the identity I’d had created for you, so I knew where to find you from the moment you left.”

“Then why the hell didn’t you come to me sooner?” Aaron asked in a small voice.

Marshall reached out, wanting to touch him, to ease his pain, but stopped short when Aaron flinched away from him. Not that he could blame him for the reaction at all.

“Franklin is powerful and determined to make the damn Senate. If he had known you were alive earlier, he would have killed you just to tidy up that loose end. He couldn’t have his own son coming out and telling the world what an asshole he is. Aaron, even when I knew I shouldn’t, I kept up with what you were doing. I’ve fucking stalked you from afar for years. What existed between us was real.”

Aaron’s gaze swung to him. “Really? Because I loved you with everything I had and losing you destroyed who I was. Flames were lifting into the air, and gas bottles were exploding and all I could think about was walking straight into that burning building so that I could go with you.”

Marshall’s heart broke at that. “Baby. I am so sorry I had to put you through that. But I had to get you away from Franklin and I knew you wouldn’t go without me. Franklin wasn’t going to let me go, Aaron. I was an asset he had no desire to lose. If we had run together, he would have come after us with everything he had. I knew that the only reason you would go by yourself is if you thought I was dead.”

Aaron frowned. “Why couldn’t we have just left together? If he was convinced that I died in that fire, why wouldn’t he accept it was both of us? Damn it, Marshall I managed to leave that day and no one came looking for me for seven years! I started a new life and fought for a chance to live it. Why couldn’t we have done that together?”

Marshall took a deep breath. He’d known this conversation had to happen, but he hadn’t expected it to be so soon. “He was going to take you away that night, Marshall. He was going to take you from me and use you to control me. Every option I looked at to save you resulted in you being hurt or killed. I was too young, I had very little experience with everything, and I panicked. Making it look like the explosion killed you was the only option I came up with that got you away from him.”

“Why the hell did you stay?” He could hear anger in Aaron’s voice. “You could have gotten away from him at any time.”

Self-loathing threatened to drown him. “I had to make sure you remained safe. And without you, I just stopped caring about anything else. Your father claimed your life insurance, had a funeral, and publically mourned your death. And I did it all with a happy heart because I knew that you were alive and that you were free.”

“But what about you, Marshall,” Aaron asked quietly, “weren’t you worth saving, too?”

Marshall turned to look out at the road ahead. “I may have been then, but everything I have done since, what your father has turned me into, all of it makes me beyond salvation now.

Aaron made a dismissive sound. “That’s bullshit. No one is so far gone that they can’t be saved, either from my father or themselves. You’ve already said that a lot of what you have had to do over the years was at the bequest of Franklin George. It sounds to me that the fault lies with him, not you.”

“But it was me pulling the trigger all those years, Aaron, and not always at Franklin’s request,” Marshall answered, turning to give him a sad look. “It’s me that took money from your father and others to kill the people they most needed eliminated from their lives. And it’s me who has to somehow reconcile everything that I have done since I left you seven years ago so that I can sleep at night,” Marshall took a moment trying to find the words that would explain it. “You could say this is about vengeance with a strong dose of penance for me and that would be a lot closer to the truth, but it would certainly not grant me absolution.”

© MAIA DYLAN, EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING, 2018

ALL ABOUT MAIA DYLAN

Mother, wife, author, and all around crazy…

I write the kind of books that I love to read. Love stories between strong men and their independent soulmates. Usually, their path to Happily Ever After is a bumpy one, but there is always a Happy Ever After. 

In the world's I create there is someone (or two, or three) for everyone!  Love comes in many forms and I believe it is all beautiful and should be celebrated!

I live, love and write in New Zealand, married to my husband of eleven years with two beautiful children who I truly believe were sent as a blessing, but sometimes to try my patience, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

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