Blurb
Some hearts are made to be stolen.
Mark Mannix
doesn’t believe in love or romance, which is ironic given his birthday falls on
Valentine’s Day. As he approaches forty, Mark is perfectly content with his
life and nursing career in Boston, and—outside of his long-time
friend-with-benefits, Alistair—prefers his hookups to be one-night stands.
When Mark’s
plans for New Year’s Eve fall through, he attends his sister’s party and meets
Owen Todd, a graphic designer of Caribbean descent. Owen is more than a decade
younger than Mark and, at first glance the two men appear to have little in
common. The chemistry between them is potent, however, and Mark breaks his
no-strings pattern, seeing Owen week after week.
A connection
forms between the two men, leaving Mark in uncharted territory and drawn to
Owen in ways he’s never known before. Even so, Mark continues his hookups with
Alistair but is startled when Owen withdraws out of a desire to protect
himself. His foundations shaken, Mark must decide if he can watch Owen walk
away or … if the time has come to follow his heart in a new direction.
Excerpt
“Why
do you call your sister Lo?”
Mark
dredged a piece of maki in soy sauce and smiled. He and Owen were seated in a
booth at the sushi restaurant, sharing platters of food and drinking sweet,
sticky cocktails. Mark had slept late after his shift in an effort to stock up
some energy, but then Owen had run late, and for a few minutes Mark had thought
he might back out. Owen had turned up at last, however, and seeing him brought
that New Year’s Eve vibe back to Mark, the connection fluid and easy, as if
they were already fast friends. Mark liked that very much.
“It’s
sort of a twin thing,” he said in answer to Owen’s question. “My sister and I
started talking pretty early—”
“Color
me surprised.”
“Don’t
be a bitch.” Mark smirked. “We were two or so and our mouths couldn’t always
keep up with the chatter. I had a problem with the ‘r’ in Lauren’s name and
shortened it to ‘Lo.’ The funny part is it stuck and never went away. My
parents called her Lo, too, even after we’d both grown up.”
“I
see.” Owen grinned. He’d come directly from work, and was dressed in monochromatic
navy. He looked both gloriously handsome and far too serious in his dress shirt
and tie, but he’d rolled up his sleeves again and tucked his tie in his pocket
to keep it neat. “Did Lauren have a nickname for you?” he asked.
“She
did. She claims now that she also had trouble with the letter ‘r’ for a while,
but I think she just wanted to give me a special name. I’m not sure you need to
know the nickname, however. That’s not the kind of information I share with
just anyone.”
Mark
pursed his lips against a teasing smile, but Owen merely popped a piece of
nigiri into his mouth. He chewed for a moment before speaking.
“I
plan on sucking your dick again at some point tonight. Does that make me just
anyone?”
Mark
set his chopsticks down. “No. No, it doesn’t, Owen, and I’m glad you pointed
that out. Lauren called me ‘Mac’ when we were kids. She still does sometimes,
when she’s feeling sassy or has had too much to drink. I’m surprised she didn’t
on New Year’s Eve, to be honest, because she was in exactly the right kind of
mood.”
A
soft smile transformed Owen’s entire face. “That’s fucking adorable. You know
that, right?”
“Yeah,
I do.” Mark grinned at the platter of rice and fish while fire licked up under
his shirt collar.
“And
Lauren’s the only one who calls you Mac?”
She
is now that Mom and Dad are gone.
Something
about that dark thought must have shown in Mark’s face, because Owen’s smile
flickered. Mark quickly summoned up a grin.
“She
is, yes.”
Owen
laid a hand over Mark’s. “I don’t believe it. What about that sort of boyfriend
of yours, Alistair?”
“Alistair
is not my boyfriend.” Mark laughed. “He’d literally cringe to hear you say
that. He’s not the boyfriend type and neither am I.”
“No?”
Owen cocked his head. “Why not?”
“Not
my thing. I’m not a big believer in love or romance, or anything schmaltzy.
Ironic given Lauren and I were born on Valentine’s Day.”
Owen
snickered. “That’s way too perfect. So you consider yourself aromantic?”
“Ugh,
you’re such a millennial with your labels,” Mark said with a wink. “If I must classify myself,
I suppose aromantic fits better than anything else.”
He
heard the reluctance in his own voice, but knew Owen had a point. Mark had
never felt romantically attracted to anyone. That heart-fluttery, over-the-moon
kind of feeling people talked about when they met a special someone? He had no
idea what that was all about. To Mark, falling in love sounded a little like
being motion sick. Friendships and sex he understood, particularly in
combination. They’d always been enough for Mark and he’d never questioned that
about himself.
“Alistair
would cringe at hearing me called Mac, too,” he said.
“Well,
that’s stupid.” Owen glanced Mark’s way and smiled. “You can be the mac to my
cheese any time you want.”
Mark
tipped his head back and laughed. Damn, but this kid was fun. “Are you
comparing me to comfort food?”
“Oh,
yeah.” Owen’s eyes heated and Mark fell right into their warmth before he could
stop himself. “You’re all kind of delicious, as far as I’m concerned.”
“I’ll
accept Mac from you but only behind closed doors.”
The
corners of Owen’s lips quirked up. “Okay. It’ll be our secret.”
He
leaned in and covered Mark’s mouth with his own and a little while passed
before either of them spoke again. A distant part of Mark knew they should ease
off with the PDA. Overall, Boston was LGBTQ-friendly and the majority of its
citizens didn’t care what two adult men got up to with each another. That
didn’t mean bigotry was dead, however, and especially when the nearby sports
arena meant a population of boorish homophobes in the crowd was almost a given.
Mark didn’t stop, though. The shine in Owen’s gaze when they finally parted
made him glad he hadn’t, too.
~ooOoo~
Mark
meant to pour drinks once they’d returned to his apartment and stowed Owen’s
skateboard in the hall closet, but Owen’s tongue in his mouth proved an
excellent distraction. He and Owen were by the bed and tugging at each other’s
clothes before Mark really registered what was happening, and the breathless
laugh they shared felt damned good.
Once
Owen’s clothing fell away, Mark drank in the sight of him nude, and the lust in
Owen’s eyes seared him in return. Owen ran his hands over Mark’s pecs.
“I
love your body.” He wet his lips with his tongue. “The way your muscles feel
under my fingers…so sexy.” He pinched Mark’s nipple and both of them groaned.
“Fuck,
you are hot,” Mark murmured.
He
urged Owen down onto the mattress. Owen lay still under Mark’s gaze, his head
pillowed in his hands, his chest rising and falling with each breath. A flush
turned the tips of his ears red, and he sighed when Mark bent and skated his
fingers over Owen’s torso.
“Want
you, Mark,” he murmured.
Mark
sat down beside him. “I want you, too.”
He
teased the sensitive skin of Owen’s pelvis before he wrapped his hand around
Owen. The noise that rolled through Owen seemed shockingly loud in the quiet of
the apartment, and he brought his hands to Mark’s shoulders, pulling him
closer. Mark slotted their mouths together and swallowed Owen’s greedy hum, and
pumped him slowly while they kissed. He took his time stretching out on the
bed.
They
stayed like that for a long while, making out and grinding until they were
breathless and Mark thought his heart would beat its way out of his body. With
a gasp, he broke away, and pressed deep, wet kisses into the skin of Owen’s
neck, licking and sucking while Owen groaned.
Mark
worked his way lower, nosing at the sweat that sheened Owen’s ribs, then bared
his teeth and nipped in just the right spot. Owen’s bark of laughter made him
smile.
“Gah,
no.”
Owen
brought a hand up and wound his fingers in Mark’s hair, pulling lightly so Mark
hummed. Mark moved back up Owen’s body, dropping kisses along the way, but Mark
was hard and he was done teasing, particularly when Owen reached between Mark’s
legs and palmed him. Mark arched against the touch with a gasp.
“Christ.”
Lust
painted Owen’s face. “No religion during naked time,” he murmured, and even
through his haze of need, Mark couldn’t stop his laugh.
“You
are bananas.”
Owen
smiled. “Pot, meet kettle.” Mark took him in hand, too, and Owen actually
whined as Mark lined them up so he could frot them. “Oh, my…fuck.”
“I’d
love to.” Mark brushed their lips together. “You okay with that?”
“Hell
yes.”
Review
This was
a surprising read, in the best possible way. What with it being a ‘Valentine’s
Day’ release I expected, well…fluff. What I got, however, had way too much
depth to be called ‘fluff’.
This
story introduces us to Mark, a man who basically doesn’t believe in love and
relationships. He has no problem with, and enjoys, friendships and the benefits
they can bring. He just doesn’t think monogamy and long-term relationships are
for him.
Enter Owen.
From the moment Mark meets him there’s something there, a buzz, an attraction
that won’t be denied. And almost without Mark noticing it, what should have
been a one-night stand turns into two, three, many nights. Mark, however,
refuses to acknowledge that might mean anything beyond that the two of them get
on.
What
follows is basically Mark’s awakening. It sounds funny, since Mark is closing
in on his 40th birthday in this book, but this is really a coming of
age story. And I loved that it took time for Mark to notice and acknowledge
that what he had and what he wanted with Owen maybe wasn’t as casual as he
assumed. There was no ‘road to Damascus’ moment here. Mark needed time, and the
prospect of losing Owen, to recognize that which was blatantly obvious to all
others, this reader included. 😊
But, Mark’s
journey was a joy to read, and very, very sexy. Yes, there were one or two
moments when I wanted to grab him and shout at him, ask him what he hell he was
doing, but in the story, his actions made perfect sense and, eventually he also
saw sense. 😊
I don’t
want to say more. In fact, I’m afraid I may already have said too much. I do
however want to add that Mark and Owen were charming main characters, and the
secondaries were great fun.
I’ll end my
review by stating that this was a wonderful read. It had a lot of depth for a
relatively short story, made me feel a range of emotions, and captivated me
from start to finish. I wholeheartedly recommend this original story.
Author Bio
K. Evan Coles is a mother and tech
pirate by day and a writer by night. She is a dreamer who, with a little hard
work and a lot of good coffee, coaxes words out of her head and onto paper.
K. lives in the northeast United States,
where she complains bitterly about the winters, but truly loves the region and
its diverse, tenacious and deceptively compassionate people. You’ll usually
find K. nerding out over books, movies and television with friends and family.
She’s especially proud to be raising her son as part of a new generation of
unabashed geeks.
K.’s books explore LGBTQ+ romance in
contemporary settings.
Want to stay up to date and be notified of K. Evan
Coles’s latest releases? Sign up for the Coles & Vaughn Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dkyS7P
Published
Work:
Pride Publishing
(Totally Entwined Group)
Tidal Series w/ Brigham Vaughn (Novels)
Wake
Calm
The Speakeasy w/ Brigham Vaughn (Novels)
With a Twist
Extra Dirty (March 2019)
Behind the Stick (TBD)
Boston Seasons (Novels)
Third Time’s the
Charm (Coming 2019)
Off Topic Press (Self-Published)
Inked in Blood w/ Brigham Vaughn (Short Story)
Wicked Fingers Press (Self-Published)
Moonlight (Short Story)
A Hometown Holiday (Short Story)
Thief of Hearts (Novella)
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