I was first introduced to Angela's work through a blog hop I participate in each week called, Six Sentence Sunday. From what I've read, this is a tender heartfelt m/m romance where the characters have some surmountable odds to leap before reaching that happily ever after!
Blurb:
Jason McCarthy is gay. He’s also a police officer living in a small-minded northern New Brunswick town where being gay could spell the end of his career. When an impending snowstorm threatens to strand his best friend and policing partner, David, Jason offers up his spare room for the night--a move that reveals Jason’s secret, and changes their friendship and lives forever.
David Richard isn’t gay--at least he doesn’t think he is. He knows he loves his best friend, and he admits to feelings that had started after a tragic accident almost a year before. When David acts on these feelings, it doesn’t go well, leaving both men alone and hurt. Jason, however, doesn’t think twice about stepping in and rescuing David’s children when their mother abandons them. The move brings David and Jason back together, but Jason’s past rears its ugly head and they both have to make difficult decisions that are sometimes best left up to fate.
Excerpt:
Jason struggled with his key, trying to unlock the main door to his apartment building. He was bone tired, and cold. The power had been restored to the community by mid-morning. A main transmission line had been taken out by a falling tree and it took crews over twelve hours to repair it. The roads were barely passable and David’s car had slid twice on the way back from the office, despite the studded winter tires. Jason’s SUV was, unfortunately, still not ready. The dealership promised tomorrow as the parts had only arrived late in the afternoon and the mechanic had been unable to make it out of his driveway. The parking lot at his apartment building, although cleared of snow sometime during the morning, was once more covered in drifts. Jason jiggled the lock and the door finally opened allowing Jason into the warm hallway. He stomped the snow off of his boots and trudged up the stairs to his apartment. This door actually opened easily, and his apartment was warm and bright. As he peeled off his winter jacket, he was grateful for the warmth, letting it sink into his bones as he hung the jacket off the back of the chair next to the electric radiator. He went into the bedroom and immediately stripped out of his damp uniform.
Most of the day had been spent outside in the cold and the snow. A major accident had closed Highway Eleven and caused traffic chaos. Four people had been sent to the hospital and the last he had heard one was air-lifted to
Jason’s skin was cool and clammy as he removed his clothes. Taking a towel from the linen closet, he padded into the bathroom, switching the light and the fan on. Stripping out of his boxer briefs, Jason stepped into the tub and fiddled with the taps until hot water poured from them. He then flicked the button so that hot water coursed over his body.
He stood under the spray for a long time, his body slowly defrosting. No one had told him when he signed up for this that there would be days when he would stand in knee-high snow, being pelted in all directions by freezing winds while directing traffic for hours on end.
Once he was a bit warmer, his mind wandered to when he woke up this morning. It was a good half hour before the alarm was due to go off when he suddenly woke. He was disoriented at first; he was in his room, his bed, with a warm male body next to him. He was curled up next to his partner; he was so close he could even catch the unique scent of David. Jason had to stifle a groan when he realised that his morning wood had turned into a complete hard-on in just a few seconds. He pulled away slightly and turned onto his stomach, hiding his obvious attraction. There was nothing he could do to get rid of it. There was no power so a shower was out of the question and it’s not like he could jerk off with David a few inches from him.
Jason was alone now though and he could certainly do something about the hard-on that had returned. He stroked himself a couple of times, picturing what he wished could have happened that morning. He wished he could have pulled off David’s pyjama pants and gone down on him. Jason had caught glimpses of David at the gym when they showered, enough to know he was well endowed and uncut. Jason pictured himself swallowing David’s thick member, playing with the foreskin as he sucked him off, watching as David moaned and squirmed beneath him.
Jason groaned loudly and braced himself against the wall of the shower. He fisted himself rapidly as his orgasm overtook him. He grunted David’s name as hot streams of cum exploded from his cock, continuing to stroke himself until he collapsed against the wall, spent. He took a couple of ragged breaths as his body began to recover from the long overdue release.
The hot water was starting to cool down a bit as he soaped himself up, so he quickly washed his short hair before rinsing and turning the water off before it went cold. He dried off and wrapped a towel around his waist before he padded out of the bathroom. The corner of a familiar jacket caught his eye as he left the bathroom, so Jason made his way into the kitchen. David’s jacket was on the back of one of the kitchen chairs and his boots were next to Jason’s on the mat.
How long had he been here? “David?” Jason called out.
“I’m here,” David called from the livingroom.
“Just checking,” Jason said. What was David doing here?
Going back to his bedroom, Jason threw on clean underwear, a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt. He felt a little guilty for jerking off to thoughts of his policing partner, particularly when he was just in the next room. Jason sincerely hoped David couldn’t hear what he was doing over the roar of the shower. Jason pulled on a pair of warm thick athletic socks then padded into the livingroom. David was on the couch, still in his uniform. “I thought you were going home,” he said.
“Roads are drifted in. I can’t get my car through,” David explained. “I didn’t think you’d mind my company until they get better.”
“I don’t mind,” Jason said nodding towards David’s uniform. “Why don’t you go change? You’ve got to be freezing.”
“I am a bit damp,” David admitted. “I only brought one change of clothes.”
“Come on, I’ll find you something.” Jason went into his bedroom, first stopping in the bathroom to scoop up his dirty underwear and drop it in the laundry basket. He dug out a pair of flannel pyjama pants, a long-sleeve t-shirt and a pair of socks. “There are towels in the linen closet,” he told David as he tossed him the clothes.
“Is there any hot water left?” he asked.
“Well…”
David laughed and disappeared into the bathroom.
As David changed, Jason rattled around in the kitchen, trying to find something in his freezer to make them for dinner. He hadn’t gone shopping because he hadn’t been planning on being home for the next four days. Finding some salmon, he pulled it from the freezer and dropped it into the microwave to defrost. He raked through the cupboard and came up with a package of microwavable rice before he set the oven to pre-heat at 350. He wasn’t Julia Child but he could come up with a decent dinner for the two of them if he had to.
“I feel like a kid in these clothes.”
Jason turned around to find David standing in the middle of the kitchen. The pants were a good four inches too long and David all but swam in the shirt Jason had given him.
Jason couldn’t help but laugh at the older man. “I might be able to find something smaller.”
“It’s alright,” David said rolling up his sleeves. “It’s just for a little while. As long as I don’t trip and kill myself I’ll be okay.”
“Is salmon okay for dinner?” Jason asked as the microwave beeped at him to flip the package over. “I don't have a lot of food in the house. I was planning on going to Moncton
“You don’t have to make me dinner,” David pointed out but Jason shot him a look and David sighed. “Salmon is fine. Do you have any vegetables?”
“There are some in the freezer I think,” Jason said, watching as David opened the freezer. “Behind the ice cream maybe.”
David pulled out several items until he located a crushed bag of frozen vegetables. He replaced the other items and pulled a bowl down from above the sink, pouring in a decent amount before replacing the bag in the freezer. “So who were you planning to see in Moncton
“Craig,” Jason replied pulling a pan from underneath the stove.
“Is Craig your boyfriend?” David asked, curious to find more about this aspect of his friend’s life.
Jason laughed. “Craig isn’t anyone’s boyfriend,” he said. David didn’t say anything, so Jason elaborated. “Craig is one of my best friends.” He gave David an apologetic look. “Okay my best gay friend. I met him when I was in university,” he added, pausing to retrieve the now mostly defrosted salmon from the microwave. “We’ve been friends with benefits for years, on and off depending on if one of us was in a relationship and proximity to the other.”
“What does Craig do?” David asked, leaning against the fridge, watching Jason make dinner.
“He’s a pilot. Can you hand me the white wine out of the fridge?”
David pulled out the bottle Jason had opened the night before and handed it to him. “A pilot, like he flies planes?”
“Yeah, he flies for Air Canada
“That’s not a bad schedule,” David replied. Their schedule was a mix depending on the coverage needed.
Jason nodded. “Yeah except we’ve been working opposite shifts for a while so I haven’t had the chance to see him in like two months. Now the one time we’re both free and there’s a snowstorm and my car is in the shop,” Jason complained as he opened the door to the oven and popped the pan inside.
“You sound a little frustrated.”
“You have no idea.”
“I haven’t been with anyone since Carole and I broke up and that was like two and a half years ago.”
“Okay, so you do have an idea,” Jason conceded with a smirk.
David made a noise of agreement. He opened the fridge and pulled out two beers. He offered one to Jason but he refused. “I thought you liked beer,” David said replacing the extra beer in the fridge.
“I prefer wine. I always have.” Jason pulled a wine glass down from the cupboard. “I just drink beer when I’m around the guys so, ” Jason trailed off then smiled. “So I don’t seem gay I guess.”
What else did Jason do so he didn’t seem ‘gay’? “You don’t have to,” David said finally.
“I don’t have to what?” Jason asked. He added butter to the bowl of frozen vegetables as he spoke, glancing down at the bowl in confusion.
“I mean you don’t have to pretend,” David clarified. “Most people won’t care if you’re gay or not, the ones that do, Fuck ’em, they’re not worth the time.”
“You don’t remember Michael Long do you?”
David closed his eyes, trying to recall. “The name rings a bell,” he said finally.
“I was just a probie,” Jason explained. “It was maybe my second or third week on the job. I was training with John Wright.”
Congratulations, Angela! I'm so excited for you!! If you'd like to find out more about Angela and her books, drop by her website at http://www.angelastone.ca/
Enjoy your Wednesday, everyone!!
Kathleen
No comments:
Post a Comment